Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave. From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave; O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; And this be our motto — “In God is our trust!” And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. GRACE ELIZABETH KING. KING, GRACE ELIZABETH, an American novelist, short-story writer, and historian; born in Louisiana, 1858. She is one of the most prominent of Southern writers, and her books largely deal with Southern subjects. Her novel "Monsieur Motte," which appeared first in the "New Princeton Review," was republished in book form in 1888. "Balcony Stories" was one of her best works; others can be seen in "Tales of a Time and Place." Her historical writings embrace "New Orleans, the Place and the People," and a "Life" of Bienville, the founder of New Orleans. AT WAR WITH SPAIN.1 1719. (From "Sieur de Bienville.") ON the 19th of April the "Maréchal de Villars" and the "Philippe " brought into port one hundred and thirty passengers. Among them were De Serigny and his son, a midshipman; the former, returning decorated with the cross of St. Louis and the advanced grade of "lieutenant de vaisseau," was charged with a commission to examine and sound, with Bienville, the coast of Louisiana. But what the ships brought of most importance to the colony was the news of the declaration of war between France and Spain. At last the moment had come for the getting of the coveted port of Pensacola. The French hardly needed the advice given by the Western Company to Bienville some months previous to profit by such an opportunity. They were not the men to let an occasion of the kind go by default. A council of war was instantly summoned, and measures in all haste adopted to surprise the Spaniards, who, ignorant of the news, were carelessly basking in innocent security. The cargoes were discharged from the ships, and on the 13th of May De Serigny sailed out of the roadstead of Dauphin 1 Copyright, 1892, by Dodd, Mead & Co. Reprinted by permission. Island, followed by the "Maréchal de Villars" and the "Comte de Toulouse," which latter vessel fortunately was in port at the time. They carried an army of a hundred and fifty soldiers. Bienville, with eighty men, sailed in a sloop. Bienville gives the facts of his victory in his official report to the minister. The approaches to the victory are the pleasant duty of the early historians, Dupratz and Dumont, whose enjoyment of what they describe is communicated to readers of the present day. With a fair wind the ships made a good run to Isle Ste. Rosa, the outpost of the Spaniards. Anchoring as close to land as possible, the troops disembarked unperceived, and easily mastered the small guard stationed there. Putting their prisoners in irons and assuming their uniforms, and forcing the Spanish drummer to beat as usual, the Spaniards who came out at daybreak the next morning to relieve guard were as easily seized, disarmed, and deprived of their uniforms, which served to disguise more of their enemies. The Spanish-uniformed Frenchmen embarking in the boat that had brought out the guard, crossed the bay, entered the fort, surprised the sentinels on duty, and captured the whole place, soldiers, magazine, store-house, and the commandant, who was still in bed, and who claimed this as his first notification of the rupture between the two Governments. Bienville says in his despatch that simply the commandant surrendered the fort at four o'clock in the afternoon, that he put his brother Chateauguay in command, and according to the terms of capitulation to deliver his prisoners in the nearest port, shipped the entire garrison for Havana on his two ships, the "Comte de Toulouse" and the "Maréchal de Villars," under command of De Richebourg; he then returned to Mobile. The Governor of Havana was not devoid of ingenuity himself. He received De Richebourg most ceremoniously, thanking him for the politeness of his visit; but no sooner were the prisoners in his hands than he captured capturers, with their ships, placing the soldiers in irons, and putting the entire crew, officers and all, into prison, and, according to the French accounts, treated them so hardly, fed them so badly, and insulted them so grievously that most of the soldiers deserted to him, to deliver themselves. He then equipped the French vessels with a Spanish crew, Spanish soldiers, and some of the French deserters, and sent them, with his squadron, to retake the lost Pensacola. They came in the sight of it on the 3d of August. The Spanish vessels drew up behind Isle Ste. Rosa. The French vessels, flying the French colors, boldly entered the channel. To the challenge of the sentry they answered, "De Richebourg." Scarcely was anchor dropped, however, than the French flag was lowered, the Spanish run up, and three cannon-shots were fired. At the signal, the rest of the squadron made their appearance, twelve sail in all. The next day eighteen hundred men were landed, and began the assault. Although the return visit of the Spaniards was expected, and in a measure prepared for, Chateauguay found his means of defence as totally inadequate as his rivals' had been. Sixty of his soldiers immediately abandoned him, escaping from the fort and joining the enemy. The rest showing every disposition to follow their example, no choice was left, upon the summons to surrender, but capitulation. He obtained the sortie, with all the honors of war, and transportation to Old Spain, a more genial and more advantageous place of imprisonment than Havana, under the circumstances. He was nevertheless sent to Havana. At the news of the Spaniards' reappearance at Pensacola, Serigny had hastened by land to Chateauguay's assistance with a troop of savages and soldiers; but hearing of his surrender midway from some fugitive slaves, he turned, and marched as rapidly back to Dauphin Island to prepare for what he had no doubt would be the next step in the Spanish programme. In truth, he had hardly arrived at the island before the advance of the Spanish flotilla was sighted. Three brigantines approached, from one of which a boat was sent to the Company's ship, "Le Philippe," with an officer charged with a letter to the captain. The missive, dated "on board Notre Dame de Vigogne,' 13th August, 1719, at ten o'clock in the morning," contained an imperative summons for the surrender of the ship, without any damage to it, under penalty of the captain's being treated as an incendiary, and all the French, including Chateauguay and his garrison, accorded no quarter. A cordial reception, on the contrary, was promised all those who freely and willingly gave themselves up. The captain of the "Philippe " sent the Spanish officer with his letter ashore to Serigny, who, according to the "Journal Historique," received him surrounded by his soldiers, Canadians, and savages in all their war-paint and greed of scalps; and according to Bienville, told him that the Spaniards could come when they pleased, they would find the French prepared to receive them. In the meantime a reinforcement of soldiers was passed on board the "Philippe." During the night one of the brigantines entered the bay and did considerable damage, capturing two boats of provisions. sent by Serigny to Bienville, and pillaging and burning a settlement belonging to a company of Canadians on the Mobile coast, half-way between the fort and the island, where a great deal of property had been sent from the latter place for security, and of which the booty consequently was large. Fortunately that night Bienville was sending a reinforcement of white men and Indians to his brother. These fell upon the marauders. Very few escaped. Five were killed, the Indians scalping them, six were drowned trying to regain their boats, and eighteen were taken prisoners. Of these latter, the deserters from the French had their heads broken with a hatchet, in default of an executioner to inflict the legal capital punishment. As it was impossible to defend the bay or the mouth of the river, no more boats of provisions, or otherwise, were risked to Bienville. All forces were turned to putting Dauphin Island in a state of defence. During a high tide the "Philippe " was brought in to within a pistol-shot of land, and made fast with pile and cable in a deep hole, or kind of bay, to the west of the island. With all her guns bristling on the ocean tide, and her reinforced equipage, she presented, for the times, a formidable citadel of defence to the enemy. An intrenched battery of three twelve-pounders was placed to command the old channel. The rest of the island was patrolled by Serigny, who, the accounts say, multiplied himself into being everywhere with his mixed force, the regulars of which, Bienville says, were more to be dreaded than the enemy. Three days after the brigantines the rest of the Spanish fleet, including the captured French vessels, hove in sight, and anchored in the roadstead. Once or twice a demonstration of attack was made, which was warded off with a counter-demonstration. Neither daring to land nor approach within gunshot of the "Philippe" or the battery, the fleet contented itself with remaining in its position for fourteen days, and cannonading boats from a safe and harmless distance. On the 24th, signs of departure were observed among the |