CHARLES SHAW'S MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

THESE volumes contain an autobiography of the author from his school days till the termination of the late war in Portugal. To this are added the letters he write to various friends whilst in the service of Donna MARIA, as well as his correspondence front the formation of the British Legion till the Colonel retired from the Army, in consequenee of some personal misunderstanding between him and EVANS, owing to which lie sinks the title of " General," which the Westminster M.P. bestowed upon him.

The leading defect of the work is its want of selection. The author tells all that occurs to himself, without reference to its general interest. Its meritorious points are various. It strikingly and truly paints the character of a Wain, rough. straightforward, stirring " old soldier;" it racily exhibits the life of a soldier on service, with its strange mixture of' the laughable, the terrible, and the exciting; it enables us to read a page in the art of crimp- ing. as well as in that of managing gentlemen adventurers e hen fairly embarked in their glorious enterprise, and throws a light upon the characters of the ailventurera themselves. The Me- moirs also give a pretty regular account of the Anti-Miguel ear, from the first departure froni London till Colonel SHAW anal his regiment of Scotch Fusileers were started from Portugal, without either pay or gratuities: in which narrative, though there it nothing perhaps strictly new, so far as relates to public events, there is inueh that is curlew, in detail awl penetrating in the observation of characters. The Correspondence, written day by day whilst impressions were fresh and strong, besides presenting a graphic pessonal narrative of the war in Portugal, contains the best account we have yet seen of the Spanish war, so fir as the British are coticerned, from its commencement to its conclusion. In the letters of Colonel SHAW to his brothers in arms belnre the starting of the expedition, we see the vanity, inexperience, and want of consideration with which the enterprise was entered upon, as well as the selfish and aristocratical influences at work amongst the dandy Legionists. In those which be writes to his funnily from Spain, there is contained a plain, but often, from the character of the subjects, a poeei ful accetint of the marches, battles, and hardships of the Legion, and a graphic picture of the errors, to speak mildly, of formal and feather-bed soldiers suddenly thrown upou a novel scene of warfare, where " the bookish theoric," if they even had it, could avail them nothing. In addition to which, the reader e ill find materials for forming an estimate of time cha- rapier of Ev toes himself, and of the various causes which gave rise to the discreditable failure of the Legion.

As a biography, the earlier parts of the volume are individually

cliarneteristic ; the middle portion, though varied by a couple of' Contotental tours, rather of an everyday description, notwith- standing the racy charae er of the author ; of the third and war- like portions we have spoken.

The eveuts of CHARLES SH ANY'S career till the wars of freedom,- thinigh not at all coninionplace, are not extraordinary, for au ad- venturous man and a soldier. having heard at an earl) age that lawyei a had long vacations in the shootieg awl fishing seasons., he chose the law fur his prefession; but was vanquished by the drudgery of the Greek lex:eon. After stibusiiting himself to a Su rf of water °ideal iti what tins considered an enchanted pond,- lie abatidoited the law, decided for the ai my, and was gazetted an - Elisogii in the Filly-second Light Infantry, in Januar) 1813. Out joining, he was subjected to mile months of the complete awl effi- cient (hill which was then adopted in that splendid regiment; and alterwaids embarked for the Continent ; w bele lie had his first taste of aette..1 soldierilig mit the Loa COU tit mitts, with the army which, wider Sir THotias Ge A H Att. was assisting- to press NAPO- r aim N talc r t lie .et rent loan Russia. At i lie conelusion of the second our liero's battalion was disbanded ; nail he made a lottg I- Ii Germans , and entered as a student It the Military College at II ons‘t wk, inaler Colonel SCHOLNHUT: of whose capabilities be speaks highly. About the same time, he was appointed to the Ninetieth Regiment ; but being afteruards placed upoti half-pay, CHARLES SHAW settled at Edinburgh. mid entered the wine trade; ti tiderta king moreover to command awl drill a corpsef volunteers, for which he was voted a hand-ome piece of plate when they were broken up. Getting tired of trade, our author sold his business, • and took another Continental tour through France, Switzerland, iamI Germany; and then setting down at Richtnond, would - shortly have had toenduie " the pains and penalties of idleness," but luckily the Liberating wars cotninenced. Embarking heart and soul in the cause of Donna MARIA, SHAW took lite part of the Recruiting Officer with the tank of Captain ; got h.mself and his men annoy iti spite of the Foreign Enlistment Act ; and jellied at Angie; alter which, Ins exploits and rewards must be nought

in the chronicles of many a well-fought field, which may be read at large in the newspapers, and most narratives of the war at Oporto as well as in his own.

