The Right Honourable General SIR DAVID DUNDAS, K. B. Colonel of the King's Dragoon Guards, and of the 95th or Rifle Regi ment; Governor of Chelsea Hospital.

[Continued from page 418.]

ON the commencement of the American war, 1775, Major Dundas made a warm solicitation to be allowed to exchange into the infantry, for the purpose of serving on that continent, but government considering the services of this officer essential in another part of his Majesty's dominions, he accordingly purchased the LieutenantColonelcy of the 12th Light Dragoons, and went to that regiment in Ireland. In 1778, Col. Dundas received the appointment of QuarterMaster-Gen. in Ireland, and in 1781, was made Colonel by brevet. In 1782, the unwearied services of this intelligent officer were further rewarded by the Lt.-Colonelcy of the 2d regt. of horse; and in 1785, he attended the Prussian exercises at Berlin, Pomerania, Silesia, and Magdeburg, from which time to 1787 the life of Colonel Dundas was passed in acquiring that knowledge in his profession, in the different continental military schools, which has rendered him, if not the first tactitian of the times, at least inferior to none.

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In the year 1788 this officer produced the effects of long study and practical acquaintance with the art of war, in the celebrated and useful work on the principles of military movements, and which has become the basis of our army regulations: it is needless to expatiate on what is so well known, and universally allowed to be the most simple, efficient, and, at the same time, scientific mode of instructing the officer and soldier in the various, and until this period imperfectly understood, duties of this noble profession.

His Majesty, fully aware of the important advantages to be derived from the zeal, professional knowledge, and accuracy of Colonel Dundas, expressly appointed him Adjutant-General in Ireland, for the purpose of introducing his mode of discipline and tactics into that country, and to perfect the infantry military regulations, and which system was soon after put in practice in the garrison of Dublin, under his immediate command.

The following year Colonel Dundas was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and in 1791 was appointed to the Colonelcy of the 22d regiment of foot. In 1791 he resigned the Adjutant-Generalship, and was placed upon the Irish Staff as Major-General.

In 1792, the convulsed state of the French government, and the people's republican propensities, having induced England to ally

herself with the continental Princes, in order to crush the enor-. mities of the French, and if possible put a period to the widespreading mischief, many officers of talent and activity resigned appointments of emolument, and relinquished the milder but equally useful prosecution of regimental discipline, to join in services of actual warfare.

Those sentiments which have, during the whole course of our subject's military career, so particularly marked his character, continued to urge him onward in search of military reputation. He therefore resigned the Irish Staff in 1793, and came to London, in order to be upon the spot, should his services be called for. The government, conscious of his zealous attachment to its cause, employed the General on a military mission to the island of Jersey, for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of an attack on St. Malo. Soon after his return from making these observations, the General was dispatched to the head-quarters of His Royal Highness the Duke of York, then besieging Dunkirk, in order to confer with that Prince on subjects of importance; and on the termination of that untoward business in the month of October of that year, he travelled through Germany and Italy to Toulon, where he remained second in command to the late General O'Hara.

The French having erected a battery which commanded the town and arsenal of Toulon, a plan was formed to destroy it, and bring off the cannon and ammunition. The plan was completely executed by Gen. Dundas; but part of the troops in their ardour having pursued the retreating enemy too far, were thrown into disorder. Gen. O'Hara hastened to the spot to encourage and recal them, when he received a wound, which rendered him incapable of avoiding the enemy: he was made a prisoner, and the command of the troops. and government of Toulon devolved upon Major-Gen. Dundas.

The struggles of the General to maintain himself in the possession of this post, were highly praise-worthy, and such as called forth the approbation of his sovereign and the country. He however found his situation untenable, and after many arduous endeavours, he perceived all hopes of retaining it utterly futile. No occasion wherein British science or intrepidity could display themselves was lost by the General, although his force was ill-organized, and composed of Spaniards, Neapolitans, Piedimontese, and French loyalists, amounting, together with the British, to 12,000 men.

Deserters and others coming in daily, the General was supplied with ample information of the enemy's plans; he therefore made

arrangements for repelling them in the best and most judicious manner, considering his limited force, and the disadvantages under which he acted.

For the complete defence of the town and harbour, he was obliged to occupy a circumference of fifteen miles, by eight principal posts, with their several intermediate dependent ones; the greatest part of these were merely of a temporary nature, and constructed in such a manner as the exigency of the time admitted. His force, which did not exceed 12,000 men, bearing arms, and composed, as we have before observed, of various countries, was disposed thus, 9000 in supporting those posts, and the remaining 3000 were

stationed in the town.

On the 16th of December, at half-past two o'clock in the morning, the enemy, who had kept three batteries in continual play, opened two new ones, and commenced a very heavy cannonade on Fort Mulgrave till next morning; the works suffered much, and the Allies lost a great number of men. The weather was very bad, and the troops in consequence suffered much from fatigue.

At two o'clock on the morning of the 17th the enemy attacked the fort in great force: it was defended a considerable time; but on the enemy entering on the Spanish side, the British quarter, commanded by Captain Conolly, of the 18th regiment, could not be maintained much longer: it was finally carried; and the remains of the brave garrison of 700 men, retired towards the shore of Balaguier. As this position was most essential to the preservation of the harbour, every means had been taken to strengthen it, and at that time 3000 men were there.

