It is not, however, for the purpose of adding my very feeble note of praise to that which the united nations, as well as the services of the empire, have so justly awarded you, but simply to submit to your readers a plan, (which I have long considered, and which I think practicable,) for establishing at a short distance from London, "An Asylum," to be called "The United Service Retreat;" where those officers and men of His Majesty's Army and Navy, (whom the contingencies of the service, wounds, or accidents, have reduced to a helpless or hopeless state of insanity,) may be received and treated with all that kindness which humanity can suggest, and all the attention and care their disease requires; and where they may enjoy to their fullest extent, the improvements that have been discovered by science and experience in the treatment of those diseases that affect the regular or reasonable manifestations of the human mind. With such an Asylum I think the Museum and other scientific establishments might be advantageously connected; and instead of the gloomy prison which our legislators and magistrates will still persist in building and providing for the security and comfort, as they suppose, of the insane in civil life, we should have a cheerful establishment, endowed with all the comforts, many of the superior embellishments, and all the inducements, that can lead the mind back to happiness and tranquillity, lessen the horror of a necessary seclusion, or alleviate sufferings, whether real or imaginary. To such an establishment I conceive we might not only have apartments attached for a Museum and Library, but also a Zoological and Botanical Garden; all of which could be kept in order and superintended by the patients of this Asylum; ay, and ably too, under the management and direction of one or two able professors and a very few assistants. Most of your readers are no doubt aware, that there is a mad-house for the Military at Fort Clarence, near Chatham, and a Naval asylum connected with Haslar Hospital. Yes, Sir, much credit is due to Sir William Burnett and Sir James M'Grigor, for the exertions they have made to rescue the officers and men of His Majesty's service from the fangs of those merciless contractors for the prolongation of human misery, the private mad-house keepers in and near the metropolis: and though the one could only get the dungeons of a military fort, and the other the outskirts of a naval hospital, they have contrived to render both establishments as respectable as the circumstances in each case would admit of. They have made them in some respects "comfortable asylums," though as yet they are not, and, indeed, they never can be, hospitals for the cure of disease. Now, "the United Service Retreat" which I propose to establish, will have all the advantages of a college, 66 a miniature Jardin des Plantes," where instruction will be given and received,-of an hospital where the disease can be practically studied, and the nature and attributes of man and of animals inquired into and developed, without those disgusting accompaniments of mummery and mystery, that are so disgraceful and unworthy of this enlightened age in which we live. This establishment, Sir, might be raised at a very trifling expense, and should be open to all officers and men of both services while in a state of derangement-their wives and children. And, believe me, when once completed, it will in a great measure maintain itself; that is, the fees of pupils, the charge for showing the Zoological and Botanical Gardens and the Museum, will greatly diminish the sums to be paid by the patients; and the great advantage of such an hospital will soon cause applications to be made from wealthy patients, whose payments will abundantly provide for many destitute widows and orphans of officers, that otherwise could not have had the advantages of such a place. I shall not intrude farther upon your pages for the present, but if you approve of my suggestion, I shall next enter fully into the details of the I have the honour to be, Sir, Your constant reader and admirer, measure. The British Cavalry. “The result of a hundred battles, and the testimony of impartial writers of different nations, have given the first place amongst the European infantry to the British; but in a comparison between the troops of France and England, it would be unjust not to admit, that the cavalry of the former stands higher in the estimation of the world.”—Vide Napier's Peninsular War, vol. 3, page 272. MR. EDITOR,—In reading the third volume of Colonel Napier's valuable work, I was struck with the passage quoted above, and as it is to be feared the mere publication of such a statement by an author of his celebrity, may tend to strengthen a very unfounded prejudice, I venture to call your attention to the subject, in the hope that you will collect and publish from time to time, authentic and detailed accounts of the conduct of the British cavalry during the war in the Peninsula and the South of France, and by this means place its character in a truer light. It might have been expected that Colonel Napier, (who must have had frequent opportunities of witnessing the conduct of our cavalry in the field,) would not have rested satisfied with giving currency to such an opinion by barely stating it, but that he would have attempted, at least, to expose its falsity, and restore the cavalry of his country to the station it is entitled to occupy in the estimation of the world. As he has not adopted this natural and becoming course, I may be permitted to offer a few remarks on the relative merits of the cavalry of the two nations. The British may be considered inferior to their rivals in an acquaintance with certain points of the duty of the outposts; but this is to be taken with much limitation, and is perhaps chiefly, if not entirely, to be ascribed to a want of equal opportunities of acquiring experience on actual service. The men are also more apt to be carried away by their eagerness in pursuit, after a successful charge; and this impetuosity has sometimes exposed them to suffer severe loss from a beaten enemy. The habit of campaigning would soon correct this fault, which is shared with them by our infantry. The French are notorious for bad horsemanship and neglect of their horses; the British the reverse. In every other respect, I believe, our cavalry to be superior, not only to the French, but to that of every other nation. I am confident, that when well commanded, no cavalry can withstand their charge; and Colonel Napier's own book affords ample proof of the opinion here advanced, as far as it regards the French; for in nine cases out of ten which he has recorded, where the cavalry of the two nations are opposed to each other, the advantage is with the British, although, in general, far inferior in numbers. If our cavalry did not act so prominent a part in the decision of general battles, and the destruction of beaten armies, as might have been expected from these premises, this failure must be ascribed to other causes than inferiority in the troops. It is sufficient to refer to the actions of that cavalry, when led by a Paget, a Stewart, or a Ponsonby, to be convinced that it was capable of any achievement. But the Duke of Wellington was averse to risk his cavalry (never sufficiently numerous), on account of the difficulty of replacing any serious loss in that description of force; and under some officers, who were most unaccountably entrusted with commands, it would have been worse than folly to expect vigour or enterprise. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Case of John Shipp, late 87th Regiment. A. G. MR. EDITOR,-I do believe that where bravery exists benevolence is sure to be found from this conviction I proceed to state my case, reposing in the confidence that this appeal to your humanity will not be made in vain. There are no people who can appreciate the life of a soldier, but those who have followed the profession through all its chequered wanderings. That mine has been a career of peculiar trial and privation, all must acknowledge. The sad wind-up is as extraordinary and distressing as its commencement. The incidents of my life I published in the year 1829, and it met a ready sale; but its profits were swallowed up in the enormouse expense of publication. Another edition was called for: I published an enlarged one, adding to it my humble "Advice to Young Officers entering on their Military Career," with many other useful hints. Six hundred and fifty copies, incumbered with a great portion of the expenses of its publication, are still on hand; and, in all probability, the life dedicated to my country for the long period of thirty-three years-during which time I led four forlorn-hopes, and received six ball-wounds*—will be consumed in a prison, if gentlemen do not become purchasers of my works, viz." My own Life" and the "Military Bijou :" the former was published in three volumes at thirty shillings, and the latter in two volumes at fifteen shillings. I now require no profit on them; the liquidation of the debt incurred in the publication being my principal aim, and the desire of terminating my days in peace, my highest hope. Both works may be had of me at the reduced price of one pound, or, separately, the Life at fifteen shillings, and the Military Bijou at seven shillings, in boards All orders addressed to me, by post, will be gratefully received and instantly attended to. I remain, Mr. Editor, Ealing, Middlesex, June 1831. Your obedient humble servant, We trust that our insertion of the above may serve the interests of the writer.-ED. Badge of Merit. MR. EDITOR, Having just read the remarks of your intelligent Correspondent L. L. L. in the United Service Journal for January last, relative to a Badge of Merit, I beg to offer a few observations upon the subject for the consideration of those who have already taken so lively an interest in this most desirable object. What is everybody's business is no one's business, and unless His Majesty, or those to whom it may be referred, clearly see their way, and some simple plan is pointed out without putting the public to any expense in these times of great pressure of business and economy, there is reason to fear, that although there might not be any possible objection to the principle of the thing, it might never be accomplished, particularly if it was found to occupy too much of the valuable time of those in official situations-it therefore appears to me, that a Committee should be formed of Navy and Army officers of either of the Club-houses, to fix upon the design for a Badge, and draft of a Memorial, to be submitted to His Majesty. The only difference I would propose in the Badge is, that in place of the lion, a crown and anchor might be more appropriate for the Navy; and the King's arms, or usual military trophies for the Army. It sometimes happens that an officer having served in both Navy and Army has been engaged in some celebrated naval action, and distinguished himself in storming forts, upon satisfactory proof of which he should be allowed to wear both the naval and military badge. And such officers on half-pay in the Navy, Army, and East India service, as have the privilege of attending His Majesty's Levees, and are permitted to wear a badge for distinguished services, should be allowed, upon those or any other public occasions, to wear an appropriate blue coat (like the cavalry undress,) with a suitable gilt button, for it does not look well to see medals upon any sort of coat, and it will give those on half-pay, who invariably appear in plain clothes, an opportunity of wearing their badges on particular * These wounds having been received when I was a non-commissioned officer, I am unable to claim the bounty to which a commissioned officer would be entitled. occasions, many of whom will otherwise never put them on, from a notion, that it is not becoming to wear them with plain clothes, which I confess accords with my own ideas, as I have a medal for services performed about thirty years ago, but have not worn it ever since the peace, being on halfpay, and having no regimentals. Should His Majesty be graciously pleased to comply with the request of the United Services, and signify his pleasure in the Gazette, to whom each officer's statement of services should be forwarded, I would submit that it may be done in the following form, which is simple, and yet, no doubt, will contain all the information that may be deemed necessary to satisfy His Majesty of the merits of the applicant to the honour he solicits. The form of badge being approved by His Majesty, the next step would be for the Committee to ascertain from some skilful and eminent Die-sinker, (Wyon, for instance,) the expense of the badge in gold, silver, and copper, which information might be communicated to the Service generally through your valuable Journal, with the address of the person who proposed to provide them, when any officer who may be desirous of wearing the badge, and having His Majesty's authority to do so, could signify to the contractor by letter, post free, the description of badge he was desirous of having, whether gold, silver, or copper, and give a reference to some friend or agent in town, who would receive and pay for the same, provided the badge was produced by the contractor within a stated time-as there are instances of persons making a convenience of such contracts, and are years in performing what might be done in a few months. By this arrangement, all parties will see their way most clearly, and the chief trouble, and all the expense, will fall upon those who are willing to bear it. I am, Sir, 9th July, 1831. Your obedient servant, A SUBSCRIBER. Abstract of Officers who served in the Army on the Peninsula and at Waterloo. MR. EDITOR, I have lately seen some notice taken in the daily papers of the number of General and Field Officers remaining in the Army who were at the Battle of Waterloo, and subsequently one or two complaints of the junior ranks omitted in such notice. With this you will receive Abstracts of the officers who served in the Peninsula and at the Battle of Waterloo, which you may be disposed to print in the United Service Journal. It may perhaps be requisite that I should explain, that the officers of the late German Legion are included in each Abstract, and also that, many individuals being included in both Abstracts, the real number of officers who served in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and of those remaining in service, is less than the totals of both the statements. I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, 16th July 1831. T. B. |