16 AUGUST 1828, Page 11

E:trly on Sunday morning, the Hill April, our tents were

struck, and we moved ;dung with the other regimtmti of the 0th divi,:ion, towards the neighbaurhood of 'couldnsv, until ordered to hall on a level ground, fliont whence we lie 0 distinct view of the enemy's position on the ridge of hiNs already menlioned. At the sane lime, we saw Lard Wellington, accom- panied by his Staff, ruling back from the front at a bard trot. lie was easily known, even at a considerable distance, by the peculiarly erect carriage of his head. and the white cravat which he always wore. Sallie of the tm.'n called out. ; There goes Wellington, my lads, we shall have some hot work. 1.,re-:emly." At that mom,,nt Ceneral Pack, who cendnande I our brigade, Cali; up, and, calling its Gilicer, and non-commi,,slom:.1 0::i;ers around him, nATTLE oh Tovr.ot7sr:.

addressed them M words to the following eirect.—.. We sic this day to the enemy. Your business will be to take posse....siou of these fortified

heights, which you see towards the front; I have only to warn you to be

prepared to form close column, in case of a charge of cavalry, and to restrain the impetuosity of the men, and prevent them from wasting their ammunition: The drum then beat to arms, and we received orders to move on towards the enemy's position. Marshal Beresford crossed the Ers, at the bridge of Croix d'Orade ; and, with the fourth division, carried the village of Mont Blanc ; and the Spanish General Don Manuel ireyere, proceeding along the left of the Ers, formed his corps on a height, in front of the enemy's left ; moved on to the attack under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, and lodged his troops beneath

some banks, immediately under the enemy's entrenchments; but, in attempt- ing to turn their left flank, the Spaniards were repulsed, and the French rushing out upon them from the entrenchments, drove them down the hill in great confusion. They suffered considerably in retiring, but rallied again, upon seeing the light division come up to their assistance. Mean time, our division (the 6th) approached the foot of the ridge of heights, on the enemy's right, and moved in a direction parallel to them, until we should reach the point of attack. We advanced along the foot of the ridge, under a heavy cannonade, from sonic redoubts on the heights. At one part of the ground over which we passed, many of the shot took effect ; and a soldier immediately before me, was struck by a cannon ball about the middle of the body, and fell a frightful and shapeless mass, scarcely retaining a trace of humanity. We arrived, at last, immediately in front of a redoubt, which protected the right of the enemy's position, where we were formed in two lines,—the first consistingb of some Portuguese regiments, and the reserve, at this point, of the Highland brigade. Darkening the whole hill, flanked by clouds of cavalry, and covered by the fire of their redoubt, the enemy came down upon us like a torrent ; their generals and field- officers riding in front, and waving their hats amidst shouts of the multi- tude, resembling the roar of an ocean. Our Highlanders, as if actuated by one instinctive impulse, took off their bonnets, and waving them in the air, returned their greeting with three cheers. A deathlike silence ensued for some moments, and we could observe a visible pause in the advance of the enemy. At that moment, the light company of the 42d regiment, by a well directed fire, brought down some of the French officers of distinction, as they rode in front of their respective corps. The enemy immediately fired a volley into our lines, and advanced upon us, amidst a deafening roar of musketry and artillery. Our troops answered their fire only once, and unappalled by their furious onset, advanced up the hill, and met them at the charge. Our bayonets, however, pierced nothing but wreaths of smoke ; for, our foes having suddenly changed their minds, were charging in the opposite direction : and just such a glimpse did we obtain of them, vanish- ing over the ridge of the hill, as did Gcolfry Crayon of r the stout gentle- man' Upon reaching the summit of the ridge of heights, the redoubt which had covered their advance fell into our possession ; but they still retained four others, with their connecting lines of entrenchments, upon the level of the same height on which we were now established, and into which they had retired.

Meantime, our troops were drawn up a long road, which passed over the hill, and which, havins,b a high bank at each side, protected us in some measure from the general fire of their last line of redoubts.

Here our brigade remained a considerable time, until Marshal Beres- ford's artillery, which, in consequence of the badness of the roads, had been left in the village of Mont Blanc, could be brought up ; and, until the Spaniards, under Don Manuel Freyere, could be re-formed, and brought back to the attack.

