p=
Hisoellaneons.
A Lesson of Despotism.
WAR CLAIMS AT ST. LOUIS.
EXTRACT FROM THE FINAL REPORT OF THE
COMMISSION.
W asmivatoN Cary, D. C.
April 1, 1862.
Sir :—I have the honor herewith to
transmit, in compliance with a resolution of
the House of Representatives of this date,
*a copy of the final report made by the
commission on war claims at St. Louis,
which commission consisted of Hon. Jos.
Hylt, Hon. David Davis, ard Hon. Hugh
Campbell, which report gives a summary of
the labors of the commission. and the rea-
sons for their action in the different classes
of claims brought before them.”
Very respectfully yours,
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
Hon. G. A. Grow,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Sr. Lous, March 10, 1862.
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.
Tne undersigned, commissioners appoint-
ed to examine and decide upon claims
against the military department of the
west, originating prior to the 14th of Octo-
ber, 1861, have the honor to submit thy fol-
lowing report :
{Here follows several pages showing the
monstrous frauds practiced at St. Louis in
the building of boats, furnishing supplies,
&c., but we can only give the concluding
partion. }
TrURsDAY, March 6.
Claims of B. F. Moodey & Co., 6300, 6301.
Lieut. Col. T. P. Andrews, paymaster in
the army, called on part of the government,
by J. R. Shepley, Esq.
Question by Mr. Shepley. Will you
please state what rank yon hold ; how long
you have served in the army ; and what is
your present post of daty.
Answer. [I hold the rank of Licutenant
Colonel ; have served in the army nearly
forty years ; am the senior of the two dep~
“uly paymaster generals ; and [ am at pres
ent at the head of the pay department in the
department of Missouri.
Question by Mr. Shepley. Ool, Andrews ,
1hold in my hand an authority given by
(en. Fremont to Col. Bussey, of the 3d Towa
cavalry, anthorizing him to clothe and
equip his regiment. Will you please state
whether by law General Fremont had or
had not the power to give any such author.
ity ?
Apswer. Tsuppose at that time that
General Fremont had power to authorize
Colonel Bussey to raise the regiment, but
had no authority to interfere with the fiscal
affairs of the regiment, or contracts for the
regiment.
Question by Mr. Shepley. We have be-
fore us a variety of orders from (General Fre-
mont on different persons to furnish ord
nance and ordnance stores. Will you please
state whether or not Gen. Fremont has any
suthority to contract for ordnance and ord
nance stores ¥
Answer. He had none, unless under
an express power from the Secretary of
War.
Question by Mr. Shepley. Is there any
thing 1 the law or regulations of the army,
authorizing tke commanding general to con-
tract for mules, horses or forage ?
Answer. 1 know of none. The quarter
master is the proper person te make these
contracts.
Question by Mr. Shepley. If the com
manding general deems fortifications neces—
$ary at a particular place, in whom is the
authority to contract for their construc-
tion ?
Answer. Fortifications have never been,
to my knowledge, contracted for, except in
8t. Louis. The material are contracted for,
and the construction has always been under
the direction of the engineer department
proper.
Question by Mr. Shepley. Do you know
soy reason, or did you ever hear the late
commanding general of this department give
30y reason why the rules and regulations of
the army were thus disregarded ?
Auswer. 1 was never informed of any,
nor was there any obligation on his part to
give tie the information,
Question by Mr. Shepley. Did the com-
wanding general ever make to you any re.
marks showing that he knowingly violated
any of the laws and regulations of the War
Department ?
Answer. He did on one occasion, in my
office, make remarks showing that he in-
tended to disregard the ordinary instruc-
tions and regulations of the department at
Washington.
Question by Mr. Shepley. Can you re-
ropeat the substance of these remarks ?
