Lewistown gazette. (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, July 14, 1849, Image 1

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vol-XXXV—Whole Xo. 184,
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JJortva.
WHEN I All OLD.
U hen I am old, (and, ah, how soon
Will life's sweet morning yield to noon,
And noon's broad, fervent, earnest light,
Be shrouded in the solemn night,
Till like a story well nigh told
Will seem my life when I am eld.)
When 1 am old this busy earth
Will lose for me its voice of mirth,
The streams will have an under tone
Of sadness not by right their own,
And spring's sweet power in vain unfold
His rosy charms when I am old.
When 1 am old ; perhaps ere then
1 shall be missed from haunts of men,
Perhaps my dwelling will be found
beneath the green and quiet mound,
My name by stranger hands enrolled
Among the dead, ere I am old.
Kre 1 am old, O let mo give
My life in learning how to live !
Then 3hail 1 meet with willing heart
An early summons to depart,
Or find my lengthened days consoled
By God's sweet peace when 1 am old.
tOCCII A H C O U .
THE DEAD SHOT,
A Tale of Texan Border Life,
PART I.
My word for it, reader, you should nev
er have ventured to construct a professed
romauccout of incidents so wild and strange
ai those of this narration. It i 9 only with
the hope that you will accept in good faith
the assurance given in tho same spirit,
ist these things really uid occur while I
-.vis in tho country, and most of them with
in my personal knowledge—that I ven
ture to relate them at all. Remember,
the scene is laid in a frontier county of"
Texas, and if you have even a conception
ot the history of that Republic and the
general character of its social elements,you
will be prepared for a good deal. Rut,
though you might even have visited its
cities and older settlements, you would
still find it difficult to realize all that is
true of frontier life, unless by extended
travel and experience your faith should be
tortified. When you can have to eav, as
1 can, 'what mine eyes have 6ecn and ears
eard'—on that ground alone you will be
'fit audience though few" to receive as
matters of course, relations which would
doubtless, lor the moment, shock others as
monstrous in improbability, if not indeed
impossiblity. The man of high civiliza
tion will finJ great difficulty in understand
ing how 6uch a deer] as I am about to re.
lute, requiring month* to consummate,
would have been carried through in the i
open luce of law arid the local authorities— j
but the man who knows this frontier wiil '
i?!! him thai the rifle and bowie-knife are j
ill the law and local authority recognized, j
Witness the answer President Houston j
when application was first made to ;
him for his interposition with the civil force
" > quell the blood v 'Regulator Wars'which
ft. •
iterwards sprang up in this very same
county—'Right it out among yourselves
and he d—d to you !' A speech entirely
charactaristie of the mart and the country,
5! it then was! It was in the earlier
'ages of the organization of this samo
'Regulator' association that our story com- j
mcnccs.
•B'helby county, lying in Western Texas
Gr ' tho border of the 'Red Lands,' was
'-'h'.r thinly settled in the early part of
)( 5. What population it had was gerier
idy the very worst caste of border life. —
hue bad and desperate men who had been
ven over our frontier formed a rallying
-Mind arid head quarters here —seeming-
with the determination to hold the coun
!y good against the intrusion of all honest
persons, and as a sort of 'Alsatia' of the
U u, for the protection of outlaws and
v ' ;Hns of every grade. And indeed lo
'-'ih an extent had this proscription been
r;4 rri'f], that it had become notoriously a9
touch as a man's life or conscience was
' fth who settled among therri with any
v nhy purpose in view ; for he must either
"■ I into their confederacy—leave—or die ! J
' fl: ' was perfectly understood ; and the j
ot tins confederacy may be readily !
: I "suited, w hen it is known that every j
: " w arid then a party of men would sally !
