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RAMBLES FROM GIBRALTAR.—no. 2.

ST. SEBASTIAN.

It is rarely the lot of a military man, in these quiet times of peace, to be placed in a more agreeable position than on the celebrated Rock of Gibraltar. His duties in this splendid fortress partake more of the character of actual service, than of the usual monotonous routine of a mere garrison town. Few young officers, commencing their career, can view without feelings of deep excitement the scene of Elliot's heroic deeds. Even the ordinary relief of the guards is not without its interest. Five hundred men, loaded as if in the presence of an enemy, march off daily from the parade on the beautiful Alameda, and many of these to occupy posts situated at a height of more than 1400 feet above the level of the sea. Indeed, from the very summit of the rock to its base, batteries in all directions meet the eye, on which cannon of every calibre are mounted, with the pyramidically piled shot, and furnaces for making them red hot, in readiness. Six hundred and twenty pieces of artillery are actually mounted, and in a state for immediate use. facility too with which the officers, by the well-judged indulgence of the Lieutenant-Governor, are enabled to make frequent excursions into Spain, is no inconsiderable addition to the other enjoyments of the place.

The

It was my good fortune to belong to this garrison in 1826; and in the summer of that year, I had three months' leave of absence granted to me. On the 2d of June, I embarked on board Le Creole, a French schooner of forty tons, commanded by Pierre Constantin, bound to St. Sebastian and Bordeaux. The captain, his mate, two seamen, and a boy, formed the crew; a Portuguese merchant and myself the passengers. I had calculated upon making the voyage to St. Sebastian in about seven days. In thirty-eight hours we were rounding Cape St. Vincent; but scarcely had we cleared the headland, on the point of which stands the well-known landmark-the White Convent,-when the breeze, hitherto so favourable, became contrary. A fierce northeaster blew, and we were driven to 17° of west longitude: it was not until the seventeenth day of our departure from Gibraltar, that we were entering the Bay of Biscay. On the morning of the 20th of June, with a fresh westerly wind, Le Creole stood gallantly on her course, and I was walking the deck indulging in joyful anticipations of the termination of this voyage, when I suddenly heard a terrific shriek from the cabin. A glance down the skylight, at once informed me of the cause. The cabin was in flames! The sea running very high was washing over the fore part of the deck, on which were seated the entire of our small crew, (with the exception of the helmsman,) repairing a sail which had been damaged in a squall during the night. I hastily seized one corner of it, and urging the affrighted Frenchmen to aid me, forced the dripping-wet canvass down the opening: the plan succeeded, the sail almost filled the small cabin, and the fierceness of the destructive element was quenched; but the unlucky Portuguese, who, it appeared, was the cause of the mischief, was nearly suffocated ere he could escape by the door, the fire having been completely extinguished without further damage than destroying every part of the cabin. We learned, that the merchant being employed in preparing coffee in a portable apparatus, and feeding a lamp with spirits of wine, was thrown down

by a sudden plunge of the vessel, and the large bottle containing the spirits broken and ignited. We cursed the fondness of the Portuguese for coffee, and threw his tin machine overboard, to prevent future accidents.

On the evening of the 22d June, Cape Machichaco was distinctly in view, and on the following morning we stood into the beautiful harbour of St. Sebastian. A quarantine boat was instantly alongside, our answers to a few short questions deemed satisfactory, and I was quickly on shore with my small portmanteau, without fee or molestation. This port enjoys one of the enviable privileges of Biscay. It is a free port, and that in every sense of the words: no custom-house, no search, and scarcely a passport demanded. I took up my quarters at the Fonda de San Fernando, a tolerable Spanish inn, and where I found established an excellent table d'hôte. Spain was at this period still occupied by the Duc d'Angoulême's army, and St. Sebastian garrisoned by 6000 French troops under the command of the Marquis de Fontaige; I therefore was not surprised to remark that, of the party of about twenty assembled at the dinner-hour, more than half were French officers. Eating and conversation immediately commenced. I had on my military undress surtout with the button of my regiment, so that it was unnecessary to announce myself. I was placed between two hungry, but agreeable French captains, whose lively rattle diverted me exceedingly. We talked of French and Spanish cookery; of vino-seco-de-Xerez, and vin de champagne; and then of times past, when our nations had fought the deadly fight; of the probability that ever we had been individually opposed to each other in the same field of battle. "Trincons," said the Frenchman, and we swallowed the bumper of excellent Val de Penas, and loudly rattled the glasses. I had observed, that exactly opposite to me sat a sallow, gloomy-looking Spaniard, dressed as a bourgeois. He ate, but did not speak, except in monosyllables, to obtain the dishes of which he partook. I could not, however, but remark, that his look was continually directed towards me.

