598 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons* 



[MAY. 



1790. He served in the Grenadier Batta- 

 lion of the Guards during the campaign of 

 1793 ; and, under the command of the late 

 Duke of York, he was present at the battle 

 of Famars, the siege of Valenciennes, and 

 in every other action in which the battalion 

 was engaged. At the close of the year he 

 returned to England, and was not again, for 

 some time, on active service. However, be- 

 tween the years 1794 and 1806, he attained 

 the rank of Lieut. -General, and held various 

 home commands, amongst which was the 

 Lieut. -Generalship of Guernsey. In 1806, 

 he was removed to the staff at Gibraltar ; 

 and, in August, 1808, he was sent to put 

 himself at the head of the British army in 

 Portugal. Unfortunately for him, he as- 

 sumed the command in time to share in the 

 responsibility of the disgraceful convention 

 of Cintra ; a convention which, by allowing 

 the French to retire from Portugal in En- 

 glish ships, and giving the beaten enemy other 

 advantages, blighted the laurels of the army, 

 and robbed the country of its glory. He 

 consequently incurred, with others, though 

 perhaps not with equal justice, a heavy por- 

 tion of the popular odium. 

 - Having been previously appointed Colonel 

 of the 57th Regiment, and Governor of 

 Blackness Castle, this officer obtained the 

 rank of General, on the 1st of January, 1812. 

 . General Dalrymple was created a Baronet 

 on the 21st of December, 1814. He mar- 

 ried, on the 16th of May, 1783, Frances, 

 the youngest daughter and co-heiress of 

 General Leighton ; and by that lady, who 

 died in 1823, he had a family of one son 

 and three daughters. 



Sir Hugh Dalrymple was a member of the 

 Consolidated Board of General Officers. He 

 died in Upper Wimpole Street, on the 9th 

 of April. 



THE MARQUIS LALLY TOLLENDAL. 



The Marquis Lally Tollendal, a distin- 

 guished character himself, was the son of 

 Thomas Arthur, Count Lally, a brave but 

 imprudent and unfortunate Irish officer in 

 the service of France, of whose fate it may 

 here not be improper briefly to remind the 

 reader. Of a family that had followed the 

 fortunes of James IT. he had entered the 

 French army, signalized himself in the battle 

 of Fontenoy, and been made a brigadier- 

 general on the field of battle. He was an 

 inveterate partisan of the Pretender. In 

 1756, selected for his capacity and bravery 

 to restore the French interest in India, he was 

 made Governor of Pondicherry ; and, when 

 that fortress was taken by the English in 

 1761, he and the garrison were made pri- 

 soners of war. From the violence of his 

 temper and conduct, he had offended every- 

 body connected with him in the government. 

 The loss of Pondicherry drew down a torrent 

 of invective upon him from all quarters ; he 

 was even accused of having sold the place to 

 the English; and, when he was allowed to 



return to France from this country, he was, 

 after a long imprisonment, brought to trial for 

 treachery, abuse of authority, and unjust 

 exactions. His enemies triumphed ; he was 

 found guilty, and condemned to be decapi- 

 tated ; a sentence which was executed with 

 circumstances of great cruelty on the Cth of 

 May, J766, in the 68th year of his age. 



Young Lally, his son, was born at Paris, 

 in the year 1751. He was educated at the 

 college at Harcourt, where he was distin- 

 guished for the number of prizes which he 

 gained during a studious term of five years. 

 According to his own statement, he did not 

 know who his father was till the day before 

 his execution, nor who his mother was till 

 four years after her decease. The expenses 

 of his education were defrayed by his cousin r 

 the Countess Dillon, and by Louis XV. who, 

 aware of the deep injury which he had sus- 

 tained, regretted that he could not do him 

 ample justice. 



At the age of fifteen, the youth dedicated 

 a Latin poem to Mr. Mauduit, his professor, 

 on the subject of the unfortunate Galas, in 

 which the fate of his own father was evidently 

 alluded to, and deplored in a spirit of ener- 

 getic and touching eloquence. No sooner 

 had he reached a more mature age, than he 

 strenuously exerted himself to obtain justice 

 to the memory of his father, and satisfaction 

 from the tribunals of his country. In his 

 efforts he received every aid from the most 

 eminent men of his time, especially from 

 Voltaire. Ultimately, his labours were 

 crowned with success. Four decrees of the 

 council annulled the judgments of the par- 

 liaments respecting his father ; and, in 1783, 

 'he recovered possession of his paternal estates. 



M. de Lally's fame had now spread abroad. 

 An eventful period was opening before him. 

 His reputation for eloquence and general 

 talent was so thoroughly established, that, in 

 1789, he was elected deputy from the nobi- 

 lity of Paris to the States -General. He soon 

 became one of the most popular members of 

 the Constituent Assembly ; gave his support 

 to the famous declaration of the Rights of 

 Man, proposed by La Fayette ; and afterwards 

 suggested, by way of amendment to that de- 

 claration, that all citizens should be equally 

 admissible to public employments, without 

 any distinction but that which might arise 

 from virtue and talents. This suggestion 

 was adopted by acclamation. M. de Lally, 

 however, did not carry his notions of liberty 

 so far as many of his coadjutors, but argued 

 strenuously for a constitution of distinct 

 powers, agreeably to the model of the British 

 Government. Not finding himself suffi- 

 ciently supported in his views, and lamenting 

 the calamitous scenes of the 5th and 6th of 

 October, he resigned his seat in the Consti- 

 tuent Assembly, and took refuge in Switzer- 

 land, with his friend, M. Mounier, the father 

 of the present Baron Mounier. 



M. dc Lally returned to France in 1792, 

 and exerted himself with extraordinary 



