had no notion of surrendering yet. He had slain the most dangerous of the three; and having little to fear from the others, began to load his rifle. They raised a savage whoop, and rushed to the encounter; keeping at a respectful distance when Higgins's rifle was loaded, but when they knew it was empty, "they were better soldiers."

A bloody conflict now ensued. The Indians stabbed him in several places. Their spears, however, were but thin poles, hastily prepared for the occasion, and bent whenever they struck a rib or a muscle. The wounds they made were not therefore deep, though numerous, as his scars sufficiently testified.

At last one of them threw his tomahawk. It struck him upon the cheek, passed through his ear, which it severed, laid bare his skull to the back of his head, and stretched him upon the prairie. The Indians again rushed on but Higgins, recovering his self-possession, kept them off with his feet and hands. Grasping at length one of their spears, the Indian, in attempting to pull it from him, raised Higgins up; who, taking his rifle, smote the nearest savage, and dashed out his brains. In doing so, however, his rifle broke—the barrel only remaining in his hand.

The other Indian, who had hitherto fought with caution, came now manfully into the battle. His character as a warrior was in jeopardy. To have fled from a man thus wounded and disarmed, or to have suffered his victim to escape, would have tarnished his fame for ever.

Uttering, therefore, a terrific yell, he rushed on, and attempted to stab the exhausted ranger; but the latter warded off his blow with one hand, and brandished his rifle-barrel with the other.

The Indian was as yet unharmed, and under existing circumstances, by far the most powerful man. Higgins's courage, however, was unexhausted, and inexhaustible. The savage, at last, began to retreat from the glare of his untamed eye, to the spot where he dropped his rifle. Higgins knew that if he recovered that, his own case was desperate ; throwing, therefore, his rifle-barrel aside, and drawing his hunting-knife, he rushed upon his foe. A desperate strife ensued-deep gashes were inflicted on both sides. Higgins, fatigued, and exhausted by the loss of blood, was no longer a match for the savage. The latter succeeded in throwing his adversary from him, and went immediately in pursuit of his rifle. Higgins, at the same time, rose and sought for the gun of the other Indian. Both, therefore, bleeding and out of breath, were in search of arms to renew the combat.

The smoke had now passed away, and a large number of Indians were in view. Nothing, it would seem, could now save the gallant ranger. There was, however, an eye to pity, and an arm to save-and that arm was a woman's!

The little garrison had witnessed the whole combat. It consisted of but six men and one woman; that woman, however, was a host-a Mrs. Pursley. When she saw Higgins contending, single-handed, with a whole tribe of savages, she urged the rangers to attempt his rescue. The

rangers objected, as the Indians were ten to one. Mrs. Pursley, therefore, snatched a rifle from her husband's hand, and declaring that "so fine a fellow as Tom Higgins should not be lost for want of help," mounted a horse, and sallied forth to his rescue. The men, unwilling to be outdone by a woman, followed at full gallop-reached the spot where Higgins fainted and fell, before the Indians came up; and while the savage with whom he had been engaged was looking for his rifle, his friends lifted the wounded ranger up, and throwing him across a horse before one of the party, reached the fort in safety. (See note 4.)

The war, so far as Illinois was concerned, having now ceased, we pursue the subject no further.

We have already remarked that the regular troops in Canada, when war was declared, did not exceed two thousand. The number, however,

was afterward increased, and, at length, became formidable.

The "man of destiny," who had entered the confines of Russia with an army of seven hundred thousand men, and was defeated by the inclemency of its winter; in 1813 returned from thence in haste to defend his capital. In December of that year, the allied armies entered France, and in April, 1814, her imperial master was banished to Elba. The war upon the continent having ceased, the attention of England was directed hither. Her "fleets covered the ocean, and her armies darkened the land." The frontiers of Canada became the theatre of a bloody strife, in which little else was gained but laurels. Our seaboard was distressed; our capital was burned; our towns were attacked; our ships generally triumphant, and our cities gallantly defended.

Peace was at length concluded, on the 24th of December, 1814, by the treaty of Ghent; and publicly proclaimed by the president, on the 18th of February, thereafter.

By this treaty, nothing was settled. No agreement was concluded, except "to be, and remain at peace." The difficulties which had caused the war were yet unadjusted. The questions on which we had taken issue were open, as before.