■ ; f 'ii this .settlement, pointed and equip- j
j ' '"ke Camanches, with the view of car- j
'/"'R Cill the horses, plundering or mur- J
l|: 23',mc marked man of a neighboring
'" r ■ then returning with great speed,
, K'Jtild r>- band their plunder, resume
r appearance,and defy pur
,Jt investigation. Not Only did they
" together tor their operations in this
*>. hut a single man would carry off'a
inrse or commit a murder with the
''pen audacity, and if he only succeed
' • ,i,' lor,- w.ti-publicly protect
&mmw<m uss%> msmwrnsm (shbq&cbis awsrsssffaxrab mmmimmwsS'i mm&mis? ip^
Ed- I do not mean to have it understood
that the whole population at this time
were men of that stamp avowedly.
There were some few whose wealth to
a degree protected them in the observance
of u more seemingly life—though they
were compelled to at least wink at the
doings of tiieir ruffianly and more numer
ous neighbors; while {hero was yet an
other, but not large class of sturdy, straight
forward emigrants, who, attracted solely
by the beauty of the country, had come
into it, settled themselves down wherever
they took a fancy,— with characteristic
reckless neither caring nor inquiring who
were their neighbors, but trusting in their
own stout arms and hearts lo keep a foot
ing. Of course all such were very soon
engaged in desperate feuds with the horse
thieves and plunderers around thein ; and
as they were not yot strong enough to
make head efficiently—were ono after an
other finally ousted or shot. It was to
exterminute this honest class that the more
lawless and brutal of the other associated
themselves and assumed the name of' Re
gulators.' They numliered from eight to
twelve—and under the organization of
rangers, commanded by a beastly wretch
named Hiuch, they professed to undertake
the task of purifying 'the county limits of
all bad and suspicious characters; or, in
other words, of all men who dared refuse
to be as vile as they were, —of if they
were, who chose to act independently of
them and their schemes. Thi9 precious
brotherhood soon became the scourge of
all that region. "Whenever an individual
was unfortunate enough to make himself
obnoxious to them, whether by successful
villainy, the proceeds <,f which he refused
to share with them, or by the hateful con
trast of the propriety of his course—ho
was forthwith surrounded—threatened—
had his stock driven off or killed wantonly
—and if these annoyances and hints were
not sufficient to drive him away, they would
publicly warn him to leave the county in
a certain number of days, under the penally
of being scourged or shot. The common
pretext for this was the accusation of hav
ing committed some crime, which litoy
themselves had perpetrated with a view of
furnishing a charge to bring against him.
Their huto was entirely ruthless and never
stopped short of accomplishing its pur
poses ; and in many a bloody fray and cruel
outrage had the question of their suprema
cy been mooted, until at last there were
few loft to dispute with them, and (hev
tyranized at will.
Among these few was Jack Long, as
ho was called, who neither recognized nor
denied their power, and indued never troub
led himself about them one wayor the other.
He kept himself to himself, hunted in
cessantly, and nobody knew much about
him. Jack had come of a 'wild turkey breed'
as the western term is for a roving family,
and though still a young man, had pushed
on ahead of theeettloment of two teritorics,
and had at last followed the game towards
the south, and finding it abundant in Shol
by county, had stopped here, just ns he
would have stopped at the foot of the
Rocky Mountains, had it been nescessarv
to pursue it F far. He had never been
in tho habit or asking leave of any power
where he should settle, arid of course scarce
ly thought of the necessity of doing so now,
but quietly set t<> work—built himself a
nico log cabin, as far off from every body
as he could got. And the first thing thut
was known of linn, he had his pretty young
wife arid two little ones snugly stowed
away in it, and was slaying tho deer aud
the pens rignt and left.
Honest brotherhood had made several
attempts at feeling Jack's puis© arid ascer
taining his availability ; but he had always
seemed bo impassively good naturod, nnd
put them off so pleasantly, that they could
find no ground for either disturbing or
quarreling with him. What was mure,
he was physically rather an ugly-looking
'customer,' with his sit feet four inches of
brawn and bone ; though the inclination,
just discoverable in bis figure, to corpu
lency, together with a broad, full, good
humored face, gave an air of sluggishness
to his energies, and an expression of easy
simplicity to his temper, which offered
neither invitation to gratuitous insult nor
provocation to dislike. He was the very
impersonation of inoffensive, loyal honesty
slumbering on its conscious strength ; and
these incr, without exactly knowing why,
felt some little disinclination to waking him.
