JOIN SUITE)! BETTER! T0 UNCLE JOSHUA DOWN-

INC. 3

Wealch Hides-yams: ofthe (ale Warisiw Disputed Territory. New You.

LETTER VI.

Wherin young John Smith describeth the desperate siege of the logging camp, and the memorable cap- ture of the loggers.

Snithaills, Down East, in the State of Maine, Marsh ‘24, 1839. Dear Giraud—I’ve jest got another letter from my son John, down in our disputed terri- tory, and as I know you feel anxious to hear how they get along down there, I hasten to send you a copy of it. It is as follows :— ' ' r the Line, Our Disputed Territory, 1830' Dear Falher,—-Tell mother I aint shot yet, though we’ve had one pretty considerable of a brush, and expect every day to have some more. Colonel Jarvis has taken quite a liking to our little Smithville detachment. He says we are the smartest troops he’s got, and as long as we etick by him, it isn't Sir John Harvey, nor all New Brumzwick, nor even Queen Victory her- aelf, can ever drive him ofl'of Fitzherbert's farm. Perhaps you mayn't remember much about this Fitzherbet’s farm, where we are. It is the very “ace where the British nabbed our Land Agent, r. McIntire, when he was shed, and asleep,

and couldn’t help himself, and carried him off

toFrederictou jail. Let ’em come and try to nab us. ifthey dare; ifthey wouldn't wish their cake was dough again, I’m mistaken. We’ve up pretty considerable of a little kind of a fort re, and we keep it manned day and night— we don’t more than halfof us sleep at once, and are determined the British shall never catch us with both eyes shet.

But I 'spoee mother's in dreadful fidgets to know about the brush, that I mentioned in the first part of my letter, so I must make haste and g along to it. It wasn’texactlya scratch with

British soldiers, but something jest about as bad, and I don't know but a little worse, for it was along with them thieving tresspassers, that’s been cutting down our trees, and stealin’ our

- logs. And I think I should as lives run my

chance among soldiers as among thieves.

That night arter we got here, when the sen- tries was all placed round the fort, and the things all put up for the night, Colonel Jarvis asked III to go in and sit down and have a chat. So wadid; and he asked us all about our march down here to our disputed territory. and what the news was at home, and if we see the govern- or as we come along, and if he sent any word to him, and soon. Sargent Johnson told him all about it, and told him the governor was terrible arnest for him to hold an to the logs : and said he mustn’t nevsr flinch a hair, nor give up an inch ofour disputed territory, let what would come, and he must put a stop to their cutting down our timber.

Colonel Jarvis said, the Governor might let him alone for that. "Sir John Harvey got hold ofany ofthem logs, he would have to get up ar- Iier in the morning than ever he did yet.

“ Now, Sargent Johnson,” said the Colonel, “ you are a smart officer, and you’ve got a smart little company here; and bein' you’ve jest come into the service, it wouldn't be no more than fair

that you should have a chance to take hold of

some kind ofajob that should be an honour to and your company, and show to the people

of the state what sort of grit you are made of. I think its very likely there's some of them ore thieving chaps about here in the woods yet, cut- ting down our timber; and you may take your men in the morning, and load up your guns and ofl'on a cruise, and see if you can ketch any

ofthe rascals, and bring 'em and their teams off

here prisoners ofwar; and the rest of us ‘ll stay here and guard the fort while you are gone. the meals set out to fight, don't show ’em no quarter, but take 'em, dead or alive, and bring 'eni otl' to the fort.”

Sargent Johnson told him, "that was jest sich ajob as we should like, and we'd be out in the morning bright and airly, and go at it.”

Accordingly, as soon as it was daylight in the morning, I turned out and gave Sargent John- eon atouch, and told him ’twas time to be start- ing. He was on his feet as quick as a wink, and told me to call the men and tell them to greedy. In a few minutes we got our break-

, and put some dinner in our knapsacks, and eeedthat our guns was all well loaded; and after the Colonel told us which way we better go, we pushed off, and struck right into the woods.

We had rather tough getting about, pretty lunch all the forenoen, scratching about through the bushes. and climbing over logs and stones, and working our way through the swamps; but towards noon we began to come along into the timber land. And, my stars! sich great whap— ping pine trees, as straight as a candle, and tall asaliberty-pole, and standing all round as thick 3. the bean-poles in our garden, I guess you never see.

