NO. 14. VOL. II.] WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1816. [WHOLE NO. 40. PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY JOEL K. MEAD, AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. the true origin of these orders; and we are disposed to believe, with St. Pierre, that the various proportions of the palm tree were the true basis of the different architectural orders. The diam the whole period of its existence, and whatever may be the elevation of its stem. Among the ruins of Persepolis may be seen numerous imitations of this tree. It will be recollected that the various proportions of the different orders, which in the Tuscan is seven times its diameter high, the Doric eight times, the Ionic nine, and the Corin HINTS TO AMERICAN ARCHITECTS. The Grecian architecture has been admired by the world for ages, and will continue to excite admiration as long as the fine arts are cultivated,eter of the palm tree remains the same during or the principles of true taste are understood. The combination of sublimity, beauty, grandeur, and repose, which it displays, have seldom been imitated, and never rivalled. The soft and voluptuous climate of Ionia, and the Ægian isles, fanned by the gentle breezes of the sea, with a sky always serene, and a soil always fertile, was calculated to foster genius, to vivify imagination,thian ten, have been ascribed to the difference of and to infuse a taste for the refinements of art, and a relish for the beauties of nature. With such a people it was but a short step from the contemplation of living nature to the production of ideal beauty. Phydias produced his Jupiter by imitating the sublime description of Homer; and Apelles executed his Venus by a happy and exquisite combination of all the beauties of the human form, and all the charms of the human countenance. proportion in a young woman at different ages. It is said her stature has, in infancy, seven times the breadth of the face; when more advanced, eight times; when still older, nine times; and when arrived at perfect maturity, ten times. "Is it not more likely," says St. Pierre," that the trunk of the palm tree afforded the first model of a pillar by its perpendicular attitude and the equality of its diameters, as well as that it suggested the cylindrical tambours in the Tuscan The origin of the Grecian architecture has been order, by its annual rings. I am inclined, likeascribed to the Egyptians: but the monuments of wise, to look for the first notion of fluting the this art they have left us are rude and uncouth, shaft in the vertical crevices of the bark which indeed, compared with the exquisite specimens serve to convey to the root the rain that falls, on yet to be discovered in Greece-specimens so its leaves. I am further inclined to trace the vastly superior in delicacy, polish, and sublimity volutes of the Ionic capital to the first circles of of effect, that we must hesitate to believe they the sheaths; the Corinthian capital to the leaves borrowed any thing from the Egyptians. It must of its palms; the proportions of the different orbe confessed, indeed, that in jurisprudence and ders to the hieght of its trunk at different ages; religion they excelled, and gave systems of morals and, finally, the plan of arranging columns toto the rest of the world; but we cannot believe gether, to the manner in which palm trees are that Greece ever owed her rudiments of the art found grouped by the hand of nature." of building to the rude and unpolished produc- the Greeks imitated ngre accurately, and that tions of Egypt. We are rather inclined to think the beautiful prope a an of this elegant tree that a nation so refined in sensibility, and so sus must have struck h peculiar force, will ceptible of external impressions, would be more scarcely admit of a nibt. If, then, the Greeks disposed to imitate the beauties and proportions and other southern nations took the proportions of living nature than to have recourse to the and ornaments of their architecture from the heavy and unnatural productions of Egyptian art. palm tree, could not we in the north introduce The Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders the proportions of the pine into our architecture, are claimed by the Greeks as their invention. and ornament it with various natural productions The Ionians are said to have borrowed the pro- peculiar to these latitudes. It would establish a portions of the Ionic column from the proportion national architecture, and be more appropriate of an Ionian girl, the flutes of the shaft from the and equally beautiful. The trunk of the pine folds of her clothes, and the volutes of the capi-might serve for the proportions of the shafts of tal from her head dress. And the invention of the Corinthian cap is ascribed to the accidental sight of a basket which had been placed upon the leaves of the acanthus. But these were not VOL. II. N. vou ララボ That the column, and the whole might be crowned by imitations of the staple productions of this coun try-the corn, the cotton, and the tobacco; or *St. Pierre's Harmonies of Nature. "clothe it," according to the suggestion of the || dom: it is there the most sacred pledge of proauthor I have already quoted, “with its natural mised faith. In times less remote, to swear by moss, and pourtray the squirrels that inhabit it, the beard, and to seal