Answer. I can. This conversation was
late in August or the early part of Septem
ber. General Fremont came into my office
with General McKinstry, and after Geperal
McKinstry left, he commer ced the convers
sation without anything calling fot it, that I
sm aware of. He spoke pleasantly, but
sid, “‘the people of the United States were
in the field ; that he was at their head ; that
he meant to carry out such measures as they
(the people) expected him to carry out, withe
out regard to the red tape of the Washington
people.” My only reply was in a few gen-
eral words, that as well as I could under.
stand, the term ‘red tape’ meant system of
government, which, in its details, might be
carried too far by the subordinates, lut I
had always been of the opinion that our
general system was a wise and good one,
and that he who undertook to set its princi-
ples or general details aside would sooner or
later become entangled in difficulties by dis-
regarding all system. He replied by re
peating his general reinark, (for I think the
third time) that the people were in the field,
and that ke was at their head, and would
have everything done according to their ex-
pectations from him ; saying, now we have
only extra constitutional government ; no
civil rights, so to speak ; all ordinary peace-
ful rules were to be set aside, and all this
thing of ‘red tape’ must give way very short
ly to what the people required of him?’ 1
had previously disobeyed General Fremont,
by resistiog an order of his which I consid-
red was unauthoriz:3 by law, and concern-
ing which I gave my testimony before the
congressional committee. General Fremont
had never befere been in my office. nor has
he been there since. He had no business to
transact with me that morning.
The declarations of General Fremont, as
deposed to by Colonel Andrews, were of so
astounding a character that we felt it to be
our duty to inquire if they had been made to
others, with a view of ascertaining how far
the anunciation of such revolutionary senti~
ments might have superinduced the demor-
alization of the service which our investiga
tions have satisfied us so extensively pre-
vailed in this department. We therefore ex-
amined Major Chauncey C. P. Johnson. pay.
master in the regular army, and find his
statements of sufficient importance to justify
us in giving them, unabridged, like those of
Col. Andrews, a place in our report.
Chauncey O. P. Johnson, called by J. R.
Shepley, associate counsellor, testified as
follows :
I am paymaster in the United States ar-
my ; I was appointed last June, and sta
tioned in the department of the west.
Question. Did the late commanding gen-
eral 1n this department ever in your presence
countenance any disregard of law, or the
regulations governing the army ¢
Answer. General Fremont countenanced
it frequently in my presence, and to me, by
saying that he dud not intend in the adminis
tration of this department. to be governed by
the rules and regulations that were laid
down, and that he would be guided by the
circumstances which surrounded him en
tirely. The reason that this conversation
occurred so frequently was that I was
thrown much in his company, in my capac-
ity as paymaster, and privately. When he
first came here I went to see him, having
known him before, and was invited by him
to come a1d see him frequently, as I was
well acquainted in the west and had been
connected with the organization of the home
guard, in this city, from the beginning. —
In regard to the official business which I
had to transacc with him, several instances
occurred in which orders for payments had
been issued to Col. Andrews, paymaster
general, ard these orders transferred to me,
and not being considered by me legal, I
called on him in regard to them, and he told
me that Ae intended to do what he considered
best for the service, without reference to
law or regulations ; that he intended to cut
red tape and arvive at the end without refer
ence to order or system, and directed me to
pay these orders.”
The statements of these witnesses-—offi.
cers of unimpeachable integrity and intelli-
gence—will, we are sure, be heard by the
government with equal astonishment and
sorrow. General Fremont proclaims, on as-
suming his command, that ¢ there were no
longer any civil rights ; that there was no
government except that outside of the Con
stitution, which had been suspended ; that
ijt was his determination to administer his
department without reference to law or reg-
ulations ; that the'people of the United States
were n the field, and that he was at their
head, and that he meant to carry out such
measures as they, the people, expected him
to carry out, without regard to the red tape
of the Washington people ’—that is the
President and Uongress. It is singular how
perfectly these sentiments harmonize with
those held by the usurpers, who in this and
other ages of the world have sought and es
| tablished absolute power upon the ruins of
public liberty. Some of these usurpers,
taking yet higher ground than that assumed
in the interview with Colonel Andrews
have claimed for themselves a mission to
“carry out ” the will of God, but none of
them have sunk their pretensions below a
special will to * carry out ” the will of the
people. Caesar, when he stood upon the
banks of the Rubicon, and waved to his vet-
erans to advance, did rot take a bolder dec-
laration against his country than this. The
words so earnestly and so often spoken, an
nounced a revolution conceived, but which,
happily, for the country the parent had not
the strength to bring forth. No man has
lived in the tide of times wise and pure en-
ough to be intrusted with sucha power as
is here claimed. Military chieftains who cut
*“ red tape ’’ always do it with their swords,
and history proves that the throat of their
country suffers as much as does the * tape”?