In our extracts we must pass over many things ;—good stories illustrative of regular war ; the old-soldier-like arts Captain SHAW was compelled to observe in engaging colonists for Donna MARIA, Jest be should be surprised by the police or entangled in the Foreign Enlistment Act; the state of the Liberators when smug- gled on board ; the scenes when they first landed at Aligra with some pay in their pockets ; the decisive measures of Colonel IloncEs to produce order; and the wonder-working powers of dis- cipline and regularity in regenerating the outward behaviour of outcasts of society. Pass we also the voyage from Terceira to Oporto, the landing, the advance, the delays and mismanagement of the Portuguese courtiers, the general account of broils and battles, and some good miscellaneous military hints. But as all who have read much of the war in Portugal are acquainted with the high reputation of the Scotch Fusileers, we will begin with an account of the raw material out of which they were formed, and of their first interview with their future leader.

The Scotch, as soon as landed, were put under my orders; and I was most anxious they Should have a fresh start and be able to judge for themselves, with- out mixing with those who had been accustomed to suffering and to mutiny whenever they wished to carry their point. Don Pedro sent for nit', and told me he expected great things ot my countrymen. I was most anxious he should take a view of these " Scotch Liberators" before they were disguised as

fliers ; but no, he would not ; only agreeing that they should have a quarter separate from the English. This was of consequence ; and I resolved to make the eeparatiou as great as possible, these Scotch being the most knowing felloe I ever encountered. They were not riotous, but they were sullenly "methodic ;" and it is but juetice to give Captain Lawrie credit for the tnanner lie hail con- uived to prevent mutiny during a long and hazardous voyage from Glasgow. Reform had been much agitated in Scotland ; union societies had been farmed; and, front the techuical language used by these men, I muspected they had thought it 'student to leave their Glasgow looms, and try what effect the libetating air of Portugal might have on the memory of the Police.officers in their native towns. The greatest proportion were young ; I therefore had some hopes, although the second day after the fellows landed I was puzzled. All were assembled in u large room ; and, hearing some dispute, I entered, when I was saluted with " Silence ! " " Order !" " Let's hear what the Cor- net has to Ray." "Stan back, let's hear how he'll answer the Comitea." Upon this, five fellows advanced, the speaker taking off his cap. lie pulled out a paper and said, " We five are deputed by our freens to show you the under- mentioned written conditions, which if you don't agree to, we shan't sieve, and Donna Maria may gang to h-1." Reading the conditions, I saw they wished 2/. lOs. per month, the English being promised only 21. bs. I told them the English heti fought well with me, and I should not agree to the Scotch getting as. more; so if they did not choose, they might all "gang where they wanted to sett' Dony Maria." This caused a great hubbub; and the five returned to a room, whence they reappeared after a while. During the intetval, I had been asking the fellows the different places front whence they cattle; having thus gained a little popularity, the five fellows readvaneing, I asked them in an authoritative voice " Who they were?" They said they had been delegates in Glasgow, and had been appointed a " Comitea" for the volunteers who hail engaged at the Salt Market station. I said, in the army I had never heard of the word Comitea," and asked what the word meant. I would not under- stand any explanation; at last one of them, a smart. looking fellow, said "Lord, Cermet, I see you ken wad l eneugh what a Comitea is; but I'll tell ye the fac of the matter is, a whew o' us join thegether, and we ca ourselves the Contitea, and we gar a' the others due what we like." I instantly said, " 0, I under- stand completely what it is. I see, a Comitea is a Cornet. Call me either the one or the other, as I shall gar ye disc what I like." This explanation of " Cu- mites " caused a regular row ; their threatening not to serve, and my telling them they may be off, brought it to a crisis, rind made them come to other term.; as they confessed the enemy's batteries at the mouth of the river pre- vented their getting away ; so after deep consideration they agreed to serve, provided they were paid in British currency, the soldier gettrng the advantage af the exchange. I agreed ; but what this meant I really did not understand:

the Comitea called on me to explain how many mills (i. e. milrees) to the pound sterling. This was a terrible puzzler ; so without answering the " co. mitea," I began asking the other fellows whether they had worked in a cotton- mill, carding mill, woollen-mill, each giving different answers ; so all this " row" finished with " D—o all mills and corniteas, hurrah for Colonel Shaw and Dony Mame !" and thus were the Scotch Fusileers formed.