He had evidently never been roused to a
knowledgo of himself, and others felt just
as uncertain what that knowledge might
bring forth na he did, and were not special
ly zealous of the honor of having it first
tested upon their own persons. So that
Jack Long might have been left for many
a day in quiet, even in this formidable
neigborhood, to cultivate his passion for
markmamdiip, at the expense of the dumb,
wild things around him, hut for an unfortu
nate display he v. as accidentally induced to
make of it.
Happening to fall short of ammunition
he went one day to the store for a fresh
supply. This cabin, together with the
blacksmith's shop and one or two other
huts, constituted the 'county town,' and as
powder and liquor were only to he obtain
ed there, it was the central resort of the
Regulators. Jack found thern all collect
ed for a great shooting match, in pitparu
SATURMY, JfliV 11. 1840.
lion for which they were getting drunk as
possible to steady their nerves. 11 inch,
the Regulator captain, had always been
the hero of such occasions—for, in addi
tion to his being a first-rnte 6hot, it was
known thut it would be a dangerous ex
ertion of skill for any man to beat him—
for he was a furious attu vindictive bully
and would not fail to ntako a personal af
fair of it with any one who should morti
fy his vanity by carrying off the prize
trom hi in. In addition, the band of scoun
drels he commanded was entirely at his
service in any extreme, so that they made
fearful odds for a singlo man to contend
with. Everybody else in the county wa3
awaro of this state of tilings but Jack Long,
and he either didn't know or didn't caie.
After they had fired several rounds,ho went
lounging listlessly into tho crowd which
had gathered around the target, exclaim
ing in admiration over the last brilliant
shot ofllinch, which was triumphantly the
best. The bully was as usual blustering
vehcmently.taunting every ono around him,
and when he saw Jack looking very cool
ly at the famous shot, with no grain oftliht
deferential admiration in his expression
which wns demanded, he snatched up tho
board, and thrusting it insultingly close to
his face, roared out
'Here ! You Jack Long shanks—look
at that! Take a good look ! Can you beat
it?' Jack drew back with a quiet laugh,
and said good-humoredly—
'Psha! You don't brag on such slioot
in' as that, do you V
•Brag on it! I'd like to see such a
mooneyed chap as you beat it V
'1 don't know as I'd be very proud to
beat such bunglin' work as that.'
'Y'ou don't, don't you !' yelled the fellow,
row fairly in a rago at Jack's coolness :
'You'll try it, won't you ? You must try it!
You shall try it, by (J—d ! We'll see
what sort of a swell vou are !'
'Oh, well,' said Jack, interrupting him
as he was proceeding to rave for quantity,
—'Just set up your board, if you want to
sco me put a ball through every hole you
can make !'
Perfectly astounJed at this ra.-h beard
ing of the lion—for it was difficult to tell
whether contempt or simplicity dictated
Jack's manner—the man set up the boaid,
while he walked hack to the stand, and
'carelessly swinging his heavy riflo from hi?
shoulder, fired secininglv quick as thought.
'lt's a trick of mine,' said lie, moving tow
ards the mark, as heluwered liisgunj'l
caught it from shootin' varmints in the eyes
—always takes 'em there. It's a notion
I've got, —it's my fun.' They all ran ea
gerly to the target, and sure enough his
ball, which was larger than Hinch's, had
passed through the same hole, widoning
it !
'He's u humbug! It's all accident!
Ho can't do that again !' shouted the ruf
fian, turning pale, till his lips looked blue
as the hoard was held up. I'll bet ti.e
ears of a buffalo calf against his that ito
can't do it again V
•If you mean by that to bet your own
ears against mine, I'll take you up !' said
Jack, laughing, while the men could not
resist joining him. Clinch glared around
hiin with a fierce chafed look, before
which those who knew him best quailed,
aud with compressed lips silently loaded
his gun. A new target was put np, at
which, after long and carrful aitn, he lirod.
The shot was a fine one. The edge of tho
ball had jus>l passed the contre. Jack, af
ter looking at it, quietly remarked:
'Plumbing out the centre's in fashion; I'll
show you a knick or two, Captain I!inch,
about the clear thing in shootin'. (Jive us
another board there boys !'
