reader's mind, as well as we may, the condition of the inhabitants of a newly-settled Territory or State.

These, we think, may be properly divided into four classes. First, the hunter and trapper, far, very far, in advance of civilization; mixing with the Indian, and, frequently, without anything like a regular home or shelter. To these, we might perhaps add the Indian traders, and then the class would be numerically so small, as scarcely to be worthy our present consideration.

The second class comprises the backwoodsman, the true pioneer,-always to be found upon the very verge of civilization, forming, as it were, a living wall of defence and protection between the settlers and the tribes of Indians.

Class the third embraces those residing in, and thinly scattered over the outer ring of the settlements, usually cultivating their own land, generally small planters, or stock raisers, and composed of very heterogeneous materials; honest men, tempted there by the love of a new country, or a desire to purchase land cheaply, and, among them, outlaws, desperadoes, and rogues of all degrees. It is among the third class, that the so-called Lynch Law, is of more frequent occurrence.

The fourth class embraces the inhabitants of the more densely populated portions; of the towns, &c. Of the first class we have little to say; living entirely beyond the reach of the arm of the law, they soon become almost Indian in their habits and feelings, but are, upon the whole, a most useful class of men in a new country; serving as they do, for spies, guides, and soldiers, of incalculable value, in case of troubles upon the frontier, which alone drive these men, in a body, back upon the settle

ments.

The backwoods-man is a character as little known as appreciated among us. Rude are they in manner, language, and dress; avoiding the settlements and busy haunts of men; when they find the tide of emigration setting in around them, they evade its first rippling waves, by plunging deeper and deeper into the forest. Now, what may be the cause of this? It cannot be crime that drives them from their fellows, for crime and a bad conscience compel the miserable wretch to seek relief

from reflection, in the society of men like himself. It is a far different cause,—or, rather, combination of causes,-that produces this result. Many a frontier-man, rough and rude as he may seem, yet bears within his bosom the germ of true romance and poetry. He seeks a retirement where he can enjoy Nature and a simple life, uninterrupted by the noise, disputes, and, worse than all, the, to him, hateful conventionalities of his fellows. In his mode of life is a wild but lofty spirit of independence, which, once tasted, can never be forgotten, and, indeed, it would seem that all men are prone to retrograde from what we call "civilization.”

The conventionalities of the world are so many chains and fetters to the free spirit, which necessity has thrown over, and bound round, those who compose what is termed society. As a proof of this, you will seldom find a person, who, either of his own free will, or from stern necessity, has passed sufficient time among the woods and wilds, to properly accustom himself to, and appreciate them, that is ever willing to return to the crowded city, and busy haunts of men; whatever may have been his previous station, or rank, in the walks of life.

Those hosts of adventurers who rush to our new States, seeking fortune or fame, belong not to this class. Their wishes can only be obtained among crowds; they but hasten to anticipate their arrival, and obtain an early and sure foothold. Their approach heralds invariably the departure of the pioneer.

The desire to be alone, amounts with him in fact almost to monomania; although the stranger, whom chance, curiosity, or misfortune may have thrown in his way, is welcomed to his hut with unostentatious, but genuine hospitality and kindness. They are glad to see him, to glean from him news of the busy world without, and here they feel that he cannot be their superior.

Perhaps, after all, the "aut Casar, aut nullus," may be at the bottom of their idiosyncrasy.

The most eminent divine, the shrewdest merchant, the most subtle advocate, would soon learn that the talent, scholarship, or capacity for business, which gave him name, consequence, and wealth among the

multitude, was but a useless bauble there, and if he were wise, would hide it, like honest Robinson Crusoe's lump of gold, until circumstances again might place him in such a situation as to render it valuable. Soon would they learn to look upon the man, as being at least their equal, who, without chart or compass, can steer his undeviating course through the trackless forest and over the boundless prairie; who, with his never failing rifle supplies his family with food; who, without aid of tailor, hatter, or shoemaker, prepares his own rude and simple but appropriate dress; who, hourly accustomed to danger, looks upon it not as a cause for fear, but for immediate and skilful action.

They would soon learn to respect him, whose sole dependence is upon himself and his Maker, looking not to man for assistance and advice, but trusting in a cool and correct judgment, and arm nerved by healthful exposure and toil, and an eye and ear almost as true as those highly gifted individuals in the fairy tale.

