fourth lake, counting as we came up, a small duck appeared within shooting distance. It was a diver, well known in our country-a thing which we here contemn. Knowing the value of animal food in our predicament, several of us fired at the diver: Jesse Wheeler, however, (who all acknowledged as an excellent shot) struck it with his ball. A shout of joy arose; the little diver was safely deposited in our canoe. We went on quickly, without accident, till the evening; probably traversing a space of more than forty miles. At night-fall we halted, weary and without having tasted food since morning. Boyd and Cunningham, who were right hand men on most occasions, soon kindled a fire against a fallen tree. An occurrence this evening took place, which you will hardly credit, but which (permit me to assure you) is sacredly true. The company sat themselves gloomily around this fire. The cooks, according to routine, (whether our chief or others) picked the duck, and when picked and gutted, it was brought to the fire side. Here it became a question, how to make the most of our stock of provisions. Finally, it was conclueded to boil the duck in our camp: kettle, together with each man's bit of pork, distinctly marked by running a small skiver of wood through it, with his particular and private designation. That the broth thus formed, should be the supper, and the duck on the ensuing morning, should be the breakfast, and which should be distributed by " whose shall be this." Strange as this tale may appear to you, in these times, the agreement was religiously performed. Being young, my appetite was ravenous as that of a wolf, but honor bound the stomach tightly.

HENRY.

Ingenious stratagem of an American officer.

WHILE the allied army was engaged before Savannah, colonel John White of the Georgia line, conceived and executed an extraordinary enterprize. Captain French, with a small party of British regulars, was stationed on the Ogeechee river, about twenty-five miles from Savannah. At the same place lay five British vessels, of which four were armed, the largest mounting fourteen

guns. White, having with him only captain Etholm and three soldiers, kindled many fires, the illumination of which was discernible at the British station, exhibiting, by the manner of ranging them, the plan of a camp. To this stratagem he added another: he and his four comrades, imitating the manner of the staff, rode with haste in various directions, giving orders in a loud voice. French became satisfied that a large body of the enemy were upon him; and, on being summoned by White, he surrendered (1st of October) his detachment, the crews of the five vessels, forty in number, with the vessels, and one hundred and thirty stand of arms.

Colonel White having succeeded, pretended that he must keep back his troops, lest their animosity, already stifled by his great exertions, should break out, and indiscriminate slaughter take place, in defiance of his authority; and that therefore he would commit his prisoners to three guides, who would conduct them safely to good quarters. This humane attention on the part of White was thankfully received. He immediately ordered three of his attendants, to proceed with the prisoners, who moved off with celerity, anxious to get away, lest the fury of White's corps, believed to be near at hand, might break out, much disposed as he himself was, to restrain it.

White, with the soldier retained by him, repaired, as he announced to his guides and prisoners, to his troops, for the purpose of proceeding in the rear.

He now employed himself, in collecting the neigboring militia, with whom he overtook his guides, and their charge, safe and happy in the good treatment they experienced. Lee's Memoirs of the Southern War.

Proof of a Welsh nation existing in America.

A WELSHMAN, by the name of Griffith, was taken prisoner, by the Shawnee Indians, about the year 1764, and conducted to their towns. His adventures were made public in 1804, from which the following particulars are abridged.

Two years after the captivity of Griffith, five Shawnees resolved to penetrate to the source of the Missouri, and

they admitted him of the party. They had a long laborious journey to the Shining Mountains, through which the Missouri finds its way. In these mountains they accidently met with three white men, in the Indian dress, with whom they travelled for some time, when they arrived at their village, and found the whole nation of the same complexion. A council was soon assembled, and the question was debated for three days, What shall be done with the strangers? It was finally concluded to put them to death, especially as they appeared to belong to a warlike nation, and were probably exploring the country to find out a suitable place for the future residence of their friends. Griffith, whose presence created no suspicion, could remain silent no longer. He addressed the council in Welsh, and explained the motives of their journey. It is needless to say that full confidence was restored, and the strangers treated with kindnes. Nothing could be ascertained of their history, except that their forefathers came up the Missouri, from a very distant country. There was not a black man in the nation, which was pretty numerous. The party returned to the Shawnee towns, after an absence of two years and six months. Griffith soon made his escape, and joined his friends in the back part of Virginia.

Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana.

Mr. Wirt's account of Patrick Henry's first speech,delivered at the bar of Hanover County, Virginia.

Soon after the opening of the court, the cause was called. It stood on a writ of enquiry of damages, no plea having been entered by the defendants since the judgement on the demurrer. The array before Mr. Henry's eyes was now most fearful. On the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the must learned men in the colony, and the most capable, as well as severest critics, before whom it was possible for him to have made his debut. The court house was crowded with an overwhelming multitude, and surrounded with an immense and anxious throng, who, not finding room to enter, were endeavouring to listen without, in the deepest attention. But there

was something still more awfully disconcerting than all this; for in the chair of the presiding magistrate, sat no other person than his own father. Mr. Lyons opened the cause very briefly; in the way of argument he did nothing more than explain to the jury, that the decision upon the demurrer had put the act of 1758 entirely out of the way, and left the law of 1748 as the only standard of their damages; he then concluded with a highly wrought eulogium on the benevolence of the clergy. And now came on the first trial of Patrick Henry's strength. No one had ever heard him speak, and curiosity was on tip toe. He rose very awkwardly and faltered much in his exordium. The people hung their heads at so unpromising a commencement; the clergy were observed to exchange sly looks with each other; and his father is described as having almost sunk with confusion from his seat. But these feelings were of short duration, and soon gave place to others of a very different character. For, now, were those wonderful faculties which he possessed, for the first time developed; and now was first witnessed that mysterious and almost supernatural transformation of appearance, which the fire of his own eloquence never failed to work in him. For as his mind rolled along, and began to glow from its own action, all the exuvia of the clown seemed to shed themselves spontaneously. His attitude, by degrees, became erect and lofty. The spirit of his genius awakened all his features. His countenance shone with a nobleness and grandeur which it had never before exhibited. There was a lightning in his eyes, which seemed to rive the spectator. His action became graceful, bold, and commanding; and in the tones of his voice, but more especially in his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, a magic, of which any one who ever heard him will speak, as soon as he is named, but of which no one can give any adequate description. They can only say, that it struck upon the ear and upon the heart, in a manner which language cannot tell. Add to all these, his wonder-working fancy, and the peculiar phraseology in which he clothed his images; for he painted to the heart, with a force that almost petrified it. In the language of those who heard him on this occasion, " he made their blood run cold, and their hair to rise on end."

It will not be difficult for any one who ever heard this most extraordinary man, to believe the whole account of this transaction, which is given by his surviving hearers; and from their account, the court house of Hanover county must have exhibited on this occasion, a scene as picturesque as has ever been witnessed in real life. They say, that the people, whose countenances had fallen as he arose, had heard but a very few sentences before they began to look up; then to look at each other with surprise, as if doubting the evidence of their own senses; then, attracted by some strong gesture, struck by some majestic attitude, fascinated by the spell of his eye, the charm of his emphasis, and the varied and commanding expression of his countenance, they could look away no more. In less than twenty minutes, they might be seen in every part of the house, on every bench, in every window, stooping forward from their stands, in death-like silence; their features fixed in amazement and awe; all their senses listening and riveted upon the speaker, as if to catch the last strain of some heavenly visitant. The mockery of the clergy was soon turned into alarm; their triumph into confusion and despair; and at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invective, they fled from the bench in precipitation and terror. As for the father, such was his surprise, such his amazement, such his rapture, that, forgetting where he was, and the character which he was filling, tears of ecstacy streamed down his cheeks, without the power or inclination to repress them.

The jury seem to have been so completely bewildered, that they lost sight, not only of the act of 1748, but that of 1758 also; for, thoughtless even of the admitted right of the plaintiff, they had scarcely left the bar, when they returned with a verdict of one penny damages. A motion was made for a new trial; but the court too, had now. lost the equipoise of their judgement, and over-ruled the motion by an unanimous vote. The verdict and judgement over-ruling the motion, were followed by redoubled acclamations, from within and without the house. The people, who had with difficulty kept their hands off their champion, from the moment of closing his harangue, no sooner saw the fate of the cause finally sealed, than they seized him at the bar, and, in spite of his own exertions, and the continued cry of "order" from the sheriff and the court, they bore him out of the court house, and raising