in the operation. As free institutions have
their foundations in law, and in the obedi*
ence of the people and their representatives,
civil and military, to is, this expressiou of a
purpose to cast aside all political and con-
stitutional restraints, made ia the halls of
legislation even, would alarm, but when
made iu the field by a chieftain, at the head
of a great army, it chills and awes the pat
riot’s heart by its parricidal spirit. It re:
veals an unscrupulous ambition, which
awaits but the prestige and power of victory
to sweep the government itself, as a cobweb
from its path.
This sad page in the history of the late
commander of this department gathers a
deep shadow from the circumstances under
which these declarations were made, Gen,
Fremont had, a few weeks before, taken and
subscribed the following military oath ; “1
John C, Fremont do solemnly swear thas {
will bear true faith and allegiance to the
Unated States and that I will serve them hon
estly and faithfully against all enemies or
opposers whomsoever ; and that I will bear
the orders of the President of the United
States. and the orders of the officers over me
according to the rules and articles of war.”
He, thus, in sight of God and his country,
bad plighted faith with bis goverument that
he would bear to it ¢* true allegiance,” and
he stood pledged by the most solemn of ha-
man sanctions to support that Constitution,
which, when the people of the field, places
at *‘ their head ’ the Pre:ident of the United
States. and aot any General holding a com
mission under him. With a confiding fond
ness he had been summoned from the obscu-
rity of private life, and preferred above the
veterans and a whole army of patriots, he
was made a Major General, Scarcely has he
girded on his sword, to whose honor the best
interest of the nations had been committed
when he says to his subordinates and fol-
lowers that he draws 1t, not in the name of
law or the government but in defiance of
both, to enforce such measures as, in his
judgment, ‘¢ the people expected him to car~
ry out.” These words were spoken, as it
were, in the very sick chamber of the pub-
lic, and had the tone of the undertaker.
while the patient was yet struggling for life.
They were uttered against the government
of a country, not ther, tranquil and strong
and able to battle with all assailants, but of
a country distracted and humbled, and bleed-
ing under the stabs of traitors. They came
from no flush of excitement springing from
and oft repeated enunciations of a General
just entering the field for his future opera-
strength of his gathering army. They were
addressed to officers of high rank in the ser-
vice, and were intended to impress them
with obedience to his revolutionary pros
gramme. General Fremont aready beld
the sword, and it was most important for
his purpose that Colonel Andrews, the head
of the pay department here, and Major
Johnston, a paymaster under him, should
not interfere with his free use of the nation-
al purse. In respecting his owu official
oath and the law, by resisting unwarranta-
bie transfers of public money, the Colonel
had already given offence, and he was
therefore visited and thus startlingly warned
presence of his superior officer proved him
to be worthy of the sword he wore. and
that his courage and loyalty had nothing to
fear from the menaces by which he was as-
sailed.
The line of policy thus resolved on. was
openly pursued as his apparent conscious~
ness that he was *¢ the State” grew more
and more vigorous. He created a large
pumber of offices and filled them with friend
and favorites, to whom he assigned full sal-
aries, a power which he had no more right
to exercise than had any soldier in his ranks.
About two hundred of these appointments
were made, and of which some forty two
were allotted to + body of but three hundred
men, which he had recruited and organized
under the some regal designation of ¢ The
Fremont Body Guard.” Imitating yet fur-
ther imperial rule he sought to bestow upon
many —possibly all his appointees— what-
ever their daties a military prestige. Thus
Castle, his ** Superintendent of railroad
transportation,” was honored, by his letter
of appointment, with *¢ the pay of colonel ”’
—and the title, of course follow while the
office of ** musical director,” a creation of
his own, was filled by a musician from one
of the theatres, to whom was given the rank
and pay of a captain of engineers in the reg-
ular army.
