He went, subsequently, as secretary to a diplomatic mission to Genoa, and from thence proceeded to Toulon, where he served, successively, as aidede-camp to Generals Lord Mulgrave, O'Hara, and Sir David Dundas. He was wounded slightly in the arm, during the celebrated siege, and returned to England with despatches. He became, by purchase, major, and subsequently, lieutenant-colonel of the ninetieth regiment, which he accompanied to Egypt, where he was wounded in the temple, on the 13th of March, 1801, and obtained the favourable notice of the pacha. Having returned home, he, on recovering from the ill effects of his wound, served both in Scotland and Ireland, and was made brigadier-general. In 1805, he was promoted to the rank of major-general. His next service was at the battles of Rolica and Vimiera; and he commanded the reserve of Sir John Moore's army at the battle of Corunna. In 1811, he was made lieutenant-general; and, on the renewal of war in Spain, he succeeded to the command of the corps of General Paget. At the battle of Talavera, where he was wounded in the hand, his brigade repulsed the French at the point of the bayonet. He was rewarded by the thanks of parliament, and the command of the ninety-fourth regiment. In October, 1811, he surprised, near Arroyo de Molinas, a French corps of two thousand five hundred infantry and six hundred cavalry; all of whom, except two hundred were slain or taken prisoners, and their baggage fell into the hands of the British. The Prince Regent publicly thanked him for this exploit, created him knight of the Bath, and made him governor of Blackness Castle. He destroyed the enemy's magazines at Merida, and having afterwards joined Lord Wellington's army, his division compelled the enemy to retreat at Vittoria. At Almarez, he destroyed the enemy's works against the most resolute resistance; and for his conduct in subsequent actions, which took place in December, 1812, he received the thanks of the Duke of Wellington. In March, 1813, he took the town and magazines at Ayre; and, in 1814, he was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Hill, of Almarez and Hawkestone, with a pension of £2,000 per annum. He received the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword, and a British cross and four clasps for his services on the peninsula. He was presented with a valuable sword, and the freedom of the city of London; and a Grecian doric column, said to be the largest in the world of that order, was erected to his honour in his native county of Shropshire. The statue of his lordship surmounts the monument, which stands at the entrance into Shrewsbury. He was made knight grand cross of the Bath in 1815, and, afterwards, commanded the Hanoverian troops in the Netherlands till the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, who, after the battle of Waterloo, thanked him for his assistance and conduct there and on all former occasions. He also was honoured with the grand cross of the Guelphic order, and the order of Maria Theresa and St. George of Russia. In October, 1815, he received a second patent, granting the reversion of his title to the male issue of his brothers. In 1825, he was made a general, and, in 1828, commander of the forces; in which office he has given great satisfaction to the public and his profession. His lordship is unmarried, and has taken little part in politics. He is a plain, farmer-like person, in manners and appearance. SIR ROBERT THOMAS WILSON. SIR ROBERT THOMAS WILSON, son of a painter, was born in London, in the year 1777; and, though originally designed for the law, went, in 1793, as a volunteer, to Flanders, where he joined the Duke of York's army. Having soon obtained a commission, he was one of six officers who, during the siege of Laudrecies, rescued the Emperor Frances the Second of Germany, by Lauriston. After the peace in 1815, he visited Paris, and assisted in rescuing Lavalette, for which he was tried, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. He was censured in the general orders of the Duke of York; but on his return to England, was warmly greeted by all parties, for the gallantry and humanity he had exhibited. In 1817, he published a Sketch of the Military Power of Russia; to an attack on which, in the Quarterly Review, he replied with great spirit. In 1818, he was returned, free of expense, for the borough of Southwark, to parliament, where he took, on all questions, the popular side, and defended the conduct of Napoleon. At the funeral of Queen Caroline, when the people and the military were in col shed, and was soon after dismissed from the army, and denied a courtmartial, in pursuance of the king's pleasure. He repaired to the continent, and while there, an annuity was purchased for him by public subscription, in England, of more than double the amount of his former income. He was from being taken prisoner; for which service each of them received a gold medal, and subsequently the order of Maria Theresa. Shortly after his return to England, he married a daughter of Colonel Belford. During the rebellion in Ireland, he served as aide-de-camp to Major-general St. John. In 1799, he again accompanied the Duke of York to Holland; and, having become major in Hompesch's mounted riflemen, proceeded, in 1801, to take part in the various campaigns in Egypt. On his return, he published a History of the British Expedition to Egypt, which obtained royal patronage, on account of the attack it contained on the character of Napoleon Buonaparte. The work was