The Emigrant: or Reflections While Descending the Ohio — John Shaqi
The Emigrant: or Reflections While Descending the OhioThomas, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
General
The Emigrant: or Reflections While Descending the Ohio
Thomas, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
Ohio River -- Poetry
Herman Blennerhasset and his accomplished wife have sat for many a
picture; but, after all, Fancy, alone, guided the pencil, and the
originals have never been truly sketched. The reality of their history
possesses sufficient interest, without the aid of fiction, to enlist
the sympathies of the most romantic. Born to fortune, and nobly
connected, Blennerhasset stood in the front rank of Irish society.
Educated for the bar, he distinguished himself on many occasions, and
he was the assistant counsel, with Curran, in the celebrated trial of
Hamilton Rowan. But his disposition was restless, his mind visionary,
and, doubtless, he felt sincerely for the degraded state of his
country. Notwithstanding his close relationship to the aristocracy of
Ireland, and the glaring unfitness of his character for scenes of
daring and of danger, he connected himself with the leading yeomen of
that day, and became the intimate associate and co-adjutor of Arthur
O'Conner. He continued to labor in the cause of Liberty, until the
eyes of Government were turned upon him; the result is a matter of
public history: O'Conner was arrested, and Blennerhasset escaped. He
had the good fortune, however, to secure a considerable portion of his
property, and, accompanied by his accomplished wife, an English lady,
he arrived in New York in 1796 or '97, with what, in this country, was
esteemed a large fortune.
He was, however, a visionary; he knew nothing of human nature, nothing
of the practical business of life. With considerable literary
acquirements, and much pretensions to science, he gave himself up to
all the reveries and schemes of modern philosophy; with Southey,
Godwin, and the whole class, he was continually dreaming about the
perfectibility of human nature, and believed that innocence was alone
to be found in that portion of humanity, which approached the nearest
to the state of nature. With these notions, which he succeeded, in
some measure, in imparting to his young and interesting partner, he
declined establishing himself in any of our Atlantic cities, then the
only places in the Union offering attractions to a foreigner of taste
and fortune, and turned his attention, to the magnificent solitudes of
the West. He purchased a portion of the Island in Virginia, near the
mouth of the Little Kenhawa, which has been consecrated by his
misfortunes, and executed those embellishments which have since become
the theme of many a fanciful speech and tale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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