MILITARY MEMOIRS. 325 



himself afterwards applied for the same permission, and passed through 

 the hostile army in the same manner." 



There is altogether something very touching in the conduct and 

 position of the enemy upon this occasion. The officer-like brevity 

 with which our gallant author conveys this idea, and exhibits the 

 imminent perils of the war, is very characteristic : 



" The attacking party of the Danes were the students of the University, 

 formed into a corps of light infantry, and officered by their professors. 

 They advanced in a most gallant manner, and fought nobly. Their devo- 

 tion recalls the days of Rome and Sparta. Two very extraordinary occur- 

 rences happened during the 31st. A number of those gallant young Danes 

 had formed themselves into a corps of artillery, and were continually firing 

 at the British from the ramparts of the town. A man of No. 7 company 

 (Alum's), on a working party near the ten-mortar battery, was in the act 

 of drinking out of his canteen, when a shot from one of their guns asto- 

 nished him by knocking it out of his hands, without hurting him. A party 

 of the guards were likewise at work a little to our right, one of which was 

 not so fortunate ; he was standing with his cap off, when a shot from the 

 enemy passed so near the crown of his head, that it killed him on the spot, 

 without leaving the slightest perceptible mark. From several other in- 

 stances of the excellent aim of these gallant fellows, we were all obliged to 

 keep well under cover." 



The 28th joined our first expedition to the Peninsula, and, in com- 

 mon with the whole army, had much to suffer in the well-known 

 retreat to Corunna, of which Lieut.-Colonel Cadell gives a very 

 feeling picture. From the scenes of drunken violence to which their 

 privations drove the men, and the excruciating penalties which they 

 paid for their excesses in a foreign country, in the depth of winter, and 

 amidst an overwhelming hostile force, we shall make no quotations ; 

 but we cannot refuse room to an incident Avhich presents an eminent 

 officer and the detachment under his command in a pleasing point of 

 view : 



" January 3. The following occurrence had more effect in establishing 

 the good conduct of the reserve than anything that had yet been done. 

 We were formed in close column, on the Bembibre side of the river, 

 when our gallant chief, General Paget, in an excellent address, called the 

 attention of the soldiers to the dreadful and disgraceful scene of yesterday, 

 and the merciless conduct the enemy's cavalry had shown to many of the 

 stragglers. He told the men that they had now become the rear-guard of 

 the army ; and upon their sober, steady, and good conduct, the safety of 

 the whole depended. Just as the General had finished his admirable and 

 soldier-like address, and after all the orders had been given, and the neces- 

 sary examples had been made, two men of the reserve were found in the 

 very act of shamefully plundering a house in the village, and ill-treating 

 the inhabitants. The report was made, and the reserve was instantly 

 formed in square ; the culprits were brought out the General being de- 

 termined that an example should be made. They were ordered to be 

 hanged upon a tree close to the village. Every thing being prepared, the 

 awful sentence was about to be carried into execution ; the unfortunate 

 men were in the act of being lifted up to the fatal branch, when an officer 

 of the hussars rode into the square, and reported that the enemy were at 

 that moment advancing. The General said he did not care if the whole 

 French cavalry were coming up ; that he would hang those men, who had 

 been guilty of so shameful an outrage. At that instant a few distant shots 



