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The Exeter Times, 1892-6-2, Page 2t HE STORY' OF A RAID INDIA. nv numeral When the Indian mutiny broke mit and a 2itt1e time before the siege of Delhi, a regi- ment of native irregular horee was statioued at Peshawur, on. the frontier of India. That regiment caught what John Lawrence call- ed at the time "the prevalent mania," and would have thrown in its lot with the =Ai- neers had it been allowed to do so. The cbance never came, for as the regiment swept off down south it was headed offby a rerimant of an English corpe into the hills of Afghanistan, and there the newly -conquer. e(1 tribesmen turned against it as wolves turn against buck. It was hunted for the sake of its arms and accoutrements fromhill to hill, from ravine to ravine, up and down the dried, beds of rivers, and round tbe ihoulders of bluffs, till it disappeared as Rater sinks in the sand—this °theorises rebel regiment. The only trace left of its existence to -day is a nominal roll drawn up in neat round. hand and. countersigned by an officer who called himself Adjutant, late—Irregular Cavalry," The paper is yellow with years and dirt, but on the back of it you can still read a pencil note by John Lawrence to this effect: "See that the two native officers who remained loyal are not deprived of their estates. J. le." Of 650 sabres only two stood the strain, and John • Lawrence, in the midst of all the agony of the first months oi the mutiny, found time, to think aboat their merits. That was more than thirty-six years ago, and the tribesmen across the Afghan border who helped to annihilate the regiment are now old men. Sometimes a graybeard speaks a his share in the massacre. They came," he will say, "across the border very proud, calling upon us to rise and kill the English and go down to the sack of Delhi. But we, who had just been conquered by the seine English, knew that they were overbold, and that the Government could. account easily for those down -country dogs. This Hindustani regiment, therefore we treated with fair words, and kept standing in one place till the redcoats came after them very hot and angry. Then this regi - anent ran forward a, little more into our hills to avoid the wrath of the Englisb, and we lay upon their flanks watching from the sides of the hills till we were wed assured that their path was lostbehind them. Then we came down for we desired their clothes, and their brides, and their rifles, and their boots—more especially their hoots. That was a great killing—dine slowly." liere the old man will rub his nose, and shake hie long snaky locks, and lick his bearded lips, and grin till the yellow tooth stumps show. we killed them because we needed their gear, and we knew that their lives had been forfeited to God on ahcount of their sin—the sin of treachery to the salt whieh they had eaten, They rode up and down the valleys, stumbling and rocking in their saddles and howling for mercy. We drove them slowly like cattle till they were all assembled in one place, the fiat, wide valley of Sheer Ken Many had died from want of water, but there still were ninny left, and they could not make any stand. We went among them, pulling them down with our hands two at a time, and our boys kill- ed them who were new to tho sword. My share of the plunder was such and anch—so many guns and so many saddles. The guns were good in those days, Now we steal the Government rifles and despise smooth bar- rels, Yes, beyond doubt we wiped that regiment from off the face of the earth, and even the memory ef the deed is now dying. But men say --- At this point the tale would stop abrupt- ly and it was impossible to find out wbat men said across the border. The Afghans were always a secretive race, and vastly preferred doing something wicked to saying anything at all. They would be quiet and well-behaved for months, till one night, withont word or warning, they would rush a police post, cut the throats of a constable or two, dash through a village, carry away three or four women, and withdraw in the red •glare of burning thatch, driving the eattle and goats before them to their own desolate hills. The Indian Government would become almost tearful on these oc- casions. First it would say, "Please be good and we'll forgive you." The tribe concerned in the latest depredations would collectivele put its thumb to its nose and answer rudely. Then the Government would say; 'Hadn't you better pay up a little money for those few corpses you left behind you the other night?" Here the tribe would teinporize, and lie and bully, and some of the younger men, merely to show eontempt of authority, would raid an- other police post and fire into some frontier mud fort, and, if lucky, kill a real English officer. Then the Government would say: "Observe, if you really persist in this line of conduct you will be hurt?" If the tribe knew exactly what was going on in India it would apologize or be rude, according as it learned whether the Government was busy with other things or able to devote its full attention to their performances. Some of the tribes knert to one