pal reason that so few have embraced its provisions. When we consider the manner in which the greater part of our schools are conducted; the great body of our schoolmasters deficient in the first principles of the language they attempt to teach; our youth in imminent danger of acquiring erroneous habits; and, add to this, the time that must be wasted in acquiring a useful degree of education, it is presumed that a general plan of education may be adopted, that will have a tendency to prevent those evils, and be supported at as little expence to the community as the present. Young men will find it their interest to qualify themselves for the office of teachers, when they know that none but qualified persons will be admitted, and salaries more permanent and certain be allowed.

Your committee flatter themselves that few, if any, will object to contribute a small portion of their wealth towards aiding their more indigent neighbours to have their children thus educated; thus qualifying them, in some measure, to be useful members of society, and thereby laying the surest foundation for the continuance of our civil and religious liberties, and perpetuating our happy form of government. To a generous mind, the recollection that they have been instrumental in promoting human happiness, will greatly outweigh any pecuniary considerations: under these impressions your committee submit the following resolution, viz.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to bring in a bill, embracing the following principles:

First, Two suitable persons shall be chosen by each township, ward, or district in the commonwealth, at the same time, and in the same manner, that constables are chosen, who, together with the county commissioners, shall lay off their proper county into convenient school districts, having respect to the language and local circumstances of the inhabitants, fix the salaries of the teachers, lay down rules for the

time and manner of payment, and annually, in the month of December, lay before the legislature a statement of their proceedings relative to schools, and also whatever amendments may, in their opinion, be necessary for improving the system.

Second, Each school district shall annually chuse three trustees, whose duty it shall be to provide a suitable person to teach the English or German language (as the case may be) grammatically, writing a fair hand, and arithmetic, on the most approved plan. Said trustees shall have power to dismiss the teacher of their proper school district for disorderly behaviour; to provide, at the expence of the district, a suitable school-house, and generally to superintend the concerns of their proper schools; and annually, in the month of October, lay before the commissioners an account of their proceedings, and what further improvements to them would appear necessary.

Third, All the youth under fourteen years of age, may, at the county expence, be taught reading, writing, and plain arithmetic; their further progress shall be at the proper expence of those who send them.Payments made by any householder to the teacher of the proper district, shall operate as a credit in his payment of county taxes to the amount of his or her quota for the support of schools.

Fourth, The law not to be in force, in any particular county, until sanctioned by the associate judges, grand-jury, and commissioners of the proper county, or a majority of them.

For the Literary Magazine.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR 1805.

FOR the pay and subsistence of the officers, and the pay of the sea

men, four hundred and fifteen thousand five hundred and seventy-eight dollars:

For provisions, two hundred and twenty-seven thousand and eightysix dollars, and forty cents:

For medicine, instruments, hospital stores, and all expences on account of the sick, ten thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars:

For repairs of vessels, store rent, and other contingent expences, four hundred and eleven thousand nine hundred and fifty-one dollars, and

two cents:

For the pay and subsistence of the marine corps, including provisions for those on shore, and forage for the staff, eighty-two thousand five hundred and ninety-three dollars, and sixty cents:

For clothing for the same, sixteen thousand five hundred and thirty-six dollars, and ninety-eight cents:

For military stores for the same, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five dollars:

For medicine, medical services, hospital stores, and all expences on account of the sick belonging to the marine corps, one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars:

For quarter-master's and barrack-master's stores, officers' travelling expences, armourers' and carpenters' bills, fuel, premium for enlisting, music, and other contingent expences, eight thousand four hundred and nineteen dollars:

For the expence of navy yards, docks, and other improvements, the pay of superintendants, store keep ors, clerks, and labourers, sixty thousand dollars:

For completing the marine barracks at the city of Washington, three thousand five hundred dollars.

For the Literary Magazine.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR 1805.

FOR defraying the expence of the military establishment of the United

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States, for the year 1805, for the Indian department, and for the expence of fortifications, arsenals, magazines, and armories, the following sums are appropriated, viz. :

For the pay of the army, three hundred and two thousand, seven hundred and ninety-six dollars:

For forage, four thousand four hundred and eighty-eight dollars:

For the subsistence of the officers of the army and corps of engineers, thirty-one thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and fourteen

cents:

For the subsistence of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, one hundred and seventynine thousand and nine dollars and sixty-nine cents:

For clothing, eighty-five thousand dollars.

