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YOUNG CASABIANCA.

On the fatal explosion of the Orient at the battle of the Nile, the conduct and death of admiral Casabianca's son, a boy whose age did not exceed thirteen, were singularly remarkable. Stationed among the guns, he encouraged the gunners and sailors; and when the firing happened to be impeded in the heat of the action, through excess of zeal and agitation, he restored order and tranquillity by a coolness which was quite astonishing for his age; he made the gunners and sailors sensible of their inadvertencies, and took care that each gun was served with cartridges suited to its calibre.

He did not know that his father had been mortally wounded; and when the fire broke out on board the Orient, and the guns were abandoned, this courageous child remained by himself, and called loudly on his father to tell him, if he could quit his post like the rest without dishonour. The fire was making dreadful ravages, yet he still waited for his father's answer; but in vain! At length an old sailor informed him of the misfortune of Casabianca, and told him that he was ordered to save his son's life by surrendering. He refused, and ran to the gun-room. When he perceived his father, he threw himself upon him, held him in his close embrace, and declared that he would never quit him. In vain his father entreated him and threatened him; in vain the old sailor, who felt an attachment to his captain, wished to render him this last service. "I must die, I will die with my father!" answered the generous child. "There is but a moment remaining," observed the sailor; "I shall have a great difficulty in saving myself; adieu." The flame reaching the powder, the vessel blew up, with the young Casablanca, who in vain covered with his body the mutilated remains of his father. Such is what the old sailor related to General Kleber and Louis Bonaparte, on landing at Alexandria.

AUGUSTINA SARRAGOSSA-GENERAL PAEZ. 181

AUGUSTINA SARRAGOSSA.

AT the siege of Sarragossa in the year 1809, Augustina Sarragossa, about twenty-two years of age, a handsome woman of the lower class of people, whilst carrying refreshments to the gates, arrived at the battery of the Portillo, at the very moment when the French fire had absolutely destroyed every person that was stationed in it. The citizens and soldiers for the moment hesitated to reman the guns; Augustina rushed forward over the wounded and the slain, snatched a match from the hand of a dead artilleryman, and fired off a twenty-six pounder; then jumping upon the gun, made a solemn vow never to quit it alive during the siege; and having stimulated her fellow-citizens, by this daring intrepidity, to fresh exertions, they instantly rushed into the battery, and again opened a tremendous fire on the enemy.

For her heroism on this occasion, she afterwards received the surname of "Sarragossa," a pension from the government, and the daily pay of an artilleryman.

GENERAL PAEZ.

GENERAL PAEZ, who commanded the Venezulian cavalry, was the most enterprising of all the officers who have fought under the republican banners in South America. Paez was self-taught, and sprang up all of a sudden during the revolution, before which he was hardly heard of. When it broke out, he was soon found at the head of a numerous body; his courage, intrepidity, and repeated successes, speedily gained him a reputation. The quickness of his movements, the rapidity with which he pursued the flying enemy, the personal conflicts in which he had been engaged, and the conquests he had made hoth collec

tively and individually, rendered him the admiration of his adherents, and the dread of his enemies, into whom his very name struck terror, as they advanced to the plains and savannas to encounter him. General Paez was uncommonly active; he would for amusement, as he did before some English officers, single out a wild bull from the herd of cattle, and ride him down, pass his lance through, and thus slay him; or gallop up to the animal's rear, and grasping the tail firmly in his hand, twist it so suddenly and strongly as to throw the beast on his side; when, if some of his followers did not come up, he would by a cut of his sabre, hamstring and leave him.

Bolivar being in company with Paez on the banks of the Orinoco, on a reconnoitering excursion, and perceiving four of the enemy's gun boats about half a mile distant, expressed a wish that the Independents were in possession of them, to enable them to make an attack by water on the other side. Paez declared he would soon accomplish his wish; at which Bolivar laughed, and asked how he intended to come at them? The taunt piqued Paez, who immediately' collected a party of his most tried adherents, and calling upon them to follow him, drew his sword and placing it in his mouth, plunged into the stream. His men imitated his example, and he succeeded in boarding and capturing the enemy's boats with very little loss.

DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

DURING the scene of tumult and courage which the battle of Waterloo presented, at every moment and in every place, the Duke of Wellington exposed his person with a freedom which made all around him tremble for that life on which it was obvious the fate of the battle depended. There was scarcely a square but he visited in person, encouraging the men

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by his presence, and the officers by his directions. While he stood on the centre of the high road in front of Mount St. Jean, several guns were levelled against him, distinguished as he was by his suite, and the movements of the officers, who were passing to and fro with orders. The balls repeatedly grazed a tree near him, when he observed to one of his suite, "That's good practice; I think they fire better than in Spain." Riding up to the 95th, when in front of the line, and even then expecting a formidable charge of cavalry, he said, "Stand fast, 95th, we must not be beat; what will they say in England?" On another occasion, when many of the best and bravest men had fallen, and the event of the action seemed doubtful even to those who remained, he said, with the coolness of a spectator, "Never mind, we'll win this battle yet." To another regiment then closely engaged, he used a common sporting expression, "Hard pounding this, gentlemen; let's see who will pound longest."

One general officer found himself under the necessity of stating to the duke, that his brigade was reduced to one third of its numbers; and that those who remained were so exhausted with fatigue, that a temporary relief, of however short duration, seemed a measure of necessity. "Tell him," said the duke, "what he proposes is impossible. He, I, and every Englishman in the field, must die on the spot we now occupy." "It is enough," returned the general; "I, and every man under my command, are determined to share his fate."

THE MARQUESS OF ANGLESEA.

NEXT to the Duke of Wellington, the success of the battle of Waterloo was, perhaps, more indebted to the first "cavalry officer in the world," as the gallant marquess is called, than to any other of the nu

merous warriors who so gloriously distinguished themselves on that eventful day. He displayed," says an eye-witness of his lordship's conduct in the field on this occasion, "consummate valour in the sight of his admiring men. As it was the greatest object at the moment to kindle the spirit of our troops; what could more effectually do this, than the display, gallantry, and dash of their superior? This was the more important, as it is also a certain fact, that not having as yet made an essay on the cuirassiers, they entertained the idea that all attack upon them was ineffectual."

Twice had the marquess, then Earl of Uxbridge, led the guards to the charge, cheering them with the rallying cry of "Now for the honour of the household troops," when three heavy masses of the enemy's infantry advanced, supported by artillery, and a numerous body of cuirassiers. This formidable body drove in the Belgians, leaving the highland brigade to receive the shock. At this critical moment, the Earl of Uxbridge galloped up to the second heavy brigade, (Ponsonby's) when the three regiments were wheeled up in the most masterly style, presenting a beautiful front of about thirteen hundred men. As his lordship rode down the line, he was received by a general shout and cheer from the brigade. Then placing himself at their head, he made the most rapid and destructive charge ever witnessed. The division they attacked consisted of upwards of nine thousand men, under Count D'Erlon. Of these, three thousand were made prisoners, and the rest killed, with the exception of about a thousand men, who formed themselves under cover of the cuirassiers.

His lordship afterwards led the "household troops" in several brilliant attacks, cutting in pieces whole battalions of the old guard, into whose masses they penetrated; when after having successfully got through this arduous day, he received a wound in the knee

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