corpse how far to go. Others became excited, lost their heads, and told the Government to come on. With sorrow and tears, and one eye on the Brit- ish taxpayer at home, who insisted on regarding these exercises as brut -eel wars of annexation, the Government would prepare an expens've little field brigade and some guns, and send all up into the bills to chase the wicked tribe out of the valleys, where the corn grew, into the hilltops, where there was nothing to eat. The tribe would turn out in fell strength and enjoy the campaign, for they knew thattheir women would never be touthed, that their wounded would be nursed, not mutilated, and that as soon as each man's bag of corn was spent they could surrender and palaver with • the English General as though they had been a real en- emy, Afterward, years afterward, they would pay the blood money, driblet by drib- let, to the Government, and tell their chin dreis how they had slain the redcoats by thousands. Ube only drawback to this kind of picnic war was the weakness of the red- coats for solemnly blowing up with powder their fortified towers and keeps. This the tribe always considered mean. Chief among the leaders of the smaller tribes—the little clans, who knew to a penny the expense of moving white troops against them—was a priest -bandit -chief, whom we will call the Gulls, Kutta Mullah. His en- thu.siasm for border murder as an art was almost dignified. He would cut down a mail runner from pure wantonness, or bom- bard a mud with rifle fire when he knew that our men teded to sleep. In his leisure moments he would go on circuit among his neighbors and try to incite other tribes to deviltry. Also, he kept a kind of hotel for jellow outlaws in his own villages, which • Jay in a valley called Bersund. • Any re- spectable murderer on that section of the frontier was sure to lie up at Bersund, for it was reckoned an exceedingly safe place. The eole enery to it ran through a narrow gorge, vehicle seutel be converted inth a death trap in. five minutes. It was surrounded by high bills, xeckoned inaccessible to all save born mountaineers, and here tho Gulla Matta Mellen lived in great state, the head of a colony of mild and staae huts, and in each mud hut hung some portion of a red uniform and the plunder of deed mean, The Gov- ernment particularly witheci for his capture, and °ace invited him formally to COMO out and be hanged on accouat of seventeen murders in which he had taken e direct part. He replied: I ani only twenty miles, as the crow flies, from your border, Come and fetch me." " Some day we will conec," said the Government, 'and hanged you will be." The Guile, Kutta Mullali let the matter drop from his mina. He knew that the patience of the Government was as long as a suminer day; but he did not realize that its arm was es long as a whiter night Months afterward, when there was peace on the border and all India was quiet the Indian Government turned in its sleep and re. membered, the Guile Kutta Mullah at Ber- sund, with his -thirteen outlaws. The move- ment against him ot one 'tingle regiment— which the telegrams would have translated as war—would have been highly impolitic. This was a time for silence and speed, and, above all, absence of bloodshed. You must know that all along tire north- west frontier of India there isspread a force of some thirty thousand foot and horse, whose duty it is quietly and unostentatious- ly to shepherd the tribes in front of them. They move up and down and down and up, from one desolate litb1 post to another; they are ready to take the field at ton minutes' notice; they are always half izt and half out of a difficulty somewhere along the monotonous line ; their lives are as hard as their own muscles, and the papers never say anytbing about them, It was from this force that the Government picked its men. One night, at a station where the mounted night patrol fire as they challenge, and. the wheat rolls in great blue-green waves under our cold northern moon, the officers were playing billiards in the mud -welled club house, when orders came to them that they were to go on parade at once for a night drill. They grumbled, went to turn out their men—a hundred Englisla troops, let us say, two hundred Goorkoas, and about a hundred of the finest native cavalry in the world. When they were on the parade ground it was explained to thernin whispers that they must set off at once across the hills to 33er. aund. The English troops were to post themselves round the hills at the side of the valley; the Goorkhas would command the gorge and the death trap, and the cavalry would fetch a long march round and get to the back of the circle of hills, whence, if there was any difficulty, they could *barge down on the Mullah's men. But orders were very strict that there should be no fighting and no noise. They were to return in the morning with every round ot am- munition intact, and the 34111111th and his thirteen outlaws bound among them. If they were euccessfal no one would know or care anything about their work; but tenure meant probably a small border war, in which the Guile Mate Mullah