“Ah,” says Sargent Johnson, " this is the glue where them thieving chaps picks their

uokleberries. We shall get upon the track of some of ’em bime-by !“

At last we come to a pretty considerable of a kind of a little river. Sargeant Johnson told us tokeep a sharp look out now, for they hauled the loga‘into these small rivers and brooks, and in .Qring, when the ice broke up, they

shoot ’em along into the Aroostook river,

than scoot ’em away ofl' down the St. John’s fleas, and carry 'em off to England, and nobody knows where. ' ' nrtno, and I was away ahead a little ways of the rest, and at last I heard a sharp kind

llistened a spel, and then I heard it again; and I told Sar snt'iohnson we was close upon 'em “I I soul bear ’em chop. At that we

lf

of a'W' ' i click, like the sound of an axe chopping wood. d Iggmuo tome“

d listened, and we could hear ’em

day. Sargeant Johnson then swig

stopped an

am as , high see that the primin’ in 9'" 3"“? "a right, and to follow him as still as mice: we crept along as careful as if we was 39mg 0“ eggs. Bime-by we got on to a little dpiece t: rising ground, where we' could look own wards the bend in the rivet. find we,” “8,5” 'em as busy at work as a thiefin a mill. '1 he)’ had a little log cabin for themselves. and a.n°' ther one for their oxen; and one Chap “’35 «I‘m driving the oxen in, to give 'em Slime hay, and the rest was going in to dinner; 3" bl“ file 9“ that we heard chopping: and h? “’35 digging his axe into the side of a large pine tree, 35 ["3 round ass hogset. Bime—by one of ’em come to the door and hollerred to him and told him to come into dinner, for the beans was all turned out and growin’ cold. But he said the beans might go to pot for what he keered, for he would'nt come in ill be got his treedown filly how. So he kept his axe a going, click, Che", and we kept still and looked on. We see the tree was pretty nigh off; and bime-by we heard a crack, and then a little louder crack; and we looked up and see the top begun to lean and tremble a little—it was a monstrous great big tree—and the cracks came quicker and louder; crack, crack, double crack, and the old tree begun to whisk through among the tops of the other trees with a roaring sound like a hurrycaue, and then, in two winks of a hum-bird's eye, it went crash on to the ground like it clap of thun- der, and made all smoke again.

“ By king,” said Sargent Johnson, “ ifthat’s the way they steal our timber, I think it’s a caution.”

After the tree was down, the chap stuck his axe into the stump, just as when any body’s readin,’.lie puts his finger on where he left off, and then he went into the camp to dinner.

" Now,” says Sargent Johnston, “ now’s the time; while they are at dinner we’ll surround the camp, and take ’em by surprise."

We looked down on to the bank of the river, and we see two or three everlastin’ great piles of logs, as big as two or three houses, that they had cut, and hauled, and rolled down the bank. This made some of our company feel a little blue, for fear they might be too many for us; and they asked Sargent Johnson if they hadn’t better wait till they come out ofthe camp, so we could see how many there was of ’em. For there was only eleven of us, and by the great pile of logs they had hauled down to the river, there might be a hundred ofthem.

Sargent Johnson said he didn’t care if there was five hundred ; he’d surround their camp and take ’em prisoners. And says he,

“ Ifany of you is cowards, you may turn about and go back now, and them that stays will have the honour all to ourselves.”

At that they coloured up some, and said they was no cowards, but was ready to go as for as he would.

So Sargent Johnson then gave us ofl' the plan of the campaign. And says he—

“ You see there is a door in the cabin, and it stands a little ways open; and you see there’s holes cut out through two sides ofthe cabin for windows. Now we mtist creep as still as mid- night, so that they shan’t see us nor hear us, and when we’ve surrounded the cabin, I’ll give a little bit of a low whistle, and in a moment two of you must poke your guns right into them windows, and I’ll step right into the middle of the door with my sword in one hand and my gun in 'tother, and two more of you must spring right behind me and poke your guns in over my shoulders, one over my right shoulder and ’totlier over my left shoulder; and the rest of you must stand off, all ready to fire, about two rods from the camp, as a core deserve. Colonel Jarvis says it’s always best to keep a core deserve, when you are going to make an attack. And as soon as I’ve got in the middle ofthe door, and staring of ’em right in the face, I’ll sing out to ’em like thunder-' Now you rascally stealing chaps, now I’ve got you; now if you don’t give up in a minute, we’ll shoot you down like squirrils.’ And I guess that’ll fetch ’em tu. Ifitdont, and they set out to fight, why then we must fight, that's all; and that's what we come down for.”

