they met in a meadow on the banks of lake Uri, near Rutli, to consummate their plans. On Martinmas eve, the eleventh of November 1307, this little band of patriots, thirty-three in number, met for the last time before striking for freedom. Among these was the brave William Tell, the almost deified hero of Swiss liberty. When the hour of midnight arrived, they formed a circle upon the green grass, clasped each other's hands and took a solemn oath by that God who fashioned all men alike, never to desert each other, and to devote their whole energies to restoring in-. vaded franchises, but without despoiling others of their goods, rights and lives. In a word, like our patriot sires, they pledged their "lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor" to their country. This solemn league was made in the free and open air with stars as witnesses, in the presence of their Maker. When the first rays of dawn lighted the distant peaks of the Alps, they again clasped hands, again raised them in union toward heaven, solemnly repeated the oath they had already taken, and then each departed to his respective home to prepare for the mighty struggle. The increasing discontents of the people, made the vogts more harsh in their measures. Many suspected of sedition, were confined in dungeons, and every means were resorted to, to intimidate the inhabitants. So insolent had Gessler become, that he seemed to feel himself equal to his imperial master. At Altorf he erected a pole near the gate, and placing his cap upon it, ordered every man who should enter the gate to bow in homage to it. But there was one man, a noble forester of Uri, whose proud and lofty spirit would not succumb to such petty and debasing tyranny as this. That man was William Tell. Having occasion to go to Altorf he passed through the gate with head erect, and to the astonishment of the guards he omitted the act of homage. He was instantly seized, and commanded to bow to the cap. The high minded Switzer looked first at the cap and then to the armed guards around him, and then folding his arms and drawing his athletic frame up to his full height said, "William Tell is a free citizen of Uri, a faithful subject of Prince Albert of Hapsburg: Hermann Gessler is no more, but hath a little more power than the forester, because of his station. We are, like all men, equal, and William Tell will never bow to Hermann Gessler, much less to his hat." This bold defiance greatly enraged Gessler, and Tell was hurried to prison. The news of his arrest reached his family that night, and the anxious wife, guided in her judgement by the benevolent feelings of her own heart, the next morning at dawn sent her little son, a lad of ten years, to plead for the life and liberty of his father, erroneously supposing that the cherub innocence of childhood could awaken a single sympathetic feeling in the hard heart of the tyrant. At early dawn the child set off for Altorf with a basket of refreshments for his father, and, instructed by his mother, made the usual obeisance to the cap at the gate, and asked admittance to the presence of the vogt. The moment Gessler learned that the infant ambassador was a son of Tell, the base passions of his heart suggested a new act of cruelty. He ordered Tell to be brought out of prison to make a treaty for his life and liberty. The poor child rushed into the arms of his father, and with all the simplicity of truth and nature, took him by the hand and begged him to go home, saying "Mother cried all night, and prayed to the Lord for help, and when I came away she told me not to come home without you." A tear mounted to the eye of the forester at these words of his child, but a demoniac smile played upon the features of the vogt. He told Tell that upon one condition, his life should be spared. It was, that his son should be placed at a great distance from him, and an apple be put upon his head, and shot at by him, (Tell). At this sentence, the cheek of the forester paled, and he resolved to die rather than thus endanger the life of his darling. But the boy begged his father to comply, saying, "God will direct your arrow." This assurance gave him courage, and with a firm hand he raised his cross-bow-in a moment the apple was cleft in twain, and a shout arose from the multitude as Tell eagerly embraced his child. But the brow of Gessler became dark, as he saw an arrow drop from the folds of Tell's garment when he stretched out his arms to embrace his son. He at once demanded his intentions in concealing that arrow under his cloak. The forester hesitated, but Gessler promised him his life if he would tell. He advanced toward the vogt, and fixing his keen eyes upon him said, "Had I shot my child, the second shaft was for THEE, and be assured I should not have missed my mark a second time." Gessler was almost stifled with rage at this avowal. "Tell," said he, "I have promised thee life, but thou shalt pass it in a dungeon." He was immediately loaded with irons and put into a boat, to be taken across the lake to the fortress of Kussnacht, in Schwitz. During their voyage, a terrible storm arose; the billows ran high, and speedy destruction seemed to await them. Gessler, greatly alarmed, and aware of the knowledge which Tell possessed of the geography of the adjacent shores, ordered him to be released and put in possession of the helm, with the injunction to steer direct for Kussnacht. Tell steered as best suited his purpose, and in less than two hours the skiff approached a ledge of rocks, the only accessible point for landing which the shore presented in that region.