would pose as a popular jeader against a big, bullying pow- er, instead of a common border murderer. nen there was silence, broken only by the clicking of the compass needles and snapping of watch cases, as the heads of columns compared beatings and mad° ap- pointments for the rendezvous. Five min- utes later the parade ground. was empty; the green coats of the Goorkhas and the overcoats of the English troops had faded into the darkness, and the cavalry were cantering away in the face of a blinding drizzle. What, the Goorkhas and the English did will be seen later on, The heavy work lay with the horses, for they had to go far and pick their way clear of habitations. Many of the troopers were natives of that part of the world, ready and anxious to fight against their kin, and some of the officers had made private and. unofficial excursions into those hills before. They crossed the border, found a dried river bed, cantered up that, walked through a stony gorge, risked crossing a low hill under cover of the darkness, skirted another hill, leaving their hoof marks deep in scene ploughed ground, felt their way along another water -course, ran over the neck of a spur praying that no one would hear their horses grunting, and so worked on in the rain and the darkness - till they had left Bersund and its crater of hills a little.behind them and to the left, and it was time to swing round. The as, cent commanding the back of Bersund was eteep, and they halted to draw breath in a valley below the height, That is to say, the men reined up, but the horses, blown as they were, refused to halt. There was un- christian language, the worse for being de- livered in a whisper, and you heard the saddles squeaking in the darkness as the horses plunged. The subaltern at the rear of one troop turned in his saddle and said, very softly: "Carter, what the blessed heavens are you doing at the rear? 13ring your men up, man." There was no answer, till a trooper replied: "Carter Sahib is forward—not there. There is nothing behind us." "There is," said the subaltern. The squadron's walking on its own tail." Then the Major in command moved down to the rear, swearing softly, and asking for the blood of Lieut. Halley, the subaltern who had just spoken. Look after your rearguard," said the Major. "Some of your infernal thieves have got lost. They're at the head of the squadron, and yeu're a several kinds of idiot." "Shall I tell off my men, sir?" said the subaltern, sulkily, for he was feeling wet and cold. Tell 'em off 1" said the Major. "Whip 'em off, hy gad I -You're squandering them all over the place. There's a troop behind you now ?" "So I was thinking," said the subaltern, calmly. "1 have all tny men here, sir. Better speak to Carter." "Carter Sahib sends salaam and wants to know why the regiment is stopping," said a trooper to Lieut. Halley. "Where tinder heaven is Carter ?" said the Major. "Forward with his trocp," was the an- swer. "Are we walking in a ring, then, or are we the centre of a brigade ?" said the Major. By this time there was silence all along the column. The horses were still, but through the fine rain, men could hear the lea of many ,horses moving over stony ground. "We're being stalked," said Lieut. Hal- ley. „ "They've no horses here. Besides they'd have fired before this," said the Major. "It's—it's villagers' ponies." "then our horses would have neighed and spoiled the attack. They must have been near us for half an hour," said the subaltern. "Queer that we can't smell the horses," said the Major, damping"K• Anger and rule- bing on his nose as he sniffed te the wind. • "Weil it's a bad stied," said the subal- tern, shaking the wet frorn hie overcoat. "What 411411 we do'sir?" Get on," said the Major ; "we shall catch it todeight." The column moved forward very gingerly for a few paces. Then there was an oath, a shower of blue sparks, as sbod horses crash- edon small stone; and a man rolled over with a jangle of accoutrements that would have waked the dead. , " Now we ve gone and done it said Lieut. "AU the hillside Awake, and all the hillside to climb in the face of a musket- ry fire. This comes of trying to do night- hawk work." The trembling trooper picked. himself up and tried to explain thathis horse had fallen over one of the little cairns that are built of loose stones on the spot where a man had been murdered. There was no need to ex- plain. The Major's big Australian charger blundered next, and the column came to a halt in what seemecl to be a very graveyard. of little cairns, all about two feet high. The manomvres of the squadron are not re- ported. Men said that it felt like mounted quadrilles without traluing and without the music ; but at last the horses, breaking rank and choosing timer own way, walked clear of the cairtis,till every man of the squadron reformed and drew rein a few yards up the slope of thehill. Then, according to Lieut. Halley, there was another scene very like the one which has been described. The Major and Carter insisted that all the men had. not joined rank, and that there were more of them in the rear clicking and blun- dering