charge, that it would not be long before he made a second attempt to hunt up those of its inmates, to whom his features would be anything but strangers. In another day or two, as will be readily conceived, every thing was in due and formal order for the reception of a pupil, who had contributed so eminently to raise its character. Diebitsch now made his appearance a second time at its gates, and was received by Professor Wadzek, who had given himself no small pains to get up a laudatory harangue, at the head of the whole academical corps. The warrior, however, had no sooner cast a look of recognition down the line, than, upon discovering two of his own olden tutors among the parties present, he sprang from his saddle, and threw his arms round the neck of Professor Beckmann; and then he began telling over the scenes of by-gone years, and recapitulating the heads of a lesson, or dwelling with archness on some heavy imposition, as if either had been but of yesterday's occurrence. At the first pause in this prologue, Wadzek made a movement, as if he considered it time to deliver himself of his eloquence; unhappily, Diebitsch, at this critical moment, caught a glimpse of his favourite tutor, Wippel, who has since risen to the office of Librarian to the King, and instantly rushed towards him, folded him in his arms, wept for very joy at the meeting, and hung by him with so fervent a forgetfulness of the eloquent Commander-in-Chief, that poor Wadzek and his harangue were within an ace of being dismissed from the parade altogether.

A somewhat similar scene occurred on the occasion of his visit to the same institution last year; but he had exchanged the designation of Chief of the Staff, for the more illustrious name of "Conqueror of the Ottoman." The hero was invited to a splendid breakfast: no prosy chevaux-de-frize was raised athwart his path; his ancient tutors and younger acquaintance received a hearty welcome at his hands; there was no end to his inquiries, or the calling up of recollections, which bespoke the tenacity of his attachment to the nursery in which he had imbibed the lore of military science. At table, his humour imparted animation and hilarity to the whole circle. During his sojourn at Berlin, he frequently repeated his visits to the academy, Salle d'Armes, and Library; entered into conversation with every one who desired to address him; promised to befriend the youthful aspirants who were anxious to enter the Russian service, though he afforded them no inducement to do so, and added to his autograph of “J. Diebitsch,” which he had inscribed in the "Visitors Album," in 1813, the words " Von Sabalkanski, as one of its grateful pupils." The pen which he made use of is preserved as a pious relic in the library of the academy.

One of the last incidents in his memorable career was described to me by a Polish officer, who was made prisoner in the battle of Ostrolenka, and brought in to the Russian camp. I shall not attempt to cut it down to what merely relates to Diebitsch.-" Wounded, surrounded by enemies, and completely severed from my brothers in arms, two Russian grenadiers ran furiously up to me; but, to my utter astonishment, instead of laying hands upon me, they began to attack one another. I subsequently learnt the cause of this strange occurrence. It was this;-every Russian soldier, who captures a Polish officer, receives a military decoration, together with a couple of ducats, as his recompense. But as neither of the combatants could succeed in making away with his opponent, and, consequently, neither could put in his claim to the reward, they settled the dispute by agreeing to disencumber themselves of me; and were, in fact, on the very point of effecting their horrible purpose, when a beat of drums called them off. As my good stars would have it, I afterwards fell into less savage hands, though I was doomed to be bound with cords, and hurried away to the foot of a sand-hill, close upon Ostrolenka. What was my surprise, at finding that I was within some twenty yards of the Field-Marshal and his numerous staff, who were posted on the top of the eminence, watching the slaughter which his columns were making among my fellow-countrymen. As soon as he perceived me, he rode

up, and put several pertinent questions to me, in a cheerful and encouraging tone of voice. I was afterwards treated with much kindness, and was admitted, the next day, to witness a scene of no little interest. Diebitsch came, with his whole staff at his heels, to visit the general hospital. One of his officers, bearing a large silver dish covered with military insignia, walked close behind him; I saw him distribute them among the wounded officers of his army, and hang them round their necks. It was evident that great stress was laid upon this outward mark of distinction; for he even conferred it upon an officer, a portion of whose skull had been shot away, and who was sinking under the agonies of death. A more intimate acquaintance with the higher classes in the Russian army, taught me that its brutality is confined to the lowest subalterns and common soldiery."

