deed, was in little danger from his indictments, when once the heat of battle had cooled. He was felt to be a man of mark; the popular ends had been gained in his defeat; the legal evidence against him was like the chips of drift-wood in a little eddy of this changing torrent of California life. With its little horde of drift, the eddy soon vanished in the immeasurable flood. After a change of venue to a bay county, and after a few months' postponement, the cloud of indictments melted away like the last cloudflake of our rainy season. Nolle pros. was entered, and the hero was free. Doctor Robinson had, meanwhile, recovered his health, and had begun in a new field of labor. As nowadays we elect a displaced university professor to the superintendency of public instruction, just to give him a fair chance to do good to the university, so, then, it was felt by some good-natured folk reasonable to elect Doctor Robinson to the Legislature, not because people believed wholly in his ideas, but because his services merited attention. At all events, in a district of Sacramento County, Dr. Robinson's friends managed, with the connivance of certain optimists, to give him a seat in the Assembly, that late "advisory" body, whose "rules," before the admission of the State, he had so ardently despised. The State was admitted now, and Doctor Robinson cheerfully undertook his share of legislation. But the Legislature cared more for the senatorial election, andsuch small game, than for the Higher Law. Doctor Robinson was not perfectly successful, even in pleasing his constituents. Ere yet another year passed, he had forever forsaken our State, and for his further career,

you must read the annals of the New England Emigrant Aid Society and the history of Kansas. I have found an account of his career in a Kansas book, whose author must have a little misunderstood Doctor Robinson's version of this old affair. For the account says that the good Doctor, when he was in California in early days, took valiant part for the American settlers against certain wicked claimants under one John Sutter, who (the wretch) had pretended to own "99,000 square miles of land in California.” Alas, poor Sutter, with thy great schemes ! Is it come to this?

I cannot close without adding that a certain keen-eyed and intelligent foreigner, a Frenchman, one Auger, who visited our State a little later, in 1852, took pains to inquire into this affair and to form his own opinion. He gives a pathetic picture of poor Sutter, overwhelmed by squatters, and then proceeds to give his countrymen some notion of what a squatter is. Such a person, he says, represents the American love of land by marching, perhaps “pendant des mois entiers," until he finds a bit of seemingly vacant land. Here he fortifies himself, "et se fait massacrer avec toute sa familie plutôt que de renoncer à la moindre parcelle du terrain qu'il a usurpé." This is well stated. But best of all is the following: "Celui qui se livre à cette investigation prend dès lors le titre de 'squatter,' qui vient, je le suppose, du mot 'square.' (place), et signifie chercheur d'emplacement." It is evident to us, therefore, that Doctor Robinson and all his party were "on the square." And herewith we may best conclude.

1 Auger, Voyage en Californie, Paris, 1854, p. 154. Josiah Royce.

Thomas S. Collier.

DURING the last year of the war, so strictly was the Federal blockade maintained along our Atlantic and Gulf coasts, that but few Confederate ports remained where even theswiftest and most skillfully managed blockade-runners could elude detection and pursuit, and could land their much-needed cargoes in safety, under cover of Confederate batteries.

On the Atlantic sea-board, a small steamer would occasionally slip through the Federal fleet at Savannah, or into some shallow and unguarded cove on the coast of Florida; as they did, also, at long intervals, in the Gulf at Mobile and Galveston. But the main point for successful blockade-running in the last twelve months of our protracted struggle was Wilmington, North Carolina; and this was the case until General Terry's forces succeeded in capturing Fort Fisher, January 15th, 1865, and the evacuation of Wilmington followed, February 21st, on the approach of General Schofield's army.

