great and enlightened people, he is now the political head.

Be pleased, Sir, to accept our sincere wishes that your life may be prolonged and happy ;-That your administration may be prosperous and blessed;-That your journey may be pleasant; and that you may, in health and safety, be returned to the bosom of your family, and all your endearing and domestic relations, with happiness and satisfaction.

JEREMIAH G. BRAINARD, Mayor.

June 25, 1817.

The President's reply.

To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the city of New-London.

FELLOW-CITIZENS ;

In making a Tour through the Eastern States, with a view to public defence, New-London had a strong claim to attention; and in visiting it, I have been much gratified by the very friendly reception which has been. given to me.

Aware of the favourable circumstances under which I have commenced the duties of the high trust to which I have been appointed by my fellow citizens, it will be my zealous endeavour to derive from them, in the administration of the government, all the advantages which they can afford. It is only by making adequate preparation for war, now that we are blessed with peace, that we can hope to avert that calamity in future. It is only by a vigorous prosecution of the war, when it becomes inevitable, that its evils can be mitigated, and an honourable peace be soon restored.

In the pursuit of great national objects, it is equally the interest and the duty of the whole American people to unite. Happy in a government which secures to us the full enjoyment of all our civil and religious rights, we have every inducement to unite in its support. With such union we have nothing to dread from foreign powers.

For the kind interest which you take in my welfare,

I beg you to accept of my warmest thanks, and to be assured of the sincerity with which I reciprocate it, in favour of the citizens of New-London, and its vicinity. JAMES MONROE.

"On Thursday morning, the President, with his suite, attended by Com. Bainbridge, Capt. Oliver H. Perry, and other distinguished military and naval officers present, were conveyed in barges to Fort Trumbull. On his leaving the wharf, a salute was fired by the Enterprize sloop of war; and on his landing a salute was fired from the Fort.

After inspecting the site and works of Fort Trumbull, he proceeded across the harbour to Groton, to visit Fort Griswold, that memorable spot, which a band of Volunteer Militia bravely defended, when assaulted by the British troops, September 6, 1781; and where a large number were sacrificed after the surrender of the Fort.

A national salute was fired from Fort Griswold, when the President landed. He was met by a Committee of Arrangements, and a large assemblage of citizens of Groton and the neighbouring towns; all vieing with each other in expressions of respectful attention to him, whom the nation has distinguished by its honours.

He was then escorted to the Fort by the first Company of Grenadiers of the eighth Regiment, commanded by Capt. Dabell, and accompanied by the select men, and civil authority, and followed by a long cavalcade of citizens, to the gate of Fort Griswold.

He entered the Fort with his suite, the naval and military officers present, and several distinguished citizens. In the Fort, at his request, some of the surviving

war,

heroes who so valiantly defended it in the revolutionary were introduced to the President. The scene now became truly interesting. After a lapse of so many years, Fort Griswold, and the hill on which it stands, becomes again distinguished in the annals of our country. There we behold the Nation's Chief; and at his side the hoary Veteran-who, on that spot, thirty-seven years having since passed, stood as a Volunteer in defence of his Country and his Home; and after surrendering to a superior force was wounded and left for dead.

Mr. Park Avery, and his brother Mr. Ebenezer Avery, of Groton, both upwards of seventy years of age, were among the few survivors present. Their scars were too conspicuous to permit them to escape the particular notice and kind attention of President MONROE. Past scenes crowded on his recollection, and when, under the impulse of the moment, he laid his hands on the traces of their wounds ; these venerable patriots realized that their country blessed them, while her Chief gratefully noticed the scars which bore honourable testimony to their valour, and their sufferings in her defence.

After inspecting the Fort, and its very commanding site, the President was received by the military and citizens, who were paraded at the gate, and waiting with great order and decorum. He was then escorted in the same order as before, to the house of Capt. Elijah Baily, where refreshments were prepared.

The Steam Boat Fulton, Capt. Law, having been politely offered, lay waiting at a short distance from the wharf. The President being respectfully saluted, went

on board the Fulton, and proceeded up the river Thames, about six miles, which afforded an opportunity for examining this important river, with its numerous and valuable accommodations for a navy. He returned to this city about 2 o'clock, P. M."

The President lodged at New-London upon the night of the 25th. The next morning, at an early hour, he entered the well known Enterprize sloop of war, and, accompanied by other United States vessels, passed Fort Trumbull, which fired the customary salute, and proceeded to Gardiner's Bay. He here surveyed the commodious bay where an English squadron under Sir Thomas M. Hardy, the favourite* of Lord Nelson, for a long time blockaded an American squadron that had become familiar with victory.

The town of New-London, the key to Connecticut, has suffered from the operations of war ever since Connecticut was settled. In the early stages of the settlement of the State, it was the seat of savage warfare. In the revolutionary war, it suffered not so much by a foreign foe, as by a native traitor, born in its neighbourhood. The name of Benedict Arnold, is the first term of execration, that its tender infants lisp from their innocent lips. Our excellentPresident remarks, in his INAUGURAL SPEECH-"I add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime of high treason."

Had Arnold been recovered from the British army, after having betrayed his native country, the President

*After Lord Nelson had lost an arm in battle, he was accompanied by Hardy to an interview with the Lords of Admiralty. Lord lamented the loss of his right arm. Nelson, turning to Hardy, said, "Here is my right

arm."

could not have said this. Arnold must have died as a traitor, and Andre, the accomplished, the generous, and courageous Andre, would have escaped an ignominicus death.

It may not be deemed a digression when describing the city of New London, to allude to Arnold, who partially destroyed it in the revolutionary war. He was born in the county of New-London, Connecticut. In the early stages of the revolutionary war, he was raised to the rank of Colonel. He was entrusted with daring and difficult expeditions, and his success exceeded the expectations excited by his previous character for prudent courage. But avarice, the gangrene of the human mind, was his ruling passion. He converted the power entrusted to him to aid the cause of his endangered country, into an instrument to augment his own wealth. His companions in arms complained loudly of his penurious injustice. Congress regarded their complaints, and WASHINGTON admonished him for his abuses. But gentle reproof was lost upon his sordid heart. Instead of producing that reformation which deserved reproof, always effects in a generous bosom, it only tended to arouse the revengeful spirit of disappointed avarice. He knew full well, that Britain, with all her boasted prowess, had sometimes conquered by her gold. His attachment to that was more devoted than that he owed to the land of his nativity, and he sold himself, and betrayed his country, for thirty thousand pounds sterling. But that watchful Providence that succours the just, and defeats the machinations of the wicked, thwarted his diabolical intentions. West Point was preserved; Arnold fled his country; left