Another was set up, and after throwing
out his gun on the level, in tho earne rap
id careless style n.s before, he fired: and
when tho eager crowd around tho target
announced that he haddriven the centre
cross clear out. ho turned upon his heel
and with a pleasant nod to Hindi, started
to vvalk off The ruffian shouted hoarsely
after him :
'1 thought you were a d—d coward !
You've made two good diets by accident,
nnd now you sneak off*to brag that you've
beat me. Come back, sit! You can't
shoot before a rmizzlo half as true !'
Jack walked on without noticing this
mortal insult and challenge, while Hinch
laughed tauntingly long and loud, —j *cring
with exulting bitterness, as long as ho
could make himself heard, ns 'a flash in
the pan'—'a dunghill cork, who had spread
Ids white feathers/ while the men who had
been surprised into a profound respect for
Long, nr,d were now still more astonished
at what they considered his 'backing out,'
joined clamorously in hooting his retreat.
The fools! They made a fatnl mis
take, in supposing lie left the insult unre
sentcd from any lcar for himself. Jack
Long had a young and pretty w ifo nt homo,
and his love for her was stronger than hi#
resentment for his own indignity. His
passions wore slow, and had never been
fully roused—none of them at least but
his love, nnd that presented her instantly,
forlorn and deserted, with her little ones,
iti this wild country, should he throw
away his iifu with such desperate odds; and
seeing tho turn tho affair was likely to take
he had prudently determined to get away
before it hud gone too fur. Rut had any
of thoco men seen tho spasm of agony
which shivered across his mustivo features
us theso gibing voices rang upon his ears
in insult which no proud freo hunter might
endure, they would have taken tho hint, {
to beware of chafing the silently foaming i
boar any longer.
This was an ill slurred day fur Jack,
though from this time troubles began to
thicken about him. Tho even tenor of his
simple, happy lffo was destroyed, and in
dignity and outrage followed each other ;
fast. Ilinch never forgave the unlucky i
skill which had rubbed him of his proudest j
boast, that of being tho best marksman on
the lrontier ; and he swore, in base vindic
tive hate, to dog liiin lo death, or make
hint leavo tho country. Soon after this, a
valuable horse belonging to a rich and pow
erful planter, disappeared. Ho was ono of j
those men who had compromised with the
Regulators, paying so much hlack mail fur
exemption from their depredations, and
protection against others of the same stamp;
and he now applied to Hinch, for the ro
covery of his horse, and the punishment of
the thief. This Ilinch, under the contract,
was bound to do, and promised to accom
plish foithwith. He and some of his men
went off on the trail of the missing horse,
nnd returning next day, announced that
they had followed it with nil their skill
through a great many windings, evidently
intended to throw off pursuit, and had at
last traced it to Jack Long's picket fence,
and there could be no doubt but he was
the thief ! The planter knew nothing of
Jack, hut that he was a new comer, and
demanded that ho should he forced to give
up the horse, and be punished to the ex
tremity of the frontier code. Rut this was
not Hindi's policy yet awhile. lie knew
the proofs were not strong enough to make
tho charge plausible, even before a Lynch
Court, of which he himself wa9 both the
prosecutor, judge, -nd executioner. His
object was to first get up a hue and cry a
gainat Long, and under cover of a general
excitement, accomplish his devilish pur
poses without question or much trial even.
So that offer a great deal of maneuvering
for eight or ten days, during which time
the charge against Long was industriously
circulated by his myrmidons, so ns to at
11act general attention expectation as
to the result of the investigations—ho pro
claimed far und wide, that he had found
the horse at last, hid in a timber bottom
near Long's! This, of course, seenied
strong confirmation of his gu.dt, and though
the mob were most of them horse thieves,
io all intents, yet it was an unpardonable
crimo for any one to practice professional
ly among themselves; so that Long was
loudly denounced, and threatened on every
Bid-?, and ordered to leave tho country forth
with.