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At length the dinner was ended, and a dessert of grapes, oranges, almonds, and cheese placed before us. I had addressed a few words in Spanish to another Spaniard, who was seated on the right of my French neighbour, when suddenly the don opposite took up a large knife which was on the table, looked round with a frenzied eye, and exclaimed, "Would to God I had the throats of every Englishman combined into one, and that one under this knife that I might do thus!' --showing with furious gesture the drawing of the weapon across his own throat. It was impossible not to consider this as a direct insult to myself; I was the only Englishman present. I rose and was preparing to demand his name and condition, when I was surrounded by the company, and particularly by the Frenchmen. "Sit down," said they; he is mad; he knows not what he says." Some of the Spaniards, in a low tone, addressed a few words to my antagonist, but I could not catch their purport. In a moment he was speaking again: "Let me explain," said he, " to the Englishman. I have no personal feeling against him. Let me recount, that on the dire 31st of August, 1813, when this unhappy town was stormed by his countrymen, I was the master of a dwelling which stood there"-pointing through the window to the opposite side of the street. "On that spot was my house; and within it, on that morning, were my wife-my two daughters. At night, my house was a heap of burning rubbish. My

wife, my children-I had no longer any. If I have spoken harsh words to the young man, he must forgive me. He is the first English soldier I have seen since the fatal day which made me the miserable wretch I am!" He uttered these sentences with the most impressive tone of deep feeling; and the beautiful Spanish language gave the short broken narrative an effect which cannot be described. He threw the knife violently from him, and rushed out of the apartment.

What could I do? The Frenchmen and Spaniards, with one accord, loudly proclaimed that a most ample apology had been made to me, and that I must accept it. The man was old-he was mad; and I was obliged to resume my seat.

I was soon diverted from the unpleasant feeling which this scene had called forth, by the earnestness with which my new French friend explained to the company, and particularly to the Spanish part of it, that the English were to be entirely acquitted of any share in the horrors of that terrible storm. 66 Gentlemen," said the Frenchman, "I was here on that day, a sous-lieutenant, in the citadel," pointing upwards to it; "and from that position I saw the whole affair. The Portuguese column forded the river Urumea, and entered the town there. It was this column which set fire to the houses of the inhabitants. It was these cursed Portuguese who perpetrated all the outrages and crimes."

OBSERVATIONS ON THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF NAVAL AND MILITARY INQUIRY.

MR. EDITOR,-Before proceeding to offer some remarks on the Report of the late Committee of Naval and Military Inquiry, permit me first to point out to your readers the real source to which the origin of the Committee itself must be traced; it will help to throw light on the spirit of that Report which we are about briefly to examine.

The Committee can be considered as nothing more than the offspring of that strange kind of unpatriotic spirit (to be met with only in England) which, from the very commencement of the French revolution war, heaped every species of insult on the profession of arms, constantly strove to lame our military efforts and to crush the military genius of the nation. It was this evil spirit that instigated active and influential parties in the state to diminish the confidence and to augment the difficulties of the army, by constantly prophesying defeat, and by undervaluing our power, when contrasted with the mighty means of our gigantic adversary. To the remnant of these parties, who are naturally willing enough to prevent that gallantry from being rewarded, which it was not in their power to repress, must now be added all the professed agitators; all those who, under various pretences, seek for the overthrow of the constitution; the numerous band of desperadoes who, having nothing to lose, think they must necessarily gain by anarchy and confusion; together with the whole herd of those whose very souls sicken at the thought of glory acquired by qualities they can neither share in nor appreciate. The first object of all these classes, and the only one, indeed, about which they perfectly agree, is the destruction of U. S. JOURN, No. 60, Nov. 1833.

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the army; which, in its present state, presents an insurmountable obstacle to their plans. And as this destruction cannot well be brought about by open force, falsehood and misrepresentation are substituted, and disseminated over the country by means of a press, always ready to advocate any object, however worthless, and by the aid of popularityhunting demagogues, who enlist the avarice of the age on their side, by holding up the army as the sole cause of national distress and suffering. Writings and speeches of this nature, constantly repeated with the most unblushing effrontery, naturally make some impression, even upon the respectable part of the community for we live in a time when men are more the dupes of cant and party phrases than ever they appear to have been at any previous period of their history. The last result of all such noble exertion was the appointment of the Committee of Naval and Military Inquiry.

