Reck you the cost of your blood-sustained sway,

The Widows, the Orphans whose land you devourOr that England shall feel in her terrible day,

That God is above you in spite of your power.
Forget you that Truth is still beaming in Heaven,
Know you not Justice, though sleeping, is sure,
And that the destruction your mercy has given,
It may call for a kindred destruction to cure?
And America, too, on her pillow reclined,

Calmly folded her hands on her bosom of cold,
As though the oppressed could no precedent find,
For spurning their chains like our fathers of old,
Rebellious are they who would govern themselves,
Rebellious are they who would scorn to be slaves,
Take down your bright volumes from History's shelves,
And open the seals of your forefather's graves;—

Read out the proud story from letters of gold,

And hurl back the libel that darkens their way,
The stars and the stripes when in glory unrolled,
Were the symbols of rebels as guilty as they.
We weep for the brave who their fetters despise
And kindle with rapture at Liberty's birth,
And while we would fan her bright flame to the skies,
Have our hearts not a pulse for the trampled to earth?

When the yoke of the spoiler has galled the proud neck,
And the iron of terror sunk deep in the soul,
When nothing is left but a plank of the wreck,

In the night of that storm that o'er England may roll; Then Liberty's life may awaken the bones

That bleach on the shores of the fair Chaudiere, And a nation come forth from its bondage and groans As proud as the land in its loveliness here.

When the seraph of light in the sunbeam shall stand,

And call the nations of Earth to the Judgment of God, Where sheeted in crimson the hosts of the land,

Render up to the wine-press of Vengeance their bloodAye then shall the wail of the butchered be heard, And the shriek of the infant ring terribly clear, į And the tyrants of Earth in the Day of the Lord, Know the mercy deserved by the merciless here.

LETTER FROM WILLIAM L. STONE. ESQ.

The following letter from Wm. L. Stone, Esq., will be read with interest, as settling in a definite and satisfactory manner, the interesting historical fact that Brant was not at the Battle of Wyoming, and had neither act nor part in that relentless massacre, with which his name, in history, and in poetry, has been alike identified. The "Historic Doubts," which our article on Colonel Stone's work, interposed between all previous record and tradition on the subject, and the unequivocal exemption from any connection with the matter, which was so confidently and unexpectedly claimed for the Mohawk chief by his biographer, have been productive of a happy effect, in inducing an investigation on the part of that careful author, which may be said to have set the question finally at rest. That the evidence on this point now brought forward by Colonel Stone, may be recorded in connexion with the position it controverts, we prefer inserting it in the present volume, to delaying it for a second article which we had contemplated on this very interesting and important work, embracing several historical questions of moment, which did not fall within the scope of our former paper. In publishing it we cheerfully record our sense of the indefatigable pains, and sagacious industry, in search of facts, which so eminently distinguish Mr. Stone's historical works, and which so fully entitle his assertions in this respect to the confidence of his readers.

To the Editors of the Democratic Review:

NEW YORK, November 9, 1838.

GENTLEMEN:-I owe you my thanks for the liberal space allotted in the October number of your spirited Magazine, to a review of my recent work illustrating the border history of the American Revolution, entitled the "Life of Brant." My acknowledgments are also due to the accomplished writer of that article, for the ability with which he has executed his task, and the favorable opinion he has expressed of the work.

I am aware that public acknowledgments of this description are unusual. But my reviewer having raised a question, for the purpose either of eliciting farther information, or of throwing doubt upon a fact assumed and defended in my work, it is not proper that I should pass it by unheeded. I must either sustain the position that has been questioned, or tacitly admit that it cannot be sustained.

The reviewer will readily comprehend the point to which I am inviting your attention. In conformity with the uniform declarations of Joseph Brant-or Thayendanegea-for I prefer calling him by his Indian name,-in conformity, moreover, with the traditions of his family, and with the oral testimony of his contemporaries in the British service,-and in the face of all the previous written history of the battle and massacre of Wyoming,-I have

assumed and positively asserted, that Thayendanegea was not engaged in that treacherous and bloody affair. My own impression that such was the fact, after a full examination of the case, amounted to positive belief, and I adduced such evidence as was at hand, to sustain the assertion. My reviewer, however, is not satisfied.

"We should be glad," says he, "to see this matter a little more fully explained. Where was Thayendanegea at the time? How engaged? Who are the British officers referred to by Mr. Stone, as the compurgators of Brant? Only one of them, a Mr. Frey is mentioned by name. John Brant, a son of Joseph, visited England in 1822, and with honorable filial piety strove, in correspondence with Mr. Campbell, to vindicate the memory of his father from the imputations connected with this matter, which the poem of Gertrude of Wyoming had disseminated wherever the English language is read. It is singular that neither the letter of John Brant, nor the documents he laid before Mr. Campbell, are given to us. We discover their unsatisfactory nature from Mr. Campbell's reply. He says: 'I rose from perusing the papers you submitted to me, certainly with an altered impression of his (Thayendanegea's) character. The evidence afforded induces me to believe that he often strove to mitigate the cruelty of Indian warfare. Lastly, you affirm that he was not within many miles of the spot where the battle which decided the fate of Wyoming took place, and, from your offer of reference to living witnesses, I cannot but admit the assertion.' We ask again, how many miles off was he when the battle was fought? Where was he AFTER the battle was fought, the next and the following days, when the Indians and Tories ravaged the valley, and drove the inhabitants to perish in the mountains? Who are the 'living witnesses' of his absence from the battle, even? When Gordon, Ramsay, Belsham, Adolphus, and, as Mr. Stone candidly admits, 'every written history of this battle extant, not even excepting the last revised edition of the Life of Washington, by Chief Justice Marshal;' when all these old accounts concur in representing Brant to have accompanied this expedition, the evidence should be very full, and very circumstantial, to establish the contrary 'in the face of every historical authority.' We confess to be not very well satisfied as to the whereabout and the occupation of the Mohawk chief, the man always present 'wherever a blow could be struck to advantage,' on this occasion, when his Indians were reaping such a plentiful harvest of blood and plunder among the blazing rafters of Wyoming. We need to see more evidence on the subject."

