The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-03 00:00:00

LA TV OF PARTNERSHIP.

It is to be hoped that, as soon as the Ministerial
bourasquc has blown over, Mr. Cardwell's Bill to
Amend the Law of Partnership will receive the atten-
tion of the Legislature. It is high time that the modi-
fication of that important branch of commercial Jaw, so
long and so urgently desiderated by the country, will be
shortly accomplished. Few social questions have been
of late years more earnestly and searchingly discussed,
or have elicited a stronger conflict of opinion among
easperienced and thinking men than that which relates
to the expediency of legalising partnerships with a
limited liability. Notwithstanding this, the reason
and the strength of the argument is, we venture to
assert, with those who affirm the proposition. The
most striking objections urged by the opponents of
the projected change in our law of partnership may
be thus stated. They say, firstly, "that there is no
want of capital in this country, ready to be embarked in
any promising enterprise," and that, therefore, further
facilities for uniting the capital of many individuals and
applying it to speculative concerns should not he afforded;
secoadly, that to give those facilities will increase the
tendency to i ash speculation and fraud ; and lastly, that
it is not just to allow parties to receive an unlimited
amount of profit with a limited responsibility for loss.
Let us look closely into the force of these objections be-
fore we advance the reasons which in our judgment are
conclusive that the affirmative is the safe side of this
avowedly difficult question.
Upon the first of these
points we join issue with
the objectors, and say that, though there may be no
absolute deficiency of capital in the country ready to
be embarked in certain promising undertakings, there
are many branches of trade and industry languishing for
want of capital, to which it 'night be applied with benefit
to all parties concerned, and, of consequence, with benefit
to the common weal. This position is supported by the
able Report of the Society for Promoting the Amendment
of the Law, on the Law of Partnership, which expressly
states, "that there are numerous cases in which a great
aid injurious difficulty in procuring capital exists in Great
Britain." It is only where a narrow view of this question
is taken that the objection appears formidable. The eco-
nomist, who limits his observation to our mineral works
to our manufactures of textile fabrics and hardware, to
our shipbuilding, and to some other important branches of
productive industry, will find no deficiency of capital, and
therefore be disposed to assent to the objection. But
a more extended and a closer survey of the country will
disclose to him numerous fields for the profitable employ.
meat of capital from which it is now withheld by the
operation of the existing law of partnership, "Not
only," says Mr. Edgar, "are there many small towas
advantageously situated for manufactures and trade
which merely vegetate from generation to generation—
net only are there many works of public utility, which
might be ultimately profitable to their promoters, left
nnattempted throughout the country, but a large pro-
portion of land capable of being profitably cultivated
remains unimproved, while a very considerable propor-
tion of that which is cultivated yields only half returns
in consequence of the want of capital on the part of
landowners and farmers." This, we think, effectually
disposes of the first objection, and changes the denial
into an affirmation that further facilities for uniting the
contributions of small capitalists and directing it into
new channels should be afforded by a change in the
existing law.
The next objection, that partnerships with limited
lia-
bility will open a door to rash speculation and fraud, is
based upon an assumption, and may er may not be true,
as the event alone can determine. But that the proba,,
bilities against it are as strong as those in its favour may
be easily established. There would seem to be no reason
why reckless and fraudulent trading should prevail more
under a law of limited liability than under the existing
law, the effect of which is to restrain cautious and nib-
stantial persons from entering joint-stock companies,
and to leave these enterprises in the hands of mere specu-
lative and less prudent and trustworthy individuals.
As regards third parties and the public, at least the same
protection against fraud would be afforded as at present;
for the new law will necessarily provide means for in-
forming parties dealing with a partnership formed
under it of the extent of its resources ; and it will be
their duty to inform themselves, as they do at present
when dailing, with private individuals of the respectabi-
lity of the ostensible and responsible managers of the
companies or partnerships with which they propose to
deal. The state of popular education, the superior in•
formation, and the vigilance of the press, form, at the
present day, the surest safeguard against specula-
lative delusions. We shall have no more South Sea
bubbles and Mississippi schemes ; never again see peers
and pedlars jostling each other in the thronged thorough-
fares of Change-alley ; duchesses quitting 100 and lens-
quenet to join a rabble of noisy speculators ; or ladies of
the bed-chamber openly pawning their jewels that
they may participate in the popular enthusiasm for
American stock. If these scenes were ever to be
revived, they would probably have been re-enacted a.
short time ago on the realisation of the dreams of
Raleigh and Pizarro, by the discovery of the gold
fields of California and Australia. There are some
indeed who assert, and with great show of probability,
that the excitement and panic of 1824, 1825, 1336,
1845, 1846, and 1347, were largely due to the existing
law of partnership. " Unless there had been," says the
writer above quoted, "an immense amount of capital
in the country which was not profitably employed, the
opportunity would not have been afforded for the schemes
which caused the panic and excitement of those periods ;
and the best preventive of their recurrence seems to be
to afford convenient means for the profitable invest-
ment of capital by a system of limited liability, which
by equalising- the pressure will render it wholesome and
bontlicia,." When, in 1807, Regnaud brought before the
French Council of? State the articles of the Code of Com-
merce that provided for the rogniation of partnerships en
onunaditc, in which the liability of the shareholders other
than the gerants or managers is limited to the amount
of their su to criptions— he spoke of them as to be favoured,
as they
lotterypermittedof
commerce,
every
owneracoldf capitaladded
food
take a Blare to
in theto
circulation, aud multiplied by a community of interest
the social ties between the funded proprietor and the
manufacturer, the capitalist and the retail dealer, the
highest persons in the State and the lowest traders."
Subsequently, when a decision of the French courts re-
laxed the restrictioneupon the system bypermitting the un-
limited transferability of the shares of such companies, art
apprehension was felt similar to that urged in the objection
we are now considering, that rash speculations and fraud.
would be encouraged by the limitation of liability ; but
M. Troploug, writing in 1843, speaks of that fear as
as having died away, from the experience that the anti-
cipated evil had not arisen ; and he deduces from it this
wholesome inference, that it would therefore be inad-
visaLle to alter the system of limited liability at the in-
, stance either "of pretended friends of progress or oppo-
nent' of every new element."

