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the city of Quebec, the object of all our toils, new stands in full view before us. A perfidious enemy who have dared to exasperate you by their cruelties, but not to oppose you on equal ground, are now constrained to face you on the open plain, without ramparts or entrenchments to shelter them.

"You know too well the forces which compose their army to dread their superior numbers. A few regular troops from Old France, weakened by hunger and sickness, who, when fresh, were unable to withstand the British soldiers, are their General's chief dependence. Those numerous companies of Canadians, insolent, mutinous, unsteady, and ill-disciplined, have exercised his utmost skill to keep them together to this time; and as soon as their irregular ardor is damped by one firm fire, they will instantly turn their backs, and give you no further trouble but in the pursuit. As for those savage tribes of Indians, whose horrid yells in the forests have struck many a bold heart with affright, terrible as they are with a tomahawk and scalping-knife to a flying and prostrate foe, you have experienced how little their ferocity is to be dreaded by resolute men upon fair and open ground: you can now only consider them as the just objects of a severe revenge for the unhappy fate of many slaughtered countrymen.

"This day puts it into your power to terminate the fatigues of a siege which has so long employed your courage and patience. Possessed with a full confidence of the certain success which British valor must gain over such enemies, I have led you up these steep and dangerous rocks; only solicitous to shew you the foe within your reach. The impossibility of a retreat makes no difference in the situation of men resolved to conquer or die: and, believe me, my friends, if your conquest could be bought with the blood of your general, he would most

cheerfully

cheerfully resign a life which he has long devoted to his country."

The blood, indeed, of this heroic commander was the dear price at which so brilliant a victory was to be purchased. WOLFE, who stood conspicuous in the front of the line, received a shot in the wrist, which, wrapping a handkerchief round it, he seemed not to notice, and continued giving orders without the least emotion. But advancing at the head of the grenadiers, another ball pierced his breast, and compelled him to retire to a spot a little distant from the field of action, where he expressed the most eager anxiety to learn the fate of the battle. He was, after an "interval of suspense, told that the enemy were visibly broken and reclining, from extreme faintness, his head on the arm of an officer standing near him, he was in a short time aroused with the distant sound of, They fly! they fly! Who fly?' exclaimed the dying hero— On being told, The French,' Then,' said he, I depart content;' and almost immediately expired in the arms of victory.

GENERAL ORDERS,

EXPRESSING HIS MAJESTY'S APPROBATION OF THE VOLUNTEERS,

ISSUED BY THE DUKE OF YORK;

HORSE-GUARDS, OCT. 12, 1803.

It will be remembered, that upon the renewal of the war with France, the preparations of our government were vigorously seconded by the heroism of the people. Though in addition to other defensive measures, an act

had

had been passed for enabling his MAJESTY to call out the whole mass fit to bear arms, in different classes, and to put a certain proportion of them into immediate training, their spontaneous zeal rendered this measure unnecessary. In some cases, the inclination of government was anticicipated, and volunteer associations were formed even before they knew that their services would be accepted. It was enough for them to hear that a vaunting enemy had dared to hold out the threat of invasion: they instantly rose, as with one heart and one arm, to defy his impotent menaces. The ardor of their first offers could only be equalled by their subsequent endeavours to improve themselves in military discipline, and two general reviews of all the volunteer corps in and near the metropolis, on the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth of October, their sol dier-like appearance, their regularity, and expertness, gave such satisfaction to the KING who reviewed them, that the following acknowledgment of their merit, and incitement to their perseverance, were conveyed in the general orders of the twenty-ninth, the morning after, the second review.

"His royal Highness, the Commander in Chief, has received the King's command to convey to the several volunteers and associated corps which were reviewed in Hyde Park on the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth inst. his Majesty's high approbation of their appearance, which has equalled his Majesty's utmost expectation.

"His Majesty perceives, with heart-felt satisfaction, that the spirit of loyalty and patriotism, on which the system of the armed volunteers throughout the kingdom was originally founded, has risen with the exigencies of the times, and at this moment forms such a bulwark to the constitution and liberties of the country, as will enable us, under the protection of Providence, to bid defiance to

the

the unprovoked malice of our enemies, and to hurl back, with becoming indignation, the threats which they have presumed to vent against our independence, and even our existence as a nation.

"His Majesty has observed, with peculiar pleasure that, amongst the unprecedented exertions which the present circumstances of the country have called forth, those of the capital of the United Kingdom have been eminently conspicuous: the appearance of its numerous and well-regulated volunteer corps, which were reviewed on the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth instant, indicates a degree of attention and emulation, both in officers and men, which can proceed only from a deep sense of the important objects for which they have enrolled themselves, a just estimation of the blessings we have so long enjoyed, and a firm and manly determination to defend them like Britons, and transmit them unimpaired to posterity.

"The Commander in Chief has the highest satisfaction in discharging his duty, by communicating these his Majesty's most gracious sentiments, and requests that the commanding Officers will have recourse to the readiest means of making the same known to their respective corps.

"FREDERICK,

"Commander in Chief."

HISTORICAL PORTRAITS.

The delineations of eminent characters, with which many of our best historians adorn their narratives, are finished so much in the style of popular eloquence, that we are induced to give one or two of them as examples of

VOL. I.

e

our

our former remark on those interesting portraits, where the pencil of truth traces the outlines, and genius lays on the vivid coloring.

CHARACTER OF ALFRED:

BY HUME.

"The merit of this Prince, both in private and public life, may with advantage be set in opposition to that of any Monarch or Citizen, which the annals of any age or any nation can present to us. He seems, indeed, to be the model of that perfect character, which, under the denomination of a sage, or wise man, philosophers have been fond of delineating, rather as a fiction of their imagination, than in hopes of ever seeing it really existing so happily were all his virtues tempered together; so justly were they blended; and so powerfully did each prevent the other from exceeding its proper boundaries! He knew how to reconcile the most enterprising spirit with the coolest moderation; the most obstinate perseverance with the easiest flexibility; the most severe justice with the gentlest lenity; the greatest vigor in commanding with the most perfect affability of deportment; the highest capacity and inclination for science with the most shining talents for action. His civil and his military virtues are almost equally the objects of our admiration ; excepting only, that the former being more rare among princes, as well as more useful, seem chiefly to challenge our applause. Nature also, as if desirous that so bright a production of her skill should be set in the fairest light, had bestowed on him every bodily accomplishment, vigor

of

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