These proceedings Jack by no means
comprehended, or felt disposed to be mov
ed by ; hut gave them one and all to un
derstand that he meant to remain where he
was, until tt entirely suited his convenience
to go ; and that if his time and theirs did
not happen to agree, they might make the
most ol it. And Jack was such an unprotn
ising, eluggish looking somebody, and his
reputation, which hid now spread every
w here, of possessing such consummate skill
with the rifle, that he 'bought it a conde
cension to shoot ganxi anywhere else but
rn the eyes—is so formidable, that no in
dividual felt disposed to push tho rnatterio
a personal oolhsion. Ho might still, there
fore, have boeu left in quiet, hut Hinch had
unfortunately taken up tho impression,
from Jack's conduct in tho shooting match
affair, that Jack must he a coward, and if
this were truo, then all his skill amounted
to but little ; and like many other bloody
wolfish brutes, ho followed him up the moio
eagerly for this vory reason, which would
have disarjned a generous foe. Resides, !
Jack had given fresh und weightier matter '
to tho c-ffcnco, in that he had refused to !
obey, and doficd his authority as Regulator.
Tho very being of that authority seemed to
require now that a wholesome example
should bo made of him for the awing of all
refractory persons hereafter. The wretch
who was cunning, as ferocious, ami had
sworn in his inmost heart to ruin and dis
gtuco J-.ong, from the moment of that tri
umph, now availed himself remorselessly
of nil his influence, and knowledge of tho
society around him, to accomplish it. Sev
eral horses now disappeared, and robber
ies of other kinds, perpetrated with singu
lar dexterity, followed in quick succession.
All these tilings, he managed through tho
clamors of his pcoundrely troops, to have
laid, directly, or indirectly lo Jack's door.
Rut in tho popular estimation they count
ed as nothing, in fixing the charges ot dan
gerous malice upon poor Long, in compar
ison with one other incident. About this
time, not only Ilinch himself but every
other person who had made himself con
spicuous, by insisting upon Jack's guilt, and
tho necessity ot punishing him summarily
began to lose, every day or two, valuable
stock, which was wantonly shot down some
times in sight of their houses ; and it soon
began to be remarked that every animal
lost in this way, Aud been shot in the eye.
This was instantly associated, of course,
with Jack's well known aud curious pre
dilection for that mark in hunting. A
meeting was t once convened at "the
store," of which tho planter was the chair
man ; and at it, by a unanimous vote, a
resolution was passed condemning lack
Long to be whipped and driven out of tho ;
country —and ilinch with h:s i
appointed tu carry it into effect! iio could !
hurdiy contain himself lor joy ; for now, !
whatever extreme his pitiless malignity
might ehooso to indulge himself in, he had '
no fear of after-claps or questioning. The
meeting had been a mera form at any rate.
Rat these "formalities" arc allpowerful i
everywhere ; unsettled und element*d>-y as j
was tho condition of society here, this ruf 1
fian leader or ruffians felt the necessity of J
acting under their sanction, though he him- I
eelf had dictated it. ile would und could
have consummated his purposes without it;
but tho faint lifo and conscience within him
—by a species of logic peculiar to itself—
felt relieved of the grievous responsibility
of such a crime, in the sense of participat
ing with many others. Many a man has
gone to the devil in a crowd, who would
have been horrified at undertaking the
journey alone.
It was the third day after this meeting-
Jack, during ail these persecutions, had
deported himself with the inoat stolid in
difference. Avoiding all intercourse with
the settlers, he had continued to hunt with
even more assiduity than usual, and was in
a great measure ignorant of the inevitable
notoriety he was enjoying. Ile haddteard
something of the charge with which his
character had been assailed, but attributed
them all to the jealous enmity he had in
curred ot the shooting match. He could
understand perfectly how one man could
hate another who had beat him in shooting,
and thought it natural enough; but he
could not understand how that haticd might
i be meanly und dcspciutely vindictive, and
therefore gave himself no uneasiness about
it. He was only anxious that his wife
should not hear and be annoyed by any
of these things, and preserved his usual
cheerfulness of demeanor.
