Norwalk Gazette, Wednesday, January 9, 1822 · page 2

 

 

haunt BLAcKWOO1)’S MAGAZINE.
'~. s THE BURIED ALIVE.
.g. as I: it £

I had been for some time ill of a low and lin-
gering fever. My strength gradually wasted, but
the sense of life seemed to become more and
more acute as my ‘corporeal powers became weak-
er. I-could see by the looks of the doctor that
he despaired of my recovery ; and the soft and

3 whispering sorrow of my friends, taught me that

I had nothing to hope.

One day towards the evening, the crisis took
place. I was seized with a strange and indes-
cribable quivering—a rushing sound was in my
ears--I saw around my couchinnumerable strange
tacos ;, they were bright and visionary, and with-
out bodies. '1‘here was light, ‘and solemnity,
find I tried to move, but could not.—-For a short
time a terrible confusion ‘overwhelmed me--and
when it passed off, all my recollection returned
with the most perfect distinctness, but the pow-
er of motion had departed. I heard the sound
of weeping at my pillow—and the voice of the
nurse say, ‘ He is dead.’—I cannot describe what
I felt at these words. I exerted my utmost pow-
er of volition to stir myself, buf I could not move
even an eyelid. After a short pause my frtepd
drew near ; and sobbing, and convulsed with
grief, drew his hand over my face, and closed my
eyes. The world was then darkened, but I still
could hear, dud feel, and stiffer.

VVhen my eyes’ were closed, I heard by the at-
tendants that myfriend had left the room, and
I soon after found, the tindertakers were prepar-
ing to habit me -iti't;l1c:;‘g’tlrtti'ents—of the grave.-—
'1‘1,e',,- 1h.;ughtlessness~‘was'. more awful thanthe
grief of my friends. They laughed at one anoth-
er as they turned me from side to side, and treat-'
ed what they believed a corpse, with the most ap-
palling ribaldry. '

When they had laid the out, these wretches
retired, andthe degt‘ading formality of affected
mourning C";t‘.'.'.lnel‘lCe(I. For three days, a num-
ber of friends called to see me. I heard them, in
low accents, speak of what I was; and more
than one touched me with his finger. On the
third day, some of them talked of the smell of
corruftion in the room.

The coffin was procured—-I was lifted and laid
in--My friend placed my head on what was
deemed its last pillow, V and I felt his tears drop
on my face. ,

When all who had any peculiar interest in me,

— had for a short time looked at me in the coffin, I

heard them retire; and .the undertaker’s men
placed the lid on the COITIII, and screwed it down.
There was two of them present—one had occa-
sion to go away before the task was done. I heard
the fellow who was left begin to whistle as he
turned the screw-nails ; but he checked himself,
and completed the work in silence.

I was then left alone—-every one "shunned the
room. I knew, however, that I was not yet bu-
ried ; and though darkened and motionless, 1
had still hope—-—but this was not permitted long.
The day of intermentarrived-—-I felt the coffin
lifted and borne away-+1 heard and felt it placed
in the hearse. There was a crowd of people a-
round-—som,e ofthem spoke sorrowfully of me.-—

The hearse began to move--I knew that it carri-

ed the to the grave. It halted and the coffin was
taken out-—I felt myself carried on shoulders of
men, by the inequality of the motion-—-a pause
ensued—-I heard the cords ofthe coffin moved-
I felt it swing as dependent by them--it was low-
ered, and rested on the bottom of the grave-—the
cords were dropped upon the lid—-I heard them ’
fall. Dreadful was the effort I then made to ex-
ert the power of action, but my whole frame was
int moveable.

Soon after, a few handfuls ofearth were thrown
upon the coffin--then there was another pause—
after which the shovel was employed—and the
sound of the rattling "mould, as it covered me,
was far more tremendous than thunder.—But I
could make no effort. The sound gradually be-
came less and less, and by a surging reverbera
tion in the coflin, I knew the grave was filled up,
and that the sexton was treading in the earth,
slapping the grave with the flat of his spade. This
too ceased. and then all was silent.

