The telescope. (Columbia, S.C.) 1815-1818, September 17, 1816, Image 2
qucntly approach ii. Thc?c U uvaaiiy u thick
cane brake near the river on nil the low ground*.
?-Tho timber in the low grounds princi
pally consists of largo oaks, hickory, poplar and
ash, with some cypress ntul sycamore, anil a
great variety of vines, principally the summer
ami winter grape and tho mu> cadino. 'l'hcre
are also among the undergrowth several ovcr
greens, amongst which arc the holly and mock
olive. Mont of the blullit or high InniU near tho
river afford a ridh, grejish *oil, and arc covered
with oak, hickory and at>h, with scattered pines.
The flr?t live twik noticed on tho river was 45
mile* from tho (Jin Port, in tho low ground*, on
t!n* left hunk of tho river. Most of tho rock
met with near tho river in of a light, bluish co
Inr and tine soft texture, entirely free of grit.
It forms the base of the blufl's or steep banks,
and lies in horizontal strata, of from one foot to
three feet in thickness, and has in many places
the appearance of a stone wall using from be
neath the water.
Some of the binds, however, has a ferruginous
appearance ? and lower down the river thorc
are large bodies of litone coal, as well as excel
lent blue whet stones, and materials for grind
Htot.cs anil mill-stones. The river, about a mile
below the (Jin Port, is from 48 to60 vards wide.
Twenty miles from the same place ft is from CO
t? TO} at 45 mi!.'* it is from 70 to 80 j at 49,
from 80 to90t at 50 miles, 100 vards; and 70
?surds at 115 miles, where a boltf river comes in
from the east, which is 45 or 50 yards wide.-?
Avit'ier still larger comes in ftom tho other
tide, I.; miles Farther down.
tiiMicral tiaines did not continuo his survey
i.f the river lower than the mouth of Okenoxaby,
ii?? the r'.a.ainiic part of the river had previous
1\ liecn ?? di 'on land, by Sila? Dinsmoor,
li) ij. II-: ioiitiiiii"d. however, to pursue his
jmirncv It.' water to l'oit Stoddeit, and found
the navv.uWon wry ^uud, and the current ge
nerally geiil!e.
A-v to t!:<? >et il?*:iirnt * on tl-.it river, they
<? existed a elet able number of years,
below Vinteebogue.- The lower part of the
rnunlrv k<<l Iwen pievioii.slv settled by the
Pieuch. I lie Hriti-h and Spamaid.s ; hut settle
ment- of people from the I'nited States, did
not < oniou-iiie till ilic latter part of the revolu- j
tiotia; v w ar. f
The. increase of population for a long period j
?tf time was very slow : and at the ratification!
i-l the Choctaw treatv in IfttjH, it U probable!
then* were not more than two thousand souls in
the wlndo of t'.e. Mississippi Tenitorv, east ??f'
l'rarl river.? ! i the present time "?t i., supposed
that there ate between -5 ami 50 thousand.?
The plantations, however, are. for the most
partcoutt ? "he rivei.* and large creeks, on
account of s ueral sterility of the uplands :
: o that the country from the Mobile to the I'as-,
? .v.'oula waters, a distance of -15 mileand from
x!ie l'ascago ila waters to Pearl Kivcr, a dis
tance of 75 miles, may be ie;;ar?led as a wilder
l'os. Put alter advancing cutisiderabl v up the
Tomhigby and other rivet then: aie occasion-j
id Hpots of excellent up I od. l.imes)one first
makes its appearance on the <m>Ioiii side of the
Tombigby, a few mile, above M'lntosh's HI nil',
by t does "not njjiiear on lh<? wc^tern^ifjij^ till
The staple ai tide of the country is cotton.?
