The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-07 00:00:00

DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN.

THE brief announcement of this regretted event,
which reached London by telegraph on Saturday
morning, and was communicated to our readers in
the second edition of the last PREss, was speedily
confirmed by the appearance of the following official
despatch from the War-office :
Lord Panmure has received intelligence from
General Simpson, announcing the fatal termination
of Lord Raglan's illness.
Until four p.m. on the 28th his lordship had been
progressing to the satisfaction of his medical attend-
ants, when alarming symptoms developed themselves,
attended with difficulty of breathing, which gradually
increased.

From five p.m. he was unconscious ; and from this
period be gradually sunk, until twenty-five minutes
before nine, at which hour he died.
The event has plunged the whole army into the
most profound grief.
Fitzroy James Henry Somerset was the eighth son of
the fifth Duke of Beaufort. He was born in 1788, and
entered the army at the age of sixteen, as cornet in the 4th
Dragoons. He was rapidly promoted to a company in the
43rd Foot, which regiment, however, he did not join,
having been attached to the staff of the late Duke of Wel-
lington, whom he accompanied to Denmark in 1807. The
Danish forces made a stout resistance at Mose, but were
defeated and driven back upon Copenhagen, the siege and
capitulation of which city followed speedily. Lord Fitzroy
Somerset subsequently accompanied Wellington to the
Peninsula in the capacity of military secretary and aide-de-
camp, and enjoyed a greater au.ount of the commander's
confidence than any other officer in the army. He distin-
guished himself in the engagements at Fuentes d'Onor,
on the 3rd and sth of May, 1811, and in the storming of
Badajos on the night of the Bth of April, 1812, when so
many gallant British soldiers tell in front of the walls, and
in the breach, before the victory was secured. It was to
Lord Fitzroy that the governor of the citadel surrendered.
On the 21st of June, 1813, the memorable battle of Vittoria
was fought, in which Lord Fitzroy Somerset again distin-
guished himself by his activity and daring. The effect of
this battle in which the French were totally defeated, was
to compel them to fall back, Brat behind the Ebro, and

JULY 7, 1855.

afterwards upon the Pyrenees. 6oult came to the rescue
in the following month, and had approached within fourteen
miles of Pampeluna, which the British forces were closely
investing, when his progress was stopped by Wellington at
Saraoren, where, after a terrible conflict, the French were
defeated, and compelled to retreat. In several subsequent
encounter& he was still worsted by the British general, and
the French at length, hard pressed in narrow passes by
their pursuers, fled towards the gorges of the Pyrenees in
irremediable disorder. Soult crossed the French frontier
on the Ist of August, and Clause! on the following day,
leaving the garrison of Pampeluna to their fate. An inter-
cepted letter of the governor of that city, which was
deciphered by Lord Fitzroy Somerset, disclosed the state
of the fortress and the condition of its defenders, and led
to a capitulation. The way was now clear for the invasion
of France, and Wellington led his triumphant legions to
the victories of Nivelles, Orthes, and Toulouse, in all of
whioh Lord 'Fitzroy Somerset greatly distinguished himself.
The reward of these services was a cross ant five clasps,
which he received on his return to England with Wel-
lington in 1814, in which year he married Emily Harriett,
second daughter of the late, and sister of the present Earl
of Mornington—consequently niece of the Great Duke.
His lordship subsequently served under the illustrious
chief in the brief but eventful campaign of 1815, and was
present at the terrible affair of Quatre Bras. At Waterloo
be lost an arm, and that decisive victory terminated the
first act of his brilliant military career. He was afterwards
Secretary to the Embassy to the Court of France, and
Secretary to the Master-General of the Ordnance from
1819 to 1827. He was made colonel of the 53rd Foot in
1830, and promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in
1838. In 1847 he was made a Grand Cross of the Bath,
and in 1852, on the death of the Duke of Wellington, to
whom he had long been a military secretary, he was raised
to the peerage by the title of Lord Raglan, made a Privy
Councillor, and appointed Master-General of the Ordnance.
During all the years that intervened since the peace he
was known to the public only as an exemplary professional
disciplinarian, and eschewed the notoriety of political in-
terference, though the Conservative politics of his house
have always been his own.

Lord Raglan leaves issue an only surviving son, the
Hon. Richard Henry Fitzroy Somerset, who has for many
years acted as secretary to hie Majesty the King of Hanover,
and two daughters, the Hon. Charlotte and the Hon.
Katherine Somerset. His eldest son, Major the Hon.
Arthur W. Fitzroy, was killed, after a brilliant career, in
India, during the first campaign in the Punjaub, while
serving on the staff of General Viscount Gough.

The following tribute to the deceased Commander
was published, in a " General Order," on Thursday,
by °Tiler of Viscount Hardinge :
Horse Guards, July 4, 1855.

The General Commanding-in-Chief has received her
Majesty's most gracious commands to express to the army
the deep regret with which her Majesty has to deplore the
loss of a most devoted and able officer, by the death of
Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, the Commander of the Forces
in the Crimea.

Her Majesty has been pleased to command that her
sentiments shall be communicated to the army, in order
that the military career of so illustrious an officer shall be
recorded, not only as an honorable testimony of her Ma-
jesty's sense of his eminent services, and the respect due
to his memory, but as an example worthy of imitation by
all ranks of her army.
Selected by the Duke of Wellington to be his military
secretary and aide-de-camp, he took part, nearly fifty years
ago, in all the military achievements of our greatest com-
mander. From him Lord Raglan adopted, as the guiding
principle of his life, a constant undeviating obedience to
the call of duty.

During a long peace his life was most usefully em•
ployed in those unwearied attentions to the interests
and welfare of the army, shown by the kindness, the
impartiality, and justice with which he transacted all his
duties.

When war broke out last year he was selected by his
Sovereign to take the command of the army proceeding to
the East ; he never hesitated, he obeyed the summons,
although he had reached an age when an officer may be
disposed to retire from active duties in the field.
At the head of the troops during the arduous opera-
tions of the campaign, he resumed the early habits of
his life ; by his calmness in the hottest momenta of
battle, and by his quick perception in taking advantage of
the ground or the movements of the enemy, he won the
confidence of his army, and performed great and brilliant
services.

In the midst of a winter's campaign, in a severe climate,
and surrounded by difficulties, he never despaired.
The heroic army, whose fortitude amidst the severest
privations is recognised by her Majesty as beyond all
praise, have shown their attachment to their Com-
mander by the deep regrets with which they now mourn
his loss.

Her Majesty is confident that the talents and virtues
which distinguished Lord Raglan throughout the whole of
his valuable life will for ever endear his memory to the
British army.
By con►►nand of the Right Hon. General Viscount
Hardinge, Com►nanding-in•Chief.
G. A. WEITHERALL, Adjutant• General.

THE statements that Admiral Sir Charles Napier,
and the widow of Rear-Admiral Boxer, had sustained
heavy losses by the failure of Messrs. Stralian's bank,
and in connection with Messrs. Halford and Co., are
denied upon authority by the United Service Gazette.
GOVERNMENT intend, next session, t() introduce a
bill providing for the appointment of a Minister of
Public Instruction, who is to have a seat in the
House of Commons.