its inhabitants was 2,219; in 1810, that part of it, which still retained the name, contained 2,550.

Tuesday morning, September 28th, we left Norwich and rode to Cazenovia, through the townships of Sherburne and Hamilton, pursuing our course along the Chenango to its head-waters, about sixteen miles. The settlements, here, seemed to have been little more than begun, and terminated soon after we left the Chenango in an absolute forest.

Before we left the valley, we crossed a tract of muddy road, such as I formerly described in the account of Littleton. After we ascended the hills, in which the Chenango finds its springs, we struggled through six or eight miles more; the mire being deep, and encumbered with roots and stones. These hills lie partly in Hamilton and partly in Cazenovia. They are rough and unpleasant. The soil, however, is good. The settlements are absolutely new, and the inhabitants are labouring under all the inconveniences and hardships attendant upon the difficult task of clearing a wilderness.

Sherburne contained, in 1800, 1,282; and, in 1810, 2,488 inhabitants. Hamilton contained, in 1800, 2,363; and, in 1810, 2,220 inhabitants.

Both these townships have, I suppose, been divided since the year 1800; and both, in tracts farther eastward, have considerable settlements. The county of Chenango, also, has been divided; and the northern division, including these townships, is named the county of Madison.

Within a few miles of the town of Cazenovia, the face of the country was suddenly changed. The steep hills and narrow vallies gave place to a succession of easy rising grounds and open expansions. To us this change was peculiarly pleasant. We were wearied by labouring down rapid descents and climbing steep acclivities; and our eyes, long straitened in their excursions, and tired by a confinement to the same disagreeable objects, were delighted with being able to expatiate over an extensive region. We also found the road better, and a chain of settlements continued to the town of Cazenovia. We arrived at sun-set.

The time was peculiarly unfortunate. A regiment of militia, collected from the surrounding country, had just been dismissed, after a review. Many of the officers and soldiers

had come from such a distance, that it was too late for them to return home. They had, therefore, taken lodgings here for the night. Tumult and disorder are incident to occasions of this nature; here they were increased by peculiar circumstances. The officers, lately commanding the regiment, were ́ men of worth and reputation. They possessed also a considerable share of military skill, spirit, and ambition. Under their discipline the regiment had become distinguished for peculiar improvements in every part of the military character, and had prided itself not a little on this distinction. When these officers were displaced by the government of the state, all the noncommissioned officers in the regiment, as a testimony of their disgust, resigned their places; but their resignation was not accepted.

The newly appointed officers were of opposite politics, and as opposite characters. They were, as we were informed, destitute of all military knowledge, and ignorant even of the most ordinary exercise. When they first appeared upon the parade, the soldiers professed to be wholly unacquainted with their duty, and intentionally performed every manœuvre in the most awkward and improper manner. At length the officers, mortified beyond expression, besought them in terms of very humble supplication to do their duty. The soldiers replied, that if the officers would be so good as to teach them how it should be done, they would readily obey their instructions. This, however, the soldiers well knew they were unable to do. The evil was, therefore, without remedy.

The troop, attached to this regiment, a fine, volunteer company of young men, dressed in a handsome uniform, well accoutred and well mounted, refused absolutely to obey the new officers, and compelled the government of the state either to disband them, or continue their former officers in command. The latter part of the alternative the government chose as the less evil, not improbably because it would hazard the loss of the fewest votes. These men, therefore, still held their commissions, except, perhaps, the captain. At his house the troop had this day engaged a dinner. But when they found, that the field officers of the regiment were to dine at the same table, and to take precedency of their own officers, they withdrew to a man.

This little tale exhibits, in a clear light, the depraving efficacy of ambition on the minds of those, who are seized by the love of place and power. Nothing could more forcibly display the grovelling tendency of this character than the measures adopted by the government of the state on this occasion.