The objection is taken in a rather imposing form, I admit, and the questions are speciously put. I likewise admit the ingenuity of the attempt to extract evidence against me from Mr. Campbell's letter, conceding the very fact I have asserted. The latter, however, may safely be left to speak for itself. My business is with the questions. "Where was Thayendanegea at the time?" [of the Battle of Wyoming.] "How engaged?" "Where was he AFTER

the battle was fought, the next and the following days?" Really, Messrs. Editors, these are questions which it never occurred to me that I should be required to answer. Thayendanegea was a son of the forest, and the wide wildernesses of the Continent " were all before him where to choose." He may have been upon the war-path in some other direction. He may have been upon the chase or in attendance upon a council of his people—any where but at Wyoming. There he was not. But all this does not an

* Democratic Review, No. X., October, 1838.

swer the querist. "Who are the living witnesses," he asks, "of

his absence from the battle?" Most happy am I to answer this question directly to the point. Since I had the pleasure of reading the eloquent essay of my reviewer, I have made a visit to the chief town of the Seneca Indians, and in the course of my investigations, I ascertained who some of those "living witnesses" were. Among others was the renowned Kaoundoowand, better known to Americans as CAPTAIN POLLARD, with whom I had an interesting interview. He is a brave old chief, with a finely developed head, and most benevolent aspect, and faculties entirely unimpaired. I was accompanied by Orlando Allen, Esq., a gentleman residing at Buffalo, who is intimately acquainted with the Senecas, and speaks their language well; and also by a Seneca chief, now a licensed Attorney, residing at Buffalo, who acted as my interpreter. Kaoundoowand was a young but active chief during the whole war of the Revolution, and participated in most of the principal Indian engagements. After the peace of 1783, he became the fast friend of the United States, and fought gallantly on the Niagarà frontier during the war 1812-'15. He informed me that he was one of the Seneca warriors who met General Schuyler at the council held at the German Flats, in the summer of 1775. He was engaged in the battles of Wyoming and Newtown, and his declarations were repeated and positive, that Thayendanegea was not at Wyoming. The Indians engaged in that battle were chiefly Senecas, and their leader was the late Gi-en-gwak-toh,* the predecessor of the late Young-King, who died about ten years ago, at the Cataraugus reservation. Kaoundoowand farther stated, that but few of the Mohawk warriors were in the battle of Wyoming, the greater part of them remaining at Niagara, during the Campaign. Where Thayendanegea was at that precise period, he could not tell. His impression was, that he, too, remained at Niagara. Certain it was that he was not at Wyoming; and such is the testimony of the other Seneca warriors who were engaged in that battle and yet survive. I trust, Messrs. Editors, that my respected reviewer is answered, not only to his own satisfaction, but to that of the public in general, and Mr. Thomas Campbell in particular.

* Going-off-in-a-smoke,

I am, &c.,

THE AUTHOR OF THE LIFE OF BRANT.

THE RANK AND FILE OF DEMOCRACY.

No. I.

PENNSYLVANIA.

PERSONS residing out of Pennsylvania cannot properly appreciate the late election and its results, or the present position of parties within its limits, unless previously acquainted with the state of political affairs existing in that State. The summing up of majorities, the boasts of success, and the character of the result, afford a very faint insight into the true state of affairs. PENNSYLVANIA, it is known, though inferior in numerical force to New York, has not been inferior to her in influence in the Union. She has been called the Keystone of the Federal Arch, and such has been her importance, that there have been constant and uninterrupted attempts to obtain possession of her by the minority, at one time by coaxing, at another by stratagem, and anon by force. She has always been Democratic and has never deserted from the ranks. Every possible method has been tried to seduce her yeomanry, but they have remained invariably true to the principles and practice of Democracy, and it is doubtless owing, in a great measure, to their independence and sincerity that she so universally bears the proud cognomen of THE KEYSTONE STATE.

It is well known that Pennsylvania was among the first States that supported our late venerable President, and while the patriot Jackson wanted support, either for principles or measures, she was ready and never wanting. The veto of the bank charter in 1832, affecting as it did Pennsylvania more immediately than any other State, raised at once a party, powerful in money and talent, and unscrupulous in the use of its influence and means, which threatened to annihilate the Democracy of Pennsylvania, and to take the State by storm. All know the failure of the first attempt. The VETO was triumphantly sustained by the people. Andrew Jackson obtained the proud majority of twenty-five thousand over the united votes of Whigs and Anti-Masons, and the Democratic banner waved triumphantly at its home. Unfortunately there existed at this time, a divided state of feeling in the Democratic party in regard to the Executive, George Wolfe, arising from local political causes. He was in 1832, the regularly nominated candidate of the party, and though no other Democratic candidate was started, he had a majority of only three thousand, and that too, within a month of the Presidential election, at which the majority was more than eight times that number. VOL. III. NO. XII.-DEC., 1838.