* With a des This spot is now known by the name of Tell's Platform. perate effort he seized his cross-bow and leaped | difficulty subdued the garrison and took posseson shore, leaving the vessel and its burden to the sion of the castle. Every person belonging to mercy of the waves. the castle was secured, and this victory so silently and effectively achieved, was for many hours unknown beyond the walls of the fortress. Gessler and his crew after beating about the lake for some time, finally succeeded in landing, but he escaped death from the billows only to meet it in another form. The insulted and deeply injured Tell, had watched with the keenest scrutiny, the fate of the skiff, and observing Gessler bending his way toward Kussnacht he concealed himself near a narrow defile through which he knew the vogt must pass. With the same arrow which he declared would not have missed its mark, had he killed his child, did Tell now charge his bow, and with unerring aim sent it to the heart of Gessler. This was the first decided blow struck by a member of the league, and the achievement nerved the others with triple courage and desperate determination. On New Year's eve, they proceeded to the castle of Rotsberg in Nidwalden, in which resided a young girl, betrothed to one of the men of the league. To her he had confided the secret, and secured her aid. On a proper signal being given she appeared upon one of the walls of the castle, and by a rope which she had prepared, drew her lover up. With their united strength, all the others were successively drawn up, and without Another strong hold was yet to be taken, ere it would be expedient to sound the war-cry throughout the cantons. This was the castle of Sarner, occupied by Berenger. Caution effected a victory in the first case, stratagem gave them success in this. The men of the league, with other tried friends who had joined them, went early on New Year's morn to the gates of the castle and asked entrance as freemen to make presents to Berenger. As they were all unarmed except with staves, they were admitted, when they immediately placed pike-heads upon their staves, gave a signal whistle that called in a numerous band from the neighboring forest, and after very slight resistance, these brave fellows became masters of the castle. The people, thus signally triumphant, demolished several other fortresses, and among them Gessler's "Restraint of Uri." The nobles of the three cantons, joined the league of the freemen and vassals, and on the following Sunday the lords of Uri, Schwitz and Unterwalden took the oath which the three-and thirty had solemnly vowed at Rutli. the thirty-first of December, 1839, $1,556,384 This almost bloodless revolution had a power-Available balance in the Treasury on ful influence upon the future destiny of Switzerland, and laid the foundation for that compact of freedom which has withstood the successive earthquake shocks of revolutions that for five hundred years have repeatedly convulsed Europe to its very centre. And to every Schwitzer the The exports during the year ending September name of William Tell is as familiar and dear, as 30, 1839, are computed to have been $118,359,004, is the memory of Washington to us. He left be- This is $9,872,383 more than those of 1838. hind him a name that grows brighter as the prin- $157,609,560 being the very large excess of The imports during the same year were about ciples of civil liberty are more widely diffiused; $43,892, 156, over those of the previous year. and at Kussnacht near the spot where Gessler "This," continues the Report, "may be a solufell by his hand, piety and patriotism have erection of a portion of the pressure in the money ed the chapel represented in our Engraving. market." "The difference between the imports and exports being $39,250,556, in favor of the former, is larger than in any year, except three, since 1789, and is much larger than any difference in the valuation of the same articles with the profits in the foreign trade added. U. S. FINANCIAL OPERATIONS. UPON the successful financial operations of our government, materially depends its prosperity, and as everything connected with that subject, is, or should be, of interest to every American family we have thought proper to give the following abstract of the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which accompanied the last annual message of the president of the U. S. to Congress. We are indebted to the N. Y. Journal of Commerce for the abstract, and publish it as an article for future reference, not as present information, for it is presumed that most of our readers have read the important document in detail Revenue and Means for 1839. The balance in the Treasury on the first of January, 1839, which would be considered available for general purposes, was $2,466,961. The receipts from Customs, the first three quarters, as appearing by the Register's books, are $16,328,393. $5,417,286 This includes two millions and three-fourths, collected last year in Treasury notes, but not carried on his books till 1839. Receipts from lands the first three quarters, including also some collected last year in Treasury notes Miscellaneous Receipts, Estimated Receipts for the fourth quarter from all those sources Receipts on some of the debts against banks not available on the first of January, 1839, but since paid, From the third issue of Treasury notes under the act of March the second 1839, Aggregate Means, "It must, therefore, except so far as reduced by an annual quantity of goods consigned here from abroad, and yet in store, unsold, to be a very decisive evidence of an increased indebtedness by this country to other nations, and except so far as this new indebtedness may consist of stocks sold and the proceeds returned here in merchandize, it must furnish another proof of one immediate cause of the present pecuniary pressure." ESTIMATE OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR 1840. From the best information possessed by the department, it is computed that the aggregate of receipts available for public purposes, will not exceed $18,600,000, of which fifteen millions are from customs, and three and a half from lands. Adding the balance on the first of January, 1840, the efficient means for 1840 will amount to $20,156,385. If Congress should make appropriations to the extent desired by the different departments, the expenditures for 1840, independent of treasury notes, are estimated at $20,000,000 Including all the treasury notes to be redeemed, the aggregate expenditures would be about This would leave a deficit in the treasury