Being bred to no profession, I took up with a woman who kept a gin shop in a blind alley, near the Coal Quay; but the house being searched for stolen goods, and my doxy taken to Newgate, I thought it most prudent to decamp; accordingly set off for the North, and arrived at Drogheda, where, in a few months after, I married the daughter of an exciseman, by whom I had three sons.

"About the year 1772, we removed to Newry, where I commenced the profession of a scowbanker, which is that of enticing the mechanics and country people to ship themselves for America, on promises of great advantage, and then artfully getting an indenture upon them; in consequence of which, on their arrival in America, they are sold or obliged to serve a term of years for their passage. I embarked at Newry in the ship Needham for New York, and arrived at that port the fourth day of August, 1774, with some indented servants I kidnapped in Ireland, but were liberated in New York, on account of the bad usage they received from me during the passage. In that city I used the profession of breaking horses, and teaching ladies and gentlemen to ride, but rendering myself obnoxious to the citizens in their infant struggles for freedom, I was obliged to fly on board the Asia man of war, and from thence to Boston, where my own opposition to the measures pursued by the Americans in support of their right was the first thing that recommended me to the notice of gen. Gage; and when the war commenced, I was appointed provost marshal to the royal army, which placed me in a situation to wreak my vengeance on the Americans. I shudder to think of the murders I have been accessory to, both with and without orders from government, especially while in New York, during which time there were more than two thousand prisoners starved in the different churches by stopping the rations, which I sold.

"There were also two hundred and seventyfive American prisoners and obnoxious persons executed, out of all which number there were only about one dozen public executions, which chiefly consisted of British and Hessian deserters. The mode for private executions was thus conducted;-A guard was dispatched from the provost, about half after 12 at night, to the Barrack street, and the neighborhood of the upper barracks, to order the people to shut their window shutters and put out their lights, forbidding them at the same time to presume to look out of their windows and doors, on pain of death; after which, the unfortunate prisoners were conducted, gagged, just behind

the upper barracks, and hung without ceremony, and there buried by the black pioneer of the provost.

"At the end of the war I returned to England with the army, and settled in Wales, as being a cheaper place of living than in any of the populous cities, but being at length persuaded to go to London, I entered so warmly into the dissipations of that capital, that I soon found my circumstances much embarrassed. To relieve which, I mortgaged my half pay to an army agent, but that being soon expended, I forged a draft for three hundred pounds sterling on the board of ordnance, but being detected in presenting it for acceptance, I was apprehended, tried and convicted, and for that offence am here to suffer an ignominious death.

"I beg the prayers of all good Christians, and also pardon and forgiveness of God for the many horrid murders I have been accessory to. 66 WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM."

The following is not a revolutionary document, but an article that may well be preserved in this collection; and, being specially requested, we insert it with pleasure.

From the Hartford Times.-The following statement or return, exhibiting a minute and accurate account of the loss in killed and wounded sustained by the British and American forces under the command of general Abercrombie, in the memorable disaster or defeat at Ticonderoga, July, 1758, was, as it purports, made out soon after the battle, by Judah Woodruff, who was a captain of the provincial forces, and belonging to Farmington, in this county. The original document has been preserved in the family, as a precious memorial of their ancestor, for sixty years, and was handed to us by his son. It is undoubtedly the most authentic and correct statement of that unfortunate affair, which exposed our frontiers to the murderous and cruel outrages of a savage foe, and filled the whole colonies with consternation and dismay, which at this day is to be found; and in every point of view is worthy of preservation. We recommend its insertion to the editor of the Baltimore Weekly Register, as that work is probably the most permanent and valuable place in which it can be deposited.

We have printed it verbatim, and preserved the same orthography, to exhibit an idea of the provincial dialect of that day.

The British regiments are distinguished numerically, and by their commanders. The 1st and 4th battalions called "royal Americans," were troops enlisted in the colonies by British officers. The "Prouinshals," or pro

INDEPENDENCE OF THE YANKEES.

About the time of the burning the British government schooner Gaspee, at Newport, a few years previous to the revolution, admiral Montague, who then commanded the ships of war at Boston, took several of his officers and proceeded to Newport, to make personal inquiry into the affair. On his return to Boston, not far from Dedham, a charcoal cart obstructed the passage of the coach, when the coachman, feeling much consequence from his exalted station, in driving a British admiral, and knowing that his master was to dine that day with Mr. B., called, in an insolent manner, to the collier to turn out and make way for admiral Montague !—who, (not at all intimidated by the splendid equipage, imposing manner, and rich livery of the knight of the whip,) replied that he was in the king's highway, and that he should not turn out' for any one but the king himself, and thanked fortune that he had the law to support him. The admiral, finding an altercation had taken place, on discovering the cause, told his coachman to get down and give the fellow a thrashing, but the coachman did not seem disposed to obey his commander. One of the officers in the coach, a large athletic man, alighted, reproached the coachman with being a coward, and was proceeding to take vengeance of the coal driver, who, perceiving so potent an adversary advancing, drew from his cart a stake, to use as a weapon of defence, and placing himself between his oxen, in an attitude of defence, he exclaimed-" Well, I vow, if I must, darn me! but I'll tarnish your laced jacket if you don't keep of."-By this time the admiral and the other officers had left the coach, and finding that no laurels were to be

obtained in such a contest, he made a concilia

tory proposition, and condescended to ask that as a favor, which he had ordered his coachman to obtain by force.-"Ah! now," said the collier, "you behave like a gentleman, as you appear, and if you had been as civil at first, I vow I would have driven over the stone wall to oblige you. But I won't be drove; I vow I won't."The coal driver made way, and the admiral passed on.