To the last objection, that it is unjust to anew parties'
to receive an unlimited amount of profit whilst they
bear a limited responsibility for loss, the answer is that
there is nothing in such a state of things inconsistent
with sound principles of jurisprudence or opposed
to those of natural justice. It should be with the
creditors as with the buyer of a horse—caveat emptor.
Under the existing law, creditors, assured of the
unlimited liability of every member of the company or
partnership with which they trade, are careless and in-
different, and enter into contracts, with a reckless haste
and not unfrequently a dishonest purpose. The new law
will make them more circumspect. Even now, notice
to creditors, or express stipulation, will limit the liability
of partners as well as of all other contracting parties.
The new law will therefore only enact by statute that
which has always been a principle of our common law.
It will afford to creditors the fullest opportunity of as-
suring themselves, before they enter into contracts, of the
means and responsibility of the concern with which they,
intend to trade, and will treat these facilities for infor-
mation as a presumption of notice in the manner of a
special contract such as we have above alluded to. This
third objection, though specious, is clearly fallacious.
These appear to be sufficient answers to the main ob•
jections urged against the proposal to permit in this{
country the formation of partnerships with limited
liability. There is, however, another, equally plausible
have
but less forcible than these, which has unduly pveju-
diced against the proposed change minds of a timid
and conservative nature. They say that as the country has
attained to an unexampled height of grandeur and opu-
lence under the old law, it would be hazardous and
unwise to repeal it and introduce an innovation. The
supporters of the proposed change confidently answer,
True, the country has become a great and opulent noun•
trythe underunwise the
ee olddxt
ebn yldew thed restrictions,
thesee
f but
opponents
phhpea
td it
law,n net been
would
la fetteredave
been.by
still greater and still richer than it now is.
ornemenatis•ks of a
in anmswoedrifitcoattiohne
p by admitting the principle
of
e
limited liability, to the full extent of our limits
oer reasons a
llosNti ot:11;s
la uwrg of
partnership
present occasion. In a future article we pro-
pose to advance some reason in favour of the pr?posed
change, and to review the evidence in support of it. lit
the meantime we may rest assured that a principle which
has been found to work well in Austria, Prussia, France,
and America—which has been affirmed by a resolution
of the House of Commons, and been supported by Lord
Ashburton and Mr. F. Baring (who have witnessed its
operation in the United States), Mr. G. ,W. Norman,
Mr. Senior, and Mr. Bellenden Ker—will have due con-
sideration in Parliament, and will run small chance of
defeat from the endeavours of capitalists, whose wish
and purpose is to retain monopolies which the existing
law has too long enabled them to enjoy.—Daily

