a small sum each to assist in securing the cargo in carts; neither did the sailors share in the profits, but were paid higher wages than usual for the risk they ran; and as soon as the cargo was delivered from the boat their duty was done, and they made the best of their way to the vessel.

Thornville and his party had got within a few yards of the smugglers before they were discovered; but suddenly, the cry of the "Coast-Guard!" from one of them, seemed to strike the rest with a panic. It was but momentary, for the smugglers closed, the men with bludgeons in the front, and presented a formidable body when compared with the Lieutenant and his ten men. The sailors belonging to the boat had not been inactive, but were making every effort to launch her. Billy Because, seeing this, whispered to the Lieutenant, who was next him, and having received his orders, said aloud, "Follow me, Paddy, we'll have the first blow, because that is half the battle;" and away they ran to secure the boat; "I seize that boat and her cargo, in the King's name, because you ha'n't paid the duty."

But Billy was a little out of his calculation; for the boat's crew, instead of surrendering, armed themselves with the oars and stretchers and seemed prepared for a determined resistance.

66

Ay now, is that your sport?" said M'Shane; "then we'll just have a bit of a scrummage for the honour of ould Ireland." With the true feeling of his countrymen his spirits rose at the thoughts of a fight; he jumped into the air, brandished his sword above his head, and, giving a loud halloo, accompanied by Billy, who was all coolness and discipline, rushed among the sailors. Four to two were great odds; but the superior arms of the Coast-Guard men put them nearly on a par. The fight, however, was a desperate one, and twice had the boat been in possession of each party; when M'Shane unfortunately received a violent blow on the arm, which made him drop his swordthis was immediately seized by a sailor, who would soon have made M Shane, as he expressed it, "kick the bucket," but he was not to be done in this way, for drawing forth his pistol, he fired, and had the pleasure of seeing, to continue his own expression, "the tundering teef grunting and rolling about in the sand like an eel without his jacket."

The other men, hearing the report of the pistol, and seeing the fate of their companion, ceased their attack on Billy Because, and retreated as fast as their legs could carry them. Billy now fired his pistol, but without effect, and, turning to M'Shane, inquired if he was hurt. M'Shane complained of his arm.

"Never mind your arm, Paddy, we have won the battle, because there is no one left to fight."

Thornville and the rest of his party had not been inactive. They made the best of their way to the main body, when some of the smugglers declared they would murder them if they came near. Say you so, my fine fellows," said Thornville. "Recollect your

66

orders, men, and follow me."

Each man fired his pistol, and, in the confusion, rushed among the smugglers; the battle became general but did not last long. Thornville's party were well disciplined and became powerful from its union, while the men engaged by the smugglers were all in disorder. Being well aware of the severe punishment that awaited detection, each thought

of escape, and many were making the best of their way up the cliffs. The ringleaders fought with more determination, but were soon overpowered, and Thornville was left with four of them as prisoners. These, with the body of the man who had died from the wound he received from M'Shane, were secured in the watch-house, while the rest of the party were conveying the tobacco to the same place.

This affair made a great noise in the neighbouring villages, and the Coast-Guard men could not go out without being insulted. The smugglers were condemned by the magistrates to twelve months' imprisonment and hard labour, and poor M'Shane was to be tried for causing the death of the sailor at the ensuing assizes.

When M'Shane was informed of this he was ready to burst with indignation.

"Me to be tried for the murthur? me, who was employed by the King's Majesty to do this same? Och hone, och hone! what a sarvicea man is always doing wrong when he is doing right,—you call this sarvice, do you?-only let me get clear of it, and may I be murthured ten times over if ever I enter it again,-enter it again? why, I'd marry the Devil's daughter and live with the ould people first."

"M'Shane," said Billy Because, "laws are laws because they are laws, and no one of his Majesty's liege subjects is allowed to break the laws, because there is an act of Parliament against it. Now, M'Shane, you have broken a principal law, because you shot that man and must be tried for the murder; but it is no murder, M'Shane, because there is another law which obliges you to shoot all men that is breaking another law, and therefore, M'Shane, you'll be sure to be acquitted; because you shot the man while he was breaking the law, and because it was in defence of your own natural self."

If this learned argument was not satisfactory to M'Shane, it was perfectly so to Billy, who stalked away with a self-satisfied smile upon his countenance which almost amounted to a grin.

The assizes came on, M'Shane was, of course, acquitted, and highly complimented for his courage; but he never recovered the "indignity," as he called it.

