We will reserve our comments on this proceeding until we have accompanied the respective forces through the movements which quickly succeeded the destruction of Newark. With such haste did McClure retreat, that the fortifications at Fort George, which had been repaired since the'r occupation by the Americans in May were left comparatively uninjured. He was in too much haste to destroy the magazines, or even to remove his tents, of which a sufficiency for fifteen hundred men were left standing-even the destruction of the new barracks, recently erected on the Niagara, was not deemed necessary. Had McClure not retreated with such precipitancy, the indignation of the soldiers, as they beheld the smoking ruins of the beautiful and flourishing village, would have burst like a thunder stroke upon the heads of the American General and his troops. Colonel Murray gives the following account of his march and occupation of Fort George: "From colonel Murray to major-general Vincent." description; and it must be an exultation to I have the honor to be &c. To major-general Vincent, &c. Sir George Prevost, relieved, by the unex- from all further apprehension with regard Early in November Lieutenant General Drummond and Major General Riall had arrived from England; the former to relieve De Rottenburg in the military command and presidency in the Upper Province. Both these officers arrived at General Vincent's head quarters at St. David's, soon after the re-occupation of Fort George, and at the crisis when Col. Murray's energy and decision had been so ably manifested.、 Fort-George, Dec. 12, 1813. SIR,-Having obtained information that the enemy had determined on driving the country between Fort George and the advance and was carrying off the loyal part of the inhabitants, notwithstanding the inclemency of the season, I deem it my duty to make a rapid and forced march towards him with the light troops under my command, which not only Colonel Murray proposed to General Drumfrustrated his designs, but compelled him to Attack on Fort Nia- mond a retaliatory attack evacuate Fort George, by precipitately cross-gara. upon the opposite lines; ing the river, and abandoning the whole of and the proposal not only met with the cordial the Niagara frontier. On learning our ap-approbation of General Drummond, but his proach, he laid the town of Newark in ashes, hearty sanction. Without waiting, therepassed over his cannon and stores, but failed fore, for the permission of Sir George Prevost, in an attempt to destroy the fortifications, he instructed Colonel Murray to carry his which are evidently so much strengthened whilst in his possession, as might have enabled general M'Clure (the commanding officer) to have maintained a regular siege; but such was the apparent panic, that he left the whole of his tents standing. I trust the indefatigable exertions of this handful of men have rendered an essential service to the country, by rescuing from a merciless enemy, the inhabitants of an extensive and highly cultivated tract of land, stored with cattle, grain, and provisions, of every plans into immediate operation. This decision was right, as the delay necessary for waiting the orders of the commander in chief might have enabled the enemy to recover from his panic, and the opportunity for striking a vigorous blow and avenging the conflagration of Newark, might have been thus lost. Orders were therefore given for prompt and vigorous measures, to be carried out by Col. Murray and General Riall. Col. Murray's despatch gives a clear and unexaggerated account of the surprise of Fort Niagara :— From the same to lieutenant-general Drummond. in command of the advance and grenadiers, who gallantly executed the orders entrusted Fort Niagara, Dec. 19, 1813. to them, by entirely cutting off two of the SIR,-In obedience to your honor's com- enemy's piquets, and surprising the sentries mands, directing me to attack Fort Niagara, on the glacis and at the gate, by which means with the advance of the army of the right, I the watchword was obtained, and the enresolved upon attempting a surprise. The trance into the fort greatly facilitated, to embarkation commenced on the 18th, at night, which may be attributed in a great degree and the whole of the troops were landed three our trifling loss. I beg leave to recommend miles from the fort, early on the following these meritorious officers to your honors promorning, in the following order of attack:-tection. The scientific knowledge of lieutenAdvanced guard one subaltern and 20 rank ant Gengruben, royal engineers, in suggesting and file; grenadiers 100th regiment; royal arrangements previous to the attack, and for artillery, with grenadiers; five companies securing the fort afterwards, I cannot too 100th regiment, under lieutenant-colonel highly appreciate. The unwearied exertions Hamilton, to assault the main gate, and esca of acting quarter-master Pilkington, 100th lade the works adjacent; three companies of regiment, in bringing forward the materials the 100th regiment, under captain Martin, to requisite for the attack, demand my acknowstorm the eastern demi-bastion; captain ledgements. Captain Kirby, lieutenants Ball, Bailey, with the grenadiers royal Scots, was Scroos, and Hamilton, of the different prodirected to attack the salient angle of the fortification; and the flank companies of the 41st regiment were ordered to support the principal attack.