After Sargent Johnson had given us our or- ders, we told him we understood ’em, and would stick to him through thick and thin. So we crawled along towards the camp as fast and as still as we could. We had to climb right over that thunderin’ great big tree that they jest fell, because it was sich a bad place to get round ary end of it. But at last we got along up within three or four rods of the camp, and Sargent Johnson made a sign for us to halt, so we might all get ready and come to look around, one was missing, for there wasn’t but ten of us. And come to look round to see who it was, it was 3"” Wigglns. Sargent Johnson looked cross -enougb, .and a little surprised too; for he said for all Billy was such a fumbling, clumsy littld chap, he never thought he was a coward. At that! looked back the way we come, and I saw B'HY’S head bobbing up and down behind that great_pine tree, as he was jumping up with a“ I"! might. and trying to climb up on to it. I seed in a minute what the difliculty was ; he couldn’t ,get up on to the tree, and he didii’t dare to hol- 88:1 lxnllatcrzlgg muster ’em out of the cabin.

. Jumped up on to the tree and £10! hOId 0f Bllly’s hand and hauled him over And “'9 We“! sMn got all ready to make the t. tack. Every man had his gun ' d a - th b. pinte towards I‘De 0“. "I, and all ready to pull. I and Jonathan 2 owning “'35 lgnslznd Il:tzhirlid Sgrgent Johnson ‘ ver is siou my and iJosslyn was to standAt: 8:2,, window’ and

n as w . y, Sargent Johnson gave a little Pegasdii'fia‘ and we all sprung to our lace's . g bis e' Sargent Johnson had time to liegin td Splétilk eIii: 'Y W'ggm 5 gun—I guess there must be sbme-

So log on ’tother side. An

f side, and Sargent Johnson

‘ ‘th Billy’s forefinger, for his igliihgliiiaiglatiiga? like lightning into the cabin

. . t * lash ri ht into a Window, and his ball gill)! igl’the sage men},

all pokin’ in on every was bawling (put to

. - - ‘ llin o em ’em with his roaring) Laic‘e‘ 12:30; wih you’d “ stealin’ rascals. , a k {mice in been there. Ifyou ever see a flochnenl and the buttery nibbling round at Pfhneowindov; and see the. Old cat Jump lillitintniiidle on ’em, and 59" land "gm d-own m ' ‘ ht uess a little how them mice we"! “1 Y0“ {mg g

' l' ourn jumped and sprung how them prisoners o . , M in d and screamed. AsI was looking rig

mun ’ ld r I could see the over Sargent Johnson 8 51300 f , whole on’t. There was six of ‘em, and they was all setting round the table eatingtheir dinqieé'ls. They had a great large milk-pan in the int{ e ofthe table full of baked beans and three or 01'" pounds of fat pork on the top of it ; and a (litettg of soup on one end of the table, and brea 2nd potatoes and so on, all over the table. n when the thunder-clap broke upon em all to once, they all sprung right up as if they d gone out of their skins ; and the table went like_a lock of hay in a whirlwind. It bounced up in the first place almost to the roof of the cabin ; and when it came down, the beans flew from one side ofthe room to the other, like shot in a pep- per-box ; and the soup-kettle and the bread and the dishes and the potatoes I couldn’t keep the run of.

After the first scream was over, and they see they wasn’t killed, one of ’em sprung and ketch- ed a handspike that they had to stir the fire With, and another ketched up a stop! that they had to set on, and another run behind the door and brought out an old gun. But when tlieylseeour guns pokin’ in round so thick, they spring into the corners and squat down behind the, barrels: and begun to holler “don’t fire! dont fire! At last after they begun to get still a li’ttle, so he could be heard, Sargent Johnson told em to lay down their arms. At that, one laid. down his handspike, ’tother one his gun, and things begun to get considerable quiet. .

Then Sargent Johnson asked ’em if they was willing to surrender themselves prisoners of war. At that, one of ’em that seemed to be the head man among ’em, a short, thick, fat man, With a red face and a blueish nose, stepped forward and asked Sargent Johnson what he_wanted. The sargent told him they must deliver themselves up as prisoners of war and be carried to the American camp.

“ And then what is to be done with us 7” said he.

“ Well, then, you’ll have to be sent to Bangor, to be tried for stealing the logs on our disputed territory," said Sargent Johnson.

“ Well, then, we’ll die first,” said he, and he sprung back and ketched up the gun. But when he looked round and see the rest of his men was as white as a cloth, and quivering behind the barrels, and see our guns all pinted right at him, he see ’twas no use. And says he, “Captain don't fire, I’ll give up!” And he brought his gun and gave it to Sargent Johnson. Then Sar- gent Johnson ordered ‘em to come out two by two, and we took and tied them together by twos, so we could gtiaid ’em easy ; and then we went to the hovel and took out the oxen. There was two yoke ofoxen and a boss; and we yoked ’em up and loaded all the provisions they had in the camp, and started off for our fort. Jona- than Downing drove the oxen; and Billy Wig. gins—Sargent Johnson said Billy was sich an unlucky kind ofa feller he had no patience with him ; but after all, he said he did’nt know but what his gun goin’ off so, did about as much good as any thing—so on the whole. bein' he had sich short legs, he said Billy Wiggins shank] ride the boss.