I had no means of knowing the lapse of time ;
and the silence continued. This is death, tho’t
I, and I am doomed to remain in the earth till
the resurrection. Presently the body will fall in-
to corruption, and the epicurean worm, that is
only satisfied with the flesh of man, will come to
partake of the banquet that has been prepared for
him with so much solicitude and care. In the
contemplation of this hedious thought, I heard a
low and undersound in the earth over me,‘ and I
fancied that the worms and the reptiles of death
were coming-—and the mole and the rat of the
grave would soon be upon me. The sound con-
tinued to grow louder and nearer. Can it be
possible, I thought, that my friends suspect they
have buried me too soon? The hope was truly
like light bursting through the gloom of death.

The sound ceased, and presently I felt the
hands of some dreadful being working about my
throat. They dragged me out of the coffin by the
head. I felt again the living air, but it was pier-
cingly cold; and I was carried swiftly away-I
thought to judgment, perhaps perditiun.

VVhen borne to some distance, I was then
thrown down like a clod-—it was not upon the
ground. A moment after I found myself on a
carriage ; and, by the interchange of two or three
brief sentences, I discoveredithat I was in the
hands of two of those robbers who live by plun-
dering the grave, and selling the bodies of parents,
and children, and friends. One of the men sung
snatches and scraps of obscene songs.

WIN" it halltdi I was lifted out, and I soon
perceived, by the closeness of the air, and the
change oftemperature, that I was carried into a
room; and being rudely stript of my shroud, was
placed naked on the table. By the convcrsafion
of the two fellows with the servant who admitted
them, Ilearnt that I was that night to be dis.
sected. _ :

My eyes were still shut, I saw nothing ; but in
a short time I heard by the bustle in the room,
that the students of anatomy were assembling.
Some of them came around the table, and exam-
med me mtnutely._ They were pleased to find
that so good a subject had been procured. The
demonstrator himself at lastcatne in.

Previous to beginning the dissection, he pro-
posed to try on me some galvanic expet'irttent--

and an apparatus was arranged for that p .53.
The first shock vibrated through all my neves ;
they rung and jtmgled like the strings of a ;harp.
The students expressed their admiration at the
convulsive effect-. Thejsecond shot It threw my
eyes open, and the first personl saw was the
doctor who had attended me. But still I was as‘
dead ; I could, ytowever, discover among the stu-
dents the faces of many with whom I was famil-
iar; and when my eyes were opened, Ihcard
my name pronounced by several of the students,
with an accent "of awe and compassion, and a wish
that it had been some other subject.

VVhen they had satisfied themselves with the
galvanic phenomena, the demonstrator took the
knife and pierced me on the bosom with the
point. I felt a dreadful crackling, as it were,
‘throughout my whole fr-ame—a convulsive shud-
dering instantly followed, and a shriek of horror
rose from all present. The ice of death was
broken up—-my trance ended. The utmost ex-
ertions were made to restore me, and in the
course of an hour I was ‘in the full possession of
all my faculties. 9‘ ii‘ ”“ . *

LEGISLATURIS. OF NEW-YORK.
The Legislature of New-York convened at the‘
Capitol on the 1st inst. Samuel B. Romaine was
Clccled Speaker,and Edward P.Liviugston, Clerk.
On the following day the Governor opened the
session with the follo_wing SPEECH.
Gentlemen cf the Senate and of the Assembly,
Since the adjournment of the legislature, an
event has occurred of the highest importance to
the people of this state: The delegates elected
‘ for the purpose ofconsidering tlteconstitutlon of

this state, and making alterations in the same, as
_they may deem’ proper, and-to providethe man-

