The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-03 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES.

THE UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.
The number for this month contains several
interesting articles, and, did our space allow, we
should notice them at more length than_we fear
is in our power. The two first articles are of a
political nature, and, what does not often happen
with regard to our contemporary's lucubrations
in this department of his Journal, we feel much
inclined to concur in the observations they con-
tain. The first is written for the purpose of
showing that colonies are a source of wealth and
strength, and ate not necessarily to part from
the mother country when they become strong.
As the writer admits that they ought to be
kindly and justly governed, we will not quarrel
with his position. The second contains an
attack upon the policy this country has pursued
with regard to Turkey and Russia, which,
Heaven knows, has been weak enough. We
suppose we shall begin to awake when Nicholas
rules from the White Sea to the Bosphorus.
" A Cruise on the Coast of Naples during the
late War," will be read by all who take the Jour-
nal in hand. But the " Account of the Siege of
Badajoz in 1812," from the continuation of
" Reminiscences of a Subaltern, many as have
been the accounts we have read of that celebrated
event, excited in us greater interest than any
other. Take the following brief account of the
storming of the fort of the Picurina

" The great Cathedral bell of the city at length tolled
the hour of eight, and its last sounds had scarcely died
away when the signal from the battery summoned the
men to their perilous task!—the three detachments sprang
out of the works at the same moment, and ran forwards
to the glacis ; but the great noise which the evolution una-
voidably created gave warning to the 'enemy, already on
the alert, and a violent fire of musketry opened upon the
assailing columns. One hundred men fell before they
reached the outwork ; but the rest, undismayed by the
loss, and unshaken in their purpose, threw themselves into
the ditch, or against the palisades at the gorge. The sap-
pers, armed with axes and crow-bars, attempted to cut
away or force down this defence; but the palisades were
of such thickness, and so firmly placed in the ground,
that before any impression could be made against even the
front row, nearly all the men who had crowded to this
point were struck dead. Meanwhile, those in charge of
the ladders flung them into the ditch, and those below
soon placed them upright against the wall ; but in some
instances they were not of a sufficient length to reach the
top of the parapet. The time was passing rapidly, and
bad been awfully occupied by the enemy; while as yet
our troops had not made any progress that could warrant
a hope of success. More than two-thirds of the officers
and privates were killed or wounded ; two out of the
three that commanded detachments had fallen ; and Major
Shawe, of the 74th, was the only one unhurt. All his lad-
ders we'e too short,—his men, either in the ditch or on
the glacis, unable to advance, unwilling to retire, and not
knowing what to do, became bewildered; the French
cheered vehemently, and each discharge swept away
many officers and privates. Shawe's situation, which had
always been one of peril, now became desperate ; he called
out to his next senior officer (Captain Oates, of the 88th),
and said, " Oates, what are we to do ?" but at the instant
he was struck in the neck by a bullet, and fell bathed in
blood. It immediately occurred to Oates, who now
took the command, that although the ladders were too
short to mount the wall, they were long enough to go
across the ditch ! He at once formed the desperate reso-
lution of throwing three of them over the fosse, by which
a sort of bridge was constructed ; he led the way, followed
by the few of his brave soldiers that were unhurt, and
forcing their passage through an embrasure that had been
but bel,tered up in the hurry of the moment, carried—
after a thief, desperate, but decisive conflict—the point al-
lotted to him.'

The following description of the heroes under
Picton, before and after the attack upon the
Castle, might be polished up perhaps, but pro-
bably at the expense of its rough simplicity :

" All was now in readiness. It was twenty minutes
past nine; the soldiers, unincumbered with their knapsacks
—their stocks off—their shirt-collars unbuttoned—their
trousers tucked up to the knee—their tattered jackets so
worn out, as to render the regiment they belonged to
barely recognizable—their huge whiskers, and bronzed
faces, which several hard-fought campaigns had changed
from their natural hue—but, above all, their self-confi-
dence, devoid of boast or bravado, gave them the appear-
ance of what they, in reality, were—an invincible host.
" The division now moved forward in one solid mass,—
the 45th leading, followed closely by the 88th and 74th ;
the Brigade of Portuguese, consisting of the 9th and 21st
regiments of the line, under Colonel de Chaplemond, were
next ; while the sth, 77th, 83d, and 94th, under Colonel
Campbell brought up the rear. Their advance was undis-
turbed until they reached the Rivellas ; but at this spot,
some fire-balls, which the enemy threw out, caused a
great light, and the third division, 5,000 strong, were to
be seen from the ramparts of the castle. The soldiers,
finding they were discovered, raised a shout of defiance,
which was responded to by the garrison, and in a moment
afterwards, every gun that could be brought to bear upon
them was in action ; but, noway daunted by the havoc
made in his ranks, Picton, with his division, forced the
Rivellas, knee-deep, and soon gained the foot of the castle
wall, and here he saw the work that was cut out for him,
for he no longer fought in darkness. The vast quantity
of combustible matter, which out-topped this stupendous
defence, was in a blase, and the flames which issued forth
on every side, lighted, not only the ramparts and ditch,
but the plains that intervened between them and the Ri-
vellas. A host of veterans crowned the wall, all armed
in a manner as imposing as novel; each man had beside
him eight loaded firelocks, while at intervals, and pro-
portionably distributed, were pikes of an enormous length,
with crcoks attached to them, for the purpose of grappling
with the ladders ; the top of the tva►l was covered with
rocks of ponderous size, only requiring a slight push to
hurl them upon the heads of our soldiers ; and there was
a sufficiency of hand-grenades and small shells at the dis-
posal of the men who defended this point to have destroyed
the entire of the besieging army; while on the flanks of
each curtain, batteries, charged to the muzzle with grape
and case shot, either swept away entire sections, or disor-
ganized the ladders as they were about to be placed,
and an incessant storm of musketry, at the distance of
fifteen yards, completed the resources which the enemy
brought into play, which, as may be seen, were of vast
formidableness.

" To oppose this mass of warriors, and heterogeneous
congregation of missiles, Picton had nothing to depend
upon for success but his tried and invincible old soldiers—
he relied firmly upon their devoted courage, and he was
❑ot disappointed."
w • w * t • •

" The dawn of the morning of the 7th of April showed
to the rest of the army, like a speck on the horizon, the
shattered remnant of Picton's invincible soldiers, as they
stood in a lone group upon the ramparts of a spot that,
by its isolated situation, towering height, and vast strength,
seemed not to appertain to the rest of the fortifications,
and which the enemy, with their entire disposable force,
were unable to retake from the few brave men that now
stood triumphant upon its lofty battlements. Neverthe-
less, triumphant and stern as was their attitude, it was
not without its alloy, for more than five-sixths of their offi-
cers and comrades either lay dead at their feet, or wounded
in the ditch below them. All their generals, Picton
amongst the number, and almost all their colonels, were
either killed or wounded; and as they stood to receive the
praises of their commander, and the cheers of their equally
brave but unfortunate companions in arms, their dimi-
nished front and haggard appearance told, with terrible
truth, the nature of the conflict in which they hail been
engaged."