For bounties and premiums, fifteen thousand dollars:

For the medical and hospital department, twelve thousand dollars:

For camp equipage, fuel, tools, expence of transportation, and other contingent expences of the war department, eighty-one, thousand dollars:

For fortifications, arsenals, magazines, and armories, one hundred and thirty-three thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars and eighty-eight cents:

For purchasing maps, plans, books, and instruments for the war department, and military academy, five hundred dollars:

For the pay and subsistence of the commandants in Louisiana, five thousand nine hundred and seventyone dollars and seventy-seven cents:

For the Indian department, ninety-two thousand six hundred dollars.

the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between his Britannic majesty and the United States of America.

2. An act making an appropriation to supply a deficiency in an appropriation for the support of government during the present year (1804), and making a partial appropriation for the same object, during the year 1805.

3. An act concerning drawbacks on goods, wares, and merchandize.

4. An act for the disposal of certain copies of the laws of the United States.

5. An act declaring Cambridge, in the state of Massachusetts, to be a port of delivery.

6. An act to divide the Indiana territory into two separate govern

ments.

7. An act authorizing the corporation of Georgetown to make a dam or causeway from Mason's island to the western shore of the river Potowmac.

8. An act for the relief of Charlotte Hazen, widow and relict of the late brigadier-general Moses Hazen.

9. An act making appropriations for the support of the navy of the United States, during the year 1805. 10. An act making an appropriation for completing the south wing of the capitol, at the city of Washington, and for other purposes.

11. An act for carrying into more complete effect the tenth article of the treaty of friendship, limits, and navigation with Spain.

12. An act to provide for completing the valuation of lands and dwelling houses, and the enumeration of slaves, in South Carolina, and for other purposes.

13. An act supplementary to the act, intituled, "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage."

14. An act for the relief of John Steele.

15. An act for the relief of Alexander Murray.

16. An act authorizing the postmaster-general to make a new contract for carrying the mail from

Fayetteville, in North Carolina, to Charleston, in South Carolina.

17. An act concerning the mode of surveying the public lands of the United States.

18. An act making appropriations for the support of the military establishment of the United States, for the year 1805.

19. An act making appropriations for the support of government, for the year 1805.

20. An act to continue in force "An act declaring the consent of congress to an act of the state of Maryland, passed the 28th day of December, 1795, for the appointment of a health officer."

21. An act to amend the act intituled "An act further to amend the act, intituled "An act to lay and collect a direct tax within the United States."

22. An act to appropriate a sum of money for the purpose of building gun boats.

23. An act to authorize the erection of a bridge across a mill pond and marsh, in the navy yard belonging to the United States, in the town of Brooklyn, in the state of New York.

24. An act further to amend an act intituled "An act regulating the grants of land, and providing for the disposal of the lands of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee."

25. An act for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to lands within the territory of Orleans, and the district of Louisiana.

26. An act to amend the act intituled "An act for the government and regulation of seamen in the merchants' service."

27. An act for the relief of the widow and orphan children of Robert Elliott.

28. An act authorizing the discharge of John Yorke from his imprisonment.

29. An act to authorize the secretary of war to issue military land warrants, and for other purposes.

30. An act to amend the charter of Georgetown.

31. An act further providing for the government of the territory of Orleans.

32. An act to amend an act intituled "An act for imposing more specific duties on, the importation of certain articles; and also for levying and collecting light money on foreign ships or vessels.”

33. An act to provide for the accommodation of the president of the United States.

34. An act to establish the districts of Genessee, of Buffaloe creek, and of Miami; and to alter the port of entry of the district of Erie.

35. An act to regulate the clearance of armed merchant vessels.

36. An act further to alter and establish certain post roads, and for other purposes.

37. An act for the relief of Richard Taylor.

38. An act supplementary to the act intituled "An act making provision for the disposal of the public lands in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes."

39. An act making provision for the widow and orphan children of Thomas Flinn.

40. An act for the relief of George Scoone and Alexander Cameron.

41. An act making appropriations for carrying into effect certain Indian treaties, and for other purposes of Indian trade and intercourse.

42. An act for the more effectual preservation of peace in the ports and harbours of the United States, and in the waters under their jurisdiction.