complained of to the English government, and the counter report of General Sebastian being pub-lision, he endeavoured to prevent bloodlished in reply, the controversy gave rise to so much acrimony, that it is said to have been the primary cause of the war which followed. Sir Robert Wilson, on his subsequent trial at Paris, in 1815, for aiding the escape of Lavalette, declared that "he had stated in his work what, when he published it, he believed to be true;" which was regarded as an admission of the falsity. In 1804, he published an Inquiry into the present state of the British Force, which was one of the first works that reprobated the system of corporal punishment in the army. He shortly after assisted in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope. In November, 1806, he accompanied Lord Hutchinson on a secret mission to the Emperor of Russia; and, in 1808, he formed the Royal Lusitanian legion, with which he fought on the peninsula. He served as a volunteer in the allied armies, in every engagement of consequence, from the battle of Pultusk to that of Friedland, and was rewarded by the Russian order of St. George. In 1811, he brought out his Account of the Campaigns in Poland in 1806 and 1807. In 1812, he returned to Russia, where he ably seconded the operations of General Kutusow; and it was chiefly by his advice that that officer refused an armistice applied for, in Napoleon's name, ordered by the French government to quit Paris; and, in 1823, he went, with a number of English volunteers, to assist the patriots in Spain; but not being allowed to disembark at Lisbon, he threw up his order of the Tower and Sword, in an indignant letter to Count Palmella. After assisting in the defence of Cadiz, he returned to England in November, 1823, his wife having died during his absence. The Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the King of Prussia, deprived him of the respective orders which, for his services against Napoleon, they had formerly conferred. In person, Sir Robert Wilson is distinguished for the manliness of his form and features. He is an able writer and speaker, and is versed in ancient and modern learning, as well as in the sciences of medicine and astronomy. As an officer, his character stands high for gallantry; and both in his military and political capacity, he enjoys a high share of the public approbation. CHARLES WILLIAM VANE STEWART, MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY. THIS nobleman was born on the 18th of May, 1778. He entered the army at an early age; commanded a brigade of cavalry at Sahajau and Benevente, during the retreat to Corunna : was made major-general in 1810, and acted as adjutant-general during the peninsular war. He highly signalized himself at Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d' Onor, and Badajoz ; and for his services, he obtained a cross and one clasp. During the campaign of 1814, in which year he was made a lieutenant-general, he acted as military commissioner to the armies of the allied sovereigns, and obtained much credit for his conduct in that difficult post. In the year lastmentioned, he was called to the peerage, by the title of Lord Stewart, and was afterwards appointed envoy extraordinary to the King of Prussia, and subsequently held the same high station at the court of Vienna. On his retirement from the latter, he claimed an allowance from government, which was granted, through the influence of his half-brother, the late Marquess of Londonderry; on one of whose papers, containing his official consent to the grant, Lord Liverpool is said to have written, "too bad." On the 12th of August, 1822, the subject of our memoir succeeded to the Irish honours of his family; and was created, on the 28th of March, 1823, Viscount Seaham, and Earl Vane, with remainder to his lordship's male issue, by his second marriage. His lordship was first married in 1804, to Catharine, youngest daughter of the Earl of Darnley; and afterwards to Lady Frances Anne, only daughter of Sir Harry Vane Tempest, and a ward in Chancery, an event which created great sensation in the fashionable world, and on which occasion her husband assumed the surname and arms of Vane. By his first wife, he has one son; and, by his second, two daughters. As an officer, the marquess is reputed to be gallant and brave; and, besides being a knight grand cross of the Bath, has received the foreign orders of the Tower and the Sword, St. George of Russia, and the Sword of Stockholm. In his capacity of colonel of the tenth hussars, he attracted the notice of the public a few years ago, by fighting a duel with Mr. Battier, a cornet in his regiment, to whose complaints of the arrogant and contemptuous conduct of his brother officers, he had refused to attend. In politics, the Marquess has universally taken the Tory side, in behalf of which he has been a more frequent than judicious speaker. He is, however, possessed of no mean ability; and is favourably known to the public as the author of Suggestions for the Improvement of the Force of the British Navy, and of Campaigns in Portugal and Spain, and those in Germany in 1813-14. Both works contained inaccuracies, since corrected by their noble author, which might have been, with common care, avoided; but in matter and style, each has the merit of being interesting and agreeable. In private life, his lordship is much and deservedly respected; he is a lover of literature and the fine arts, and is said to have been one of the chief patrons of Sir Thomas Lawrence. |