Little, however, lui? been raised of late years ;
but it is calculated that the cotton raited this
rear on the Tombi<xhv, Chickasaw ha v, and Ala
bama, and whuh will go down the Mobile liver,
?will amount to tun thousand bales. No reason
able doubt can bo cntci tailicd, that the sugar
< ane might be profitably cultivated, as high up
;.t least as the forks of tho Tombigby and Ala
bama. The lumber trade must bccume a great
object. Pin'1 forests, covered with timber of a
i..o/* majestic growth, approaching in some pla
ces the very banks of the rivers) cypress
swamps, affording trees ef the greatest magni
tude ; hilh; ornamented with red cedar, and oak
k v. o'hIh, furnishing materials for staves and shin
gles. must e.\cito*thu attention of commercial
?:ntei prize, and creatc an immediate intercourse
between the waters of the Mobile and the ports
of the Atlantic. Hitherto the trade of the
country hns been on a mere temporary estab
lishment. fturthcucd with a heavy freight to
?w-Oiloans, the planters hnve hail a serious
deduction from their prices, and in fact, been
loaded with a heavy tax Uj enable them to send
their produce farther fro >?? intirktl ! ! The im
portance of tfie trade of this country will in
< roa<e with the increase of population, and cap
itals will lie invested in ir by men, who only
yesterday heard of the existence of such a coun
try. ' %
ilut llic preceding view of the situation of
i1ih country and nature of it* i i\rrn, not only
J**ad to an anticipation of a speedy trade with
the Atlantic utatca?with tin* West-Indies, ?m1
??ven with Ktirope ; hut il art'urdv every reason
to believe that tin* Toinbigbv, at no distint day?
nuiHt become the channel of n great enmmerei
ul intercourse with western America. ? It seem*
to l?e a very short time indeed, sinco tho pro
duce of that country began to float down the
Mi<-*iWippij and it was then a inattor of great
<l'iidit among the best informed men of Keutiic*
k> , whether returns could ever bo mado from
the fiulph of Mexico, with any advantage, ex
cept by mean# of the Mobile and Torrdngby ri
vpih. ft was about the year '0.? and '1)7, that
the navigation of tho Mobih became an object
of great expectation to audi inen as the late
attorney general, Mr. nrerkcnrirfgo, and other
men of foresight ntid penetration, whose patri
otic mind* were often (midied in forming anxious
< .ilculations, on the sources qf their country**
future prosperity.
The invention ?.f steam boat* ha'< rendered
?lie navigation of the Tombigby le/ts interesting
to the people of th#? Ohio country than it was at
that pciiod > but it continue* still to be of vast
impoilanco to a large proportion of the Tennes?
vim! country t and when steam boat* shall navi
j.ate the Mobile wutura fiom Mobile Point to
T.iinerij?to~?it is not improlmble that tho people
ol the Ohio country, will regard this route as a
rioie eligible one for the introduction of foreign
couimoditic*, thatithutof the Mississippi. Mo*
bile Point is considerably more accessible by fo
reign vessels than Ncw-Orlcan* ; and tho'dis
tunceof Mobile Point from tho mouth of the
Tennessee l iver by the Tombigby and Tcnnes
tec id Komcwhat less than that from New-Or
leans to the name place, by tiiu Mississippi :?
tho current of the Tombigby is vastly gontler
than that of the Mississippi, anil the current ef
tho Tennessee U in your favor. Ah to the peo
plo of tlio Tombigby and Alabama country,
whoso west country produce reaches them thro'
the wonderfully circuitous route by New-Or
leans ; it is of immediate and pressing interest
that the navigation of one or both of their on n
rivers should imj retorted to.
It will probabl y reduce the price of their flour,
at the rate of at least thirty |>er centum : and
as the prospect of a market Kir cotton, will cuuse
a ^rcat proportion ef that labor to lie devutcd
h? its cultuic, which has heretoforo been cjpeti
ded in the cultivation of corn? die use of flour
for bread w ill in tiiue become prevalent in the
country. Indian corn w ill become more fcarcc
than it'has been. Tho people must have bread
?they will cuntcnt themselves with flour, and
they will be able to purchase it. Cotton bag
?(iny, cordage, whiskey, iron, and other article*
supplied by the western country, must also Uml
their way to the Toiublgby settlements, by the
channel of its own waters.