among the dead men's cairns. Lieut. Halley told off his own troopers again and resigned himself to wait. Later on he told me I didn't much know and I didn't much care what was going on. The row of that trooper falling ought to have scared half the country, and I would take my oath that we were being stalked by a full regiment and they were making row enough to rouse all Afghanistan. I sat tight, but nothing hap- pened," The mysterious part of the night's work was the silence on the hillside. Everybody knew that the Gulla Kutta Mullah had his outpost huts on the reverse'side of the bill, and everybody expected by the time that the major had sworn himself into a state of quiet that the watchmen there would open fire. When nothing. °curved, they said that the gusts of the ram had deadened the sound. of the horses and thanked Prov- idence, At last the major satisfied him- self that he had left no one behind among the cairns, and. that he wan not being taken in the rear by a, powerful body of cavalry. The men's temners were thoroughly spoiled, the horses were lathered und unquiet, and one and all prayed for the daylight. They set themselves to climb up the bill, eaeh man leading his enount carefully, Be- fore they had covered the lower slopes or the breast plates had begun to tighten a thunder -storm came up behind, rolling across the low hills and drowning any noise less than that of a cannon. The first flash of the lightning showed the bare ribs of the ascent, the hill crest standing steely blue against the black sky, the little falling lines of the rain, and, a few yards to their left flank, an Afghan watch tower, two -storied, built of stone, and entered by a ladder from the upper story. The ladder WM up, and a man with a ride was leaning from the win- dow. The darkness and the thunder rolled down in an instant, and, when the lull fol- lowed, a voice from the watch tower cried: "Who goes there?" The cavalry were very quiet, but etieh man gripped his carbine and stood beside his horse. Again the voice called "Who goes there ?' and in a louder koy, "0, brothers, give the alarm !" Now, every man in the cavalry would have died in his long boots sooner than have asked for quar- ter. ; but it is a fact that the answer to the second call was a long wail of '4 Marf karo ! l'slarf Imre 1" which ineans, "Have mercy ! Have mercy !" It came from the climbing regiment. The cavalry stood &unfounded, till the big troopers had time to whisper one to an- other: Mir Khan, was that thy voice ? Abdullah, Mast thou call ?" Lieut. Halley stood beside his charger and waited. So long as no firing was going on he was con- tent. Another flash of lightning showed the heroes with heaving flanks and. nodding heads. The men, white eyeballed, glaring beside them, and the stone watch tower to the left. This time there was no head at the -window, and the rude iron -clamped shutter that could torn a rifle bullet was closed. Go on reen,"said the Major. "Get up to the top at any rate," The squadron toiled forward, the horses wagging their tails and the men pulling at the bridles, the stones rolling down the hillside and the sparks flying. Lieut. Halley declares that he never heard a squadron make so much noise in his life. They scrambled up, he said, as though each horse had eight legs and a spare horse to follow him, Even then there was no sound from the watch tower, and the men stopped on the ridge that overlooked the pit of darkness in which the village of Bersund lay. Girths were leosed, curbchains shifted, and sad- dles adjusted, and the men dropped down among the stones. Whatever nught hap- pen now they had the upper ground of any attack. The thunder ceased and with it the rain, and the soft, thick darkness of a winter night before the dawn covered them all. Except for the sound of falling water among the ravines below, everything was still. They heard the shutter of the watch tower below them thrown back with a .clang and tbe voice of the watcher calling: "Oh liafiz rilalil" Theechoes took up the call, " 1" And an answer came from a -watch tower hidden around the curve of the hill : " Whst is it, Shahlociz Khan ?" Shell:az Khan replied in the high pitch- ed voice of the mountaineer .1" Hest thou seen ?" • The answer carne baele : "Yes, God de- liver us from all evil spirits !" There was a pause, and then : "Hafiz 1.711ah, I am alone I Come to me 1" " Shehbaz Kelm I am alone also; but I dare not leave my post I" " That is a lie ; thoit art afraid." A longer pause followed, and then : " am afraid. Be silent 1 They are below us still. Pray to God and sleep 1" , The troopers listened and wondered, for they could not understand what save earth and. stone could lie below the watch towers; Shahbaz Khanbegan to call again : "They are below us. loan see hem. For the pity of God come over to me. Hafiz My father slew ten of' them. Come Over Hafirz Ullah answered in a vetyloudvoica "Mine was guiltless. Hear, ye Men of the Night, neither my Lather nor my blood linen any part in that sin. Bear thou tny own punishment, Shahbaz Khan." '1 Oh, soma ono ought to stop those tiro chaps crowing away like