We gained, it is true, what every lad values above price, “the reputation of being a young man of spirit." England and Europe have since treated us with more respect than formerly, and the American, residing or travelling in any part of the globe, may now own his country with pride.

The war also taught us some valuable lessons. We acquired a knowledge of our own weakness, as well as of our strength. We learned from thence that our best policy is in honorable peace--in conquest, that we are weak, in defence, strong and irresistible.

NOTE I.

We cannot recognize in General Harrison, on this occasion, that devotion to country which animated General Montgomery, who fell in the attack upon Quebec, during the revolutionary war. Montgomery was appointed the second brigadier-general in the

Continental army-General Pomeroy the first. General Pomeroy, not accepting the appointment, the claim of General Montgomery, according to military notions, became perfect. Congress, however, conferred the vacant situation upon General Thomas, who was originally the sixth. This advancement of a junior over a senior officer, Congress thinking might prove offensive to a man of Montgomery's rigid notions of military honor, (he having been bred in, the best military schools in Europe,) and being conscious of their of fence, they directed James Duane, a member of their body, from New-York, to write to him and explain away the matter as well as he could. He did so, and received the following in reply, which contains the elements of true greatness.

'DEAR SIR:

"I have been honored with your letter of the 21st instant. My acknowledgments are due for the attention shown me by Congress.

"I submit with great cheerfulness to any regulation they, in their prudence, shall judge expedient. Laying aside the principles of the soldier, I shall endeavor to discharge my duty to society-considering myself as the citizen, reduced to the melancholy necessity of taking up arms, for the public safety. I am, etc.

"Hon. JAMES DUANE."

"RICHARD MONTGOMERY.

NOTE II.

At

Mr. Cooper, in describing the scene, graphically remarks: "At this critical moment, the Niagara came steadily down, within half pistol-shot of the enemy; standing between the Chippeway and Lady Prevost on one side, and the Detroit, Queen Charlotte, and Hunter on the other. In passing, she poured in her broadsides, starboard and larboard ; ranged ahead of the ships, luffed athwart their bows, and continued delivering a close and deadly fire. The shrieks from the Detroit proved that the tide of battle had turned. the same moment, the gun vessels and the Caledonia were throwing in, also, discharges of grape and canister astern. A conflict so fearfully close and so deadly, was necessarily short. In fifteen or twenty minutes after the Niagara bore up, a hail was passed among the smaller vessels that the enemy had struck; and an officer of the Queen Charlotte appeared on the taffrail of that ship, waving a white handkerchief bent to a boarding-pike." Mr. Cooper's work having a tendency to exalt Captain Elliot at the expense of Commodore Perry; it having also excited much interest, especially of late, and called forth a great deal of unnecessary vituperation, the battle of Lake Erie demands some further

comments.

Each officer was directed by Commodore Perry to bring his vessel into line at "halfcable length" from the enemy. Did Captain Elliot do so? or was he prevented from thus doing by necessity? And what was, or rather what would have been the consequence of this omission, had it not been for the extraordinary-the desperate measure resorted to by Commodore Perry?

Had the Niagara "followed the little Caledonia into the thickest of the fight" had she taken her position in line, and bore her part in the action, the battle would at once have been decided. By Captain Elliot's neglect or omission, the Lawrence was compelled to fight, single-handed, the Detroit, the Queen Charlotte, and the Hunter, at the same time, for two hours; during which period every gun was dismounted, and almost every man killed or wounded. The Lawrence was at that time wholly unmanageablea wreck upon the water. The victory on the part of the British was then decisive. Commodore Perry, however, by leaving his disabled ship, going on board the Niagara, and bringing her into action, (the smaller vessels following in his wake,) restored the battle, won a victory, captured a whole fleet, and, in defiance of the studious want of ex-. ertion on the part of Captain Elliot, his second in command, acquired imperishable laurels. In going from the Lawrence to the Niagara, fifteen minutes were consumed; and in bringing the latter into action, fighting, and winning the battle, fifteen more. Thus

thirty minutes were profitably spent. It was in this way "the battle of Lake Erie was won, by the personal exertions of Commodore Perry."