During this pause, we were ordered to sit down along the sides of the road, the embankments of which afforded us protection from the point-blank shot of the redoubts and fortified houses into which the enemy had retired, but not from their shells, which they threw among us with great precision, and by which we lust a good many men ; and latterly they moved round some guns to a position, from which the line of the road was completely raked by their fire. During this period of the battle General Pack sate on horse- back in the middle of the road, showing an example of the most undaunted bravery to the troops. i think 1 see him now, as he then appeared, perfectly calm and unmoved, and with a placid smile upon his face amidst a perfect storm of shot and shells. His aid-de-camp, Le Strange, who was afterwards killed at Waterloo, had his horse shot under him, and both came down to- gether. A few minutes afterwards, I observed General Pack suddenly turn pale, and seem as if going to faint. This was occasioned by a ball which had passed through his leg. He rode slowly to the rear, where he had his wound dressed, and in a few minutes returned again.

Marshal Beresford's artillery having at length arrived, and the Spanish troops being once more brought forward, General Pack rode up in front of our brigade, and made the following announcement : I have just now been with General Clinton, and he has been pleased to grant my request, that in the charge which we are now to make upon theenemy's redoubts, the 42d regiment shall have the honour of leading on the attack :—the 42d will ad- vance.' The order was immediately passed along the troops, and I could hear the last words dying away in the distance along our lines.

We immediately began to foam for the charge upon the redoubts, which were about two or three hundred yards distant, and to which we had to pass over some ploughed fields. The grenadiers of the 42d regiment, followed by the other companies, led the way, and began to ascend from the road ; but no sooner were the feathers of their bonnets seen rising over the em- bankment, than such a tremendous fire was opened from the redoubts and entrenchments, as in a very short time would have annihilated them. The right wing, therefore, hastily formed into line, and without waiting for the left, which was ascending by companies from the road, rushed upon the bat- teries, which vomited forth a storm of fire, grape-shot, and musketry, the molt incessant, furious, and terrific I ever witnessed.

Amidst the clouds of smoke in which they were curtained, the whole line of redoubts would every now and then start into view amidst the wild and frightful blaze, and then vanish again into utter darkness. Our men were mown down by sections. I saw six of the company to which I be- longed fall together, as if swept away by the discharge of one gun, and the whole-ground over which' we rushed was covered with the dead. The re- doubts were erected along the side of a road, and defended by broad ditches filled with water. Just before our troops reached this obstruction, however, the enemy deserted them, and fled in all directions, leaving their last line of strongholds in our possession ; but they still possessed two fortified houses close by, from which they kept up a galling and destructive fire.

I was then standing at the side of one of the batteries, which we had just taken, along with some of the regiment, and a young officer, one of the tallest and finest looking men I ever beheld. This was the first time he had

ever been under fire, but he behaved like a hero, and had snatched up a musket belonging to some soldier who had fallen, with which he was firing away upon the enemy like the most practised veteran. I happened to turn about my head for a moment, and when I looked back again, he was lying stretched upon his back, the blood welling from his breast, and his feet qui- vering in the last convulsions of expiring nature. He had arrived from England only a short time before ; and in his march from Passages through France to join his regiment, had been taken prisoner by a marauding party of French in our rear. He had escaped from his guard during a dark night, and concealed himself in a wood for a day or two until they were gone. When almost famished with hunger, he proceeded on his march, and luckily met with a British officer of rank, who supplied him with the means of reaching his regiment. He had joined us only two or three days previous to the battle, and was standing close beside me in the flush of youth, and health, and hope,—in the very moment of victory—the proudest one of life : his eye but twinkled once, and he lay a corpse at my feet

What art thou Spirit unrlefin'd, • That passest with man's breath away, That giv'st him feeling, accuse, and mind,

And leav'st him cold unconscious clay '

While I was yet gazing upon him in a kind of stupor, I received a blow, as if from a huge club on the elbow. A musket ball had passed through the upper part of my arm and splintered the bone. I felt stunned, and, in a few moments, became faint and dizzy, and fell. The first sensation which I was conscious of after my fall, was that of a burning thirst, universally felt after gun-shot wounds. I observed our men still falling around me, in consequence of the fire from the two fortified houses, but at last the firing suddenly ceased and a dead silence ensued. My faintness now beginning to wear off, I raised my head ; and through the clouds of smoke which were clearing away, I observed that the road was covered with troops in blue uniform. At first I supposed them to he Spaniards, but was soon undeceived, and discovered them to be French. Out of about 500 men, which the 42d regiment brought into action, scarcely 90 reached the fatal redoubt from which the enemy had fled.

As soon as the smoke began to clear away, they discovered how matters stood, and advanced in great force in order to regain their strong holds. The 42d regiment immediately fell back, upon the 79th and some other corps now moving up to their support. Of these circumstances at the time, how- ever, I was quite ignorant ; and as escape was impossible, I lay quietly where I was on the roadside, hoping to avoid notice among the wounded and the dead.

