The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-15 00:00:00

ITALY AND NAPOLEON.

In 1859 about £B,ooo—a large sum for impoverished
Italy—was subscribed by the Italians for a monument to
the Emperor Napoleon. Ten years elapsed, and the world
saw nothing of this testimonial of national gratitude ; but
this year, the Liberte assures us, the long-pending memorial
would have come into existence, but for the Emperor
himself. Instead of a monument, he preferred that the
money should go towards increasing the endowment of the
Soldiers' Daughters' institution, erected by national sub-
scription, and just opened.

ENGLISH SPORTSMEN IN AMERICA.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

Capt. Fred. T. Townshend gives the most recent
adventures of a Britisher in pursuit of American
game, and his book is written in an easy, pleasant,
and readable style. His shooting in the United
States may be divided into these varieties—that
of the old forest and river sport, furnished by the
Back Woods of the Eastern States which he sought
in Adirondack, New York ; over the prairies, which
he enjoyed in company with a scouting party of
United States troops in the best buffalo country of
Nebraska and Kansas along the Republican River,
and not far from the very ground now the scene of the
depredations by the Indians; and among the Rocky
Mountains, principally where the Colorado peaks
rise high around a wide valley, which is itself 10,000
feet above the sea level. Captain Townshend, in his
pursuit of American game, employed the time the
Horse Guards gave him to the best advantage ; he
is an officer of that cavalry brigade to which the
person of the Sovereign is more especially entrusted,
and which therefore takes rank before all troops of
the line, and are always to be seen in London dis-
tinguishable from other cavalry by the weight of
horse and men, as well as by their glittering armour.
His account of the expedition with General Augur
is of the more interest, as the ground is so asso-
ciated with stirring incidents of the present Indian
war. The policy of the Government is to press
back the Indian tribes, more especially the Sioux,
Cheyennes, and Arapahoes south from the line of
the Pacific Railroad; hence the constant expeditions
along the right bank of the Platte by the Republican
Fork down to the Arkansas River. The Pawnee
Indians are the allies of the United States soldiers,
acd many of them accompabied the expedition.
Major North was one of its officers, and our readers
may recollect that he, while with a hunting party
of the Pawnees, was attacked on this very ground by
the Cheyenms and Sioux last summer, and almost
immediately after followed the massacres in Kansas.
Among the men were one or two who had served
with Colonel Forsyth, when he, under an order from
Sheridan, traversed the same country with eighty
soldiers, and were beset by several hundred
savages, against whom they had to:defend them-.
selves for days until their ammunition_ was ex-
pended, when nearly all were killed or wounded,
a few being captured and horribly tortured.
While scouring this wild region the men amuse
themselves by hunting buffalo, and they generally
keep their pot well filled with the choicest parts of
the animal—the tongue, and the tender loin, as
they call it. Although the buffalo is the piece de re-
sistance for all, there is no lack of smaller game on
the rolling prairies. The troops use the common A
tent of the United States Army, with three poles,
two perpendicular and one transverse. On reach-
ing their ground the horses are turned loose to
graze for a couple of hours, the waggons are placed
in a circle outside, and the animals, after getting a
feed of Indian corn, are fastened to the ropes
stretched between these waggons. Picquets are
mounted, but there is little danger of the Indians
attacking at night, as they have a superstition that,
if killed in the dark, they will have to hunt in
the dark through endless time. The cavalry
saddle is a wooden frame, rising to a peak be-
fore as well as behind, and covered with untanned
hide. It is a skeleton saddle, with an open space
between the frames on either side of the horse's
back, whereby good ventilation is Secured, and a
folded blanket is placed on the horse beneath it.
The stirrup leathers are used at least three inches
longer than in the British cavalry, the leg being
quite straight and the foot resting in a wooden
stirrup covered with leather which prevents the sol-
dier from inserting much of the foot. This Capt.
Townshend describes as a horrible nuisance, being
more tiring than anything he knows in long marches
of nine hours a day. Wellington boots are worn
drawn over light blue overalls ; a light blue over-
coat, and a forage cap, with a straight peak, com-
pletes the uniform, A brown leather pouch-belt,
with a Spencer carbine and a six chamber revolver,
were the arms carried. When engaged with
Indians the men dismount and fight on foot. The
country is broken throughout with ravines, being in
every direction
..gut up by smaller ones, while occa-
sionally chasms a thousand feet deep intervene,
upon the brink of which the rider finds himself
without being aware of any change in the land. In
such places the savages, who know the country, can
seek shelter with little chance of danger from white
men ; but the case would be different with Indians,
who follow a trail at a gallop which is when it is
wholly invisible to the closest scrutiny of the white.
In pursuing buffalo horses rapidly gain on them
where the country is unobstructed by these ravines ;
but the buffalo, even in herds, gallop over the leser ob-
stacles without checking their pace. Capt. Town-
shend had a good many rides, and a considerable num-
ber of these unfortunate animals, doomed to extirpa-
tion with the Indian, were sacrificed. The savages re-
gard with disgust the wanton destruction perpe-
trated by the white men of the buffalo on the plains
and of the elk in the mountains, and their disgust
finds an echo in many a white man's heart, for it is
a wanton cruelty to shoot the poor beasts merely
for the pleasure. of killing, as so ruthlessly practised
along the railroad. An old bull pursued by Capt.
Townshend, after being desperately wounded,
charged on being overtaken, and the horse stood
still in fright. The Life Guardsman was sent fly-
ing, but the buffalo passed right under the horse,
raising his hind-quarters, and, fortunately for the
rider, taking no further notice of him, pursued the
animal. Nothing could exceed the kindness-and
hospitality of the Apaericanofacers, and Capt. Towns-
• gi .