The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-29 00:00:00

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anticipate and to deal with the common obstacles to be ex-
pected in a battle-field, war is a rough disturber ; and, un-
less the industry of the barrack-yard is supported by other
and better resources, it is liable to be turned to nothingness
by even a gentle contact with reality."
If that description were quite correct it would be
a censure on those who selected Sir George Brown
for a most important post. They must have known
he would become Lord Raglan's right-hand- man
and adviser. But, in fact, Mr. Kinglake is rather
severe in his desire to be impartial,. because Sir
George Brown, in the special instance of the Alma,
was left very much, if not altogether, to his own
discretion, and directed a furious attack on the
principal pars of the Russian line, which "-drew
their teeth" for subsequent operations,and he was for
a much longer time than his eulogist assigns free
from the trammels of the Horse Guards.

Sir George was one of the useful family of un-
enobled Brown; which in -all degrees and parts of
I the world have, according to Mr. Hughes, done so
much for the honour and glory of their country.
The family of Browns, of which he is a direct mem-
ber, haslong been settled in Linkwood, Elgin, where
he was born in 1790, and where he died on Sunday,
the S7th of August. He was -intended for the ser-
vice, and -vas educated at the Royal Military Col-
lege at Great Marlow and at High Wycombe,
whence he was launched on his career at 18 years
of age, into the very midst of the war fever, which,
hot or Cold, ,bad been on Europe since 1793. The
young Scotchman [says the writer in the Times, evi-
dently himself an Irishman!], who never lost the
twang which distinguishes the speech of Englishmen
born north of the Tweed, was eager in his vocation,
and loved fighting with a keenness not to be damped
by blood or blunted by wounds, and in those days
of fighting he soon came to the front.
A reference to " Hart" will not give much infor-
mation concerning his career. In " War Services
of General Officers" his name does not occur. In
the services of officers of the Prince Consort's Own
Rifle Brigade, of which he was appointed Colonel-
in-Chief the 18th of March, 1863, there is no men-
tion of him, but the following foot-note appears to
his name as Colonel of her Majesty's 32d in that
high authority :
" Sir George Brown served at the siege and capture of
Copenhagen in 1807, in the Peninsula from August, 1808,
to July, 1811; and again from July, 1813, to May, 1814,
including the battle of Vimiera, passage of the Douro and
capture of Oporto, with the previous and subsequent ac-
tions; battle of Talavera (severely wounded through both
thighs), action of the Light Division at the bridge of Al-
meid& battle of Busaco, the different actions during the
retreat of the French army from Portugal, action at Sabu-
gal, battle of Fuentes d'Onor, siege of San Sebastian,
battles of the Nivelle and Nive, and the investment of
Bayonne. Served afterwards in the American war, and
was present at the battle of Bladensburg and capture of
Washington. Slightly wounded in the head and very
severely in the groin at Bladensburg. He has received the
War Medal with seven claps. Commanded the Light
Division throughout the Eastern campaign of 1854-55, in-
cluding the battles of the Alma (horse shot under him),
Balaclava, and Inkerman (severely wounded—shot through
the arm), and siege of Sebastopol (medal and four clasps,
G.C.8., Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Ist Class of
the Medjidie, Sardinian and Turkish medals)."

