40 NOTES AND 



This tissue of falsehood and scurrilous invective, states, that general 

 ington was in favour of a monarchy ; that mr. Jefferson exercised a pernicious 

 influence over mr. Adams : that Franklin was but a small philosopher ; that 

 Rittenhouse was an englishman ; that no such character as a respectable coun- 

 try gentleman is known in America ; that it is Impossible to bring a thief to jus- 

 tice, &c. These violations of truth were selected as we casually cast our eyes 

 over this review, and they are brought forward as specimens of the whole per- 

 formance. The authorities to which the writer has appealed for his slander 

 are some newspapers, the Works of William Cobbett, and the Travels of Jan 

 sen, Priest, Ashe, Wansey, Weld, Lambert, and Parkinson. Scarcely one of 

 these had any pretensions to literature. Aahe, if such a person ever existed, 

 was, in all probability, never in this country ; Priest came over as a musical 

 adventurer ; of Parkinson we may say, in the words of Congreve, " Ferdinand 

 Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar s of the first magnitude." The 

 others, under a more decent garb, are equally regardless of truth. The cha- 

 racter of Cobbett is known in Europe, as well as in this country : if we are de- 

 sirous of attaining truth we must reverse his assertions. Jansen published his 

 book in a quarto form in London, in 1807, under the title of " The Stranger in 

 America, by Charles William Jansen, late of the State of Rhode Island, Coun- 

 seller at Law :" but we learn, from good authority, that he was a barber in that 

 state. It abounds with offences against truth and considering his long residence 

 in the United States, exhibits a great dearth of information, and a great 

 want of intelligence : take, for example, an extract from the first page I have 

 opened : " Soon after mr. Jefferson's advancement to the presidency, the tithes 

 of the episcopal clergy were entirely abolished, and the church lands soltl for 

 the use of government ; all religious sects are, therefore, on the same footing 

 without the supremacy or limited salaries." 



As a -conspicious example of the reviewer's total disregard of candour and 

 justice, I might refer particularly to his unworthy attack upon messrs. Emmet, 

 Sampson, aud M'Ncvin ; whose genius, learning, and virtues, would reflect 

 honour on any country. 



NOTE 2. 



Governor Burnet was a man of extensive reading and information. He wrote 

 a commentary on the Apocalypse, and made many useful astronomical observa- 

 tions. Swift's Discourse on the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit was suppo 

 sed to be addressed to governor Hunter. In the fifteenth volume of Swift's 

 Works there are two letters from the dean to him. In the first epistle Swift 

 say?, " Sometimes mr, Addison and I steal to a pint of bad wine, and wish for 



