The News in January, 1776 [Collected by Charles C. Saffell].-The Congress is apprehensive that there is great danger of hostilities being commenced at or near Wyoming between the Colony of Pennsylvania and those of Connecticut, because part of the lands contained in the charter of the latter Colony is included in that of the former. The Provincial Convention at Annapolis has passed a resolve that the Parliamentary Post shall not be suffered to travel in, or pass through, that province with any mail, packages or letters; and in consequence of this resolve his Majesty's mail has been taken from the post-office at Baltimore, with the letters contained therein. The committee at Philadelphia has also taken the mail containing all the last packet letters to the southward, and opened many of them to the great hurt of individuals. They signified to the postmaster their intention of taking all other mails for the future. Francis Dashwood, Secretary of the general post-office at New York, advertises that, in consequence of these troubles, the Deputy PostmasterGeneral is obliged for the present to stop all the mails, and send all letters by Southern packets to New York for dis

tribution.

Colonel Arnold's forces were obliged to push forward to Point Aux Trembles, as they valued their lives. Some dogs that followed them have been killed and eaten, even the intestines and skin. Many eat their shoes and shot-pouches. At Dead River Colonel Enos called a council of war, and he, with his whole party, consisting of three companies, turned back, carrying with him the main portion of provisions. The country they last passed through was very thickly settled by poor and illiterate people, who appeared to have no other end in view than keeping their souls and bodies together, and preparing for the next world, being exceedingly devout. The party buried one soldier on the Plains of Abraham-a Pennsylvanian-a noble grave for a soldier, which his past conduct really merited. General Montgomery is on his march to Quebec, and Colonel Arnold's party will halt at Point Levi till he comes up. Colonel Arnold is a gentleman worthy of the trust imposed in him—a man of invincible courage and great prudence. Ever serene, he defies the greatest dangers to affect him, or difficulties to alter his temper. In short, you will ever see him the intrepid hero and the unruffled Christian.

A letter from London says: "Believe me when I assure you that if some capital stroke is not struck this campaign, your cause will suffer greatly. You may rest assured that no accommodation is intended from hence, however much you may be amused with pretensions; but, on the contrary, when matters are a little riper for it, all the powers of hell are to be let loose on you.”

General Howe has issued orders for taking down the Old North Meeting-House and one hundred old wooden buildings for fuel. One Morris, who officiates as a Presbyterian minister, being appointed searcher of those people permitted to leave Boston, promised, on receiving a bribe, to let a person bring out £140 in cash and some plate, but afterwards ribbed him of the whole of it. The fort on Cobble Hill is completed. It is allowed to be the best piece of fortification that the American army has constructed during the present campaign. On the day of its completion it was named Putnam's Impregnable Fortress.

Colonel Arnold's headquarters are within seven leagues of Quebec, and he has been within musket shot of the city, and taken four prisoners.

Captain John Martin, of Newport, who was wounded by Captain Wallace, or some of his men, died on the 17th of December, aged seventy-seven years.

The people of Massachusetts Bay have completed thirteen thousand suits of soldiers' clothes, entirely of their own wool, flax and manufactory, since the battle of Lexington.

About four hundred militia, under the command of Colonel Martin, assembled at Newtown, New Jersey, and proceeded in good order and regularity in quest of Tories.

December 17, being a dark day at Cambridge, General Putnam broke ground with four hundred men at Litchmore's Point, about ten o'clock in the morning. The enemy in Boston threw shells and obliged them to decamp with two men badly wounded.

A letter from Montreal says: "General Montgomery's behavior in this country will gain him great honor, as he has all along acted with the greatest honor and Integrity. Captain Morgan and his company of Virginians were in the first division that crossed from Point Levi to Quebec. This company was raised in five months, and marched twelve hundred miles from their place of abode."

Lord Bute's plan is to humble the Americans. To this end three regiments of Roman Catholics are to be raised in Ireland and sent to America.

A correspondent says: "The American Colonies are about to emerge from Egyptian darkness, with respect to the rights of human nature. About two hundred years ago the human heart showed its depravity and folly upon the theatre of religion-the present age shows equal absurdities and vices upon the theatre of politics. Here we discover everythiug in other forms for which we condemn our ancestors-posterity will tread heavily upon our ashes, for the principles of government are more simple than the principles of religion. They will wonder if we were brutes or men."