ner. of making future amendments thereto," have
concluded their deliberations, and presented the
result for the ratification or rejection of the peo-
ple, in the shape of a new constitution, varying
essentially in many of its provisions from the pre-
sent frame of our government. As this subject
is now under the consideration of the supreme
and sovereign power ofthe community,the source
of all legitimate government, it would be obvious-
ly improper for the derivative and subordinate au-
thorities to interfere in their official characters
with its deliberations and decisions. \/Vhatever
advice we offer, whatever determination we form
and whatever course we pursue, must be indica-
ted in our individual capacities, as component
members of a great community acting in its sove-
reign character: And whenever the momentous
decision is made, and whatever it may be, it will
be our incumbent duty to obey implicitly the de-
termination of the people, and to carry into full
effect their expressed volitions. VVere it not for
considerations so imperative I should on this, as
I trust I have on all proper occasions, have com-
municated with frankness and candor, my views
in relation to the bearing of this important ques-
tion oo the public welfare. It is a spectacle tru-
ly felicitating, to observe the calm and dignified
moderation with which our constituents have ap-
proached this important subject, for so far as my »
observation has extended, the discussions have,
been free from the usual asperities and agitations
of the times. It is indeed not a question involv-
ing the views ol personal ambition, the interests
of party ascendency, or the feelings of local con-
tention. It looks to the past for enlightened in-
struction, to the present for wise and patriotic de-
cisions, and to the future for general and perma-
nent benefit. 'l‘o perceive a vast and growing
population sitting in judgment on its own form of
goverment, acting with intelligence, indepen-
dence and firmness, discarding minor and evanes-
cent considerations, and consulting the greatest
happiness of the greatest number, is a sublime
sight, administering to -the best hopes and answer-
ing the highest expectations of the friends of re-
publican government. And let us humbly sup-
plicate the Supreme Dispenser of all good,to shed
his propitious influence on this occasion, and to
produce a result auspicious to the stability ofciv-
il liberty, the ascendency of good government,
and the prosperity of our beloved country. In
all the vicissitudes of an eventful existence. in the
first migrations and settlements ofour fotjefathers,
in the trials of colonial dependence, in the strug-
gles of a glorious revolution, in the establishment
of free and energetic governments, and in rapid
and wide-spreading advances to prosperity, it has

‘pleased Almighty God to consider with an eye of

paternal indulgence, to watch over us with his
providence, and to protect us against those over-
whelming evgls which have been so fatal to the
best interests of the human race ; and may we not
humbly hope that the same gracious dispensations
will attend our future progress, and that we may
be permitted to exhibit an irrefragable proof and
an illustrious example of the capacity of man for
self-government, and of his triumphal advances in
all that can add dignity to his character and de-
rive blessings from his exertions.

The labors of agriculture have for the last sea-
son been crowned with abundance, and the insti-
tutions which have been founded for the encour-
agement of this important pursuit, continue to
produce the most beneficial effects. A great ame-
liotfation within a few years is observable in all
the departments of rural economy. The rapid
improvement of live-stock, the judicious appli-
cation of manures, the increased production of
the various kinds of grain, and other vegetables,
the introduction of new objects of cultivation, the
invention and adoption of excellent implements
of husbandry, and a growing attention to the pro-
motion of horticulture, have unquestionably ori-
ginated in a great degree from institutions which
concentrate the fruits of experience, which apply
the discoveries of science and the inventions of
art, and which excite into activity all the gener-
ous principles of emulation, and all the -latent
powers of improvement.

The great and sudden a-ugmenta-tion of the
price of our principle commodity, in consequence
of an anticipated relaxation‘ of the corn laws of
Great Britain, and its subsequent declension on
the receipt of unfavorable intelligence, are cal-
culated to make a deep and serious rmpt‘eSSIOn on
the public mind, and to point to the sources of
evils which it may be in our power to obviate.-
The excess of the products of the soil beyond the
consumption of the agricultural interest, must
either find a sale in the home and foreign mark-
ets, or be lost to the proprietors. To rely upon
foreign markets, is to expose ourselves to the ca-

