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session of Long Island. In order to defend this spot sufficiently 
they are about to build a very strong fort designed by General 
Bernard, resembling Fort Francis, near Coblenz, (on the Rhine.) 
The casemates, calculated for dwellings as well as for defence, 
are to be built under the ramparts, whose front face will be three 
hundred and seventy-five feet long: they are to be covered with 
earth, and a common rampart erected on top of them. In front 
of this is a covered way in the ditch, lower than the r. 'nparts, 
with six guns, three on each side, for the defence of the ditch, &c. 
They were just beginning to build this fort, which is be called 
Fort Hamilton, and the engineer-officers thought that ft would 
not be finished in less than four years. The government has ex¬ 
perienced the disadvantage of those buildings which were built 
by contract, and this well-arranged work will therefore be built 
under the immediate direction of government. General Bernard 
is a Frenchman; he was engineer at Antwerp, and obtained the at¬ 
tention and favour of the Emperor Napoleon by his great knowledge 
and modesty, who appointed him his aid. In 1815, he entered the 
service of the United States, at the recommendation of General La 
Fayette, and was appointed in the engineer corps under the title 
of assistant engineer, with the salary of a brigadier-general, but 
without wearing the uniform of the engineer corps, nor having 
any rank in the army. 
He is a great acquisition to the corps, and I was somewhat as¬ 
tonished at the cool and indifferent manner in which they spoke 
of this distinguished engineer. The cause, however, of this cool¬ 
ness, undoubtedly is to be found in a silly misconception of pa¬ 
triotism; for the general is a foreigner, and frequent experience 
has shown that a foreigner in military service seldom enjoys 
satisfaction. Two new fortifications are to be built outside 
of the Narrows on rocks, in order still better to defend the 
entrance to New York, by firing crosswise at vessels, and are 
intended to serve as advanced posts to Forts La Fayette and 
Tompkins. 
A gun-maker, by name of Ellis, received a patent for making 
repeating-guns; I visited him in company with Mr. Tromp. A 
repeating musket will fire frequently after being once loaded; 
it consists of a long tube, in which touch-holes are bored at cer¬ 
tain distances, according to the number of shots it is intended to 
discharge. The musket is charged in the usual way, a piece of 
sole-leather is put upon the load, on this another charge, and 
again a piece of leather, &c. until the required number is intro¬ 
duced, according to the size of the tube. For each of these loads, 
whose height is known by a mark on the rod, there are touch- 
holes made on the right side of the tube, each of them closed by 
a valve. A box is attached to the lock, which primes itself, and 
