A TALE OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND. "Breathes there a man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land!-" BY J. F. COOPER. REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION, NOTES, ETC. SOLD ALSO BY AMYOT, RUE DE LA PAIX; TRUCHY, BOULEVARD DES ITALIENS 1835. 1.64.D.. INTRODUCTION. . in vice. HAPPILY there is sympathy with virtue, as well as contagion Without this relief to the downward tendency of human passions, there would be little hope that the wishes of the wise and good, for the gradual extension of the reign of justice and philanthropy, would ever be realised. Of all the generous sentiments, that of love of country is the most universal. We uniformly admire the man who sacrifices himself for the good of the community to which he belongs; and we unsparingly condemn him who, under whatever plea of sophism or necessity, raises his arm or directs his talent against the land to which he owes a natural allegiance. The proudest names and the fairest hopes have fallen under the obloquy of treason. Men have admired the Roman who could sacrifice the closer tie of blood to that of country; but we overlook the courage and success of Coriolanus, in scorn of his disaffection. There is a purity in real patriotism which elevates its subject above all the grosser motives of selfishness, and which, in the nature of things, can never distinguish services to mere kindred and family. It has the beauty of selfelevation, without the alloy of personal interest. Many years since, the writer of these volumes was at the residence of an illustrious man, who was remarkable for an exhibition of the quality just named during the darkest days of the American revolution, as well as for the high trusts he discharged throughout that memorable period. The discourse turned upon the effects which great political excitement produced on character, and the purifying consequences of love of country, when that sentiment is powerfully awakened in a people. He, who from his years, his services, and his knowledge of men, was best qualified to take the lead in such a conversation, was the principal speaker. After dwelling on the marked manner in which the great struggle of the nation, during the war of 1776, had given a new and honourable direction to the thoughts and practices of multitudes whose time had formerly been engrossed by the most vulgar concerns of life, he illustrated his opinions by relating an anecdote, the truth of which he could attest as a personal actor. The dispute between England and the United States of America, though not strictly a family quarrel, had many of the features of a civil war. Though the people of the latter were never properly and constitutionally subject to the people of the former, the inhabitants of both countries owed allegiance to a common king. As the Americans, as a nation, disavowed this allegiance, and as the English chose to support their sovereign. in the attempt to regain his power, most of the feelings of an internal struggle were involved in the conflict. A large proportion of the emigrants from Europe, then established in the colonies, took part with the crown; and there were many districts in which their influence, united to that of the Americans who refused to throw away their allegiance, gave a decided preponderance to the royal cause. America was then too young, and too much in need of every heart and hand, to regard these partial divisions, small as they were in actual amount, with indifference. The evil was greatly increased by the activity of the English in profiting by these internal dissensions; and it became doubly serious when it was found that attempts were made to raise corps of provincial troops, who were to be banded with those from Europe, to reduce the young republics to subjection. Congress named an especial and a secret committee for the express purpose of defeating this object. Of this committee Mr.——, the narrator of the anecdote, was the chairman. In the discharge of the novel duties which had now devolved on him, Mr.- had occasion to employ an agent whose services differed but little from those of a common spy. This man, as will easily be understood, belonged to a condition in life which rendered him the least reluctant to appear in so equivocal a character. He was poor, ignorant, so far as the usual instruction was concerned, but cool, shrewd, and fearless by nature. It was his office to learn in what part of the country the agents of the crown were making their secret efforts to embody men,-to repair to the place, enlist, appear zealous in the cause he affected to serve, and otherwise to get possession of as many of the secrets of the enemy as possible. These he of course communicated to his employers, who took all the means in their power to counteract the plans of the English, and frequently with great success. It will readily be conceived that a service like this was attended with great personal hazard. In addition to the danger of discovery, there was the daily risk of falling into the hands of the Americans themselves, who invariably visited sins of this nature more severely on the natives of the country than on the Europeans who fell into their hands. In fact, the agent of Mr. was several times arrested by the local authorities, and in one instance he was actually condemned by his exasperated countrymen to the gallows. Speedy and private orders to his gaoler alone saved him from an ignominious death. He was permitted to escape; and this seeming, and indeed actual, peril was of great aid in supporting his assumed character among the English. By the Americans, in his little sphere, he was denounced as a bold and inveterate Tory. In this manner he continued to serve his country in secret during the early years of the struggle, hourly environed by danger, and the constant subject of unmerited opprobrium. In the year Mr. was named to a high and honourable employment at an European court. Before va |