When he arrived at Mr. B.'s he related the occurrence with much good humor, and appeared much gratified with the spirit and independence of the man. Mr. B. assured the admiral, that "the collier had exhibited a true character of the American people, and that the story he had then related was an epitome of the dispute between Great Britain and her colonies. Let the king ask of us our aid, and

we will grant more than he will demand; but we will not be 'drove,' we will not be taxed by the parliament."

Had the government of Great Britain been as conciliatory to Americans, as the honest good hearted Montague was to the collier, we should probably now be subjects of George IVth!" The ways of heaven are dark and intricate."—We should still be servile dependents. We should not have a beautiful starspangled banner, peeping into every port in the world, in pursuit of enterprise and wealth.—We should not now have merchants whose capital in trade is equal to that of a province, and making magnificent presents in support of literature and science that would do honor to princes. Let Americans be thankful for these mercies, and a thousand others, and study to appreciate them.

GENERAL PUTNAM,

IN THE COLONIAL WAR WITH THE

FRENCH.

During the late war, when general Amherst was marching across the country to Canada, the army coming to one of the lakes, which they were obliged to pass, found the French had an armed vessel of twelve guns upon it. He was in great distress: his boats were no match for her; and she alone was capable of sinking his whole army in that situation. While he was pondering what should be done, Putnam comes to him, and says, “general, that ship must be taken." Aye, says Amherst, I would give the world she was taken. “I'll take her," says Putnam.-Amherst smiled, and asked how? "Give me some wedges, a beetle, (a large wooden hammer, or maul, used for driving wedges) and a few men of my own choice." Amherst could not conceive how an armed vessel was to be taken by four or five men, a beetle, and wedges. However, he granted Putnam's request. When night came, Putnam, with his materials and men, went in

a boat under the vessel's stern, and in an instant drove in the wedges behind the rudder, in a little cavity between the rudder and ship, and left her. In the morning, the sails were seen fluttering about; she was adrift in the middle of the lake; and being presently blown ashore, was easily taken.

KOSCIUSCO.

that academy, prince Adam Czatorski, soon remarked the uncommon military genius of the youth, together with his predilection for the science of war, and in consequence, sent

This mournful solemnity, these funeral rites; these blazing tapers, this assembly of dejected knights and people, the doleful voice of the venerable divine, all, all conspire to impress upon us, a strong perception of our great, our irreparable loss. What can I add to the acuteness of your feelings, or how dilate upon the ardent expressions of the reverend ministers of religion? Alas it does not appertain to these grey hairs, to this enfeebled voice, to a mind blunted with years, and weakened by infirmities, to eulogize the man, who was courageous and generous in war, and amiable in peace. But such was your desire; unmindful of the restraints and difficulties under which I labor, I will endeavor to comply, and, although myself overwhelmed with grief, will become the interpreter of this universal mourning.

Great and destructive have been the losses sustained by our country in the lapse of a few years; but we have felt none with such keen anguish, as that which we now bewail in the decease of our beloved Kosciusco. To mention the name of Kosciusco, the pattern of virtuous citizenship; to depict his love of country, which continued to blaze out whilst there was a breath of life remaining; his fearless intrepidity in battle; his manly fortitude in adversity; his patient endurance of suffering; his Roman uprightness of deportment; his delicate modesty, that inseparable accompaniment of real worth is to awaken a thousand pleasing, but alas! also numberless painful emotions in the breast of every native of Poland.

Ere history shall record our misfortunes, and exhibit, in their true light, the merits of this truly great man, be it permitted to us, his contemporaries, to notice, in condensed brevity, his noble actions, and the principal incidents of his life.

THADDEUS KOSCIUSCO, descended from an ancient family in the palatinate of Brescia, in Lithuania proper, received the rudiments of his education in the military academy founded by Stanislaus Augustus. The commandant of

the latest moments of his life, Kosciusco gratefully remembered the obligations which he owed to the bounty of his benefactor. The abject, impotent and submissive situation of Poland, at that period, engendered dejection and despair in his youthful breast. He left his

fight the battles of independence, when he found that her standard would not be raised in the land of his birth. As the companion of the immortal WASHINGTON, he fought bravely from the Hudson to the Potomac, from the shores of the Atlantic to the lakes of Canada. He patiently endured incredible fatigue; he acquired renown, and, what was infinitely more valuable in his estimation, he acquired the love and gratitude of a disenthraled nation. The flag of the United States waved in triumph over the American forts, and the great work of liberation was finished ere Kosciusco returned to his native country.

Just at that period Poland awoke; but alas! awoke too late from her deplorable lethargy. She had proclaimed the memorable constitution of the third of May, and determined to acknowledge no laws but her own. Hence the inimical attack, hence the desolating wars which ensued. Say, ye few remaining witnesses—say, ye fields of Zielenice and Dubinki, did not Kosciusco, did not the Poles contend with a valor worthy the sons of Poland? It was not that our feeble force was overpowered: No-it was by the stratagems and wiles of our enemies that our arms were wrested from our hands, and the burning desire for the combat smothered; aye, smothered! for in a short time the dismemberment of our territory, and the contemptuous, the scornful treatment which we received, exasperated the feelings of our people. The excess of their misfortunes and sufferings roused them to an effort of noble and almost frenzied desperation. His enraged countrymen grasped the sword and placed it in the hands of Kosciusco!

The fraternal bonds which unite us to another nation, the protection of one common sovereign, and the gratitude due to Alexander, forbid that I should enlarge upon the occurrences of the memorable war which followed. The army of Kosciusco was not composed of warriors, arrayed in 'the pride of military pomp.' No! he led troops of irritated peasantry to the field of glory, peasantry, armed with the imple