service; and those soldiers who were stationed in the colonies, felt, when
they obtained the command of a company, that they were entitled to receive the
greatest deference from the peaceful occupants of the soil. Any one of our
readers, who has occasion to cross the Niagara, may easily observe, not only the
self-importance, but the real estimation enjoyed by the humblest representative
of the Crown, even in that polar region of royal sunshine. Such, and at no very
distant period, was the respect paid to the military in these States, where now,
happily, no symbol of war is ever seen, unless at the free and fearless voice of
their people. When therefore, the father of Marmaduke's friend, after forty
years' service, retired with the rank of Major, maintaining in his domestic
establishment a comparative splendour, he became a man of the first
consideration in his native colony - which was that of New-York. He had served
with fidelity and courage, and, having been, according to the custom of the
provinces, entrusted with commands much superior to those to which he was
entitled by rank, with reputation also. When Major Effingham yielded to the
claims of age, he retired with dignity, refusing his half-pay or any other
compensation for services, that he felt he could no longer perform. The ministry
proffered various civil offices, which yielded not only honour but profit; but
he declined them all, with the chivalrous independence and loyalty, that had
marked his character through life. The veteran soon caused this act of patriotic
disinterestedness, to be followed by another of private munificence, that,
however little it accorded with prudence, was in perfect conformity with the
simple integrity of his own views. The friend of Marmaduke was his only child;
and to this son, on his marriage with a lady to whom the father was particularly
partial, the Major gave a complete conveyance of his whole estate, consisting of
moneys in the funds, a town and country residence, sundry valuable farms in the
old parts of the colony, and large tracts of wild land in the new; - in this
manner throwing himself upon the filial piety of his child for his own future
maintenance. Major Effingham, in declining the liberal offers of the British
ministry, had subjected himself to the suspicion of having attained his dotage,
by all those who throng the avenues to court patronage, even in the remotest
corners of that vast empire; but, when he thus voluntarily stript himself of his
great personal wealth, the remainder of the community seemed instinctively to
adopt the