SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

MILITARY ADVENTURES,

Simcoe's Military Journal ; a History of the Operations of a Partisan Corps, called the Queen's Rangers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. J. G. Simeon, during the War of the American Revolution ; illustrated by ten engraved plans of actions, &c. Now first published, with a Memoir of the Author; and other additions.

POETRY. Bartlett and Welford, New York. Songs, Ballads, and other Poems, by the late Thomas Haynes Bayly. Edited by his Widow. With a Memoir of the Author. In two volumes Bentley. Ficriosr.

The Crock of Gold; a Rural Novel. By Martin Farquhar Tupper, Author of " Pro- verbial Philosophy " Bentley.

SIMCOE'S MILITARY JOURNAL DURING THE WAR OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

GENERAL SIMCOE is perhaps best known as the first and most enterprising Governor of Upper Canada ; though in his day he filled several other important commands. In 1794, he was Governor of St. Domingo for a few months, but ill health obliged him to quit it : in 1861, he was appointed to the command of the Ply- mouth district, at the time of NAPOLEON'S threatened invasion: in 1806, he accompanied Lord ROSSLYN to join ST. VINCENT in the Tagus, when the French were suspected of intending an immediate invasion of Portugal : and during his absence he was nominated to the chief command of the army of India, as successor to Lord LAKE; but falling ill on his homeward voyage, he died soon after landing at Torbay, at the age of fifty-four.

The reputation of SIMCOE was formed, and the foundation of his military success laid, during the Revolutionary war of America; in which he commanded a partisan corps of light infantry and cavalry, in a measure raised and altogether trained by himself. His command of the Queen's Rangers commenced in 1777, and con- tinued till the surrender of CORNWALLIS IO WASHINGTON, in Oc- tober 1781. During this period, the Rangers served in the Mid- land, Northern, and Southern States—New York, the Jersies, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and others, acting as cover, scout, and for- lorn hope to the army ; and often making excursions far into the districts peopled by the enemy, to destroy munitions, surprise posts, or carry off individual officers. SIMCOE'S destruction of the flotilla that WASHINGTON had prepared with the view to a descent upon New York, was pronounced by both armies, in the words of his partisan opponent Colonel LEE, "among the handsomest ex- ploits of the war."

" Sitncoe executed completely his object, then deemed very important ; and traversed the country from Elizabethtown Point to South A.mboy, fifty-five miles, in the course of the night and morning ; passing through a most hostile region of armed citizens ; necessarily skirting Brunswick, a military station ; proceed- ing not more than eight or nine miles from the legion of Lee, his last point of danger, and which became increased from the debilitated condition to which his troops were reduced by previous fatigue. What is very extraordinary, Lieu- tenant-Colonel Simcoe, being obliged to feed once in the course of the night, stopped at a depot of forage collected for the continental army, assumed the character of Lee's cavalry, waked up the commissary about midnight, drew the customary allowance of forage, and gave the usual vouchers, signing the name of the legion quartermaster, without being discovered by the American forage commissary or his assistants. The dress of both corps was the same, green coatees and leather breeches; yet the successof the stratagem is astonish- ing."—Lee's Memoirs of the War, 6.e.

On the conclusion of the war, Colonel SIMCOE printed, for pri- vate circulation among his friends, a narrative or memoir of the proceedings of the Queen's Rangers ; of which this New York edi- tion professes to be a reprint, and we see no reason to doubt the statement. The book exhibits the characteristics of the English gentleman, Loyalist, and military man of that age ; whilst the tech- nical particulars and minute details of the narrative would not only be difficult to invent, but would answer no purpose by the inven- tion, as, to say the truth, they rather flatten the interest and impede the reader.

Colonel Simcoe was not only a soldier and a high-spirited gen- tleman, but a lover of literature, who studied in the intervals of leisure which his duty permitted. Just before the surrender of CORNWALLIS, he was found with Xenophon in his hand : on seeing which, Captain EWALD of the Yagers, (another light corps,) ex- claimed, " Colonel, you are going to retreat : for God's sake, do not leave the Yagers behind you." The conjecture was correct : SIMCOE had formed a plan to penetrate far up the country with the Rangers mounted, and then strike for New York ; but the com- mander-in-chief forbade the attempt. The studies of the soldier, however, have not had much effect upon his composition. His style, indeed, is clear ; and when the subject possesses an inherent interest from the character of the exploit, or from the exhibition of some principle either in his criti- cism of the American commanders or the explanation of his own plans of discipline and action, the matter suffers nothing from the manner. But the book is generally too technical and minute. Confined to partisan exploits, the reader knows nothing of the general progress of the war ; and unless he had a previous know- ledge, would be altogether misled : for the daring surprise or dash- ing triumph of the Rangers may be followed or even accompanied by the retreat and disaster of the main army ; so that, as far as the text of SIMCOE is concerned, the necessity of the surrender of Comswaems comes upon us like one of the colonel s own surprises. To the historian of the war the book will have its use ; and, no doubt, it is of value to the military student. It may also possess an interest for persons residing in the neighbourhood of the affairs, and who know places by the tradition of Siatcoes doings there : but for English readers, who look at the American war from a dis- tant point of view, and are careless about any but its larger fea- tures, Snecoa's journal will possess but a slender attraction. The

CARRYING OFF THE COLOURS.

