Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1816-06-19

ucceedcti BY the sallow tinge which ma |
are had bountifully bestowed"
But to compare the style of the commo-
lore Journal, correct rs il is, with that
If any English voyager in his present rarb,
would be extremely unfair and illiberal,
asmuch as there is hardly one British ma
Sigator whose Journal was not previously
committed to the revision and correction
OF protested writer before it went to-
press. In one Of the numbers Of the Edin-
burgh Review the reader will find, amongst
others. that the voyages of Cooke, Anson
and Vancouver, were all re-,critten by
nrofessed scholars in England, and that
the style of these boasted British naviea-
tors was too absurd to appear in pubic.
Bat, Notwithstanding all this, written as
Commodoe Porte's was, under the nume-
rous disadvantages described in his pre-.
face, it will yet be found, upon compari.
son, to surpass, in good style, those of
Cooke, Arson, and Vancouver, eren in the
ne'o dress, as much as an American sea-
man surpasses the bravest tar of Britain in
skill, courage and activity. 1t is not a little
amusing, however, to mark the obvious in.
consistencies of which these mercenary re-
viewers are guilty. When they lately re-
viewed the voyage oftheir countryman
Iurn6ull, they complained loudly Of the
smoothness and strict propriety of his
style; and were highly displeased. be.
cause, they said, it had too much the air
of a protested writer, and dill not appear
20 ceme warm frem the heart.-They CEN
sured him severely for comparing some.
thing to the tail of paper kite instead of
the zane at the head of the ships mast, be.
cause this, they said, was more natural to
the mind Of sailor than the other and,
upon the whole, were very sorry that he
had not been more free in the use Of sea-
laring terms, and written his voyage in a
more plain and simple strain. And. now.
behold, when they have got lust such a
journal as they had here wished for. they
turn about upon the opposite tack, and
complain that it rs too much in the style of
a boatswain's mattel! Their inconsistent.
cy, however, is equalled by theirignorance.
as lit room were afforded) could easily be
proved. One instance must suffice for the
present. In attempting to throw ridicule
upon the theory Of the trade winds. which
Com. Porter has inserted near the begin.
ming of his j urnal, the reviewer laughs al
him for using the word rotatory. as anplied
t" the motion of the earth from west IN
east, and evidently intimates that there ;s
no such word in the English languaoe.
Now, independent of the fact that there i
such word in the English la suage. it is.
of all words, the only one that Com. Por-
ter could have properly used on this occa.
sion.
The greatest astronomer in the United
kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
when speaking of the earlier theories of
the tides, makes use of the following OBJ
servation. Neither the state of matbe.
matlcal science was such as could vet ena.
Ile any one to determine the motions of
mud, acted on by the three gravitations
above mentioned, and having. besides a
rotatory metion."-Edix. Rerie,p. vol. II
p. $50, line 81.
will only detain the reader, and take
little more room, for the present, to ex.
PLAIN the cOmmodOre's base conduct at
the isle OF Fernando de Noronka,' so ma
lignantly inserted in the index before ouo-
Vase COI'luCI was no other
than the sending for the governor of the
isle, and afterwards opening letter left
there previously by com. cambridge for
com. Porter, as is fully stated in the Jour.
nal. The letter was addressed to Sir
James Yeo of the Southampton frigate,'
and so much of it az was written wifi
common ink contained few unmeanino
remarks, but at the foot of the sheet was
was written in sympathetic ink, com.
real views. The reviewer.
.owever, true to his calling, charges com.
Porter with crime for breaking open this
letter, alleging that it was in reality a let
ser for Sir James Yeo. Now, waving a
score OF arguments that might here be urg
I'd. L will only say, that I hare seen and
read me letter IN guestion-bare compared
= carefully 1oith the hand aoritine. of com
cambridge, and. find it to be the same-,oas
present at the time ,ohpn 10 aUas handed to
'om. Batn6rtdge. and heard him acEno1o.
edge 1t to be his o,ca--and that 1T still re-
mains IN the possession IF com. Porter. to
'at'$ty those aoto haze any doubts upon the
'a6ject. D.
NEW ORLEANS.
n The situation of New Orleans having ex
'ited deep and just interest, we sedulously col
ect and present to our readers whatever relates
o the subject.