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been mentioned in the course of his biographical sketch. He has left a poem entitled "The Shrine of Nature;" which is now in the press, and will shortly be published. Next to Medicine, Mechanics and almost every branch of Natural History engaged his attention. He not only pursued those studies with great ardor and diligence himself, but also embraced every opportunity of cultivating and encouraging them amongst his numerous connections and acquaintance. Very soon after he settled at Derby, he instituted and established a philosophioal society and library, both of which were in a flourishing condition at the time of his decease. The society, of which he was president, consists of members who reside in different parts of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Leicestershire. He also took pleasure in encouraging works in natural history.

But though the learning, taste, and genius of Dr. Darwin were eminently displayed in these pursuits, yet there was one great end, to the attainment of which all his talents and views were earnestly and uniformly directed. He did not hesitate openly and repeatedly to declare in public company, that the acquisition of wealth was the leading object of all his literary undertakings! He once said to a friend: "I have gained 9001. by my Botanic Garden, and 9001. by the first volume of Zoonomia: and if I can every other year produce a work which will yield this sum, I shall do very well." He added; "Money, and not fame, is the object which I have in view in all my publications."

But Dr. Darwin was by no means insensible to the value of reputation. During the last years of his life, the love of fame was a passion which had great power over his mind; and the incense of praise was so very pleasant to him, that flattery was found to be the most successful means of gaining his notice and favour.

VOL. I....No. VI.

The conversation of Dr. Darwin abounded with very unequal sallies of wit; when he found himself engaged with a powerful antagonist in argument, he had sometimes recourse to ridicule, a weapon which he did not always handle with dexterity, for he was affected with an impediment in his speech which rendered his enunciation scarcely intelligible.

There are reasons for suspecting that Dr. Darwin was not a believ er in Divine Revelation; but belief is a matter of necessity, not choice. The religion of a man is a private affair between himself and his Maker: we have nothing to do with it. A few days before his death, a gentleman to whom we are indebted for the materials of a considerable portion of these memoirs, endeavoured to discover whether he entertained a belief and expectation of a future state of existence, the Doctor was observed to speak with a considerable degree of sedateness on the subject, and remarked, that it was natural to extend our wishes and views beyond the prsesent scene, and that it was right to pursue such measures as are likely to secure our happiness in another world; "but," "let us not hear any thing about hell."

In the foregoing sketch, the intention has been merely to state a few plain facts: the excellencies of Dr. Darwin have been noticed, and his errors exposed with equal openness: biographers, like jurymen, should deliver a verdict according to the evidence, uninfluenced by "fear, favour, or affection."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR.

ADDINGTON.

MR. Addington is the son of a physician of some eminence, who died about eleven years since, after having practised with equal celebrity and success. That gentleman, during the whole of his life, appears to have been a great phile

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tician, and to have studied with equal attention the constitution of a patient and the constitution of the state.

During the latter part of lord Chatham's life, the doctor lived in great intimacy with that nobleman: and such was the confidence subsisting between them, that when a negotiation was opened with the late earl of Bute, respecting his return to power, he acted as the plenipotentiary of the ex-minister.

It may be naturally supposed that this of course led to an intimacy between the families, and we accordingly find that the young Pitts and the young Addingtons, early in life, cultivated a friendship with each other, which received a fresh increase when Mr. Wm. Pitt became a member of the society of Lincoln's Inn, and Mr. Henry Addington entered his name as a student, and eat commons at the same hall.

The present premier possesses great influence, in consequence of the excellence of his character, and the high respect he had acquired during the time he acted as speaker. His majesty may be said to evince a personal attachment to him, and, if report be true, he has presented him with, and furnished for him, a house in Richmond Park, in order to be near him at all times.

In private life Mr. A. is particularly amiable. He is a sincere friend, an affectionate brother,a kind father, and a tender husband. Possessing an ample income, and being but little devoted to expense, he cannot be supposed to be instigated by the sordid wish of creating a fortune for himself; and, as his connections are all in affluent circumstances, he has no poor relations to provide for out of the public purse. On the other hand it remains to be proved, whether his abilities entitle him to rank as a first rate statesman; and a few years....perhaps a few months ....will determine, whether the new minister be destined to confer glory or disgrace on the empire; to subvert or to restore the liberties of his country!

PICTURE OF ST. DOMINGO.

Havre-de-Grace, (F.) October 3, 1803.

Dear Friend,

Ar the last time I had the pleasure of addressing you, under date of June, ultimo, the horrors of St. Domingo, and the dangers that surrounded me in my escape from that unfortunate colony was fresh in my mind: but at this present period those poignant sensations are in some measure blunted by the lapse of intervening time, and possessing feelings more harmonized, I will now proceed to fulfil my promise mentioned in my last. I mean that of giving you the details of the astonishing and unforeseen revolution that there took place.