at the close of the year amounting to $22,750,000 125,208 $5,700,000 2,593,615 $1,321,686 $3,857,276 $37,217,812 It is not, however, considered prudent to rely exclusively on the collection of these debts. The Secretary proposes to meet the deficien10,891,760 cy by a reduction of the aggregate of new appropriations, and, if Congress will not do that, he $35,661,427 advises them that "it will be wise to provide seasonably in some other way, for the amount of the contingent deficiency." The Department is without any resort, temporary or permanent, in case of material deficiencies, it having no power to call on the States for the surplus with them deposited. The propriety of the provision, by Congress, of some permanent safeguard under fluctuations of receipts and expenditures, is strongly urged. of logarithmic and algebraic demonstration. It may be sufficient in this place to state that 849 of the diameter will give the side of a square whose area will be corrrespondent with that of a circle having ten for its diameter. Many circular or cylindrical figures come under the measurer's consideration-mirrors, arched passages, columns, &c. The contents of a pillar are easily ascer tained, even though its diameter may be perpetually varying; for if we take the diameter in two dif ferent parts, and strike a mean between every two adjoined measurements, and multiply that mean area by the depth or interval between the two, The manner of keeping the public money, with the proper guards against losses, is one of the prominent topics of the Report. The necessity of some action by Congress on the subject is pointed, the present system being an imperfect the solid contents will be found. one,-though far less embarrassing to the govern- The contents of pyramids are measured by mul ment than would have been a more intimate con- tiplying the areas of their bases by half their nexion with the banks, during the late suspen-lengths, or their lengths by half the areas of their bases. Cones whose sides are straight are equal sion. On the subject of the "permanent deficiency" to one-third the solid contents of cylinders equal apprehended as likely to happen in the Revenue, to them in base and altitude. Solids which have after 1841, under the operation of the present a certain degree of regularity may be easily measTariff," the Secretary postpones any particular remarks for the present, as he doubts wehther Congress will legislate in anticipation of an event that may possibly, but not probably, be avoided. USEFUL ARTS. MENSURATION. ured: thus a cube is computed by multiplying first its width by its length, then their product by its height: thus a cube measuring four feet each way would be 4 x 4 = 16 x 4 = 64. This is the meaning of what is called the cube root. Parallelopipedons, or solids of a long form, such as squared timbers, are measured by the same means. For the mensuration of growing timber various modes have been devised. After a tree has been felled its girth is usually taken at each end and at the middle, when there is no particular swell MENSURATION is the art of ascertaining the con- But where the irregularity is great it is better to or the top extremity does not suddenly decrease. tents of superficial areas or planes, of solids or take many more girths, and, summing up the substantial objects, and the lengths, breadths, &c., whole, to divide their amount by the number of of various figures, either collectively or abstractedly. The mensuration of a plane superficies or girths taken, so as to establish a mean measuresurface lying level between its several boundaries find the side of a square to which the tree ment. Divide that mean measurement by four to is easy, when the figure is regular, such as a will be reduced when prepared for the sawyer. square or a parallelogram, the height, multiplied If the whole solid contents are to be estimated, by the breadth, will give the superficial contents. divide by three instead of four, and taking the In regard to triangles, their bases, multiplied by third part, thus given, for a diameter, proceed in half their heights, or their heights by half their the way already shown to find the side of a square bases, will give the superficial measure. The height of a triangle is taken by means of a perpendicular to the base, let fall from the apex or summit. Any rectangular figure may have its surface estimated, however numerous the sides may be, by simply dividing it into triangles by drawing lines from one angle to another, but taking care that no cross lines be made: thus, if a triangle should be equally divided, it may be done by one line, which must, however, be drawn tubs, &c., are found by the process of gauging. from any one point to the centre of the opposite face. A four-sided figure will be divided into two triangles by one oblique line connecting the two opposite angles; a five-sided figure (or pentagon) by two lines, cutting, as it were, one triangle out of the middle, and making one on each side; a six-sided figure (or hexagon) will require three diagonals, which will make four triangles; and so on, to any extent, and however long or short the several sides may be respectively. The most essential figure is the circle, of which mathematicians conceive it impossible to ascertain the area with perfect precision, except by the aid part is the diameter. Solid bodies or areas, such as hay-stacks, interiors of barns, granaries, &c., When any sides fall in regularly, as in garrets, come under the rule laid down for cubes, &c. &c., the inclined part must be treated as a pyra mid, or as a quoin (or wedge), and the whole be summed up together. The contents of casks, equal to the circle of which that ascertained third TICONDEROGA. THIS old fort, which was once the scene of many a murderous conflict between the French and English, and afterwards between the English and American colonists, now scarcely retains a vestige walls and parapets are still remaining, but they by of its former self. Some fragments of the old no means indicate the former nature and extent of the fortifications. The place is