—Each party was provided with scaling ladders and axes. I have great satisfaction in acquainting your honor, that the fortress was carried by assault in the most resolute and gallant manner, after a short but spirited resistance. vincial corps, deserve my thanks. My staff- J. MURRAY, Colonel. His honor lieutenant-gen, Drummond, &c. The highly gratifying but difficult duty remains, of endeavoring to do justice to the bravery, intrepidity, and devotion of the 100th regiment to the service of their country, under that gallant officer lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, to whom I feel highly indebted for his cordial assistance. Captain Martin, 100th regiment, who executed the task allotted to him in the most intrepid manner, merits the greatest praise; I have to express my admiration of the valour of the royals, grenadiers, under captain Bailey, whose zeal and gallantry were very conspicuous. The just tribute of my applause is equally due to the flank companies of the 41st regiment, under Went with Barnes to his own room, and drew lieutenant Bullock, who advanced to the attack for next day. Says that he writes himself as lit up my paragraph, while he wrote part of an article with great spirit. The royal artillery under tle as possible, finding that he is much more uselieutenant Charlton, deserve my particular ful as a superintendent of the writings of others. notice. To captain Elliot, deputy-assistant- not a want of cleverness, but of common sense. The great deficiency he finds among his people is quarter-master-general, who conducted one of There is not one of them (and he includes himthe columns of attack, and superintended the embarkation, I feel highly obliged. cannot pass over the brilliant services of lieutenant Dawson and Captain Fawcett 100th, I THE WRITERS FOR THE TIMES. self in the number) that can be trusted writing often or long on the same subject; they are sure to get bewildered on it.-Moore's Diary. The true meaning of the word "quality" is -"No one better off than I am." THOUGHTS FOR APRIL. "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it." TRULY descriptive of the month of April is the line from the Royal Psalmist, which we have taken for our motto. The drying winds of April have swept over the earth, and prepared it for the soft fertilizing spring showers which are the usual hand-maidens of April, and now the first promises of spring are realized, and the commonest weed, is regarded with interest, and is beautiful to the eye, long accustomed to the sombre uniformity of winter. The book of nature now opens her leaves to enquirers, who, in the first sunny days of spring, curiously examine the awakening of plants from their winter's sleep, as the icebound earth thaws into life. With what interest is the first green sheath regarded, as it expands into the flower or the fragile leaf, so tender in appearance as to afford as little hopes of successful contention with the biting frost, as a new-born infant. Tender as it looks, however, that fragile leaf is a hardy child of spring, and, like the children of the poor, it is guarded by HIM who suffereth, not a sparrow to fall unheeded, and thrives without complaint or suffering from its lot. Mary Howith's lines breathe so truly the Spring feeling that we cannot resist transcribing them:: "The Spring, she is a blessed thing! She is the mother of the flowers; Our star of HOPE through wintry hours. The merry children when they see They are soonest with her in the woods, The little brooks run on in light, The aged man is in the field; VOL. IV. She comes with more than present good, And health, and love, and peace are there. A country ramble on a fine spring morning is one of the most delicious of earthly enjoyments, the air just bracing enough to afford a pleasant stimulus to the exercise. The swelling of the buds in the hedges, perchance the flowers in some shady nook, the twittering and chirping of the birds, the teams at their busy work, all inspire a fresh and exultant feeling, chastened only by the memory of some dear one, who, on a bed of sickness is denied the pleasure we are tasting. The first gush of sorrow quickly fades away, however, as we remember that the same bounteous hand who has prepared these blessings for us, may even now be preparing an enduring and blessed spring time for our suffering friend. The heart must be dead to all pure enjoyments to whom a ramble on a fine Spring morning, is not suggestive of similar reflections. The rise of the sap, awakened by the genial warmth of spring from its winter's sleep, the perspiration by the leaves, the germination of the little seed, are all phenomena to awake anxious. attention and admiration, demonstrating their divine origin, and mute evidences of the wisdom and harmony which are visible in the minutest and most trivial of those creations