tempts at destruction by torpedoes were made on the New England coast; but the fear of them kept the British vessels at a respectful distance from the harbors, and no doubt saved several sea-port towns from destruction.

Torpedoes were tried further southward. Encouraged by the success off New London, Mr. Mix, of the United States navy, attempted to blow up the British ship Plantagenet, 74, lying

the locks would be sprung, the powder ignited, and the terrible mine exploded. Thus prepared, with a cargo of flour and naval stores over the concealed mine, the Eagle, Captain Riker, late in June, 1813, sailed for New London, when, as was expected and desired, she was captured by armed men sent out in boats from the Ramillies. The crew of the Eagle escaped to the shore, and anxiously awaited the result. The wind had fallen, and for two hours unavail-off Cape Henry, Virginia, in July. The ining efforts were made to get her alongside the Ramillies for the purpose of transferring her cargo to that vessel. Finally boats were sent out as lighters; the hatches of the Eagle were opened; and when the first barrel of flour was removed the explosion took place. A column of fire shot up into the air full nine hundred feet, and a shower of pitch and tar fell upon the deck of the Ramillies. The schooner, and the first-lieutenant and ten men from the flag-ship, on board of her, were blown into atoms, and most of those in the boats outside were seriously and some fatally injured.

The success which this experiment promised caused others to be tried. A citizen of Norwich, familiar with the machine used by Bushnell in attempts to blow up the British ship-ofwar Eagle in New York harbor during the Revolution, invented a submarine boat in which he voyaged to the Ramillies three times under water at the rate of three miles an hour. On his third voyage he had nearly completed the task of fastening a torpedo, or portable mine, to the bottom of the British flag-ship when a screw broke and his effort failed. He was discovered, but escaped. A daring fisherman of Long Island named Penny also made attempts on the Ramillies with a torpedo carried in a whaleboat; and Hardy was kept continually on the alert. So justly fearful was he of these mines that he not only kept his ship in motion, but, according to Penny, who was a prisoner on board the Ramillies for a while, he caused her bottom to be swept with a cable every two hours, night and day. He finally issued a warning to the inhabitants of the coasts that if they did not cease that cruel and unheardof warfare he should proceed to destroy their towns and desolate their country. Hardy had been in the habit of allowing trading vessels to pass, the blockade of the Thames being chiefly against Decatur's little squadron; but on the morning after the explosion of the Eagle he informed General Isham, commanding the militia at New London, that no vessel should thereafter pass without a flag of truce. And at the close of August, after Penny's attempt upon the Ramillies, Hardy wrote to Judge Terry, at Southold, from which neighborhood the daring fisherman came, that if the inhabitants of the south side of the Island allowed a torpedo-boat to remain another day among them he would "order every house near the shore to be destroyed." The leniency and courtesy extended to the inhabitants by Captain Hardy gave him a claim to their respectful consideration. No more at

fernal machine was carried out, under cover
of intense darkness, in a heavy open boat call-
ed the Chesapeake Avenger, and dropped so as
to float down under the ship's bow.
It was
furnished with clock-work, set so as to work
a spring attached to a gun-lock after a given
number of minutes. It exploded a few sec-
onds too soon. The scene was awful. A col-
umn of water twenty-five feet in diameter, and
half luminous with lurid light, was thrown up
at least forty feet, with an explosion as ter-
rific as thunder, and producing a concussion
like the shock of an earthquake. It burst at the
crown. The water fell in profusion on the deck
of the Plantagenet, and in the same moment she
rolled into the chasm made by the sudden ex-
pulsion of water, and nearly upset. Torpedoes
were also placed across the Narrows, below New
York, and at the entrance of the harbor of Port-
land. The British, and their American sym-
pathizers, the disloyal Peace party of that day,
expressed great horror at this mode of warfare,
when it was properly retorted that the wanton
outrages committed by Cockburn and his com-
panions on the defenseless inhabitants of the
coasts between Havre de Grace and Charleston
fully justified any mode of warfare against such
marauders, and that stratagem in the horrid busi-
ness of war was always commendable.

