Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

Tribute of Respect.

A Public Dinner was given on Tuesday the 10th inst. at Leesburg, to the Hon. Charles Fenton Mercer, as a testimony of high respect for his indefatigable and able management of the great enterprize of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. About sixty gentlemen sat down to a sumptuous entertainment. Richard H. Henderson, Esq presided, assisted by John M. McCarty, and Sidoor Baily, Esqrs. Upon the removal of the cloth, the following toasts were drank, amid the greatest harmony and good feeling, which prevailed throughout the evening:

1. The memory of Washington.

2. The memory of Adams and Jefferson.

3. The president of the U. States.

4. Our distinguished fellow-citizens Madison, Monroe, and Marshall.

5. The union of the eastern and western waters: The father of his country willed it-the members of the 20th congress are his faithful executors.

6. Our esteemed representative in congress: True to his high trust, his constituents and his country are about to gather the fruits of his untiring energies, and enlightened patriotism.

After drinking this toast, which was followed by the cheering of the company, Mr. Mercer rose, and said:

Mr. President, and Gentlemen,

In compliance with a custom sanctioned by general usage, I rise, to express the feelings of a heart warmed by your kindness. To assure you of my sensibility to the high honour you have this day conferred on me, would but inadequately convey to you my fervent gratitude, for the friendly countenance, and steady support, that I have at all times, received from the county of Loudoun.

If any reward be due, gentlemen, to my humble, though devoted service of our common country, it belongs, under a Gracious Providence, not to me, but to yourselves. To you, who have accompanied me, with confiding affection, through evil as well as good report; indulgently bearing with my infirmities, and cheering, with continued favour, my imperfect efforts to elevate our depressed commonwealth, and to uphold the authority and dignity of the federal government.

Trust me, my friends, when I say that no man can serve you, effectually in your public councils, who is not sustained by your confidence. Without it, he can enter upon no new measure with zealous hope, nor conduct it to a prosperous issue. If this be true, as I affirm, how essential, then, to his success, must be your support; if however cherished at home, he is abroad the selected victim of unrelenting injustice, the more because unfounded. if it be attempted to make him the sacrifice of conciliation to public favour. Forgive this painful allusion. I seek by it, to exalt the force of my present obligations to you, and to account for the emotion of a heart, overflowing with gratitude.

Returning to the immediate occasion of your festivity, allow me to congratulate you on the near approach of better days than we have recently experienced. The spirit of internal improvement is, once more, abroad in our commonwealth. It smooths the rough current of our majestic river, and promises to unlock for our enjoyment, both the treasures of nature and the inventions of art. To augment, not only our wealth and comfort, by opening new avenues of commerce, but the security of our freedom, by perpetuating our happy and glorious union.

Is this language extravagant? I do but feebly re-echo the accents of a voice, still sounding in my ear, when I predict that the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, will become the strongest bond of friendly intercourse between the east and the west. Such was the opinion of Washington, when the Indian canoe had but just disappeared from the bosom of "the River of Swans." He but glanced with a patriot's eye, through dim futurity, to that 4th of July, which has been appointed by public anticipation, for commencing the greatest enterprize that ever ennobled the labour of man. And if the father of his country so thought, long before the possibility had been conceived, of uniting the waters of the Ohio with the tide of the Potomac, by one line of unbroken navigation, what shall limit our confident expectations when assured, as we, now, are, that after the lapse of a very few years, the boat which shall leave the mouth of the Mississippi, freighted with the productions of a tropics, may in war as in peace securely glide through those distant mountains, and along the neighbouring shores of our county, to a city, founded by Washington, himself, and bearing his illustrious name.

But I cannot longer trust myself, with a theme, on which the present occasion forbids me to dwell. One branch of internal improvement, to which even this, as well as every other, must yield, in importance, supplies me with a toast, to return you, not wholly inappropriate, I trust, to that, with which you have so highly honoured me. I beg leave, gentlemen, to give you-

The Potomac-the Cohongoronta.

Popular education, and renewed prosperity to the county of Loudoun, and to the commonwealth of Virginia.

7. The memory of De Witt Clinton: The prosperity of his native state, is the field of his fame.

8. The convention: Demanded by the voice of the people, their sacred will shall prevail: Vox populi, vox Dei.

9. Our revered Lafayette: He nobly consecrates the evening of his life to the defence of those principles, for which, under the banner of Washington, he shed his youthful blood.

10. The people of Virginia: Let them be the artificers of their own fortunes. The glory of the dead can neither make them wise, nor happy, nor great.

11. The American Colonization Society: The hope of two hemispheres. Time will illustrate its destiny, and the character of its projectors.

12. Internal Improvements-essential to the honour and best interests of the country, the spirit of the age bids them prosper.

13. Our fair country-women.

By Abner Gibson, Esq. The union of the eastern and western waters-conceived by Washington, commenced by Mercer, under the administration of John Q. Adams-immortality to their names.

By Mr. Townsend McVeigh. Henry Clay. the brilliant star of the west, if obscured by a passing cloud, it is but to shine forth with renewed lustre.

By C. W. D. Binns, Esq. The presidency of the United States a wise people will never bestow it as a reward, but always confer it as a TRUST.

By W. C. Seldon, jr. Esq. De Witt Clinton and Charles F. Mercer. That fame is best supported, which is based on the achievement of objects productive of public prosperity.

By James Melibany, Esq. The march of internal improvements-not to be arrested by hair-splitting political metaphysicians.

By Major Hamilton Rogers. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Virginia owes to it more than a cold acquiescence in its construction.

By John A. Binns, Esq. Richard Rush, Esq. the accomplished gentleman.

By Mr. J. Swann. Henry Clay-the friend of the American System. Aristides was arraigned, but it was for the purity of his motives, and the sternness of his virtues.

By Mr. J. H. Carson. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and Charles Fenton Mercer: Success and expedition to the plan. Prosperity and honour to the man.