THE PATRIOTIC FUND AND THE FEMALE ORPHAN ART;
LUM, LAMBET4.—Yesterday a special general meeting
of the guardians of this charity was held to consider
an application from the Committee of the Patriotic
Fund. The chairman stated that some time age they
had placed at the disposal of the Duke of Cambridge,
their president, five presentations for the orphan
,chil-
dren of those gallant men serving in the Crimea. They
had now received an application from the Patriotic Fund
Committee to take fifteen orphan ehildr(,n, at present in
the care of the latter. The secretary said that Captain
BritishFishbourne, in his interview with the guardians, stated
that there had been 9,000 or 10,000 deaths in the h
and that on an average 60 soldiers were dying
army, ,
I would be a great many
orphans t _C:# provide for. The asylum was intended to
accommodate 160, but at present it coitained 163, inde-
...ltaly, conseque.ntly
inde-
pendent of the 5 to be presented by the Duke of ! iere
Cam-
bridge. After some conversation, in which Mr. L. Red-
head, Mr. Freeman, Mr. H. Mandalay, Mr. Holland,
and other guardians took part, Mr. Forrest moved a
resolution to the effect that the guardians deeply deplore
that the bye-laws compelled them to decline the offer of
the committee of the Patriotic Fund to provide a tem-
porary home for the orphan children of our soldiers who
have fallen in defence of their country in the East. The
imeolatiott TM unanimously Adopted.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-YESTERDAY.

The SPEAKER took the chair shortly before four o'clock.
The house was very much thronged on both sides, and
all the galleries were filled with visitors.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Bolton and Nightingales' Road Bill, and Wigan
and Preston Roads, North of Yarrow Bill, were read a
second time and ordered to be committed.
VOTE OF THANKS TO SIR DE LACY EVANS.
This gallant officer came in about half-past four
o'clock. He appeared in full military uniform, and was
received witk the most vociferous cheering, both sides of
the house rising and remaining uncovered until he had
taken his seat just below the gangway of tke Ministerial
side. When the honourable and gallant general had
taken his seat,
The SPEAKER addressed him from the chair to the
following effect. lie said—General Evans, I have to in-
form you that, on the 15th Dec., the house agreed
to the following resolution, nemine contradicente,
viz. :

"That the thanks of this house be given to Lieu
tenant-General Sir De Lacy Evans, Knight Com-
mander of the Most Honourable order of the Bath, and
to several other officers therein named, for their zeal,
intrepidity, and distinguished exertions in the several
actions in wbich her Majesty's forces have been engaged
with the enemy."

