territory. The researches of most of them have been limited to their own state or the district in which they live. A great number of valuable specimens remain in the hands of persons, who, either ignorant of their value, preserve them for temporary gratification, or, who having no object in making a collection, would be very happy to place them where they would become useful. To collect these scattered materials of our natural history, to display the riches of the mineral kingdom of each of our states; to inform the scientific traveller and citizen; to encourage the growing taste of this science in our country; to communicate discoveries and invite researches; are objects so useful, so important, that it would be impossible to doubt of the public favour being shown to this undertaking. THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. WE are glad to find that our chief magistrate has been treated with the respect that belongs to his exalted station, in the tour which he is now making through the United States.* The mayor of Baltimore saluted him, it is true, in rather vulgar English; and in this city, the corporation did not wait upon him, from a persuasion, it is said, that the visit was unnecessary—non hoc ista sibi spectacula poscit. This may be true; but he is the president of the United States, and is the representative of the country. We have heard some oily auguries respecting his future political career; but on this subject we have had many soft promises from his predecessors. Hope has been deferred until the heart is sick. We, however, have not lost all confidence. May he brighten our brows with cheerfulness, and lift up the dejected countenances of his countrymen. May he sustain the weight and dignity of his station, by a persevering rectitude of principle, unmoved by fear, and unshaken by flattery; and may the conclusion of his public labours be such, that we shall remember him only as he was at the period when he was exposed to the severest criterion! Finem dignum et optimo viro et opere sanctissimo faciant. "The story about the motto on his coach must be one of those bugbears, called federal falsehoods, which formerly excited so much terror among the sovereign people. Principia non homines is arrant nonsense; and if the royal vehicle really bear such an inscription, it must be ascribed to some capriccio on the part of the artist. It has no more resemblance to what it is intended to be, than one of the TALKS of the tawny chiefs, which are preserved among our national archives. AMERICAN ATLAS, TO BE PUBLISHED IN PHILADELPHIA BY TANNER, VALLANCE, KEARNEY, & CO. ENGRAVERS, IN CONNECTION WITH J. H. EDDY, GEOGRAPHER, NEW YORK. ALTHOUGH numerous collections of Maps have been published of this country, none has yet been completed on a scale and plan calculated to convey an adequate idea of the subject, or to do justice to the improved state of Geographical Science in the United States, Those heretofore offered for public approbation have been only the first essays of this kind, and principally designed for the use of schools, or to illustrate geographical works; while those published in Europe are extremely defective and incorrect as respects the United States. Indeed our Geography is so rapidly progressive, that no European publication can keep pace with our improvement and the extension of our settlements. The subject must be brought to maturity in our own country, and, such is now the respectable state of the Arts here, that we can assert with confidence that we possess the materials and skill sufficient to exhibit a topographical representation of the United States infinitely superior, as it regards correctness and detail, and every way equal in style, to any European publication of the kind. J. H. Eddy, one of the publishers of this work, has devoted a considerable portion of his life to the study of Geography, and has been collecting materials, preparatory to the execution of this work, for several years, in which he has been assisted by some of the ablest Geographers in this country and in Europe. In addition to this, he will have access to the very valuable materials in the public offices of the general and state governments, to enable him to execute his branch of the proposed Atlas in a manner to exhibit the progress and extent of the Geographical Knowledge of our country. In the arrangement of Geographical works it is usual to give a general view of the world, representing in detail that part of it most interesting to those for whom the publication is intended. In compliance with this rule, the publishers of this work propose that it shall consist of the following maps: The World, globular projection, 2 sheets-The World, Mercator's projection-America--Europe--Asia--Africa-North AmericaSouth America, 2 sheets-The Canadas, &c.-Nova Scotia, &c.