cocks there," said Lieut. Halley, shivering under hie rock. He had hardly turned round to expose neweide to the rain before a bearded; long. locked, evil -smelling Afghan rushed up the hill ana tumbled into bis arms, Holley Mt upon him and thrust as much of a sword - kilt as could be spared down the man's gul- let. " If yen' cry out. I kill you," he said, cheerfully. The man was beyond any expresaion of terror, He lay and quaked, gasping. When Halley took the sworel-hilt from between bis teeth, he was still inarticulate, but clung to Halley's arm, feeling it from elbow to 74T8t•he Rissole 1 the dead Rissala tr' he gasped at last. "It is down there 1" " No ; the Rissala, the very much alive Rissala. It is up here," said Halley un - shipping bis water bridle and fastening the man's hands. "Why were you ie the towers so foolish as to let us pass ?' "The valley is full of the dead," said the Afghan. "11 is better to fall into the hands of the English than the hands of the clea,c1. They march to and fro below there, I saw them in, the lightning." He recovered his composure atter a little, and whispering, because Halley's,pistol was anhis stomach, said: What is this? There is no war between us now, and Mullah will kill me for not seeing you pass 1" "Rest easy," said Halley, "we are com- ing to kill th 8 Mullah, if God please. His teeth have grown too long, No harm will came to thee unless the daylight shows thee as a face which is desired by the gallows for crime done. Bub what of th p Dead Regi- ment ?" "I only kill within my own border," said the man, immensely relieved. "The Dead Reginient is below. ne men must have passed through it- on their journey -400 dead on horses, stumbling among their own graves, eneong the little heaps—dead men all, whom eve slew." "Whew 1" Halley. That accounts for my cursing Carter and the Major cursing me. Four hundred sebres eh ? No wonder we thought there were a few extra men in the troop. Kurruk Shah," he .whispered to a grizzled native'oflicer that lay Within a few feet tif him, "hast then heard Etnything of a dead Rissala in thehills?" ".Assuredly," said Kurruk Shah, with a grim chuckle. "Otherwise, why did I, who have served the Queen for seven and twenty years and killed many hill dogs, shout eland for quarter when the lighting revealed us to the watch towers? When I was a youeg man I saw the killing in the valley of Sheor- Kot there at our feet, and I know the tale that grew up therefrom. But how can the &este of unbelievers prevail against us who ere of the faith? Strap that clog's hands a little tighter, sahib. .An Afghan is like an eel." "But a deai Rissala," said Ealley, jerk- ing his captive's wrist. That is foolish talk, X.urruk Shah. The dead are dead. Hold still, Sag." The Afghan sniggled. "The dead are dead and for that reason they walk at night. What need to talk? We be men, we have our eyes and ears. Thou must both see and. hear them, down the hillside," seid Kurruk Shah, composedly. Halley . eared and listened long and in- tently. The valley wasfulI of stifled noises, as every valley must be at night; but whether he saw or heard more than was natural Halley alone knowa, and ho does not choose to speak on the subject. At last, and eust before the dawn, agreen rocket shot up from the far side of the Val- ley of Dersund, at the head of the gorge, to show that the Goorkas were in position. A red light from the infantry at left and right answered it, and the cavalry burned nwhite flare. Afghans in winter aro late sleepers and it was not till full day tint Guile Kutta, Mullah's men began to straggle from their huts, rubbing their eyes. Tliey saw inen in green and red and brae 1 uniforms leaning upon their arms'neatly arranged all round the °rater of the village of Bersund in a cordon that not even a wolf could have broken. They rubbed their eyes the more when a pink -faced young man, who was not even in the army, but represented the po- litical department, tripped down the hill- side with two orderlies, rapped at the door of the Guile, Kate Mullah's house, and told him quietly to step out and be tied up for safe transport. That seine young man pass- ed on through the huts, tapping here one cateran and there another lightly with his cane ;fiend as each was pointed out, so he was tied up, staring hopelessly ab the crowned heights around where the English soldiers looked down with incurious eyes. Only the Mullah tried to carry it off with curses and high words, till a soldier who was tying his hands said: "None o' your hp 1 Why didn't you -come out when you wee ordered, instead of keepin' as awake all night? You're no better than my own barrack sweeper, you white-'eaded olcl polyanthus 1 Kim up r Half an hour later the troops had gone away with the Mullah and his thirteen friends. The dazed villagers were looking ruefully at it pile of broken muskets and snapped swords, and wondering how in the world they bad come so to miscalculate the forbearance of the Indian Government. It was a, very neat little affair, neatly carried out, and the men concerned were 'unofficially thanked for their services. Yet it seems to me that