Lieut.-General Sir De Lacy Evans, it is with feelings of
pride and satisfaction that the house welcomes the return
of one who has borneso conspicuous a part in the brilliant
achievements which have characterised the movements
of the British army during the present war. (Cheers.)
At the battle of the Alma you encountered and overcame,
with admirable coolness' the almost insuperable difficul-
ties which beset the Second Division of the army.
(Hear, hear.) Tour repulse of the formidable attack of
the Russians on the 26th October displayed commanding
courage, and the service which you, along with your
troops, rendered the country on that occasion, have been
honourably recognised. (Hear.) Also on the heights of
Inkerman you displayed such undaunted courage—(tre-
mendous cheers)— as to call forth the marked admiration
of your fellow-countrymen. (Renewed cheers.) When
rising from a bed of sickness you sustained amidst the
fight with your great experience the gallant officer in
temporary command of your division, and you at the
same time refused to withhold from him the honour,
while you shared with him the dangers of the en-
counter. (Great cheering.) Lieutenant-General Sir De
Lacy Evans your conduct throughout the whole
of this memorable campaign has been marked by the
same intrepid gallantry which had already distinguished
your early military career—(loud cheers)—and has justly
gained for you the highest honour which it is in the
power of this house to bestow. (Continued cheers.)
It is, therefore, with feelings of unfeigned satisfaction
that I now, in the name, and by command of the Com-
mon, of the United Kingdom, deliver to you their
unanimous thanks for the zeal, energy, and ability
with which yon have discharged your onerous duties in
the several actions in which her Majesty's forces have
recently been engaged. (Loud cheers.)

