on. They scoured the country in all directions and in all
seasons, and by the swiftness of their movements, and the certainty of
their vengeance, rivalled their predecessors, the rangers. When a
depredation had been committed, it was marvellous with what rapidity
every regulator knew it; even the telegraph of modern days performs no
greater wonders: and it frequently happened, that the first the quiet
citizens heard of a theft, or a robbery, was the news of its punishment!
Their acts may sometimes have been high-handed and unjustifiable, but on
the whole--and it is only in such a view that social institutions are to
be estimated--they were the preservers of the communities for whom they
acted. In time, it is true, they degenerated, and sometimes the corps
fell into the hands of the very men they were organized to punish.

Every social organization is liable to misdirection, and this, among
others, has been perverted to the furtherance of selfish and
unprincipled purposes; for, like prejudices and habits of thought,
organized institutions frequently survive the necessities which call
them into existence. Abuses grow up under all systems; and, perhaps, the
worst abuse of all, is a measure or expedient, good though temporary,
retained after the passing away of the time for which it was adopted.

But having, in the article "Pioneer," sufficiently elaborated the
_character_--for the regulator was of course a pioneer also--we can best
illustrate the mode of his action by a narrative of facts. From the
hundreds of well-authenticated stories which might be collected, I have
chosen the two following, because they distinguish the successive stages
or periods of the system. The first relates to the time when a band of
regulators was the only reliable legal power, and when, consequently,
the vigilance of the citizens kept it comparatively pure. The second
indicates a later period, when the people no longer felt insecure, and
there was in fact no necessity for the system; and when, not having been
disused, it could not but be abused. We derive both from an old citizen
of the country, who was an actor in each. One of them, the first, has
already been in print, but owing to circumstances to which it is
needless to advert, it was thought better to confine the narrative to
facts already generally known. These circumstances are no longer
operative, and I am now at liberty to publish entire the story of "The
First Grave."

THE FIR