While oft, meandering through the plain, And as in pool or lake they meet, The water, nauseous grown, or sweet, As one or t'other's force prevails. And these, though blended oft, and mixt, According as their deeds proclaim The origin from whence they came. THE LATE LIEUT.-COLONEL DONALD MACDONALD, C. B. 92d REGIMENT. THE late Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonald was the fourth son of the late John Macdonald, Esq. of Dalschuisnie, Perthshire, and in early life was intended for the legal profession. After spending several years in the office of a respectable practitioner in Edinburgh, he exchanged the labours of a peaceful occupation for the arduous, and at that time, (the beginning of the late war,) peculiarly dangerous profession of arms. After a period of service in various corps, Lieutenant Macdonald joined the 92d regiment in Ireland in 1798. In this national corps he continued to serve during the whole of the remainder of the war, and largely participated in the well-earned fame which that distinguished regiment acquired in numerous campaigns and sanguinary battles. In 1799 the 92d regiment formed part of the expedition to Holland, under the command of his Royal Highness the late Duke of York; and in the battle of Egmont-op-Zee, on the 2d October, covered itself with glory. On this occasion, Lieutenant Macdonald was severely wounded, having received two bayonet wounds in the breast, while defending himself against the united attacks of three French soldiers. In Egypt, in 1801, he was again severely wounded by a grape-shot, which in its progress tore away a great portion of the flesh of his left arm, above the elbow. His services in Holland and Egypt were, in 1803, rewarded with a company. In 1807 he accompanied the 92d to Copenhagen. During the siege of that city, the 92d regiment and a few more troops, under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, now Duke of Wellington, were sent to dislodge a body of Danish troops, strongly posted near the village of Kioge. The enemy, who outnumbered the assailants in the proportion of four to one, poured on the attacking columns a dreadful shower of shot as they advanced to storm the Danish position. But the Highlanders and their brave companions, unmindful of the dangers which stared them in the face, advanced a great part of the way at the ordinary step; and when they had approached close to the Danish batteries, the whole rushed against their opponents with such irresistible impetuosity, as to cause the enemy to fly in a few minutes from the field of blood, and leave their artillery in the hands of Sir Arthur and his handful of men. Early in the year 1808, the 92d regiment and many others were sent to the assistance of Sweden, under the command of Sir John Moore, but returned to England in the autumn of the same year, without performing any service whatever.— After remaining a few days in port, the same armament was ordered to proceed to Portugal, where it arrived a few days subsequent to the battle of Vemeira. When the British army moved from Lisbon towards the Spanish territory, the 92d regiment, which formed part of General Hope, late Earl of Hopetoun's division, accompanied their gallant leader, who, with the British artillery, moved first to Madrid, and subsequently to Salamanca, where the brave Moore commenced those offensive operations against the enemy, which terminated in the glorious battle and victory of Corunna, and in which the British Ge neral lost his life. In 1809, the 92d regiment formed part of the expedition to Walcheren, but was afforded no opportunity of distinguishing itself. Having recovered from the Walcheren fever, a considerable portion of the men were embarked, in August 1810, for the Peninsula, where, in the following month, they joined the army under Lord Wellington in the lines of Torres Vedras. When Massena retreated into Spain, the Highlanders were among the keenest in the pursuit ; and, in the memorable battle of Fuentes de Honore, which was fought on the 3d and 5th May 1811, they conducted themselves in their usual gallant manner. Soon after this, the regiment was ordered from the neighbourhood of Almeida to Portalegre, and for some time thereafter formed part of a corps of observation under the command of General, now Lord Hill. In all these operations, Captain Macdonald accompanied his regiment, and by his distinguished courage and example, on all occasions, highly contributed to raise the discipline of the corps to that point of excellence from which it never descended. In proof of this, we may state the following fact:-The 92d regiment had been quartered about three months in a Spanish village called Banos, when the orders were issued for the whole army to move towards the enemy on the 18th May, 1813. On the evening of that day, Sir Rowland Hill occupied the house which Colonel Cameron had quitted in the morning. On his arrival, the principal people of the town waited upon the General with an address. Sir Rowland, after making a suitable reply to it, inquired if the deputation had any complaints to make against the -troops that had