The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-01-16
From che Gsallcmdn's Magazine.
moan ApHIcAL SKETCH AND SERVICES OF
COMMODORE CHARLES STEWART,
of the Many Of the United States.
INrRopucTloN.

Pennsylvania may justly claim the honor of
having contributed as largely TO the proud list
of American philosophers, statesmen and he
roes as any other State in the Union; and
vet in consequence Of the peculiarly unosten-
tatious and unpretending character OF her peo-
pie, she has hitherto forborne to assume the
rank, or lay claim to the honor, to which the
merits and services of her sons Justly eniitle
her. Reposing on the justice of this claim,
and upon the concession that she is the key
stone Of the federal arch" and that her honest,
industrious and patriotic yeomanry are unri-
vailed in all the attributes that render State
great, prosperous, and happy, she has never
singled out from the constellation OF her sons,
for especial commentators, the bright and
shining" stars with which that constellation is
adorned
What galaxy Of glory is concentrated in
the names of Franklin, Rittenhouse, Rush,
Fulton, Morris, M'kean, Wayne, Brown, De-
catur, James Biddle, Stewart How proudly
do we point to this array Of ilusrious citi-
zens The world will perceive in this list
the genius who snatched the lightning from
the skies; the man who went deep into the
mysteries of creation, and
Looked through nature up to natures God"
and he who, with skill which has rendered
him immortal, encountered death at the sick
mans bed, and stayed his uplifted arm; and
he who, by certain modification of machi-
merry, the result of his own all-conquering ge-
nins, has filled the waters with steamboats,,
and created a new agent in the application of
steam-power; he who rescued the country
from impending bankruptcy in the period of
the revolution and he who rivalled the Cokes
and Mansfelds of England and brought or
der, harmony and effect out of the confusion
of the law, and he who was the hero of Stony
Point, the hero of Fort Erie, and the con-
queror of the INTERCHANGEABLE conaueror of
the Penguin, andthe conqueror of the Cayenne
and Levant, were all PENNsYLvANIANs. We
are well aware that the fame of the men be-
longs to the State, and that the humblest of its
citizens inherits portion Of her renown-
The policy of Pennsylvania has been to appeal
not to her great men, but to her free institu-
tions-her peaceful and prosperous people
to her stupendous public improvements, and
her agricultural, and almost boundless nine
raj wealth, for the evidences of her lofty and
merited rank and power in the Union. For
herself, as state, she has claimed much, and
1t has all been cheerfully accorded yet she
has been slow iii forcing the claims of her
distinguished sons, forgetting the beautiful ex-
ample of the Roman mother rho, uhen asked
TOR her Je'oels, proudly pointed to her children.
The writer ofthis sketch has deemed these
observations due, not only to PENNSYLVANIA,
but to himself, and to the subject of this biog-
raphy. In presenting to the public a brief
sketch ofthe life of Commodore Charles Step-
art 1t is but simple justice to him to trace to
the unobtrusve character of his native state,
that apparent indifference TO his history, which
has suffered a long life Of faithful services,
amidst the tolls and perils Of the sea, and of
battles, to remain so long unwritten. We
cannot doubt that the following hasty notices
OF the life of this distinguished son of Penn
ylnanla, which are designed to supply this
deficiency, will be an acceptable offering to
our fellow citizens, not of Pennsylvania only.
but OF the Union. The facts detailed belong
TO history, and the only objects aimed at, in
their publication, is TO disseminate truth
and perform an act of Justice to a meritorious
and successful vindicator of the rights of our
common country, and distinguished con,ribu-
tor to her renown-For,
"Thro' fire and smoke, and wind and wave
On every sea. Britannia call'd her own"
he mas Tor forty years, CALAMITY and trium-
Dlantly horne Tho 0,r ~ ~, ao,,......