I may say, a
very modest account from the catalogue of my experience, may not be
out of place. Well, I, Smooth, _Minister-in-General to General
Pierce_, received, in addition to my own previous conclusion, an
incentive to the object in view, conveyed in a dispatch from my
Grandpapa Marcy, in which he advised the repairing immediately to
Halifax, there to witness the grand battle that was to for ever settle
the fish question, and give peace to fishermen and fish in general. It
was sincerely hoped that in the settlement of this long unsettled
question, Mr. Pierce would keep his black-pig at home. The result
proved the mistake: war was declared. And the day on which the great
struggle would be decided ushered in upon a scene at once gloomy and
ominous. Mysterious and fleecing clouds now obscured the heavens, and
again shadowed with their silvery mists the surface of the sullen
stream. A contest of mighty import was to be decided. The hazard was
great, but the point to be gained small indeed; and men moved along
the busy streets whispering their strong misgivings. Monster
war-ships, with ponderous engines supplied, rode like sleeping demons
upon the water's leaden surface. An hour of anxiety passed, a signal
of war echoed forth, and murmured over the landscape like distant
thunder coursing along the heavens. Then the murmuring sound
re-echoed, as if the battlements above had opened upon the earth and
sea. Soon Britannia's wooden walls were seen veering into line and
preparing for action; America's ranged in the same order, waiting the
dread moment. Anxious eyes and thoughts strained in expectation of the
bloody struggle; then the boatswain's shrill whistle sounded forth,
the leaden clouds overhead chased away, and bolder outlined became the
figures of venerable Admirals, who, immersed in glittering uniforms,
paced their quarter-decks. Again the ominous mouths of fierce cannon
suddenly protruded more savagely from the sides of the huge hulks, and
the shrill whistle sounded; all was bustle and confusion--eager
thousands of both sexes crowded wharves lining the shore, and many
struggled for space to stand upon while witnessing the terrible
conflict. Again all was hushed into stillness; in breathless suspense
did excitement sit on every countenance, as if waiting for the signal
flash soon to break forth and turn everything into a chaos. A
quarter-master was seen passing a speaking trumpet to the burly old
British admiral, who,