The enemy marched past me in great force, keeping up a tremendous fire, and having drums beating in the rear. The main body had passed without taking any notice of me, when I was seized upon by two stragglers who had loitered behind. They immediately began to rifle my pockets, and one of them was in the act of tearing off my epaulet, when an officer came up, sword in hand, and drove them off, to my great relief. My situation, how- ever, became extremely uncomfortable, as I was exposed to the fire of our own troops, who were advancing upon the French to retake the batteries. Believing that the enemy would soon be driven back, and fearing that they might carry me off along with them; I got up as soon as they were fairly pas- sed and, supporting my wounded arm with the other, began to make the best of my way over the ploughed fields, in order to gain some place of safety; but I had not proceeded far, when I felt myself seized from behind by two French soldiers, who had been loitering in the rear, and who most unceremoniously marched off with me towards Toulouse.-111aleolnz's Reminiscences.

DR. FLEMING'S REASONS FOR DISPUTING THE DOCTRINE, THAT IN VEGETATION ALL DESCENDANTS DECLINE WHEN THE ORIGINAL STOCK DECAYS.

We are as yet but imperfectly acquainted with the natural term of life of our fruit-trees, which outlive us by many centuries, and cannot, with any degree of propriety, refer the decay of such plants to a cause, which the want of records, and our own limited existence, prevent us from compre- hending. But we may adopt the cautious plan of reasoning from what we do know, respecting things analogous, which are yet obscure. There are many herbaceous plants, as the Scarlet Lychnis, the annual stems of which may be converted into extensions, capable of living ntany years, and giving rise to annual roots and stems like the stock from which it was taken. Cut- tings from the Wallflower, a plant limited in its duration to two or three years, may, by cuttings, have existence prolonged; nay, the very branch which would have flowered and died in the course of a few months, may he made to strike root and flower, year after year, when the stock whence it was taken shall have closed its natural term of life. Even the leaf of a po- tatoe may outlive the stein, and he kept alive -until the following spring. Not only may the stems and branches of plants be made to outlive the natu- ral term of life of the stock with which they were connected, but the roots may likewise be made to prolong their functions. Thus I have kept a plant of oats alive for four years, simply by preventing it from producing flowering stems ; amid the common bean, if subjected to similar treatment, may exhibit a similar longevity. The natural term of life of the osier, in this country certainly very limited, is far exceeded by those extensions, everywhere propagated for hoops and basket-work. The gooseberry has been considered as subject to this sympathetic law, and many meritorious efforts have been made to raise healthy plants from seed, to supply the place of those destined soon to perish, or which have already exhibited symptoms of decay. But the extent of the useful term of the life of this plant may probably be underrated. In the garden at Pitlithie, in the parish of Leuchars, Fife, the seat of Thomas Lawson, Esq., there is a gooseberry of the ironmonger kind, still in vigour, which was planted in 1760, the fruit on which, two years ago, exceeded twenty Scotch pints. The potato, it is well known, is subject to disease, in its present condi- tion, by which the success of its cultivation is greatly retarded. It has been asserted that the term of life of the parent stocks having arrived, the exten- sions can no longer be propogated with advantage ; that though a change of soil may for a time retard the tendency to dissolution, renovation can only be effected successfully by raising new plants from seed. It is known to all who have cultivated potatoes to any extent, that a change of seed, from a high, cold and moist district, to a lower, warmer, and drier one, is attended with important advantages. The crop is more productive, and the disease termed the Curl in a great measure disappears. But the following fact will demon_ strate that the potato may be cultivated long, by extension in the same soil, and without change of seed ; and neither disease to any uncommon degree be generated, nor any symptom announcing approaching dissolution.

When in 1812, I came to reside in the manse here, I was much pleased

with the appearance and excellent quality of a large, bent, depressed kidney the vast capital required for the purchase of property through the line of potato, cultivated by my neighbour, the late Mr. James Sime, tenant in its passage. It is estimated that the price of coals alone will be reduced Wester Flisk. He told me, that, thirty years before that period, he brought one half in the counties of Somerset and Dorset, by the completion of this the seed with him from a farm he previously occupied, about five miles to the canal.