I have never heard his tutors speak of him but as having been a youth of singular industry and perseverance, and of great talent; and possessing at the same time a more than common degree of sauvity of manner and sensibility of heart; two qualities, which every one who knew him, will bear witness never to have forsaken him, even under the most difficult and trying circumstances, in which it was possible for a commander to be placed. I appeal to the candour of his gallant antagonists, the leaders of the Polish forces, to attest that his humane and generous demeanour in the conduct of a campaign known to be obnoxious to his private feelings, entitled him whilst living to their respect, and, when cut off in the prime of life, claimed the tribute of their manly regret.*

V. Z.

EPITAPH,

WRITTEN FOR THE LATE CAPT. PHILIP BEAVER, R.N.

WHO DIED AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, APRIL 1813.

BY JAMES PRIOR, ESQ. M.R.I.A., F.S.A. &c.

MAY not this stone, though lowly, shortly tell
Of him who living aimed but to excel?
Who skilled in nautic arts, untaught to fear,
O'er ocean held a late and bold career;
Whose pride was danger sought in every clime,
Who fell, but not by war, in manhood's prime,
His first, last wish, that Fame he long pursued,
His grief to be by fate, not shot, subdued;

"I hoped," he cried, "where war and tempests lour,
To win a name and die in victory's hour;

Vain now such thoughts! content I meet my lot,

Death! I have viewed thee oft and fear thee not!"†

His spirit fled no more to seek command,

His frame reposes here on Afric's strand;
Simple as were his habits is his mound,

"Tis Beaver's name, not tomb, adorns this ground.

* It will be in the recollection of the reader, that the late Field-Marshal Diebitsch was seized with an attack of the cholera, at the Russian head-quarters at Pultusk, on the evening of the 9th of June last, and that he sank under it early in the morning of the day following. A private letter from an officer on his staff, after relating the circumstances attending his last moments, closes in these words: "I will not attempt to describe the sensation which this event has produced throughout the army. No individual could have common intercourse with him without respecting him; none could enjoy his intimate acquaintance without esteeming him. His merits, as a soldier, might be appreciated at a distance; but there was a mildness, nobility of soul, and love of justice in his private character, which could be estimated by those only who were accustomed to move in his society."-ED.

+ Nearly the last words he uttered.

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.

Second Letter from Captain Basil Hall on Steam Navigation. MR. EDITOR,-As you did me the honour in the U. S. Journal of August, to insert my letter containing suggestions for preventing accidents by steamers, I trust you will afford me a corner of your admirable work for another suggestion, almost equally important. It is extremely simple in its application is readily understood by every one-is not expensive-and, finally, it has elsewhere actually been brought into use, with great advantage, during a period of eight or ten years.

The effect of this contrivance may be described in a few words, but the apparatus itself cannot be made intelligible without a longer description than you have probably room for, nor could it be rendered quite available by engineers without a drawing. I send you, however, a copy of a full account written by the inventors, Messrs. James and Charles Carmichael, of Dundee, together with the plate in illustration, both of which you are at full liberty to reprint if you conceive the interest of the public will thereby be advanced.

The purpose intended by the contrivance to which I wish to call the attention of the proprietors of steam-boats, is a device for enabling the captain or pilot to command the motions of the machinery without reference to the engineer, and without that eternal uproar, delay, and uncertainty, which now occur on board most steam-boats. The pilot in the bow has to roar out to the captain on the paddle-box, who bawls to the engineer below, either to "Stop her!" or to" Back her!" or to " Go on!" By this process much time is lost-which may prove fatal to little boats in the way -and it will often happen that mistakes arise, from the captain or the engineer not understanding each other, or not distinctly catching the sounds of the pilot's voice. In dark, rainy, or blowing nights, you may easily conceive how these difficulties are increased, and how very uncertain the movements of a steam-vessel are, regulated by the methods now in use. Even in broad day-light and in fine weather, we all know that accidents are perpetually occurring, and I conceive that most of these may be prevented by the adoption of the plan of steering in the bow, suggested in the U. S. Journal of August, with the addition of that I am about to describe.