with three of its hairs, was with their tails raised in the manner of a plume the received usage, which gave rise to the saying, over their heads." If the Greeks could add the it is a devil with three hairs. Some particular reanests of turtle doves to the ornaments of their sons, in the sequel, reduced this mark of verility Corinthian capital, we might, with the same pro- to a simple whisker, which presents an aspect priety, introduce the squirrel, which holds the more terrible and fierce. Then were seen Spasame rank among quadrupeds that the dove holds nish and Turkish whiskers; whiskers with a poignamong birds. The Egyptians imitated the pine ard, gard, and, in fine, royal whiskers—which in their pyramids and obelisks; and the Chinese were the last twig of beards, in which the an have made it the model of their columns in their cient line terminated. The Portuguese have alrich pavillions, and regarded it as the symbol of ways attached the highest price to their beards immortality. St. Pierre says he would denomi- Under their Queen Catharine, the brave Jean é nate this the conical or pyramidal order, in contra Crusto, going to deliver up the Chateau Dice's distinction to the Grecian orders which are called India, finding himself deprived of every thing, cylindrical. he requested 1,000 pistoles of the inhabitants, and sent them one of his whiskers as a pledge for the sum. Penetrated by this heroic trait, they inmediately sent him back his whisker and mere sacrifices would not now be made on similar conditions? Take away from a nation, says the au We will conclude this article with a few remarks on this subject from the "Harmonies of Nature," in expectation that they may serve as a hint to American architects, and as an induce-than he demanded. People of long beards, what ment to adopt the plan he recommends in future edifices. Instead of disposing these columns in long peristyles, like those of the Greeks, Ithor, their decoration, the form of their costume, would group them in conical rotundas, in the order in which the seeds of the pine are arranged in their cones. With this view, I would give a progressive elevation to the columns in the middle of the rotunda, so as to increase the extent in perspective, the outside column being shorter | and of less diameter. If the peristyle be favourable to coolness in a warm climate, by affording a free circulation, the conical rotunda is equally favourable to warmth in a cold climate, by concentrating it within, and by stopping the course of the wind on the outside. The interior and ex terior of its vault would represent the scales and the oval form which are found so pleasant in the pine cone." For the Nem tal Register. SIR,-I send you arch observes: their colours, the grave and imposing exterist, For the National Register. The unfortunate end of Richard Cœur de Lion, King of England, who was slain by an arrow ner the castle of Chalos, in 1199, is ascribed by all the chronicles of those times to a divine punishment, inflicted for his raillery to a curate of Bry, called Foulques de Neuilly. They say that the purity of this man's manners, the force of b sermons, and his power of performing miracks caused him to be regarded as a prophet anim apostle. He declared to Richard that he had been commissioned by God to convert him, and destroy in him three wicked children which be entertained-ambition, avarice, and luxury. E chard, they say, laughing at his wise remon strances, had the hardihood to reply to the zeal ous servant of God: “Well, I will follow you counsels-I give my ambition to the templars, mỹ avarice to the monks, and my luxury to the priests. G. A beard, thick and well furnished, was, at Rome, and among the Greeks, held in the highest veneration. The Gauls whom Brennus commanded were so astonished at the majestic mein and long beards of the Roman senators, that admiration succeeded, for an instant, to the fury of carnage. Homer always speaks with respect of the beard of Nestor and Priam. At Lacedemonia and in Egypt they regard it as a mark of wis-Il cients, but it seems to be very little known in NATURAL HISTORY. The asp is frequently mentioned by the an this country. It is a small serpent, very poisonous, and is so called from the Greek aspis, which signifies a shield, which it resembles. It is a native of Africa, and is commonly found on the banks of the Nile. Cleopatra was said to have killed herself with the poison of the asp. Lord Bacon thinks the poison of this animal has a strong affinity to opium, but is less disagreeable in its operation. Prosper Alpinus says its bite is very small, causes no inflammation or protuberance, and that the poison runs immediately over the body, and produces a species of numbness, accompanied with gentle sleep. The ancients made || a plaster of the asp, and applied it in cases of the gout, &c. Chego-Pulex minimus. W. This insect is very common in this country and between the tropics, and is often, through carelessness, the cause of the loss of toes, sometimes of legs, and even of life itself, in the West-Indies. It is a species of flea, but so small that it is difficult to discern it with the naked eye. Magnified, all its parts are diatinctly seen. From its mouth there issues a hollow tube between two antennæ : it has six jointed legs and a long tail. This insect penetrates the skin and deposit its eggs, which