When the Sscretary of War visited this
department in person and inspected the
forts which Gen Fremont was then build:
ing for the defence of St. Louis, under the
auspices of Beard, he at ouce decided that
they were useless and ordered that they
should be discontinued, and that the funds
of the Government in the hands of the pay-
masters and quartermasters here should be
applied exclusively to meet the current ex
penses of the army. Yet, in defiance of the
Secretary’s authority, the work upen the
forts went on to their completion, while $20,-
000 of the funds thus sought to be protect-
ed by the Secretary was paid to Beard on
the 16th of October ; and on the 19th of the
same month an imperative order was given
by the General for the payment of $60.000
more. In his administration he virtually ig-
nored the existence of a quartermaster’s
and the commissary’s departments, and of
the Ordnance hurean, and, necessarily, that
a triutaph of erms, but where the solemn!
tions and serving for the first time the |
that he might not offend again. His noble |
and patriotic reply, though subdued by the |
'of the Government at Washington. The
| most stupenduous contracts, involving an
! almost unprecedented waste of the public
money, were given out by him in person, to
favorites, over the heads of the competent
and honest officers appointed by law. It
seemed to be his purpose to present himself
as the embodiment of political and military
| power, and to show alike by his words and
| his conduct how little he depended upon the |
Government of his country, and how utter. |
ly he disregarded its laws, its regulations
and its policy. Of course, such an exan.-
ple could not be otherwise than contagious.
The whole framework of the political and
military systems, as organized by law, was
unbraced, and disorder ag criminal insub-
ordination everywhere prevriled. There
could be no obedience when the General of
the department openly taught and practiced
resistance to the laws as a right, if pot a
duty. There could be no economy where
the general exposed himself continually to
imputations of laboring in his great office to
feed the greed of his followers for gain. He
occupied with his family and several mem-
bers of his stafl, a marble palace, and lived
amid its luxurious furniture and glittering
wares at a stipulat ed expenseof $6,000 per
annum to the Government, at a time when
| the homes of millions of our people were
| darkened by the horrors of civil war. Could
it be expected that the subordinates would
display any special sympathy with our na-
| tional sufferings, or any marked solicitude
to guard the public treasury from plunder ?
Instead of geing to Cairo, as he could have
done for a few dollars, on one of the vessels
transporting his troops which accompanied
him, he chartered a magnificent steamer at
acost f 1,600 dollars to the Government,
to convey himself and cortege alone. The
steamer was anchored out in the stream, in
stead of lying at the woarf, as all others
did and do, and when the general drove in
his carriage and four to the water's edge,
yet another steamer, at still further cost to
the Government, as we learn from a claim
presented for it, was employed to put him
self and saite on board. A foreign prince
i or potentate, in a season of national mourn-
{ing, might thus live, and thus enter his
| pleasure yacht or his barge of state of in-
consibliry amid the calamities of civil war
jand wastefulness, when the public debt 1s
| being increased at the rate of from onc to
two millions daily, but when exhibited by a
general of the American army, is a specta-
i cle from which the patriot way well turn
away in grief and humiliation.
| As was to have been expected, the influ
ence of such exhibition was everywhere
i felt. High officers did not, it was true dare
charter steamers for their pwn convenience,
but they did it was true, dare charter steam
Uers for their traing for the convenience of
| themselves and attendants, while yet hum
| bler officers, dwarfing their pseado pomp to
| the narrower sphere of their authority hi-
[red at the livery stables for months buggies
and horses at the expense of the govern-
ment, and this although the law only re-
cognized them on fyot, or as mounted at
their own expense. Thus in everv way
| and almost everywhere, under the malign
|influence of the declaration that neither
{law ner regulations longer prevailed, there
was manifested a disposition to convert the
national tragedy through which we were
passing into a saturnalia of personal and
ofticial self indulgence and extravagance.
