discussion. He regards the frequent change of members in the House of Representatives as inimical to the acquisition of that knowledge, or the formation of those habits so desirable in a deliberative assembly, and deprecates the custom into which they have fallen, of referring every thing to committees, as tending in effect to leave to the decision of a few, many questions which ought to be argued, upon general principles, by the House at large. It is usual for ladies to attend when any interesting debate is expected; and the question of the admission of slavery into Missouri, which has lately been agitated, attracts all the beauty and fashion to the Senate. On this occasion, through what has been considered the over-complaisance of the VicePresident of the United States, who is the chairman of the Senate, ladies have been admitted on the floor; but this is not to be allowed in future. The inquiry every morning last week in the fashionable circles of Wash

ington, was, "Does Mr. Pinckney speak to-morrow ?" and during the two days which he occupied the attention of the House, it was almost impossible to secure a place.

This is the first session in which Congress have sat in the new capitol, erected on the site of the former one, which was burned down

by the British. I never could admit the pleas urged in justification of our proceedings at Washington. It would have been much more magnanimous to have been satisfied with marking the date of the arrival and departure of the British troops on the walls of the capitol. I have often felt something more than embarrassment while receiving civilities in houses, from which the inhabitants had been driven with precipitation, if not by real danger, at least by wellgrounded alarm.

I lately had the gratification of a visit to Mount Vernon, the celebrated seat of General Washington. The road lay over a bridge across the Potowmac, said to be a mile long, from which the view down the river is very beautiful. We left Alexandria a little to our right, and a few miles from Mount Vernon came to the summit of a hill, from which we caught the first glimpse of the woods which surround this venerable mansion. Shortly afterwards, we entered the woods belonging to the estate, through which, at intervals, and at the distance of a few hundred yards from the road, we were gratified by a view of the glassy expanse of the Potowmac, and the varied scenery of its opposite shore. About a mile from the house, we passed by a porter's lodge, in a kind

of forest park. We approached the house by a winding ascent through natural plantations of oak and cedar; and on sending in my letter to Judge Washington, I was shown into his study. He is the nephew of General Washington, and one of the judges of the supreme court. After sitting with him for a short time, he sent a servant to show me the gardens and the tomb, both of which seemed much neglected.

The tomb is on the bank of the river, at a short distance from the house, and if I had not been told, I should have supposed it was an ice-house. It was shaded by a few oaks and cedars, which bore evident marks of the solicitude of pilgrims to carry away some relics. I will not attempt to describe my feelings while musing over this interesting spot. I am sure you have often visited it in imagination, and will have anticipated my sensations when bending over the ashes of this illustrious patriot, and paying my tribute of veneration to his. intellectual and moral worth.

On my return from the tomb, the Judge walked about the grounds with me to show me the view, which is as beautiful as wood-land scenery, and a noble river can make it, in the absence of mountains. The river, into which

you may throw a stone from the front door, is here very broad, and you may trace its windings for many miles. When the British ships of war passed Mount Vernon, on their way to Washington, they came to anchor, and the crews showed strong demonstrations of their respect for this place. The Judge said, he felt no alarm; he was confident their generous feelings would not allow them to molest it. He said, that while the vessels lay in the neighbourhood, he and his family almost lived out of doors to see what was going on; having their meals in a summer-house on the bank of the river, from which, with a telescope, they saw the engagement with the fort which opposed their passage up the river, and with the lower one which attempted to intercept them on their return. A most formidable battery has since been erected, at a short distance from Mount Vernon, and another on a point about one mile and a half from this city, formed by the junction of the two branches of the Potowmac.

On our return to the house, our conversation turned principally on the Colonization Society, of which Judge Washington is the president. He appears very sanguine as to its success, and devotes much of his time to the promotion of its objects. The most interesting light in which

he seems to regard it, is as an instrument in the conversion of the Africans to Christianity, which he conceives will ultimately be effected most completely by native preachers; and he considers the Colonization Society as an important link in the chain of those secondary causes which are to establish the kingdom of the Messiah in every quarter of the globe. The first vessel sails from New York in a few days. Judge Washington represents the free negroes who are going out as the first settlers, as moral and intelligent, especially those of the Methodist or Baptist persuasion.

I find much diversity of sentiment as to the advantages to be ultimately expected from this society, even amongst the warmest opposers of slavery; some of them conceiving that the views of the society can hardly be carried into effect, and others, that their entire success would only rivet more strongly the chains of those who are still in bondage, and perpetuate an evil which they believe would be eradicated by the increasing influence of a free negro population, advancing in intelligence and respectability, in the immediate vicinity of their less happy brethren.

I have seen a petition from the blacks themselves, grounded on this argument, and stating,