swell to the size of a pea and produce great itching. If this bag of eggs be not re. moved in time, they will, in hot climates, produce mortification, which sometimes terminates Tumble bug-Scarabæus pilularis Americanus. As this beetle is very numerous in this country, and, according to the late report of Mr. Peters, very destructive to crops of Indian corn, I send you a description of it, which I hope will be interesting to your readers. when the eggs become animated and leave their 1 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Nov. 25, 1816. Notice is hereby given, that funds have been assigned for the payment of such Treasury Notes, Loan Office in the city of New-York, in the State and the interest thereon, as are now due at the of New-York, and which were not embraced by the notification from this Department of the 22d of August, 1816. And the said Treasury Notes will accordingly be paid upon the application of the holders thereof respectively, at the said Loan Office in the city of New-York, at any time prior to the first day of January, 1817, after which day interest will cease to be payable upon the said Treasury Notes. laws of the United The Commissioners in the several States are requested to make thin ice generally known by all the means in that vouver; and the Printers States, will be pleased to insert it once a week in authorized to pu their respective papers until the first day of January next. WM. H. CRAWFORD. November 26. These beetles appear in April, and disappear in September They are constantly engaged, during this time, in forming pellets of dung, in which they deposit their eggs, and in rolling them into holes in the earth about three feet deep, prepared for the purpose. Their industry and perseverance in this dirty employment are nevertheless worthy of imitation; for though often disturbed, and having to encounter many difficulties, from the unevenness of the ground, they continue their labour till their object is accomplished, or till they find the difficulties insur-New-York on the 2d of September, 1816, and con mountable. Their balls, which are globular, are moved by the hind feet, and 2, and sometimes 3 at a time, are engaged in this employment. These balls, or pellets of dung, are suffered to remain in the sun till they are quite hard, when they are rolled in to the holes where they lie until spring, TRIAL OF GENERAL GAINES. ADJ. & INSP. GEN.'S OFFICE, Nov. 11. 1816. At a General Court Martial, of which Major General WINFIELD SCOTT is president, convened at tinued by adjournments—Major General EDMUND P. GAINES was tried on the following charges and specifications, viz. CHARGE I. Misconduct in office, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Specification 1. In this-That the said Major General Edmund P. Gaines, at Sackett's Harbor, between the 15th and 25th of February, 1814, said, during the said battle, ordered a small debeing then and there Colonel of the 25th regi-tachment of Infantry and Riflemen into Fort Erie, not to act under the orders of Major Trimble, the ment of United States infantry, and acting Adjutant General of Major General Jacob Brown's officer commanding the fort, but under the direccommand, by misrepresentation, and deceiving tion of an officer of the staff, with special orders Gen. Brown as to the consent of officers, and other to charge the north east bastion of the fort, then improper means, procured, and cause to be is- in the possession of the enemy-orders which sud, a general order, dated at "Sackett's Har- could not be successfully executed-prevented bor, February 24th, 1814," and signed" E. P. said detachment from being usefully employed, Gaines, Ajt. Geni." transferring a detachment of and exposed part of it to destruction, without the 26th regiment of infantry to the aforesaid the possibility of its subjecting the enemy to 25th, contrary to the prescribed regulation for the equal loss. army relative to transfers, to the great injury of the service. Specification 2. In this-That the said Major General Gaines, in a written official statement to Major General Brown, dated at" Sackett's Harbor, May 7th, 1814," falsely stated, 1st. That the transfer aforesaid, of the men of the 26th Infantry, was made by the consent, and at the particular request, of Major Tod and Captain Swearingen. 2dly. That in a conversation between himself and Captain Swearingen, some days after the date of the transfer aforesaid, in which the latter mentioned his having received recruiting orders from the War Department, Capt. Swearingen indicated no disposition whatever to get back the men of the 26th Infantry, who had been transferred to the 25th. Specification 3. In this-That at the fortified encampment aforesaid, between the 15th and 23d of August, 1814, the said Major General Gaines, commanding as aforesaid, required many officers to report to him the conduct of their commands at the battle aforesaid, and, actuated by injuste and a vindictive spirit, did not require Major Trimble to report the conduct of his command in said battle, although he held throughout the said battle the separate and highly important command of Fort Erie, where the battle raged with great fury, and the enemy was bravely and efficiently fought by said Trimble's command; but required Major Hindman and Major Hall to report the operations in the fort; the former of