Thomas's Massachusetts spy, or, Worcester gazette. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1811-1821, 1821-04-04


conducted bya fraternity Of literary gentle.
men, contains a irries of Letters from General
Wilmington, never before publilhed, from
which We ielea the following as exhibiting a
delicious ipecimen of the Gale with which
great man can laple into iporivene(, and famil-
iarty. Ny. Ananaa.
MoUNT-vERNoN, APRIL 25, 1888.
My dear Marquis
In reading your very friendly and ac-
ceptable letter, of the 21st of Decem-
Der, 1897, which came to hand by the
last mail, was, as you may we'll sup
pose, not less delighted than surprized,
to come across that plain American
word" My Wife" A Wife well
my dear Marquis, can hardly refrain
from smiling, to find that you are caught
at last. | saw by the eulogium you of
ten made on the happiness of domestick
life in America, that you had swallowed
the bait, and that you would, as surely
as you are a philosopher and soldier,
be taken one day or other. So your
day has at length COME am glad of
it with all my heart and soul-it is good
enough for you. Now you are we'll
served for coming to fight in favour of
the American rebels, all the way across
the Atlantick ocean, by catching that
terrible contagion which, like the small
pox, or the plague, aman can only have
once in his life, because it commonly
lasts him Cat least with US in America
| don't know how you manage the mat
ter in France, for his lifetime. And
yet, after all the maledictions you SO
richly merit on the subject, the worst
wish | can have in my heart to make a.
gainst Madame de ChastelIux and your
sell, is, that you may neither of you get
the better Of this domestick felicity du-
ring the course Of your mortal existence.
If so wonderful an event should have
occasioned me, my dear Marquis, to
have written in a strange style, you will
understand nae as clearly as if had
said (what in plain English is the simple
truth) do me the justice to believe that
| take heartfelt interest in whatsoev-
er concerns your happiness in this
view, ! sincerely congrat1l ate you on
your suspicious matrimonial connexion.
! am happy to find that Madame de
Chastellux, is SO Immediately connected
with the Duchess of Orleans, as have
always understood that this noble lady
was an illustrious pattern of connubiaI
love, as well as an excellent model Of
virtue in general.
While you have been making love
under the bands of Hymen, the great
personages of the north have been max
ing war under the inspiration, or rather
the infatuation, of Mars. Now, for my
part, | humbly conceive you had much
the best and wisest of the bargain for
certainly it is more consonant to all the
principles Of reason and religion, (nat-
ural and revealeO to replenish the earth
with inhabitants, rather than depopulate
it by killing those already in existence;
besides, it time for the age Of knight
errantry and mad heroism to be at an end.
Your young military men, who want
to reap the harvest of laurels, do not
care, | suppose, how many seeds of war
are sown; but, for the sake of humani-
ty, it is devoutly to be wished that the
manly employment of agriculture, and
the humanizing benefit of commerce,
should supersede the waste Of war and
the rage of conquest; that the swords
might be turned into ploughshares-the
spears into pruning hooks and, as the
Scripture expresses it, "the nations
learn war no, more.o
will now give You little news from
this side Of the Atlantick, and then fin
ish AS for us, we are plodding on in
the dark road of peace and politicks.-
We, who live in these ends Of the earth,
only hear Of the rumours of war like
the roar Of distant thunder. II is to be
hoped that our remote local situation
will prevent us from being swept into
its vortex.
The Constitution, which was propos-
ed by the Federal Convention, has been
adopted by the States of Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Jersey, Pennsylvania, Del
aware, and Georgia. No State has re-
jected it. The Convention Of Mary
land is now sitting, and will probably a.