Proffers no gift but pain, When branded with virtue's withering frown, Vanquish'd, I keep that peace Tyrants could never shake ; O Rome! Rome! Rome! for thy freeborn race "Had it been more, 't were thine Ay, had it reach'd to Heaven, Boundless as the sun's unmeasured shine, "I fly, but not with feet I go where men are free, Where friends who have this day died shall meet, "Come, dust, and hide me then From the name and sight of slave !”— He said; and he rush'd from the chains of men REMINISCENCES OF A YOUNG FENCIBLE. FIFTEEN years of age--a warrior of fifteen!-Eight and twenty years are passed away, and in those years it was my lot to mingle in scenes of carnage in every quarter of the world. The active bustle of a military life has obliterated dates from my recollection. I cannot trace the regular order of the various scenes as they occurred, yet they often flash upon my memory with all the vividness of a yesterday's occurrence. It was impossible that it should be otherwise. Just emerging from my childish years, I was launched from the peaceful mountains of my native country, Scotland, not to witness merely, but to share in the horrors of a sanguinary civil war. At fifteen, I entered into a regiment of Fencibles, and, being a tolerable proficient in music, was appointed one of the band. The regiment was soon after ordered to Ireland, during the rebellion of 1798, and thither of course I accompanied it. New Ross was the first place where it fell to my lot to witness human beings shedding human blood; and, not being politician enough to calculate its necessity, I shuddered with horror. I have since, Heaven knows, been cured of this weakness! The rebels advanced upon New Ross at daybreak, and soon made themselves masters of it, notwithstanding a spirited resistance on the part of the military force then in possession. In the course of the day, a reinforcement arrived, and the military again advanced to meet the rebels. The conflict was bloody, but of short duration-they again retreated; but a third contest placed the Irish once more in possession of the town. Instead, however, of taking advantage of their success, they supplied themselves with whiskey, and soon became an irregular and riotous mob, utterly deaf to that control upon which only their safety depended. This state of things soon reached the ears of the regular troops, who under cover of the night re-entering the town with little or no resistance, or nothing that deserved to be so called, massacred the unfortunate wretches. They were literally shot like sparrows in the streets. I did not before credit it was in my nature to take life from an unresisting fellow creature, yet my sword (for as a bandman I carried no musket) was stained with the blood of my fellow men. As soon as the horrors of the time were over, and I had retired from the scene of slaughter, I vainly endeavoured to close my eyes in sleep. Every circumstance I had witnessed in the course of the preceding day and night was again acted before me; and as I gazed on my sword wet with human gore, I wept with a mixed sensation of horror and regret. Alas! these were then but the feelings of a child-I have since walked through the world in a manhood of blood with a heart and hand equally unshrinking-a perfect soldier! A short time after the battle of New Ross, our regiment was ordered to the North, and at daybreak we commenced our march to the beautiful air of "Croppies lie down." About a mile from the town we ceased to play, and the morning being remarkably fine, it was impossible not to feel an exhilaration of spirits as the grey dawn broke upon landscapes beautiful as the eye ever beheld. Eager to enjoy it to the utmost, and little dreaming of danger at that moment hovering near us, with three of my companions I walked considerably ahead of the band, which had advanced some hundred yards before the main body of the regiment. Suddenly the tops of the walls along the road by which we were proceeding, became as it were animated-while on either hand a horde of our enemies rushed out and surrounded us. The master of the band was with us, and displayed upon this occasion a degree of firmness (some, perhaps, will say of folly) worthy a better fate. We had scarcely time to recollect ourselves, so sudden was the attack, when we were disarmed and defenceless. "Down on your knees and pray for success to Erin and down with King George!" cried a man who apparently acted as leader. Never," cried the master of the band with a stern voice and unbending aspect-in another moment he was a corpse. I felt by no means in a comfortable situation, and feared that the refusal of the master of the band would be taken as the refusal of us all. I remembered the old proverb, "The better part of valour is discretion," and my mind was so benevolently disposed-in such a state of perfect Christian charity—that I verily believe I should have prayed for the very Devil, had it been required. I felt considerably relieved when the same command was issued to my companion