You are well aware that I left France in May, 1802, and arrived at the Cape in the beginning of July following. A few months before that time, Le Clerc had landed his army for the purpose of reclaiming the blacks to the obedience of the French government. Toussaint had just been seized and sent over to France; the chiefs, his followers, had already made a voluntary submission: so that this political stroke on the part of the commander in chief, promised to the inhabitants of the island a return of peace and plenty, and to the trade of France, security and gain. Had this general not been diffident of his own talents and abilities, being placed in a country that opened to him an entirely new scene, and vested with powers of such momentous weight he would not have failed in effecting this grand object: but unhappily for himself....unhappily for the commerce of France, he suffered himself to be surrounded by some of the inhabitants of the place, and the chiefs of the army, whom he believed were better acquainted with the local circumstances and advantages to be gained, he communciated to them his plans, and opened before

them the means by which he proposed to effect the entire re-establishment of order in St. Domingo. These people, insincere in the cause which they appeared to wish to serve, once made acquainted with the general's projects, employed every means secretly to undermine his measures; so that the edifices he erected on one side, were sapped and thrown down on the other. Le Clerc, possessing a mind strong, though softened by sensibility, was not long before he perceived himself the dupe of this class of men; he saw his schemes thwarted and overturned, the evidence of which so forcibly preyed on his spirits, as soon to terminate his existence.

You are already informed of the horrors that calumny has belched out against him, I shall therefore pass them over in silence, immediately to proceed to that period, when Rochambeau, the hope of the colonials, or rather some of them, seized on the chief command of the island, now vacated by the premature death of the above general.

The partizans of Rochambeau who were in the mysteries of his iniquities, not knowing whether their friends in France would succeed with the government, to establish him in the chief command of the army of St. Domingo, proceeded to address petitions, in which they pictured this general to the first consul, as the only person capable of saving the colony from the state of annihilation with which it was threatened.

The multitude always blind and easily deluded, forgetting what Rochambeau had done at Martinique; forgetful of what he had even done at St. Domingo, under Santhonax, signed the petition, which was forwarded by express to the first consul; who had already, on the solicitations of the chiefs, the faction agitating at St. Domingo, had prepared in France; anticipated the wishes of the colonials, by conferring on Rochambeau, the chief command.

But what was the debut of this general when vested with the chief command? What were his first steps? He altered the plans of his predecessor; who had in view to open the campaign as soon as the arrival of the troops, promised him by the French republic, placed it in his power; he cantoned in detachments the forces that were already in the colony at the death of Le Clerc, and pursued the same measure with the reinforcement of 18000 men, that afterwards arrived: and if he made any sorties to attack the insurgents, they were partial and always inferior in numbers, as one is to twenty. By a conduct like this, in a climate, burning and obnoxious to the European constitution; he would have absorbed immense treasures and destroyed an army of one hundred thousand men, had they been at his disposal, without gaining an inch of ground from the insurgents.

Business requiring my presence at Port-au-Prince, I had an opportunity of taking a near view of the bent of Rochambeau's intentions. The month of November, and the two succeeding ones, were destined to witness scenes the most horrid; scenes that bear the deepest tinge of barbarous atrocity. Seven or eight hundred blacks, and men of colour were seized upon in the streets, in the public places, in the very houses, and for the moment confined within the walls of a prison. Thence they were hurried on board the national vessels lying in the harbour, from whence they were plunged into eternity.

These horrid scenes were repeated at Leogane, at Petit-Guave, and

has cost France fifty-two thousand It is well known that St. Domingo lions of livres tournois, nearly thirty men, and one hundred and fifty mil. millions of dollars; an expenditure sufficient to have effected the conquest of all the Antilles, but which has only served to arm and strengthen those it was intended to subdue.

in the whole circuit of Jeremie; at that time commanded by D'Arbois, the friend and protege of Rochambeau: but before I proceed further in these details, I must place before you the only military expedition I saw, headed by this general.....it is as follows:

He sailed out of Port-au-Prince with one thousand men, almost all regular troops, and proceeded to Jacquemel, at that time blockaded by the insurgents; he raised the siege, threw in one hundred and twenty men, and marched direct to Petit-Guave, from whence it was supposed he would have proceeded to the south by land, where his army would have destroyed the seeds of insurrection that began to appear, and by the impression it would have made on the black tillers of the ground, hindered a renewal of the same: On the contrary, he left eighty men at Petit-Guavo, partook of a ball and entertainment, he caused to be prepared, and then embarked for Jeremie, where he arrived the day following, and conferred with D'Arbois, whom he ordered to scatter in te different points of the coast, the remain ing part of the detachment that ac`companied him.

and the commandant at Petit-Trou, which closed his suite. The schooner Adelaide, followed him there. From the moment she was moored on the Fonds Blancs, in the outward harbour, covered by the guns of a small neighbouring fort, the orders for arrests were issued.