interests to the guardianship of rival nations.
VVe must, therefore, consult the substantial and
permanent prosperity of agriculture, by provid-
ing for the domestic consumption ofits produc-
tions; and this can only be accomplished by the
densepoptxlation of manufacturing towns, and
cornmeicial cities. And it‘ is indeed highly satis-
factory to witness the growing prosperity of the
manufacturing interest, after the blow which it
t'ece’iyed on the termination of the late war. In
its fabrics, its consumptions, and all its operations,
it stimulates agricultural industry,by purchasing
its productions and administering to its accommo-
dations; and as the supet-abundance of the pro-
ducts of agriculture.and mattufactun-s, must cre-
ate the materials for foreign commerce, it is obvi-
ous that all those great departments of human in-
dustry are dependent on each other, and are
closely connected in promoting the general pros-
perity. A nation purely agricultural which de-
rives the' fabrics of-art from foreign supplies will
almost always be poor. Commerce in ordcr_to
be beneficial, ought to export more than it im-
ports. And the general state of our country em-
phatically inculcates the necessity of intrenching
ourselves in our own resources, of cultivating the
creative powers of domestic industry, and of ban-
ishing thcse excesses of luxury and extravagance.
which are the bane of individual happiness and
republican virtue. In the excess of our imports
above our exports, the prodigal consumption of
foreign commodities, the unfavorable rate of ex-
change, and the exhausting exportation of metal-
lic money, we perceive the sources and the signs
ofindividual distress, and nationaldebility. And
the course of thiscommerce, which is recom-
mended, not by the wealth it produces for the
people, but, by the revenue it creates for the go-
vernment, must eventually be arrested by the
poverty and misery which it will generate.-
There is no truth more evident than that our im-
portations must be finally governed by our expor-
rations, for if we consume more than we create, if
we buy more than we sell. we must sooner or later
encounter a crisis when our credit and our re-
sources will be exhausted. The necessity ofen-
couraging the home market will be more mani-
fest when we consider that our principal commo-
dities are excluded from foreign countries. Flax
seed and pot and pearl ashes are indeed admitted
into Great Britain, but the West India Islands are

._closed against us, and in tliee,-Kiss of a valuable

market for our live-stock,(.lomb,et' and grain, we
experience no inconsiderable injury. Relying
upon the wisdom and public spit-it‘of the national
authorities to devise and apply efficacious reinc-
dies for these evils, either by amicable arrange-
ments or counteracting restrictions, let us attend
to those duties which the importance of the oc-
casion demands from our hands.

Under this impression it is gratifying to per-
ceive the enterprising spirit of our agricultumlist
seeking various sources of emolumcnt, directing
itself to new objects, and extending its operations
over a greater area. When our manufactories
were, in a great measure prostrated, the price of
wool underwent a corresponding depressiomflhut

-thette is now every l‘t:i:lSOIl‘clI)n. encouragement for

the raising of sheep ; and all that branch of rural
economy, which embraces grazing and live-stock
in general, has been a lucrative occupation. Our
husbandmen have also turned their attention to
to the cultivation of hemp and tiax,and a machine
which has lately been invented for the dressing
of these articles will in all probability form a new
era in our agriculture. It is estimated that one
machine can prepare a ton in a day at the cost of
two cents a pound,thereby surmounting every ob-
jection that has been made against this kind of
husbandry, and supplying the raw materials of
several invaluable manufactures, with a facility e-
qual in importance and similar in character to that
which has been so successfully experienced in the
cotton of the south. The iron ore of all descrip-
tions which isfound in many parts of the state.
inexhaustible in quantity and unsurpassed in qual-
ity, has lately attracted pointed attention, and will
enable us in a short time to dispense with impor-
tations. Salt, manufactured in the vicinity of the
ocean, or from those inexhaustible depositories
which nature has provided in the interior of the
country, can be procured yvitltout resorting to
foreign supplies. ""--’75',”»'-Q"

