756 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



Lafeldt, conducted himself in such 

 a way, as to merit being selected 

 by his colonel (the earl of 

 Rothes), to deliver to the com- 

 mander-in-chief the colours of a 

 French regiment, taken by the25th, 

 on which occasion he was pro- 

 moted to a lieutenancy. 



His regiment, after the battle of 

 Fontenoy, was besieged in Ath, 

 where lieutenant Melville narrowly 

 escaped destruction ; for the ene- 

 my directing their fire at the forti- 

 fications alone, in order to spare 

 the town, a shell from an over- 

 charged mortar passing over the 

 ramparts, fell in the middle of the 

 night, when he was absent on duty 

 in one of the out-works, on the 

 house where he was quartered, 

 and, piercing the roof, actually 

 made its way through the bed he 

 usually occupied. 



On the termination of the war, 

 lieutenant M. proceeded with his 

 regiment for the south of Ireland ; 

 and on the passage was shipwreck- 

 ed on the coast of Normandy. 



In, 1751, being promoted to the 

 command of a company in the 

 same I'egiment, and employed in 

 recruiting in Scotland, his unex- 

 ampled success drew the notice of 

 the conunander of the forces, and 

 he became aid-de-camp to the earl 

 of Panmure. In 1756, he was 

 made major of the 3&th regiment, 

 then in Antigua, where it had 

 been stationed for half a cen- 

 tury, since its removal from Gib- 

 raltar. 



That island had often been made 

 a receptacle for offenders from re- 

 giments at home; and thus its mi- 

 litary force had long been com- 

 posed ofthe most disorderly troops. 

 By the indefatigable zeal of the 

 new major, and from the perfect 



conviction, he was able to inspire 

 into the men that he had their 

 welfare, and that alone at heart, 

 he at length, with the assistance of 

 mostoftheother officers, succeeded 

 in rendering the 38th regiment one 

 ofthe most orderly in the service; 

 and detachments from it accompa- 

 nied him in the attack on Marti- 

 nique, as also on the invasion of 

 Guadaloupe, where major M. 

 commanded the light infantry, at 

 the advanced posts. In one of the 

 skirmishes, which were constantly 

 successful, during an attack after 

 a niglit's march, and the surprise of 

 a post very close to the French 

 camp, the major was entering a 

 house just abandoned by the ene- 

 my, when it exploded, and he was 

 blown to a considerable distance, 

 and taken up for dead. 



From the immediate effects of 

 this accident he soon recovered ; 

 but to the same cause must be at- 

 tributed the decay of sight, with 

 which, in his latter years, he was 

 afflicted, and which at last ended 

 in total irremediable blindness. In 

 recompense for his services in Gua- 

 daloupe, major M. was directed 

 by the commander of the forces, 

 general Barrington, to succeed 

 lieutenant-colonel Debrisey, in the 

 defence of Fort Royal, which he 

 held until the reduction of the 

 island, when, in addition to the 

 government of that fort, he was ap- 

 pointed lieutenant-governor of the 

 island of Guadaloupe and its de- 

 pendencies, with the lieutenant- 

 colonelcy ofthe 63rd regiment. 



Brigadier-general Crump, who 

 was made governor of the new co- 

 lony, dying in 1760, lieutenant- 

 colonel M. succeeded to the go- 

 vernment, with the command of 

 the troops. In this situation he 



exerted 