43. An act to extend jurisdiction, in certain cases, to the territorial courts.

44. An act for the relief of Robert Patton and others.

45. An act further providing for the government of the territory of Louisiana.

46. An act in addition to "An act to make provision for persons that have been disabled by known wounds."

47. An act supplementary to the act intituled " An act making an

appropriation for carrying into effect the convention between the United States of America and his Britannic majesty."

Resolution expressive of the sense of congress of the gallant conduct of captain Stephen Decatur, the offi cers and crew of the United States' ketch Intrepid, in attacking, in the harbour of Tripoli, and destroying, a Tripolitan frigate of forty-four

guns.

Resolutions expressive of the sense of congress of the gallant conduct of commodore Edward Preble, the officers, seamen, and marines of his squadron.

For the Literary Magazine.

REVIEW.

The History of Virginia, from its first settlement to the present day. By John Burk. Vol. 1. 8vo. Petersburg, 1804. pp. 348.

SEVERAL circumstances, to use the language of the author, contribute to render the history of Virginia an object of interest and curiosity. In this part of the American continent, the first permanent establishment was formed by the British; and it is here we must look for those ancient documents and materials, whose discovery will throw light on the history of the other states.

By her population and geographical position, she stands conspicuous in the confederacy, which her valour hath erected, in common with that of her sister states, and which her spirit and constancy have since improved and supported.

The materials for a correct history are diminishing every day.The war hath already made a melancholy chasm in our public records. History, to which we might look to supply this loss, is often silent.

Stith, as far as he goes, is, indeed, a faithful guide; but his his

tory comprizes only a space of twenty years, and it is to be found only in the libraries of the curious. Beverley is a mere annalist of petty incidents, put together without method, and unenlivened by any of the graces of style. He is, moreover, the apologist of power, in which respect also he differs essentially from Stith, who, on all occasions, displays a manly contempt and defiance of injustice and tyranny. Sir W. Keith, although more diffuse than Beverley, and more graceful and correct, has little more of detail.

Smith's is a sort of epic history or romance, where the author recounts his achievements in the spirit with which he fought. His narrative, however, occasionally discovers much good sense, and raises considerable interest. It is, moreover, the ground-work of succeeding histories, and is valuable as a piece of rare and curious antiquity.

These books, taken together, contain a mass of valuable matter, which it would be prudent to collect, arrange, and concentrate, before the few copies which remain disappear from private libraries, as they have already done from the shelf of the bookseller.

In addition to the assistance which might be derived from those publications, chance has thrown in the author's way two large manuscript volumes, containing the minutes of the London Company, together with the proceedings of the Virginia councils and assembly, with little interruption, to the middle of the reign of George II. These volume's are a mine of information, and their value is enhanced by the consideration that they are, in all probability, the only copies in existence.

This collection may be further enriched by such documents as are to be found in the public offices, and in the library of William and Mary College, to the free use of which the author has been politely invited.

The author begins his work with remarks upon the propensity of na

a

tions to trace their own original to a divine or miraculous source: propensity favoured by the obscurity in which their original is gene. rally involved; and dwells upon the difference, in this respect, between the nations of the ancient world and those which have grown out of their colonies in the western hemisphere. He then details the history of ancient trade and navigation, which he brings down to the voyages of Columbus and Cabot. He now enters upon the proper subject of his work, and relates, in a clear and circumstantial manner, all the events connected with the history of Virginia, from the earliest expeditions to the dissolution of the Virginian Company, in 1625. An appendix is subjoined, in which some further account is given of the London Company, of the state of the aboriginal tribes on the arrival of the strangers, and a list is inserted of the names of the adventurers for Virginia, in 1620.

This portion of the work, being considerably circumstantial, and relating to events qualified, in themselves, to excite the reader's interest, is highly entertaining and instructive. The writer has done justice to his theme, by a clear and distinct, though, on some occasions, a desultory style and manner. the copiousness of this narration, the author apologizes in the following terms:

For

"During the first eighteen years of the settlement of Virginia, the incidents are so numerous and diversified, that, with every wish to be concise, I could not, consistently with my general plan, compress them within a narrower compass. In the commencement of any work, every material occurrence should be placed full in the view of the reader; the nature and origin of every institution fully explained; and the principal personages who figure in it be introduced with a suitable description of their characters and actions. If this be done, the bare recurrence of the names in the other