Various manufactures, entitled to every en-
couragement, are rising into notice and useful-
ness, and I might particularly indicate a valua-
ble establishment in the city of New-York, which,
with the adoption of an ingenious invention, is
enabled to work up great quantities of wool and
cotton ; to employ several hundred persons, and
to save several hundred thousand dollars to the
country. A powerful and general impulse has
been given to the fabrication of cotton cloths,
thereby rendering us, to a considerable extent,
independent ofextraneous supplies, and establish-
ing, "upon a firm_ foundation, a valuable and in-
creasing market for the most important produc-
tions of our southern brethren. And when we
extend our view to those great federal republics
which are rising ‘up in the southern section of
America, breaking the chains of colonial depen-
dence and commercial monopoly, asserting the
rights and viudicating the dignity of human na-
ture, with glorious and triumphant success : and
when we contemplate, the commercial relations
which will grow out of these momentous changes,
and the close alliance and intimacy of communi-
cation which must necessarily arise from facility
ofintercourse, from proximity ofterritory ; from
reciprocal wants, and from republican sympathies,
we must be encouraged in our career of produc-
tive industry, under a full persuasion that it will
find an ample remuneration for its exertionsin
the extension of its accommodations to the most
opulent regions oi the globe.

I trust that I shall not be considered as enter-
ing too much into detail, when I call your atten-
tion to fire l-aw providing for the inspection of pot
and pearl ashes, which articles constitute at pre-
sent our principal export. It often, as is slated
,0 me, amounts annually to 30,000 barrels, exciti-
sive of 18,000 which pass into Canada. Tlns
commodity, inspected under the laws of Massa-
chusetts, has brought five pounds sterling more a
ton, than ours, in foreign markets; and this is be-
lieved to arise, not from a superiority of inspec-
tion, but from a superiority ofthe barrel in which
the article is contained. Our law allows an in-
competent sum to the inspector for a new barrel
in caseithe package is bad : the consequence 15,

price of foreign policy, and to commit primary

that barrels which ought not to be exported, ‘arc

.. l
repaired for the purpose, and the article sustains
such injury in the transportation, that its charac-
ter is depressed in foreign markets.

Permit me once more to call your attention to a
subject which deeply involves the prosperity of
our manufactures and the general accommod-.,..
tion of the community. The opulence‘ of Great
Britain is to be ascribed, in a great degree, to her

manufacturing pursuits, which could not be car-
ried on without the coal that abounds in that"
country. Our forests are falling rapidly before
the progress of settlement, and a scarcity of wood
for fuel, ship and house building, and other use-
ful purposes, is already felt in»tht: iticreasing p_tj.i-
ces of that indispensable article.
plantation for the production o'ftrecs,~antl no sys-
tem of economy for their preservation has been
adopted, and probably none will be, until severe
privations are experienced. In some pap:-tsof
Long Island, and in the vicinity of the ,'-;-re;,,,_c-.,.
nal. in several of the western countries, exteiisive,
beds of turf or peat have been found, and have
been resorted to for domestic accommodation.
But coal is of primary importance iu.many of our‘
mostimportant manufactures: and the discovery
of a sufiicient quantity, within a reasonable dis-
tance of any of ‘our navigable waters, would be
more efficacious in quickening the operations of
creative industry, administering to the comforts
of life, and promoting the substantial wealth of
the country, than the most productive mines of
the precious metals. The geological confirma-
tion of the west clearly demonstrates the presence
ofthis fossil, and I am confident that liberal en-
couragement on the part of the state would pro-
duce the effectual accomplishment of out- most
sanguine anticipation-s.

