BOOKS.

LETTERS OF sra ACGITSTIIS SIMON FRAZER, X.C.B.* THESE interesting letters ought not to have been allowed to re- main in manuscript for four and twenty years after the writer's death—he died in 1835 in his fifty-ninth year—but the fact that Colonel Frazer's eldest son, who died prematurely in 1848, had in- tended to publish a life of his father, in part accounts for the de- lay. Fortunately the letters have at last been given to the world in a satisfactory manner, by an editor who can confirm from his own knowledge the very favourable impression they make as to the character of the able and amiable writer. General Sabine was a subaltern in his troop from 1807 to 1812, and cherishes a deep sense of gratitude for the advantages he derived from the friendly counsels and the example of his captain. "More than any officer I have known," says the General, " he possessed the faculty of impressing on those who served with him a sense of their responsi- bility to the country which maintains them in an honourable posi- tion, and of inspiring them with a desire on all occasions to prefer

interests nterests of the public service (whether in or beyond the strict

line of duty) to their own personal comfort, convenience, or ad- vantage." The power and the will to exercise such a moral in- fluence as this, implies the possession of other high qualities of mind and heart, and it is chiefly to the unconscious manifestation of these good gifts that we ascribe the pervading charm of the volume before us. Viewed merely as a contribution to military history its apparent value is not great, though technical readers may doubtless gather from it sundry details which may be useful as confirming, rectifying, or enlarging their previous conceptions of the strategical operations it notices. But apart from any inciden- tal value of this kind which may be found in the work, it com- mends itself to the reader's attention, and lays strong hold on his sympathy, by the happy simplicity with which it fulfils the actual purpose for which it was composed. Its contents were written in moments snatched from the toils and cares of campaigning ; they were addressed to Lady Frazer and two of her near relations, and

. give from day to day, in their first freshness, the impressions made on a vigorous mind by the striking scenes and events it encoun- tered. The style is remarkable for its lively and easy flow, and for the transparency with which it displays the character of the writer—gentle, modest, manly, in a word a thorough gentleman. The liking we conceive for him from the beginning of the volume continues and increases to the close ; the pleasure, therefore, with which we read on is akin to that with which we should peruse the personal narrative of a friend, who bore an important part in one of the grandest enterprises of the century. The first four of these letters are dated. from London and Ports-

mouth, on the eve of departure for Lisbon, where the writer arrived on the 14th of December 1812, with the brevet rank of Major. In the following April, he was appointed to the command of the horse artillery, without having applied for or at all ex- pected to receive a distinction so much above the rank he had held till then. Some weeks later, speaking of other changes that were taking place, he says, " I can see, further, that it is wished I should apply for the command of the reserve artillery. I mean to do no such thing ; the command is justly thought inferior only to that of the whole artillery of the army ; but I mean to apply for nothing, merely remaining ready and willing to do anything." In May, he was introduced at head-quarters to the Marquis of Wellington, who was " very civil," and invited him to dinner.

' The party consisted of twenty-eight, and they sat till half-past

eleven, etiquette forbidding any one to quit the table before his Lordship. The conversation was necessarily commonplace ; but Major Frazer found amusement in trying to read the characters of the guests, and watching their anxious efforts to catch a smile from their entertainer. " All, however," he adds, " seemed un- necessarily in fear of the great man ; on his part, he talked with apparent frankness." This fear of the Iron Marquis must have been a feeling pretty generally confessed, for we find an allusion to it in a previous letter of Frazer's, giving a humorous account of a fright he himself had received. " I have not yet seen the Marquis," he writes, " but I have seen what frightened me much more. I met a wolf yesterday, and never felt so much alarmed in my life."

For his services at the battle of Vittoria, Major Frazer received the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and two days afterwards he had an example of that rigour which so frightened the officers under Lord Wellington's command. The victim on this occasion was that gallant captain of horse artillery, Norman Ramsay, whose conduct at Fuentes Onoro Napier has described in such _ glowing terms. Colonel Frazer writes-

" I have hitherto avoided mentioning one subject which has given many here great uneasiness, and, perhaps, amongst the many friends Ramsay de- servedly possesses, to none more uneasiness than to myself. He is under arrest by Lord Wellington's orders, conveyed through me in the harshest terms. He remains still in this mortifying situation ; having been put in arrest on the 23d of June, two days after the battle of Vittoria, in which Bull's troop (which I have no hesitation in saying is much the best in this country) had, under Ramsay's command, been of unusual and unquestion- able service. After moving forward on the 22d June, towards the evening, Lord W. spoke to Ramsay as he passed, desired him to take his troop for the Fight to a village then near ; adding that, if there were orders for the troop in the course of the night, he would send them. The night passed away, no orders were received. At six next morning, an Assistant-Quartermas- . • Letters of Colonel Sir Augustus Simon Fraser, X.C.B., Commanding the Royal Horse Artillery in the Army under the Duke of Wellington. Written during the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns. Edited by Major-General Edward Sabine, of the Royal Artillery. London, Longman and Co. ter-General (Captain Campbell) came to Ramsay, and salted if he had any orders. Being answered in the negative, he said, Yout will then imme- diately march and rejoin the brigade to which you belon,c.' Accordingly the troop marched, and soon afterwards a written order 't,was received by Ramsay from General Murray, the Quartermaster-General ot"the army, also ordering Captain Ramsay's troop to rejoin General Ansran'a brigade.' While the troop was doing this, and was halting for the trifoment, whilst Ramsay having the Quartermaster-General's order had richften to discover the road in one direction, and Captain Cater, with a copy off the order, had gone for the same purpose in another, Lord Wellington came up, called re- peatedly for Ramsay, then for Cater. neither at the moment was on the spot. His Lordship then called for Dickson, whose horse, being unable at the instant to clear a wide ditch over which we had just passed, I rode up to mention the circumstance to Lord Wellington, who ordered me to put Captain Ramsay in arrest, and to give the command of the troop to Captain Cator. This I accordingly did, having soon found Cater, and soon after Ramsay, whom I sent two or three people to look after. It appears that

