directions." In the same despatch Sir George is thanked for his active vigilance during the engagement.

When the allied armies were in readiness to commence the siege of Sebastopol, Sir George Cathcart counselled an immediate assault. He feared the arrival of reinforcements for Menschikoff, who, early in the siege, was not in a condition to operate with his dispirited troops of the Alma. For reasons best known to the French and English commanders-in-chief, the proposal was not embraced. Subsequent events prove how judiciously they would have acted in using the bayonet. Reinforcements there came, in goodly numbers. The Russian (Danubian thrashed) army had come up-thanks to our Austrian ally, who was then on the Danube. The English people had no faith in Austria: the British Cabinet swore by her! and Russian troops were free to pass on to the Crimea to shed the best blood of France and England! Cathcart had no faith in the Hapsburgs. He knew her in 1813-he saw her man of business, Count Stadion, paid an instalment of the price of her treachery to her ally Napoleon. Statesman and soldier at this eventful period, he was well aware of her having kept faith simply because her sonin-law had grown weak. And now, in his maturer years, he dreaded the truculent power. Treachery in 1813-why not market herself in 1854 ?

At eight

The reinforcements dreaded by Cathcart had arrived. o'clock on the morning of the 25th of October, Sir George was sent with his division from the camp at Sebastopol to the assistance of our troops at Balaklava. The fighting on this day was with the cavalry. Sir George, however, took his troops into action. Lord Raglan writes to the Minister of War: "As the enemy withdrew from the ground, which they had momentarily occupied, I directed the cavalry, supported by the fourth division, under LieutenantGeneral Sir George Cathcart, to move forward, and take advantage of any opportunity to regain the heights. The fourth division had advanced close to the heights, and Sir George Cathcart caused one of the redoubts to be reoccupied by the Turks, affording them his support, and he availed himself of the opportunity to assist with his riflemen in silencing two of the enemy's guns.' The day was a bloody one in the annals of warfare.

* * *

Between the 26th and 30th Sir George was again recommending an assault on the town. He had not deceived himself as to the loss of life which would ensue; but he placed the certainty of taking Sebastopol, at a cost of some 3000 men, against the gross number which would fall in repeated field actions. On every side he heard longings for beds in Sebastopol, and he saw a winter hastening on the British army which would make it a question between town shelter and camp graves. There was no hope for an assault !—the advice was not to be taken!

On the morning of the 5th of November, the enemy made a grand assault upon our position. Too prudent to make an attack against their stronghold, our commander-in-chief had not been sufficiently cautious in taking measures to prevent his own camp from being

surprised. The sharp rattle of musketry at our outposts, created some sensation in our camp, and drums beat to arms. Wearied men, wet from the trenches, grasped their muskets, and falling into companies, were led by their equally fatigued officers to the assistance of their hard-pressed comrades. It was a race as to which corps should soonest get up to the enemy. They ran in darkness and rain, the flash of the enemy's artillery being their only beacon to the bloody field to which they were summoned.

The 4th division, under Sir George Cathcart, advanced to the front and right of the attack. He ordered General Torrens to attack the left flank of the enemy, who were making desperate efforts to turn the right of the English position. Torrens obeyed, taking with him some of the 68th and 46th regiments. Torrens fell dangerously wounded, Cathcart's quick eye observed the unequal struggle between those who had just been deprived of their leader and columns of the enemy. He placed himself at the head of the reserve of the 68th, and dashed to the rescue in the valley of death. He cheered the men in a voice heard above the din of musketry, and his gallant fellows re-echoed their general. It was the moment for a great commander to step into the gap. The fire was long and rapid. The Russian bullets showered upon his devoted little band. Glancing round the field of battle, he saw on one point of the hill a host of the enemy attacking one flank of his division in rear. The Russians cheered-they would now have his division! His was a lion soul. He might die, but what was death against the safety of his sovereign's army! Flashes of fire, and down went many of his men. Still he cheered. No falling back for those heroes of his. But now he heard the general shout, "OUR CARTRIDGES ARE ALMOST GONE!" This did not surprise him, for they had been generously supplied to the enemy, and he who had been expecting the announcement replied," MY MEN, YOU HAVE GOT YOUR BAYONETS!" To the cold bright steel it was, with Cathcart in front, his sword pointing towards the enemy, and his voice encouraging to victory. Onward-onward-onward. Fire!-Russian fire, each blast a butchery. Onward-onward up that hill close to Sir George. It withers us, that fire!" On, men, on! See you not how gallantly he breasts it? Presage of triumph! Cheer with him, men! Whose voices fail there? "They are down!" Pray rest to their souls in one loud cheer. Double quick, up and avenge them! You are all but up; shoulder to shoulder now, and hip your muskets firmly. "Men on the hill behind us on the right!" Fear not, they may be friends. That flash of fire from the high ground on the right. You drop-they are the enemy! It comes again, and again-steady men! You reel! 'It is exterminating us front and rear!" but no running. Die, to a man! Good, you rally! Sir George is with you. That murderous fire! On now with Cathcart, you 68th! Close up around the majestic knight, for you are near the Russian columns, over whose bodies you must pass or die! He falls! On through the enemy if one of you would live to lay the bones of your god-like commander in the grave! Bayonet