lie had just returned from hunting, and
laying aside his accoutrements, partook of
, a simple meal her neathousewifery had pre
l pared for him; then 6tretchißg himself
upon the Buffalo robe on the floor romped
| with his two rosychecked boys, who roll
ed over his great body and gamboled and
screamed in riotous joy around him ; hut
mother wanted some waterfront the branch,
and tho frolic must be given ever while
Jack would go and bring it- So jumping
up, he left the little folk pouting wilfully
as they looked after him from tho door,
and started. The stream was only about
a hundred yards from the hou?e, and the
path leading to it was through a denso high
thicket. It was against Jack's religion
ever to leave his house without a gun ; but
the wife, whom he loved above ail the uni
veise of sentiment and every thing else,
was in a hurry for the water, and the dis
tance was bo short, — so he sprang gaily
out with the vessel in his hand,leaving the
ritie behind. Tho water had boon dipped
up, and lie was returning along the narrow
path closely bordered by brush, when he
f felt a light tap on each shoulder, and his
I career strangely impeded. Ho had just
tune lu perceive that a lasso had been
thrown over him, which would confine his
. arms, whon he saw himself suddenly sur
i rounded, and was rushed upon by a number
ofmon. lie instantly recognized the voice
i of Hinch, shouting "Down with him ! Drag
; bun down!" as the men who had hold
of the labso about his body jerked ct il vi
olently in the effort to throw him. All
his tremendous strength was put forth in
ono convulsivo effort, which would have
freed him, but the infernal noose had fallen
true, und bound his arms. A3 it was, he
dragged the six stout men who held it al
ter his frantic bounds nearly to his own
door, before he was prostrated, and then it
was by a heavy blow dealt him over tho
head with the butt of a gun. Tho last ob
jects which met his eyes as he sank down,
wero tho horrified facos of his two children ;
and wife looking out upon him !
The blow deprived him ot his senses for j
sometime, and when he recovered he found ;
himself half stripped, und lashed lo n tree j
a short distance from the house—Hinch in
front of him, wiih n knotted rope in his j
hand, his wife on the ground wailing and
clinging with piteous entreaty round the
monster's knees, his children weeping by
her, and outside this group a circle of men
with guns in their handa. That fearful a
wakening was a now birth to Jack Long !
ilis eye took in everything at ono glance.
A shuJJer, like that of an oak rifting to its
core, sprang along his norves, and seemed
to pass out at his feet and through his fin
gers, leaving him as rigid as tnarbie ; and
when the blows of the hideous mocking
devil before him fell upon his white flesh,
making it welt in purple ridges, or spout
dull black currents, ho felt them no more !
than the dead lintol of his door would have
done ; and tho agony of that poor wite,
shrilling frantic echo to every harsh slash
ing sound, 9cemed to have no more effect ;
upon his car than it hud upon the tree above j
them, which shook its green leaves to the
self same cadence they had held yesterday ]
in the bretze. Ilis wide open eyes wmo
glancing calmly and scrutinizinglv into the
faces of the men who stood around—those
features are never to ho forgotten ! —lor
while Hinch lays on the stripes with all hi*
furious strength, blaspheming as they fall,
that glance d wells on each face with a cold,
keen, searching intensity hs if it marked
them to be remembered in hell! Tho
r*ew Hvrif* —Vol. i 5 *.
man's air was awful—u> concentrated—t>o
still —so enduring! lie never spoke, or
groaned, or writhed—but those intense
eyes of bis !—tho wretches couldn't stand
thorn, and began to shutile ar.d get behind
each other. But it was too late ;ho had
them all—ten men ! Turv wtm; Regis-
TKItKU;
Wo will drop tire curtain over this hor
rible scene. Suffice it to say, that after
lashing him until he fainted, the Regulators
loft him ; telling his wife, that if they we-e
not out of the county in ten days he should
be shot. He did go within the specified
time ; and aa it was said, returned with his
family to Arkansas, where his wife's lather
lived. The incident was soon forgotten
in Shelby county amidst the constant re
currence of similar scenes.