A glance at the map of North Carolina will show how peculiar facilities for running a blockade are offered by a double entrance to Cape Fear River, on which Wilmington is situated, some twenty-five miles above its most southerly mouth. The position of Smith's Island, jutting out into the ocean far south of the main coast-its most southern point forming Cape Fear-makes this double entrance. The main mouth of the river lies west of Smith's Island, and New Inlet, the mouth by which most of the blockade-runners made their entrance and exit, is north of the island, between it and Federal Point, on the main land, in New Hanover county. Fort Caswell, supported by batteries, defended the southern or main entrance, while Fort Fisher and its supporting batteries protected New Inlet, the latter entrance being situated about ten miles north of Cape Fear. Smith's Island not only afforded the advantage of a long screen between these two en

trances to Cape Fear river, but the shallow water over Frying Pan shoals, which extend southward along the coast from New Inlet, often enabled blockade-runners that drew only a few feet of water to escape from Federal blockaders of deep draft. Then the long coast line of twenty miles or more, which had thus to be closely guarded by a blockading fleet, made an entirely successful blockade of Wilmington much more difficult than that of most other Southern ports.

In

Surprising as it may seem, it became known in the early months of 1864 that, of the numerous finely built Clyde steamers then engaged in running military supplies for the Confederacy through the blockade at Wilmington, about nineteen out of every twenty succeeded, in spite of many armed ships and the vigilance of the blockading fleet. This fact even became known to the many Southern prisoners of war then in Camp Chase, Ohio, among whom was the writer of this sketch, who had been disabled by a wound and captured in the battle of Missionary Ridge, where Bragg's army was so badly worsted by the masterly maneuvers and attacks of Grant and Sheridan. Camp Chase we learned this success in running the blockade through letters from North Carolina to our prison comrade, General Robert B. Vance-member of Congress from his State for the past ten years. Those of us who were inclined to escape and to return to old "Dixie," concluded that our surest plan was to make our way to Canada, and thence via some of the English West India Islands, through the blockade at Wilmington. Besides being a more certain route to reach our Southern homes and commands than to venture to pass through the closelyguarded Federal lines in Virginia, Georgia, and elsewhere, it offered the advantage of bringing in some much needed blockade goods to our families-if an escaped "Reb" could be so fortunate as to raise the funds

to purchase such stock of goods, as some succeeded in doing. A number of escaped Confederates did eventually return to their commands by this very circuitous route, the Confederate government having provided means by which all prisoners who made their escape to Canada or any of the British Islands, should have their expenses paid from those points to their commands through the blockade.

ernment.

On the 22d of April, 1864, the staunch English schooner "Mary Victoria," of eightynine tons burden, with Captain Carron and crew of five men, all Canadian French, set sail from the little harbor of Bic, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence river, about two hundred miles below or northeast of Quebec. She was the first outward bound vessel of the season. For the first few days, huge blocks of river-ice floated near and with her, and for half a day the little ship drifted in masses of this ice, the miniature of a polar sea. The schooner, with English papers, and flying the British flag, was loaded with a cargo valued at $40,000 for the Richmond govShe had but two passengers. One of them was Captain P. C. Martin, formerly of Baltimore, but then of Montreal, who was really supercargo, having a large interest in the cargo, in connection with Southern friends in Canada. He was under an assumed name as an Englishman. The other passenger was the writer of this sketch, who had been so fortunate as to escape from the cars in Pennsylvania the preceding March, while in transit, under guard, with a number of fellow prisoners from Camp Chase to Fort Delaware, and had made his way on the cars through Philadelphia and New York to Canada, publicly, though incognito. My name, then, for security, in case the schooner should be boarded or captured by any Federal cruiser, was John N. Colclough, one of Her Majesty's humble subjects, with an official certificate to prove it, and Burnside whiskers, worn a l'Anglais, the better to establish identity as a veritable Johnny Bull, if occasion required. It may as well be added that the name and certificate belonged to a bona fide Canadian citizen, a resident of Bic, who was

merely personated for the risky voyage by an escaped prisoner of war.

Touching at Gaspé Bay for supplies-just at the mouth of the St. Lawrence Riverand anchoring at Sydney, Cape Breton Island, ten days, on account of headwinds, we reached our destination, St. George's, Bermuda, on the 29th of May, having required twenty days of sailing to accomplish a distance of 1,600 miles, thanks to constant unfavorable winds, and a terrific storm while crossing the upper portion of the Gulf Stream, immediately south of Newfoundland, near where the steamer "San Francisco" was wrecked by a gale in December, 1853, while carrying a regiment of United States troops to California.

