Navy Island.

off; at such times they have been visited by a few persons. The little island which lies between this and the Canada shore, and which just rises above the water, is called Gull Island, from the circumstance of its being the resort of great numbers of birds, of that species. There they live secure and unmolested by man.

Some years ago, a bridge from the island to Canada, to pass over Gull Island, was a favorite project with some gentlemen.

It would have been a great undertaking; and, if completed, a curiosity not less interesting than the Falls.

Having arrived at the head of the island, where an unobstructed prospect of the river is presented, several objects are elicited by the inquiries of travellers. They are comprised in the notices which follow:

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep wave, and music in its roar :

I love not man the less, but nature more."

This island contains three hundred acres of land. It belongs to Canada, the main channel running between that and the American shore. Opposite to Navy Island, is Street's point, in Canada. It was once a navy yard of the British, and late the residence of Captain Usher, one of the persons concerned in the Caroline affair, and who was assassinated in December, 1838.

"Ah! never shall the land forget

How gushed the life-blood of her brave-
Gushed, warm with hope and valor yet,

Upon the soil they fought to save."

Prior to the last war, and before Navy Island was adjudged to belong to the British, Mr John Low made some improvements, and built a house on the eastern end. He resided there with his family. They were Americans by birth and in principle, and of very respectable character and connexions. When the war broke out, they left the island, and took up their residence on the mountain, near Bloody Run. At the battle of Queenstown, so unfortunate to the American Arms, old Mr. Low promptly volunteered, as one of the pilots, to conduct the boats. While thus employed, he was fatally wounded, and died soon after.

His son, John, at the time of his father's death, had just engaged in the practice of the law, in the county of Niagara; but gave up the prospect of a lucrative practice to serve his country, and accepted a lieutenancy in the

army.

In the disastrous close of the year 1813, when the destruction of all the villages and settlements on the Niagara river was effected by the combined forces of the English and Indians, Lieut. Low was at old Fort Schlosser, of which, however, there was then, and has been since, nothing remaining but the name. The British force that scoured along the border, was overwhelming. The lieutenant, with a few men, waited the approach of the enemy, and made such resistance as they could. He was shot, and his men saved themselves by flight.

William Chambers.

After the soldiery had secured the plunder, they took the body of Low, and laying it on a table in the hall of the ancient Schlosser house, set the building on fire. This, and all the other houses in the place, were consumed.

A brother, by the name of Vincent, when the war was over, entered the military academy, at West Point. About a year after, on the occasion of firing a salute, the cannon burst, and he was killed. His monument at West Point records the melancholy event.

"No voice comes to him o'er the vast of waves,
But the wild dashing of the unrelenting surge."

In the accounts of the affair of Navy Island, an old woman is mentioned as being the only inhabitant when Mackenzie's men took possession. She was the widow of William Chambers, an individual among the early settlers of the country, of some notoriety. He was one of those persons often found upon the frontier of two nations; sometimes living in one, and at another time living in the other; taking a part equally with citizens or subjects in political affairs, and entering with interest in matters and things incident to the nation in which he happened to be. In Canada, a most loyal subject: in the United States, most vociferous in support of the dominant party.

At the commencement of the war with England, he resided in the United States, a few miles in the rear of Fort Niagara. At one period, he was suspected of car

William Chambers.

rying on a correspondence with the British, but no evidence appeared against him. When, however, the country was overrun by the enemy, he remained at home unmolested; and he and å few others, after that period, kept up a communication with them, at Fort Niagara. It was not generally believed that his intercourse with them was of a criminal character. With his neighbors, he passed as a very easy, obliging man, designing evil

to no one.

He was one of the pioneers of Niagara county, and a genuine leather-stocking. He was among the first that opened the woods on the lake shore, at Eighteen-mile Creek. He would frequently sell out, as is usual with persons of his description, and realizing a small profit on his labor, would pay off his debts and commence

anew.

His last residence was at Navy Island, under the jurisdiction of Canada: his principal occupation was hunting, trapping, and fishing. Grand Island, and the other islands in the river, abounded with game. The muskrat was the chief object of pursuit, being, the most numerous and affording the best return; coons were also plenty the meat was acceptable, and the skins sold readily. The mink, the fox, and the otter, afforded him more valuable furs. To these, he occasionally added the deer, the bear, and wolf.

He had arrived to near sixty years of age, when, one very stormy night, in the month of December, he and another person came to a farm house, near the river, about seven miles above the Falls. They said they had been up the river, and had purchased a barrel of whiskey, which they had with them in the canoe. They staid an hour, and at nine o'clock, departed. They were advised

:

Expedition to Navy Island.

to remain the severity of the storm, the darkness of the night, and the danger of the river, were urged upon them; but Chambers was confident in his ability to "get over the bay." In one sense, he was over it then, or "half seas over." They would go they launched their frail canoe in the rapid stream: for a moment only, after leaving the shore, they were distinguishable. - they were then lost in the driving tempest; and men or canoe were never more heard of. They went over the Falls.

"Night's blessed spell hath now

Lulled every sound of earth in slumber deep.

The sad heart hath awhile forgot its woe

The weary frame its toil; but such sweet sleep

Brings not its balm to soothe this fevered brain and brow."

About the middle of the month of December, 1837, twenty-eight men, principally Canadians, with Rensselaer Van Rensselaer and William Lyon Mackenzie, went on Navy Island. . They called to them the patriots of Canada, and all others the friends of that cause. In the space of three weeks, between three and four hundred responded to the call: some from the United States, and some from Canada. They brought with them arms and provisions. They staid on the island for one month, and then, at their own choice, left it, and not in fear of their opponents. Opposite to them, were assembled five thousand men, consisting of British regulars, incorporated militia, and a body of Indians and Negroes. Bat