We cannot better conclude than with the following extract of a letter from Mr. John Lander to the editor of "The Literary Gazette," to which publication we are indebted for a large portion of the materials of which the foregoing little memoir has been composed. The feelings expressed with so much simplicity of heart by Richard Lander's deeply-attached brother are honourable to him and to our common nature, and cannot be read without sympathy.

No

"Richard Lander was of short stature, but he possessed great muscular strength, and a constitution of iron. stranger could help being struck, as Sir Joseph Banks was with Ledyard, with the breadth of his chest, the openness of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye.' He was gifted, in an eminent degree, with that passive courage which is so requisite a qualification in an African traveller. His manners were mild, unobtrusive, and highly pleasing, which, joined to his cheerful temper, and ingenuous, handsome countenance, rendered him a favourite with every one that knew him, by most of whom he was beloved in the fullest sense of the word. The many distinguished individuals of the metropolis to whose society he was introduced after his return from the Niger discovery will subscribe to the truth of this assertion; but no one knows, to the fullest extent, except the companions of his boyhood, and the friends of his riper years, the unaffected benevolence of his character, and the excellence of his warm and generous heart. To them, and to every member of his disconsolate family, who were tenderly attached to him, his melancholy and most distressing fate will be the bitterest ingredient in the cup of life. So greatly was Richard Lander beloved by the untutored Africans, that, at various places in the interior, where he had remained some time, at Katunga, Boussà, Yàoorie, and other places, numbers of the inhabitants ran out of their huts to embrace him on his leaving their town; and, with hands uplifted, and eyes filled with tears, they blessed him in the name of their god. He has left a fatherless child, and an afflicted, brokenhearted widow, to mourn their distressing bereavement.

"How melancholy has been the fate of most travellers in Africa! The daring Ledyard, who had been a wanderer over a great part of the globe, fell a victim to the climate, not long after he first set foot on African soil; the brave but unfortunate Major Houghton, plundered and forsaken by the Moors of Ludamar, perished miserably in the wilderness; the justly-celebrated Mungo Park was attacked by the natives with spears and arrows, and terminated his career in the Niger; Major Denham escaped all the dangers of the vast and dreary Sahara, only to die at Sierra Leone; Belzoni, in an attempt to explore the Niger, fell a sacrifice to the climate of Berim. Many European travellers in Africa have never been heard of after setting out on their journey; the enterprising, kind-hearted Clapperton, borne down by disappointment, and by a languishing disorder that reduced him to a skeleton, breathed his last in a wretched hovel at Socatoo; and, to complete the list, owing to the sullen ferocity of a band of savages, Richard Lander is also gone down to the grave. But the fate of these brave men is not an inglorious one their names are embalmed in the memory of their countrymen; and every friend of humanity and honourable enterprise will mourn over the melancholy termination of their labours

"To live in hearts we leave behind

Is not to die.'"

169

No. XII.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR JOHN MACLEOD,

G. C. H.

SENIOR COLONEL COMMANDANT AND DIRECTOR-General of

ARTILLERY.

SIR JOHN MACLEOD was of the Raaza family; and his grandfather, Colonel Eneas Macleod, served with great distinction in the campaigns and sieges of the Duke of Marlborough.

He was born on the 29th of January, 1752; joined the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, as a Cadet, in the year 1767; and obtained a commission as Second Lieutenant on the 15th of March, 1771.

On obtaining his commission, he was ordered to Gibraltar, where he had an opportunity, on a large scale, of viewing and practising the garrison duties of his profession.

In 1775 he sailed from England with the forces destined to suppress the colonial rebellion in North America. Little occurred on his first arrival in that country, beyond the usual events of ordinary service; but in 1781 he joined the force detached under Earl Cornwallis, which he accompanied into North Carolina, during an arduous march of above 600 miles, and had the good fortune to command the artillery engaged in the signal victory of Guilford, over the combined continental and American forces, on the 15th of March.

In describing his movements previous to the battle, Lord Cornwallis observes, "The woods on the right and left were reported to be impracticable for cannon: but as that on our right appeared to be most open, I resolved to attack the left wing of the enemy; and whilst my disposition was making

for that purpose, I ordered Lieutenant Macleod to bring forward the guns, and cannonade their centre."

Again, the despatch, describing a critical period of the battle, states that the second battalion of Guards, having defeated a corps of continental infantry, much superior in number, formed on the open field, and captured two 6-pounders; but pursuing with too much ardour, they became exposed to an attack from Washington's dragoons, with the loss of the 6-pounders they had taken: it then mentions that the enemy's cavalry were soon repulsed by a well-directed fire from the guns just brought up by Lieutenant Macleod; and on the appearance of the Grenadiers of the Guards, and the 71st regiment, the guns were soon recaptured.

The exertions of the artillery under Sir John Macleod's orders on this service, in overcoming the obstacles opposed to their advance by the difficulties of the country, will be best appreciated by Lord Cornwallis's description of the march of the army previous to the battle of Guilford: "their invincible patience in the hardships and fatigues of a march of above 600 miles, in which they have forded several large rivers, and numberless creeks, many of which would be reckoned large rivers in any other country in the world, without tents, and often without provisions, will sufficiently manifest their ardent zeal for the honour and interests of their sovereign and their country."

During the course of this service, Sir John Macleod had attained the rank of First Lieutenant (in July, 1779). His last letters from America are dated in 1781, just previous to his embarkation at New York to return to Europe.

In January, 1782, he was promoted to the rank of Second Captain.

On the return of the army to England, Lord Cornwallis, wishing to mark in a distinguished manner his sense of Sir John Macleod's services while under his orders, more particularly in the battle of Guilford, and in the professional resources he had shown in the difficulties attending the previous march of the army, named him to the King, and his Majesty

was pleased in consequence to command his personal attendance and presentation by Lord Cornwallis.

In the same year he was appointed to the staff of Lord George Lennox.

The regiment of artillery had been increased during the American war to four battalions, and an invalid battalion; and the Master-General of the Ordnance, from so great an augmentation, found it necessary to extend its staff, at the head of which he placed Sir John Macleod.

In 1790 Lord Cornwallis was appointed Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in India; and his Lordship immediately expressed a desire that Sir John Macleod should accompany him but his staff duties already forming an integral part of the important discipline he was perfecting, compelled him to forego the gratification of attending his commander and friend.

On the 14th of May, 1790, he succeeded to a company the regiment of artillery.

We now approach a period, when the peculiar power and energies of Sir John Macleod's character were to be more conspicuously developed and brought into public notice. The war occasioned by the French revolution worked rapid changes and improvements in the French army, which it became necessary to meet with corresponding efforts on our part. They had started and matured a system of warfare, and celerity of movement, peculiarly their own; and the other nations of Europe soon learnt the necessity of opposing them on their own system. Their artillery, particularly, had undergone material change and facility of movement; with ourselves, of course, similar changes were studied and adopted. All field artillery was in future to have increased celerity of movement, beyond that of infantry; and a portion of it was trained to rival the movements of cavalry. Two troops were formed in the first instance; others were added in quick succession. The organisation and equipment of this new arm, with the entire change that followed in the whole nature and system of our field artillery, gave ample scope to the indefa