of God. One of not the least interesting indications of spring which occurs in this month, is the pairing of birds. The same author, from whom we quoted a striking passage in March Thoughts, observes on this point, "Soon the bare branches of the forest and hedge-rows are to be clad in the green livery of spring, and the whole feathered tribes, as if in anticipation of this change, are making joyful preparation for the season of love. This is the period when the feathered songsters are in full note, and many birds which are silent or rarely heard at other seasons, now enliven the period of the opening year with their cheerful invitation to their mates. This pairing of birds, while it lasts, has something so much akin to the social and. domestic duties and affections of the human race, that it excites a sympathy such as we cannot extend to other animals." One of Cowper's finest fables bears the title of "Pairing Time," and describes how on a fine winter's day some inexperienced young birds resolved to anticipate the coming spring in opposition to the advice of an experienced Bullfinch "Who could boast more years and wisdom than the most." The results are thus told: "All paired, and each pair built a nest, Cowper's satire, though sufficiently applicable to mankind, is by no means so to birds, which are never tempted, even by the mildest winter, to build their nests before the real approach of spring. The feathered tribe remain as indifferent to the fallacious promises of the late days of winter, as insects cradled in their silken cocoons or chrysalis cases. It is only when the proper season approaches that the feathered songster seeks its mate, and even then their instinctive care in selecting a place that will afford protection from any fickleness in the season, is most re markable. BARRIE.-LAKE SIMCOE. AMONGST the numerous Towns of Upper Canada, which every day add to their prominency in our Province, is that of Barrie, a view of which, reduced from one taken by Captain Grubbe, late of the Hon. East India's Company's Service, & resident of the place, we present to our readers in this issue. The county town of Simcoe, (a county original ly of great extent-lately reduced by the addition of the Townships of St. Vincent and Collingwood to the County of Grey, but even now covering an area of 1,159,400 acres,) it was to be expected that Barrie would take its stand amongst those, the position of which, rendered them peculiarly liable to the advantages of increase of population and wealth, which all our settlements are so rapidly acquiring. But it has done so in no the administration of Governor Simcoe, (from ordinary degree. The situation, so long ago as in whom the county is named) forced itself upon the attention of that individual, and he then fixed on a point, about two miles to the eastward of the present Town, as a convenient site for a settlement; to bear the name Kempenfeldt, in honour of the great admiral who was lost when the Roy. al George sank in Portsmouth Harbour. It was, however, found advisable, to place the Town at the head of Kempenfeldt Bay, and thus, leaving Kempenfeldt, which still retains its original survey of streets and blocks, on which but a few cottages have ever been erected, the present Town, named after Commodore Barrie, found birth. Beautifully situated on Kempenfeldt Bay, (one which runs westward a distance of nine miles from Lake Simcoe,) on a rising ground, which slopes directly to the water's edge, it is not to be wondered that many of those who come to see, remain to live. On the high road from the City of Toronto to Penetangueshene, on Lake Huron, the latter, at one time regarded by the Home Government, in days when colonies were more valued by them than they now are, as a valuable Naval Station, it joined those two places; whilst before the era of Railroads, which has so rapidly, and with such astonishing effect, come upon us, We have said that the book of nature, whether in the bird, the bee, or the bud, is most interesting and instructive to the curious enquirer, we must not, however, forget that its revelations are limited and imperfect, and not seldom liable to misconstruction. How many, alas, have there been, and are there, who have converted the most wondrous evidences of Divine wisdom and good-it received a great part of the traffic from the ness, into theories based on scepticism. Let us then approach our enquiries with an humble spirit, and as we see in the spring time the promises of the coming harvest, so let us seek by diligent self-communing with our spirits, in the spring time of life, for evidences of that harvest, whose reapers are to be the angels, and whose husbandman sha'l be t'e Almighty. rich Townships of Nottawasga, Collingwood, and St. Vincent, either permanently, or en route to Bradford, Holland Landing, and other places in Yonge Street, which were the forerunners of it prosperity. Some eight years since, in Canada, as regards the growth of places, a period almost beyond the memory of man, it numbered 600 souls in population; it has gradually increas ed, until by the last Census, we find that it numbered 