Nothing lias ever been attempted for improv
ing the navigation of tlio Tombigby river, or
connecting it with tho Tennessee, if* wo except
the oponing of a road by order of the war de*
partment: but whenever there shall be converg
ed a truly enlightened and patriotic state legia
latui c, in which the |>opulation of the Mobile
country shall have its legitimate weight?it
surely must become one of the first objects of
their attention, to devise uml executo plans for
commercial intercourse between that country
and the w astern states, and for rendering iU
i ivcrs one of the great high ways of western
[ commerce. , '
I Such is the immense importance of improve
incut* having so great an end in view?tiiat it
i* an object of the lirst magnitude, that iwdivli
stun of the Mississippi Territory should take
plait. which wotthl constitute* two political
communities on (he waters of the Mobile. If a
line be run "across the" territory from east to
we*:t, agreeable to a suggestion made in con*
j gres?s } the strength of the country will be divi
ded : a spirit of opposition, or oi' indifference
from other quarters, will be more operative :?
i plans for the improvement of our navigation
! which would rctpiiie the united energy of all
I concerned in them?would bo adopted with dif
ficult v, and would remain ineftbetual till they
had the sanction of two distinct and indepen
dent legislature*.
[ The other primmed line of division by means
, of the Tombigby or Pascagoula, would bo pro
ductive ofconsequences e(|ually injurious. Na
ture has already, by the intervention of Jarge
extensive bodies of poor land, thrown tho pop
ulation of the Mississippi territory into too ma
ny remote ami unconnected settlements. To
create new diviiions by artificial political at
;r,v,Titv. 'ri,Sterne,
tin* Alabama, the Tombigby, the Pascagoula,
and its tributary streams, the ('hickusawhay
and ICstaphache, are the same. Those settle
ments Isate always been, in a great degree, uni
ted. Their trade pas?es, fur the most part,
through the same chaiim-l. They are neigh
bors. They will away? l.armoiii/.e in general
arrangements lor promoting the trade and pros
perity of the country. To sever them assun
iter, would he to ruin them. It would lie, to(
destroy at one blow, the importance of the Mo*l
bile country. No division of the territory*, in
deed, can be made in the present state of (Kings,
with any advantage.' i
Formerly, iioil.mbf, when tlicprepotiilrr.inic
if population was so great on tlte Mississippi ns
to extinguish all reasonable hope, dial the scat
of government in n territorial district of 300
miles wide, would ever' be removed from one
extremity of it \ formerly a division by IVnrl
(liver, appeared desirable lo the interests of the
people cast of that river, They seemed to
stand iu the situation of a province of a pro
vince. Hut now that n large acquisition of
country Ium been made of the Crock nation, and
the,population of tho different parts of the ter
ritory u pretty well balanced, we liavo everv
reason to believe, that on the establishment of
A ?toto government, e?jual justice will be ren
dered to every section of the country. Hc-sidc*,
tho evils of too extensive a territory arc fcit
more under a territorial form of government,
than they need to be under a state trovei umcnt.
In n territory much necessarily depends on
the knowledge and judgment of tho chief execu
tive. If his power has too wide a range ; lie
must be destitute of tho knowledge necessary
ill its exercise. Hut when a state constitution
is framed?its provision* may Ik adapted to the
actual situation and extent of the country.?
Our new stall*, no doubt, will lie immensely ex
tonsive i but let it lie I'Mucniheicd that intrc
than one half of the land within its limit* in
owned by the Indian tribe*, and that the re
maining half, contain" vich a wonderfully dis-,
proportionate quantity of worthless land, tiiat
centuries may elapse before tSie population * ill
bo very considerable. Situated m we now nrej
??the question of division ought to tie laid asleep.
Wo have not, and shall not have for a tang'
time, more than population enough for a very I
moderate state : and the present prospect o{ an
equal diffusion of that population to its <H)Ter
ent extremities, furnisher almost mi assnKtice
that principles of equality and reciprocity will
control the measures of the new government.
In tho progress of human events, it may no
doubt become expedient to the general interests
of the nation that two or more states should he
formed out of the Mississippi Htate : but as we
know not the circumstances which may require
such nti arrangement | no arrangement which
wo can adopt can bo made to meet those cir
cumstance. The question of division, there
fore rauat rest with posterity. ? They will have
before their eves the circumstances which cre
ate the iiecciuiity. They will be best'able to
judge of tho measures which those circumstan
ces shall dictate.