So when we all got ready, We marched off towards our fort, and got back jist about sunset, And as we was coming up the hill towards the fort, they all came out to meet us and give us a salute. I guess you never see a man more tick- led than Colonel Jarvis was. He hopped up and down and slapped Sargent Johnson on the shoul. der more than forty times; and declared if the oxen was only fat enough, we’d have one of ’em roasted whole the next day for dinner,

ButI can’t say any more to-day; so give my love to the folks, and I remain your loving son,

the rest of our guns was

JOHN. Dear Gineral, so much for my son John’s second grist. Don’t you think he grinds it out pretty well for a boy that isn't seventeen years old yet. a

I

Comparison of the British Achievements in Afghanistan, in 1839, with thascqft/te Russians in Turkey, in 1828.——The late glorious capture of Ghuznae suggests to us a comparison between the achievements of the British army in Afaha- nistan, in 1839, and those of the Russian; in Wallachia and Bulgaria, in 18%. So marked a difference I‘ias never been recorded in ancient or modern history, whether we consider the difficulties which presented themselves in either campaign, or the losses sustained by the respec- tive armies. Sir John Kean marches across a comparatively unknown and nearly unexplored country,' accompanied by auxiliaries, whose fidelity is suspected, and surrounded by tribes whOSe treacherous intentions are undoubted, should a favourable opportunity occur for dis: playing them. He leads his little army a haras- sing and hazardous march, three tnonths’ dis- tance from its resources, leaving doubtful allies In his rear, with masked foes on either flank ready ‘to attack him in case of a reverse. He occupies town after town ; causes Shah Shooja- ool~Moolk to be proclaimed every where; and finally carries by storm the strongest place in Central Asia, defended by a numerous garrison,

witha loss of only 200 men. Af han‘ t ' notorious for the natural difliculties vgvhichsiilbpf

a;

it". totlie passage of sharply. ‘ . g. are celebrated among Aslltteafol‘thais fl" skill; yet British energy . and talent ' mounted the former without a “Icky: British velour has defeated the £500! th entrenched and confident. ther I few lighting. Our gallant troops have traversa‘ . ;‘ footsteps of Alexander the Great, of'l‘ainar ' and of Genghiz Khan. supportedyolelv by own courage; no civdised nations pug ‘ their progress; no eloquent prefll cheered ' ' on, and sung their anticipated triumph.— Russian army, in 1828, on the contrary, favoured by every aid which prestige, - tion, vicinity to its own resources, and the sence of its sovereign, could confer; .- intimidation, weakness, and internal di 7 on the part of Turkey, apparently ln'm’fll mediate success.-—-Headcd by the 1 Nicholas and the Grand Duke Michael, the Russians crossed the Pruth 140,000 strong, and at the distance of a week or ten days’ march . from their frontier commenced operations by the siege of three wretched fortresses—Brailow, ' Silistria, and Varna—to which we may add the entrenched camp of Schumlah. The Grand. Duke Michael sat down for two months belbre Broilow. He stormed the place once, and I” repulsed with a loss of 5000 men killed and, wounded. He repeated the attempt, andsw ceeded, with nearly an equal sacrifice. The Emperor, in person, at the head of the Guard, f assisted by Wittgenstein, Woronzow, and Dei- bitsch, and co-operated with by the fleet. under-t took the siege of Varna. Five months were - spent before this bicoquc, and it fell, at last, scarcely a house was left standing, or six feet of wall remained entire; but in the meanwhile the ' strength of the imperial corps was diminished by twenty thousand men. Silistria and Schumlah resisted all the efforts of their besiegers; and, when winter set in, the wreck of this mighty. force retreated, in as pitiable a state as Napo—- leon’s army exhibited on its retreat from Mos- cow; discomfited by fortifications scarcely deserving of the name, and by a handful of irre- . gular troops, in a country, be it observed, whose ‘ inhabitants were co-religionists of the Russians, . and on the very borders of their empire. Fur- ' ther sacrifices were incurred in the following year, before the Russian army reached Adrian-v ople. We have only to reflect a moment on the i. Russian campaigns of 1828 and 1829, in order ’ to feel more than proud of our gallant countrymen I in Afghanistan; we have only to turn to the ‘ sufferings and losses of the Russians—(amountp ing to one hundred and fifty thousand men)— during a war carried on within twenty day’s .. march of their own country, and supported by a fleet, in order to appreciate the skill of Sir L John Kean, in leading his little army, with un- diminished numbers, a three month’s march, through almost unknown districts. The effect ' of Sir John Kean’s victory will be immediate, ’ and ought to be lasting— United Service Gazette.