The Lieutenant and the rest of the party were, a few days afterwards, rendered happy by a very flattering letter of thanks from the Comptroller-General, and more so by the large pecuniary reward paid for the seizure of the tobacco. All shared in the general joy but poor M'Shane, who became so disgusted with the service that he resolved to quit it, and therefore took the opportunity one evening, when Thornville had a few friends with him, to enter the room completely armed and thus addressed the Lieutenant :

"There's your musket, Sir,-there's your pistol, Sir, there's your sword, Sir," placing each article on the table." I have nothing to say agin you, Sir; but as for your sarvice, my curse upon it, Sir." He then gave an "Irish fling" and a loud halloo, bounced through the door, and was never heard of after.

R. B.

THE SIEGE OF AMERABAD, IN KHORASSAN.

FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF AN ENGLISH OFFICER IN THE PERSIAN SERVICE.

[We extract the following narrative from the journal of an Officer engaged in the operations described, as exhibiting the Persians, under their European system of organization, engaged and succeeding in the details of a regular siege. The storming of Amerabad by Abbas Meerza is an event of some interest in the modern military annals of Persia.-ED.]

MESHID, 5th July, 1832.-Letters came in from camp with the intelligence that the Prince Royal (Abbas Meerza) had commenced operations before Amerabad. This was contrary to his original intentions; the course marked out having been to leave about 2000 men to invest the place, so as to cut off all communications from without, and to march the main force to Coochan, which place was considered to be weaker than the newly-constructed fort of Amerabad. Indeed it was imagined by the Khorassannees that Amerabad was impregnable, but it was yet thought that when Coochan had fallen, the other fort would not hold out.

The circumstances which led to this change in the plan of operations are as follow. When the army was within a few miles of Amerabad, the advanced guard under Khosroe Meerza, consisting of one regiment of infantry, and 400 Zelan Koordish horse, with two six-pounders, was suddenly and boldly attacked by a party of Toorkman and Koordish horse, which had been moving about near the fort during several days past. After some skirmishing, the Prince's party drove the enemy back into the fort, the Zelan Koords behaving very valiantly. At the same time M. Barowski also, with 200 men, succeeded in driving a party of the enemy from a spot in the neighbourhood of the fort, where they were entrenched. The fire from the walls was kept up during the time very briskly, but it only wounded a few men. One of the Zelan Koords, when at no great distance from the gate of the fort, cut down a Toorkman, and dismounting under a shower of bullets, cut off his head and galloped off with it.

On the Prince Royal's arrival with the main force, he at first wished to push on to Coochan, in accordance with his original intention, but he was persuaded to attack Amerabad at once, being assured that it would soon fall, and that, upon his getting possession of it, nothing could then stand in the way of a direct communication with Meshid. M. Barowski, accordingly, with 500 of the Khosser regiment, broke ground at about 400 yards' distance from the fort, and began to open

trenches.

In consequence of the sudden attack upon Amerabad, order after order came into Meshid for supplies of ammunition, &c.; extra workmen had therefore to be employed in the arsenal, which now presented a busy scene.

8th. This day about 300 camels laden with ammunition left the city, together with all the mortars and a quantity of stone-shot and shells. At night I started, and got into camp next morning at sunrise.

Camp before Amerabad, 9th July.-Immediately on my arrival I visited the trenches, to ascertain the state of the siege. The fort, which was different to any in Persia, had been constructed by Reeza Kooli Khan after his own plan, grounded, it is said, upon information given him by an European who some years back passed through Coochan.* It has a glacis, a deep ditch, and a low thick wall with circular bastions, whereas the usual construction of Persian forts is a ditch, within which is a mound, a few yards high, formed with the earth excavated, and behind this, at the distance of about eight yards, is a high wall, five or six feet thick, with hollow bastions full of loop-holes for musketry. At the period of my arrival a sap had been carried forward by M. Barowski opposite the north-east angle of the fort, to within a short distance of the edge of the ditch, and a party of 50 Serbauz had the night before effected a lodgment on the crest of the glacis and were working back. From this lodgment M. Barowski was throwing into the ditch quantities of boughs of trees, earth, and wet grass in bundles, in order to reduce its depth. There was a safe approach to within 200 yards by the dry bed of a small stream, which was about five feet deep. Here were two batteries, each containing an eighteen and a twenty-fourpounder. At the south side of the fort, next the entrance, the works were more extensive. They had been begun by Persians at a distance of 500 yards, and were carried on to near the ditch, but so irregularly, that the passage through them was extremely dangerous. On this side also were two batteries with four twelve pounders. It was intended to enter the fort from either side as circumstances might permit, and consequently the greatest jealousy was felt between the two advancing parties. The besieged had no cannon, but about 800 shamkauls, zemberooks, heavy matchlocks, and rifles. The position of Abbas Meerza's camp was about a mile and a half north; the Khasser regiment, south-east; and the Maragha regiment, west: about three miles to the west was the Shegangee regiment, light infantry, as an advanced guard; and beyond a body of horse were piquetted in a ruined village. Very few had been killed up to this time.

