Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/238

 216 COLONEL LE MESURIER.

ments in the north excited considerable alarm for the safety of that place. On this occasion he received the most flattering compli- ments from Lord Wellington, as well as from Sir Thomas Graham and Sir Rowland Hill ; and his Lordship further promised to re- commend for an ensigncy a younger brother of his, who had lately come out as clerk in the commissariat, having been prevailed upon by him to relinquish that employment and embrace the more active duties of a military life. No time was lost, immediately on his arrival, in repairing the fortifications, and disciplining the garrison, which consisted of new-raised militia. But, so completely had the place been dismantled, and so insufficient was this handful of raw troops for any serious defence, that, upon Marmont's appearing before it, every one gave it up as lost. He, however, shewed such a counte- nance, having prevailed upon his men to accompany him in two sallies, and skirmish with some of the more advanced troops, that the enemy gave him credit for being stronger than he was, and desisted from any attempt vipon the place. The manner in which he proceeded from that time in repairing the fortifications, disci- plining the garrison, and discharging all his other duties, drew repeated commendations from Lord Wellington and Sir William Beresford. He was equally beloved by the inhabitants of Almeida and by the troops. But all this did not satisfy him : he was impa- tient under this state of comparative inaction, and anxiously longed to share " the clangers, the toils, and the honors of his companions " in the field. In an evil hour, as his friends must consider it, his repeated solicitations to return to regimental duty prevailed ; and he was appointed on the 18th of May to the command of the 12th Portuguese regiment, which he joined soon after : and which he found even superior to his own beloved 14th. By them indeed he was still beloved, for it happened, that in their line of march, the two corps met ; and as he passed the column on horseback, the cheering was universal, and seemed, as he said, " really enthusi- astic." He wrote of it with great feeling. Indeed he had laboured hard to resume his situation in that corps, of which he always spoke with great affection. Some time after he joined the main army in the Pyrenees, where he was destined to meet that death which he appeared so bent to encounter. Only a few clays before the battle, he obtained that step in the Portuguese service, which he had for some time expected, being made full colonel ; but, whether of the 1 2th or the 1 4th, he had not ascertained. He observed, that " between the two his expectations were balanced ; and not onlv his expecta-

■B RD-94 i

�� �