which officers, being the senior officer of artillery of the army under the said Major General Gaines, and having the general superintendance of all the artillery attached to said army, was not stationed in Fort Erie; and the command of Major Hall being confined to a small detachment which was sent into the fort, under special orders, but a very short time before the close of the action, and And that the said Major General Gaines, in the which was, though bravely, worse than uselessly sections or paragraphs, marked 1st and 2d, of his employed on impracticable service; and neither said written official statement to Major General of which' officers had an opportunity to be acBrown, misrepresented the circumstances of the quainted with the general defence of the forttransfer aforesaid, and the occurrences alluded to conduct on the part of the said Major General in said paragraphs, and designedly concealed the Gaines calculated most unjustly to insult and truth of said circumstances and occurrences; and wound the honorable sensibilities of Major Trimthereby deceived the Secretary of War, and Ge-ble and the officers and men of the infantry unneral Brown, relative to said transfer, concerning der his command, to exclude them from their which they ought to have received correct infor-rightful participation in the glory and honors of mation from him-injured Major Trimble of the that battle, and to produce disaffection and disinfantry, who had made an official representation sention in the service, and injure its interest. to the Secretary of War on the subject of said trasnfer, and prevented the redress of an injury which he, the said Majo teneral Gaines, had already done to the servess, 3dly. That in the aforesaid conversation, he, Major General Gaines, expressed the opinion that Capt. Swearingen ought to re-enlist the men; (meaning the men of the 26th Infantry, who had been transferred to the 25th. CHARG ose terr Specification 4. In this-That the said Major General Gaines, in his principal detailed official report to the Secretary of War, of the battle of the 15th of August, 1814, aforesaid, with malice, and unjustly and contrary to his duty, concealed the fact that Major Trimble commanded Fort Misconduct and gross injustice in office. Specification 1. In this-That the said Major Erie during the said battle; and not only conGeveral Edmund P. Gaines, at the fortified en- cealed said fact, but endeavored to communicate campment near Fort Erie, in Upper Canada on or the impression that he did not so command; and about the 14th of August, 1814, being then and that, in the first part of the action, the fort was here command of the army of the United States, commanded by Captain Williams, and afterwards at that place, actuated by injustice and a vindic. by Major Hindman-the said Major General tive spirit towards the aforesaid Major Trimble,|| Gaines having, in person, on the evening immedither of the 19th Infantry, refused to give that ately preceding the action, assigned the command cifer, he being the only field officer of said 19th of the fort to Major Trimble, and Major Trimble forry, on that frontier, the command of two de-ranking both Captain Williams and Major Hindtachments of said regiment, then present; and, man, and commanding the fort during the battle. Specification 5. In this-That the said Maj. Gewithout a proper and sufficient object, and for the u just purpose of excluding him from command,neral Gaines, in his aforesaid official report of the ondered him to the opposite side of Lake Erie, to battle of Fort Erie, stated that the centre column of the enemy, led by Col. Drummond, "approachthe injury of the service. Specification 2. In this-That the said Majored at once every assailable part of the fort, and General Gaines, being in command of the army with scaling ladders, ascended the parapet, but or the United States, in the battle of the 15th of was repulsed with dreadful carnage. August, 1814, at the fortified encampment afore-sault was twice repeated, and as often check The as ed." Whereas, the whole efforts of said column And that the said Major Gen. Gaines, in his of the enemy, in the first part of the action, and said official report, stated, that "Captain Fanduring the time alluded to in said statement, as ning's battery likewise played upon them" (the the said Maj. Gen. Gaines knew, or ought to have enemy) " at this time with great effect:" whereknown, were directed against the north curtain as, at the time referred to, the enemy were not of the fort, (or north line of the redoubt connect-within the scope of Captain Fanning's battery, ing the bastions of the fort); and that the said and of course could not be played upon by it with Major General Gaines, in said statement, and effect: throughout his said Report, omitted to mention And that the said Major Gen. Gaines, in said that it was by the detachment of the 19th infantry, official report, represented and gave it to be un. stationed in the fort, that this service was perform-derstood that Brigadier-General Porter, comed: the said Major General Gaines being careful, manding the New-York and Pennsylvania volunin other parts of his report, to state who were en- teers, and said volunteers, generally, were engaged in the services mentioned and alleged:gaged in action in the aforesaid battle at Fort herein misrepresenting the battle of