This class of men form a western barrier more firm, more efficient, and more to be depended upon, than the boasted wooden walls of England. They are increasing every day, and will continue to increase, until the tide of civilization shall have overwhelmed all the vast West in its ever advancing wave, and then, as others have already done, they will spread to the North and to the South, to prepare new ground for the multitude, to conquer new territory, and again to leave, until driven to the extreme verge, they are finally engulphed by their remorseless and insatiate adversary.

As the Indian retreats, step by step, in his very foot-prints, follows the pioneer, who, in his turn, is forced ever onward by those with whom he has but little more community of feeling than with the Indian himself. It is the chase of human waves upon the sands of life.

Among the pioneers the outlaw is seldom found, and if he should venture, he must mend his manners, or meet with short grace and a sure rifle ball; for much as the wild woodsman despises the law and its emissaries, the hatred of its constraints bear no comparison to the intense disgust with which he regards crime. Theft is with him a sin of magnitude, and murder

is punished according to the Indians' code. As we have before said, the necessity of inflicting speedy punishment upon the guilty, exists more particularly among the thinly scattered settlers and planters inhabiting the frontier counties of a new State.

With the question of capital punishment, among us of the Atlantic border, or any of the more densely populated States, we have nought to do.

The reader will, perhaps, think that we are taking an unwarrantable liberty with our subject, in creating a distinction between the operations of regulators, and the results of proceedings in criminal cases, in which the entire population of a section or district take part; but as we have given our article the title of "The Uses and Abuses of Lynch Law," he may, if he choose, include all "regulating" among the abuses of the system.

In the meanwhile we crave his patience until he shall have heard our reason for establishing this distinction.

In border counties, where there are no jails within whose limits criminals can be confined, what shall be done with them?

Desperadoes, and villains of every degree, in the South West are far from solitary in their habits, but will be generally found to be connected with a host of others, ready to assist them in any infamous project, or to shield them from the consequences, and interpose between them and the arm of the law.

Where there are sufficient numbers of such outlaws in a county, they will seldom shrink from a trial. Never, in fact, unless the crime be one of so heinous a nature, and so certain to be established against them, that they fear the personal interference of the people, in case the law should fail-as it almost invariably doesto fasten the guilt and inflict the punishment upon them.

They may completely set the law of the land at defiance. Witnesses will be found to prove any thing required in favor of the prisoner, and against the testimony for the prosecution; juries will be packed, officers bribed, the little county town filled with noted desperadoes from far and near, usually, perhaps, without any apparent organization; but their presence is felt, and their purpose well understood.

Juries, witnesses and lawyers, are too often overawed; and in the law there is no remedy, on the contrary, too often the law is a very protection to the criminal.

There is no possibility of improvement, for the moment the clan have obtained and exhibited a supremacy in any county, from that instant they will increase in numbers and in boldness, until it is certain death to any who may attempt to prosecute them, or even mention their misdeeds.

Then, every honest man must either submit patiently, and without complaint, to their aggressions, receive with the appearance of warm hospitality, greet with the semblance of friendship, welcome to his cabin, his table, and to the society of his wife, his daughters, and his sons, men whose hand he knows to be stained with blood; or he must sell out his homestead, at whatever sacrifice, and move far

away.

To obviate this, the only practicable mode is, upon the first appearance of crime of sufficient magnitude, that the whole body of settlers near should rise, arrest the criminal, try him impartially and justly, then mete out to him such punishment as their own common sense and correct ideas of right and wrong may dictate.

For murder, the punishment is invariably death; for other offences, usually an order to quit the county forever. In such cases, assistance is frequently extended to the family of the culprits, in the disposition of their farms, and in the moving of their household goods and cattle.

Which of the two is the wiser course? by one single act of justice-when law cannot be depended on-to free the county forever from the danger of becoming a den of thieves and murderers, or by tamely submitting allow the villains to obtain such a foothold that, in the end, the honest portion of the community are forced to call upon the adjoining counties for assistance, and the power of law is only restored and asserted after a bloody and protracted battle.

The system of "regulators," and their ever concomitant opponents, the "moderators," WILL NOT DO, and as soon as two regularly organized parties are found to exist, it is the part of every wise man

who has due regard for his life and to move, at any sacrifice.

peace

So often has the plan of "regulating" a county been tried, and so fatal have invariably been the results, that the very name of "regulation" has come to be considered as one synonymous with that of murder and robbery.

Perhaps, in most instances, the first intention was a correct one; but when a few men are banded together with the intention of controlling many-of administering justice to, and inflicting punishments upon, their fellows, according to a code they themselves have laid down, and this without the slightest semblance of legal authority; abuses do not creep, but walk boldly and bodily into their system.

