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him it was restored; and by him in the bloody field of Waterloo, the fame of an honoured father's name was revived by the valour of his brave son!

My general had, it seems, been warm in his encomiums on my conduct during his first illness at Fort Bourbon, and had kindly brought me under the favourable notice of the commander-in-chief during our sojourn at Fort Royal. The good physician too had spoken so favourably of my devoted attachment to my general, during the brief but fatal illness which terminated his valuable life, that I had already gained friends at head-quarters, to whose names and favourable sentiments I was yet a stranger.

I wrote a short letter of leave-taking to the kindest of women, the comtesse, sending it by her former gift, the slave Prospère; who, in the course of the same day, returned with his lady's reply to me, and with orders to accompany me wherever I went. The same instructions were given to the mulatto girl Marie; and by those who know what a vast saving of expense in that country the unpaid services of two such valuable individuals effect, the compliment can alone be fairly appreciated.

I repaired, with my sable suite, to head-quarters, not knowing what fate awaited me; but my reception convinced me that I should not be doomed to neglect. Although I had neither name nor fame to support my pretensions, I found myself an object of general regard and sympathy.

Having rendered in to the deputy quarter-master-general all the accounts of my late administration, I was agreeably surprised at receiving an intimation that on the succeeding 24th of the month my name would appear in the general orders as assistant quarter-master-general on the staff of Major-General Peter Hunter (then known by the sobriquet of "Blue Peter.") There was not, at that period, such a departmental rank as deputy assistant quarter-master-general; and the pay of this appointment was three dollars per day, with the allowances of cap

tain.

On expressing my apprehensions that the want of a regular military education would prove a great obstacle to my usefulness in my new employ, Colonel Driesbach relieved my mind on that score, by stating that an arrangement was then in progress, for uniting the officers of the quarter and barrack-masters general, and for reforming and consolidating the whole of the several stores of camp equipage, barrack furniture, and also the commissariat magazines; in the administration of which, the most serious losses had been sustained by neglect and malversation; and that on the completion of this arrangement, my future labour would probably (unless when the army took the field) be confined to the office duty,

The important change herein alluded to, did take place in a few months; when Brigadier-General Duncan Cameron came out from England, in the treble capacity of quarter-master, barrack-master, and store-keeper general, to the whole of the forces in the Leeward Islands.

I entered on my duty in a few days, exchanging my gold for the silver epaulette; and had the honour of being presented in form to the commander-in-chief.

Sir Ralph Abercrombie, although then turned of sixty, was a hale, well-built person, of middle stature, a strongly marked countenance, but with much benignity of expression; his long and shaggy eyebrows, shaded a pair of keen, penetrating eyes, which seemed to search into the very soul of the person he addressed. His language was quaint, but courteous; combining much of the polish of the high military circles, in which he had always moved, with that peculiar raciness for which his shrewd countrymen are so distinguished. His neglected grizzle-gray hair, barely kept together behind by a short tie of riband, added ten additional years to his appearance.

Beside him stood his adjutant-general, Brigadier-general John Hope, (late Earl of Hopetown;) even then, at the age of thirty, an officer of distinguished service, whose tall and portly figure, handsome but inexpressive countenance, cold and formal demeanour, with that studied neatness of dress, of which he was ever such an attentive observer, presented a perfect contrast to the careless gait and gesture, and the unstudied toilet of the general-in-chief, as well as to the frankness with which the latter (who, to be sure, was the sovereign of the circle) addressed himself to all.

Brigadier-General (the late Sir John) Moore, was also present; an interesting and warlike-looking man, but an evident sufferer from the fatigues of his late gallant services and the effects of the climate. He had just been honoured with the colonelcy of one of the West India corps.

No man could possibly stand higher in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers than the dashing young brigadier, for whose daring spirit, no service was too dangerous, no task too difficult; and then happily a stranger to that peace-destroying word “RESPONSIBILITY!" which palsied the actions of his latter life! The greater number of the gallant men who adorned that circle, now live alone in the memory of admiring posterity.

Towards the close of this month, the heat became exces sive, and the intelligence of the ravages made by sickness amongst the troops in the islands to the leeward was truly af flicting. A campaign was eagerly desired by all, to break the dull monotony; but the season was too far advanced for any operations in the field,

The military service in the West Indies, is at best an inglorious one! A murderous midnight battle; the sanguinary storming of some mountain fort, in which the science of war, yields to the desperation of the contending parties; or a desultory and desolating warfare in the woods, against the poor dispossessed ancient owners of the soil; these are the only scenes in which the barren laurels can be gained, and even when obtained, the victors and the vanquished quickly fill one common grave.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

When o'er this world by equinoctial rains,
Flooded immense, looks out the joyless sun,
And draws the copious steam from swampy fens,
Where putrefaction into life ferments,

And breathes destructive myriads.

THE Occasionally heavy rains tempered the fierceness of the scorching atmosphere; but there was danger in the relief. The foul and fetid exhalations from the surrounding soil, every acre of which, in the vicinity of the British quarters, was fattened with the bodies of BRITISH VICTIMS, but superficially buried, earried pestilence on their wings.

To those who have never had experience of tropical rains, it would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of their force: compared to which the heaviest showers of these climates would seem but

"As the gentle rain from heaven,
Descending on the place beneath."

