Captain Sherman, her commander, to
whose ingenuity and excellent taste these results are solely
attributable, has bravely and worthily distinguished himself on
more than one trying occasion: not least among them, in having the
moral courage to carry British troops, at a time (during the
Canadian rebellion) when no other conveyance was open to them. He
and his vessel are held in universal respect, both by his own
countrymen and ours; and no man ever enjoyed the popular esteem,
who, in his sphere of action, won and wore it better than this
gentleman.
By means of this floating palace we were soon in the United States
again, and called that evening at Burlington; a pretty town, where
we lay an hour or so. We reached Whitehall, where we were to
disembark, at six next morning; and might have done so earlier, but
that these steamboats lie by for some hours in the night, in
consequence of the lake becoming very narrow at that part of the
journey, and difficult of navigation in the dark. Its width is so
contracted at one point, indeed, that they are obliged to warp
round by means of a rope.
After breakfasting at Whitehall, we took the stage-coach for
Albany: a large and busy town, where we arrived between five and
six o'clock that afternoon; after a very hot day's journey, for we
were now in the height of summer again.
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