On entering the charmingly picturesque harbor of St. George's, we found two steamers receiving their valuable cargoes for Wilmington. One was the "Lillian," under command of Captain John Newlen Maffit, previously commander of the Confederate war steamer "Florida," and the other the "Clio." Both of these vessels belonged to that fine class of swift iron steamers, which were built on the Clyde, near Glasgow, Scotland, expressly for this hazardous trade, and which gained a just and remarkable reputation as successful blockade runners. They were long, narrow, and low-lying, with low pressure and almost noiseless engines, and were painted uniformly of a dingy light gray color, like the horizon where sea and sky meet. Each of these model steamers, so many of which were built to pierce the close blockade of our Southern ports, was indeed "a thing of beauty," and when at full speed, a thing of life. They were said to have a speed of fifteen to eighteen knots an hour, at the best, which means from seventeen and a half to twentyone statute or common miles. No Federal steamer could catch them in a stern chase. As the " Lillian was one of the swiftest and largest of these splendid steamers, and under so skillful a captain as Maffit, Martin and his chum, "Colclough," secured passage on her to Wilmington, though she was to sail on the third day after we landed. This allowed but little time to select and pack in

two large trunks a stock of useful "blockadegoods" for one's home-folks in Dixie, and less time than we wanted to test for a while that most delightful maritime and semi-tropical climate of the far-famed Bermudas, or Sommers Islands.

Where and what are these charming little isles, that form so small and yet so fair a portion of the broad realms of the Empress of Great Britain and India? This group of nearly four hundred small islands, but only five principal ones, lies due south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, some eight hundred statute miles; then about the same distance northeast of Nassau, one of the Bahamasanother favorite port for blockade-runners; and not far from seven hundred miles slightly south of east from the mouth of Cape Fear river. These islands are built up by nature with corals and shells on coral reefs, their highest point, Tibb's Hill, on Bermuda Island, being only one hundred and eighty feet above sea-level. The greatest surface covered by all their reefs, which rise abruptly from the deep waters of the Atlantic, is only twenty-three miles from northeast to southwest, and thirteen miles east and west; while the five principal and only inhabited islands, named from north to south and west, St. George's, St. David's, Bermuda (or Long Island), Somerset, and Ireland-separated by very narrow channels - form a continuous line on the southeast edge of the reefs, only thirteen miles long, little more than a mile wide in their broadest part, and embracing about 12,000 acres, of which only 500 are in cultivation and 3,000 in pasture. The town of St. George's, on the most northerly island of the same name, afforded, with its fine and closely-locked harbor, every facility for blockade-runners.

At sunset, June 1st, 1864, the "Lillian" hove anchor, with a cargo for the Confederacy valued at $1,000,000 in gold, the "Clio" having left port an hour earlier. We had a stormless, calm, delightful voyage, with no event of special interest-except that the "Lillian" overtook and passed the "Clio" by her superior speed-until noon of the third day out. We enjoyed a perfect type of

halcyon weather. Most of the time the surface of the Atlantic was truly like a sea of glass. Scarcely a ripple was seen, except on entering and leaving the Gulf Stream, and the only roughness there was the peculiar line of surf where the moving and deep blue water of this curious ocean current rushes past the great walls of the greenish water of the Atlantic, through which the stream flows with the velocity of three or four statute miles per hour. Flying fish, from ten to twelve inches in length, frequently rose from the glassy surface, frightened by our rushing prow. They flew in straight lines only a few feet above the water, occasionally rising high enough to drop on the deck of our low-set steamer. A hundred yards was a long flight for them. This voyage, as well as the longer one upon our schooner, afforded one of the best opportunities to study some of the wonders of the sea, including some of the odd forms of the "Portuguese man-of-war" (Physalia arethusa), floating on the surface like a pearly bladder; also sea-nettles, and other jelly fish (Medusa), some specimens of which, known as "Lamps of the Sea," produce at night the beautiful phosphorescence on the surface of the briny deep. Wherever that surface is agitated, by the motion of either a ship or a boat, the splashing of an oar, the pouring of water, or throwing any substance overboard, there are seen the soft flashes of this wonderful phosphorescence. In the dark blue waters at Sydney, Cape Breton, it was especially brilliant. It is a surprise to one to observe, in first watching this beautiful phenomenon, that the phosphorescence is not seen on an unbroken surface of sea waIt must be disturbed in some way to give forth this soft light.

ter.