Discipline, however, again worked wonders, and native courage did the rest; though, the first time they were in action, the men had not learned to load a musket, and SHAW was obliged to crack jokes about the use of the bayonet. But their ignorance in some sense served him well ; for, by way of preventing them from getting disheartened by standing still under fire, he put them through some dr:II manceuvres, to the great wonder of several Por- tuguese officers, who did not know his object. Fighting, how- ever, was one of the least evils at Oporto. Famine made its ap- pearance; and here are some necessity-shifts.

At this time, the want of provisions was very great, and the scenes of drun- kenness among the English an Oporto terrible. The only rations served out was bacalhao (salt-fish), the sante which is used after dinner by wine bathers, to give them a relish for more wine; therefore it struck me that if it bed this effect upon well.fed men, how much greater must the effect be on men with a comparatively empty stomach. The cooks on board the transport which brought the Scotch, had, with their " national prudence," gathered from the cooking coppers a quantity of grease (slush), which they had brought on shore and sold to a manufacturer to make candles. Firewood being very scarce, the candle-maker could not make his candles. The bacalhao was taken up to this manufacturer, who gladly reexchanged it, and this "slush " was brought down to Gorden° ; a certain quantity of it mixed up with rice, musty biscuit pounded, and along with a sort of vegetable gathered on the banks of a rivulet, put into a 'large boiler of a dying manufactory where the men were quartered, and stewed up with some stolen dog, cat, or the best bits of it killed wandering donkey or mule, made a tolerable mess. Many is the mule which, tempted by the green field near this Fabrics, entered never to return.

My own men stole and ate my greyhound apd terrier, and a fight took place with the Irish (who had lately landed) for having had in their possession the skin of my fat pointer. When these living animals disappeared, about a table- spoonful of rice and a square inch of pink was a day's allowance; and often has a youngfellow come up tome with both in the palm of his hand, saying, "Corned Shaw, loaly ask yowler, is that plenty for &working man to letve on, besides

the fechtin ? It is a shame, and I'll no stand it." • My only answer was, "If it satisfies you, it does not satisfy me. I could eat six rations like that ; " which brought forth the answer, " Weed, Correll, that's true; but we'ell make that d—d John Macdowal (Don Miguel) pey for this some fine day." At this time all the bad wine had been finished, so the finest old 1;011 was given, which was the secret of the men's comparative content. • •

On this line of defence from Gorden°, were only two live oxen in Oporto; and being most useful for assisting in dragging guns from one point to an- other, they were put under charge of the " careful, immaculate Scotch." They were generally in charge of a sergeant, who saw them every night housed; but one evening, while he was making some report to me, one of the bullocks disappeared, and early next morning I found a piece of beef of about six pounds weight at my door.

I said nothing, but went to the barracks. No appearance of blood nor smell of beef; but there was some salt on the floor. Bacalhao WAS at this time the rations, so I expressed astonishment at seeing a necessity for using salt ; but I soon discovered from the smell that there had been fresh soup made. I ex- preesed no opinian, and calling to a little Scotch ten ier not worth eating, " nista Tuskey, there I " she went into a corner and brought out a beef bone, which I remarked was rather large for a fish. All were silent and innocent- looking ; but I discovered they had placed the bullock in the running tivulet, and there killed and skinned it, and divided it into rations: thus all the matks of blood were carried away. They did not deny it.

The owner made his complaint, and the government charged the regiment 37/. ; the real value at a stone's.throw distance in the enemy's liner being scareely 71. The Adjutant had a list of the men who hail received the beef, and who were to pay for it. He had headed the list. " We, the undersigned, who stole the bullock, agree, &c." I heard a terrible row, nearly a downright mutiny. I asked what was the matter ; in a moment a number of voices, " Only think, Cornet, the Adjutant wishes us to sign ourselves thieves !" I asked them if it was nut the fact that they had stolen the bullock. " We dinna deny that ; but its ae thing stealing to a man being sic a fide as to sign himself a thief. Na, na." I said " Very well, give roe the paper." I took it, drew my pen through the word stole, and inserted " Rob Rued," and all signed in good humour.