Although Hardy did not execute his threats he made the blockade more rigorous than ever, and many trading vessels, attempting to evade it, were made prizes to the British cruisers. A tiny warfare was kept up along the Connecticut coast, for whenever a chased vessel was driven ashore the inhabitants would turn out to defend her. One of these encounters occurred a little west of the light-house, late in the autumn of 1813. The sloop Roxana was chased ashore by three British barges and grounded. Within half an hour a throng of people had assembled to rescue her, when the enemy set her on fire and retreated. The Americans attempted to extinguish the flames, but a heavy cannonade from the ships drove them off. Although many were exposed to the cannon-balls on that occasion not one was hurt. "During the whole war," says Miss Caulkins, the historian of New London, “not a man was killed by the enemy in Connecticut, and only one in its waters on the coast.'

At near the close of June, 1813, the veteran colonel of artillery in the regular service, Henry Burbeck, who had been stationed at Newport, arrived at New London to take charge of that military department. He found the militia, who were strongly imbued with the mischievous doc

trine of supreme State sovereignty, unwilling to be transferred, in accordance with a late order from the Secretary of War, from the service of the State to that of the United States. Under instructions from Washington they were all promptly dismissed from the service. The people, misconstruing the movement, were alarmed and exasperated. They regarded themselves as unwarrantably deprived of their defenders and betrayed to the enemy, who might come and plunder and destroy to his heart's content. At the same time it was known that Hardy's fleet had been reinforced by the arrival of the Endymion and Statira, vessels equal in strength to the United States and Macedonian. A panic of mingled fear and indignation prevailed, and the "Peace" demagogues were jubilant; but it was quickly allayed by the quick response of the Governor of Connecticut to the invitation of Colonel Burbeck to call out the militia for the temporary defense of the menaced town. Brigadier-General Williams was appointed to the command of them, and the alarm subsided.

this case; and for more than a quarter of a century members of that party were stigmatized with the epithet of "Blue-light Federalist."

The United States and Macedonian were imprisoned in the Thames during the remainder of the war. Not long after his attempt to run the blockade Decatur challenged the British squadron to a trial of strength, but satisfactory arrangements could not be made. His vessels remained quietly in New London harbor until the spring of 1814, when they were dismantled and laid up, about three and a half miles below Norwich, and their officers and men made their way by land to other ports and engaged actively in the service. The Hornet lay at New London almost a year longer, when she slipped out of the harbor and escaped to New York.

A

the esteem of the citizens by his gentlemanly conduct. He was publicly welcomed by the civil authorities. At about the same time the Pactolus and Narcissus, British vessels, came into the harbor, bringing Commodore Decatur and Lieutenant (now Admiral) W. B. Shubrick, who had been captured in the frigate President. public reception, partaking of the character of a ball, was held at the now venerable Court-house, to which all the British officers on the coast were invited. Several were present. The guests were received by Commodores Decatur and Shaw. Soon afterward the blockading squadron exchanged friendly salutes with Fort Trumbull and went to sea, and the United States and Macedonian departed for New York, after an imprisonment of about twenty months.

Intelligence of peace reached New London at the middle of February, 1815. Admiral Hotham, whose flag-ship was the Superb, then commanded the squadron blockading the Thames. On the 21st the village was splendidly illuminated. Hotham announced the parole on the Superb to Decatur watched continually during the sum- be "America," and the countersign "Amity." mer and autumn for an opportunity to escape to The British officers went on shore and mingled sea with his three vessels; and hoping, as the freely and cordially with the inhabitants. The severely cold weather came on, to find the ene- Admiral was received with distinguished courtmy at times somewhat lax in vigilance, he slow-esy, for, like Hardy, he had won and merited ly dropped down the river, and at the beginning of December was anchored in New London harbor opposite Market Wharf. With great secrecy he prepared every thing for sailing. He fixed on Sunday evening, the 12th, for making the attempt to run the blockade. Fortunately for his plan the night was very dark, the wind was favorable, and the tide served at a convenient hour. When all things were in readiness and he was about to weigh anchor word came from the row-guard of the Macedonian and Hornet that signal-lights were burning on both sides of the Thames, near its mouth. They were blue lights, and Decatur had no doubt of their being signals to warn the enemy of his movement, which was known in the village that evening. Thus exposed by "Peace men," of whom there were a few in almost every communitymen whose devotion to party was greater than their love of country-he at once abandoned the project, and tried every means to discover the betrayers, but without effect. The Opposition, as a party, denied the fact, while others as strongly asserted it. In his letter to the Secretary of the Navy on the 20th the Commodore said, "Notwithstanding these signals have been repeated, and have been seen by twenty persons, at least, in this squadron, there are men in New London who have the hardihood to affect to disbelieve it, and the effrontery to avow their disbelief." The whole Federal party, who were traditionally opposed to a war with Great Britain, were often unfairly compelled to bear the odium of actions which justly pertained only to the disloyal "Peace" faction. They were compelled to do so in VOL. XXVIII.-No. 163.-B