As the tempestuous months advance, they become more and more terrific, accompanied by the most astounding claps of thunder. It is at such moments that the mind of the European is struck with all the horrors of the climate.

It having been found necessary to hold a board of inspection, for the concentration of all the military articles, in the various stores of St. Lucie, St. Vincent's, St. Kitt's, Grenada,. Dominica, &c. &c., the deputy quarter-master-general, with two assistants, a major of artillery, and the chief engineer, sailed in the month of September. It was my lot to be called on as one of the assistants, in order to officiate as secretary to the board.

Our first visit was to St. Lucie, to which island we proceeded in one of those boats called ballahoos, a description of vessel between the Dutch drogher, and the west of Ireland hooker. We were not many hours making the passage; but never in my life did I feel a more sudden and awful depression of spirits, from the mere circumstance of a change of place, than I experienced on my first landing at the careenage.

A few British soldiers, whom curiosity had led to the landing-place, seemed to glide about like spectres "haunting the horrid shore." Even the sooty slaves that moved our baggage, appeared but half alive. A damp and heavy mist hung over the face of the land, which gave a deceptive appearance to every object. After ascending the heights, as we proceeded towards head-quarters, a being of apparently colossal stature approached our party; but as it closed upon our view, we found it gradually diminish into the ordinary dimensions of mankind; and I soon recognised Captain Creagh, an old friend, (not with a new but with a worn and faded face,) whom I had known five years before, when doing duty in Dublin barracks, as ensign in the 8th foot. He came from the commandant to receive us, stating that the impenetrable fog, which overhung the coast prevented our boat from being seen until it touched the shore.

This once fine handsome fellow, was reduced to a mere sallow skeleton; and I sighed at his altered appearance while making myself known to him. He could hardly be convinced that I was the forward boy, with whom he had so often disported, allowing me to wear his coat, a yard too long for me, and to trail his sword. We were to dine that day at the same table, so he reserved his inquiries for the evening. The York Fusiliers, and the remains of the 44th and two other British regiments, composed the garrison at head-quarters; but so reduced in strength, that in all they seldom mustered five hundred effective men on parade. Yet the officers seemed to talk with levity of their old comrades, the Toms, the Dicks and Hurrys, who had gone to the land crabs, seemingly desirous of banishing the horrid reflections of self! But Death was not to be cheated of his marked victims-the scoffer fell in his turn! Twelve hours' sickness generally wound up the scoffer's account in this world, and the eye of the surviver turning away with disgust from the ever-open grave, sought in some new delusion to banish the sense of mortality, or to drown the painful thought in fresh dissipation.

I state it wtih regret, that I never in the course of my service in the West Indies, met with one man, who reposed his hopes or put his strength in the Great Fountain of all Mercy, to bear him unharmed through the surrounding perils. If any

were impressed with these feelings, well becoming the bravest man that ever served his country, they made a show of suppressing them. I may here add, as a proof of the general contempt for pious reflections, that some young fellows having discovered a prayer-book in my writing-desk, a few weeks previ ously to my departure from Martinique, nick-named me "HOLY ST. PATRICK FROM IRELAND!" Frequently have I heard discussions on the subject of the kit of some sick and dying officer, before the breath had left his body, and the various articles which he was known to possess, already, in idea, put up to vendue, and purchased by those who coveted them! In those days that disgusting and odious sentiment, A bloody war, and a sickly season, was most unthinkingly and profanely toasted! A savage selfishness seemed to pervade every breast, like the shipwrecked wretch cast on a solitary rock, who grasps with all his strength, its yet uncovered pinnacle, spurning from his feet his struggling fellow-sufferers, while clinging with desperate tenacity to one short half-hour's life!

I was myself present some months after, when the lieutenant-colonel of a British regiment (a West Indian by birth, who rendered himself every way obnoxious to his corps, by his tyranny and cruelty,) was exposed to the mortification of hearing a captain of the same regiment toast at the mess. A speedy rot amongst the field-officers! Smothering his indig nation, the atrabilious despot, with a presence of mind which nobody had ever given him credit for, filled his glass to the brim, and with a sardonic smile very coolly gave, A speedy rot amongst the field-officers above ME! and instantly rose from the table, darting a furious look at the captain, as he girded on his sword with something of an emphatic gesture, and hastily left the mess-room.

The next morning, at seven o'clock, I beheld the corpse of the luckless toast-master wrapt in a soldier's great-coat, and borne into the barracks on some of his men's shoulders! He had been shot through the brain half an hour before by the cool and murderous aim of the Creolian colonel.*

After this digression, let me briefly despatch St. Lucie, by

*The fate of this man was an unhappy one. Detesting, and detested by mankind, he still idolized that profession which he disgraced, and fondly loved the wife, by whom he was himself disgraced. On embarking for the West Indies, he placed this young and interesting woman under the care of an only brother: if there was a trait of soft humanity in his nature, it arose from his doting fondness for this lovely woman! But when dismissed from the army, (in consequence of the fatal duel above mentioned,) he returned to England to solace his sorrows in the breast of an affectionate wife, he found her an adulteress in the arms of his own brother!-The details of this case were published in all their odious minutia, with the account of the trial for crim. con.-A British jury deemed 50007. damages a sufficient reparation to the injured husband, and an adequate vindication of offended national morality.

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