The action at Great Bridge proves more important than we expected. The victory was complete; the enemy abandoned his post and retreated to Norfolk.

On Sunday, 31st ult., about two o'clock, a fire was discovered in the printing-office of the Pennsylvania Mercury, which unhappily consumed the same, with the whole stock of paper, types and press. Messrs. Story & Humphries say to their customers that it is no longer in their power to serve them with the paper.

Letters in town state that on the 5th ult. General Montgomery was on the Heights of Abraham; that he had taken into pay two thousand five hundred Canadians; that his army consisted of near five thousand men, and that he has invested the city of Quebec on every side.

An intelligent person got out of Boston on the 3d inst., and informed General Washington that a fleet of nine transports, consisting of three hundred and sixty men, were ready to sail under convoy of the Scarborough and Fowey men-ofwar, with two bomb vessels, and some flat-bottomed boats. Their avowed destination was to Newport.

Last week both Houses of Assembly came to the choice of five delegates to represent the Colony of Massachusetts in the American Congress for the year 1776, and the following

gentlemen were chosen: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.

The toast of the day is "The American GENERAL and ADMIRAL."

The article in NOTES AND QUERIES, entitled "The Bleeders" (page 708, September, 1875), interested me a great deal, as it is a legend well known throughout New England. I often heard it in my childhood as an illustration of the potency of a curse, and the cause of the curse, indicating the well-known cruelty of the Spaniards. I knew a Spanish mother who beat her child unmercifully, at the same time declaring she "would kill her if she ever told."

There was a branch of the " Bleeders" in Portland, Maine, when I was a child-a shoemaker-and we school-children used to make all sorts of excuses to go to his place and get a look at him. He was taciturn and very pale. Strange enough, he died from a slight wound while shaving, and all efforts failed to stay the hemorrhage.

There is another legend connected with this subject, which carries it back to the times of the wars in the Netherlands, and the cruelties of the Duke of Alva. It was said that when "one of the victims was in the agonies of the stake, a Spanish woman laughed and jeered him, at which his blood suddenly breaking forth, bespattered her, she being with child, and the martyr cried: So bleed every man-child of thy house,' and it has continued to this day."

The following scrap gives confirmation to the legend: A POTENT CURSE.-The Boston Transcript says that a strange story comes from Hamilton, Massachusetts, about the "Bleeders," as they are called, of that town, a family whose members almost invariably die of bleeding. The legend connected with it is that in Salem-witchcraft times a sea captain brought his wife and little girl to town, leaving them with a Spanish nurse, who was a quick-tempered woman, and, being annoyed by the peevishness of the child, deliberately bled her to death by opening a vein in her arm at intervals, threatening her meanwhile with instant death if she told. The mother, after the death of the child, found out the cause, and fell into a decline, cursing with her latest breath her child's murderer, and predicting the same death to all her male descendants. An elderly woman who lives in the town is quoted as saying that, to her knowledge, five sons have met their deaths by bleeding, one by bleeding at the nose, and others by wounds which appeared slight, but which no efforts of the physicians could close.

ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH.

Macpherson, not McPhunn.-In the excellent article in the MONTHLY for December, page 889, the writer says, "The brave Montgomery, his aide, Major McPhunn, and Captain Cheeseman, fell dead." This is an error as to the name of General Montgomery's aide which I think should be corrected. The name is John Macpherson, nct McPhunn. Judging from some papers written by him, which I have seen, Major Macpherson was a ripe scholar and an accurate writer, handling his pen with great ease, and writing a bold, round hand. From an advertisement in 1781, in Captain Claypoole's Pennsylvania Gazette, I learned that, some time

in the year 1778, a certain person called on Major Macpher son's father, living near Philadelphia, and gave him some information concerning the death of his son before Quebec, on the 31st of December, 1775. The object of the advertisement was to request the person to call on Major Mac pherson's father again.

Where did the father reside? Can any writer for the MONTHLY furnish a biographical sketch of his son, and of Captain Cheeseman? W. T. R. SAFFELL.

