75th foot, and was suffered to remain a captain for the term of sixteen years, that is, from 1778 to 1794. In 1783, his head quarters being at Bristol, a mutiny broke out in his regiment, in consequence of which, the men were disbanded, and the officers put upon half-pay, but not before Picton was honoured with the thanks of the commander-in-chief, for his conduct in the emergency.

Year after year now passed tediously away; and Picton, who from the onset of his career was remarkable for professional ardour, led an anxious life, petitioning for a commission, but restricted by economy and retirement. At last, worn out by the disappointments he met at home, he set sail for the West Indies, in 1794, and landing at Jamaica, was fortunate enough to obtain a majority in the 68th foot, from Sir John Vaughan, who at the same time nominated him an aid-de-camp, and soon after made him deputy quarter-master-general of the island, a preferment which involved the local rank of lieutenant-colonel. Two years after, a vacancy occurred at the head of his department, and he aspired to fill it; but another officer was put above him, and he was on the point of returning to England, when Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who had just reached that station with the command of an offensive army, engaged his assistance in the approaching `hostilities. The offer being promptly accepted, he took an active part in the reduction of Lucie, where the opinion entertained of his abilities may be estimated by the tenor of a proclamation which required, that all orders coming from Lieutenant-colonel Picton, should be considered as orders coming from the Commander-in-chief. He next received the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 68th foot, with which he fought at the storming of St. Vincent's, then repaired to Martinique with Abercrombie, and after a short interval, returned to England in the same company.

During the course of the same year, Abercrombie resumed his command in the West Indies, and was again attended in his proceedings by Picton. Trinidad being reduced, Picton's services upon that and former occasions were rewarded with the appointment of governor and captain-general of the island. From this period, the year 1786, until 1802, when the administration of the place was put under the control of commissioners, he continued to discharge the duties of his office with a zeal, which secured to him.

acknowledgments from the various commanders-in-chief upon the station, and the thanks of the ministry at home. Nevertheless, the circumstances under which he resigned his authority were attended with a popular ciamour, so loud and revengeful as to bring on a court-martial, from which, however, he was honourably acquitted. One fact, in particular, was then established against him, which operated greatly to disparage his character:-it was proved that he had subjected a female slave to the torture of a flogging, for the purpose of extorting from her a confession of some theft she was accused of having committed. An act so repugnant to the humanity of British jurisprudence at first impelled the public to reprobate Picton as a monster of martial tyranny, but the general odium soon died away; for it was clearly shown, that he was all along particularly averse to the proceeding, and was only induced to sanction its barbarity, by the remonstrances of the legal advisers in the prosecution, who cited the Spanish laws by which the island was then governed, and upon their enactments claimed the inquisitional punishment as an undoubted right.

So well satisfied was the War-office with the result of this investigation, that he was made a colonel on the 1st of January, 1803, a command in which nothing memorable is recorded of his conduct. On the 25th of April, 1808, he was promoted to be a major-general; and when the injudicious expedition to Walcheren was projected, during the following year, he was put at the head of a brigade, which assisted at the siege of Flushing, a town of which he subsequently became governor. The disasters of this undertaking, and the mortality which swept away the troops embarked upon it, were enormous: no less than a million of money was expended upon it, and as many as 15,000 men, out of an army of 37,000, were either killed or disabled by the ravages of fever. Considerable praise was bestowed upon Picton, for the solicitude with which he tended the suffering troops, and the kindness with which he assisted the destitute inhabitants; but he was obliged to bend, in his turn, to the pernicious influence of the climate, and returned to England, dangerously reduced by fever and ague.

Scarcely was he recovered from the effects of these enervating disorders, when he was sent into Portugal, and there attached to the staff of the Peninsular army. As soon as his health be

came re-established, he was entrusted with the command of the 3d division. The first occasion in which his services were now found more than usually eminent, was when Lord Wellington, having passed the valley of Mondego, collected all his forces on the Sierra de Busaco, and was there attacked on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of September, 1810, by Ney and Regnier. Various movements were effected with steady alacrity, and much dexterous fighting occurred on those days, throughout the whole lines, during which, Picton, in the right wing, usurped a conspicuous part, and was victorious in every emergency. Two thousand of the enemy were killed upon the field, but the advantages of the British, though decisive, produced no great results. Picton's name was repeatedly mentioned with praise in the Gazette, and in return, he was gratified with the colonelcy of the 77th foot, early in the following year.