Sir DE LACY EVANS rose to reply, which was
the signal fer a renewed burst of cheering. In a feeble
voice, which was occasionally inaudible in the gallery,
he said, as far as we could gather—l beg to assure you,
air, and the house, that I appreciate most deeply the
very high honour you have bestowed on me. There is
no honour which a British subject can aspire to, or
more ardently desire, higher than that which is con-
veyed in the recognition of his public services, what-
ever they may be, by the representatives of the
Commons of England. (Loud cheers.) Sir, I hope
I shall be pardoned if I remark that while
I am fully sensible of the responsibility that recently
devolved upon me, and deeply appreciate the vete which
this house has come to, yet I certainly think I was just as
good an officer and just as deserving of the compliment
some 20 years ago as lam new. (Hear, and a laugh.)
For I really do think that I had then a much more
difficult and intricate duty to perform, while I performed
it perhaps with far more success than that which
attended the less important service which I have re-
cently endeavoured to render the state. (Rear, bear.)
Sir, I cannot allow thi,s opportunity to pass without ob-
serving that the kind and honourable reception which I
have this day experienced at the hands of this house is
alike due to the noble division which I had the honour
to command, from the highest officer down to the lowest
private, and I feel that it is almost exclusively attri-
butable to their devotion and exertions that I owe
the pleasure of being here at this moment.
(Sensation.) Tbat being so, I must confess that lam
under the painful necessity of saying, that when the vote
of thanks which I am here to-night to receive was pro-
posed, the gallantry of that division was not sufficiently
recognised ; for on reading the speech of the noble lord
who lately represented the Government in this house
whet proposing the vote, I was somewhat astonished at
the official statement he made ; because it appeared to me
that he had taken a totally different view (if not wholly
overlooked) of the services of that portion of the army
which I recently had the honour to command, and which
you, sir, have done me the honour to refer to in such
flattering terms. Sir, lam sorry to be obliged to think
that when at least one-half of the Second Division had
perished in battle or otherwise, there should still be
wanting an expression of gratitude towards those who
remain, and I therefore may be pardoned in endeavour-
ing now to place the matter on a more just footing than
that on which the noble lord left it. (Hear, hear.) Sir,
the noble lord, while speaking of the Battle of the Alma,
indulged in a tone which reminded me very forcibly of a
remark once made by a late witty divine, whom we all
well knew, namely, that the noble lord had courage
enough to undertake the command of the Channel
Fleet—(a laugh)—for it would seem from the speech of
the noble lord, that he considered himself a
better judge of the transactions in which the Second
Division had been engaged than even Lord Rae-
ltn himself. (Cries of "hear, hear.") The noble lord
overlooked the services of the Second Division, while
they had been distinctly recognised in the despatches of
Lord Raglan. Certainly, the noble lord made reference
to the First and Second Division, but he did so in a
manner which left it to be inferred that the latter was
entitled to less credit than the former. (Hear, hear.)
This was in reference to the battle of the Alma ; but,
again, the noble lord, when he went on to speak of the
lesser actions of the 25th and 26th of October, he gave
all due credit and honour to the individual gallantry
which was displayed on the 25th October, but he passed
totally over the much more successful action which
took place on the succeeding day. (Hear, hear.) That
action was mentioned in such eulogistic terms in the des-
patches of Lord Raglan as to be deemed worthy of her
Majesty's high approbation, while the despatch of the
French general referred to it in no less flattering terms,
and yet the noble lord in his official statement to the
house took 110 sort of notice of that action. (Hear,
hear.) Again, in reference to the battle of Inkerman,
not the slightest mention is made by the noble lord of
the gallantry displayed by the Second Division ; but
still it suffered the most, and had for an hour
at least to bear the brunt of the charge of
50,000 men. (Loud cheers.) In point of fact
the Second Division was the only one permanently
engaged in the three general actions of the Crimea, and
that Division, I think, has some reason to complain of
the omissions in the noble lord's official statement.
(Hear.) I beg pardon for this unpleasant reference to
the past, but I make it not on my own account, as I feel
deeply grateful for the honour yon have now done me,
but because I feel it 4 due to the gallant spirits whom I
have left behind me, and who so nobly sustained
me in the hour of trial. (Loud and prolonged cheers.)
Sir, I should like certainly to say a few words upon the
present aspect of affairs, as well as of the future strug-
gles in which we are likely to be engaged with Russia ;
but I feel that this is not the proper occasion for doing so.
(Hear.) I hope, however, that I shall have sufficient
strength and health to take advantage of some other
opportunity which may offer for that purpose ' • but in
the meantime I may be allowed to say that the aspect
of the house upon the present occasion, though it is
called forth by the feeble services of the humble indivi-
deal who now addresses you, will yet have vast influence
in animating the courage and reviving the drooping
spirits of my fellow-comrades who now compose the
army of the East. (Loud cheese.)
Lord PALMERSTON said—Sir, I rise with great
pleasure to perform an office which I am sure will receive
the unanimous and cheerful concurrence of this house.
No function which belongs to the individual who fills
the chair which you, sir, so worthily occupy can be more
agreeable or more honourable to him than the discharge
of a duty such as you have just performed, namely, that
of Conveying the thanks of Parliament to the gallant
officer and hon. member who has. so nobly served his
"hlntrY• I will venture to say, that never was a speaker
wo had
faithful 0 an oppertunity of being more completely the
house, e:fau of the feelings .and opinions, not only of this
has been of the country and nation at large, than it
and feelifir good fortune to enjoy. The eloquent
the hon, anal:ail:lions in which you have conveyed to
thanks orthis Lu: officer who has just sat down the
for the encourageme7aZ
puloianithottt:ferorksznain a perpetual record
which my hon. and pursue the same career
anal for the satisfaction-of those has so nobly followed,
heuieeabrire comrades in arms
whom he has so nobly
(Load cheering.) Therefore
tteegSleave to move
I the field of battle.
zaskl:r convey-
that that which has been spoken 11.1;
e,oand
ing to Sir De Lacy Evans the thanks of
go ranch of the hon. gentleman's reply as referored
gratification and appreciation of that vete of thanks,
printed- in the votes of this house from the presentd abe
y-
(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Mr. WALPOLE, in a few words (which were scarcely
audible in the gallery), was understood to express his
entire concurrence, not only in the vote of thanks,but
also in the motion of Lord Palmerston.
Lord PALMERSTON again rose and said.-=Sir, as
my hon. and gallant friend has adverted to some topics
not in immediate connection with tilt vote which the
house has just accorded to him, I should wish to
move that so much only of the hon. and gallant gen-
tleman's reply as had reference to the vote of thanks
should be printed. (Hear, hear.)
The motion was then put by the Speaker, and ap-
proved of by the house.

FISHERIES(NORTH AMERICA) BILL.

This bill passed through committee.
The house then adjourned at a quarter before five.