left them. To this, the person at the head of the deputation replied:-" Sir Rowland Hill, had you been here this morning, when the Highlanders marched out of our village, our tears would have answered the question which you have now put to us." General Hill having received orders to force back a corps of French troops, which had approached the Portuguese frontier, the British troops marched out of their cantonments at Portalegre on the 22d of October 1811, and, on the morning of the 28th, came up with the enemy at the village of Arroyo de Molinos, and, after a smart action, killed, wounded, and captured the greater part of the enemy, together with the whole of their artillery and military chest. On this occasion Captain Macdonald was severely wounded, while gallantly lead ing his men' out of the town to charge the squares of the enemy: the large bone of his left leg was shattered, and a musket ball passed quite through the other. All the attention and medical advice which his critical situation required was bestowed on the brave sufferer; but, as the medical gentlemen were divided in opinion regarding the wounds, the fractured limb was not amputated—a circumstance which he often regretted. At the expiration of three or four months, the leg was so far healed as to permit him to proceed to Lisbon. Being soon after promoted to a majority, he returned home, and joined the 2d battalion of the regiment, then in Scotland. Notwithstanding all his sufferings, however, his military ardour continued unabated. On the reduction of the 2d battalion, he joined the 1st in Ireland in 1814; and in May 1815 he embarked with it for the Netherlands. The dreadful battle of Quatre Bras, on the 16th of June, having stretched the brave Cameron a lifeless corpse on the bed of honour, and a severe wound having compelled his equally gallant companion, Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, to retire from the field, Major Mac donald took command of the battalion on the evening of that day. It is quite unnecessary to enter into a detailed account of all the movements made by the Gordon Highlanders on the eventful day of Waterloo; but we conceive it a duty which we owe to the memory of Major Macdonald to give a few particulars regarding the charge which the 92d made at three o'clock. Under cover of his numerous artillery, Napoleon caused two columns of three thousand men each, supported by another of equal force, to move forward and attack the left and left centre of the British position. To carry the orders of their master into execution, the French troops advanced in close columns. As they ascended the ridge in front of the left of the position where the 92d regiment was stationed, a Belgian corps, consisting of from two to three thousand men, received them with vollies of musketry, which arrested their progress for half an hour. At length, however, the whole of the foreign troops fairly fled, and retired in rear of the British. The retreat of the Belgians caused Sir Dennis Pack to order the ground given up by them to be occupied by the 3d battalion royals, and 2d battalion 44th regiment. These two weak battalions did every thing in their power to repel the assaults of the enemy, but, after some hard fighting, they were also compelled to yield. As there were now no other infantry regiments on the ground ready to act but the Gordon Highlanders, Sir Dennis Pack galloped up to them, and said, "Ninety-second, you must charge-all the troops in your front have given way." This short address, disheartening as it was, produced a very different effect from what might have been anticipated. Instead of operating unfavourably on the minds of the soldiers, it roused their courage to the most exalted pitch to which it - could be carried. They saw that on their conduct hung in a great measure the fate of the battle, and of all those nations arrayed against the French usurper, and, therefore, as one man, instantly made up their minds to conquer or die where they fought. At this interesting and truly critical period of the dreadful drama, the subject of our memoir arose even above himself. His eyes sparkling with fire, he VOL. II. Z z turned round to the battalion, and tỏ his two hundred and thirty companions in arms gave the order to charge, when the whole instantly rushed forward. While traversing the space (about one hundred yards) between the two armies, the Major encouraged his battalion with the most inspiriting language, his countenance all the time denoting that he occupied a station which at that moment he would not have exchanged for one of the most splendid or exalted in the universe. The cheers of the Highlanders gave the enemy, who had now arrived at the summit of the ridge, the first intimation of the fate that awaited them. For a few seconds the French seemed inclined to dispute the progress of the assailants, but just as the dreadful collision was about to take place, the front ranks of the enemy began to exhibit an uneasiness, which, in a second or two more, showed itself in the flight of the whole three thousand. On arriving at the ground on which the formidable