Matthew Tilghman. In response to the QUERY of Mr. Hollyday, in the AMERICAN MONTHLY, page 303, why Matthew Tilghman (who was a member of the First) was not sent to the Second Continental Congress, I have the pleasure of stating that he was included in the election of April, 1775. in the delegation to represent the Colony of Maryland, together with Thomas Johnson, Jr., Robert Goldsborough, Samuel Chase, William Paca, John Hall, and Thomas Stone; but three of these gentlemen were considered sufficient, and Mr. Tilghman was too important and too influential at home to be spared. Robert Alexander and John Rogers were added in December, 1775, and the latter, in consequence, was one of the three who had the honor to cast the vote of Maryland on the 4th of July, 1776, in favor of Independence. The other two were Paca and Stone.

Having discovered the existence of a portrait of Matthew Tilghman, I have had it copied for the National Museum of Independence Hall, and it was done so accurately that it cannot be told from the original. It would make an appropriate woodcut for the AMERICAN MONTHLY.

"Ponteack" and Paper (Bark) Money.-In "A Concise Account of North America," etc., by the famous "Ranger," Major Robert Rogers, published in London in 1765, I find the following: "In the late war of his, he (Ponteack) appointed a Commissary, and began to make money or bills of credit, which he has since punctually redeemed. His money was the figure of what he wanted in exchange for it, drawn upon bark, and the shape of an otter (his arms) drawn under it." I have followed Rogers's spelling in "Ponte

[Communication.]

The Centennial Fountain.-There is now being erected in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, within the limits of the Centennial Grounds, a beautiful Fountain, which when completed will be the finest work of the kind in the United States. Unlike the noted Tyler Davidson Fountain of Cincinnati, which is at present the most imposing fountain yet erected, the Centennial Fountain, as the new work is designated, will not have any bronze in its composition, but will constructed entirely of marble and granite. The design is the product of a young sculptor of Philadelphia, Herman Kim, hitherto unknown to fame, a pupil of the celebrated German sculptor Steinhauser, of Carlsrhue. Mr. Kirn has produced a design which is worthy of that great master's name. A large circular basin, forty feet in diameter, has in its centre a mass of rock work, upon the top of which stands a colossal Statue of Moses. He is in a standing attitude, pointing upwark to Heaven as the source of the great miracle that has so been performed, in bringing forth the water from the barren rock by the stroke of his wand. The water gushing forth on all sides, falls into the basin, presenting a beautiful and interesting spectacle. Stretching from the basin are farms in the shape of a Maltese Cross, each ten feet eight uches in length, and nine feet wide, and terminating in four creolar platforms, each of which is sixteen feet in diameter. The extreme diameter of the whole work, including the steps leading up to the platforms, is one hundred feet. Upon each

circular platform stands a drinking fountain twelve feet in height and eight feet eight inches in diameter each way. Each drinking fountain is surmounted by a colossal statue nine feet high. These statues represent Commodore John Barry, "the Father of the American Navy," Archbishop John Carroll, the patriot priest of the Revolution; Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the Catholic Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Father Mathew, "the Apostle of Temperance." The statues are now being executed at the quarries in Tyrol, Austria, by the sculptor, Mr. Kirn, with the friendly advice and assistance of Steinhauser himself. From an inspection of photographs of the models, which have all been completed, there is no doubt that as works of art the statues will compare favorably with any others in America. Each will be of one block of Tyrolese marble, no "piecing" being allowed under the contract. The circular or coping wall of the basin as well as the Central Rock-mound will be of American marble, from the Cockeysville quarries, Maryland, and the steps and platforms will be of granite from the Blue Hill quarries, in Maine.

This beautiful fountain which will be one of the attractions of the Centennial Exhibition, will stand near Machinery Hall, upon an Avenue, named Fountain avenue in its honor, one hundred and twenty feet wide and extending for threequarters of a mile within the Exhibition grounds. The foundations have already been completed, the statues are progressing satisfactorily, and the contracts have been awarded

for the granite and marble work. In a few days, the work of setting the granite steps will be commenced, and before the 10th of May, 1876, the date of the Exhibition Opening, it is expected to have the whole work completed.

The work of erecting the Fountain has been undertaken by the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, an organization which has for its objects the diminution of the evils of intemperance and the advancement of the Irish race in the United States. This Union, under the guidance and sanction of the Catholic hierarchy, has been in existence about four years, and has grown from a few isolated societies to over five hundred societies, representing every State and Territory of the United States, and the British Provinces of North America.