After being present at Massena's attack near Fuentes de Onore, he manoeuvred his division at the siege of Badajos,* on the 19th

* Of the officers who fell upon this occasion, one, Lieutenant Beresford, is commemorated in Westminster Abbey, and two, Majors-general Robert Craufurd, and Henry Mackinnon, in St. Paul's Cathedral. Beresford and Mackinnon were accidentally blown up by powder, and Craufurd was mortally wounded in the breach. Beresford has only a marble tablet, which is placed near the bust of General Paoli, and is thus inscribed ::

Sacred to the memory of John Theophilus Beresford, eldest son of Marcus Beresford, and the Lady Frances his wife, Lieutenant in the 88th Regiment of Foot, who died in the 21st year of his age, at Villa Formosa, in Spain, of wounds received from the exploding of a powder magazine, at Ciudad Rodrigo, after he had passed unhurt through eight years in voluntary service of the greatest danger, for which he received the thanks of the Commanderin-chief. Brave and zealous in his military duties, animated by a strong feeling of piety to God, and distinguished by his ardent filial affection and duty to his widowed mother, he has left to her the recollection of his rising virtues, as her only consolation under the irreparable loss she has sustained by his death. Born January 16, 1792, he died January 29, 1812; and was interred with military honours in the fort of Almeida.

"Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.’

Wisdom of Solomon, Chap. iv. ver. 11.

Craufurd and Mackinnon are distinguished together, by a memorial which

of January, 1812, with a precision and ability which must have appeared far more glorious had he not been there gallantly rivalled by the other commanding officers. In less than half an hour after the attack commenced, the British succeeded in forming their lines on the ramparts of the town, and a formidable siege was then concluded by immediate submission. The governor, 1700 men, and 300 cannon, fell into the hands of the besiegers, and graced their victory.

But at the succeeding storming of Badajos, which submitted after a siege of eighteen days, he wrested far higher honours. Upon this occasion the obstacles opposed to the British, the exertions they had to make, and the losses they sustained, were arduously great. Their advance was broken by innumerable palisades, and clumps of stakes, to which dirk-blades and bayonets were lashed in a slanting position; the French were drawn up eight deep, with one rank firing while the other loaded; and no less than two ditches and a most ingenious chevaux-de-frise protected their immediate front. The assault was undertaken by escalade, and the fire opened at ten o'clock at night. By eleven Picton had adroitly converted a feint into a real attack, had carried all before him, and established his men in the castle, whence a violent effort was made to dislodge him. But he repulsed every charge, and secured his possession, full an hour before the other detachments were able to overcome the obstacles

occupies the panel above the monument to Captain Westcott, in the north transept of St. Paul's. It is the work of Bacon, jun. but it is not remarkable for merit: an engraving from it is given in the plate which faces the notice of General Bowes, in the ensuing life of Sir William Ponsonby. Upon a double tomb leans, at one end, a soldier, said to represent a Highlander, and at the other is seated rather an awkward figure of Victory, crowning a stand of colours, which occupy the centre, with laurel. The extremities are worked off with a Lion pawing a fallen Eagle, a gun and shield, carved with the arms of Spain, &c.

The epitaph is succinct —

Erected by the Nation

To Major-General ROBERT CRAUfurd, and Major-General HENRY MACKINNON, Who fell at Ciudad Rodrigo, Jan. 18, 1812.

opposed to their progress. The conquest, however, was rapidly completed at every point, and of 5000 men who armed the garrison, 1200 were slaughtered, and the residue taken prisoners.

The Earl of Liverpool, in moving the thanks of the House of Lords to Lord Wellington and his army for this gallant action, introduced a particular compliment to the subject of this sketch. "The conduct of Major-general Picton," he observed, "could not fail to excite the most lively feelings of admiration, for it had inspired the army with confidence, and exhibited an example of science and bravery which had been surpassed by no other officer."

This blow delivered Portugal from the sufferings of French invasion, and gave an aspect the most favourable to the interests of Great Britain. Napoleon was now constrained to detach large bodies of men from the Spanish army, for the purpose of stemming the adversities of a complicated warfare in other quarters; Wellington's force amounted nearly to 100,000 men, and the French were necessitated to retire gradually before him towards the Pyrennees. After blowing up the fortifications at Burgos they made a stand at Vittoria,† under Joseph Buonaparte and

In the chapel of St. Paul, in Westminster Abbey, is fixed a tablet with the following record:

To the Memory of

Lieutenant-Colonel CHARLES MACLEOD,

who fell at the siege of Badajos,

aged 26 years,

This monument is erected by his brother officers.

In Lieutenant-colonel Macleod, of the 43d regiment, who was killed on the breach, his Majesty has sustained the loss of an officer, who was an ornament to his profession, and was capable of rendering the most important services to his country."-Vide Marquis of Wellington's Despatch, 8th of April, 1812.

†The battle of Vittoria cost the life of Colonel Cadogan, an officer, who has received a national memorial in St. Paul's Cathedral. It is inserted in one of the panels in the south-east ambulatory, and may be referred to as a model of monumental sculpture. Chantry, R. A. is the artist who claims its honours. When the Colonel was disabled from persisting in the battle, he desired his men to convey him to an adjoining eminence from which he could witness the issue of the contest. This is the natural circumstance Judiciously seized upon by the artist for the commemoration of his subject;