This brief record might be amplified by those
who knew how active and how brave he was in the
earlier part of his career, and how soon he attracted
the notice of his seniors, and, above all, of the Duke
himself, at an epoch when daring actions and per-
sonal qualifications could receive no preliminary
flourish from a high certificate or from figures of
merit in a competitive examination. Indeed, though
he had no reason to be dissatisfied, his reward
might make some grumblers now-a-days ashamed
of themselves. He was gazetted to an ensigncy
the 23d of January, 1806, and became lieutenant
in September of the same year, while serving in the
expedition to Sicily, from which he proceeded to the
hotbed of war in the Peninsula, then under the
Duke's own gardening, after a ruu to the North
with the corps which reduced Copenhagen. But
fruitful in blows, and well-developed actions, and
plenty of glory plants, the Peninsula was not a
particularly favoured forcing-house for promotion,
and so it was that five years elapsed before he ob-
tained his company. In that time he had fought
at Vimiera, Almeida, Busaco, and in the last action
was engaged, it is said, in a personal combat with
an officer of the staff of Marshal Massena, whom he
worsted. Then he rushed into the breach at Bada-
joz, was shot through the legs at Talavera, and
managed nevertheless to see the backs of the French
as they retreated from Spain, after a desperate and
protracted resistance, in which Fuentes d'Onor,
Salamanca, Nive, Nivelle, and Orthes had place
and mark. It was his ill or his good fortune to be
sent on the American expedition, and to accompany
Sir Hugh Ross's force up the Chesapeake. He
was present at the " Races of Bladensburg," and,
no doubt, saw the burning of the national buildings
and stores at Washington without any very lively
demonstration of satisfaction, for he never approved
severity ; but, as he was severely wounded in the
encounter with the Americans, who so feebly de-
feuded their capital, he could have taken no active
part in a measure which has provoked so much cri-
ticism. With Bladensburg his career in the field
terminated till he was called to command his divi-
sion in 1854, but he long remained a regimental
officer, as it was not till 1842 he became Deputy-
Adjutant-General. He had by this time become a
Major-General under the Prince of Wales's Brevet
of Nov. 23, 1841, and his previous commissions
were—Major, May 26, 1814 ; Lieutenant-Colonel,
Sept. 29, 1814 ; Colonel, May 6, 1831. When Sir
John Macdonald died in 1850, the Duke of Wel-
lington appointed General BrownAdjutant-General
of the Forces, and on Nov. 11, 1851, he was made
Lieutenant-General. He resigned his office not long
after Lord Hardinge became General Commanding-
in-Chief, and his resignation was commented on at
the time in Parliament. During his tenure of office
at the Horse Guards he was a faithful and laborious
public
servant, and at least on one occasion offered
resistance to measures which he thought contrary to
the interests of the service, and did not hesitate to
tender his resignation rather than consent to them.
A harsh, rude manner was assumed by him in his
dealing with officers to cover real kindness, and
men who received favours from him were often less
grateful than those who were charmed by Lord
Raglan's gracious mode of refusal. It may be
doubted if Sir George Brown was a military re-
former—if, for example, he did not think Brown
Bess better than the rifle ; but what was once
ordered was at once accepted by him. Although
some very old soldiers were passed over because
they were too old, Sir George Brown was called
on to command the Light Division in 1854, perhaps
in memory of his ancient services in the famous
old Light Division of 1812. He formed the Rifle
Brigade, 7th Fusileers, 19th, 23d Welsh Fusileers,
33d, 77th, and 88th into a corps to emulate the
fame of their predecessors. He led the advance of
the British army from Malta to Gallipoli, from Gal-
lipoli to Varna, and from Varna to the Crimea. On
the very day of landing at Old Fort he was in some
danger of capture from a patrol of Cossacks. The
manner in which he led his men at the Alma has
been well described in Mr. Kinglake's most vivid
manner. His grey charger was conspicuous in the
ruck of fighting men, and when his white plume
disappeared from the summit of the ridge, where his
figure could be seen above the line of bayonets and
through the smoke of the battle, those of the Light
Division who were nigh forgot all but the impetuous
sbav
eawaeltaot
lyhueri
fmhrooe f
mwat
tl a
shi
s theirf it
dhe yu
sr
iynhsgeo
apl
ohddko leroesnnae dc.
ofee r
nbj,
ynaond rLte
hov terv.
dhedreipdhcgleellt
Raglan
eghnhl
had got
d to
the
oet
" The mode in which Lieutenant-General Sir George
Brown conducted his division, under the most trying cir-
cumstances, demands my warmest approbation. The fire
to which his division was subjected, and the difficulties
be had to contend against, afford no small proof that his
best energies were applied to the successful discharge of
his duties."

During the winter he suffered a little from illness,
but was ever vigilant and energetic, and it was his