Whether any division will gvor bo neceworv,
and if necessary, what ought to bo tho pvlnci
plcs on which it shall bo made, must depend on
events which aro contingent* and which tho pre
scut age cannot take into it* calculation*, nor
render the basin of it* arrangement, unless it
could look into the womb of futuritv??Halcyon.
L1TKUARY.'
UKNKUAI. HKVIKW O? !IYItOM*H HOKMB.
We aro not so little conversant with tlx* human
character* and especially with the habit* of
authors, as to trust to their promise* of sileuco*?
We know that in general when a disputant say*
ho will not say one word more, he mean* that he
in fully determined to liavo the last word, and
wo du not give a poet credit for greater modora
tioti. In our criticisms, therefore,' on lord
Myron's Corsair, in (he dedication of which lie
annunced his intention to forbear trespassing, as
he .nodestly c:;prc?*C* himself, upon the public
patience for some time, though we thanked him
in the name of common sense, to?d poetry, and
sound morality /or the promised forbearance, wo
woro not *uch simpletons a* to cxpcct that,
as long ns there was loft remaining In story a
vagabond ruflian, and a hlackoycl maid to be
celebrated j as long as any men, women, or
children could be found to endurO the repetition
of the Kamo -gaudy confusion, and distorted
sentiment in broken verse, that tho same com
binations of blood - and debauchery, the poet
would eeaso to take advantage of the infatuation.
We did hope, however, that lord ttyron had
determined to izj do.wn his pen for a Reason, in
order to lafjMp a little ihoro of that abundance
which tho greater scene
moral exis'tct)fy?- uo always spreading befo
the contemplative mind ) and to learn, by
better acquaintance with the higher fonns of
poetry, what' are it* noblest ends, and what is
Iho authentic btamp of its value. When the
little poem that succeeded to the Corsair made
its appearance with all the old characteristics
about it, an like to the former production* as a
one pound bank-note is to another one pound
bank-note, and with as little difference in value,
we were still not in despair ; because we con
sidered that his lordship's muse had been too
long under the influence of her Turkish habits,
at once to renounce the harem, and that some
fruit of her former connexions was yet to lie
got rid of before the ancient ties could be
completely dissolved. Hut alas! aftere allowing
the full time for the consequence of former had
habits to pass away, we aro mortified to find
this self-same iiinr of lord Ilyron attain a delin
quent, and performing her vows'of chastity
and seclusion by bringing twins into the world ;
tho Siege of Corinth, mid l'arisina! hopeful
pair! Imppy mixture of Turkish and Italian
breed! possessing that genuine chst of physiogno
my which iu one expression combines valour and
apostacy, slaughter and sentiment, felony and
feeling, profanoness and tend* ?" .sss, incestuous
loye and iuo'*:..n
? I no (nu pnuma n lnrh ?re now prcscntcil to
the public under the sanction of lord Hvnm'H re
putation exhibit all the faults which have charac
trrised his lordship's preceding cftuMons, with
out the admixture of any of their merits, for me
rits undoubtedly some of them have displayed,
especially that poem which appcai'9 to have been
sacrificed to new friendships with aome of those
who were the objects of its spirited and just sa
tire i wo mean the address to the44 Knglisb Hords
ami Scotch Reviewers." To the " Cliilde Ha
rold" we have also tendered our humble tribute
of applause: but from that poem (in which, tho*
thej'O was little to elevato, there was much to
delight) the poet has tumbled down through sev
eral successive stages of deteriority, with an in
credible 41 vivacite de pcsantcur," to the lowest
profundity of the bathos ; at the very bottom of
which ho now lies together with his wretched
l'arisina. To the same limbo of inanity we
would gladly consign all those unholy images of
?daughter, sensuality, incest and infidelity, which
have taken such poetical possession of ford I)v
ron's brain.