who stood next me; and fearful of his following the example of the deceased, I ventured to give him a slight nudge with my elbow. Whether he took this as a stimulus to follow the heroic example which had been shown us, or whether he took it as it was really meant, I know not; but certain it is that I respired with greater freedom as 66 I heard him give utterance, upon his knees, to the prescribed prayer. His life was spared, as was also mine, together with that of our remaining comrade, upon the same conditions. We were immediately ordered to accompany our new masters, who, turning from the main road, crossed the country with a rapidity which totally baffled pursuit, and with which, young and active as I then was, I was scarcely able to keep pace. In the course of a few hours we reached the main body, of which our captors formed merely a detachment. In all, they consisted apparently of about nine thousand men, irregularly armed, and worse disciplined. What their plans were İ could, of course, at that time only surmise; though when my attention was subsequently drawn to the situation of the country, its history for the two years previous to the breaking out of the rebellion, the capture of its projectors, and the proceedings of the army with which I was a prisoner, unconnected with those of any of the other bodies which were in motion throughout the country, I perceived that they had no fixed plan of operation. They sought to engage the King's troops wherever they met them, under any circumstances that would give them a reasonable hope of success. With this view they determined to pursue the regiment from which I had been so unfortunately captured. In preparing for the march, they very unceremoniously placed a load of the luggage upon my shoulders, and bade me carry it. At this moment I observed an officer, for such I took him to be by his green uniform and gentlemanly appearance, passing the spot where I and my companions were about to be converted into beasts of burden. I immediately assumed courage to address him, and said, that it was hard that prisoners should be treated so harshly; that if we had been captured by Frenchmen, we should have been more honourably treated. At this period that system of horrible and indiscriminate massacre had not been commenced by both parties, which subsequently so disgraced and degraded both, even below the level of the brute creation. My appeal was heard favourably, and the camp equipage, if such it could be called, was ordered to be taken from off our shoulders. Just then the officer observing my clarionet at my side, immediately requested that I would give him a specimen of my performance. "Croppies lie down," as I have already said, is a very beautiful air; and I had assisted that morning in playing it to the regiment to which I belonged. I had just presence of mind enough to recollect that it might not be equally acceptable to the company in which I now found myself. I had a tolerable knack of accommodating myself to circumstances; and, although "The green flag flying before us" was a treasonable air, I played it with such skill as to call forth the warmest applauses from the enthusiastic patriot to whom I had addressed myself. The rebels, too, were all passionately fond of music, as what Irishman, from the hut to the palace, is not? They immediately showed themselves anxious to heap favours upon me. They were delighted; and my comrades, perceiving my good fortune, before I had concluded, joined me upon their instruments, and thus shared in the subsequent applauses, which were lavished unsparingly upon us. I do not stop to inquire whether I was guilty of treason in thus acting; I leave that to such heroes as the master of the band ;-prudence and self-preservation were my motto, and I acted accordingly. We were soon ready to march, and set out in any thing but regular order. Several hours passed, and night overtook us without coming up with the troops we were seeking to encounter. We halted for the night upon a hill commanding an extensive prospect of the surrounding country; and patrols having been stationed, I was ordered, together with my fellow-prisoners, to attend in the tent (almost the only one in this army of enthusiasts) of the chieftain, while he was at dinner with the principal officers under his command. The banquet-for although it was plain, yet the profusion of every thing entitled it to that appellation-gave me an opportunity of observing the manners of the men who had embarked their lives in the desperate attempt of altering the destinies of a nation-desperate it certainly was, when guided by such men as those, for whose amusement I was now exerting my musical talents. Mr. the leader of this army (there may be many who will read this, who can fill up the blank) had been a respectable tradesman in Dublin. He was a gentlemanly man, about four or five and thirty years of age, of a disposition far too unenergetic for the circumstances in which he was placed, and possessing but few characteristics