Upon my return to camp, I had an interview with the Prince Royal and his son Mahommed Meerza, when his Royal Highness inquired particularly as to what was doing, and what was to be done, as he was most anxious to gain possession of the fort. He told me that already more than 2000 shot had been expended, yet the walls had suffered but slightly, all the mischief done being the destroying of the light parts of the bastions. From the observations which I had made, it appeared to me to be utterly impossible to breach the walls; besides which, the ditch presented a most formidable obstacle, it being not less than 58 feet deep. No other course presented itself, therefore, than that a bastion at one of the angles of the fort should be thrown into the ditch by a mine; I explained my views to the Prince, who told me that I had authority to act entirely as I might think fit, provided I adopted such

I have since been informed, that some years back, when Mr. Frazer was at Coochan, Reeza Kooli Khan asked him for a plan of an European fort; and there is no doubt that from the information which the Khan thus obtained, he constructed Amerabad and the modern fort of Coochan, which totally differ from the usual style of Persian forts.

U.S. JOURN. No. 83, Oct. 1835.

measures as would cause the place to fall in the shortest possible time, upon which point his Royal Highness's anxiety was excessive.

10th.-Finding that the works of M. Barowski were most in advance, besides the advantage of acting in concert with an European officer, I determined on bringing the mortars into his trenches, and beginning the mine on his side. At night we began throwing shells from the two small mortars, and large stone balls from a thirteen-inch mortar ; this was kept up till the morning, by which time the sap was joined to the lodgment. A raised battery was also begun in order to command the bastion, behind which the garrison were discovered to be at work. In describing this attack, it is sufficient to mention the works on the one side only, as those on the other side of the fort were a mere copy of ours.

11th. This morning at daybreak the garrison opened a sharp fire on our working party engaged upon the battery, and succeeded in driving them off; a few rounds from the gun-batteries, however, soon silenced their fire. In the afternoon I began to sink a shaft for mining the north-east bastion; and during the night great quantities of materials were also thrown into the ditch in order to reduce its depth, without which the throwing down of the bastion would have been comparatively useless. The works were in many instances retarded from the great anxiety of the Prince to save his men. The besieged were all this time actively engaged in raising a defence across the back of the bastion.

12th. At work all day throwing earth, trees, &c., into the ditch: during the day more than 1500 mule-loads were brought down to the trenches; at the same time occasional firing was kept up from the batteries, against the defences which were being raised, by the besieged. In the course of the day Yclanboosh Khan, who had been sent to Merve on a mission to the Khan of Khiva, returned to camp. The result of his mission has not transpired, but he reported that the Oosbegs still held the intention of advancing, but they appeared willing to wait the conclusion of affairs at Amerabad.

13th. This afternoon there was a truce for about an hour, when some of our people went to the edge of the ditch to talk with Jussuf Khan, the Governor. In answer to a demand that the place should be given up, he replied, that although he was fully aware that unless relieved the fort sooner or later must fall, yet that he must hold out till the last, as Reeza Kooli Khan had put it out of his power to come to terms by taking the wives and families of many of the garrison to Coochan, and that the surrender of Amerabad would be the signal for their slaughter. He said further, "Tell the Prince that we are his servants and ready to serve him, if he will only restore our families to us." Thus the truce ended. We recommenced throwing shots from the mortars, and continued to do so all night.

14th. This afternoon, under cover of a heavy fire from the walls, an attempt was made by the enemy to set fire to the raised battery, in the construction of which much dried grass and wood had been used; however, it did not succeed, the assailants being driven back with some loss.

15th. During these days I had been engaged on my underground operations, and this morning I completed the gallery of the mine. Its length from shaft to chamber was 18 Persian yards, or 63 feet. At