traced with much interest by every traveller. It was merely a sand fort, but of great extent. The exterior redoubt, which may still be traced, comprehends the whole plain between the mountain and the lake, and the inner works, commanding the water, are in some places very distinct. The plain pointed out as the parade ground, is extensive and beautiful. This was the scene of the most wanton and perfidious massacre which ever disgraced the annals of warfare. Not all the consecrated water which the French carried home from the Sacremer,' as they beautifully termed the crystal lake, could wash out the foul stain which this transaction left on the French arms and French faith. The garrison, consisting of three thousand English and provincials, under colonel Munro, surrendered. after a long and desperate resistance, to the French army of ten thousand men, commanded by the marquis de Montcalm, in 1757. By the terms of the capitulation, the garrison were to receive a safe escort to fort Edward. They accordingly marched out to the parade ground, stacked their arms, and awaited the escort. The Indians, to the number of several thousand, armed with tomahawks and knives, immediately surrounded them, and began to strip them by force of their clothing. Colonel Munro, who was in the French camp, anxiously demanded the escort; but Montcalm delayed it upon frivolous pretences, and finally refused it. The French stood with folded arms, and beheld the massacre within pistol shot of their camp. Some few of the devoted and defenceless soldiers wrested weapons from the hands of their murderers, and dearly sold their lives; but of the whole number, only two or three escaped. A young man by the name of Carver, from New England, of great strength and agility, grappled with and overthrew several Indians, broke through their ranks, fled into the swamp in the rear of the fort, and escaped. Strong representations of this affair were made to the government of France, and Montcalm was called to a formal account, but was not punished. In his defence, he stated that, by interfering to prevent the massacre, he would have lost the confidence of his Indian allies, and incurred their hostility. Musket balls, grape and chain shot, buttons, hatchets, and human bones, are frequently ploughed up on this ground. These relics are sometimes left for sale at the Lake House.

In the rear of fort William Henry, on a commanding eminence, stands fort George, a small, but, for the time when it was erected, a strong fortress. The walls are of limestone, twelve or fifteen feet thick, and thirty or forty feet high. The magazine and arches are of brick work; a part of the magazine is entire, but the entrance to it is filled up. The walls have been pulled down in many places by those who had use for the stone, and all the bricks which could be got at have been carried off. Several wells, now filled up, may be discovered in the vicinity, and the ruins of the hos pital, arsenal, and other buildings. Fort George is completely commanded by the neighboring heights, and of Gage's hill it is within fair musket-shot. On this hill, however, the English kept a fort, the remains of the redoubt being still visible. It is remarkable that every old fort from the Canada line to Albany is commanded by highlands in its vicinity. When they were built, there was but little apprehension of artillery. Even the strong and important fort of Ticonderoga was effectually commanded by mount Defiance, a circumstance which proved disastrous to the American arms. The prospect from fort George is extensive and diversified, embracing

the village, the mountains, the islands, and the lake, for a great dis

tance.

'Passing Plattsburg,' says a recent English traveller, 'the scene of our defeat last war, we reached Crown Point, and then the lake contracted from four or five miles in breadth to a river channel. The point was green and elevated, and on it were the ruins of military works, principally erected by the Canadian French, when they meditated and attempted the utter expulsion of the English colonists from the shores of the Atlantic. Stories are told of vaults and dungeons at Crown Point, where plots were hatched, in conjunction with the Indians, for burning the dwellings and massacring the families of. the settlers; and here were displayed "long rows of scalps, white in one place with the venerable locks of age, and glistening in another with the ringlets of childhood and of youth."

'Next, at the entrance to lake George, with its clear waters, its picturesque is.ets, and steep shores, were the remains of the celebrated fort

Ticonderoga, situated on a point of land, surrounded on three sides with water, and on the fourth, deep trenches cut into the morass, with high breastworks. It presented one of the most likely posts to make a gallant defence, that could well be conceived. The ruin of a barrack, like a "donjon keep," was the most conspicuous object on the point.

It is impossible, as an officer of the black watch, to think of Ticonderoga without strong emotion, for here, in 1758, the forty-second, after cutting their way with their claymores through a broad abattis of prostrate trees, under a heavy fire from the French garrison, made desperate efforts, for four hours, to scale a high work without scaling-ladders, by mounting on one another's shoulders, and by making holes in it with their bayonets. They were so exasperated at being so unexpectedly checked, and by the heavy loss which they had sustained, that they refused to withdraw till ordered a third time to do so by their general; their loss on this occasion was more than half the men, and two thirds of the officers, killed or severely wounded; that is, twenty-five officers, nineteen sergeants, and six hundred and three privates. About this time, the regiment received the honorary distinction of royal.'

The remains of the fortifications at Pittsburg occupy a very interesting position, on the delta formed by the confluence of the rivers at that place. Of fort Du Quesne, but a small mound of earth remains. Fort Pitt may be more easily traced; part of three bastions, about breast high, stand within different private inclosures, and a piece of the curtain, which, within a few years, was in complete preservation, may still be discovered. I expected,' says an intelligent correspondent of the New York American, to have seen the magazine of the fort, which I was told was an admirable piece of masonry, and still endured in the shape of a porter cellar; but upon arriving at the spot where it had stood but a few weeks before, a pile of rough stones was all that we could discover. In a country like ours, where so few antiquities meet the eye, it is melancholy to see these interesting remnants thus destroyed, and the very landmarks where they stood effaced forever. Occasionally, too, the works of which every vestige is thus painfully obliterated, were, especially when erected by the Fanch, of a peculiarly striking character. The French engineers, who i. introduced the art of fortification into this country, were of the school o. Vauban, and the enduring monuments they raised were not less o proofs of their skill, than were the sites selected of their high military discernment.' In the vicinity are the remains of a mill-dam, constructed by the officers of fort Du Quesne, according to the most approved rules of the time, like a perfect fortification; a part of the curtain, with traces of some of the bastions, still rewards the search of the inquisitive.