adapted to the commander of an army; still he was by no means deficient in talent, and could point out clearly what ought to be done in particular emergencies; but he was totally deficient in firmness. He would surrender his own better opinion, even when conscious of its rectitude, rather than act upon it in opposition to the sentiments of those around him. Decision of character he wanted, and consequently his orders were disobeyed with impunity. He had not the heart to put a few persons to death for such disobedience, although the fate of all whom he commanded depended upon such wholesome severity. Mistaken humanity ruined him, and was also the ruin of his followers. With feelings certainly not interested in the success of his enterprises, how often have I burned with indignation at beholding men charged with the fate of their cause, and with the lives of thousands depending upon their prudence, valour, and ingenuity, basely sacrificing at the shrine of Bacchus, when their thoughts should have been actively employed in concerting measures for the successful issue of the desperate project, in which every thing valuable to them at least was involved. The leader of these men (I cannot call them soldiers) set an example of temperance, by never drinking any thing but water; and as soon as he had dined, always rose from the table and quitted the tent. So far from following this example, his absence became the signal for the commencement of debauchery. The rebel army was never short of provisions; wherever they approached, carts loaded with provisions were despatched to meet them. This advantage, however, had an accompanying evil, which more than counteracted its usefulness, those carts had each a quantum sufficit of whiskey, which was a most potent ally to the King's troops, and tended mainly, and much more than is acknowledged, to their success in conquering a brave though undisciplined foe. One evening, after the rebel leader had, according to his usual custom, left the dinner-tent, the officers indulged somewhat more freely than ordinary in their potations. Suddenly a quarrel arose between two of them, in which, however, all interfered; and before order was restored by the return of the chieftain, some severe wounds had been given and received. As soon as the disorderly set had been dispersed to their quarters, the chieftain seated himself upon a form, and in a melancholy mood leaned his head upon his hand, with his elbow resting upon the table. I had been, as usual, playing on the clarionet prior to the commencement of the squabble, and still remained in the tent after all the others had departed. I rose also to be gone, but the noise of my footsteps caused the chieftain to turn round. "Hah!" said he, "Mac, are you here? Come, play me something to drive away the vapours-something to raise my spirits. Mine are as much too low as theirs are too elevated." I hastened to obey him, and played the then rebel march ("The green flag flying,") which I concluded would produce the desired effect. I soon found myself mistaken. He desired me to cease. "Have done," cried he: "the time will never come when, as I once fondly hoped, I should march to that air and plant the standard of my Country's freedom on the loftiest pinnacle of Dublin Castle. Daily experience convinces me that I have embarked my life in a fruitless undertaking." "Then why not save your own life by abandoning it?" I asked somewhat timidly. "And leave eight or nine thousand poor wretches to be indiscriminately slaughtered?" he replied. "I may not," he continued in a bitter tone, "be enabled to preserve them; but it were worse than murder to leave them to be governed by those who cannot govern themselves." He paused, and then suddenly asked if I had ever witnessed such scenes in an English camp? "No," I replied, nor if I were the commander should they be ever repeated here. "How could you prevent them, where temptations are so plentiful?" Simply thus: I would first issue an order that no spirits should be brought into the camp, under pain of death. I would also order that any officer, discovered in a state of inebriety, should be put to death." "Such an order has been issued, and the following day most of the officers were intoxicated as usual:" "In that case I would order every tenth man of them to be shot, and no intreaty should induce me to spare a single life of those upon whom the lot had fallen." "Suppose the officer whom you desired to see the sentence executed were to refuse?" "As the leader of a rebel army, with no higher authority to appeal to, I would shoot him with my own hand, and command obedience from another." He shook his head-continued to be as usual, kind and humane, and his whole army was drunk regularly every evening. One night, while the entire army was thus "disguised," as they say in Ireland, a regiment of the King's troops was announced to be marching upon the camp. It is impossible to describe the scene that ensued-all was "confusion worse confounded." "In the name of |