In sonic pat tictilar points I had great difficulty in getting the men to remain on sentry, especially near a footpath on which a great many dead were

lying unburied. Horrid groans and unnatin al sounds were heard near this spot. In visiting the sentry, I diecovereo these were dogs, which had come hint the enemy's lines to devour the dead. This pot the sentries in future at rest; but some time after I found some of my men had enticed three of these dogs, and had sold them for one pound each to Frederick, an old French servant of mine, who kept a restaurateur's shop in Oporto. The men bad, a few days before this, held a court. martial on a little dog for bringing to their routers the " Major's " arm. On hearing firing so close, I went to see what the matter was. The dog had been sentenced to be shot. Ile was buried, but

disintetred that night, and sold to Frederick for two crusadas auras. Thus the Scotch contrived to sums!), the the would-be bons cleans of Oporto with pro- visions.

But, whatever the men might be in the Portuguese Liberating Army, or however they might suffer, they attained the object for which they fought. The Spanish British Legion has accom- plished nothing of consequence ; and, in despite of some gallant actions, has not by any means raised the national character. Whence this discrepancy? Something must no doubt be assigned to geographical and national differences, and to the absence of an energetic head like Don PEDRO. A good deal perhaps is attributable to the auspices under which the two armies were raised. The men and officers embarking for Donna MARIA'S service went in defiance of the law,and with small prospects of success. They were despe- radoes, or lovers of fighting for its own sake, but the very stuff for making soldiers. The Legion was raised under Parliamentary and Ministerial patronage, commanded by an M.P., officered by men of position, and set out with every prospect of doing wonders by the magic of its name. But these appearances were deceptive. %With a mock official character, it had no official regularity or responsi- bility. The seeming respectable nawre of' the service drew into it many officers who had only a peace routine experience, and that of such a clockwork army as Great Britain ; as well as very many nice gentlemanly young gentlemen who "had heard of battles, and who longed" to acquire the reputation of warriors without undergoing the labours and hardships of war. But, in despite of all these things, a good deal is chargeable upon General EVANS himself. He seems never to have made a proper arrangement with the Spanish Government, at least as regards his men; and the management of the details was trusted to people ignorant of the practice of war, especially of Spanish war. He was deficient in decision; and surrounded by intriguers, to whom he confided too much, and who seem to have made hint their instrument by playing upon his infirmity of purpose and his mili-

tary and conventional vanities. The General was moreover distracted by trying to serve several masters. His thoughts were of the Westminster constituency and the newspapers, instead of the duties before him. He appears to have been less anxious to do, than to justify Isis doings; and some of his staff notoriously, it is said,corresponded with journals, even to the extent of abusing

Iris superior officer CORDOVA, and, justly enough perhaps, accusing him of treachery,—though after this no one can wonder that

misunderstandings arose between them. There was also too much

of display, and of" much ado about nothing ;" and if not a want of energy in EVANS himself, an incapability of infusing it into the

different departments of the army. Personally, however, Colonel

SHAW speaks highly of his leader, (at all events till they quar- relled,) especially of his courage and capacity in the field ; and

seems to think, that if he had rejected earwigging, and relied upon himself, matters would have gone much better. We doubt it. The inherent difficulties of the war were very great; the

difficulties superadded by the Spaniards were greater; the means were disproportioned to the end ; and, greatest of all, we suspect the capacity of the man was unequal to the undertaking. The reader who would test these opinions, must very carefully go over the whole of the correspondence relating to the Spanish war. Of the amusement he may find in the course of so doing, a

IN/

few extracts will furnish examples.. The first is from a letter to an old companion, a Major in SHAW s own regiment. nem. STARTING.