In all the steam-boats on the river Tay, the machinery is so fitted, that by the simple motion of a small handle or index, placed on deck, in hearing and in view of the pilot or master of the vessel, every movement which the engine is capable of giving to the paddle-wheels, may be at once commanded, without reference to the engineer.

The vessel may be advanced, or backed a-stern; or she may be merely checked in her velocity, or be entirely stopped, at any given moment, by merely turning, with a slight effort of the hand, a horizontal bar, about two feet long. This bar is connected with a dial plate, furnished with a small hand, like that of a clock, to tell whether the machinery is so placed as to urge the boat a-head, or a-stern, or to stop her.

No skill, it may be observed, is required for the management of this handgear, so that the master or the pilot, or whoever has charge of the boat, or any one of the sailors under his directions, can perform the office of regulating the movements of the steam machinery as well as the most experienced engineer. In point of fact, the engine-room in the Tay steam-boats is generally locked up, and I have been in one of them for many hours, during which the vessel was set a-head, stopped, and backed, a dozen times, without the engineer once going near the machinery. Thus, the confusion which so frequently arises at night in calling out to the engineer below, is avoided; and all ambiguity arising from the word o command being transmitted through several hands, is prevented.

U. S. JOURN, No. 34. SEPT. 1831.

H

It is very material to observe that this ingenious invention places the steam-engine as completely under the command of the pilot as the rudder is proposed to be; and as there is no reason why it should be fixed on one part of the deck more than another, I would strongly recommend its being placed alongside of the wheel, on the top of the scaffolding near the bow, so that the pilot might have not only the power of steering the boat with certainty, but of regulating all her movements with the utmost degree of promptitude. It may be observed, that as it is quite impossible two persons can steer one ship well, so two persons cannot effectually regulate the motions of her machinery. If the pilot in the bow be obliged to call out to the steersman abaft, even though his voice is so loud and distinct as to require no one to pass the word along, still there is inevitably a great loss of time in the transmission of his wishes to the mind of the helmsman-who, if stationed abaft, sees nothing, and must act by guess-work - and there is a still further loss of time before the steersman can impart to the rudder the required motion. Accordingly, it is of vast importance in the steam navigation, of rivers especially, that the pilot who stands in the bow of the vessel should have the means literally in his hands, of giving instantaneous changes not only to the direction of the boat, but to her rate of moving. This object he will now, I trust, have, by the general adoption of the American method of placing the steering-wheel on a platform, far forward and high above the deck; and I may here repeat what I said in my former letter to you, that on the great American rivers the pilot himself always steers the boat with his own hands.

-

If the steam hand-gear above described, be in like manner placed within' the pilot's reach,-which it may perfectly well be,-both the force and the direction of the boat will be always under the complete management of one and the same man. I cannot but think that the utility of thus centering all the power in the person who has all the responsibility, must be obvious to every one who has considered such subjects attentively; and I' do earnestly hope, that all the steam-boat proprietors on the Thames will, ere long, adopt both these suggestions.

In the mean time, it affords me the highest satisfaction to be able to authorise you to state, that the Comptroller of the Navy, Sir Byam Martin, has given directions for one of the Government boats to be fitted up with the apparatus for steering in the bow; and I have not the least doubt that the utility will be so obvious, that the plan will be imitated by every other boat in a short time.

