68o 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



September I. 3 315. 



NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES OF THE 



MONTH. 



Some very epoch-making events took 

 place in September. It was Cromwell's 

 month, and on Cromwell's day, Septem- 

 ber 3rd, the great Protector fought the 

 Battle of Dunbar in 1650. He there 

 shattered the Scots under Leslie, but it 

 was not until the following year that he 

 finally crushed the Royalists in the 

 Battle of Worcester, the " crowning 

 mercy " which finally ended the Civil 

 War. On 20th August, 1658, George 

 Fox met him riding at the head of his 

 Guards through the great gate at Hamp- 

 ton Court. " He looked," said Fox, 

 " like a dead man." A fortnight later, 

 on September 3rd, he passed quietly 

 away. Although he had received no 

 military training, he became one of the 

 greatest commanders of the world, with 

 a military genius second to none. His 

 statesmanship laid the foundation ot 

 England's supremacy at sea, and her 

 dominant influence in European affairs. 

 He showed a spirit of justice, patriotism 

 and self-sacrifice which has never been 

 surpassed by any ruler of England. 



His day of double victory nnd death 

 Beheld him win two r<>"aliiis, and, happier, 

 yield lii.s breatli. 



Sebastopol was occupied by the 

 French and English on September 8th, 

 1855, after a siege of 11 months. This 

 practically closed the disastrous and mis- 

 managed Crimean War, in which Eng- 

 land and France fought Russia for the 

 sake of Turkey. 



On September 9th, 15 13, the Earl of 

 Stanley totally defeated the Scots at 

 Flodden ; their King, James IV., was 

 slain, together with hundreds of nobles. 

 Sir Walter Scott has immortalised this 

 fight in his great poem, " Marmion." 



' Charge, Chester, charge ! On, Stanley, on I' 

 Were the last words of ^larmioii. 



Malplaquet, one of Marlborough's 

 four great victories, was fought on Sep- 

 tember iith, 1709. It proved to be his 

 last battle, and resulted in freeing Flan- 

 ders from the French. 



The celebrated General Blurher, 

 "Marshal Forwarts," as his soldiers 

 called him, died on September 12th, 

 1 8 19. His timely arrival at Waterloo 

 secured the complete defeat of Napo- 

 leon. 



The Black Prince gained a signal vic- 

 tory over the French at Poitiers on Sep- 

 tember 19th. 1356. The French King 

 John was captured, and sent to Eng- 

 land, where he died in 1364. 



The victory of Busaco, September 

 27th, 18 10. enabled Wellington to reach 

 the lines of Torres Vedras safelv. Robert 

 CHve. the founder of the British rule 

 in India, was born on September 29th, 

 1725- He died, by his own hand, in 

 1774- The great fire which destroyed 

 London commenced on September 2nd, 

 1665. It raged for five days, and burnt 

 out the last remains of the Plague which, 

 during the previous year, had carried 

 off no less than 100,000 of the inhabi- 

 tants. 



The Battle of Quebec-Death of General Wolfe- 

 September 13, 1759. 



The taking of Quebec by James 

 AVolfe is undoubtedly one of the epics 

 of modern history. By his defeat of 

 Montcalm, the young English general 

 gave Canada to the Empire. With a 

 force of 1800 troops Wolfe succeeded 



m scahng the cliffs and reaching the 

 Plams of Abraham behind the town. 

 The effort was in the nature of a forlorn 

 hope, after the British forces had l^een 

 severely repulsed elsewhere. Parkman, 

 m his " Montcalm and Wolfe." thus de- 



