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The late

by H.R. Cook from the Ricture by R Cosway, R.A.

dril 30181A by P Martin & N° 33 Orchard Street Portman Square

ROYAL

Military Panorama,

OR

OFFICERS' COMPANION FOR MAY 1814.

MILITARY BIOGRAPHY.

THE LATE LIEUT.-GEN. ALEX. MACKENZIE FRAZER.

IT

T is allowed by all parties, and even by the most frigid and splenetic, that the British army has become the best of any that can be brought into the field. It is foreign to the nature of a biography to enter into the investigation of causes that have produced effects so glorious and beneficial to Britain; but it may not be deemed improper to observe, that the hardy natives of the Scottish highlands have never met the enemies of their king without leaving such marks of their national spirit and determined character, as could not be forgotten either by friend or foe.

As one proof of the innate military character of the Scotch, the memoirs of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham may be quoted. That chieftain lived as a private individual until a time of life when many a brave man thinks of seeking domestic repose after a long series of services; he has since risen to distinction; and the subject of the present memoir has left behind him a lasting military fame, although his early youth was passed amongst the calculating inmates of a banking-house.

Lieutenant-General Mackenzie Frazer was the posthumous son of John Mackenzie, Esq. of Kilcoy, by Martha, eldest daughter of Charles Frazer, Esq. of Inveralochy, in the county of Aberdeen, which family the General afterwards represented. General Mackenzie received a private education, under the tuition of a person of much capability, until he was considered sufficiently instructed * Vide page 101, Vol. III.

to make one in the classes of a public seminary, and was completed for his entrance into the world at the university of Aberdeen. At the suggestion of his friends, Mr. Mackenzie, on quitting the university, entered into the banking-house of Sir William Forbes and Co. in Edinburgh, where, for the time he remained, he acquired the esteem of all who knew him.

In 1778, when Mr. Mackenzie was in his 20th year, the late Lord Macleod raised a regiment of foot, the late 73d, now the 71st regiment. In the 2d battalion of this corps Mr. Mackenzie obtained a Lieutenantcy, and thus quitted his early occupations for a profession more in unison with his talents and his inclinations. In a short time Lieutenant Mackenzie was appointed to the Adjutantcy, a circumstance which strongly proves the native bent of his genius, having been so recently initiated into the system of military economy.

To the lasting credit of this young regiment, its debut was made at Gibraltar, when that fortress was besieged by the united strength of France and Spain. General Elliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield, the Governor of Gibraltar, distinguished Lieutenant Mackenzie on many occasions, and in the memorable sortie made by the garrison against the lines of the besiegers, under the late Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Ross, Lieutenant Mackenzie was permitted to serve as a volunteer, or supernumerary Aide-de-Camp. In this affair he distinguished himself; and also on the 13th of September, a day most glorious to the annals of Britain, and one which will be re-, membered by every soldier so long as military renown and national honour are objects of their interest and ambition.

In the course of the siege Lieutenant Mackenzie was promoted to the rank of Captain, and the only wound that brave officer ever received was during its continuance, from a splinter of the rock, which struck his breast.

Captain Mackenzie having formed an intimacy with the brother of Lord Macleod, an amiable and accomplished man, who served at that period as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 73d, he, on the conclusion of the war, returned to England with that officer. The friendship of these two congenial spirits continued through life, sincere as it was uninterrupted.

The consolidation of the two battalions of the 73d, which took place at this time, divided the friends; the corps became the 71st, and was sent to serve in the East Indies, while Captain Mackenzie continued at home on the recruiting service. Whilst employed in