— Mexico, or New Spain-West Indies-United States-Maine-New Hampshire-Vermont-Massachusetts-Connecticut-Rhode Island -New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania-Delaware--Maryland— Virginia-Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky-Tennessee--North CarolinaSouth Carolina-Georgia--Louisiana-Mississippi-and the Alibama-Illinois-Michigan-and North West Territories. The materials for the general maps will be selected from the latest and best European authorities, and will exhibit a general view of the world, in connection with the United States. The state maps will be engraved from drawings compiled, as far as practicable, from original documents, on a scale sufficiently large to admit of a complete view of the surface of the country, the seas, lakes, rivers, and mountains, with the subdivisions into counties and townships; the cities, towns, and villages, and all the principal roads, with the distances between important places. The first number of the work will be ready for publication in the course of the ensuing Autumn, after which it will proceed as rapidly as circumstances will permit, consistently with accuracy and elegance of execution, until the whole be completed. The order in which the maps will be issued cannot be precisely stated, it being expedient to publish those first, of which the materials are most complete: but from the measures that have been adopted to procure the necessary information, no material delay is apprehended with the others. In the execution of such an extensive plan, very great expense must be incurred, but the utility of a work calculated to enable every citizen of the United States to become intimately acquainted with the geography of his country being evident, the publishers have entered on the task with alacrity, relying with full confidence on the importance and merits of the work to ensure the patronage necessary to its completion. Having thus briefly delineated the plan of the work, the publishers offer it for patronage to their fellow citizens, on the following TERMS OF PUBLICATION. I. The proposed Atlas shall be drawn from the latest and most authentic documents, and engraved in the first style of map engraving, and shall in every branch of its execution be purely American. II. The Maps will be printed on the first quality Columbier paper, which is the largest size manufactured, and coloured in an elegant and appropriate man ner. III. The Atlas will be completed in thirteen numbers, each to contain three sheets, except the last, which will contain five, including an elegant_engraved title sheet. They will be delivered to subscribers, folded on guards, at Five Dollars each number, payable on delivery. IV. Persons collecting subscribers for five copies, and becoming responsible for the payment, shall be entitled to a sixth gratis. SUBSCRIPTIONS received by the publishers, No. 10, Library street, Philadelphia, and in New York, by J. H. Eddy. The proprietors of the above work, desirous of rendering it as correct as possible, embrace this method of respectfully soliciting the aid of gentlemen reBiding in the interior, who may be in possession of any geographical information, not before published, by communicating the same to Mr. J. H. Eddy, of New York, by whom the maps will be drawn.” Philadelphia, 1817. The Letter from Cortez occupies a considerable space in our pages; we hope it will be interesting to most of our readers. While Dr. Robertson was engaged in the collection of materials for his valuable history, this document was sought in vain in the public and private libraries of Europe. Our correspondent at Bedford Springs who describes, in glowing language, the delights of a summer excursion, and advises his fellow citizens to join the "festive train" at that place, is hereby informed, that we are authorised, from the best authority, to state, that there is "not a single soul in the city." Every one concurs in averring most emphatically that every body has left Philadelphia, and that "it is the dullest place imaginable." In reply to a friend in Virginia, we can only state, that it is impossible for us to regulate the charges which are made in the post office establishment. The act of congress is explicit that sixteen pages, octavo, shall be considered as one sheet, and those who charge eight pages as a sheet, are guilty of an offence, of which it is the duty of the proper officer to take notice. If subscribers will submit to the extortion of paying double postage, we have no objection. Not long since, a few sheets, of a book, then in press at New York, were transmitted by mail, to the editor. The postage far exceeded what was afterwards charged on the whole volume, although it contained thrice the number of those sheets, for which he had been so unjustly taxed. It was generally admitted in the days of Euclid, that the whole was equal to all its parts; but in modern times it seems to have been reserved for the servants of the most enlightened nation on the earth," to detect a fallacy in this proposition. But the new philosophy, like Mat Prior's Alma. 66 Runs here and there, like Hamlet's ghost, While every where she rules the roast. The "Lincs on Wit," afford ample proof that the author might not have written worse, if he had known something on the subject which he pretends to discuss. Wit, according to an accomplished writer in a witty age, is very far from being shown -when two like words make up one voice, Much less can that have any place, At which a virgin hides her face; Such dross the fire must purge away: 'tis just The author blush there, wHERE THE READER MUST. We are still "damm'd and block'd up" by "effusions," from unfledged urchins, who suppose that poetry consists in a few lines with similar terminations---who despise the advice of Swift, to Blot out, correct, insert, refine, and who are altogether unmindful that Your poem finish'd, next your care These persons seem to forget that their vanity and the ridiculous fondness of their family, is to be gratified at the expense of the editor, who feels how much censure he must incur from the publication of such namby pamby verses as are strung together, and transmitted, by "the advice of a few fondly partial persons, who, perhaps, may overrate the author's talents." |