THE MURDER OF MISS M'CREA. at the first Indian he saw, and ran down the hill toThe excellent representation of this terrible atroc-wards the fort; but he had no sooner reached the ity, with the story of which most of our readers are plain, than three Indians, who had pursued him to already acquainted, was copied by permission, from cut off his retreat, darted out of the bushes, fired a painting by Messrs. Ward and Page, now in the and wounded him in the foot. One of them sprang possession of Mr. Clover. The landscape portion upon him, threw him to the ground, pinioned his was drawn by our very promising young country-arms, and then pushed him violently up the hill. He man Mr. Ward, upon the spot of the original scene. naturally made as much haste as he could, and in a The figures in the painting were done by Mr. Page; short time they came to the spring, where several those in our picture, however, were copied in part Indians were assembled. from his, but mostly from a fine English copperplate engraving of the same scene. This is the first of a series of historical engravings with which we promised to embellish the numbers of our Magazine. We feel assured that one engraving of this kind will give infinitely more satisfaction to the American reader, than half-a-dozen views of old castles, churches, or eccentrick characters. The following version of this story is from the industrious and prolifick pen of Mr. Sparks : Here Standish was left to himself, at a little distance from the spring and the pine tree, expecting every moment to share the fate of his comrades whose scalps were conspicuously displayed. A few minutes only had elapsed, when he saw a small party of Indians ascending the hill, and with them Mrs. M'Neil and Miss M'Crea on foot, He knew them both, having often been at Mrs. M'Neil's house. The party had hardly joined the other Indians when he perceived much agitation among them, high words and The murder of Jane M'Crea has been a theme violent gestures, till at length they engaged in a fuwhich eloquence and sensibility have alike contrib-rious quarrel, and beat one another with their musuted to dignify, and which has kindled in many a kets. In the midst of which fray, one of the chiefs, breast the emotions of a responsive sympathy. apparently in a paroxysm of rage, shot Miss M'Crea Gen. Gates's description, in his letter to Burgoyne, in the breast. She instantly fell and expired. Her although more ornate than forcible, and abounding hair was long and flowing. The same chief grasped more in bad taste than simplicity or pathos, was it in his hand, seized his knife, and took off the scalp suited to the feelings of the moment, and produced in such a manner as to include nearly the whole of a lively impression in every part of America-and the hair-then springing from the ground, he tossed the glowing language of Burke, in one of his cele- it in the face of a young warriour, who stood near him brated speeches in the British Parliament, made the watching the operation, brandished it in the air, and story of Jane M'Crea familiar to the European world. uttered a yell of savage exultation. When this was This young lady was the daughter of a clergy-done, the quarrel ceased-and, as the fort had alman, who died in New Jersey before the Revolution. Upon her father's death she sought a home in the house of her brother, a respectable gentleman residing on the western bank of Hudson's river, about 4 miles below Fort Edward. Here she formed an intimacy with a young man named David Jones, to whom it was understood she was engaged to be married. When the war broke out, Jones took the side of the royalists, went to Canada, received a commission, and was a captain or lieutenant among the provincials in Burgoyne's army. Fort Edward was situate on the eastern margin of Hudson's river, within a few yards of the water, and surrounded by a plain of considerable extent, which was cleared of wood and cultivated. On the road leading to the north, and near the foot of the hill, about one third of a mile from the fort, stood a house occupied by Mrs. M'Neil, a widow lady and an acquaintance of Miss M'Crea, with whom she was staying as a visiter at the time the American army was in that neighbourhood. The side of the hill was covered with a growth of bushes, and on its top, a quarter of a mile from the house, stood a large pine tree, near the root of which gushed out a perennial spring of water. A guard of one hundred men had been left at the fort, and a picket under Lt. Van Vechten was soon stationed in the woods on a hill a little beyond the pine tree. ready been alarmed, the Indians hurried away as quickly as possible to Gen. Fraser's encampment on the road to Fort Anne, taking with them Mrs M'Neil and Samuel Standish. The bodies of the slain were found by a party that went in pursuit, and were carried across the river. They had been stripped of their clothing, and the body of Miss M'Crea was wounded in nine places either by a scalping knife or a tomahawk. A messenger was despatched to convey the afflicting intelligence to her brother, who arrived soon afterwards, took charge of his sister's remains, and had them interred on the east side of the river, about three miles below the fort. The body of Lt. Van Vechten was buried at the same time and on the same spot. History has preserved no facts by which we can at this day ascertain the reason why Miss M'Crea should remain as she did in so exposed and unprotected a situation. She had been reminded of her danger by the people of the fort. Tradition relates, however, and with seeming truth, that through some medium of communication she had promised her lover, probably by his advice, to remain in this place, until an opportunity should occur to join him in company with her hostess and friend. It is said, that when they saw the Indians coming to the house, they were at first frightened, and attempted to escape Early one morning this picket guard was attacked-but, as the Indians made signs of a pacifick intenby a party of Indians, rushing through the woods from different points at the same