VIENNA, Jan. 27.—The railways are encumbered
with masses of "°'
T.he posts. are all two days be-
hind", and the telegraph 18 our chmf medium of commu-
nication." Time ministerial crisisin England is upperpaoat
IA the their ehtli of politlciano. . ....
~. - - • . - • -

GENERAL SIR DE LACY EVANS, K.C.B.

The unusual incident of the House of Commons communi-
cating its thanks through the Speaker to one of its own mem-
bers for galiantry in the field of battle may excite sufficient
interest to justify a brief notice of former testimonials to that
gallant member. It is now 44 years since Sir De Lacy Evans
was five times in as many months mentioned in despatches
published iu the London Gazette for having specially distin-
guished himself, not as a favoured member of the staff, but
as a working soldier, who had been in ten battles and sieges,
numerous skirmishes, had ridden on horseback, without rest,
300 miles on exigent service, had five horses killed under
him, been three times wounded, and had led three or four
desperate assaults in person, as desperate as any forlorn hope,
and was still no more than a subaltern officer—only (in poli-
tical influence) a friendless lieutenant.

For the sake of brevity we shall only notice as much of his
services as will make the testimonials to his gallantry intelli-
gible.

Having served three years in India in active operations,
beginning 1807 ; been engaged at the surrender of the Isle of
Bourbon and capture of Mauritius, 1809-10 ; in the retreat
of Lord Wellington from Burgos, 1812 (wounded at Hermoza) ;
engaged in the battle of Vittoria, siege of Pampeluna and
battles of Pyrenees, 1813 ; investment of Bayonne, and
battles near Toulouse (twice wounded, two horses killed in
action), 1814.—Lieut. Evans embarked with the small army
of Major-General Ross for the United States in June, 1814.
It was resolved to strike a decisive blow in some more vul-
nerable part of the States than had yet been done iu the
previous two years of unhappy war between America and
England. The city of Washington, capital of the nation, was
the point aimed at. The battle of Bladensburg (five miles
from Washington) was fought on the 24th of August, the
American army being totally routed, with considerable loss in
men, ammunition, and artillery. Lieutenant Evans behaved
with a gallantry which was the admiration of all who behold
, him. He had two horses killed under him.
The same evening he was in front with a party reconnoi-
tering the defences of the city of Washington, preparatory to
its investment by the army. The design of the General was
to impose a fine en the capital, as a mark of humiliation, and
t
leave it. For thissdst
state
deptnoaeaf dr
fttthay:
e: flagptebr
efore
aruoeetnsfoieoe. truceckfnrne,astiiilam inoiEyd(
nielnw,sai
vatgnhshas
es
se,
Arsenal,
ornsletiut
redoubts
oetnauee.
bds
Cs:
Dockyard,
successful.
permission
tat:os(iyl::fiasTrdisr
ohedeendei,
tof
oenn
lead by
fences.
s .t the e
This
stormingu Americans.Hnhe
House
u
official accounts
the Treasury, War-office, President's Palace, Government
Rope-walk, a frigate, and -several sloops of war in the dock-
yard, the great bridge across the Potomac, and a vast quan-
tity of ammunition, with powder magazines and artillery,
were destroyed. r. Gleig (Captain-General) records that,
"In destroying the cannon a method was adopted which I
have never before witnessed, and which, as it was both effec-
tual and expeditious, I cannot avoid relating. One gun of
rather a small calibre was pitched upon as the executioner of
the rest. Being loaded with ball and turned to the muzzles
of the others, it was fired, and thus beat out their breechings."
We believe It was in the ready resources of Lieutonant Evans
that this plan originated. At all events, he not only had
headed the assault, but was charged with the duty of com-
pleting the destruction of all the Government property— a
duty which the terrible exigencies of a war which had not
been of his making or seeking imposed on him.
_ _

General Ross, iii a despatch to Earl Bathurst, spoke of him
thus :

.' I must beg leave to call your lordship's attention to the
zeal and indefatigable exertions of Lieutenant Evans, Acting
Deputy-Quarter.Master-General. The intelligence displayed
by that officer in circumstances of considerable difficulty in-
duces me to hope he will meet with some distinguished mark
of approbation."