In Philadelphia, the idea of the Fountain was originated by Dr. Michael O'Hara, an Irish-American and a member of the organization. Conceiving that it would be fitting and proper for the Irish-Catholics of America to do what the Italians, the Jews and other bodies purposed doing—to erect an art memorial of the heroes of his race in the Revolutionary War-he suggested to some of his patriotic fellow-members the idea of their organization taking a part in the Centennial celebration in a manner which would reflect credit upon the motives and feelings of the members, nearly all of whom are either of Irish birth or descent. His suggestion was approved of and shortly afterwards brought to the attention of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of Philadelphia, a branch of the general organization. Approved of unanimously, by that body, a Centennial Committee was at once appointed, and the project began to assume shape. Upon the recommendation of the Philadelphia Union, the annual convention of the Union of America, sitting in New York city in October, 1873, endorsed the project and called upon its local societies to contribute towards the work.

Thus stamped with a national character, the Catholic Centennial project was taken hold of by the committee, designs were furnished, and that of Mr. Kirn was finally selected, and the project assumed the shape of a Centennial Fountain symbolizing the power of religion, the virtues of temperance, and the Irish Catholic love of patriotism and liberty. During the Revolutionary War, the Catholic population, seated principally in Pennsylvania and Maryland, furnished its full proportion of the soldiers and statesmen of the period. The fame of Moylan's Brigade, the distinguished services of the Jesuit priest, John Carroll, on the mission to Canada, the bold, outspoken advocacy of independence by "the first citizen of the Republic"-Charles Carroll-the exploits of Barry and others on the ocean, the material aid of civilians like Fitzsimmons, and the timely assistance of the French nation, will serve to show that the Catholics participated in all the glories of the struggle for independence. Washington himself has testified in a public letter to these services, and it is eminently proper-so thought the originators of the Fountain project-that the memories of the heroes of Irish blood should be perpetuated in an everlasting work of art as well as in the pages of history.

"In building this monument we are paying a tribute to republican institutions," said the President of the Philadelphia Union, in his speech at the ceremonies of breaking ground for the Fountain upon the 5th of July last. [See

official report, published by order of the Centennial Board of Finance, of the ceremonies attendant upon the " Celebrabration of the Ninety-ninth Anniversary of American Independence in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, July 5, 1875." Philadelphia, 1875.] "The members of our organization have, in common with all other classes of our citizens, experienced the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and they now testify, by their presence and by their interest in our ceremonies to-day, their appreciation of those blessings, and their acknowledgment of the fact that in this Republic the fullest development of that liberty can be attained."

These words are the key-note expressive of the purposes and objects of those engaged in the erection of the Fountain - a tribute to liberty-a dedication to American freedom in the one hundredth year of American Independence—of a work commemorative of the part which the men of the same race took in the achievement of that independence.

The great men-Charles Carroll, John Carroll, and John Barry-who have been selected as the types of their race, will stand forth in marble to show to the millions of participants in our joyful uprising next year that their patriotism and valor, are held dear in the memories of their descendants and successors, and the cause in which they battled revered by hundreds of thousands ready to follow their example in the defence of liberty and republican institutions.

JOHN H. CAMPBELL.

Nearly all the New England States are making preparations for a display of their educational work at the Centennial Exhibition. The Worcester County Industrial Institute, at Worcester, Mass., has appropriated $3,000 to defray the expense of its exhibit and has applied for 5,000 square feet of space. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is also taking measures to secure a thorough exhibit of its various departments; and the Boston Natural History School intends, if possible, to make a complete display of the natural history of New England.

Read the Closing Sentence, Especially.-The Independent of November 25th, has the following excellent article:

"It is estimated that the total cost of the buildings for the Centennial Exhibition will amount in round numbers to $7,000,000. Of this amount $5,500,000 have already been raised. The State of Pennsylvania has contributed $1,500,000 to Memorial Hall. The citizens and municipality of Philadelphia have contributed $3,500,000, and all the rest of the country has contributed but $500,000. The South has given nothing; the contributions from the West, all told, amount to only $20,000; this city has furnished about $200,000; and the remainder has come from the Eastern States. Philadelphia has done nobly; yet outside of that city and the State of Pennsylvania the Centennial has been most shabbily and disgracefully treated in the matter of raising funds. There remain now $1,500,000 to be raised before next spring. Where shall these funds come from? We suppose that, if worst comes to worst, the Philadelphians will again put their shoulder to the wheel; but the country ought to be ashamed to impose on them such a necessity. The Exhibition is a national affair, and the whole nation ought cheerfully to participate in paying its bills."