Such expedients as these rend asunder the sinews of government. Subjects cannot fail to discern in them the selfishness, injustice, and folly of their rulers. The law loses its dominion, and the government its utility. The contempt and reprobation, directed immediately to those who are appointed, are instinctively transferred to those who appoint, and from the officer to the law under which he acts. Besides, the concessions, here made by the magistrate, were made to revolt, and can terminate in nothing but the encouragement of disobedience. The government, which thus yields, will soon be obliged to yield regularly, and at no great distance of time will be a government in name only.

I shall not now descant on the morality and policy of rewarding with offices of trust and profit those, who are of our party, merely because they are of our party; or those, who support our political advancement, merely because they support it. This subject I may, perhaps, resume at another time. At present I shall only observe, that it is a prostitution alike of principle and decency, and that within a moderate period it may subvert the freedom of any country.

We arrived when the confusion, to which I have alluded, was at its height, and found the only inns in the town preoccupied. Mr. B-, a respectable inhabitant of this town, having become acquainted with our situation, very politely invited us to his house, where we found every proof of refined hospitality, and spent the evening in the company of intelligent, friendly, and well-bred gentlemen.

The town of Cazenovia is a pretty settlement, built on the south-eastern quarter of a small lake, bearing the same name. This beautiful piece of water is about four miles in length from north to south, and from half to perhaps three-quarters of a mile in breadth. A mill-stream enters it at the southern end, and, passing through it, carries its waters onward to the Oneida lake. It is principally supplied by subjacent springs. Its temperature is, therefore, cool, and its waters are salubrious.

The houses in this town are chiefly built on a single street, running from east to west. Generally they are decent, and some of them neat. Colonel Lincklaen, a native of Holland, and agent of what is here called the Holland company, has built a handsome seat with pretty appendages on the eastern border of the lake.

By this gentleman I was informed, that a considerable part of the lands, which had been sold under his agency, had already gone through the hands of several successive proprietors. What is true of these lands is extensively true of the whole of what is called the western country of this state: the persons, by whom these lands are purchased, have, in many instances, been of the class, which I have mentioned before as pioneers, or foresters. The character of these people, and the manner in which they conduct the business of forming plantations in the wilderness, I have heretofore exhibited. To that exhibition I shall add nothing here, except, that when they have sold their first farm they purchase and sell, in the same manner, a second, a third, and sometimes a fourth; and that their progress from east to west removes, and has already removed them, from New-England to New-York, from NewYork to the state of Ohio, and from the state of Ohio to Louisiana. In this manner the strong columns of civilized men regularly push before them these Arabian troops; and will, at no great distance of time, follow them to the Pacific Ocean.

I am, Sir, &c.

LETTER II.

Holland Company. Face of the Country from Sullivan to Canandagua. Manlius. Varieties of Names given to Townships. Onondaga. Salt Springs. Marcellus. Early Fall of Snow. Skeneateles Lake. Aurelius. Cayuga Bridge. Account of Lakes in this Region. Junius. Geneva. Seneca Lake.

DEAR SIR;

THE Holland company originally purchased in this vicinity 60,000 acres of land; a large tract in the neighbourhood of Whitesborough, lying about fifty miles north-eastward from Cazenovia; and almost the whole county of Genesee, at the western end of this state. I have already mentioned, that they have also made a considerable purchase in the western parts of Pennsylvania. Their whole possessions in these two states are considerably more extensive than Connecticut.

Saturday, September 29th, we left our hospitable friends at Cazenovia, and proceeded through the townships of Manlius and Onondaga to Marcellus: thirty-one miles. For three miles our road lay along the beautiful lake, which I have mentioned, and was very pleasant. It ought to be remarked, that the fever and ague is here unknown: and that the soil of this neighbourhood is rich.

The Cazenovia road joins the western turnpike, as it is here called (that is, the great road from Utica to Canandagua), at the distance of four miles; and in the centre of a pretty settlement, in the township of Manlius. Here our travelling inconveniences chiefly vanished. The road was excellent, the surface smooth, and the settlement, though nearly of the same date, was much farther advanced. The houses were better, and were surrounded with more conveniences. Fruit trees