atement
received as true, but it began to be conjectured that the criminal
had some ground for his hope. I learnt from these daily
conversations that one of the prisoners was an American, and the
other an Irishman, and it was the former who was so strongly
persuaded he should not be hanged. Several of the gentlemen at
table, in canvassing the subject, declared, that if the one were
hanged and the other spared, this hanging would be a murder, and
not a legal execution. In discussing this point, it was stated
that very nearly all the white men who had suffered death since
the declaration of Independence had been Irishmen. What truth
there may be in this general statement, I have no means of
ascertaining; all I know is, that I heard it made. On this
occasion, however, the Irishman was hanged, and the American
was not.

CHAPTER 27

Return to Stonington--Thunderstorm--Emigrants--Illness--Alexandria

A fortnight passed rapidly away in this great city, and,
doubtless, there was still much left unseen when we quitted it,
according to previous arrangement, to return to our friends in
Maryland. We came back by a different route, going by land from
Newcastle to French Town, instead of passing by the canal. We
reached Baltimore in the middle of the night, but finished our
repose on board the steam-boat, and started for Washington at
five o'clock the next morning.

Our short abode amid the heat and closeness of a city made us
enjoy more than ever the beautiful scenery around Stonington.
The autumn, which soon advanced upon us, again clothed the woods
in colours too varied and gaudy to be conceived by those who have
never quitted Europe; and the stately maize, waving its flowing
tassels, as the long drooping blossoms are called, made every
field look like a little forest. A rainy spring had been
followed by a summer of unusual heat; and towards the autumn
frequent thunderstorms of terrific violence cleared the air, but
at the same time frightened us almost out of our wits. On one
occasion I was exposed, with my children, to the full fury of
one of these awful visitations. We suffered considerable
terror during this storm, but when we were all again safe, and
comfortably sheltered, we rejoiced that the accident had
occurred, as it gave us the best possible opportunity of
witnessing, in all its glory, a transatlantic thunderstorm. It
was, however, great imprudence that exposed us to it, for we
quitted the