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them home!· The Russians were twenty to one against the English on this hill, and they made dreadful havoc of our men. With a loss of near five hundred, they cleared the enemy. And when the fight had ended a search was made for Sir George Cathcart. His body was found within a hundred yards of where the enemy he struggled to reach had been posted. His sword pointed in death to the bloody pass through which alone could he hope to save a man. Across his body lay Colonel Seymour. Poor Sir George had received a bullet wound in the head, which must have caused instant death. There were, however, three bayonet wounds in his body! Yes, the wretches stained the victory they had achieved in killing so redoubtable a commander. By a fair war-shot they had laid him low; by the mutilation of his glorious person they robbed themselves of the fame the killing of such an enemy would otherwise have been theirs to be proud of.

His body was borne to the camp. There was a gloomy sadness on the faces of all, when the news of his death went round.

Lord Raglan was much affected. He could have spared no general, least of all could he have spared Cathcart, for all had confidence in his master-mind;-"he was looked up to."

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The fourth division," says Lord Raglan to the Duke of Newcastle, "under Lieutenant-General Sir George Cathcart, having been brought from their encampment, advanced to the front and right of the attack. In the meanwhile, Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir George Cathcart, with a few companies of the 68th regiment, considering that he might make a strong impression by descending into the valley and taking the enemy in flank, moved rapidly forward, but finding the heights above him in full occupation of the Russians, he suddenly discovered that he was entangled with a superior force, and while attempting to withdraw his men, he received a mortal wound, shortly previous to which Brigadier-General Torrens, when leading the 68th, was likewise severely wounded. * Among the killed, your Grace will find the names of Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir George Cathcart, Brigadier-General Strangways, and Brigadier-General Goldie. Of the services of the first it is almost unnecessary to speak. They are known throughout the British empire, and have within a short space of time been brought conspicuously before the country by his achievements at the Cape of Good Hope, whence he had only just returned when he was ordered to this army. By his death her Majesty has been deprived of a most devoted servant, an officer of the highest merit, while I personally have to deplore the loss of an attached and faithful friend."

The fall of Sir George Cathcart was a loss to the British nation. His coolness, judgment, and intrepidity cannot be surpassed by any officer in the service. That is the tribute of the camp to his character.

The day after the battle his remains were laid in a grave fashioned out of the ground on which he had fallen for England's honour. Lord Raglan hung over that grave in silence. His noble features displayed the anguish of his mind as the solemn words, "Earth to

The

earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust," fell upon his ears. blood-soaken earth was filled in on the corpse of General Sir George Cathcart, and his grave was piled amidst that mute sorrow of the heart, too big for utterance. The soldiers had digged many graves on that day!

Her Majesty Victoria felt the loss the country had sustained in the death of Cathcart, and the sovereign's sorrow is thus expressed in the Duke of Newcastle's letter to Lord Raglan, on the 27th of November, 1854 :- "The loss of Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir George Cathcart, is to the Queen and to her people a cause of sorrow which even dims the triumph of this great occasion. His loyalty, his patriotism, and self-devotion, were not less conspicuous than his high military reputation. One of a family of warriors, he was an honour to them, and an ornament to his profession. Arrived in his native land from a colony to which he had succeeded in restoring peace and contentment, he obeyed, at a moment's notice, the call of duty, and hastened to join that army in which the Queen and the country fondly hoped he would have lived to win increased renown."

