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    ' ¦ , ¦ ¦ . therefore drew lots to d < rteraiae wlu * should go , when chanc # determined in favour of two men , one named Ryan and the other * Rousteri . Thia was after the battle of VitoriaL I had lent moneyy to setoMl officers ; among the rest to LorctC- —— S * whero he was lieutenant in my company , and he had given me an orden on his banket * for the money . Anxious to have ray share in thee

    siege of Sail Sebastian , I offered Ryan 20 / . to let me go on the Forlorn Hope in his stead ; and gave him some four dollars too close the bargain . He at first consented * but shortly afterwards returned me the money and the bill / saying , that if he got into ) the town alive he should bake more , and therefore , on consideration , lie rejected my offerj He went ? thereforef on the Forlorm Hope—Sail Sebastian was taken ,, and he escaped unhurt , but did not make so much as I had offered him * The officer who

    commanded the party wa $ Lieutenant Hamilton , who was very severely Wounded ; This anecdote may shew , that although mem volunteered on such dreadful duty , they do more from the love of plunder than from any romantic notion of glory ; hot but that sucl ) individuals must possess great personal courage . Riflemen

    ar £ especially lucky in these prizes ; the nature of their duty affording them facilities wMdlk red-coated soldiers do not possess . Riflemen it action are always extended ; they are not under the immediate eye of any officer , so that a Rifleman is , as it were , a commanding officer in himself . He may be a brave tt ^ n of a coward , without being noticed by any one excepting his front or rear-rank man , and has therefore an opportunity of

    tnaking frobty without much risk of being- observed . The plundering ehapg of 6 ur regiment , actuated chiefly by that motive , performed for the duke of Wellington the most gallant ahci during feats . JPhaveseen some iiaJf dozen of such men , when extended , turn a whole line of French skirmishers and decide the fotfe of the day . It was a regular thing , and indeed a common saying among sohie of the Rifles , that each man should

    kilt a Frenchman fdr himself , f ( k we knew that the French generally carried mdney and provisions with them , in both of which We were usuall y deficient ; I may say that this Was so established a rule tMt , if one of those fellows did not kill his man during ah action his comrades would jibe Mm as a clumsy fellow , and not allow him to partake of tlieir share of booty , although he had not the whole day tasted d morsel of food . 1 will mention one instance . On the advance from Santarem , a day or two before the battle of Sobegnlj fc Major Stewart ^ of my own regiinent , m « to mortall y bounded r he was as usual carried to ttie Y 6 af , and one of the men haying been thus employed , returned to 6 iit c ^ Trip , and seeing his comrades cooking jpm * mutton tmtf S ^ ir ; Vi « l ^ d to partake of the meal with them ; ' but not hnVlto \ M Wihan , lie tyas refused % Benip . Hfe therefore took Ma

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1837, page 3499, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1832/page/31/