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It may be here stated that on the occasion of the extension of the order of the Bath in 1815, Lieutenant-General Drummond was gazetted as a knight commander of that most honorable order and in 1817, his services were further graciously recognized by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent conferring upon him the grand cross of that order.

The public life of this truly estimable man may be said to have closed with his resignation of the government of Canada. During the remainder of his long career, he resided in the enjoyment of domestic happiness, among his family and friends. He was blessed with an amiable wife, two sons, and a daughter, the present Countess of Effingham. His sons, alas! are both dead, as is also Lady Drummond. His younger son, Russell, was unfortunately killed, while a lieutenant on board her Majesty's ship Satellite, serving in the Pacific Ocean, during an insurrection at Callao, in the year 1835. Sir Gordon's elder son, Gordon, a colonel in the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, died in November, 1856, his health having been seriously impaired by the fatigues entailed upon him in the execution of his duties while serving in the Crimea, where during a part of the campaign, including the final assault of Sebastopol, he commanded the brigade of Guards.

Sir Gordon Drummond's death took place in London, where he had resided during the latter years of his life, on the 10th of October, 1854, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.

The various dates of Sir Gordon Drummond's commissions in the army, were as follows:-Ensign, 21st September, 1789; lieutenant, 31st March, 1791; captain, 31st January, 1792; major, 28th February, 1794; lieutenant-colonel, 1st March, 1794; colo nel, 1st January, 1798; major-general, 1st January, 1805; lieutenant-general, 4th June, 1811; general, 27th May, 1825.

COLONEL MORRISON, C.B., 44TH REGT.

AMONG the many British officers, who distinguished themselves in the war of 1812, in Canada, the name of Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison, of the 89th Regiment, stands pre-eminent and next to that of the gallant and immortal Brock, for the glory of his achievement at Chrysler's Farm, on the 11th of November, 1813. We do not believe military history records a greater victory over such unequal odds as that which Colonel Morrison gained over the forces of General Boyd, U. S. A., on that occasion; and we have

great pleasure in presenting our readers with the story of his erratic and memorable career. Colonel Morrison was born at New York, May 4, 1783, and was the only son of John Morrison, Esq., at that time deputy-commissary-general in America. He entered the army in' 1793, as an ensign in the 83rd Regiment, and was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 84th Regiment in 1794. He did not join either of the above corps, being removed to an independent company, and placed on half-pay. In 1799 he was appointed to the 17th Regiment, and served with the second battalion during the campaign in Holland of that year, and was severely wounded at the close of the action of the 2nd October. In 1800 he obtained a company in the same regiment, with which he served in the Mediterranean till the peace of 1802, when having purchased a majority, he was placed on half-pay. In 1804 he was appointed an inspecting field officer of Yeomanry on the staff in Ireland; and in 1805 exchanged to the 89th Regiment, and served with the second battalion till 1809, when he was promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 1st West India Regiment, which he immediately joined at Trinidad. In 1811 he was removed to his former regiment, the 89th, and the following year embarked with the second battalion for Halifax. In the spring of 1813 the battalion proceeded to Upper Canada; and in November of that year Colonel Morrison was entrusted with the command of a corps of observation to follow the movements of the American army under Major-General Wilkinson, descending the river St. Lawrence, and which having landed on the Canadian territory, below Fort Wellington, a division of that force under Brigadier-General Boyd, amounting to between three and four thousand men, was on the 11th, defeated by the corps of observation* at Chrysler's Farm, Williamsburgh; and after the action the Americans retired to their own shores. The details of this most gallant affair are given in the Royal Military Calendar, vol. iv. pp. 273. et seq. On this occasion Colonel Morrison was honored with a medal. He likewise received a vote of thanks from the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, and was presented with a sword by the merchants of Liverpool.

In July, 1814, during the engagement at Lundy's Lane, near the Falls of Niagara, he was so severely wounded, that in 1815 he returned with his battalion to England; and being unable, from the state of his wounds in 1816, to join the first battalion of the regiment, then in India, he was once more placed on half-pay. On the 12th August, 1819, he received the brevet of colonel.

It was not until the beginning of the year 1821 that his wounds

* This corps consisted, according to the official dispatch of Sir George Prevost, of the remains of the 49th Regiment, the second battalion of the 89th, and three companies of Voltigeurs (comprising in the whole not more than eight hundred rank and file), with a division of gun-boats,

were sufficiently healed to permit his return to the duties of active service, when he was immediately appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 44th Regiment, at that time quartered in Ireland. In June 1822, he embarked with his regiment for India, and arrived at Calcutta in November following. In July, 1823, the regiment was sent up the country to Dinapore, from whence it returned to Calcutta in 1824; and in July of that year Colonel Morrison was appointed to the command of the south-eastern division of the army, with the local rank of brigadier-general. To an ardent and devoted attachment to his profession, were united great military talent and prudence, cool determined courage, anxious attention to the troops under his command, and firm religious principle, the best stimulus to the discharge of the duties of the soldier, the sure consolation in times of difficulty, peril, and sickness. Thus he was eminently qualified for the arduous and important trust which had been confided to him; and the following order, which he issued to the troops previous to the commencement of the campaign against the Burmese, will afford the best exemplification of the feelings and temper with which he conducted the army through a country beset with natural obstacles and dangers, harrassed by a cruel and relentless foe :

"The brigadier-general, in promulgating the first arrangements for offensive operations, takes the opportunity to express his unbounded confidence, that every honorable achievement which zeal, discipline, and valor can effect, will be accomplished; and he humbly hopes that the Giver of all Victory will bless the united efforts of the division, to the glory of the British name, and the character of the Indian army. He at the same time begs the troops, when flushed with success, to remember that a vanquished foe ceases to be an enemy, and that mercy shewn, though in some instances it may be abused (particularly by a half-barbarous people), yet can never fail of the best reward; while the example set must be productive of ultimate good."