much credit is also due to another regiment whose name did not appear in the brigade orders, and whose very existence is -in danger of being forgot ten. A Romance of the Beriod. " Mildred," passionately exclaimed the young man, throwing himself upon his knees, "hear me 1 For mouths I have carried your image in my heart. You have never been absent from my thoughts one moment. The contemplation of a future unshared with you would drive me to de- spair —to suicide 1 Listen 1 For more than a week, Mildred, the dread, the suspeese, the uncertainty, the horrible fear that I may fail to win your affection has oppress- ed me by day and 'banished sleep from my eyes at night. For more than a week I have not slept! With straining eyeballs I have tossed on any restless couch and—" "Harold," interposed the gentle girl with tears of compassion in her eyes, I should consider myself the most heartless of women if I could look unmoved upon your suffering when a word from me can banish them. If you are troubled with insomnie, Harold, you will find instant and certain re- lief by using Heavyside's celebrated Nerve Squelcher, fifty cents a bot' le, for sale by all druggists, satisfaction. guaranteed or money refunded, testimonials on application, delays are dangerous, life is precious, for what is life without sleep, send for sample, if usedaccording to directions will cure in twenty-four hours, mention this paper." eve Blood travels from the heart through the arteries ordinarily at the rate of about 12 inches per second; its speed through the capillaries is at the rate of three one -hun- dredths of an inch per second. The Clanadian Pacific is trying to make an arrangement with connecting lines to run a fast train between Boston and Halifax in twenty-three hours. Deep Spanish fringes in black silk cord, having a lattice -work pattern, are seen on light Woks, over which black lace is used. THE BATTLE Or RIDGEWAY. The Story or. the Engale.anent told by a rea d We print the following, not because of its veracity, bet because to the student of his. tor and to an intelligent reader, it is al- ways interesting to know whet the other side has to say. The correspondent who has furnished the following is T. F, Row- land, at present of Denver,r'Cole: In the spring of 1866 Fenianism was in the ascendant and yet in its infancy. The socieey had been organized by Stephens, O'Mahoney, Doheny and other refugees of the Young Ireland party. Stephens, as head center' ' had worked and planned in the 'United Kingdom with all the energy and sagacity of a revolutionist, and the government of Great Britain quickly awoke to the htartling fact that it rested on it vol- cano. Then did its mailed hand become stronger. Vigilance, increasing vigilance, it nursed. Its mercenaries mingled with the people. Talbot, one of its most infam- ous hirelings, was shot down in the streets of Dublin. `Under the ban of suspicion thousands :were incarcerated. Its press thundered maledictions. But despite all this, Fenienism did not stop. It only grew more secretive and withal. bolder. Not a week passed that did not chronicle its mid- night raid for arms.. Government arsenals were depleted of their stores, and even the landlords awoke and bewailed their miss- ine guns. As the national pooh, T. V. Sulliven, then sang 'no whore the Cork men— ' " Tina queen's proud towers, Can't balk their pea eters, 02 go the weapone by sea and shore. And bold New York men • Are daily piling their precious store." Pikes were forged and hidden, and this parody crept into the press: "Wo hurled them clarltly at dead of night, The sod with our °Mame turning, By our blackened dudeen's flickering light, And the mold in our wide wakes binning, Na useless coffins inclosed our 'pets,' Not in sheet nor in shroud we bound 'em, 33ut we laid them gently in scores and sets, With some Moe, °lane straw around 'em." &acted the men in Irelaud—but what were their brothers in America doing? We shall see. The close of our civil war infused such a spirit into the Irish cause as to lift it to the highest pinnacle of prominence. The great heart of the Irish soldier, finshed with the renown of southern battle gelds, instinctively turned to his far away isle. Iris lips beat= stem», pride of his nativity and blared of wrong strengthened the hand that yet held the sword—and if at tlds critical period a heaven sent leader bad arisen the story of Ireland might have been the brightest page of history. But petty jealousies sundered and wrecked a grand cause, and forth from the chaos sprung two parties—one, the party who looked to Ire- land as the battlefield, the other with the dream of Canadian conquest firing ite brain. That both had the welfare of Ireland at heart is undeniable. But the conquest of Canada was utopian, and savored of piracy. With recognition it might have been feas- ible. But from whence would this come? In their enthusiasm they fully expected their adopted country would be their ally. Whet height of folly! What imagining! A committee of both perties met,to atnalgam- ate the whole. Their counselling only widened the gap, and the men in Ireland receiving