, 1864-12-16

during the fore part of October, made a raid
from the British shore of Lake Erie capturing
and burning couple Of small steamers. Some
time afterwards similar band of plunderers
made descent upon the little town of St. AL
bans, Vt, robbing the banks, stealing horses,
woundng citizens and making off to "neutral
territory" on the Canada side with the spols.-
The raiders carried off several hundred thou
sand dollars with them which amount they got
from the banks. A portion of the money was
afterwards recaptured by the villagers, who
collected together and pursued the plunderers.
The dash upon the villagers of St. Adams was
a complete surprise; the raiders having come
into the town from different directions and so
disguised as to excite no suspicion, having re-
volvers concealed about their persons. When
the attack commenced none of the towns peo-
pie were suspecting that the Confeds. were in
their midst, and were completely panic stricken
when the Confeds opened upon them with pis-
tol shots from every direction. The band of
marauders consisted of only some twenty-five
or thirty persons in all, and they ransacked the
town, captured the banks, stole a number of
horses, and held undsputed possession of the
place for about twenty minutes, at the end of
which time they mounted their stolen steeds and
made off with their booty. They threatened the
terrified villagers with such expressions as
"We will burn your id town" "We will
treat you as the people of Atantawere treated"
awe are coming back again, and will burn ev-
Y
used, we infer that the rebels justified their
burning and pillaging operations upon the
ground that the opposition had in some instan-
ces adopted the system part of their tactics,
and that, therefore, they were justified in adopt
ing like system by way of retaliation But
what will make the matter appear worse to the
New England people, is the fact that the Cana
da rebels have the advantage of the plunder sys-
tenn for they can make their raids and get back
upon neutral territory, where they are supposed
to have the right of asylum; whereas the New
England people, from their present base of sup
plies, can find no convenient neutral territory
where they can play the game back upon the
rebels The Britains will no doubt enjoy our
Yankee predicament and let the Confeds slash
away on the federal borders. They will now
be able to see clearly that the war is being con-
Quoted upon the "highest principles known to
Christian civilization" inasmuch as the rebels
are likely to out-strategy the Jonathans in this
plunder system of warfare. General Dix has
been ordered to look after the Canada raiders,
and to follow them into Canada if necessary.
l. a.
think the robbers should be brought to punish
ment. The Toronto Globe, after narrating the
facts of the raid, says:
1t could hardly be asserted that any Confed-
crate interest would be served by the capture of
vessels on Lake Erie, the projected release of
the prisoners on Johnson Islands being a
scheme which only fool madman could
conceive. But whatever excuse might be offered
for the Lake Erie pirates is entirely inapplica-
bic to this st. Adams case. The object was
robbery, not of the American Government, but
of privase individuals, and it was accompanied
by the more heinous crime of attempted murder.
We are not told who the perpetrators are, but it
is an ascertained fact that they took refuge on
our soil after committing the deed. Some of
them have been arrested in Canada, at which
we sincerely rejoice, since it will serve to show
that Canadians have no sympathy with the rob-
berry and murder which Southern sympathizers
seem to consider legitimate proceedings if the
sufferers residents of the North.
We cannot help thinking that these outrages
on our frontier designed to embroil Britain
with the United States Punder may be one
object; but the sanction which these despera-
does must receive from Southerners Of a better
class proceeds, we fear, from different motive.
The Montreal Herald, in dis cussing the raid,
says:
For our own part we are far from accusing
our government of winking at or in any way
knowingly countenancing, conniving with or
permitting the use of our territory basis for
such brigand like aggression on neighbOrs with
whom we are at peace. But whether it was
better fortune or better management, the Gov
ernment which was in power year ago found
out what was going on when a somewhat SINH
lar attempt was made IN time to prevent it, in
stead Of only in time to punish it; and we all
remember that the measures they took for its
prevention were treated political crime
Two successful yiIlainies-the one on Lake Erie
and the other in the State of VermOnt-both
complished within few weeks, prove the ne
cessty of the vigilance then exercised. We
may be quite sure that there blackguards
enough on the other side of the lines to retail
ate such raids as these if they multiplied, and
to claim the praise of patriotism for their cow
perhaps drift into state of hOstilities along the
border before we know in what direction we are
going. There can be no doubt that bandits like
those who made the attack on the banks at St.
Adams have derived encouragement from what
has been written here. When lot of scoun-
drels of the same kidney plotted to seize a
steamer for the purpose of capturing Johnson
Island there were Canadian journals who were
not ashamed first of all to ayow that they had
been acquainted with the plot for long time
before, and that they had kept back their knowl-
edge till it could do no one any harm then to
excuse, or rather to applaud the endeaYor to
embroil us in war with our neighbors, as a her
oic and humane action; and finally to assert
that the whole thing was an impOsturey that
there was no plot at all, and that the Canadian
Government of the day had been gratuitously
acting the part of spies to curry favor with the
Government at Washington.
INCIDENT OF THE ST. ALBANs RAID The Bulle-
tins N. Y Correspondent mentions the following
incident in connection with the raid upon st. Al
bans, Vermont:
"On heir way ont of the village an incident