Tlie hero of lord ?y ron's pocir.p, \v!?.? in a!-1
ways a man tli.it has defrauded the gallows, i
whether he he a (iiaonr. .1 CiiiMiir, or r Kcn<un-I
do, 'm ?carctlv diversified by the different de
grees of inirpiity bj \\i>:<h l.e i? c!inr.utv,ri*"d.
What 'a js said by Martin diftbrtl ill-naturedly I
enough to Drydc'n, might, with ? cJ.ango of the
nanr.'s, lie properly addicted to lord ISyron:?]
" I am strangely mistaken, if I huve not neon thi?* i
very Almaiisor of yours in some disguise about i
thiH town, mid passing under another name.
IV, ytlu'C, toll me true, was not t!ii* HulVcap
once the Indian emperor, and at another time
did he not call liimsuf Masimin r" 6.<\ It might
with greater propriety Imj enquired flf lord IIv
ron, whether all liis heroes weir not one and the
samy rn'He with an alio* only to distiugiii?h
him, and whether the Venetian renegado at the
niege of Corinth has an y I hi t<? give him a din.
tinct personality, utiles* it be his bare arm in
battle, and his ?pinliiii'.;t fpiivering, shivering,
departure out of life : lor the poet turn represent ?
ed him as making his exit in a sort of pirouette.
Sallies of frantic depravity ; combinations of
confused magnificence t half-told and half-smo
thered motives to revengu t half-seiiMi.il and
half-sentimental passion; dark or dark blue
iceiiery: a horrific, group of dogs, and carl ion,
and jackalls, and wolves, and Tartars* and Tur*
cotiuins' heads and bones; to which may be add
ed ull that the very Hignifk'ant line prcii'.ed to
the work by way oi motto announcei,
41 lions, trtitn|?cii, liliiodcrhuiACs, drums, and thunder"?
these, and more of a similar kind, are *?ningled
in the first of the poems, now before us, in mo
ludicrous an assemblage, as to make us doubt
whether it was not the design of this voting no
hleman to laugh at the simplicity of his admir*
ers, and to trv how much of this stuff the stupid
infatuation of the public would endure. The
vehicle of tliis tasteless accumulation is a
and lawless versification, whiftti ne'em* to
pose to itself something of Ivric irregularis
the simple neglect uf metrical consouancu
methodical structure. <
To enter into u detailed criticism upon v?
work would, we feel, be mightily ridicul
especially oh we are by mi means sure that
poet is not trying a ludicrous experiment i
the tolerance of lash'unable favoritism: for:
all wo cannot without a Struggle surrender
impression i<i lit\or of the author'4 gei
which, with somo intermixture of di.<?U*t,
Childo Harold created in our mind)!. \Vu i
own that while we dwelt with great and glo?
satisfaction pi) the many passages of p.u
sentiment and imagery witli which the poem
alluded to abounds, we regarded the char?
of the C'litlde luuWelf with great suspicion i
we coMainly did not flee in It iflte emoryo of
delusive compound of a man, who, by an u
tuial imxturo of heroism and crime, brut
and scutimciit, wait afterwards to warp the |
<;iple? of the young into an admiration, and
bans imitation, of a very pernicious model.
what increased our suspicion that there
Home danger to public sentiment lurking in
new poetical character, which would i.i >
other forms further develope iV? malignity,
the very obtrusive manner in which it was I
forward in a picturesque poem, whose ol
was to describo in rich and vivid colors th
teresting scenps of .Turkish Greece, with t
mixed sentiment# *of admiration and re
which the awful traces of pristine uplendo
the bosom of that fair region were calculate
produce, Through these munificent seem
poem has dragged along a re lining, repii
ulasiJiymouH sensualist, sulky at any turu
broifj^it new beauties to hi* eye, and in
midst pf external glory and grandeur, lie
about himself and lii's disappointment*,
haunted by the ghost* of his departed pleav
Hut although we were sorry that lord It
had picked up this fellow, to set him in
heart of ancient Greece* instead of leaving
to do his duty on the Thames } yet, as lie
so unmeaning a part in the scene, we ca
say that he prevented us from enjoying the
Hunt stau-/.as with which the poem of Childu
raid is interspersed; but when we tiiul
strutting in his cap and feather, the hero of
ry subsequent poem from the bame hand,
must confess that we totally lose our temper
feel the most pleasing part of the perform
to be that in which the grim-featured senti
talibt sm renders his existence to one of i
guns or blunderbusses which lord Byron en
rates in the verv well-chosen motto of his
sunt poem, us the instruments which he lu
ways at hand to bting about his bloody c
trophes.