Having in the fulfilment of the trust com-
mitted to us, lifted the veil from a field of
prodigality, insubordination, and demoral-
1zation, in the midst of which we have been
toiling for the last four months, we have felt
it incumbent upon us to point the depart-
ment to the true causes of these disorders.
We have presented the testimony of Colonel
Andrews and Major Johnson, not for the
purposes of animadversion, but simply to
| explain the scene we have bared to view. —
In the light of this explanation, we are hap
py to helieve that the disease, in the virus
lence with which iv has prevailed here, was
not national but local, and was the result of
local and personal causes
So soon as we had been sufficiently famil.
iar with the facts presented and with the
principles applicable to them to enable us
to feel entire confidence in the conclusions
arrived at we began to deliver vouehers.|
certified in accordance with the instructions
of the Secretary of War. The firstdelivery
occured ou the 9th day of January, 1862,
and has been since regulary continued, as
our decisions have been pronounced. In
giving out the claims presented with the al
lowances upon them, it was necessary that
some receipts should be executed by the
claimants, In deciding what should be the
character of the receipt, it seemed to us that
as a protracted and patient examination had
been given to these claims, and the parties
Lad been heard either 1n person or by an ats
torney, and the cases had been continued
from day to day, so long as those interested
desired to produce testimoy, and the gov-
ernment by oue action was committed to
pay the amount allowed, it was no more
than proper that the claimants should be
required to accept the allowance in full foi
the amount demanded. This of course was
adopted, and was generally acquiesced in.
Promiment among those who remonstrated
was Leonidas Haskel, whose transactions
figure in this report, and who gave us lor-
mal notice of his tention to appeal to
Congress from onr decision on his claims.
f erin the aggregate.
emocratic date
The department is aware how constantly
we have in our correspoudence urged the
payment of these liabilities. Those for
Sleet Ponty
money seized and borrowed from the banks
with the exception probably of some $200.
000, have been satisfied, and a number of
the holders have been so fortunate as to
have their claims settied by the disbursing
officers, but probably fully three fourths of
the amount stil remains unpaid. When it
was borne in mind how long many of these
debts have been due, and how much from
these delays the vouchers have depreciated
in the hands of the holders, many of whom
have been obliged to cash them in the mar-
ket at a heavy discount,it is not a matter of
surprise that an irrigating sense of injustice
on the part of the government is beginning
to be felt here. This feeling is increased
by a prevailing impression that tne same
tardiness of payment has not distinguished
the service in the east. We « earnestly re-
commend, as a measure of common justice,
due alike to the highest pecuniary interests
of the government as (o its honor, that the
claims which we have certified shall at once
be paid.
While we have necessarily devoted the
principal part of our raport to an exposure
of the abuses which characterized the late
administration of this department, we cans
no: close it without bearing testimony to
the integrity which has generally been dis
payed by merchants, mechanics, and man
ufacturers when permitfed to deal directly
with the government. Wide spread as has
been the demoralization in official circles
and among their dependents and favorites | wit ave never put 5 better use than answer-
and startling as are the frauds which have | ing a fool according to his folly, and we
attempted und consuwated, a large majority | could wish that reproofs like the following
of the claiwants have presented themselvs | were more fr. quent :
before us unimpeached by imputations eith-
er upon their loyalty or honor.
whose testimony has been taken by an ac-
months the whole evidence, which wjll con
port of this report. As several weeks wil
:
be required to close entirely the business | tongue ¥'
of the commission, the secretary and a few
of the clerks now in its service will be ne
cessarily retained during that time. The
entire record of our proceedings, with the | swear any more yon will greatly oblige me,
accompanying papers, will then be trams- | 3nd probably the rest of the passengers also
if you would do it in Hebrew.”
DAVID DAVIS.
J. HOLT. ®
HUGH CAMPBELL.
wae
Dean or Gun C. F. Sari. —Gen. C. F.
