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when a bullet strikes one, it is not known whether it has glanced off or entered in, until the blood appears to decide the question) that I was a dead man; that the ball had taken a short cut into my abdomen, two or three respirations being entirely suspended, or but imperfectly performed. The third thought was, that I was not as much hurt as the bleeding oarsman before me, and should be ashamed not to follow his spirited example. These several thoughts did not occupy much time, as, agreeably to the last thought, I resumed my paddle before it had rolled off the pinck-stern into the water, and set the skiff again on its direct track for the shore, towards which the brigade was now being urged with increasing haste, with the double view of getting under the shelter of the bank, and of reinforcing the advance, which we had last seen hard set at the landing.

It was not many minutes before we attained this shelter.Just as we were passing into it, and hearing the last whip cracking sound of the bullets which could reach our heads, and while I was steering, with much ado, our tiny craft among the larger boats, so as to reach the beach without being crushed in the melée, with my eye involuntarily fixed on the orderly in the bow, who was looking out ahead, I saw him give a convulsive start, and then plunge headlong into the water; having, perhaps, been hit by the last shot that reached our boat as we left the line of fire. It was no time for sympathy or delay, and we passed over his body, which sunk without a struggle, as if it had been a stone thrown overboard. The day, eventful as it was, had no disaster that affected my mind like the mishap of this noble looking orderly. I had never seen him before that morning-he was a Yorker-but having had his fine figure, from his position, in my eye during the whole of the transit, and remarked that, throughout the perils of the approach to the shore, he had maintained a most soldierly bearing, I had conceived an extemporary interest in him, that made my heart shrink when I saw him precipitated into the Lake never to rise again. But this mood was at once lost in the animation of the landing, though well nigh being revived by the appearance of a livid corpse, lying with its head downward the bank, as if the soldier had been suddenly reversed by a mortal wound, during the ascent, and so near the water, that my foot, in a hurried leap, was almost planted on its still slightly heaving breast.

Though every boat had preserved its proper place in the line until the signal for advancing towards the shore, and was doubtless resolutely bent on not being jostled out of it to the last, yet, when the enemy's fire began to make sad work among the huddled crews, and oarsmen, disabled or killed, were frequently to be replaced, considerable dislocation occurred; and when the squadrons struck the shore, and the men were disembark

ed, there was much shifting and countermarching to be done, before the regiments were in due order for the ascent. This, however was done with all the promptitude of habitual discipline. Each soldier, knowing his right and left hand man, could easily have fallen into his proper place, had not many a file been missing, left dying or dead in the boats. Among the missing, too, were some officers, whose word of command, silenced for a time or forever, would have assisted in the emergency.

When the line had been arranged with tolerable precision, (for it was not a time to be very particular,) and the order to ascend was given, each one, officer and soldier, after casting upwards a hasty glance, as if to ascertain the amount of exertion required, and, mayhap, to see if any bayonets were bristling there-took in a long breath, and more like quadrupeds than bipeds, as the arms were obliged to lend the legs a hand in the scrabble, began the ascent. Some of the regiments, when they had reached the crest near enough to aim over it, halted, and as it were behind a breast-work, poured in a volley among the trees, which were as red with the enemy, as if a fire were spreading through the underbrush. The compliment was returned almost simultaneously, as the heads no sooner peered above the bank, than every tree seemed to be in a blaze. The footing of most of them was too insecure to stand such a racket. Some fell right backwards, under the paralysis of a mortal wound, and nearly all, whether hit or not, staggered a moment under the burning cataract, and then gave way, at least so far as to bring the bank as a parapet between them and the enemy. But one regiment, a Yorker, marched up and over the bank with an unflinching steadiness, halting just on the top, and volleying it away into the bushes, until the others, animated by so spirited an example, came up and completed the line. The whole moved forward to the skirt of the wood, presenting a formidable front, that would, no doubt, have induced the enemy to decamp, had not other causes led him to think of his safety in due season.

The volunteers, to whom we have before alluded, when the leaden shower pattered so hail-like on the advance and first brigade, prudently sidled a little to the right, thus saving many a valuable life, and being able to land, nearly all-told and fit for duty, on the enemy's left flank. The discretion evinced in this oblique movement, was far more serviceable than the valor that might have prompted to a more direct advance. The patriotic and brave Hibernian who led them, would have been the last man to turn out for a bullet, had not generalship been the motive. Seeing the British likely to be well enough occupied in the front, even if his volunteers were not there, and shrewdly suspecting that in their anxiety to protect the nose

from a tweak, they might leave the ear exposed, he resolved to give them a box in that quarter. A pretty dense woods was growing there, which he gained without opposition. The music with him, which was considerable, struck up, in order to finish, more at ease, that strain of Yankee Doodle which had been interrupted on the water; while, at the same time, a few shots were let off by way of accompaniment. The red coats, unable to determine the extent of this lateral irruption, and fearing their retreat might be cut off-looking to the front and listening to the flank-wisely resolved to scamper while scampering was feasible. We were thus left, about noon, in full and quiet possession of the landing.