I arrived here last night, and take advantage of the Lisbon packet to write to you to hurry home or for Spain ; as I can promise you a Majority of one of the Breach regiments. I regret I cannot say Lieutenant-Colonel ; but it has been fixed by the ruling powers here, that Portuguese officers are only to have the rank they had in Portugal ; it being quite impossible that, after your four veins of active service in that country, you or any of them can be supposed to now 'so much of war as the young gentlemen of the British service, who have had such glorious opportunities of studying their profession in the garrisoua of England. This is a much more gentleman-like, lady-like, and genteel service, than that of our old friend Donna Maria. I have been to see our War Office in Charing Coss. It is not a shabby, honking place, such as we had in St. Giles's, but all quite " in style." I really could not keep my gravity ; and if you had been thaw with your pencil, you would have aketched to the life the crowd of eandidates for glory. They really shame us Portuguese completely ; but we shall have our laugh when we see them sleeping in the mud. and eating bacaluo with ;amid oil, with every now and then a dash of gunpowder for sauce. Still thieseene has made me serious; as none of them, from the senior to the junior, hips the most distant Weed what they are to suffer. But to give you a notion of how matters ate managed, 1 shall only locution one instance. Three see. gums entered, one of whom I at once recognized as the greatest thief and scoundrel we had at Terceira and Oporto, and who carried between his shoulders very striking effects of the friendship I bore hint. He did not recoguize me without my beard ; and 1 mots/eel to be silent, that he might not discover our by my voice. The Adjutant-General, Colonel le Marchant, told them to go to Bicknell and Moore, to get their uniform as Staff-Sergeants. On this I threw

a hit of paper to the Adjutant.General, written on it, " The 'surgeon had better inspect the centre Sergeant." When Ile read it, he said aloud to me, '• They have all liven inspected." I said nothing, hut wrote, " Inspect Turner between the shouldere." In spite of this, he was sent to get his uniform ; and I confess to you I isaw what I said and did was not received as it should be by the dis- pensers of the loaves and fishes. In short there are so many candidates for eammisasions, that I suspect those in power du not like to have any one appear to know as much as they.

FIRST INSTRUCTIONS.

I send to you the ',Instructions to Officers." Look at Article Seven, as to landing them with clothing and arms, to give them agood military appearance! A mob of this sort, with money in their pockets, to make military appearance!! The thing is absolute folly. Far better to land them in their nakedness, and let them get drunk and spend their money, and when sober give them only a part a thew clothilig and necessaries ; as, although a knapsack is large enough for a " kit," when packed by an old soldier, a recruit cannot stuff the half of his things in it. 1 fiwesee much loss and confusion, and if I am the senior officer at the place where we disembark, I shall take the responsibility of din. ebejing the order ; as I um convinced, before I arrive, the General himself will be aware of its fully. All this makes me think there is a want s f experienced men at hearl.quartets, and, as it is now nearly twenty years since our chief was soldier, and as he was then generally on the Staff, it is the more necesaty that his superior officers should underetand thoroughly the duties of corporate, sergeants, subalterns; in short, be up to every thing, cooking and docueing ineluded. The utiiform for the offieera is ohliculously expensive. How they are to carry their baggage, I know not ; in short, this trip of pleasule to Spain will astonish some of the gentlemen.

THE LEGION'S FIRST FIELD.

011 the morning of the 16th, the Legion took the field, by the Salvatierra road, while Cordova, with the Spaniards; and French Legion, marched to Villa Real. When half a league from El Burgo, we took up a position as Bimetal we were 100,000, and saw the enemy on the other heights in front of us. Ili the middle of the valley, on a height was a email village, where there were about thirty of the enemy, who retired on seeing a company of Spaniards approach. To the left of this village at a short distance, wee a sort of sugar- loaf hill. As soon as the enemy retired, General Evans, all his Staff (say forty), all our generals and staff, excepting myself, made for the hill, to see the enemy. 'this was all natural enough; but 1 supposed they would return immediately ; in- stead of this, there they halted. They did not seem to keep a look out ; no troops were sent to occupy the village along with the few Spaniards. Of sourer, what I foresaw took place; I dared not send them troops to assist them, as that would have been silently finding fault. The enemy came on in force (soy 500), and drove them scampering away. This was the first soldier-like work. The village was of no use to us, but "we must not be beaten." Nearly 3,000 were sent against the Collets, when they left the village, wounding two *Myers, five men, and killing one. Theo it was necessary that we should fire artillery and rockets; but against whom I could not see rightly, although I witnessed every thing. The Lancers formed to charge, but were stopped by a large ditch, which common sense might have told them was in front, else the enemy never would have remained in extended order. As night came on we retired, with no one chasing us, according to the established principles of war." I received a sort of wide order, and had the brigade housed before many ethers were off the field. Next morning, the 17th, 1 got an order at half past seven, to he formed at a league distant, at seven o'clock ! I explained the muse of being late to General Evans, who said nothing; but this confusion in orders must harass him much.