Lord Wellington had intended that Ramsay's troop should not have moved that morning till he himself sent orders, and his Lordship declared that he

had told Ramsay so ; this Ramsay affirms he never heard or understood, and

his Lordship's words, repeated by Ramsay, young Macleod, and by a ser- geant and corporal, all at hand when his Lordship spoke to Ramsay, are precisely the same, and do not convey such a meaning. I spoke instantly to Lord Fitzroy Somerset on the subject, who, together with every other individual about head-quarters, was and is much concerned at the circum- stance. Nay, two days afterwards, when the despatches were making out, every friendly suggestion was used by several that Ramsay might be men- tioned as he deserved, but I have reason to believe that he is not."

Notwithstanding the intercession of persons of influence on Ramsay's behalf, some time elapsed before he was allowed to re- turn to his duty. He fell at Waterloo, and there, says Colonel Frazer,

" In a momentary lull of the fire, I buried my Mend Ramsay, from whose body I took the portrait of his wife, which he always carried next his heart. Not a man assisted at the funeral who did not shed tears. Hardly had I cut from his head the hair which I enclose and laid his yet warm body in the grave, when our convulsive sobs were stifled by the necessity of return- ing to renew the struggle."

Colonel Frazer writes copiously and with great animation about the siege of St. Sebastian, where he commanded the batteries of the right attack in both operations. In both the artillery did its work well, but its commander speaks with disgust of the "ir- resolution and divided counsels" on the part of some, and the " want of gallantry" on the part of others, which frustrated the first operation. His minutes, taken during the successful assault of which he was a spectator, present a most vivid description of that awful struggle. He was present at many subsequent affairs from the crossing of the Bidassoa to the battle of Toulouse, was se- verely wounded at Bayonne, and on his return to England he was made a K.C.B., and promoted to a Regimental Lieutenant- Colonelcy in the Royal Artillery. On the return of Napoleon from Elba, Sir Augustus Frazer re- sumed his command of the horse artillery under the Duke of Wellington, and fortunate was it for his country that he did so, for it is scarcely possible to rate too highly the share he had in securing the victory of Waterloo. It was not alone that he com- manded his artillery with consummate skill, but he had suc- ceeded, not without a world of difficulty, in obtaining permission of the Duke to substitute 9-pounders for the 6-pounders of the horse artillery. Even after this change the enemy's guns greatly ontweighted and outnumbered ours. He had upwards of 300 8 and 12-pounders ; we had 114 British and some 16 Belgian guns, 6 and 9-pounders. Had the disproportion been greater the consequences would have been fatal. We may believe this upon the positive declaration of Colonel Frazer, for he was not one whose sound professional judgment was liable to be biassed by any vainglorious impulses. These are his words.

"The English horse artillery did great execution, and I must be allowed to express my satisfaction, that contrary to the opinion of most, I ventured to change (and under discouraging circumstances of partial want of means) the ordnance of the horse artillery. Had the troops continued with light guns, I do not hesitate to say the day had been lost. The earlier hours of the battle were chiefly affairs of artillery ; but kept down by the admirable and steadily-continued fire of our guns, the enemy's infantry could not come on en masse, and his cavalry, though bold, impetuous, and daring, was forced to try the flanks rather than the front of our position. The steadiness of our infantry, too, became confirmed by the comparative repose afforded by our fire. Nevertheless, had Napoleon supported his first cavalry attacks on both flanks by masses of infantry, be had gained the day. His last attack, which was so supported, we were aware of . . . . so that the necessary dis- positions were made. With all these, however, this last struggle was nearly fatal to us ; but our infantry remaining firm,. and not only receiving the cavalry in squares, but, on their retiring, darting into line and charging the Imperial Infantry Guards, and again resuming their squares, the enemy was forced to give way. I have seen nothing like that moment, the sky literally darkened with smoke, the sun just going down, and which till then had not for some hours broken through the gloom of a dull day, the in- describable shouts of thousands, where it was impossible to distinguish between friend and foe. Every man's arm seemed to be raised against that of every other. Suddenly, after the mingled mass had ebbed and flowed, the enemy began to yield; and cheerings and English Minas announced that the day must be ours."