FOR THE MILITARY AND NAVAL MAGAZINE.
THE MIDSHIPMAN'S RETURN.
Away, away! for my native hills,

The fruits, the flowers, and the berries ripe;
The woods, the lakes, and the sparkling rills,
The rocks, the vines, and the splashing mills,—
Far from the sound of the boatswain's pipe.
Hurrah! good driver, crack up your team!
I long to leave the sight of the sea,
With its ships, and its silvery gleam,
To roam on the banks of my native stream,
As gay and free as I used to be.

Away! lash on the trunks, Mr. Whip,

For there I've shells and curious things,
For which, unless you allow them to slip,
I'll have a kiss from a rosy lip,

More dewy than the morning's wings.
Hurrah! no more mast-headings to cry,
When on the watch, for falling asleep ;-
From boats, and ropes, and angles I fly,
From lunars and trigonometry-

Hurrah! and no more watches to keep!
No more to be scared by dread First Luff,

Or Captain's threats for wrong "day's work "

For log-book blots, or any such stuff;

No more to dine upon beef and "duff,"

Or water to eat with a fork!

Good bye, Billy! our anchor's aweigh,

Billy, the noblest and best mess-mate!
The driver whips, as he wheels me away,
Snap, crack! as if the deuce was to pay,
And on our speed depended the state.
Hurrah! for the sweet breathing grove,

The bowl of milk, and the strawberry feast,
The friends at home, and the maiden I love;
Long shall it be e'er again I rove;

On shore I'll remain-for three weeks at least!

VINCENNES.

FROM THE AMERICAN QUARTERLY REVIEW,

For June, 1833.

ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Documents communicated to Congress by the President, at the opening of the Second Session of the twenty-second Congress, accompanying the Report of the Secretary of War.

These documents exhibit our military establishment in all its important details. A similar exhibition is made at the opening of each session of Congress, combining reports from each military department, and the letter of the Secretary of War to the President, presenting a general view of the past, and such suggestions as arise from a consideration of the future.— Perhaps there is no institution connected with our government, that more properly demands this annual review. A military establishment is justly regarded by republics with jealous watchfulness. Our own experience has doubtless much allayed this feeling in the United States. Our army, besides being of an insignificant strength compared with the physical force of the country, and so detached and scattered as to be mere maniples of men, has been so frequently resolved into its original elements of citizenship, and has at all times so mingled with our social institutions, as to appear a homogeneous part of the grand community, and only a better regulated and more effective body of militia. Still, however, it is that formidable engine of power, which has heretofore been so largely productive of evil to the liberties of the world-that most perfect organization, and massive concentration of human energies, which is still somewhat portentous under its most benign aspect;-and a sound policy and wise forecast would dictate, that it should ever be subjected to the wholesome restraint of a severe and frequent scrutiny.

Notwithstanding the instructive lessons left by the revolution, we entered on the war of 1812, in a state of extreme inefficiency with respect to all the administrative departments of military service. An utter waste of millions was the consequence. Experience, however, did not again teach in vain. Under the presidentship of Mr. Monroe, and the secretaryship of Mr. Calhoun, a new era was formed in our national defence, the beneficial influences of which will continue to be felt as long as we are a free nation. Our present system of accountableness and responsibility was then established. The reports which are found among the documents we have alluded to, show its operation and efficacy. From that period, the War

Department has held a new rank in the cabinet, and assumed a corresponding elevation in popular opinion. Previously, it had been regarded merely as the head quarters of the army.

During the last war, and for a few years subsequent, defalcations and defaults were of common occurrence. The guarantee of bonds became a mere shadow, and enactments, giving summary process, or the power to anticipate the slow determinations of the law, added but a feeble security. Where large sums, without regard to the immediate calls of the service, were lavishly distributed, and responsibility was allowed to postpone a settlement almost indefinitely, every opening was left to fraud, strong temptations were held out to cupidity, and negligence was encouraged by impunity. The establishment and strict enforcement of a few simple rules, converted this wastefulness and irresponsibility, into economy of disbursement and punctuality of settlement. Moneys are distributed only on regular and specific estimates, which show the objects and extent of the anticipated expenditure; and any omission to render an account at the close of each quarter, or three months, leads to an immediate investigation, which arrests the threatening default on the threshold. The amount issued being proportioned with all practicable exactness to immediate wants, is seldom large, and the necessity of rendering frequent accounts, leaves no scope for malversation, or even for carelessness.The hazards attending the disbursement of public funds, are, under the present system, reduced almost to nothing. Of the large amount annually confided to the War Department, nearly every dollar is, at the proper season, promptly and precisely accounted for.

The public can also see by these documents, that the army is not an idle pageant, concentrated into masses, merely as nurseries of discipline, or in preparation for contingent events. It forms, as it were, only a chain of sentinels on our lengthened maritime and inland borders, the conservators of the public property as well as of the public peace. Every harbor, which is the resort of foreign commerce, and the inlet to an immense amount of property, requires a degree of protection, even in time of peace. Jurisdiction is best respected, when at all times prepared to punish any violation of it. A consideration of this kind justifies all the defence now afforded by the army to the seaboard, and would rather lead to an enlargement than diminution of it. And experience has satisfactorily showed that our inland frontiers have not a surplus bayonet. Recent events have probably induced an opinion, that a greater amount of force there, would have prevented many difficulties, saved the effusion of some blood, and the disbursement of large sums of the public money. An additional regiment in that quarter, would doubtless have obviated those events and their conse

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