434 
turn. At St. Helena, however, he recovered 
his health, and married Miss Patton, the 
daughter of the governor. He again pro- 
ceeded to India, served there till 1805, and 
was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant- 
Colonel. 
After his arrival in England, he was em- 
ployed.on the staff as Assistant Adjutant 
General for the Kent district. In 1807, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens joined the un- 
fortunate expedition to South America, as 
military secretary to the commander of the 
forces. At the attack of Buenos Ayres, he 
received a contusion from a musket ball, 
which shattered the writing apparatus. that 
was slung to his side. 
On his return, the Duke of Wellington, 
then Sir Arthur Wellesley made him his 
military secretary; and, in that capacity, 
he embarked with the expedition to Portu- 
gal, in 1808, and was present at the battles 
of Roleia and Wimiera. 
When the Duke of Wellington was su- 
perseded in his command, he returned with 
his Grace to England; and immediately 
afterwards, the Duke of York was pleased 
to confer upon him the appointment of mili- 
tary secretary to the Commander-in-chief ; 
an office which he filled for many years with 
reputation to himself, and advantage to the 
army. In 1811, he obtained a company in 
the third guards; in 1812, he was made 
aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent, with 
the rank of colonel; in 1814, he was 
made major-general, by brevet; in 1815, 
he was appointed to the colonelcy of the 
2d regiment of foot ; and in 1820, he was 
appointed adjutant general. In performing 
the arduous duties of the last-mentioned 
office, he revised the old military regula- 
tions, and incorporated with them arrange- 
ments of a more rapid and masterly cha- 
racter. 
Colonel Torrens was also a Knight Com- 
mander of the most honourable Order of 
the Bath, and a Knight of the Portuguese 
Order of the Tower and Sword. — His 
death, which occurred on the 23d of Au- 
gust, while he was upon a visit at Welwyn, 
in Hertfordshire, was awfully sudden. Ap- 
parently never in better health and spirits 
‘than on the fatal day which closed his 
honourable and exemplary life, he went out 
for an airing on horseback, accompanied by 
Lady Torrens, his two daughters, and some 
gentlemen. He was seized with appoplexy, 
but did not fall from his horse. As soon as 
it was discovered that he was in a fit, he 
was carried into the house, and every effort 
was made to effect his recovery, but without 
success. From his first seizure, till the mo- 
ment of his decease, two hours afterwards, 
he never spoke. 
By the desire of his family, the funeral 
of Sir Henry Torrens was private. It took 
place at Welwyn, on the Thursday follow- 
ing, August 28. His remains were attended 
to the grave by one of his earliest and most 
attached friends, Lieut,-Colonel d’ Aguilar. 
Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 
the insurrection in Aranjuez broke out ;- 
Oct. 
Sir Herbert Taylor has been appointed 
Adjutant General in the room of Sir Henry 
Torrens; and Sir William Keppel suc- 
ceeds him in the command of the second 
regiment. 
THE DUKE OF SAN CARLOS, 
The Duke of San Carlos, some years 
since ambassador from the court of Madrid 
to that of St. James’s, and subsequently to 
the French court, was born at Lima, in the 
year 1771. He received his education in 
the principal college of that city, the rector 
of which was his governor. At the age of 
seventeen, he went to Spain, where he pro- 
gressively attained high military rank, be- 
came a grandee of the first class, counsellor 
of state, &c. He commenced his military 
career as colonel in the second regiment of 
Majorca infantry, of which his uncle was 
colonel proprietor. He served in the Cata- 
lonian campaign, in the war of 1793; and 
as a volunteer in the Toulon expedition. 
On the death of his uncle, Colonel San 
Carlos was appointed Chamberlain, and 
afterwards Governor, to the Prince of the 
Asturias, now Ferdinand VII. His sys- 
tem of education, however, not being in 
accordance with the political views of Godoy, 
Prince of the Peace, the influence of that 
profligate adventurer deprived him of his 
honourable post. Yet, such was the conse- 
quence of San Carlos, that he was named 
Major Domo to the Queen, in 1801, when 
the court was occupied with negociating an 
alliance between the heir of Spain, with his 
cousin, a Princess of Naples. 
In 1805, he was invested with the office 
of Major Domo to Charles IV.; but, in 
1807, some time previously to the impri- 
sonment of the Prince of the Asturias, 
through the intrigues of Godoy, in the 
palace of the Escurial, he was removed 
from court, and appointed to the vice roy- 
ship of Navarre. Three months after his 
assumption of that government, he was or- 
dered to consider himself a prisoner in the 
citadel. This measure is understood to 
have been taken, in consequence of a report, 
that the Duke of San Carlos had ventured 
to advise the heir apparent to deprive the 
queen mother of all political influence, in 
the event of the king’s death—his majesty 
being at that time very ill—and also to put 
Godoy upon his trial. It was on the 29th 
of October that Ferdinand’s papers were 
seized, his person placed in durance, and he 
and his counsellors declared to be traitors. 
In the subsequent investigation of the 
Escurial, the Duke was subjected to close’ 
and severe examination ; and, though libe- 
rated at the same moment as the Prince, 
he was ordered to remove sixty leagues 
from Madrid, not to reside within twenty 
leagues of the coast, and not to fix his 
abode in Navarre. 
When the French armies: entered Spain, 
he resided at Alfaro. In the meantime, 