On tho 12th of September following, in meeting an Ameri-
can army while advancing upon Baltimore, General Rosa was
killed. The Americans werelaga,in, though 6,000 strong, with
cavalry and artillery, routed by about 4,000 English. They
lost 500 men and several guns. Once more Lieutenant Evans
was gallantly conspicuous. The attack on Baltimore was
abandoned through Admiral Cockburn discovering that 20
vessels had been sunk in the track to prevent his approach
to the harbour. The London Gazette records that Colonel
Brook, who succeeded General Ross in chief command, wrote
thus of General Evans :

"To Lieutenant Evans, 3d Dragoons, Acting Deputy-
Quartermaster-General to this army, for the unremitting zeal,
activity, and perfect intelligence which he evinced in dis-
charge of the various and difficult duties of his department,
I feel warmly indebted, and I beg to solicit, through your
lordship, a promotion suitable to the high professional merits
of this officer.

That this was not a mere Compliment paid to a staff officer
is proved by what the Chaplain-General of her Majesty's
Forces wrote, himself a regimental subaltern in that service.
Speaking of the gallantry of General Ross, he says :
" Let me do justice to his successor and his advisers.
Of these latter there is one whom it would be improper not
to mention by name—l mean Lieutenant Evans, Deputy-
Assikant-Quartermaster-General. The whole arrangement
of our troops in order of battle was committed to him, and
the judicious method in which they were drawn up proved
that ho was not unworthy of the trust."

To relate all the services performed by Lieutenant Evans
in conducting the army and munitions of war through the
swamps, creeks, and forests of reeds and sugar-canes in ad-
vancing upon and retreating from New Orleans, in capturing
the flotilla, in assisting the disposition of the forces in the
various attacks, would require many columns of this jour-
nal. Suffice it to say that he was incessantly engaged in the
most laborious and hazardous duties from the arrival at Lake
Borgne on the 10th of December, 1814, to the re-embarka-
tion at the end of January, 1815. In the action of the 25th
of December ho was wounded severely, yet continued night
and day on duty ; and in the unsuccessful battle of the Bth
of January, was again severely wounded.
General Keane, who, in the first instance, had the chief
command, wrote of him thus :

" The indefatigable zeal and intelligence displayed by Lien-
tenant Evans, of the Quartermaster-General's Department,
entitle him to the most favourable consideration.' He was
in like manner mentioned in the naval despatches, and in those
of Sir John Lambert, who (Generals Pakenham and Gibbs
killed, and General Keane wounded) succeeded to the chief
command.

His subsequent promotions were, captain (in a West India
regiment), dated the 12th of January; major, the 11th of
May; and lieutenant-colonel, the 18th of June, 1815; colonel,
the 10th of January, 1837; major-general, the 6th of Novem-
ber, 1846 ; colonel-in-chief of the 21st North British Fusi-
leers the 29th of August, 1853 ; and lieutenant-general the
20th of June, 1854.

Returning to England from America in April, 1814, after
the capture of Mobile, he was in time to take part in the
mighty campaign of Waterloo. He was incessantly engaged
in the Quartermaster-General's department, by night as well
as day, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June. On the rah,
the Duke's aides-de-camp being nearly all disabled or killed,
he borrowed the services of Major Evans from the Quarter-
master-General. The major, though in battle all day, re-
mained unhurt, but lost two horses, one shot, another sabred.
He continued on the staff of the British army in Paris during
the next throe years.