The firing at this post having discontinued during the darkness, the garrison waited the return of day-light in the most anxious suspence. On the morning of the 18th a new scene met their view, by an attack of all our posts on the mountain of Pharon.— The enemy were repulsed on the east side, by a force commanded by a distinguished officer, the Piedmontese Colonel De Jermagnan, who fell in the affair; they, however, crowded up in numbers on that side of the mountain which overlooks Toulon, and found means to penetrate between our posts.

In consequence of these events, a council of Flag and General Officers assembled, when it was determined to evacuate the place. It would have been insanity to attempt further opposition; and measures were taken for immediate departure, which service was performed with admirable effect. The destruction of the arsenal,

shipping, and magazines, was entrusted to Sir Sidney Smith, who executed the same in a manner which amply justified his appointment; and the whole Allied army, under the able direction of General Dundas, together with several thousand of the Toulon loyalists, all the British artillery, and part of the French fleet, were brought off, without the loss of a single life, on the 29th of December, 1793, having embarked under the strong citadel of La Malgue, which was then evacuated. The British General

retired to the Isle of Elba.

In January, 1794, Lt.-Gen. Dundas landed in the Island of Corsica, captured the town of San Fiorenza, and secured good anchorage for the British fleet, when, from ill health and his presence being no longer necessary in the Mediterranean, he travelled through Italy and Germany to England, and shortly after his arrival he set out to rejoin the army in Flanders, where, with the rank of Major-General, he commanded a brigade of cavalry at the battle of Tournay, which was fought on the 22d of May, 1796. The Allies having re-united their scattered forces, prepared, with unabated resolution, to meet the Republicans. At five in the morning the attack was commenced by the latter, on the advanced posts of the Allies, which were driven back on the main body: here the steadiness and intrepidity of the troops, and particularly the British, checked their further progress; and notwithstanding the impetuosity of their various attacks, which continued until ten at night, they were baffled in every attempt, and obliged to fall back upon Lisle.-The loss of the French in this battle was very considerable, and had they not taken the precaution to cover both their flanks by thick woods, through which the cavalry could not penetrate, it would have been much greater.

Major-General Dundas still continued in his command with the army under His Royal Highness the Duke of York, whose plan for the campaign had been wholly disconcerted by the defeat of that brave, but unfortunate, officer, General Clairfait. The Prince de Cobourg had not been in greater favour with the capricious dame; and opposed to such numbers as the French could bring into the field, the Allies, with all their united force, were weak: war and "la nation" being the fashion with that extravagant and hyperbolical people, the ranks were crowded with the flower of the country, and the fall of thousands only served, like the teeth of the hydra, to produce tens of thousands. The Duke of York was therefore obliged to remove from his position at Tournay to Oudenarde, in order to act against the French, who had invested it with a great

force; and from thence the whole army, consisting of British, Hanoverians, Hessians, and Brunswickers, retired to the frontiers of Holland, upon the Rhine and aal, which they crossed and maintained. In November Hie Royal Highness returned to England, and General Walmoden took the command of the army. (Concluded in Supplement.)

NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.

BY GEN. SARAZIN.

[Continued from page 427.]

AUSTRIA having acknowledged the French, the Cisalpine, and the Ligurian Republic, by the Preliminaries, Milan was fixed upon for the conferences to be held, previous to the definitive treaty. The two Plenipotentiaries of the Emperor, General Merfeld and Baron Degelman, followed the army when it returned to Italy, and met Buonaparte. The pretensions of the Cabinet of Vienna and the pride of the Directory, or rather the haughtiness of the Commander-in-Chief, created difficulties, which seemed to threaten a renewal of hostilities. To confirm the Austrians in this opinion, Buonaparte insisted upon carrying on the negociations at the advanced posts of his army. He left Milan to establish his head-quarters at the Castle of Passeriano on the Tagliamento. The Plenipotentiaries took up their residence at Udine. The Marquis de Gallo was joined to the Austrian legation, and General Clarke was ordered to press any conclusion whatever. Buonaparte was waiting for the result of the petitions which he had caused to be sent to Government by the divisions of his army, for the preservation of the constitution. A Secretary of the Russian legation was arrested at Triest, on his journey from Venice to St. Petersburgh. Buonaparte pretended to have found among his papers, a plan for re-establishing the Bourbons on the throne of France. Pichegru was the chief of the royalist's party. The departure of Augereau and Bernadotte to prepare the 18th Fructidor, the escape of the Russian Secretary from Milan, the march of Hoche with part of his army against the two legislative bodies, the poisoning of that General, the journey of General Desaix in Italy, the dilatory letter of Moreau, of which it is reported that it was written only at the express invitation of Desaix, who had already been taught his lesson by Buonaparte, the arrest of Pichegru, the flight of Carnot, -all these circumstances being duly weighed, awakened suspicions about the real designs of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy. He betrayed himself several times in his conversations with his officers. Being accustomed to obey him, they respected his commands as those of a Sultan, and were beforehand with his least wishes; his familiarity and his donations, which were really profuse, had gained him their attachment: his conversation was agreeable and instructive. It constantly betrayed his taste for war and his ambition to command. One day, in the midst of sixty persons, among whom were Generals Friant, Victor, Mireur, &c. he unfolded his plan for restoring liberty to Poland, which the three great powers of the North had just partitioned among themselves. He divided his army into five corps, the advanced-guard, the right wing, the centre, the left wing, and