It was scarcely surpassed by Paul Jones, in the revolutionary war, when he, " at the head of a little privateer," fought the whole British fleet of twenty-three sail of the line."

NOTE III.

The inquiry has often been made: Who killed Tecumseh? The answer is attended with more difficulty than is generally supposed. The proof is contradictory. The circumstances stated by many are impossible, and some of them inconsistent with each other. In one respect the witnesses all agree, and in one only: "That Tecumseh was killed at the battle of the Thames." That Colonel Johnson, from his situation, might have done it, and probably did-but of this there is no certainty, nor is it essential to Colonel Johnson's fame to have it so.

The grave of Tecumseh, it is said, was visible a few years since, near the borders of a willow-marsh, on the north line of the battle-ground, with a large fallen oak tree lying beside it. He was "there left alone in his glory." The British government, having previously appointed him a brigadier-general, afterward granted a pension to his widow and family.

NOTE IV.

"Higgins was insensible for several days, and his life was preserved by continual care. His friends extracted two of the balls from his thigh; two, however, yet remained-one of which gave him a good deal of pain. Hearing, afterward, that a physician had settled within a day's ride of him, he determined to go and see him. The physician (whose name is spared,) asked him fifty dollars for the operation. This Higgins flatly refused, saying it was more than a half year's pension. On reaching home, he found the exercise of riding had made the ball discernible; he requested his wife, therefore, to hand him his razor. With her assistance, he laid open his thigh, until the edge of the razor touched the bullet; then inserting his two thumbs into the gash, he flirted it out,' as he used to say, without costing him a cent.' The other ball yet remained; it gave him, however, but little pain, and he carried it with him to his grave.

"Higgins died in Fayette county, Illinois, a few years since. He was the most perfect specimen of a frontier man in his day, and was once assistant door-keeper of the House of Representatives, in Illinois."

The above account is taken principally from a newspaper. Its writer is unknown. The facts, however, therein stated, are familiar to many, and were first communicated to the author by one of the justices of the Supreme Court of this State. They have since been confirmed by others, to whom Higgins was personally known, and there is no doubt of their correctness.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Illinois admitted into the Union December 3rd, 1818-Its territorial Government beforeNinian Edwards Governor-Property of the State on its admission-Conditions, etc.-Taxes of residents and non-residents alike-Navigation of the MississippiSpanish conspiracy-General Wilkinson-Judge Sebastian and others-Purchase of Louisiana, 1801-Burr's conspiracy, 1806-Steamboats introduced, 1812-Barges, Flat-bottomed boats, etc.-Convention meets to form a Constitution for the State, at Kaskaskia, 1818-Constitution adopted-Its provisions-Boundaries of the State -Attempts to alter them-Governor Doty-Attempts abandoned.

ILLINOIS, we have already remarked, was admitted into the Union, and became an independent State, on the 3rd of December, 1818. Previous to that time, and after the peace of 1783, it had been a part of Virginia; afterward a part of the Northwestern Territory; then a part of the Indiana Territory; and lastly, a territory of itself, including Wisconsin. It had passed also through two grades (the first and second,) of territorial government. That each may be understood, some further remarks are requisite.

In addition to the claim set up by Virginia, as patentee of the immense region bounded by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and by Canada, known and distinguished for many years as the Northwestern Territory-which claim she successfully asserted by force of arms, and held afterward by right of conquest-Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New-York, respectively advanced similar ones each to a portion. Vague, however, as they were too much so to deserve serious consideration-they embarrassed, for some time, the councils of the nation, not on account of their merits, but the pertinacity with which they were urged.

It was by many contended that a vacant territory, wrested from the common enemy by the united arms and common treasure of all the States, belonged of right to the Union. However plausible the argument and just the conclusion, with some it was anything else than satisfactory. In the first place it was not, said the Virginians, a vacant territory, being a part of the old original patent of Virginia; in the second place, it was conquered, not by the arms of the whole, but by the arms of Virginia only; and in the third place, it was, for many years, held and occupied exclusively by Virginia; her jurisdiction having been, during that time, extended over it, and justice having been administered in her name. Hence the difficulty, serious we admit; and hence, too, the necessity of cession by a part, for the joint benefit of the whole.

New-York first released her interest therein to the confederated States, for a certain purpose specified in the deed of cession, as we have already