The Battle of Lake Erie.
-- Bancroft is writing for the New York Ledger an account of "Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie." The number for this week recounts the events of the contest previous to Perry's leaving the Lawrence, when "the shrieks of the wounded and the crash of timbers shattered by cannon balls, were still heard; but its own fire grew fainter and fainter; one gun after another was dismounted.--Death had the mastery: the carnage was unparalleled in naval warfare; more than four-fifths of the effective officers and men on board were killed or disabled by wounds; the deck, in spite of the layer of sand, was slippery with blood, which ran down the sides of the ship the wounded and the dead lay thickly strewn everywhere around. To fire the last gun, Perry himself assisted. At last every gun in the ship's battery on the enemy's side was dismounted, every brace and bowline was shot away; the vessel became unmanageable, in spite of the zeal of the commander and the great exertions of the Sailing Master. And still Perry did not despair, but had an eye which could look through the cloud. "