Smith, who had been lying ill at Nashville,
for some time past, died at Pittsburg Land-
ing, on the morning of the 25th ult. The
Press thus notices his death :
+The Union has lust one of its ablest de-
fenders, and Pennsylvania a noble, upright
citizen, ever zcalous for the public good.—
Gen. Charles Ferguson Smith died at Savan-
nab, Tennessee, on Friday last, from «an ill-
ness contracted at the time of hig occupation
of that town.” The deceased officer was a
son of Dr. Samuel B. Smith, of this aty,
and his name and fane have therefore been
endeared to many of the readers of the
Press, From the date of his graduatien at
West Point, in 1825, his advancemént, not
only in rank, but in the esteem and conf
dence of his fellow officers, was merited and
rapid. Commencing his military carecr as
a second lieutenant of artillery, his distin-
guished merit or the fields of Philo Alto and
Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, Cherubusco,
and Contreras. raised him 1n quick success
sion to the ranks of Major, Lieutenant-col-
orel and Colonel. At the time of his death
he was Colonel of the Third lInfantry—one
of the-best regiments in the service. Such
worth as his could not lie dormant in t'e
present struzgle. In August last he was
made a lrigadier general. -At the taking
of Fort Donelson his valor was conspicuous
alike to friend and foe, and won for him the
rank of Major General. Such is the noble
record of a life devoted wholly to its coun
try. Pennsylvania has offered up her first
general and a dauntless heart, on the altar
of national honor and perpetuity.”
mitted.
Tue RePeNTANT CriviNaL.— Sometime
since an old lady of rather inquisitive char: | times
acter was visiting our jail. She would ask
the different prisoners for what crime they | exists,”
were in there. [It went off well enough till
she came to a rather hard looking specimen
of humanity, whom she asked :
** What are you here for 2”
For stealing a horge.”’
« Are wou not sorry for iti"
+ Yes?
time 2"
‘Yes I'l! steal two!
¢ Oh, the depravity of human nature !"
next cell.
—————— eee em
0" The Milwaukie News truly says. —
The people of the United States have suffer
ed more from robbery by public officers | Donelson and now goes on crutches, but he
since the Republican party came iuto pow. | travels fast for all that. He doubtless thinks
er, than during the whole previous exist- | his injured foot will feel better when it rests
ence of the Government, from Washington | completely on Fort Pillow.
down to Buchanan. The number of the
Thieves is larger, aud the sums stolen great- gambler to give up hig tricks ?
1 of the last tramp!
i
the trains of cars running between Newark
We have examined some 1,200 witnesses, | Jerscy City, N. J., there was a yonng naval
officer, who was constantly intermingling
complished stenographer, (Mr. R. R. Hitt, lis conversation with the most profane oaths.
of Chizago,) and has been ‘w part written | A young lady was so situated that she could
out. The illness from which Ke is suffering | Bot but hear every time he swore.
may delay the completion of the work,. but | sie bore it-with perfect rquanimity ; then as
we presume that in some two or three|'t continued. and rather increased in the
shocking character of his
sist of from six to seven thousand * manu-g she began to grow fidgity, and her eys flash-
script pages will be ready, and will then bet cd. We knew a bolt would be shot, and
filed in the department as part and in snp- | that it would strike him.
scious, but slightly sneering tone.
came ahd went—now red, now white. He
looked at the young lady, then at his boots,
then at the ceiling of the car; bat he did
not sywedr any more, either in lcbrew or
English, and he probably remembeicd that
young lady,
Ppargeonistic class, who was terribly an.
noyed at many of his congregation indul
ging in the habit of bolting out of church
previous. to, and during the benediction, had
one day just got that length in the service,
and was standing with out-stretched hands
and closed eyes, wien the noise of the es
caping multitude attracted his attention,
and disturbed the quict of the church.
Quietly opening his eyes, he thus addressed
the door keeper, and effectually stopped the
practice for that day at any rate: *¢ And
now John, open the doors, and let all the
carged people who den't want the blessing
retire I"
doctor’s,
the old fogy school
wrong shop. « Dr. X.
here,” says P-, who was in full scribble over
some important papers without looking up:
“
door.”
doctor many patients 7”
The old gentlemen was never heard of in
this vicinity again, But the story was, that
Dr. X. threatened to sue P for libel. Howe
ever he came to think better of it,
economy, honesty and reform,’’
Ohio regiment, late'ly wrote the Tollowing
note to a brother preacher :
er, if you can ge! a comishun as chaplam, it |
+ Will yon not try and do better another | will pay yout #5ty a month, and a livin be-
side, The cause of krist kneads you."