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To many it was a cause of sorrow more, perhaps, than of surprise, that a committee, formed of British senators, should have acted with such lamentable subserviency to the mischievous spirit that had called them together. Instead of denouncing, at once, the term of " Military Sinecure," as totally inapplicable to the Government and other situations of trifling emolument, conferred on military and naval men, as the reward of wounds, toil, arduous services, and long privation in junior ranks, they fell into the tone of the demagogues of the fourth estate, and not only diminished the amount of those pensions, but actually recommended the abolition of the nominal offices, the titles of which gave a grace and an honour to salaries already trifling enough in amount. It is really a wonder that the committee stopped short in their laudable career! Why did they not abolish the order of knighthood? Chivalrous feelings are scouted, and chivalrous conduct unhonoured, even where it is tolerated; why not, therefore, abolish the sinecure titles, and give each commander some three pounds, seventeen, and two-pence instead of a star and riband? It would be a clear prospective saving of at least one pound, three shillings, and ten-pence per knight. Thrasybulus, liberator of Athens, received from his grateful countrymen two sprigs of laurel as the reward of his heroism; and the simple gift honoured alike the givers and the receiver. Lord Ebrington, Mr. Hume, and other gentlemen of the parliamentary committee, would have presented him with a farthing; just emblem of the value now set upon the high qualities that can alone make a man the preserver, or fit him to be the defender, of a country.

In one part of the report, the committee say that it is doubtful whether retrenchment has not been carried too far, as the pay of general officers is not greater at present than it was at the time of the battle of Blenheim. Yet, in the face of this, their own distinct assertion, the committee very consistently strike off certain sums from the pay of the generals who are colonels of regiments; thus giving them not only less in nominal amount, but, when the difference in the value of money is considered, á vast deal less in real amount, than what they received in the reign of Queen Anne. They have reduced the amount of the rewards to be bestowed on all the commanders of our armies, governors of distant empires, provinces, and islands, to a sum less than is often paid to two or three individuals in civil life. This has been done under the impression, no doubt, that generals may be dispensed with, at a time when we have an entire family of well-salaried Hannibals.

In another part of their report, the committee, after paying, with illconcealed reluctance, a poor, and very needless, compliment to the army, express their regret that they cannot, in justice to the service, recommend any greater reduction. Had the committee entered fairly and fearlessly into the inquiry; had they first asked what were the objects sought to be attained by a military force, and then looked for the best means of attaining those objects, their report would have been of a very different nature for though they might have recommended a more equal distribution of the few situations of emolument that fall to the share of the services, they must have distinctly stated that the pay and the emoluments of all ranks-particularly of the junior ranks-were totally inadequate to the constantly-augmenting difficulties of the profession of arms, and out of all proportion, as to amount, when compared to the salaries attached even to the most trifling civil situation. To take an average case in proof:-The writer of this letter receives, for upwards of five-and-twenty years' service-during which he has been employed in the West Indies, Walcheren, the Peninsula, France, and Flanders the sum of 9s. 6d. per day; and better men receive less for greater service; yet is there hardly a respectable civil situation under government, the salary of which is not treble the amount. Nine-tenths of such situations demand from the holders only a moderate degree of application in performing the ordinary routine of office duties that generally require no personal, and but little mental exertion. They are also, for the most part, given to young men, who, however deserving they may often prove themselves, start on no claim of previous service.

The whole of our system of military organization and discipline rests entirely upon the personal responsibility of the officers; and, owing to the manner in which the army is scattered over the world, it can rest upon no other foundation: even the most trifling official report of the humblest subaltern in the service must be above suspicion. It is only pride, honour, and mental elevation, that can support a system in this manner; and these, also, are the very qualities on which, amid the scenes and dangers of war, we can alone build with safety. And yet there is nothing so destructive of that very pride and feeling of honour, as the painful and distressing difficulties which pecuniary embarrassments so often entail on the junior ranks of military men. Thucydides makes Pericles say, " ἆθλα γὰρ οἷς κεῖται ἀρετῆς, μέγιστα, τοῖσδε και ἄνδρεσ ἄριστοι πολιτεύουσι :” that is, " Where the reward of public virtue is the highest, there will the best and bravest men be found." I translate the passage for the benefit of those of our brother officers who may already have been in the ranks at a period of life when the academic studies of other men only commence; for, put it into any language we may, it will still remain Greek to the legislators of the age of intellect.

In one place, the committee recommend that all the staff, except the general commanding in chief, and the officers of his personal staff, should be changed every four or five years. That this cannot be made to apply to the Commander-in-chief's office, and to the heads of departments at the Horse Guards, must be evident to all who know the nature of the duties required from the holders of those offices. Good feeling must also prevent it from being applied to old, wounded, and maimed officers, who have long held local staff situations, such as

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