About four months alter this affair, in
company with an adventurous friend, I wa*
traversing Western Texas. Our objects
were to see the couutry, and to amuse
ourselves in hunting for a time over any
district wo found well adapted for a par
ticular sport —as for bear hunting, deer
hunting, buffalo hunting, Arc. Either of
thoso animals is to be found in greater
abundance, and of course pursued to greater
| advantage in peculiar regions; and as vva
| were anxious to make ourselves familiar
i with all the modes of life in the country,
; we made it a point in passing through to
i stop wherever the promise of anything spe
ll cialiy interesting offered itself. Prairies,
timber and water were better distributed
in Shelby than in any county we had pass
ed through—tho timber predominating over
the prairie, though interlaid by it in every
i direction. This diversity of sunace at
tracted a greater variety and quantity of
game, as well as affording more perfect fa
cilities to the sportsman. Indeed it struck
us as a perfect Hunter's Paradise ; and tny
friend happening to remember a man of
some wealth, who had moved from his na
tive county, and settled, as lie had under
stood, in Shelby, we inquired for him.
Whatever else may be said or thought
of the Texans, they are unquestionably
most generously hospitable. We were
'■ frankly and kindly received, and horses,
1 servants, guns, dogs, and whatever elso
was noccssary to insure our enjoyment of
the sports of the country, as well as the time
of our host himself, were forthwith at our
disposal, and we were soon, to our hearts'
content, engaged in every character of ex
citing phase.
(to nr. COSCLI DEI) J
FOREIGN NEWS.
iiv Titn Canada.
The French in llaly. —A letter frmn
t Rome, dated the 9th, states the measures
| of defenco on the one hand, and those of
I attack on the other, nre being carried oil
with unremitting zeal in and around lime
unfortunate city, and the destruction of pro
perty rendered uecessary by them is abso
lutely frightful. Not only have hundred*
of charming villas and casini in the neigh
borhood of the city walls or gates been set
on lire and blown up during the last few
days, but tho interior of tho town now
commences to euflbr from the unsparing
orders of the military engineers ; und this
morning the magnificont Theatre ol Apollo,
with the adjacent houses bordering the 'fi
ber, from the' bridge of St. Angeio fo the
Arcodi Partno, are to be sacrificed and de
-1 molished, as l'ormiug a dangerous point for
attacking the fortress of St. Angeio, in caso
trie enemy should succeed in effecting an
entry v. ithin the city walls. The villas of
Quattio Venti and Panfili Doria, near tho
Porta San Pancrazio, have taught the Ro
mans, sad experience, what a tremendous
sacrifice of blood become* necessary to
a hostile force out of such suburban strung
holds, when onct they have gained admit
tance into them. The Roman prisoner*
ure sent to Civita Yecohia, and embarked
for Corsica.
The Nouvellistesays, in a postscript dat
ed Civita Yecchia, the 15th, that Gari
baldi had made a sortie at tho head of 1400
men, who had been annihilated (anea/ 1-
tis;) that the French tight with unequalled
valor, and that a breach had been opened.
Another account says that only 000 of
1100 who sallied, had been killed ; and a
journal adds that a movement bad taken
place in Rome itself against Garibaldi, ami
that several persons living from the city
had taken refuge in the French camp
Tho following aortit of Garibaldi, on tho
9th, has not been alluded to in the French
general's despatch :
The Piedmontese Uazstto of the 10th
states, from Home lOih, that tho firing had
recommenced on the Oih, at 0 P. M.; that
Garibaldi had, on the same day, made an
impetuous sortio, and succeeded in retak
ing tho famous Casino de Quattre Venti,
which he immediately proceeded to demol
ish. The battle lasted till 9in tho even
ing, and wa9 interrupted by a heavy show
er of ruin. On the 10th, the firing was
resumed, and lasted till 10 A. M. By a
decree of Gen. Avczzani, all projectiles
thrown into Rome by tho enemy, are to bo
brought to tho chief of the section of at til
lery, and if in n serviceable etato, they
will be paid a bajocco and a half (about a
i sou) per pound weight.
Nouvelliste, of Marseilles, states that
M. Ca&ttlr.au, captain of the staff, had been