492 Memoirs of the late 
by repeated his insulting language, and 
declared, ‘* That, if Mr. Evans did not 
notice zi as a gentleman ought to do, he 
would spit in his face to make him do so! !}” 
To another officer also employed by Mr. 
Evans to negociate an accommodation, 
he not only used the same language, but, 
showuig some pistols and flints, expressed 
‘his confidence of neither missing his fire 
nor aim. ‘Thus repeatedly insulted and 
provoked, a duel was no longer to be 
avgided: they met; and afrer an ex- 
change of shots, an aceommodation was 
again proposed on the part of Mr. Evans, 
and indignantly rejected by the other; 
another case of pistols was fired, the 
same accommodation. again proposed, 
and again rejected; this was no longer 
to be borne—Mr. Evans took aim, and 
his opponent perished. The Court of 
King’s Bench was about to sit, and in 
three or four days Lieutenant Evans sur- 
rendered to, and was instantly tried by, 
the laws of his country; when, after a 
most impartial investigation and able 
charge from Lord Chief Justice Osgood, 
the jury, without hesitation, gave a ver- 
dict of acquittal.* 
This unfortunate affair, however un- 
avoidable, cast, as I have before said, an 
occasional gloom over the future days of 
Lieutenant Evans, for, never was a duel 
named, but his countenance fell, and his 
Spirits instantaneously fled. 
Mr. Evans afterwards accompanied 
his regiment to Halifax, in Nova Scotia; 
and, in 1799, returning from that place 
to England, was taken prisoner by a 
French privateer. fter being plunder. 
ed and kept on board jor many weeks 
(though not otherwise iil-treated) he was 
Janded cn the Spanish coast, and in the 
neighbourhood of Corunna, from whence 
he proceeded on foet to Oparto, where 
he was fortunate enough to meet with 
Captain Donolly, then of the Narcissus 
frigate; that officer took him, and others 
similarly situated, on board, ‘treated 
them like brothers, and, in the month of 
May, i800, landed them safe upon Eng- 
lish ground. At the time Lieutenant 
Evans arrived, che regiment was about t9 
embark for Egypt; being, however, un- 
equipped, and having private affairs of 
* Lest i shouid be suspected o; partiality 
in the foregoing narrative, I think it right to 
add, that the Minutes of the Trial, taken 
verbatim, are in my possession; and, that 
Mr. Osgood, the Judge, Captain Ware, of the, 
90th regiment, and Captain Sinciair, of the 
yoyal artillery, the principal witnesses, are 
Gtill in existence, . 
Capi. John Evans. [Dec. 4, 
importance to arrange, he did- not -ac- 
company 1t upon that-expedition, but re- 
joined it at Liverpool in the following 
year, Towards the close of 1804, he 
obtained letters of service to raise men 
for a company in the 23d regiment; but 
early in 1805, having little prospect of 
success, aud the 24th regiment being 
again embarked, he rejoined that corps, 
and served in it at the reduction of the 
Cave of Good Hope; when, being senior - 
lieutenant, he succeeded to 4 company, 
vacant by the death of the everto-be-la- 
mented Captain Foster, who was killed 
at the taking of that colony. . This pro- 
motion broaght him to England in the 
following year, in order to join the second 
battalion of the regiment. With this bat- 
talion he proceeded to Guernsey, and 
from thence, in April of the present year, 
to Lisbon; he advanced with it imta 
Spain, and was mortally wounded in the 
neck, whilst exhibiting every proof of 
gallantry and skill at the recent battle of 
Talavera; he almost instantly lost all 
sensation in his arms and legs, and in. 
this helpless state the first assistance he 
received was from a private soldier, 
named Weaving, of the light infantry 
company, $d foot guards: this man had 
conveyed bim to a place of security, 
given hina water to drink, apd adminis- 
tered every comfort which his hmited 
means enabled him to procure. 
Towards this man Captain Evans re-= 
peatedly expressed the warmest grati- 
tude, and desired the writer of this article 
to prove it by more than words; some 
pecuniary reward has accordingly been 
given: his captain has been furnished 
with a written testimoay of his conduct ; 
and his name is now published to the 
world by a grateful friend. ‘That friend 
had not time to see the deceased till 
many hours after he was wounded, when 
he found him lying in the place to which 
the friendly guardsman had ceriveyed 
him. When addressed, he said to me, 
‘¢ This is just the way your poor friend 
Foster* died.”—I endeavoured to bid 
him hope; but he shook his head, seemed 
aware of his approaching dissolution, and 
emphatically pronounced the resigned, 
but glorious werds, “ The will of God be 
done ;” these words he frequently re- 
peated during the two days that he lins 
a aT ET 
* It is somewhat singular, that the ball 
which slew him, struck in precisely the same 
vitalypart as that which occasioned his pro- 
motion, by destroying his predecessor, Captain 
Foster. ' 
gered 