moment, and rending the air with hideous yells. Lt. Van Vechten and five others were killed and scalped, and four were wounded. S. Standish, one of the guard, whose post was near the pine tree, discharged his musket tion, and one of them held up a letter intimating that it was to be opened, their fears were calmed and the letter was read. It was from Jones, and contained a request that they would put themselves under the charge of the Indians, whom he had sent for the purpose, and who would guard them in safety to the British camp. Unfortunately, two separate parties | oppressed by almost every contemporary nation or of Indians, or at least two chiefs acting independ- tribe whose hostility and hate could reach or affect ently of each other, had united in this enterprise, them, yet the chosen of the Almighty have been ́suscombining with it an attack upon the picket guard. tained through unexampled vicissitudes and unequalIt is incredible that Jones should not have known this part of the arrangement, or he would have fore- led sufferings. From the time of their expulsion from seen the danger it threatened. When the prize was their native land, until the death of David, they had not in their hands, the two chiefs quarrelled about the the slightest guarantee of peace, but the ancient promode of dividing the reward they were to receive mise of Noah, or a hope in God, whose favour was and according to the Indian rule of settling disputes in the case of captives, one of them in a wild fit of continually manifested in miracles. Suffering all that passion killed the victim and secured the scalp. Nor human nature could sustain in Egypt, they were is it the least shocking feature of the transaction miraculously delivered and sent back miraculously that the savage seemed not aware of the nature of his protected to the promised land. Threatened with ployer for obtaining the person of the lady, or not com- extermination by the hordes of murderous tribes that prehending it, he regarded her in the light of a pris-infested Canaan, they were obliged even here to exert oner and supposed the scalp would be an acceptable all their strength and vigilance, to defeat the designs. trophy. Let it be imagined what were the feelings of treachery and to escape the hands of blood-thirsty of the anxious lover, waiting with joyful anticipation savages. After frequent and obstinate battles, great the arrival of his intended bride, when this appal mission. Uninformed as to the motive of his em ling proof of her death was presented him. The in-losses, persevering and indefatigable action, they suc nocent had suffered by the hand of cruelty and vio-ceeded under the excellent generalship of the conlence, which he had unconsciously armed-his most quering Joshua, in getting a footing upon the promfondly cherished hopes were blasted, and a sting ised land. For the space of 356 years afterwards, was planted in his soul, which time and forgetfulness they but illy prospered under the governing direction could never eradicate. His spirit was scathed and his heart broken. He lived but a few years, a prey of a succession of judges. Samuel, the last and most to his sad recollections, and sunk into the grave un-eminent of these leaders, was succeeded by a king der the burden of his grief. The remembrance of this melancholy tale is still cherished with a lively sympathy by the people who dwell near the scene of its principal incidents. The inhabitants of the village of Fort Edward have lately removed the remains of Miss M'Crea from their obscure resting-place, and deposited them in the publick burial ground. The ceremony was solemn and im pressive. A procession of young men and maidens followed the relicks, and wept in silence when the earth was again closed over them-thus exhibiting an honourable proof of sensibility and of respect for the dead. The little fountain still pours forth its clear waters near the brow of the hill and the venerable pine yet stands in all its majesty, broken at the top, and shorn of its branches by the winds and storms of half a century-but revered as marking the spot where youth and innocence were sacrificed in the tragick death of Jane M'Crea. HISTORY. "History presents complete examples. Experience is doubly defective; we are born too late to see the beginning, and we die too soon to see the end of many things. History supplies both of these defects: modern history shows the causes, when experience presents the effects alone: and ancient history enables us to guess at the effects, when experience presents the causes alone."—Bolingbroke. PERIOD V. The period of Homer, extending from the dedication of Solomon's temple, 1004 B. c. to the founding of Rome 752 years B. C. THE ISRAELITES. The Israelites continue to maintain a high and im portant rank among the ancient nations, up to Period V. Although we have seen them hunted down and in the person of Saul. His reign was characterized by crime and ill success, and he died miserably. Then came the brave, talented, and pious David. His valiant and indomitable energy, while it ensured fame to himself, raised his people to the greatest eminence and renown. After him the wise and rich Solomon succeeded to the throne of Israel, and we now approach a period of profound peace and prosperity in the history of this people. We have seen the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Amalekites, and the Idumeans very nearly supplanted, and most of them, if not destroyed, at least no longer known as nations. The Canaanites also, involving themselves with the Phenicians, no longer had a national existence. The Phenicians had considerably improved, and were slowly progressing in navigation, trade and the arts. Greece had been occupied with the Trojan war, and was yet in an unsettled state. Egypt was suffering the direst calamities, the retributory vengeance of heaven for their inhumanity, injustice and crime. The Lydian merchants had been driven from the borders of the Egean sea by the invading Ionians, and their commercial operations at this juncture seem to have been entirely restricted, or