: . woman of 25, has married an octogenarian
sighed the old ladv as she proceeded to the | named Shandy. — Eastern a:
the light of a Shaudy-leer,.— Prentice.
The Countersign.
Alas! the weary hours pass slo w,
The night is very dark and still,
And in the marshes far below
I hear the bearded whip-pror-will ;
I scarce can see a yard ahead,
My ears are strained to catch each sound—
I hear the Ieavas about me shed,
And the eprings bubbling thro® the ground.
Along the beaten path I pace,
Where white rags mark my sentiy’s track ;
In formless shrubs I seem to'tracs
The foeman’s form with bending back ;
I think I sae him grouching low—
I stop and lizt—I 3toop and peer,
Until the neighboring hillocks grow
To groups of soldiers far ana near.
With ready piece I waitand watch,
Until my eyes, familiar grown,
Detect each harmless curthen notch,
And turn guerillas into stone ;
And then amid the lonely gloom,
Beneath the tall old Chestuut trees,
My silent marches I resume,
And think of other times than these.
** Halt ! who goes there 2’ My challenge c.y,
It rings along the watchful line;
‘“ Relief!” [ hear a voice reply —
‘* Advance, and give the count
With bayonet at the charg -
The corporal g tho mys word,
With arms aport I charge my mate,
Then onward pass and all is well.
But in the tent that night awake,
I ask if in the fray I full,
Cag I the mystic answer make
When the angelic #entries call ?
And pray that Heaven way so ordain,
Where'er [ go. what fate be mine,
Whether in pleasure or in pain,
I still may give the Countersign.
A TryeLy Rerroor. — Hu mer and sharp
“¢ Some five or six years ago, in one of
At first
imprecations,
It came directly.
‘Sir, can you converse in the llebrew
* Yes,” was the answer, in a half uncen-
‘ Then,” was the reply, *“if you wish to
It had hit.
I watched him. lis color
———eee si -
17°An old Scotch clergyman of the true
———iersillpilen
02°A jolly fellow had an office next toa
One day an elderly gentlemen of
blundered into the
in.”’—: Don’t live
Ob! thought it was his office.” « Next
** Pray sir, can you tel | me has the
« Not living,”—
——————.
Tre Goop Tivos PROMISED, ——¢ Lincoln,
¢ Protection to labor and capital,”
“Tow taxes, roast beef ani prosperous
s,
t+ No interference with slavery where it
** Lincoln and the Union,’
** No danger of sectional parties,”
———— A
02 A minister appointed chaplain in an
“Dear broth.
SB me
te
0 In Portland, Miss Goodwin, a young
Perhaps her young eyes were dazzled by
id mig gt TR
Coinmodore Foote was wounded at Fost
lly SG A ess ee
1-7 What will be the final sigual for a
The sound
bman,
Yorktown.
Before the commencement of the rebel
lion, Yorktown w-$ a quiet unobtrusive lit~
tle village, of between twenty @nd thirty
houses, half of them uninhabited, with the
rains of tenements destroyed during Corn.
wallis’s siege everywhere. The American
breastworks were nearly oblited, while the
| more prominent entrenchments of the Brit-
ish were still comparatively perfect, The
| outworks which the latter were compelled
to evacuate on the night of the 26th of Sep-
tember, 1781, lie on the western outskirts
of the town, and are probably still in pdod
preservation. They were strong posiiions,
and their abandonment must have left the
portion of the town in which they were sit-
uated in a very exposed condition ; and the
American officers, when they took posses-
sion of thew, expressed much surprise at
their being voluatarily given up. The most
eastern of the redoubts stormed by the al-
lied forces on the 15th of October, 1781, be-
ing near the river, has nearly been washed
away ; that taken by the French portion of
the army may still be traced. THe capture
of the redsubts rendered the destrdction of
surrender of the British forces inevitable,
and on the 17th Cornwallis solicited a truce
and agreed to capitulate. The main works
situated on the eastern edge of the town,
were in excellent keeping in 1854, and must
have been formidable when bristling with
cannon and occupied by soldiers. The em-
bankment was too broad to be perforated by
canfion 8hdt, and too steep to be easily scal-
ed by &n assailant.
