tion was instantly entered into, he could not answer for the safety of the prisoners.---Reader---A commander-in-chief is to his army what the soul is to the body; it can neither think nor act without him, and, in short, is a perfect non-entity without its commander, as a wife is without her husband. He must, therefore, through pure good-will and affection for his troops, take care of his own sacred person, and never expose it to any danger. Now, whether General Whitepot was taking care of number one, or had been instructed to leave operations to the gallant militarist, he certainly was out of the way of knowing how matters stood, and he fell into the snare, and actually signed a capitulation binding himself to withdraw all his forces from Mount-I-see as well as Bon-Air, at the moment when the other two divisions were completely successful, in possession of the town, and more than half the troops, with the whole of the artillery, had never been brought into action. The Graveairs themselves were astonished at their success; and the Freelanders raged with in dignation. But we are interrupted. What noise is that?. Hark! hark! why roar the guns, the trumpets, drums ?→ The Victor of B- A comes. With what reward his merits can we greet?— ➡Give him an ass, and let him cry-cat's-meat ! CHAPTER XVI. "Be friends, you English fools, be friends; we have French quarrels enow, if you could tell how to reckon.” Shakspeare's K. Hen. V. WHEN the pen of a satirist is wielded from interested or malignant motives, it is a firebrand in the hands of a fool, or, what is worse, an incendiary; but when insatiate ambition burns for universal conquest, and the 'greeneyed' jealousy of an envious neighbour seeks to undermine the independence of an industrious, free, and magnanimous people, if it be directed against those internal factions, which, either through lust of power, avarice, or a gratification of any other selfish passions, are more destructive than all the machinations of the external foe; then the task becomes most useful, and, consequently, most honour R able.---Horace says, it is commendable to put a man to the blush, by barking at him, if he deserves it:-- "Si quis opprobriis dignum latraverit—” and Juvenal writes: “Ense velut stricto, quotus Lucilius ardens -that is, he recommends blushing to those who are insensible to crimes. But the best authority is our own conscience. What can we think of a man who purchases a commission in the army as a convenient mode of employing his money to the best advantage, without reflecting that his country would never bear such a burthen in time of peace without expecting that he would be capable of rendering it a service when occasion demands?--Why, that he is a moth in the state. What can we say of a man who, without consulting his own talents or courage, runs blindly into dangers which neither his skill nor fortitude can extricate him from, nor the, perhaps, thousands of brave soldiers who are obliged to follow him blindly ?---Why, that he sucks the blood of his fellow-creatures. Rank cowardice, or wilful treachery, is indeed to be punished with death; but the only punishment on the most fatal errors, is a dismissal, by way of prevention against the like accidents, or shutting the stable-door after the steed is stolen. The mere chance of a similar disgrace, however, has been found, by experience, not to be always a sufficient balance to vanity and self-interest; as many officers never reflect whether their capacities be adequate to the undertaking, but whether they can muster interest sufficient to obtain the appointment. To be able to discover and point out to ministers men capable of the proposed undertaking, is, I believe, a grand requisite in a commander-in-chief; it certainly is the hinge on which the success of the measure is, under the Divine will, to turn. As his credit, therefore, depends on the conduct of the general to whom he delegates so considerable a share of his own authority, he ought to lay aside every partial and interested motive, and consult only the welfare of the service. It is not to say, that the con |