The battle of Corunna was fought and won! Sir John Moore had fallen in the hour of victory, and the British nation mourned. Many huge encounters since that day have had their victims, and they, too, have been wept in palace, mansion, and lowly cottage. At the head of all those terrific carnages, in bloody bold relief, stands Inkermann! It was a mighty victory! The price? it was worth every stiver! The Czar would have given far higher to have breakfasted in our camp. What if he had made the purchase? Then Inkermann all gory as you are, in our crape we cleave to you. In the bowels of your soil are many heroes! You are sacred to England. On one of your hills fell Cathcart! There was a tear for Moore! there is a cypress for Cathcart!

VISCOUNT CHEWTON, OF THE SCOTS FUSILIER
GUARDS.

THE late VISCOUNT CHEWTON was born at Cardington, in Bedfordshire, June 29th, 1816. His father, at that time the Hon. William Waldegrave, had married the eldest daughter of Samuel Whitbread, Esq., M.P., by the Lady Elizabeth Grey, sister to the second Earl Grey. William Frederick, their eldest son, early showed an inclination for active, stirring life, and when his father was appointed to the command of His Majesty's frigate, the Seringapatam, he was removed from the school of the Rev. Dr. Mayo, of Cheam, where he and his brothers were educated, and entered the Royal Navy, and now commenced a career of adventure which has perhaps been seldom equalled.

The "Seringapatam" was sent first of all to the South American station, and afterwards on a voyage of inquiry into the religious and moral state of the South Sea Islands, which at that time were

emerging out of heathenism, after many years of indefatigable labour by the missionaries of the London Missionary Society. Easter Island was visited 18th Feb., 1830, Pitcairn's Island 7th March, the Marquesas 23rd March, Nooaheevah 27th March, Otaheite 7th April, Huahine 30th April, &c., and on the 26th July the ship anchored in Callao Roads.

In the visits paid sometimes to savage, and at other times to half-civilized islands, the little midshipman showed an aptitude for the language of signs, which procured for him many coveted articles in barter which others found it impossible to obtain; and on one occasion he was detained a whole night by the savage chief of Vavao, as a hostage for the good faith of the captain. His health at this time suffered so much from the climate and mosquitos, that it was thought advisable that he should relinquish the profession on which he had entered, and he was sent home in the ill-fated Thetis, which was wrecked off Cape Frio: he escaped out of his hammock in his night shirt, losing all his own things and the curiosities which had been collected with much industry during the voyages of the Seringapatam. The crew of the Thetis had much to suffer from the hostility of the natives of that part of Brazil, but W. F. Waldegrave, by his dexterity, often contrived to cater for himself and his suffering shipmates. On his return to England he endeavoured to settle himself down to a studious life, and even entered at Cambridge; but nature was too strong for resolution, and with the consent of his parents he sailed on 20th June, 1837, for Canada, intending to settle in that country. He purchased land, and proceeded to clear and stock it, when the Canadian Rebellion broke out, and he joined at once the Royal Beauharnais Volunteers.

Writing on the 8th of June, 1839, from Huntingdon, Lower Canada, he says:-"I am at present stationed with my troop here at head-quarters, to prevent any burnings, assassinations, and things of the like nature being committed by the refugees on the other side. I am very comfortable here at present. I live in the same house with Colonel Campbell, the regular officer commanding the district, whom I have to thank for my appointment. We have drill from six a.m. to eight, and again from four to six p.m., and after the foot drill, in the morning, few have any inclination to run about in the day, as we are trained to act as riflemen when dismounted. We have a very good show of men and horses.” This independent troop did such good service that on a regular regiment of Canadian rifles being raised in the colonies, an ensigncy, dated 18th July, 1841, without purchase, was given to the trooplieutenant. The shanty was entirely abandoned, and after serving for two years a lieutenancy was obtained by purchase, and exchange into the 3rd Buffs, 25th August, 1843, and he returned to England with the charge of convicts.

After a few months' residence with his family, he was ordered to join his regiment in India, and appointed to convey troops and convicts to Van Diemen's Land. After a run of ninety-one days, in the course of which he touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and