In such studies at sea, under any circumstances, how deeply one is sensible of the truth of the following impressive words of a distinguished writer on ocean life: "In the pursuit of this subject, the mind is led from nature up to the Great Architect of nature; and what mind will the study of this subject not fill with profitable emotions? Unchanged and unchanging alone, of all created things, the ocean is the great emblem

of its everlasting Creator. 'He treadeth upon the waves of the sea,' and is seen in the wonders of the deep. Yea, 'He calleth for its waters, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth.'"

But, to return to the equally impressive seriousness of blockade-running. On the voyage from the Bermudas to Wilmington, a few steamers and sailing vessels were sighted every day, and were always watched with intense interest when first seen, until it was clear that they did not consider it their business to chase us.

Captain Maffit was very affable and attentive to his passengers, who, besides our party and two other Southern men, included Mr. Lawler, who succeeded Doctor William H. Russell, as correspondent of the London "Times," and Mr. Vizitelli, the distinguished correspondent of the London "Illustrated News," and lately of the London "Graphic," who accompanied Hicks Pasha's recent disastrous campaign against El Mahdi, and was either killed or captured. The two Southern passengers just mentioned were Captain Young of Kentucky, who afterwards commanded the escaped Confederate prisoners in their startling raid from Canada against St. Albans, Vermont; and a capitalist from Augusta, Georgia, who was investing in blockade goods.

June 4th, while we were at dinner in the Captain's cabin, the startling cry came from the lookout on deck, "A whole fleet ahoy!" All interest in that dinner was lost at once. Everybody rushed on deck, Captain Maffit in the lead.

On the bright horizon, directly ahead of us, the tops of numerous masts, and the smoke of several steamers, were visible. Could this be a fleet of Federal transports and their convoying steamers, that we were running into so unexpectedly? Our skillful pilot, a Mr. Gresham, who was then making his twenty-sixth successful attempt to run the blockade, went aloft, and with his practised eye he saw that it was the blockading squadron of New Inlet and Cape Fear. Our steamer had made in the calm sea better time than was anticipated.

No sooner did we recognize them than they recognized us, and a large steam frigate started for us in hot pursuit. For the next twelve hours came the fun, the calm excitement, the uncertainty, the intense anxiety of blockade running. All was astir on our steamer, every man at his post. A full head of steam was put on, and our bow was turned southward towards Frying Pan shoals. Captain Maffit and his first officer sat together on deck, watching carefully the movements and speed of the pursuing steamer, and making their mathematical calculations for the best course of the "Lillian," with her superior speed, to avoid our pursuer without running too far out to sea.

We steadily distanced the frigate, and, in the increasing twilight, she passed out of sight. Meanwhile, we had run considerably south and seaward from New Inlet, where we were to attempt to run the gauntlet. So soon as it was dark, Captain Maffit reversed the course of the “Lillian,” till she regained the northing which she had lost in the chase. Then, heading west, he steamed slowly and cautiously towards New Inlet. By ten o'clock, the signal lights at Fort Fisher, which we found were arranged and worked with the greatest skill, began to be distinguished. Then came our most thrilling experience, the last hazard.

Coke was supplied to the furnaces instead of coal, in order to show no smoke. No lights were allowed on the upper deck, except the one in the binnacle, to light the compass for the helmsman, and a dim one in the Captain's cabin, which could be seen only from the stern. Strict orders were given that none should speak above a whisper. A fine Newfoundland dog, which the Captain was bringing to a friend, was taken below and securely fastened, that his bark might be muffled; for, by instinct, dogs will always bark when they approach shore on shipboard. It was astonishing with how little noise, by all these precautions, our fine low-pressure steamer glided swiftly through the two dark grim lines of blockading vessels, completely unseen and unheard by any of them. Dark as was the night, we could