ing alone in the protection of Heaven, he went the messenger of peace, preaching the gospel of Christ to the savages-now he came with fire and sword, to slaughter and lay waste. The drum, and bugle, and loud-mouthed cannon had taken the place of tones of kindness and friendship, and he saw with an aching heart the awful scourge move resistlessly on. The peaceful village, smiling in the summer sun, and the waving fields of corn disappeared as it passed, while the warriors, who gathered in their defence, were stretched stark and stiff amid the desolation. At last the devastating army reached the Eden of this wild region, the beautiful Genesee flats. Twenty miles long and four broad, the cultivated valley spread out before them in all its richness and beauty. The tall grass bent before the wind-corn-field on corn-field as far as the eye could reach, waved in the sunlightorchards, that had been growing for generations, were weighed down under the profusion of fruit-cattle grazed on the banks of the river, while a hundred and twenty houses, not huts, but large, airy buildings, nestled amid fruit trees, making a scene of surpassing loveliness. Mr. Kirkland saw the army of five thousand encamp at night amid this beauty and luxuriance. Before noon the next day the smoke of burning dwellings covered the valley, and when it lifted, a wide desolation met the eye, and the army encamped at night in a desert.

The important services he rendered the country both before and during this campaign have passed into oblivion. We can only infer their value from the action

A

AGAIN A MISSIONARY.

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of Congress subsequently. That body voted him a liberal grant of land, specifying that it was in consideration of his services as a chaplain and other "important services rendered during the war." The State of New York, the general government and Sullivan all recognized and appreciated them. Thus, in every department of the Revolution, the influence of the clergy was felt. In the provincial legislatures, in the general Congress originating and upholding important measures—in the remote parishes rousing the people to arms-in the tented field by example and precept teaching the troops heroism, self-denial and morality— in the wilderness among the savage tribes-everywhere where wisdom and knowledge were required, soldiers wanted and work was to be done, they were found performing not a subordinate but a leading part. One cannot look anywhere over the thirteen States during that struggle or along their bleeding frontiers without seeing the clergy standing as bulwarks of freedom or toiling single handed for its success. Turn which way we will we are made to feel that a history of American Independence that leaves the clergy out, or only mentions them incidentally, is not only false in fact, but what is still worse, false in one of the great lessons God designed our early history should teach.

After the war Mr. Kirkland returned to his labors among the Oneidas, which eventually were crowned with great success. In 1791 he made a census of the Six Nations, and in the winter of the same year, at the request of the Secretary of War, took forty chiefs and warriors-representatives of the Five Nations-to

Philadelphia, for the purpose of consulting in reference to the introduction of civilization among them, and of effecting a permanent treaty of peace between them and the United States. In both of these objects he was successful, and then returned to his missionary labors among the Oneidas, where he built him a log hut into which he removed his family. He soon after established an academy at Hamilton, which continued to flourish until 1810, when it was elevated to the rank of a college, that still remains a monument of his labors in the cause of education. In 1796 he was thrown from his horse and seriously injured. He never recovered entirely from the shock he received in this accident, and remained more or less an invalid till 1808, when he was struck with paralysis, which carried him off suddenly and without his being conscious apparently of his approaching end. Brought into contact with the most prominent men of the country, he was widely known and died universally lamented.

CHAPTER XXIV.

JAMES HALL.

HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION.-SETTLED IN NORTH CAROLINA.-ROUSES HIS PEOPLE TO OPPOSE THE MOTHER COUNTRY.-IS MADE CAPTAIN OF A COMPANY OF CAVALRY.-ACTS ALSO AS CHAPLAIN.-MARCHES TO SOUTH CAROLINA.-OFFERED THE COMMISSION OF BRIGADIER GENERAL BY GREENE.-DECLINES.-HIS AFTER LIFE.

JAMES HALL was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, August 22d, 1744. When he was eight years of age his parents removed to North Carolina and settled in a district now known as Iredell county. At the age of twenty he made a public profession of religion, and soon after turned his attention to the ministry, but did not enter college till 1774, or in his thirty-first year. Being a fine mathematician, Dr. Witherspoon wished to retain him as tutor in the collge, but he said he had devoted himself to the ministry and did not feel at liberty to make any engagements that would divert him from it. He therefore entered immediately on his theological studies under Dr. Witherspoon, and in less than two years was licensed to preach. In 1778 he was settled over the united congregations of Fourth Creek, Concord and Bethany, and remained their pastor till 1790.

Previous to this he had become deeply enlisted in the cause of the Colonies, and declined no service, no matter how great the sacrifice it demanded, which

could in any way benefit his country. He did not confine his efforts to the pulpit, but took the lead in all public meetings held to discuss the political topics of the day. He denounced toryism unsparingly, and on every occasion when he could get a hearing made cloquent and earnest appeals in behalf of freedom. The claims of one's country he declared were next to those of God, and could not be treated with neglect without sacrificing every principle of honor and of duty. He was not one of those timorous patriots who are zealous for their country when not called upon to encounter personal danger, but are silent when the thunder of cannon is near. While the conflict was raging in the northern provinces, his sympathy and interest found expression in prayers, exhortations and public addresses, but the moment the sound of battle was heard on the borders of his own State that sympathy showed itself in action. Cornwallis, in his victorious march through South Carolina, sent out detachments in various directions to scour the country, whose barbarous conduct filled every bosom with indignation. Mr. Hall at once called together his flock, and after relating some of the bloody acts that had been committed by the invaders, besought them, in the name of their distracted country, and for the sake of their friends and neighbors who were hewn down by their merciless foes, to take up arms in their defence. Tears rolled down the cheeks of those sturdy frontiersmen at the thrilling appeal, and catching the enthusiasm of their pastor they immediately organized a body of cavalry to go to the assistance of their fellow-country