I may add one word on the general topic which interests the public very much at this moment ;-I allude to the danger to coal barges and to little boats from these vessels going at too great a rate. The idea, however, of imposing, by law, any restriction on the progress of such an improvement as that of steam navigation, appears quite preposterous. Speed and certainty are the life and soul of a steam-boat, and therefore, to regulate her pace is actually to tie her feet in the race, and totally to destroy her superiority over the old sailing vessels. If overloaded coal-barges are liable, as it is alleged, to be swamped by the steam-boats' wave, they must either be less loaded, or they must be fitted with higher gunwales; and if wherries, with five or six passengers on board, are liable to be sunk by the same cause, the watermen must either take fewer passengers at once, or they must charge higher for the risk, or they must learn to be more expert in keeping out of the way. The steam-boats ought undoubtedly to be forced to take every proper precaution,-but to regulate their speed, and to say they shall go only so many knots an hour is manifestly out of the question, and would strike at the very root of this grand invention.

If you think these suggestions worthy of insertion in your Journal, perhaps I may trespass again on the notice of your readers with some other ideas on these and other professional topics.

I remain one of the sincerest well-wishers to the success of your very valuable publication, BASIL HALL, Capt. R.N.

Count Alten, on a passage of Colonel Napier's History.

MR. EDITOR, I have but lately read in the Second Volume of Colonel Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula, an assertion that "the British and German troops that marched to Vigo were conducted without judgment, and licentious." Having been honoured with the command of these troops, I feel myself called upon, both in justice to my own character, and to that of the late Gen. R. Craufurd, who commanded the British brigade of my division, to reply to these animadversions, and hope I shall not be considered unreasonable in requesting a place in your Journal for the following statement of facts relative to the march of this corps.

On the 30th December 1808, Sir John Moore's army reached Astorga; the brigade then under my command, consisting of the 1st and 2nd light battalions of the King's German Legion, was quartered in the adjacent villages.

On the 31st December I received a letter from Sir John Moore, written the same day in Astorga, appointing me to the command of the two flank brigades, with which I was directed to make a separate movement upon Orense and Vigo. The 1st brigade consisted of the 1st battalions of the 43rd, 52nd, and 95th regiments, under Colonel Robert Craufurd, and the 2nd brigade of the two light battalions of the King's German Legion, the command of which now devolved upon Lieut.-Colonel Colin Halkett.

On receiving this letter, I went in to Astorga, and waited upon Sir John Moore to receive his farther instructions. The general, after confiding to me the outlines of his own plan and intentions with regard to the main body of the army, which he at that time designed should embark at Vigo, informed me that the object of the separate movement which was to be intrusted to me, was, first, to secure the bridge over the Minho at Orense, which place, the enemy being actually nearer to it than the British army were, might be occupied by the French; and, secondly, after securing this point, to proceed to, and occupy Vigo, where were assembled the whole fleet under Sir S. Hood, on which the safety of the army depended. In his letter to me Sir John Moore made use of the following identical words:"I cannot give you any particular instructions, but intrust this arduous service to you, fully relying on your known zeal and judgment."

Conformably to Sir John Moore's instructions and intentions, I endeavoured by every possible exertion to attain the objects which he had in view. On the 4th of January, I sent forward from Publa de Tribez a detachment of 300 men, consisting of volunteers from both brigades, under the command of Major Stuart of the 95th, which detachment, after forced marches through a most difficult and mountainous country during inclement weather, occupied Orense on the 6th January, and I reached that place myself with the main body of the corps on the following day.

Forced marches, under such peculiar circumstances, necessarily involve the necessity of leaving behind the sick and stragglers, which during the latter part of the march amounted to a considerable number; an officer from each battalion was left behind on the 3rd to take charge of these men and bring them up, and on reaching Orense, the main object having been se cured, I determined to stop there on the 8th, and give the troops a day's rest.

On the morning of the 8th I again sent forward Major Stuart's detachment, with orders to proceed by forced marches to Vigo, and occupy the forts there. The main body followed under my immediate command on the 9th, and proceeding by easy marches, allowing each brigade another halt day, I reached Vigo on the 12th of January. The 1st flank brigade was embarked on the same day, and the 2nd brigade on the day following.*

Colonel Robert Craufurd, having the rank of Brigadier-General, and being unacquainted with the instructions which I had received from Sir John Moore,