eastward ; and during the whole intervening period he had annually planted Tog WIELAND CANAL, IN UPPER Castaua.-.-An account of this grand the potatoes in the fields in the immediate neighbourhood, without change. Canal, which has excited some attention owing to the large sums which In the spring of 1813, I got a supply for my own use, and from that period to have been voted for its completion in the Ordnance Estimates laid before the present I have continued to cultivate the roots, equally without change. parliament, may be interesting to many of our readers. This magnificent In size and quality I have never seen better, nor any equally good. The soil work is intended to unite the navigation of Lake Erie with that of Lake on which this variety of potato has been cultivated, in this immediate neigh- Ontario, by avoiding the celebrated Falls of Niagara, and promises to prove bourhood, and by extensions froni the same stock, during the period of forty- of vast advantage to the mercantile intercourse of Canada and the United five years, is a stiff clay, with a close tilly bottom, and varying from 150 States. The work was commenced three years ago, and is now nearly coin- above, nearly, to the level of the sea, and on the margin of the estuary of pleted, The funds have been raised chiefly by a company of private indi the Tay.—Blachwood's Quarterly Journal of _Agriculture. viduals, assisted by a loan from the Colonial Legislature, and another

A CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON, BY PRESIDENT JEFFERSON.

His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order ; miles ; twenty-four of which is already navigable rivers and creeks, and the his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or remaining eighteen only requiring excavation. The general dimensions of Locke, and, as far as lie saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow the artificial cut are eight feet depth of water, which may be increased to in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in con- ten if necessary ; and filly-eight feet wide at the surface, with about thirty elusion. Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he de- feet at bottom; after allowing for the sloping of the banks. But the natural rived from councils of war, where, hearing all suggestions, he selected what- course of the Welland river, which forms about one-third of the whole ex- ever was best ; and certainly no general ever planned his battles more tent of the navigation, presents a series of reservoirs, or basins, which will judiciously. But if deranged during the course of the action, if any member be extremely beneficial. The level of Lake Erie is about 300 feet above that of his plan was dislocated by sudden circumstances, he was slow in re-adjust- of Lake Ontario, and the canal will require thirty-five locks throughout ment. The consequence was, that he often failed in the field, and rarely its whole extent. But as there is an unlimited supply of water, no difficulty against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York. He was incapable of will attend this part of the navigation. As the greater part of the excavation fear, meeting personal danger with the calmest unconcern. Perhaps the runs through a marsh, the expense bears no proportion to the amount sacri- stroagest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every ficed in the celebrated job called the Caledonian Canal, while the rapid in- circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed ; refraining if he crease of settlers in our Canadian provinces, and the commercial intercourse saw a doubt, but when once decided, going through with his purpose, what- with the United States, gives good reason to believe that within a short

ever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most

inflexible I have ever known ; no motives of interest or consanguinity, of victors, and an incalculable benefit to the Canadas, by enabling the produce friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in of the Upper Provinces to be brought down to St. Lawrence by a shorter every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was

naturally irritable and high-toned ; but reflection and resolution had obtained LIEVT:COLONEL DENHAM.—We hear that this distinguished traveller and. a firm and habitual ascendancy over it. If ever, however, it broke its bounds, amiable man, who died in June last, at Sierra Leone, has left behind him some ha was most tremendous inihis wrath. In his expenses he was honour- manuscript notes, in the form of personal narrative, collected during his. able, but exact ; liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility ; but perilous journies in the interior of Africa ; and that as soon as arrangements. frowning and unyielding on all visionary projects, and all unworthy calls can be made to that effect, another publication may be expected relating to. on his charity. His heart was not wirm in its affections ; but he exactly the establishment of a better understanding with the ferocious savages the calculated every man's value, and gave him a solid esteem proportionate to it. Ashantees, and other tribes who inhabit the interior of Western Africa. His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish ; METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY.—The extraordinary succession of wet weather his deportment easy, erect, and noble ; the best horseman of his age, at this season of the year, which we have experienced for the last six weeks, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback. Although, affords a strong corroboration of the opinion entertained by many persons as in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he to the influence of the spots on the sun's disc on meteorological phenomena. took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents were not above That these spots are induced by atmospherical agency, will scarcely admit mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor fluency of words. of a doubt. And whatever theory we may entertain as to the heating property In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short, and of the sun's rays on reaching our atmosphere, it is quite certain, that when the embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in a correct style. face of the sun is observed to be more than usually obscured by spots or clouds,

This he had acquired by conversation with the world : for his education was as has been the case during the present summer, the season is more than merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added stir- usually cold and wet.

