GENERAL EVANS.
IT was to be expected that the English Carlists, tools of the LONDONDERRY and BERESFORD faction, would spit their venom at the gallant DE LACY EVANS. For some time they could think of nothing worse than to call him a Whig-Radical ; but they have discovered that the term is not deemed one of reproach by those to whom it is applied. The Whigs are not, like the Tories, ashamed of their ancient cognomen ; neither are the Radicals of their more modern one. Colonel EVANS and his friends took no notice of the attacks made on his political principles, for he and they avowed and gloried in them. The Carlists, therefore, resorted to personal calumny, according to their invariable custom ; and on Thursday, the Morning Post acttally denied General EVANS any merit as a soldier ! It was pretended that the old officers in the military clubs and circles " made wry faces," and asked, "what service the new Generalissimo had seen? where he had acquired his experience ? and whether it was India or Europe that had been the theatre of his glories ?" Moreover, it was asserted that a search had been made by "an old stager S' for the "acquirements and exploits of the modern Cid Campeador," and that the follow- ing was the result- " Colonel Evans is no soldier, in the sense in which this term is used. lie never held rank on active duty. If I recollect well, he was only a Lieutenant tn the infitntry, and in.that humble rank wounded, and thereby removed from service. Shortly afterwards he was promoted to be a Captain, and went on half-Pay. Subsequently, having made some fortunate hit, he purchased a Majority on half-pay and unattached, then a Lieutenant- Coloneley, also cm half pay and unattached. Within -six years of his entering the British Army, he was thus lucky enough to purchase the rank of a Field Officer; but was never known to have done one day's duty beyond the rank of a simple Lieutenant; and it is therefore questionable whether he knows how to command a company on a field-day. He is known only for his political squabbles and electioneering nianoeuvres, or making speeches of the Radical kind in the House of Commons."
This tissue of lies was not suffered to remain uncontradicted for
many hours. The Courier of the same day, in a ptolupt, spirited, and manly article, effectually refuted the whole mass of calumny- " General Evans (said the Courier) was educated for the scientific brandies of the military profession at the Military College of High Wycombe. His education being completed, he proceeded to the East Indies in the military ser- vice of the India Company ; but the warfare of India did not satisfy his ardour at that period. He exchanged into the Line, and was a Lieutenant of Dragoons and Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General when he first attracted the notice of the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula. A military survey of the district of country in the neighbourhood of Pampeluna, ordered by the Duke of Wellington, having been brought him, he found it to be made out in so masterly a style that he desired the officer who had been employed to he pointed out, and General Evans's merits were never afterwards forgotten by his Grace. When the expedition to the Chesapeake took place, the Duke of Wel- lington had him appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General ; and never did any officer distinguish himself more than General Evans during the war in the United States. • Mr. Gleig's " Memoirs" of the interesting events of that war contain striking testimony to his merits. Every num on the march to Wash- ington had perfect confidence that every thing was right when they were under the guidance of Quartermaster-General Evans. But the official despatches after the military engagements in America bear the most unexceptionable evidence as to the value of the services of General Evans.
" The letter from the lamented General Ross to Lord Bathurst, after the capture of Washington, so far as General Evans is concerned, is in these terms: I must beg leave to call your Lordship's attention to the zeal and indefatip,able exertions of Lieutenant Evans, acting Deputy Quartermaster-General. The intelli- gence displayed by that officer in circumstances of considerable difficulty induces me to hope he will meet with some distinguished mark of approbation.'
" The attack on Baltimore followed the capture of AVashington : Colonel Brook, in his despatch to Lord Bathurst, writes- " ' To Lieutenant Evans, 3d Dragoons, acting Deputy Quartermaster-General to this army. for the unremitting zeal, activity, and perfect intelligence. which lie evinced in the discharge of the various and difficult duties of his department. I feel warmly in. debted ; and I beg to solicit, through your Lordship, a promotion suitable to the high professional min its of this officer: " Lastly, Sir John Keane, who succeeded Sir Edward Pakenham in the cot lllll and of the army at NM Orleans, thus writes of General Evans to Lord Bathurst, after the battle of New Orleans, in' which General Evans was severely wounded- " ' The indecat lc ilde zeal a ml intelligence displayed by Lieutenants Pedie and Evans, of the Quarterma,ier.GencraTs Department, entitle them to the most favourable con- sideration:
" General Fins returned home in March 1815, for the recovery of his
wounds, and Iediately obtained the promotion to which he bad established claims that could not be overlooked. He was first gazetted Captain, and 513011 afterwards Major, without purchase ; and, though his wounds were not healed, he was appointed to the staff of Sir William Ponsonby. He fought at Waterloo under that gallant soldier, who was killed on the field ; and for his eminent services at Waterloo General Evans obtained the rank he now holds of Lieu- tenant-Colonel in the British service."
These facts are to be found in books so common as the Annual Register and Gleig's Memoirs, and in the London Gazelle; and yet the Post pretends that a search for General EV ANS.S achieve- ments had been made ! If the " old stager" had applied to the Duke of WELLINGTON for information, all further search would have been unnecessary.
In the mean while, it is pleasant to know that no man is in- jured by a calumny so promptly refuted and so notoriously false as this against General EVANS. The Tories hate him for his Liberal politics, and for his present exertions in the cause of free institutions against monkish despotism in the Peninsula ; but they hate him most of all from the recollection that early in the last session of Parliament he coolly and effectually put down the bully of their party, Sir HENRY HARDINGE ; whose constant readiness to bristle up and hint at resort to powder and ball he declared to be " no proof of valour."
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