13. 179. Subordination stage Subordinate they one by one.

59.

105. and the rose that blow hence the tints that glow.

96. 337. First at whose birth At whose first birth.

In the second edition, two or three further emendations were made by the poet himself.

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No. VI.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

GENERAL SIR GEORGE BECKWITH, K. C. B.

THIS

Hts highly distinguished Officer may be said to have been born to that profession of which he formed, even in these times of military renown, so bright an ornament. He was the second son of the late Major-general John Beckwith, who commanded the 20th regiment at the battle of Minden, and the brigade of grenadiers and highlanders in the seven years' war; in both which situations he received repeatedly the public thanks of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, commander-in-chief of the allied army.

Born in the year 1753, so early as the 20th of July, 1771, Sir George entered the army as an ensign in the 37th foot. On the 7th of July, 1775, he was appointed lieutenant; and, on the 1st of January, 1776, embarked with his regiment for North America. On the 29th of January, he was appointed adjutant to his regiment, having sailed with a number of troops under the command of Marquis Cornwallis; but in the March following, the transport in which he was, separated from the rest, and was driven into Plymouth. Lieutenant Beckwith sailed again in May, and joined the expedition off Cape Fear, in North Carolina, in June, when he found himself appointed adjutant to a battalion of grenadiers, with which he served in the unsuccessful operations against Charlestown, in that year.

In September, 1776, the corps from South Carolina joined General Sir William Howe, and the body of the army, at Staten Island, near New York. Lieutenant Beckwith served with the grenadiers of the army at the battle of Brooklyn,

upon Long Island, the 27th of September, 1776; in the action at the landing upon York Island; at that of the White Plains; and at the storming of the heights of Fort Knyphausen; soon after which he embarked for Rhode Island, with the corps detached there, which closed the campaign.

In February, 1777, Lieutenant Beckwith re-joined the body of the army in the Jerseys, where he remained until the opening of the campaign. On the 2d of July, having purchased the captain-lieutenancy, he embarked with the fleet for the Pensylvanian campaign. He served at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, remaining under canvas until January, 1778, when the army retired into winter quarters in Philadelphia. In May, 1778, he succeeded to an effective company, and much about the same time was appointed aid-de-camp to Lieutenant-general Knyphausen, who commanded the Hessian troops; in which capacity he served at the battle of Monmouth in Jersey, in the course of the march of the army to New York, at the commencement of the French war.

In December, 1779, the late General Sir Henry Clinton proceeded against Charlestown, South Carolina, leaving General Knyphausen in the command at New York. During that severe winter, all the bays, creeks, and rivers being frozen, the islands became united with the continent, and all the British posts were laid open to the enemy. General Washington, profiting from this circumstance, attacked Staten Island with about two thousand men; but after remaining nearly one day and a night in a central position with respect to the three British posts in that island, he found it necessary to retire. This attempt led to several excursions, in all of which the enemy suffered considerable loss. In September, 1781, Captain Beckwith was ordered by Sir Henry Clinton to accompany Brigadier-general Arnold to the attack upon New London, in which service Fort Griswold, a strong fieldwork, having 26 pieces of heavy cannon, was carried by assault by the 40th and 54th regiments, with the loss of ten officers, and 200 men killed and wounded. On the 30th of

November, 1781, Captain Beckwith obtained the brevet of major.

General Knyphausen having resigned the command of the Hessian troops in 1782, Major Beckwith continued for a few weeks with his successor, General Losberg, and was appointed, in June, 1782, aid-de-camp to the late Lord Dorchester, by whom he was entrusted with the arrangements which took place with General Washington, for the withdrawing of the British from that country in the autumn of 1783. He embarked with the rear-guard of the army upon the final evacuation of the American States in November. On various occasions, in the course of the war, Major Beckwith was entrusted with the command of small detachments, chiefly night

service.

In 1786, Major Beckwith accompanied Lord Dorchester to Canada, as aid-de-camp. His decision and sound judgment,.combined with the knowledge of America which he had obtained during his services in that country, pointed him out as qualified to be useful in a twofold capacity, diplomatic and military; and, from 1787 to the end of 1791, the period of the first arrival of a British minister in America, he was employed by Lord Dorchester in various confidential and most important missions in the United States. On the 18th of November, 1790, he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel; and in 1793 was appointed adjutant-general to the forces in North America. On the 25th of August, 1795, he received the brevet of colonel, and in 1796 he quitted America with Lord Dorchester.

The difficulties which he had encountered, and surmounted, in the negotiations to which we have alluded, tended to show the talents he possessed; and the British Government saw the advantage which it would derive from an extended em-. ployment of those talents. He was accordingly appointed colonel upon the staff in Bermuda, and nominated governor of that island, in April, 1797. He repaired to his duty there in the spring of 1798. On the 18th of June, 1798, he received the rank of major-general, and was placed as a gene

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