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the Life of Lord Wellington continued in your 2d number, page 98th, where, speaking of the battle of Kioge, there is no mention made of the 95th rifle regiment, which covered the whole advance of the other regiments, and particularly distinguished themselves on that occasion. Some officers, who were present and engaged during the whole action, were surprised to find you had taken no notice of this circumstance; and I beg to apprize you of the omission, by referring you to the official dispatch of Sir Arthur Wellesley, published at Copenhagen, and dated Kioge, August 27th, 1807. By this it will appear, as you have stated, that the attack was led by the 92d, supported by the 52d and 43d regiments; but at the same time you have not made the least mention of the 95th rifle regiment, who covered the whole echellon of battalions, and behaved with such gallantry upon the occasion as to receive the most marked approbation of General Wellesley. In concluding his dispatches he observes, "I cannot close this letter without expressing my high sense of the good conduct of the troops; all conducted themselves with the utmost steadiness; but I cannot avoid to mention particularly the 92d regiment under the command of Lieut.-colonel Napier, and the 95th regiment under the command of Lieut.-colonel Beckwith," &c. &c. &c. I also beg leave to rectify another error which has crept into your pages, where you say, that the entrenchment to which the enemy retired was car ried by the 93d regiment, instead of the 92d, as it ought to have been. For the correction of this mistake, I will give a concise extract from the dispatch before alluded to, which will set the matter in a clear light, and give the credit to whom it is due. General Wellesley says, "The enemy soon retired to an entrenchment which they had formed in front of a camp on the north side of Kioge, and they made a disposition of their cavalry upon the sands to charge the 92d in flank while they should attack this entrenchment. This disposition obliged me to move Colonel Reden's hussars from the right to the left flanks, and to throw the 43d into second line; and then the 92d carried the entrenchment, and forced the enemy to retreat into the town in disorder. They were followed immediately in the most gallant style by Colonel Reden

* Vide Military Chronicle, No. 2, page 98, line 21.

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and his hussars, and by the 1st battalion 95th rifle regiment, and afterwards by the whole of the infantry of my corps. Upon crossing the rivulet, we found General Linsengen's corps upon our right flank, and the whole joined in pursuit of the enemy. Majorgeneral Oxholm, the second in command, who had joined the army with four battalions last night from the southern islands, attempted to stand in the village of Herfoyle, but he was attacked briskly by the hussars, and by a small detachment of the 95th rifle regiment, and he was compelled to surrender, with Count Wedel Jorlsburgh, several other officers, and 400 men." By this authentic statement you must perceive what a very active part the 95th regiment took in this gallant exploit, and I am sure you will be ready to give the praise due to them, by inserting this letter in your next Number. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

It was my intention to have addressed you fully upon a subject on which I shall now touch slightly, as an unexpected circumstance has occurred, which obliges me to curtail my remarks; yet from the little I may say, I hope yourself, or some of your correspondents, will pursue my good intentions farther. Some weeks ago, I saw published in the Gazette a list of those officers, who were considered by Government as worthy of being distinguished by medals bearing the names of the respective battles in which they had commanded; an honour extended only to Lieutenantcolonels. Now, Sir, I must say, that, in more than one instance, several regiments were gallantly led on by their Majors, and consequently it appears to me to be very unjust, that they should not have been honoured with what their courage entitled them to in the absence of their superior officer. I must here remark, that I think there has been too confined a distribution of incitement to emulation. Let us only look back at the example set us by the Ottoman Court. After the battle of Alexandria, every Captain of

Military Correspondence.

the British army then in Egypt was presented with a gold medal and riband; and the superior officers, according to their respective ranks, were honoured with higher marks of approbation. Our army, I must say, is the only one, where you never see a private soldier with the smallest badge of distinction for personal courage a badge speaking to the eye of his comrades his martial worthiness and good conduct. It need not be of gold or of silver. I remember an anecdote told of Suwarrow. After an obstinate defence he took a town in the Crimea, during the storming of which the greatest instances of courage had been shewn by his troops. In a magazine were found several thousand musket-balls, all of which the General had soon after rudely struck with the name of the city, in commemoration of the event, and presented one to his brave followers, placing them as trophies on the breasts they had been destined to pierce. Even these leaden proofs were proudly worn by the victors, and were the envy and emulation of the Russian army. These field-won honours were but the seeds of exertion, whereby the wearers aspired to receive still more elevated marks of their Sovereign's favour. Allow me then to observe, that were we to condescend to imitate our neighbours in this sensible point of view, it would be well; and I dare answer for the consequences proving most advantageous to the nation. Pardon me thus suddenly breaking off; probably at some future period you may again hear from your most hearty well wisher, G. Z.