The difficulties which the army had to encounter on its march towards Arracan commenced soon after quitting Chittagong, and were of a nature only to be surmounted by the consummate skill of the commander, the steadiness, bravery, and patience of the troops under hardships and privations. On one occasion, when the officers were directed to disencumber themselves of all unnecessary baggage, and to leave their horses behind them, a young subaltern wrote to his friends-"You may imagine how severe this order appeared to be in a country like this, where, in addition to the oppressive heat of the climate, we have to scramble our way over trackless rocks, and through thick and almost impenetrable jungles; but when the general condescended to explain to us his reasons, and the necessity of the measure, we were all so delighted with him that not a murmur was heard, and there is not amongst us one

who would not go with him to the world's end." This anecdote will shew the estimation in which this amiable man was held by those serving under him.

It would extend this notice to too great length to enter into the details of the operations of this division of the army; they are recorded in the official despatches published in the London Gazette. Suffice to notice, that the country through which it passed was sometimes mountainous and rocky, only to be penetrated by passages formed by great labor and perseverance, at an advance of a few short miles per day; at others, through deep swamps, amidst noxious and pestilential exhalations. At length, after having undergone severe and almost incessant fatigue for several months, an opportunity occurred to bring the Burmese to action, and after three days continued fighting, the British army entered victorious into Arracan. No sooner, however, was this conquest achieved, than the rainy season set in; and it was necessary to make immediate provision for the cantonment of the troops. This was no easy task; for the city being situate in a marsh, surrounded on three sides with stupendous hills, was of all others a most unhealthy spot for Europeans. Thus, in a short time, General Morrison had the distress to see his gallant followers drooping with malignant sickness, and the arm of death spreading desolation around him; his own health, too, injured by continual anxiety and exertion. Nevertheless, in the midst of this heart-rending scene, not inaptly termed "The Walcheren of India," it was his constant practice to visit the hospitals, to cheer the languishing sufferer, and to administer religious consolation to those whose hope of continuance in this world was gone. Thus did he at the same moment shew himself the victorious general, the kind commander, and the Christian friend; but neither his anxious care, or the best medical skill, could stay the pestilence, and Arracan was destined to be the grave of a large portion of the flower of the British army. After long contending against the influence of the climate, General Morrison found his constitution so much impaired, that he was compelled to resign his command, and return to Calcutta, where he soon after embarked for England, in the hope that the sea voyage might contribute to the restoration of his health. This hope, alas! was ordained soon to be destroyed; but his faith in the consolations of religion never forsook him; and in humble confidence in the mediation and atonement of his Saviour, he peacefully resigned his soul unto Him who gave it, soothed by the affectionate and endearing attention of a wife and a sister, to whom he had ever been most tenderly and inviolably attached. He died at sea, on board the Cara Brea Castle, on the 15th February, 1826.

Such is a sketch of the character and actions of this brave soldier, this most amiable man. Should it be perused by those who follow his profession, it may serve to prove to them that religion and vir

tue are not incompatible with the duties of the warrior, and that the laurel-wreath of victory best adorns the brow of him who, whilst fighting the battles of his country, reposes his trust and his reliance in the God of Armies.

We cannot better conclude this memoir than in the words of the Right Honorable the Governor-General Lord Amherst, who in addressing Colonel Morrison previous to his departure from India, was pleased thus to express himself: "It is a melancholy satisfaction to me to assure you, that I know not whether most to approve of and admire the successful operations by which you wrested Arracan from the possession of the enemy, or the fortitude with which you supported the destruction of our future hopes, by a dispensation beyond our control.”

Colonel Morrison was married on the 25th April 1809, to Elizabeth Hester, daughter of the late Randolph Marriott, Esq., of the College Green, Worcester, by whom he left no issue.

CAPTAIN R. H. BARCLAY, R.N.

THE name of this naval hero, must not be allowed to pass unnoticed in this work, though there is no fear of its passing into oblivion, while the history of America records the gallantry of his exploits, during the war of 1812.

It is exceedingly strange that so important a name as Barclay's is not to be found mentioned in any of the naval dictionaries, previous to his death, while the services of innumerable minor and not so celebrated men are published to the world. Of Barclay we hardly know anything, except that he had served with Nelson, and lost an arm, we believe at Trafalgar, and was a Scotchman by birth, and assumed the command of the British naval forces on lake Erie, in May, 1813. He fitted out the naval armament, which he afterwards commanded, and displayed great energy and activity against the enemy, (commanded by Perry.)

McMullen, speaking of this portion of the war of 1812, says :"His greatest difficulty, however, was to man his fleet, as Commodore Yeo could only spare him fifty seamen. The rest of his crews had to be made up of two hundred and fifteen soldiers, of Proctor's army, and eighty Canadians; while, on the other hand, an idle commercial marine, enabled the enemy to man their fleet with picked seamen, to the number of nearly six hundred. The Americans, too, although their guns were fewer, had greatly

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