It is an unquestionable truth that all the great
interests of society must rely for their support
and encouragement on the flourishing condition
of internal trade, which can never exist without
facility of communication. And untlet}"_thisim-
pression we cannot too highly appreciate the.im-
portance ofthe artificial navigation now in a train
of rapid and successful completion. Almost all
the line of the ‘Western or Erie canal, from the
Tonawanta creek, which flows into Lake Erie to
I-ludson’s river, is under contract. The section
from the Seneca to the Qenesee river comprising
a distance of 63 miles, is nearly in a navigable
state, and the whole of it would have been finish-
ed the last season had it not been for the sickness
which interrupted the progress of the workmen
in the Seneca marshes, and the necessity ofaf-
fording time for the consolidation ofthe great em-
bankments at the Irondoquoit. Upwarcls of2T
miles of the eastern division from Utica to the
Little Falls, has already been navigated, and great
progress has been made towards the -con-tpletion
of those parts of the canal that lie wet-j,t of the
Genesee river and east of the Little Falls. The
Northern or Chat-nplain Canal is also in a state of
rapid advancement :——So that upon a full and
comprehensive view of the whole operation, we
may confidently pronounce, that before the ter-
mination ofthe year 1823, there will be a com-.
plete and uninterrupted navigation from the navi-
gable waters of the Hudson river to lakes Erie
and Champlain, comprehending an extent of‘up-
wards of 425 miles, and all of which will be ac-
complished since the 4th day ofJuly, 1817. Con-
siderable difliculties and embarrassments have
been encountered with respect tothe most proper
designations for the commencement and termin-
ation of the western canal ; and in some inter-
vening places there has been a great diversity of
views with regard to the most eligible routes.
The canal board have, "I trust, never been led a-
stray‘ by local considerat‘iiins and ephemerial ex-
pedients, and will, I hope, be enabled, notwith-
standing the embarrassmcnts which must neces-
sarily arise from conflicting opinions and clash-
ing interests, to combine the accommodation of
flourishing villages-and cities with the promotion
of the general convenience and welfare.

During the last autumn the solidity and stabili-
ty of our works have been brought to the test by
the heavy rains and uncommon floods in the
streams and rivers connected with the; anals, and
the general result has corresponded wiffiour wish-
es, and has fortified our confidence.

[Conclusion next -we: k.]

CONGRESS. .

House or REPRESENTATIVES, Dec. 28.

On motion of Mr.'Sterling, of N. Y. the house
resolved itselfinto a committee of the whole on
the bill to authorize a re-conteyance of a tract of
land in the city of New-York. Mr. Cock-:, as
chairman of the committee who reported the bill,
briefly, assigned the reasons by whiehthe com-
mittee were actuated. He remarked that in pro-
ceeding to the result at which they had arrived-
they had called upon the Secretary of War for
his opinion on the subject. The Secretary re-
plied by expressing not only his own, but the 0-
pinion of the Engineer Department, that as soon
as Fort Diamond, at the Narrows, should be com-
pleted, which was understood to be near at hand,
the fort now reftrrcd to would be unnecessary.
That it was very little used and regarded at pre-F
sent--and if continued to be held by the United 3
States, would occasion a continued expense with-
out benefit to the public. It was also a part of the
compact by which it was no longer of llllllly to
the general government it should be ceded back
to the city.

Mr. Colden observed, in further explanation of
the subject, that the land in question was situated
in front of the battery in the city of New-York.-—
The gale on the 3d of September last, had destroy-
edhthe barriers that had been raised to protect U19
hattery, and that it was necessary to ltaye‘a.pcr-
rnanent and expensive repair, by a stone wall.-
Experience had proved that wooden walls 'w'6t$’--
not sufficient. In these repairs the United 3ta'.es'~.
must join. ll‘ they continue to hold the pt‘uPt-T1)’:
and the expense was estimated at 13,000 dU”’°“'5-
Fort Clinton, however ornamental to the harbor
of New-Yurk, was useless to the U.,- 5l31e5- I‘
was built upon an artificial -Island formed of 510085
thrown together like a pyramid, without cement.
The consequence was. that when the guns were
fired, (which he believed, h’-K1 rig-_,ttr=r_l>€t=*l d°"“-
except to return a salute) the fort'evt'dently set-
tled ’§‘own, and fears had been entertained that it-

would fall by its own noise.. It might invite the

' enemy but could not protect the city. This artifi-

ciul island was connected with the main land by it
bridge built of wood. it had been completed In

. ISM. and a year urtwo.-ittce ul3<.lt:t‘\t‘i.'l‘rl a'.hot'uugh

No system of ,_

-'41