ANECDOTE OF COUNT DE SCHAUMBOURG LIPPE.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

WHEN the Count de Lippe commanded the artillery in the army of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick against the French, he one day invited a number of Hanoverian officers to dine with him in his tent. While the company were in the highest state of festive mirth and gaiety, a succession of cannon balls passed directly over the head of the tent, "The French cannot be far off!" exclaimed the officers; "I assure you," replied the Count," they are not near us ;" and he begged the gentlemen would make themselves

Military Correspondence.

perfectly easy, resume their seats, and finish their dinner, Soon afterwards a cannon-ball carried away the top of the tent, when the officers again rose precipitately from their seats, exclaiming, "The enemy are here!" "No, no," replied the Count," the enemy are not here; therefore I must request, gentlemen, that you will place yourselves at the table and sit still, for you may rely on my word." The firing recommenced, and balls flew about in the same direction; the officers, however, remained fixed to their seats, and, while they ate and drank in seeming tranquillity, whispered to each other their surmises and conjectures on this siugular entertainment. At length the Count, rising from his seat, addressed the company in these words: "Gentlemen, I was willing to convince you how well I can rely upon the officers of my artillery; I ordered them to fire, during the time we continued at dinner, at the pinnacle of the tent; and you have observed with what punctuality they obeyed my orders."

SIR,

SIR JOHN STUART,

TO THE EDITOR.

On perusing your biographical account of Sir John Stuart in your second Number, I have perceived an inaccuracy as to a date, which you must permit me to correct. You state him to have entered the service in the year 1782, on the death of his father, and was wounded at the battle of Guildford. I had the honour of his acquaintance in December 1780, at Charlestown, in South' Carolina; he was then on his way to join the brigade of guards, in the interior, being then an ensign in the 3d guards. The battle of Guildford was fought on the 15th of March, 1781, Sir John' Stuart entered the army in the year 1780. A reference to an army list, and Adolphus's history of the present reign, would have pre vented this inaccuracy.

I am,

Sir,

your

most obedient,

A RETIRED OFFICER.

Note. The Editor has to thank this gentleman for his correction, but has to add, that it was the error of the press, an o being mistaken for a 2.The Editor must beg leave to add, that these are errors, which, from one peculiar circumstance attached to the Chronicle, he cannot always prevent. The circumstance is this, the Editor has not the happiness of being in town, and if he can steal a day or two in a month to the metropolis, it is all that is

1

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CORRECTION AS TO GENERAL LINSENGEN.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

In the continuation of the life of Lord Wellington, I observed a mistake, which, as it might be the cause of much confusion and misunderstanding, I am sure you will allow me to correct.—In the article alluded to, the Swedish General Linsengen is represented as acting in concert with Sir Arthur Wellesley in driving a corps of Danes from a position which they occupied near the town of Kioge. From this statement, many might be led to suppose, that a Swedish force co-operated with the English in the expedition against Copenhagen; and that the detachment commanded by General Linsengen was of that nation. But though the Swedes supplied the British armament with provisions, though they expressed the warmest hopes for its success, and the greatest exultation and joy when they heard of the surrender of the Danish fleet, yet not a single Swedish soldier assisted in the reduction of Copenhagen. General Linsengen is an officer in the King's German Legion, a detachment of which he commanded in the affair of Kioge. VERITAS.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,

IN your last Number of the Military Chronicle, under the head IN of "Lord Wellington's Force," you have omitted the name of Major-General Hamilton amongst the list of General Officers. You will please to rectify the mistake in the next Number; for no man has been more indefatigable in assisting his friend, Sir W. Carr Beresford, in organizing the Portuguese troops. humble servant,

I am, Sir, your

AN OLD OFFICER.

in his power. In consequence of this inconvenience, for it is a great one, his MS is necessarily sent in the epistolary form, and as a periodical work cannot always wait the going and return of the post, some errata are un avoidable. He can only say, that they shall be as few as possible, and that they shall always be corrected when pointed out; that he shall feel very grateful to any gentleman who will do him the honour to note them.