foe had stood, and perceiving the disorderly manner in which he was retiring, the brave Macdonald betowed upon his gallant associates the most flattering encomiums which words could convey. Sir William Ponsonby, perceiving that the enemy retired in a disorderly manner, rushed forward with the 1st, 2d, and 6th regiments of heavy dragoons, and in an instant cut his way through the enemy as far as the valley between the two positions, captured two eagles, killed one thousand, and brought off two thousand prisoners. The Greys having charged partly past the flanks and partly through intervals formed by the 92d regiment to allow them to pass, cheered as they advanced, and in a manner which made every Scotsman's heart leap with joy. On seeing what the Highlanders had accomplished, the old Greys, as with one voice, called out "Hurra, ninety-second! Scotland for ever!" and rushing forward like an impetuous torrent, they were in a twinkling in the very centre of the French column. In this dreadful battle Major Macdonald was more fortunate than in some of his former engagements, having escaped without a scratch, although he had two horses killed under him, one with a musket, and the other with a cannon ball. For his gallantry and admirable conduct throughout, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel-was made a knight companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath-was presented with a Waterloo medal-and by the Emperor of Russia, with the order of Wladamir. In addition to these, he, in 1801, received a gold medal from the Turkish Emperor for the services he had performed in Egypt. Du Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonald remained in the service till 1819, when his leg having become extremely painful, he found it necessary to retire from the service, and for ever bid adieu to that far-famed corps, in which he had spent twenty-one years of his life-and in which he had reaped such a rich harvest of glory and renown. ring the last ten years of his life he suffered greatly from the wound in his left leg. It frequently broke out, and confined him to bed for months at a time. From the wound numerous and large pieces of bones have often been extracted. Notwithstanding all this, and the excruciating pain he was repeatedly made to bear, his constitution was long proof against the most violent assaults of the disease; but his once manly frame was at length so shattered with the desperate and repeated attacks of a disorder altogether incurable, that he sunk under his sufferings on the 19th of June last. Although he perceived his end rapidly approaching, yet his great fortitude of mind enabled him to support his last illness, and look forward to his approaching dissolution with the same manly firmness which he had so often exhibited when surrounded by thousands of his enemies in the field of strife. The deceased was a complete soldier. Few officers have seen more service, or had their bodies so severely shattered by the balls of their country's enemies. In action he was cool, firm, and courageous. To the soldiers he was kind and attentive; and to the officers, who required his aid or advice, he was ever ready to afford them either. Few officers lived more respected, and none ever died more regretted. His deeds will live long in the remembrance of his relatives and old companions in arms. 1 THE RIGHT HON. DAVID STEWART ERSKINE, THE very ancient earldom of Buchan, created in 1469, came into the family of Erskine with Mary Douglas, Countess of Buchan, granddaughter of the Honourable Robert Douglas, by Christian Stewart, who married Sir James Erskine, Knt., eldest son, by his second wife, of John the seventh Earl of Marr. The noble Earl, whose death we have now to record, was born June 1. 1742 (O. S.). He was the second but eldest surviving son of Henry David the tenth Earl, by Agnes, second daughter of Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees, Bart. his Majesty's Solicitor for Scotland; and was the elder half-brother of Thomas Lord Erskine, for a short time Lord High Chancellor of England. From an account communicated by himself to Mr Wood's edition of Douglas's Peerage of Scotland," we learn that " he was educated by James Buchanan, of the family of the memorable poet and historian, under the immediate direction of his excellent parents. He was founded in the elements of the mathematics by his mother, who was a scholar of the great Maclaurin; by his father in history and politics; and by his preceptor in all manner of useful learning, and in the habits of rigid honour and virtue." By a Memoir in the "Public Characters" of 1798, to which also it is probable that his Lordship contributed, we are further informed, that" at the University of Glasgow, in early youth, he applied with ardent and successful diligence to every ingenious and liberal study. His hours of relaxation from science and literature were frequently passed in endeavours to acquire the arts of design, etching, engraving, and drawing, in the academy which the excellent but ill requited Robert Foulis for some time laboured to support in that western mẹ |