veying at a later day. His time was employed in action chiefly, reading AMERICAN SILK.—The Linnean Society of New York is devoting its at- little, and that only in agriculture and English history. His correspon- tention to the rearing and cultivation of the silk-worm on an extended scale. dente became necessarily extensive, and, with journalizing his agricultural One of its members, Dr. Pascals, has shown that the climate of the southern proceedings, occupied most of his leisure hours within doors. On the states of the Union is calculated to rear this valuable insect in as great per- whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points fection as the Italian states ; and has written a treatise on the breeding and indifferent ; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune management of these insects, which cannot fail to encourage this interest- combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same ing and valuable branch of manufacture over a considerable tract of country. constellation with the ... srthies who have merited from man an everlasting From the severity of the American climate, even in the latitude of New remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit of leading the York, it appears to us that artificial means must be in all cases resorted to armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establish- for the preservation of those interesting insects during the winter season, as meet of its independence—of conducting its councils through the birth of a is the practice in many districts of North Italy. government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down in The Government of Russia in the south-east provinces of that immense a quiet and orderly train—and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the empire, are making rapid strides in all the arts of civilization. The Russian. whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world Government encourages the settlement of foreigners more than any other in. furnishes no other example. How, then, can it be perilous for you to take Europe, and a considerable number of Armenians have been invited to settle such a man on your shoulders ? I am satisfied that the great body of re- in Akerman and Bessarabia, with the view of promoting the cultivation of publicans think of him as I do. We were, indeed, dissatisfied with him on the vine. Several extensive plantations have been already formed, in which his ratification of the British treaty ; but this was short lived. We knew the finer varieties of the French and Rhenish grape have been introduced his honesty, the wiles with which he was encompassed, and that age with success ; and at no distant period it is probable that the south pro- had already began to relax the firmness of his purposes ; and I am winces of Russia will produce as fine a variety of wines as the plains of convinced that he is more deeply seated in the love and gratitude of the Burgundy or Champagne. republicans, than in the pharisaical homage of the federal monarchists. For Rests IMECTION OF THE DEAD.—A French physician, named D'Etoile, in he was no monarchist from preference of his judgment. The soundness of a recent communication to the Academie Royal, states, that he has invariably that gave him correct views of the rights of man, and his severe justice succeeded in restoring animation in drowned animals, by means of galva- devoted him to them. He has often declared to me, that he considered our nism. The process of M. D'Etoile, consists in inserting a long needle• new constitution as an experiment on the practicability of republican go- between the ribs, so as to come its contact with the diaphragm, and making vestment, and with what dose of liberty man can be trusted for his own good the communication with a galvanic battery of thirty or forty pairs of good ; that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, and plates. A contraction of the diaphragm of course instantly takes place, and would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it. And these he re- by repeating the application at short intervals, it is stated, respiration may be. peated to me the oftener and more pointedly, because he knew my suspicions ultimately restored. The author does not mention how long after animation of Colonel Hamilton's views, and probably had heard the declarations which has been suspended by drowning, life can be restored; but we believe it has I had heard, to wit,—" that the British constitution, with its unequal repre- been ascertained by Majendie' Dr. Philip, and other physiologists, that so. sentation, corruption, and other abuses, was the most perfect government lung, as any portion of animal heat remains, there is a possibility of resusci- which had ever been established on earth, and that a reformation of those tatinn by galvanism or electriCity : consequently, no exertions should he spared. abuses would make it an impracticable government." I do believe that in cases of suspended animation from accident or attempts at suicide. General Washington had not a firm confidence in the durability of our go. AsuoaToas.—The river of Guayaquil is infested with alligators, as are,. vernment. He was naturally distrustful of men, and inclined to gloomy indeed, all the rivers of Columbia. The alligator lays about a hundred eggs, apprehensions; and I was ever persuaded that a belief that we must at length and if the inveterate enemy of the alligator, the gallinazo, did not destroy- end in something like a British constitution had some weight in his adoption great numbers of the eggs, and the male crocodile devour a vast portion of of the ceremonies of levees, birth-days, pompous meetings with congress, the young ones, they would overrun the continent. The gallinazo, when it and other forms of the same character, calculated to prepare us gradually perceives the female alligator digging her nest, conceals herself in some for a change which he believed possible, and so let it come on with as little neighbouring tree, and watches till the conclusion of the deposit, for the alli- shock as might be to the public mind. These are my opinions of General gator lays all her eggs in the course of a day or two. After the departure of Washington, which I would vouch at the judgment seat of God, having been the female, the gallinazo instantly makes her appearance, and, removing the formed on an acquaintance of thirty years.—From Mr. Jefferson's unpub- sand with which the alligator has covered her eggs, proceeds to enjoy her