at least confined to the obscurity of their own nation. Italy was quiet, and confin. ed herself to domestick industry and the study of the arts. Syria seems to have been nursing a hostile jealousy, and preparing herself for an invasion of Israel, Muh-wang was upon the Chinese throne, and, scarcely recovered from the evils of a civil war which had resulted from the rivalry of seventy independent yet he had an almost incredible number of workmen employed in every variety of art, and the stone and the timber were hewn in the mountains, and in fact all the materials were prepared, before the temple was put together, so that when it was erecting, not the government acknowledging one king, China was magnificent temple, Solomon built a navy upon the defending herself against the Tartars. Red sea and placed it under the care of Tyrian sailors, Solomon, the son of David by Bathsheba, com- who in the course of three years brought him an immenced his prosperous reign over Israel, by putting mense quantity of gold and silver from Ophir, and preto death all who were ambitious of the throne, and in cious stone, spices, ebony, ivory, apes, &c. from Tarfulfilling his father's instruction in relation to the build-shish. There have been great disputes as to the situing of a temple that he had designed as a magnifi- ation of Ophir and Tarshish. Some have conjecturcent repository of the ark of God. Among other ex-ed that they were in China, others in the East Indies pedients to fortify himself against enemies, he resort- or on the borders of the Red sea, or perhaps in the ed to an alliance with the king of Egypt, and married Mediterranean; but James Bruce, in his travels to that powerful prince's daughter. Her dowry was the discover the source of the Nile, proves conclusively city of Gezer, which Pharaoh had taken from the Ca- that Sofala, the main land opposite to Madagascar on naanites. Solomon, in his choice of wisdom, pray- the southeastern coast of Africa, is the Ophir and ed God for such a degree of wisdom only, as might Tarshish of Antiquity.* Solomon's renown also enable him to govern with that prudence and saga- brought to him Queen Sheba, who made him magnicity, as became a king of Israel. That wisdom ficent presents. She is spoken of in the Scriptures was chiefly manifested in a judicious government as the Queen of the South; and Mr. Bruce clearly adapted to the people and to the times; in the man- proves that she was Queen of Abyssinia, and in posagement of commercial intercourse, and his diplo- session of Ophir. In the midst of his glory and in an matick relations; in settling his customs and finan-administration that would have seemed to require the ces; in the choice of his officers; in the regulation of most constant study and vigilance, Solomon complehis army; in his administration of justice, and the gen- ted his magnificent temple after seven years' labour, eral discipline of his subjects. This excellent econ- and consecrated it to the Lord: a work, the extraor omy of the state; added to his immense riches, "gave dinary, intricate and extensive design of which, says him such a powerful sway, that he lived in the pro-Josephus, would have crazed any head but Solomon's; foundest peace, plenty and grandeur of any prince of his times; beloved by his friends and allies, who were constantly pouring the richest treasures upon him; feared by his enemies, receiving large tributes from several crowned heads, and resorted unto from all parts of the world, for his excellent wisdom and mag-sound of a hammer was heard. nificence, which brought in a continual concourse of It is interesting to contemplate the extraordinary strangers to his metropolis, and enriched it to such a reign of this most extraordinary man. As he was a degree, that gold and silver seemed to have lost their prince of unequalled splendour, so he was a man of intrinsick value, by their extraordinary abundance." unequalled wisdom; if his wealth was unexampled The revenue of his navy alone exclusive of his cus- so was his munificence. If he had artificial attractoms, amounted to nearly seven hundred and fifty tions around him, so there came of all people to hear thousand dollars. He encouraged every branch of his wisdom: "For he spake three thousand proverbs: trade and industry that was laudable and useful; he and his songs were a thousand and five. And he first introduced horses and chariots into Israel, and spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon he had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: and twelve thousand horsemen, and with his unex- he spoke also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping ampled magnificence and wealth, unlike many of the things, and of fishes." He wrote the books of Provrich of modern days, he had a largeness of heart, even erbs, and Ecclesiastes and the Canticles. Who ever as the sand that is on the seashore. His dominion ex-studied the first, without observing truth and umbitended from beyond the river Euphrates, to the Nile bing the most excellent practical wisdom from every or borders of Egypt, and all the kings of those coun-line? The second contains lessons and advice, withtries were tributary to him 1 Kings 4. He opened out practically adopting the spirit of which, no man a correspondence with many foreign princes, through can prosper. The last as a model of poetry, imbodywhose friendship, especially that of Hiram, king of ing the finest sentiments in the most beautiful and Tyro, he obtained abundant materials for building his effective language, is unsurpassed and unsurpassable! temple, in exchange for the produce of his own do- To point out an instance in which he expresses a comminions. The particulars in relation to the building of mon truth in the most beautiful language, and in which this temple, which, according to some historians was he evinces a most perfect knowledge of the anatothe most important act of his reign, we give in the my of the human system: Ecclesiastes 12: 6. Or description below. In procuring materials for this • Bruce's Travels. Vol. 2. p. 354. |