no encouragement fell back in sullen silence drinking eagerly all American news. The Canadian party went to work in grim earnest. Organizers were sent over the country, forming "Fenian circles," Every circle was a military company. It drilled three times a week. Bach member bought his own rifle and uniform and was med,er oath to go, when ordered, as one of the invading army. The winter of 1866 saw 60,000 men enrolled. William R. Roberts of New York was preeident and James Gibbons of Pennsylvenia vice pres- ident. Gen. Sweeny, lately deceased, was the military leader. Finnerty, now of the Chicago Citizen, Judge Dunne of Mingle and judge Fitzgerald of Nebraska were prominent. Gen. Sweeny, the one-armed hero, had fought valiantly all through the Mexican war as second lieutenant under Scott, and when the civil war broke out he went to the front a,s captain. Tinder Fre- mont he was adjutant general, and later, :thder Grant, he had command of the Fif ty- second Illinois volunteers at Fort Donald- son. In 1863 he was a major of the Sixteenth infantry of the regular army, and had command in the Atlanta campaign of the Sixteenth corps of the army of Tennes- see. The citizens of New York presented hirn with a medal, and the city of Brooklyn a sword. For gallantry at Shiloh. Grant and Sherman personally complimented him. No wonder the Irish soldier's heart swelled when knowing the mettle of the hero who was to lead him. It has been stated that Gen. Sweeny was at the fight at Ridgeway. There is not a particle of truth- in the state" meat: He never left the American side,: The authorities at Washington did not in terfere, but sold thousands of arms to the leaders. It !nay have been that the lead- ing of England towards the confederacy made them indifferent, and this indiffer- ence strengthened the invaders, and they planned not in secret council but openly, as if assured of belligerent rights, and perfect- ed their organization 40 such a standard as to cause a feeling of alarm over the border. Protests poured into Washington from England. They were ignored. Canada, doubtful if all these preparations were not the veriest vaporing of demagogues for a while looked tranquilly on, and at fast be- came alert. Her citizens were sworn into service, and the excitement over the border rivaled the frenzy on this side. Thousands of her citizens crowded into the states. It may be asked here, what was the policy outlined in this threatened invasion? Had the leaders mapped this out? They had! At a oertain point they would mass their men—cross when favorable, and gain a foothold, entrench themselves and await reinforcements—not only from the states, but even from Canada. Though the gov- ernment turned againse them they were confident that enough of their men would get into Camas, to make defeat iMpossible. Then once masters of same sea -port town they would build and equip privateers— pray .on the commerce of England—land an armed force in Ireland and trust to the God of battle, ere this recognition they dreamed was assured. No handwriting .on the wall came totheir vision. No shadow fell be- tween them and the bright ray of national sunlight. Great gallant exiles of the old land what castles ye built 1 What songs ye sang! and oh, how proudly your eyesilash- ed and how cheerily ye spoke under the kindling sunlight of those days 1—and if ye errea your patriotism is fullest atonement! The spring crept on, and wonderment grew. Weald all this enthusiasm end in naught. Expectation was rife. The men in Ireland listened with bated lareeith. Even they doubted the boldness. But on the morning of Jane 2 the wires sped the delirious news that the consummation had come. The Fenians had. cressed the Niagara river, under the leadership of Col. AMIN, John O'Neill, and later rang ',Ater the lam", the aecount of the -fight at Limegeone Ridge --or more properly Ridgeway. BuTirt.villatgise somfalRliodugde^—tor!rwitte3crilloppAstite.,1 yardEi abound. It is picturesins, Its kr- ways are shady. Its houtesteath speak of; thrift. It was here O'Neill formed the -20j odd men that coestituted his army, They were armed with the old muzzle -loading rifle, and out from Toronto mare ed the Queen's Own(Oanada's crack corps) to me - ere swords with those stern exilee. O'Neill's loud voice is hoarse with .As halting be commands. Again we quote the poet of that time Such fury tilled each loyal mind. No volunteer would stay behind; They flung their rod flags to the wind— "Hurrah, my boys," said Booker. Cpl. Booker led. Munn. The &field ri' w03 the atm of the Queen's Own, and arm ed eehus they should have beaten 'Neil They outnumbered him, too. The muzz loader is clumsy and antique, One of tl raiders told the writer that after tearing o the top of the cartridge they had to per the ball, it being too large, and that ma. of them held their knives between the teeth in readiness for reloading. Crowd rode forth at the heels of the Queen's Ow, to witness the capture ov destructio a of th peerless few, and when their defende facocl about intheir maddenecl flight u the dusty road, bkasight was pandemoniu The fight was