Immediately twenty men of colour amongst whom was the above mentioned commander and four men, belonging to Petit-Trou; several blacks, and one white from Nantes, whose name I well remember was Billiard, were all carried on board the Adelaide for the purpose of being sunk in a watery grave; but the captain of the vessel not taking the precaution to draw off to some distance from the shore, caused the town to participate in a scene, the horror of which stands unequalled.

At the still and solemn hour of midnight, when even the slumbering guard totters at his post, did the captain, or rather the executioner, begin to fulfil his duty, by executing the orders of the atrocious D'Arbois. The poor wretches on board, huddled and then tied together, at the sight of the lingering and dreadful fate that awaited them, struggled with their assassins, and all at once calling forth the most dreadful yells, roused the peaceful citizens by the noise, who entirely unacquainted with the cause, passed the remaining part of the night under arms, in horror and dismay. On the succeeding day, being informed of what had taken place on board the Adelaide, as they met, they looked at each other in silent horror; one saw painted on their furrowed countenances the presages of the fate they themselves had to expect.

D'Arbois and his commander of Jeremie, and whose name will always be held in execration; this commander, I say, to whose charge Rochambeau had been pleased to add the towns of Baradiers, PetitTrou, and L'Anseveau; appeared in these places to perform what he called his circuit of inspection, that is to deal out desolation and death;, to carry on his plan of butchery: in like manner as he had done in the other parts annexed to his command. But it was at L'Anseveau Notwithstanding, the same scene that I was myself a witness of the was repeated on board the schooner most premeditated barbarity. He....but that the town might not exarrived there, as well as I remem- perience the same alarm, she stood ber, in Nivose, ultimo, accompanied out to sea a small distance, consignby twenty men of the legion Polo- ed her load to the waves, and on the naise, eight men of the artillery succeeding day returned to her forcorps, one field piece, and twenty mer anchoring place. national dragoons of Jeremie, besides several aid-de-camps, four soldiers,

These proceedings, that the most hardened mind cannot but contem

plate with horror, and which lasted several days, cast the pangs of despair into the hearts of the people of colour in the different quarters, and dreading the same fate, they fled in bodies to the insurgents, and augmented the number.

Nevertheless, the ferocious D'Arbois was not satisfied; he was anxious to provoke a general insurrection in the south of the island. With this view he crossed the mountains with some of his satellites, and arrived at Aux-Cayes where he received information of three or four hundred men of colour that then crowded the prisons. He forthwith solicited the black commander of that place, La Plume, to suffer him to dispatch out of the way these poor wretches. La Plume, naturally humane, and possessing a soul timid and unprepared for such guilt, absolutely refused. What did D'Arbois then do? He quieted the fears of the black chief, by telling him to take no part in the affair, to leave it entirely to him, he would answer for the whole.

In two days he emptied the prisons of Aux-Cayes, and then returned triumphant to l'Ansevau; whose inhabitants the preceding eve had been sensibly struck at the sight of the bodies of the poor wretches, who, a few nights before, amidst all the horrors of howling depair, had been consigned to the waves, and that by their cries had made them pass a great part of the night under arms. The billows now washed these unfortunate victims to the shore, floating with their eyes, as it were, turned towards heaven, they seemed to demand vengeance on the author of their untimely death: A vengeance that called for the reddened blasts of an avenging hand on the head of him who so deliberately provoked it. Conceive then what must have been the welcome this wretch met with here!

Soon after his alighting, he receives news that the insurgents are encamped on the plantation called Bourignau, four leagues distant from the town, and amounting to a consi

derable number. Immediately the gay d'Arbois orders forty of the national guards to proceed to meet them, but the insurgents were already in motion and facing them, killed some and forced the remain der to retreat. The routed handful returns to l'Anseveau, spreads the alarm, and d'Arbois, informed of what passed, hurries the remainder of the national guard then in the town to oppose their approach to the city; but himself, forcseeing the event, mounts on horseback and rides off to Petit-Trou, situated four leagues in the opposite direction, as he said, to dine with the curate.

Scarcely had the dragoons proceeded a league on their way, when they are met by the insurgents, whose number was now considerably augmented; they were attacked, routed, and dispersed; some regained the town, a general alarm was sounded, and scarcely had the remaining inhabitants time to retreat to, and rally at a small redoubt, unprepared for resistance, when the insurgents, anxious to push their victory, rushed into the town....the artillery corps fired a few guns; the infantry joined by the inhabitants, opposed feebly with their musquetry, all was confusion; no leader to animate, rally and command, numbers overpowered them, and in a short time they were cut to pieces by the swords of the blacks.

D'Arbois, on receiving the news, brought him by one of the nine whe escaped from this massacre, mounts his horse, accompanied by his satelites, and proceeds in haste to Jeremie, saying, they had a design on his person.

This unfortunate affair which almost cost the whole of the white population of the place, was a signal for a general insurrection in the south side of the island; it seemed to promise success to the blacks, who successively took possession of the different places belonging to that quarter.

I was myself amongst the very small number of those who escaped from l'Ansevau, and returned to

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