Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-07-29


alton DISPLAYED by Capt. Hall toward the infant
for whom the lady's maid Of that gallant tar was
able occasionally to "procure little milk" 1t
il dis.rms criticism, and 0verwhelms one with
marital and paternal feeling. How touching, for
instance, is the melting earnestness with which
the husband of Mrs. Fidler relates how that de.
Iicate individual "prooured for hersey pot OF
ale, at eight pence quartz" And how soothing
the accents with which he dwells upon the anna
BILE mood instied by the draught in the fair part
per of his cares! Who would have thought,
now, that the same pen which traced scenes OF
such gentle interest as these. could have depicted
in such savage colors the manners OF the unfOrtu'
nate Clnciniiatians. Yet such mast undoubtedly
be the case, while thousands are ready to make
affidavit that Capt. Hall, Mistress Trollope, the
Rev. Mr.. Fidler, and for aught We know the
wandering piper to boot, are all one and the same
person. Corporal oaths, however. are unnecessa.
~ in case which circumstantial evidence makes
so clear. Who for instance will believe that the
real Capt. Hall, the Loochoo man, vas ever IN
this country and conducted himself with the
rudeness that the fellow who usmped his name
as nom de guerrs, attribute to him, when oy
the account Of that very fellow, the people among
whom he travelled are so quarrelsome that ne
would have been dirked. or bored through with a
rifle ball, had ne presumed to utter hall that ne
has put down IN his book. Then too for this
pseudo Mrs. Troiope: who that knows what
Yankee curiosity il, can imagine that being 80
strange, spiritual as she is, could, like dew
drop on sandstone, pcrcolate unobserved through
the country; and finally as for Mrs. Fider's hus-
band, he that is represented as coming to teach
the young.hoshero0ns Of Indiana, Sanscrit-as
for his being real bona fide person, thing Of
flesh and blood, man in short, Quodd whom
sheriff could return cepi corpus, in court OF
law;-why the thing is preposterous; he Is but an
exhalation from Mrs. Trollope, jack.a lantern
sprung from her miry ways,-and bis book,
though not bound in hers, bears the same rela'
ton to it, as did the amputated shadow OF Peter
scheml, to its celebrated original. >,
No, reader, there is no such Mr.. as the Rev.
Mr.. Fiddler, there was no such Mistress as Mis-.
tress Trollope, and no such Captain as Captain
Basil Hall. 1t is one single, one only person
who is at the bottom Of this tria juncta IN uno,
that has been making SO much mischief, aud ex-
citing so much i'll feeling between two coun-
tries, which certainly gain nothing by nat
ing each other. Who that Individual may be-
we are not prepared to say. But there is one
strange being, one mystic creature who Is now
trayersing this land, and making his influence
felt every where. Like the god Of light himself,
he penetrates into every corner, and brings the
hidden things today. Like the clouds in which
that divinity is at times arrayed. he assumes eve,
~ shape to the eye: and like the demon oil
the storm, who hur,cs his arrows from those
clouds, strong, sudden, and irresistible. he
filings, while seeming to scatter, the bolts OF his
power with unerring aim.
Far be it from Us, however, to Fix any suspl-
cion on one whose inscrutable ways are the theme
Of admiration and the object of intense interest
to the whole nation. Far be it FROM US to suily
name that is now blazoned every where among
the brightest Of the land. Far be it from US to
raise a suspicion against the democratic patriot
ism, and the patriotic democracy OF one SO uni
versaly revered, as'to hint that MAJOR JACK
DawS1NG is the true original of tile Tar, the
TroUope, and the Fidier-N y fin.