fouka..partly n -one of t many orchards, and partly on the road an can be called nothing oleo than a skirmish After a couple of volleys Booker formed bi men in a square, It provcd his defeat O'Neill perceived his advantage and rake. them with a well directed volley. The; broke in confuzion—scattered, and Ridge way belonged to the victors 1 The =ton Jack on one of the° ubli f buildings was torn down and tramed h the dust, and men went wild with petriotl joy. Not since Enniscorthy or Onlaet Ihi bad Irish °yet beheld the sight, liad the been thousands instead of hunclreda woul Toronto have fallen? It is better that 1 was iaot so, for in the end defeat was inev* table. President Johnson awoke to tb- Crisis. The border was strongly guardt. Thousands of armed men came erowdin every train. They were turned back, was stated then that 40,000 men, all arm were faced homeward. The news came to O'Neill at Beale statio close to Ridgeway. Be eouneelecl with h men and they sullenly retired, and recro ed to Buffalo as prisoners of the fede • government. But they were tenacious, 1 1860 they gathered again on the border, b the "mad. proved abortive. In 1873 the Methodists of Ridgewa erected a memorial church Mummy of t soldiers of the Queen's Own, who fell—a later died of wounds received in defendin their country. It stands close to the pulpi For the iniformation of any who think n one was killed at Ridgeway we give the in scription accurately: Sacred to the Monen7 Of the Ridgeway Martyrs Who fell defending their country in tbe it tempted Fenian invasion of June, IVA Malcolm Me leaelem,ensign Queen's Oweik ecl ; Hugh Matheson, sergeant, Queen's Uwe died of wounds; William Smith, Quoen's Ow. killed ; Christopher Anderson, Queen's Own killed; J. W. itiewburn, Queen's Own, kil ed; FrancisLaicey, corporal, Queen"s0avu, dice of wounds; Mark Deiriee, Queen's Own, la ed ; William Fairbanks Tempest. Queen'teOw killed; Malcolm MeMentile, Queen's ,91tin "Go strew his ashes to the -wind Whose award, or will, has served mankind. And is'he dead whose glorionswilliitts time o high?- To live in hearts Nvo "left behind is not t. die.' Erected by, the citizens of the vienityalt battle ground. September, 1873. . NR man shell find fault with this 1 No even he whose courage have the w an How many of O'Neill's men were killed ' uncertain. One or two who straggled o were captured and confined for a year so. Col, BookerhecanuMe unpopular in (hitter' that in '67 he*retired and settled in Mo treat, -where he turned auctioneer, and th good story is told at his expense. The 11 tle Irish boys would jeer and laugh esrlien1 would. be saying, "Going, going, gone:,a shout un at the door, "Ran, run, the Fenia are coming I" One summer morning, years after, in cot pany with one who fired his muzzle -load into the opposing ranks that day, we stro led over the ground. The air was war the sky was perfect; bird song shrill, from the green robed tree and hidden noo the orchard and the clover field where bullets had made such music lay calm blossoming. My companion pointed every spot of interest, There was the far house whose former tenant had firse tho news of the invasion. There the fence that formed a breast -work; yew., the dusty serpentine road down evii windings had fled the Queen's Own, and came away, a pride in our heart for t Spartan few who had so nobly att such love for the fatherland. a A Gallant Ambassador, Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British M' ter at Washington, has quite covered hi self with glory by the gallant manner which,regardless of personal -peril, a f days since, he went to the rescue ot Li- tenant and Mrs. R. M. G. Brown's ba daughter, who, seated in her carriage, re ed. down the -flight of brownstone steps ov the terrace and on the pavement. Fortunately no injury beyond a f= bruises and a general soenness was sustain. by the baby, but her pent.' was traly alar ing to those who witnessed the incide. which was caused by the nurse slipping . the top step. Sir Julian at the time was playing ten in the court back of the' legation, and wi nessing the accident, on the spur of t moment, vaulted over the high iron raili with the agility of a boy and rushed. to ti rescue in spite of the fact that ramor h had him so crippled with the gout as ; necessitate a trip to Carlsbad this Sumnal. —[Washington Post. The Sabbath Chime. o come in life's gray morning. Ere in thy sunny way The flowers of hope have withered, And sorrow ends thy day. Come, while fromjoy's brightfountal The streams of pleasure ilONV; Como. ore thy buoyant spirits Have felt tho blight of woe. " Remomber thy Creator" Now in thy youthful days, And He will guide thy footsteps Through life's uncertain maze. "Remember thy Creator," He calls in tones of love, And offers endless pleasure In brighter worlds above. And in the holy of sadness, 1.Vhen earthltjoys depart. His love shall be your solace, And cheer thy drooping heart; And when life's storms are over, • And thou from earth are free, Thy Godwill be thy portion Throughout eternity. Linen collars turned over all round, with, cuffs to match are agam wan with wool dresst