well adapted FRANKLIN'S ADVICE TO YOUNG TRADESMEN. to natural defence, being surrounded on three sides | eral Wolfe; and as the conquest of Canada was by water, and on the fourth by what was form- soon completed, the English held undisturbed erly a natural and almost impassable morass. It possession of this fort until it was captured by a is situated on the narrows of Lake Champlain, small body of Americans, under Ethan Allen and which is here less than a mile in width, and near Benedict Arnold, soon after the breaking out of the confluence of the stream which empties from the American revolution in 1775. It fell again Lake George, (now called Lake Horicon, and first into the hands of the British under General Burnamed by Champlain, the first French discoverer, goyne in 1777, who retained possession of it till Lake St. Sacrament.) The first fort was erected the close of the campaign which resulted in his by the French as early as 1675, in order to com- surrender; since which time it has been a post mand the passage to Lake George, and although of no importance. One can hardly now realize, for half a century thereafter it remained in the in traversing its cultivated fields, that it was once midst of a wilderness, it was nevertheless the the scene of havoc and blood. Boston Times. most important post on the frontier. In the year 1757, the British General Abercombie, with about seventeen thousand British and provincial troops, made the first desperate attempt to wrest this important fortress from the hands of the French. Abercombie embarked all his troops on Lake George on board nine hundred batteaux and one hundred and thirty-five boats, and the next day they landed without molestation at the northerly end of the Lake. The English troops were immediately formed in three columns and advanced toward the fort, which was several miles distant. An advanced battalion of French lay encamped behind a breast work of logs-which was set on fire and abandoned with precipitation. The route of the English forces lay through a thick wood, in which they soon became entangled, and had it not been for a division of the provincial forces under General Putnam, who were acquainted with this mode of warfare, the whole English army must have been defeated, as General Braddock was a short time previous, by the French and Indians in the midst of the woods. The gallant Lord Howe, a meritorious English officer, fell in this skirmish by the side of General Putnam. The next day Abercombie advanced toward the fort, which was defended by about six thousand French and Indians. It was secured by a breastwork eight feet high, lined with artillery, and an abattis in front composed of trees branching outward-the branches so interwoven that it was almost impossible to force a passage by any ordinary means of attack. The British troops advanced in regular order to this abattis, through which they attempted to cut their way with their swords-exposed all the while to a direct and murderous fire from the breastwork, while the enemy were completely shielded by the strength of the fortifications. After continuing the attack for four hours, General Abercombie was obliged to draw off his troops, with the loss of eighteen hundred killed and wounded, and two thousand five hundred stands of arms which fell into the enemy's hands. Five Remember that money is of a prolific or multiplying nature. Money can produce money, and its offspring can produce more, and so on. shillings turned is six-turned again, it is seven and threepence; and so on, till it becomes a hundred pounds. The more there is of it, the more it produces every turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker. He that throws away a crown, destroys all that it might have produced, even scores of pounds. Remember that six pounds a year is but a groat a day. For this little sum, (which may be daily wasted, either in time or expense, unperceived,) a man of credit may, on his own security, have the constant possession and use of a hundred pounds. So much in stock, briskly turned by an industrious man, produces great advantage. The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded. The sound of the hammer at five in the morning, or at nine at night, heard but if he sees you at a billiard table, or hears your by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer; voice at a tavern, when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day, and demands it before it is convenient for you to pay him. Beware of thinking all your own that you possess, and of living accordingly. This is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into. To prevent this, keep an exact account for some time, both of your expenses and your income. If you take the pains, at first to enumerate particulars, it will have this good effect-you will discover how wonderfully small trifling expenses mount up to large sums, and will discern what might have been and may for the future be saved, without occasioning any great inconvenience. In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is The next attempt of the English to capture this as plain as the way to market. It depends chieffort was more successful. It was made in the ly on two things, industry and frugality; that is, latter part of July, 1759, by General Amherst, waste neither time nor money, but make the best at the head of twelve thousand men. At first the use of both. Without industry and frugality enemy appeared resolute, and determined to de-nothing will do, and with them every thing. He fend the works to the last extremity; but not being in a condition to withstand a regular siege, they dismantled a part of the fortress and retreated to the fort at Crown Point, farther down the Lake, during the night. This was soon after the capture of Quebec by the British army under Gen that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he gets, necessary expenses excepted, will certainly become rich-if that Being who governs the world, to whom all should look for a blessing on their honest endeavors, does not, in his wise providence, otherwise determine. |