Fort Erie, un- Erie, and mentioned him and them with high comjustly injuring the officers and men of the de-mendation, for their conduct in action therein: tachment of the 19th Infantry, stationed in the fort, and acting with improper partiality towards other parts of the army he commanded, to the injury of the service. whereas Capt. Boughton's and Capt. Harding's companies, detached and distantly separated from Gen. Porter's command in said battle, and not under his command therein, were the only part of said volunteers who fought or could be said to be engaged in action in said battle; they being under the command of Lieut. Col. Aspinwall, on the right of the American position, and acting with Capt. Foster, of the 11th: Specification 6. In this-That the said Major General Gaines, in his aforesaid official report of the battle of Fort Erie, represented and caused it to be understood that the left column of the enemy, led by Col. Scott, was completely repulsed and finally driven from the contest by the American troops stationed to the right of Fort Erie, and between the fort and the Lake; and that the said Major General Gaines, in his said official report,|| suppressed the facts, that the said left column of the enemy-having advanced in the direction, and within about sixty yards of an opening in said line between the fort and the Lake, and being deterred from proceeding further in that direction, and from entering said opening by an incessant blaze of fire from the Douglass battery, and the artillery and infantry stationed on said line,-moved promptly to the right, gained the ditch of the And that the said Major Gen. Gaines, in his said north-east bastion of the fort, and was the first to official report, detailed, that "a detachment of assault and enter that bastion; that a large pro- the 11th, 9th, and 22d infantry, under Capt. Fosportion of the prisoners remaining and taken in ter of the 11th, were introduced over the interiand near the fort, belonged to the 103d regiment, or bastion" (of Fort Erie)" for the purpose of which was said left column; and that it was at charging the enemy. Major Hall, Assistant Inthe fort that Col. Scott, who commanded said co- spector General, very handsomely tendered his lumn, was mortally wounded, and Capt. Elliott, services to lead the charge. The charge was galwho conducted it, was made prisoner; which facts || lantly made by Capt. Foster and Major Hall, but the said Major Gen. Gaines, at the time of mak- owing to the narrowness of the passage up to the ing his said report, ought to have known, and did bastion, admitting only two or three men abreast, know the said Major General Gaines by said it failed. It was often repeated, and as often wilful mis-statements and suppression of facts, checked:" thereby showing forth in detail and materially misrepresenting the battle to his go- with praise, and cg the attention of his government, unjustly depriving the garrison of Fort vernment to that act of officers and men in Erie, particularly the detachment of the 19th in- Fort Erie, who Out into the fort only a short fantry, of the credit of important services which time before the close of the action, and, however they had performed, contrary to his duty, and to bravely, were worse than uselessly employed the injury of the service. an impracticable service, and for a few minutes only: And that the said Major Gen. Gaines, in his said official report, stated, that "Capt. Birdsall, of the 4th rifle regiment, with a detachment of riflemen, gallantly rushed in through the gateway" (of Fort Erie)" to their assistance," (meaning to the assistance of Major Hindman and Major Trimble)" and with some infantry charged the enemy; but was repulsed and the Capt. severely wounded:" thereby exhibiting in detail with praise conduct in Fort Erie, which, though gallant, was of little or no avail, and of very short. continuance : Specification 7. In this-That the said Major General Gaines, in his aforesaid official report of the battle of Fort Erie, stated, that " Captain Fanning, of the corps of artillery, kept up a spirited and destructive fire with his field-pieces, on the enemy attempting to approach the fort:" whereas no part of the centre and left columns of the enemy, the columns which attacked the fort, were within the range of Captain Fanning's field 'pieces: and if the Indians and light troops of the enemy in front of the encampment were referred to in said statement, there was not evidence nor ground of presumption to warrant the assertion, that Captain Fanning's fire, however spirited, was destructive; and the strong presumption was that it could not have been so; an And that the said Major Gen. Gaines, in said official report, with malice, omitted to mention the judicious arrangements and preparations, which Major Trimble, under the most embarrassing circumstances, made for the defence of Fort Erie; the gallant manner in which the detachment of the 19th infantry, stationed in the fort, repelled the repeated assaults of the centre column of the enemy;-and the prompt and skilful disposition made of said detachment, and the cool and desperate courage it displayed in the most hazardous situation, and against a great superiori. ty of force, when the enemy had obtained posses sion of the north-east bastion of the fort; that a part of said detachment was formed so as to com |