1007. This was in 1852, and since that date, it may be safely said that it has increased to a very little short of 1500. This, it must be remembered, is a large and very rapid increase, especially when the area of ground occupied within the limits of the Town, and that actually opened, is taken into consideration. It was about the year 1852, that the project, which some time previously had been mooted, of establishing a line of Railroad, to connect Lakes Ontario and Huron, assumed some tangible shape. That communication with Lake Simcoe, and the traffic of its waters should be obtained by the Line, was self-evident, and Barrie then commenced to assume a position of importance, and to be regarded as one of our future Towns. Indeed, property which had previously risen gradually, nay, even to a price which was then regarded as fabulous, then arose, as those who have passed the last two years in Canadɩ know well how it can rise; and fifth of acre Town Lots, which before were sold at £20, now realized more than double, in some cases treble that sum; streets long since laid out, were opened, corner lots secured, buildings erected, and it has continued rapidly increasing in wealth and population. Since October 1852, the Northern Line of Railroad has been thus far in full operation, and its terminus being on a point of the Bay, immediately opposite Barrie itself; and distant from its centre, about a mile. This has created misgivings as to whether the Town might not be injured by the distance of the terminus, but strong efforts are now being made by the corporation of the Town, to bring the Line actually to its centre, which, if done, as is most probable, will be of great benefit and convenience to its inhabitants, and must necessarily tend to its farther expansion and advancement. This would obviously be very much the case, in consequence of the fact, now very apparent, that during the mid-winter, daily railroad communication, with its northern terminus at Collingwood harbour, on Lake Huron, will be prevented by the snow. That which proves the barrier to locomotion through the medium of steam, is the greatest boon of Providence to the back farmers, who then avail themselves of sleighing to bring produce and other matters for transport to Toronto; this being the more so, as the main roads from Orillia and Penetangueshene and from all the townships to the north, east, west, and north-west, as far as St. Vincent, all centre in it. As a place of residence, no situation in Canada can possess or offer greater advantages. One is pre-eminent, namely, that of being situated on the water's edge. To the non-business man, the bay, sheltered from the sudden and violent gusts of wind which render its sister of Toronto unsafe, or at least suspicious, and abounding with inlets, bays, and landings, affords ample opportunities of indulging in his dolce far niente, or should he prefer somewhat more ani. mated recreation, in the piscatory art. Here one may float along, dreaming lazily all the day, through, disturbed by nothing, unless momentarily aroused to thought by the shrill whistle of the iron-horse. Of its salubrity, no doubt whatever exists. During the periods in 1832 and 1834, when cholera so remorsely visited our then young settlements, arresting their growth, Barrie stood, by the blessing of Providence, unscathed, and has ever been free from epidemic of any kind. Although but sixty miles north of Toronto, it enjoys in winter a climate quite unlike that English November weather which characterises Toronto-a constant, steady, bracing atmosphere is experienced, so little accompanied by wind, that in very cold days, (and in this winter the thermometer has stood as low as 30 below zero, Fahrenheit), beyond the natural keenness of the air itself, no unpleasant sensation is experienced. In a commercial and business point of view, it is as stated, rapidly progressing-a fact most amply verified by the loud calls which have lately been made, and are now being responded to, of increased hotel accommodation. The facilities for the transport of merchandise from Toronto, have encouraged new stores; and two printing offices are in full operation, each furnishing its weekly newspaper to the teeming press of the province. Connected with the surrounding townships by the roads which run through a large farming country; and with the ports on Lake SimcoeOrillia, Beaverton, Bradford Landing, and others by a steamboat, there is a repeated influx of travellers, whilst great encouragement yet exists for increased advantage being taken of the water communication it has the power to enjoy. Lumber is supplied from a steam mill in the town, kept in constant operation, whilst a monopoly is prevented by the existence in the neighborhood of others, worked by water-power-several, in addition, being in course of erection, but a few miles distance. Two grist mills are also being erected within a mile of each other. A tannery and distillery are now about to be raised; and indeed, every trade offers signal signs of success. It may perchance seem to some of our readers that we are but using such stereotyped phraseo |