President Grant and the Centennial.-The Centennial Commission ask our General Government only for a sum equal to that contributed by the city of Philadelphia. It is not much to the honor of the Congress that the Commission is compelled to solicit that of which ordinary self-respect on the part of our National Legislature would have dictated the free offering; the members of Congress whose patriotic impulses have prompted them to oppose, hitherto successfully, moderate appropriation from the General Government to the National Centennial Celebration have gained a title to sufficient contempt without farther efforts in the same direction, and we cannot but hope shame, if not the nobler sense of honor, will induce them to refrain from a repetition of the the mean, dishonorable course pursued by them when the question was last considered.

President Grant, in his Annual Message, speaks out manfully in behalf of National honor:

"The Commission heretofore appointed to take charge of the articles and materials pertaining to the War, the Navy, the Treasury, the Interior, and the Post-Office Departments, and the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institu tion, and the Commission of Food Fish, and to be contributed under the legislation of last session to the International Exhibition to be held at Philadelphia during the Centennial year of 1876, has been diligent in the discharge of the duties which have devolved upon it, and the preparations so far made with the means at command give assurance that the governmental contribution will be made one of the marked characteristics of the Exhibition. The Board has observed commendable economy in the matter of the erection of a building for the government exhibit, the expense of which, it is estimated, will not exceed say eighty thousand dollars. This amount has been withdrawn, under the law, from the appropriations of five of the principal departments, which leaves some of the departments without sufficient means to render their respective practical exhibits complete and satisfactory. The Exhibition being an International one, and the government being a voluntary contributor, in my opinion its contribution should be of a character in quality and extent to sustain the dignity and credit of so distinguished a contributor. The advantges to the country of a creditable display are, in an international point of view, of the first importance, while an indifferent or uncreditable participation by the government would be humiliating to the patriotic feelings of our people themselves. I commend the estimates of the Board for the necessary additional appropriations to the favorable consideration of Congress. The powers of Europe, almost without exception, many of the South American States, and even the more distant Eastern powers, have manifested their friendly sentiments toward the United States, and the interest of the world in our progress, by taking steps to join with us in celebrating the Centennial of the nation, and I strongly recommend that a more national importance be given to this Exhibition by such legislation and by such appropriations as will insure its success. Its value in bringing to our shores innumerable useful works of art, and Commingling of the citizens of foreign countries and our own, the interchanging of ideas and manufactures, will far exceed any pecuniary outlay we may make.”

The memorial of the Commission shows the financial con

$100,000

10,000

10,000

10,000

5,000

2,357,750

230,000

100,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

$5,187,750

Total, Required to carry the work to the opening day, . 6,724,850 Deficiency, 1,537,100

The memorial continues: "It was justly argued that the Exhibition should, as far as possible, be supported by the people struggling against a remarkably prolonged financial depression. The enterprise has arrived at a point whence we can predict for it a splendid success. It is our duty under the law to keep you advised of our progress. You know the condition of business among your constituents. Our efforts to raise money have never been relaxed to this day, but we need not explain why we have not quite reached our aim-the completion of our task through the aid of the people alone. Subscriptions have slackened because of a prevalent belief that the time has arrived when Congress may justly and wisely assist. Wherefore, we pray your honorable body to appropriate to us one and a half millions of dollars, with which we can complete perfectly all our preparations, and open the Exhibition on the appointed 10th of May, 1876, without debt, leaving the current expenses thereafter to be paid by receipts."

"Amc

A Terra-cotta model of Mr. John Bell's group rica," which forms a feature in the ornamentation of the Albert Memorial, in Hyde Park, London, will be exhibited in the Art Department at the Centennial. The central figure represents America as a quarter of the globe, mounted on a bison charging through the long prairie grass. Their advance is directed on the one side by the figure representing the United States and on the other by the figure representing Canada, who presses the rose of England to her bosom. The seated figures in the composition are Mexico and South America.