As the Cliilde possessed nothing of the p
melancholy, nothing of that incising mi
which sometimes belongs to n rich imogiu
combined with a soft and tender dispositioi
neither has the Giaour, or the C'orseir, or .S
or Alp, any of tho-e properties which vi
them to the true nml nutui.d sympathies ol
reader; none of thorn delight* wIimU, "
phiii'like, hiiowuil their hacks above the ele.
tiiey li?%i| in ?? '1'liMV ?i*? a very i??now-n
ed gentry, without noy sct^iuiems that <
them oufof the selfish circle of animal pliM
but covering all their brutal habits with tin
pi'itory quality of desperute devotion to
pretty ,y>oi?W. NVu cuuuot, however, sn
much for Alp, (no hero of the poem now it
hands, who liaving sulTercd some outrageoi
di/oitv or some state persecution at Venici
native city, enters a renegado into the se
of the Moslems, and undertakes the sie;
Corinth, of which lie anticipates the total
truction, and where he knows the object o1
love, together with her aged father, must
ce?surily be liable to perish in the general
na^e, in order tube revenged upon his
country. And even when, on the night b.
tho siege, the ghost of the gentle lady vi
her lover in his sail vigil under tike waif* ol
city,and threatened him with the los* ofhe
ami herself, lie remained true to I.i* turln.
his Turkish creed, thus giving an oblique
ference to the paradise of Man-mist atul t!.
i lestial liouris.
It muftt be owned, howover, in oe?Mii"??;"
poem, flint it in meiitorioudy shurt, ami
hlhc *tory doc* not require that painful ii!v
j gutioii, mill, oh terrible thought . .1 corni 1
. ?al, to understand it* plot ami rat.v>< iipi- .
.is we haw f#rmcrl\, ia our icin'u ol tin*
w:iir, observed ihe uncertain ami my*
out end i?f thai hero** e*i?tenrat hi.? lui?
Iiiia amply provided lu-ti'i.it the recurrem
Mich tlouMi ill hi* reader'* (??ill.I by ?hnorin
' rciu^uilo (load, ami thou hi ??winj; him up
! ^nn-pow der. We have here tliercfme a
1 plete certificate ol' hi* hero's dtatii; at!
: mi,;ht Imped t-i.it after sutli a duublv
disposition ?11 <>ur old out* nv, we who'tld
have had to encouutur him ajrain: hut 11I 1
doc.- appear u^.iii, and in beheaded in no
< poem in the mnn1 vol'inut. After f e di?ci
j whic h hu had 11ml riro^I)|the tiego of Co
.however, he certainly tW* mil appear i
same bin* teeing ami ontra'ie'iu* ilia rat t
j which lie had belbru preaenled himself,
j ?II* f .co
!>.???? *r ri of t1nm<l?v'??<! culrenc.liM, siiil
I Sii tit li s ( tiled t li?ck "
In n uOld, he i r.i'irc moderate and decern
contnil< hinm'W witlikimplv defiling hi<t t.?i
lied, for \\hiv:It he pearenbly submit* to a j.
? execution. And thu* the Child'?, whom w ?
identified through all hi* fvlonion*
brou?ht to bit appropriate end, and poetJ<
tit e is satisfied.
lint ir? are not v* well nati?(lcdi and \\<
tell our readers why :??becauno uc have
ami (liu^hter* : but thi* it but a partial ri
ll't 114 add?bei nuKo Hritannia Iuh hui?
daughter#, and in the duration of their (1
teriatic virtue and mndeaty we behold tin
pledge of the continuanco of o?r liaitpitie*
great nemt. Wo do n/it nay that foul I
means to interrupt UH? hftppmew or grev