AN OLD SOLDIER.

We marched through Assua, crossed the river, anti ascended the heights there, taking up a very good position with the village of Zuasa (;ainboa below as in our front. Here we big-wig. all assembled, hearing Cordova's musketry; but I remarked the sound always came from the same spot, which opened my eyes as to the Carlists not being so easily thrashed. As it got darkish I heard —.propose to bivouac in the wood in front (at this time the ice was about two inches thick); leave was granted; I kept at a little distance from the General and heard — volunteer to bivouac on the hare heights; " the devil !" thinks I, " what next ?" I then pointed out to the General the necessity of occupying the village below ; he said, "The — brigade and yours had better move down." Off I started; in five minutes had my brigade on the move; but

would not be outdone by — so he volunteered a bivouac on the heights. " Very well," thinks 1, "good night," and I went down, taking good care to make myself intitnately acquainted with all the paths, and posting my piequets 'well, so that there might be no excuse for removing me. I and my *tulips into good beds with sheets, the fires on the bivouac on the hid, with the snowy hills below, really looking quite picturesque.

We have all heard of the dreadful effects of the Victoria fever. SHAW attributes part of this to want of preparation, through inex- perience, which caused a deficiency of medicines and hospital ne- cessaries when needed. According to his statement, there was much bad management even when the epidemic came—deceptions amongst soldiers shamming Abraham, and gross neglect on the part of the managers. The following is the account of his doings when left Commandant of Victoria.

depot I bent my steps, seeing numbers of officers in the streets. I fell in all the (twelve hundted) a deput of convalescent's of nearly eight hundred. To this ill one hour had turned out upwards of 300 stout fellows by means of winds and men who could stand, taking a Portuguese surgeon with me ; sod in lees thaw - the flat side of my sabre. I ordered them to march next morning to join their , except two having disappeared.

regiments. They were very knowing, only '250 getting ready, all the offims make their appearance. This brought two or three to light ; and next l was resolved not to he beaten. I stopped all officers' rations who did not The Legion marched ma at twelve o'clock. The hospitals at this time were choke full, four or five in a bed ; discharging none except to their payee, (about fifteen or twenty daily,) and having, exclusive of these in hospital morn- ing I managed to march them away with 150 more men. Still no more offi. cers presented theanselves. I then stopped the rations of the servants as well as of the master., and on the second day twilight upwards of twenty to light. la lest than five days I sent upwards of 500 men to join their regiments. 'File hospitals were very had, but this convaleweert depUt was tell i hie. I believe no officer had gone through it; and no w ter, as the filth WJS ehoekilig. All were lying huddled together ou the bare stones of a convent without windows, and no blankets. I entered where there were a lot of Scotch ; I said, " Boy, what's the matter wi' you ?"—" An main sair head ;" another, " line° KW tires," i. e. death. " And what's the matter wi' you ?"—" Oh, he is dead, und so is the man near him ! " Aral sure enough there were three poor devils all dead, with their mouths close together, to keep each other warm. I picked up ill this way about twelve dead or in the act eddying.

Entering a small room in a corner I was neatly knoeked down by the effluvia. Here nine men hail been for four days without any surgeon to look alter them. I suppose they are now all dead. 1 proceded to another dark room, mid there reventeen men had been for furry eight hours abandoned, all sufferins from Nevelt.. dysentry. How to remedy this was difficult, as I wss told time were no blankets, nor sheets, nor beds to send to the hospital. You will not believe it, but I set to work, and in two days (attained about 600 blaukets and MI ph- of sheets. I then empinyed the whole of the Eighth Regiment in removing people to the hospital and burying, and thus had a beginning. The scarcity oh lassie clues was &cachet! ; but with the active and willing so-istatice uf A'eock and the Portuguese medical gentlemen, it is quite wonderful what hes been accom- plished.