It is not the action of an entire section of the settlers, who, incited by the commission of some heinous crime, or aggravated by the perpetration of numerous petty offences, rise with one feeling, and as one man, punish the offender.

The true history of the "rise and progress" of all regulating" and "moderating" may be given in a few words.

A few influential and determined men club together to reform a county, or to prevent crime, ab initio. Too often their proceedings are in secret, and the punishment which has been decreed to the offender, is administered by a party in disguise.

Such proceedings must necessarily awaken distrust and fear, among the more quiet of the settlers; while the rogues, whose characters are not yet known, hasten to obtain admittance to the corps of regulators, both as a shield against enemies, and a cloak to cover their own misdeeds.

Ere long the vindictive actions of the party, or the rascalities of its members, call down upon them the indignation of the rest of the county, and a counter party is got up, nominally to keep the regulators in check.

The last formed parties are called moderators, and invariably contain all the spare rascals in the county, whom the regulators have not already received into their ranks.

From this moment, a deadly feud commences between the two, and ere long the war is conducted with such ferocity, that two persons of opposite factions seldom meetwhere there are no witnesses by to tell the

tale-without a combat, often fatal to one at least.

Some few years since, in one of the border counties of Texas, the two factions met in force. A regular battle ensued, in which forty or more lives were lost; and the disgraceful affair was only terminated, and peace restored, by the marching a strong force from San Augustin.

To give the reader some idea of the consequences of the system, we will state that to our knowledge, in the county of Harrison, in Texas, is a small stream, or bayon, known as "Widow's Creek," and upon its side, within a distance of five miles, are living-or at least were a year or two since -twenty-five widows whose husbands were all slain in this unnatural warfare; and that upon the plantation of a gentleman of our acquaintance in the same county-are the graves of five former occupants of the land, who all have perished with ball or knife.

Marshall is the shiretown of the county, and it would strike a member of the Peace Congress with amazement, could he but see the appearance of the men who visit it upon a public day, armed as they are verily to the teeth. We remember a peaceable looking old gray-headed personage, riding in, one fine morning, with no implements of war visible, except a double-barrel and a bowie-knife, and the loungers remarked that he was rather poorly provided for, and "wouldn't stand more than half a chance."

The prevalence of so many weapons of war, however, produce one good effect. When voices are raised in anger, and knife and pistol flash in the sun, the hangers on about town, do not all run to see, but according to their vernacular, "tree" in the first store or grocery" convenient. N.B. said "grocery" signifies "bar-room" also do "Confectionary" and "Coffeehouse."

as

Our immortal first Grandmother, of the enquiring mind, and the respectable but inquisitive Mrs. Lot, might here have learned a lesson that would have kept one from the discovery that apples did not agree with pairs, and the other, from engaging permanently in the salt business.

At Montgomery's Point in 1841, the "Regulators" and "Moderators" wound up their affairs by the driving of sixty odd

persons of all ages and both sexes into the Mississippi. Which was the conquering and which the conquered party, we forget; but it is a matter of small moment-arcades ambo-two more villainous collections of blacklegs and assassins, probably could not be found, and had they performed over again the exploit of the Kilkenny catsleaving nothing but their tales for us to relate, it would have been a blessing to their country.

Having drawn the distinction between the so-called "Regulating" a county and the application of Lynch-law proper, let us examine the causes and effects of the latter, as exemplified in a few prominent cases.

One of the earliest instances in Texas, was in the case of the murder of an old man named Birkham, and although the tale has been told elsewhere, dressed in the garb of romance, yet we will now relatethe facts.

He had lived upon our frontier for many years, and was in some respects a living copy of, or rather might have served as an original for Cooper's Leatherstocking.

With no family save a wife, he spent his time in cultivating a small spot of ground, in hunting and acting as a guide to surveying parties. He also had great influence over the Indians, and received a moderate compensation from our Government or their agents for his services in preserving peace among the savages and preventing them from the commission of depredations.

Although his cabin was near Trammel's Trace, and in a part of the frontier where many of the settlers were men of bad character yet he was respected and beloved by all, and regarded in a truly patriarchal light.

it

Did the Indians steal the settlers' horses?

was Charley Birkham who found them and obtained their peaceful restitution. Did the neighbors differ in their settlements? it was he to whom all such dis- ' putes were referred, and his decision was deemed as irrevocable, as that of the Medes and Persians. The old man had been invited to attend a log-rolling, raising, or some affair of the kind at a distance from home; so far indeed, that he preferred to start before night with the intention of "camping out" upon the road.

Putting a pair of log-chains in his saddle bags, in case they might be needed, he left