TH

PICTURES OF THE JAPANESE.-II. RURAL LIFE.

HE materials for producing a picture of the rural life of the Japanese are few and scanty. Japan was first practically discovered by Europeans, just about a century before the first settlement was undertaken on Manhattan Island. The existence of a powerful nation among the stormy seas had been long known. Marco Paolo used to while away the long hours of imprisonment by narrating what he had heard at the Court of Ghengis Khan of the wonders of Xipangu, and his story, taken down by a friend, fell two hundred years later into the hands of Columbus, and sent him westward in search of new worlds, where was, as he believed, "strange wealth of gold, pearls, and precious

stones." But the garrulous Venetian never saw the Japanese isles. It was not until two and a half centuries after that Mendez Pinto, the Prince of Liars, trader or pirate as occasion served, was driven by stress of weather on the shores of Japan. He found the natives quite hospitable and disposed to trade, and an arrangement was entered into by which the Portuguese were to be allowed to send a ship every year laden with "commodities needed by the Japanese." Among these commodities silks are enumerated, which shows that since then considerable changes have taken place in the country, for now silk is the leading article of export. This trade lasted without interruption for half a century, but con

tributed little to our real knowledge of the Japanese.

Not long thereafter Hansiro, a Japanese noble, killed a man, and fleeing the country took refuge in Goa, where he became a Christian, and persuaded the Portuguese merchants and priests to send a trading and missionary expedition to Japan. This expedition is chiefly notable for the fact that one of its members was Francis Xavier,

the " Apostle of the In

dies." They were received with open arms, and allowed to traverse every portion of the empire; the merchants traded and the Jesuits preached without hindrance. If the princes were ready to quarrel with the traders it was because they would not come to their ports. The success of the preachers was something marvelous. Indeed we doubt whether, since the days of the Apostles, so successful a missionary as was Xavier ever set forth to preach Christianity on heathen soil. If we may trust the accounts given, the seal of miracles was put upon his apostleship. The gift of tongues also was bestowed upon himnot the barren gift of uttering the words of a language which neither he nor his hearers understood, but the practical gift of speaking intelligibly in a language which he had never learned. Before many

great highway of the empire; and that he had no right to allow foreigners to travel at will through their dominions. Hence he was obliged to keep the highway, and in passing through a

VILLAGE AQUEDUCT.

town curtains and barricades were not unfre quently put up, shutting out any view of the streets.

Hence practically all our modern knowledge of the country life of the Japanese is restricted to a space of twentyfive miles on each side of Yeddo, and the three ports of Kanagawa, Nagasaki, and Hakodadi, with such incidental glimpses as could be gained in coasting along the shores and in traversing the great highway, supplemented by the pictures which native artists give of the occupations and habits of the people.

The population of Japan is wholly a matter of conjecture. If there is any official census foreigners have no means of access to it. It is vaguely estimated at from 20,000,000 to 40,000,000. But at all events the population is dense, compared not merely with that of America, but of Europe. Shut out for ages from all foreign commerce, and their mode of life requiring but few manufactured articles, the culture of the soil is of necessity the main employment of the Japanese. The numerous retainers of the Daimios must, in the ultimate analysis, be found to draw their subsistence from the labors of the agriculturists. As large cities exist, and as there are no means of transport except animals of burden, biped or quadruped, the supplies for these cities must be drawn wholly from their own immediate neighborhood. London or