After being shelved as a military man for his political
Liberalism, ho was selected by Lord Palmerston, tin 1835, to
raise a British Auxiliary Legion in aid of the constitutional
cause in Spain, the British Foreign Enlistment Act being
suspended by the King in council to legalise the expedition.
After eight months of severe drill and endurance of hardships
unparalleled until the suffering's of the British army in the
Crimea, 1854-5, the Legion began a series of activeoperations
against an army of hardy mountaineers in their own fast-
nesses, far more remarkable for daring and enduring heroism
than for great political results. The first of these was fought
May 5, 1836. This resembled the battle of the Alma, except
that the heights stormed were a threefold range, each inter-
sected by orchards, walls, breastworks, and redoubts ; the
carnage, compared with the numbers engaged, was also
greater. Lord John Hay, commanding a naval squadron on
the coast, wrote of it thus to the Admiralty
I conceive their Lordships will not expect from mo a
detailed account of the various movements of her Catholic
Majesty's forces (Spaniards and British Legion) during these
operations, the particulars of which are at this moment imper-
fectly known to me. I cannot resist, however, stating the
proud gratification I experienced in witnessing the gallantry
displayed by the British Legion on this occasion. The in-
trenched position of the insurgents appeared impregnable ;
but one after the other was stormed by these brave men in a
manner that excited ono universal feeling of admiration."
And of this action General Count Harispe, who commanded
the Western Division of the army of France, wrote to General
Evans as follows :

Head Quarters, Bayonne, May 7, 1836.
" M. le G6neral,— I have known for a long time the posi-
tions which you have carried. I was also made acquainted
almost day by day with the preparations for defence. I could,
therefore, appreciate all the difficulties which your troops
have had to surmount. Whatever losses you may have ex-
perienced, the results of the combat do the highest honour to
the British soldiers, and above all to their officers, who have
given such brilliant proofs of devotedness and intrepidity.
Everywhere the news of this engagement has excited the most
lively sprapathy ; and I can assure you that no person will be
more delighted than mpself—an old general of the Empire--at
the triumphs gained by the arms of his Britannic Majesty.
" Count DE HARISPE,
" Lieutenant-General and Peer of France."
On the 28th of the same month General Evans attacked and
defeated his enemy. That enemy, greatly reinforced, attacked
him on the Gth of Juno, and was again defeated. On the 11th
of July and the 14th of August minor actions were fought,
with the like results. On the Ist of October General Evans
was attacked by a more formidable army than had before
come against him. It was defeated at all points, but with
severe loss on both sides. • The coolness of the General that
day, amid the deadliest fire, inspirited his troops to enthu-
siasm. But, indeed, his presence did that always. On the
10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th of March, 1837, the
Legion' in alternate rain, snow, and frost was engaged every
day, aid every day took new ground to the front. On the
16th, by the treachery of one ally, and the inability to co-
operate of the other (Espartero), General Evans, who had
only about 4,000 effective English and 5,000 Spaniards was
attacked by 18,000 of the elite of his enemy. He retreated
about one mile, with a loss of 600 men, but saved every gun.
This was the only retreat which occurred from the beginning
to the end of the service. _ _ _

From the 4th to the 17th of May following his army, Eng-
lish and Spaniards, were engaged almost daily. On the 15th
the fortified town of Irun was invested, and, after a terri-
ble 'cannonade, was carried by storm at two points at eleven
o'clock next day. Seven hundred prisoners were taken.
Though full of stores of intoxicating liquors, and though de-
fended desperately by an enemy who had never spared a
prisoner taken from the British Legion, the General had his
whole force paraded outside the town, sober and orderly,
within four hours of its capture, except men on duty. Such
was the perfect discipline to which he had brought it by his
ceaseless attention to its training ; a discipline which rendered
4,000 men worth four times the number of soldiers (no matter
how well drilled in a barrack-yard), who had not been inured
to active warfare and its unavoidable hardships.
Of what General Evans has done since it is unnecessary
that the present writer should say a word. The country knows,
and the House of Commons has spoken for the country.

SALE OP SH.I
ahiPs Guiding " IN
LIVERPOOL—The fine new clipper
Star and Bride of the Sea—the former
of the mortgagee
1,475
eatter 1,344 tens—belonging to Messrs.
and th
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T. R. Arnolt. TileonuTh.ursday, in Liverpool, by Mr.
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Geelong and from Geelong to IS
8,0501. and the latter 0,850/
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low
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