The field where the formalities of the suf.
render occurred is a respectable inclosure of
some hundred acres, and it was about the
same in 1781. It joints the town on the
south. The very spot where Gen. O'Harra
is said to have delivered up his sword and
apologized for the absetice of Cobnwallis, is
now marked by two poplar trees, which
were planted in commemoration of the
event. The field itself is nearly a plain,
and is admirably adapted to the purpose of
drill and parade. From the tp of the hill
on which the town i§ sitiated there is an
excellent view extending to Chesapeake
Bay, and reaching almost to the Virginia
apes.
Yorktown formerly enjoyed quite a vala-
able West India trade. The great natural
capabilities of the place as a basis for mili-
| tary operations attracted the attention of
Jefferson Davis, and there cin be no doubt
that the entrenchments constructed by the
British in 1781 have been materially
strengthened smee the rebellion. When
Yorktown falls, the fate of the peninsula is
sealed, and the route to Richmond opened.
emt ere GO Sma em
A Chapter on Corus,
Hear how ihe inimitable Jones, of the Har-
risburg Patriot, pathetically discourseth on
corns: Hehas bad the affliction himself, and
therefore *¢ speaks by the book :
** Who hath sorrow ?—who hath wee 7
who hath pains withoutétint ?——who ambleth
in his gait like a spavined ary horse ? Ilo
that hath corns on the approach of a storm '
¢* Was there ever anything more tnnoying
than a corn, not a spiritual corn, but one of
those pestiferous feilows about the size of a
| dime or a toe joint ? If corns had been in:
cluded in the ills sent upon the children of
Israel, our opinion is, that their sufferings
would have been intolerable.
“Corns are a modern institution. Of course
they date back further than our memory
runs, but we do not read of Moses or David,
or any of the patriarchs walking as if they
were tramping on eggs to avoid the full pres-
sure of leather on a gay old corn the size of
a hickory nut ; still we remember the time
well when corns were not as plenty 8s they
are now-—whet they were ascribed to tight
boots, and were deemed a fitting punishment
to pride by the straight-laced. But all theso
old theories are exploded, since it is found
that whether men wear loose or tight boots,
it is all the same, and corns are fiightfully
on the increase.
A night or two ago we stood upon the
pavement listening to an itinerant vendor of
corn salve. Anold chap on the left foot,
that we pared down a little less than a hun-
dred times, feit as if a hot darning newdle
was run into ki. The vendor was eloquent
and with a pair of highly inflated lungs he
spoke of the virtue of hié nisdicine in eradi-
cating corns in sucha manner that thrice
we throttled a stray quarter m our vest pock-
et to go in, but thrice we let it drop agai,
as the thought came upon us how often wo
had our eyes shut up by corn doctors and
vendors of corn salves. We have read ** Dur
locher on corns,” and derived io other
knowledge from it than the fact that the
eminent writer himself must in his time have
had corns, so accurately does he describe
the active pams of ‘‘haid corns,” « goft
corns,” and *‘ buuions,” Temporary relief
may be had by some remedies, the moss
popular of which is frequently bathing the
foot and paring the thick cuticle Wat! the
little black spot appears where the seat of
the pain evidently lies, but as for curing
them—taik to us of bailing the Mississippi
with a gourd, or brivg down elephants with
pop~guns !—but oh! talk to us no more of
a cure for corns! It is not in the bookg-
and the discoverer thereof has not yet mada
his debut upon this mundare sphere.”
S———— AD Brant
077 A Corkonian on being asked at break.
fast how he came by “ that black eye," sa:d
he slept on hig fiat,”
a\