At the conclusion of the American war, and previous to the evacuation of New York by the King's troops, Lieutenant Spencer of the Queen's Rangers, (who was then at Philadelphia,) received a letter from Major Hanger of the British Legion, informing him that Lieutenant H., Paymaster of that regiment, had absconded; that he had taken with him five standards which that regiment had in different actions seized from the enemy ; and that he was supposed to be in Philadelphia. The Major was pleased to pass some compliments on Lieu- tenant Spencer, expressive of the idea he entertained of his integrity and zeal for the service ; he desired him to go to Mr. H. well armed, and to force hint at any rate to deliver up the trophies : indeed, he said, "1 am at ease ; for I am sure nothing but the loss of your life in the attempt, can prevent you getting them."

At seven in the evening, Lieutenant Spencer received the Major's letter : without losing a moment, he put a pair of pistols in his pockets, went to the sign of the Indian Queen, where he learnt Mr. H. quartered, inquired for his room, and was told by one of the servants that he lodged in such a number, and was at home; he went up, but Mr. H. was not there ; he took the liberty, however, of opening a small trunk he saw in the room; he found the standards, took off his coat, waistcoat, and shirt, wrapped them round his body, slit up his waistcoat behind that he might button it, &c., came out of the house and went to the inn, from which the vehicle set off for New York, which he did at that night at eight o'clock; and the next day he delivered the standards to the Major in New York ; who received them with singular marks of joy, and proper acknowledgments.

Lieutenant Spencer returned immediately to Philadelphia on purpose to give Mr. H. every satisfaction he might require. Mr. II. waited on him and desired immediate redress : Mr. S. expostulated with him on the impropriety of his conduct : the hour was appointed for the meeting; but Mr. H. cooled, was sorry for what he had done, and here the matter ended.

Colonel SIMCOE'S dislike to the Americans whom he throughout styles " rebels " and WASHINGTON "Mr." (allowing him no military rank till he blocked up CORNWALLIS, when he becomes "Gen.") ) renders it requisite to receive his opinions of the people with cau- tion. But there are many facts and some letters which show that the bulk of the Americans were nearly as " smart" then as they are now ; breaking their parole on impudent pretences, pursuing their immediate interests without scruple, and bolstering up their unscrupulous deeds by facing it down that they had right on their side. A trait of this kind is indicated at the opening of the fol- lowing extract, (from a report of Captain SAUNDERS of the Rangers to his Colonel,) descriptive of

CORNET MERRIT'S ESCAPE.

Cornet Merrit having been sent, about the beginning of March, with a flag, to carry a letter to General Marion, by order of Colonel Balfour, was detained a prisoner to retaliate for the detention of one Captain Postell, who, after the surrender of Charles Town, had taken a protection and the oaths to us ; and had notwithstanding again taken up arms, and had the impudence to come to George Town with a flag of truce, where I detained him. They crammed Merrit, with about twenty others, serjeants and privates of different British regiments, in a small' nasty, dark place, made of logs, called a bull-pen : but he was not long here before he determined to extricate himself and his fellow- prisoners; which he thus effected. After having communicated his intention to them' and found them ready to support him, he pitched upon the strongest and most daring soldier ; and having waited some days for a favourable opportunity, he observed that his guards (militia) were much alarmed, which he found was occasioned by a party of British having come into that neighbourhood. He then ordered this soldier to seize the sentry, who was posted at a small square bole cut through the loge, and which singly served the double purposes of door and window ; which he instantly executed, drawing the astonished sentry to this hole with one hand, and threatening to cut his throat with a large knife which he held in the other, if he made the smallest resistance or outcry thea Cornet Merrit, and the whole party, crawled out the one after the other, undiscovered by the guard, though it was in the day-time, until the whole had got out. He then drew them up ; which the officer of the guard observing, got his men under arms as fast as he could, and threatened to fire on them if they attempted to go off: Merrit replied, that if he dared to fire a single shot at him, that he would cut the whole of his guard to pieces, (having concerted with his men in such a case, to rash upon the enemy and tear their arms out of their hands ;) which so intimidated him, that, although Merrit's party was armed only with the spoils of the sentry and with clubs, he yet permitted them to march off unmolested to a river at some distance, where Cornet Merrit knew, from conversation which he bad had with the sentries, that there was a large rice-boat ; in which he embarked, and brought his party through a country of above fifty miles safe into George Town.

It is clear that the custom alluded to in the following extract, of easing prisoners of any superfluous valuables, was common then in British, as it is now in Continental armies. We wonder whe- ther it still obtains in our service ? If it does what a heroic trade war must be, and what heroic deeds must be exhibited on the field of battle!

"An officer and twenty men were taken prisoners, two or three of whom were slightly wounded in an attempt to escape : they were militia ; and what is very remarkable they had the word ' Richmond ' chalked in their hats ; the

officer said Richmond was the countersign, and that he chalked it there that his men might not forget it.' Serjeant Kelly dismounted an officer, and, in pursuit of another man, left him : the officer gave his watch to another dragoon; It was, however, adjudged to the serjeant, as he was the person who dismounted him, spared his life, and pursued his duty. It is not improper here to observe, that formerly Major Simcoe had forbidden the soldiers to take watches, and indeed did so after this, 'till he accidentally overheard a man say it was not worth while to bring in a prisoner ; he therefore made it a rule, that any one who took a prisoner, if he publicly declared he had his watch, should keep it ; so that no soldier was interested to kill any man."

military instruction to be gleaned from it they will care little about ; and the anecdotes of military stratagem or individual enterprise are too few and far between to overcome the professional character of the intermediate parts. Even these, perhaps, are told rather too much in gazette fashion : but we will take an example or two as specimens.