COLONEL CROCKETT'S EXPLOITS IN TEXAS.
THE objects of this American squib are to ridicule General JACK- SON and his friends; to bold up their policy and party manteuvres to odium or contempt ; and to put in a good word for the I'exian adventurers, representing that band of outlaws as a congregation of patriots rising in defence of civil and religious liberty. The story, which is made the vehicle for conveying these views, is simple, but sufficient. Colonel CROCKETT tails in getting reelected to Congress, in consequence of the arts and tricks of " the Govern- ment ;" so he bids farewell to the electors in a pretty strong speech; in the course of which, amongst other hits, he advises them to look sharp after the " deposites," and which he concludes by telling them that "they may go to hell, and he will go to Texas." Upon this determination he acts; being, however, compelled upon his journey to partake of a public dinner, and falling in with two com- panions—a bee-hunter, and a small gambler called Thimblerig, from the game he professes—who add variety to the characters, but contribute nothing to the action of the story. These three worthies join the Texians in the earlier part of the fray, but are killed off, or massacred, before the crowning victory of San Jacinto; the ac- count of which, as well as of all the other events in this bucca- neering war, is too obviously that of a partisan to be received with confidence in its general statements, whilst it is too deficient
specificality to convey much information.
This brochure is not, apparently, by the same hand as that which some few years ago personified Colonel CROCKETT in order to describe life in the back-woods. The literary merit and skill of the present writer are greater than that of the former, but his raciness, and his power of sustaining the consistency of a character, less, In the Eccentricities of David Crockett there might be much coarseness, much slang, and very little power of reflection or observation ; but there was a good deal of matter of a certain kind, and from the beginning to the end of the book the manner or style of the character was preserved. In the exploits in Texas, there is often more delicacy in the banter, and, as in the sketch of the old preacher, a deeper spirit of thought; but nearly the whole account of Texian affairs is more like the production ofa clover littdrateur than DAVID CROCKETT of Ten- nessee.
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