An old fort on the island Canonicut, which formerly defended the pas

sage up Narragansett bay, presents an interesting relic of past times. It is built in a circular form, and is well represented in the accompanying sketch.

CHAPTER XII.-RELIGION.*

THERE can scarcely be a doubt, that among all the political and social relations of a people, there is none of such primary and vital importance as their religion; and if this be true of nations generally, it is peculiarly so of the United States of America. These states present, in this point of view, a novel spectacle; that of an experiment, conducted on a scale. commensurate with its importance. We have not here to describe the influence of religion upon savages, nor upon a race fettered with the shackles of superstition, and of a predominant church government. find a civilized and intelligent community in a situation to which history shows no parallel. Save the effect of knowledge and principle, there is nothing to influence the faith of the American citizen, no form of worship prescribed by law, no predominance of sects, no physical intolerance, no advantage or disadvantage to hope or fear from difference of opinion. The eriment has been fully successful; it has proved that a nation may be mora. nd religious without any external agency to direct or control the mind. It may safely be considered to have demonstrated the inexpediency of a union between church and state.

The constitution expressly forbids the general government to make any laws with regard to religion, and though the several states have reserved the right, they seem resolved never to use it. They do, indeed, sometimes allot portions of new land for the support of public worship, but the use of the grant is always left to the discretion of the inhabitants. Such state laws as relate to religious qualifications for office, &c. are almost a dead letter, if we except those which, in some states, render the clergy ineligible to the legislature, probably on the principle that civil and religious duties are incompatible with each other.

We find religion in the United States free from legal support or restriction, and, if the experience of fifty years is to be trusted, this non-interference is favorable to good morals and rational piety. There is no intolerance, no persecution, little controversy; yet the people are as religiously given as those of any other country, though not scrupulous with regard to forms. It has lately been demonstrated by statistical facts, that religious institutions exist in a much larger proportion to the population in this country than in any other; and in no country is the spirit of Christianity manifested. more than in this. Benevolent societies for meliorating the condition of our race in this and other lands are numerous and increasing, and they display all the characteristic energy and enterprise of the Americans. The

As our limits allow nothing but a brief notice of the different denominations of Christians in this country, we refer those of our readers who wish for fuller information on this subject to "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE;" a beautiful royal octavo volume of 1250 pages, with maps and engravings; which ought to have a place in every family library. It is strictly impartial, the account of each denomination being written by some leading man belonging to it. It is designed for a complete book of reference on all religious subjects.

American missionary is now seen bending his course to the islands of the sea,' that they may rejoice in the salvation of God,' and to the utmost parts of the earth,' that they too may know the way of life. The Bible society, having supplied so far as possible every family in this land with the word of life, is now sending it through the missionaries to the neathen world; while the Tract society is despatching its little messengers of glad tidings' through the earth. Home Missionary, for the supplying destitute places in the United States with the ordinances of the gospel, Sabbath School, Prison Discipline, and numerous kindred societies are also lending their aid; and there seems to be a spirit of philanthropy pervading all denominations of evangelical Christians, which knows no bounds but the ends of the earth. May this spirit be increased a thousand fold!

'Shall we, whose souls are lighted

With wisdom from on high,

Shall we to men benighted

The lamp of life deny ?—Heber.

6

It is almost unnecessary to say, the religious aspect of different parts of the great confederacy is far from uniform. This would be the natural result of the freedom of religious opinions, and the circumstances of the early settlement of the country. New England, settled by the Puritans, retains much of the strong impress of the character of her fathers. Maryland was settled by Roman Catholics, Pennsylvania by Quakers, and other states by Episcopalians, while colonies of Swedes, French, and Dutchmen formed the starting points of others. Some persons are disposed to mourn over the fact, that Christians are divided into such a number of denominations, which they conceive to be an evil, and they earnestly long for the time to come when all these things shall be done away. It is indeed to be regretted that a greater degree of harmony and charity does not prevail among the great denominations which compose the mass of Christians, and that the time should come speedily when all shall love one another with a pure heart fervently,' is most devoutly to be wished.' Still these differences of opinion are the inevitable consequences of freedom of opi nion on any subject; and as the Bible has not clearly marked out any form of church order and discipline, in which the chief difference consists among evangelical Christians, it can never be expected that all will agree upon this subject any more than upon any other. And on the whole it is best they should not; and it was wise in the great Head of the church to leave these things, non-essential, as he has, that different denominations may by a holy rivalry 'stir each other up to good works.' What a safeguard against intolerance, and the evils of bigotry and oppression, when several large and balancing sects exist in a community at the same time-a mutual check, and mutually operating on each other to prevent corruption. We should fear the result in our own land of the great predominance of any sect, but most of all that which, owning allegiance to a foreign civil and ecclesiastical potentate, is even now seeking to gain possession of our fair inheritance-we mean the Roman Catholic. While their right to propagate their opinions by all fair and constitutional means equally with others is freely admitted, the influence of their principles on our institutions, should they finally prevail, cannot but be dreaded. What popery has been