No. XV. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL THE HON. SIR WILLIAM STEWART G.C.B. K.T.S, COLONEL OF THE RIFLE BRIGADE; AND NEXT BROTHER OF THE EARL OF GALLOWAY. THIS HIS distinguished officer was one of the sixteen children, and the fourth, but second surviving son, of John, eighth and late Earl of Galloway, K.T., by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir James Dashwood, Bart. He was appointed to an ensigncy in the 42d foot, in 1786; to a lieutenancy in the 67th, in 1787; and captain in an independent company, in 1790. In that year he was employed on a diplomatic mission at Vienna, and in 1792 he was removed to a company in the 22d foot. In 1798 he commanded the grenadier company under Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey, in the West Indies; and in 1794 served in the Windward Islands under that officer. In the latter year he received the majority of the 31st foot; and returned from the West Indies in November. In 1795 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and assistant adjutant-general to the Earl of Moira's army in England, and subsequently adjutant-general to Major-General Doyle's army, employed on the coast of France. In 1796 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 67th, which corps he commanded in St. Domingo with the local rank of colonel. In 1797 he was appointed commandant at Mole St. Nicholas. In 1799 he attended the Prussian and Hessian reviews; and served with the allied armies under the Archduke Charles, Marshal Suwarrow, and General Korsacow, in Suabia, Swit zerland, and Italy. In 1800, Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart formed the rifle corps (now the 95th regiment,) under Colonel Manningham's orders; and was employed on the expedition to Ferrol and the coast of France; where he commanded a detachment of that corps. In 1801 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the rifle corps, and commanded the troops on board the British fleet in the Baltic, for which service he obtained the thanks of Parliament. He received the rank of colonel, April 2d, that year, after the action of Copenhagen. In 1804 he was appointed brigadier-general, and commanded the volunteer district of Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Peterborough. In 1806, as brigadier-general, he served on the staff in Sicily; and in 1807, in Egypt, under the late Lieutenant-general M'Kensie Fraser. In 1808 he commanded at Syracuse and Faro, district of Sicily; and received the rank of majorgeneral, the 25th of April. In 1809 he commanded the light brigade in the Walcheren expedition, and was appointed, August 31, colonel of the 3d battalion 95th foot. In 1810 he commanded at Cadiz, and was appointed to the command of the second division of the allied army in Portugal, in the summer of that year, and continued in it during the following. In 1812 he was placed on the staff of the Eastern district. He afterwards rejoined the allied army in Spain; and commanded the second division till the termination of hostilities. On the 4th of June, 1813, he received the rank of lieutenant-general. Sir William Stewart's services during these years will be best appreciated when it is remembered that he commanded the second division of the army in the actions of Busaco, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Bayonne, Orthes, and Toulouse; and that he received frequent wounds during seventeen foreign campaigns. Sir William Stewart's name was of course prominent in the parliamentary votes of thanks for the battles in the Peninsula at which he was present; and on the 24th of June, 1824, he had the proud honour of thrice receiving, in the House of Commons, the public thanks of the assembled representatives of his countrymen. The Speaker first addressed him individually, as follows: "Lieutenant-General Sir William Stewart: "I have to thank you, in the name of your country, for a series of signal and splendid services, and first for that which your gallantry achieved in the battle of Vittoria. "When the usurper of the Spanish crown put his fortunes to the last hazard, it was the brave second division of the allied army, directed by Lord Hill, and acting under your command, which began the operations of that memorable day, and by its irresistible valour mainly contributed to that victory which drove back the armies of France to their own frontier, and rescued the Peninsula from its invaders and oppressors. "By your achievements in that field of glory, you enrolled your name amongst the distinguished officers upon whom the House bestowed the honour of its thanks: and I do therefore now, in the name and by the command of the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in parliament assembled, deliver to you their unanimous thanks for your great exertions in the splendid and decisive victory obtained on the 21st of June, 1813, near Vittoria, when the French army was completely defeated and routed, with the total loss of all its artillery, stores, and baggage.” To this address Lieutenant-General Sir William Stewart replied: "MR. SPEAKER, Unaccustomed as I am to express my sentiments before so important an assembly of my countrymen, or to receive praise for what few services I may have rendered in my profession in so liberal and so generous a manner, as you have now conveyed the sense of this House, I am at a loss to make any adequate return. I feel, however, deeply on this proud occasion. I should be ungrateful, if I were to take to myself much of the merit that you have been pleased to ascribe to my services in the particular action in question; for to those who gallantly supported me, is the merit due. I cannot advert to that battle, and not submit to the memory, and, if I may use the term, the affection of this House, the name of one gallant officer upon whom the brunt of the contest particularly fell: I mean, Sir, the late Colonel Cadogan. The fall of that officer was glorious, as his last moments were marked by the success of a favourite regiment, upon the magnanimity of whose conduct he kept his eyes fixed during the expiring hour of a well finished life. I should be ungrateful for the services which were rendered me by Colonel Cameron and by General Byng, on that and on all occasions, if I were not thus publicly to advert to them in my present place; for to their exertions and support am I indebted for the success of those measures, of which I am reaping the rich reward from my country, at your too generous hand, this day. Permit me, Sir, to repeat my gratitude for the too kind and flattering manner in which you have communicated to me the sense of this House this day. I should be truly ungrateful if I did not feel the honour in its due force, and I should be doubly so towards you, Sir, if I were insensible to the peculiarly distinguished mode in which you have now conferred that honour upon me." Subsequently, Lieutenant-General Sir William Stewart and Major-General Pringle were addressed as follows by the Speaker : "It is my duty now to deliver to you conjointly the thanks of this House for your gallant and meritorious services in those memorable actions, which completed the liberation of Spain. "The inhabitants of the Pyrenees, who witnessed those mighty conflicts, will long point out to their admiring countrymen, those various heights and passes where the valour of British troops under your command at some times repelled the attacks of superior force, where at other times its steadiness effected a retreat which only led to more certain victory, and where finally it returned with an overwhelming pursuit upon the broken ranks of the enemy: they will also point out those spots where the gallant officers, whom we now see amongst us, fought through long and toilsome days, where a Stewart made his stand, and where the noblest blood of Scotland was shed in its defences. The historians of those campaigns will also record that your exploits were honoured with the constant and unqualified praise of that illustrious commander whose name stands highest upon our roll of military renown. "For your important share in those operations, this House thought fit to bestow upon you the acknowledgments of its gratitude; and I do now, accordingly, in the name, and by the command of the Commons of the United Kingdom, deliver to you their unanimous thanks for the valour, steadiness and exertion so successfully displayed by you in repelling the repeated attacks made on the position of the allies, by the whole French force under Marshal Soult, between the 25th of July and the 1st of August last; and for your undaunted perseverance, by which the allied army was finally established on the frontier of France." Lieutenant-General Stewart replied: "MR. SPEAKER, As I have before had the honour of stating, I must feel, Sir, that to others is due from me, while receiving the highest honour that can be bestowed on a British soldier, the report of their admirable conduct during the actions in question. Supported as I was by my gallant friend on my right, by such corps as the 92nd Highlanders, or the 50th British infantry, I should have been without excuse, if a less firm stand had been made on the positions of the Pyrenees than was made. I should have done injustice to the design of our great captain, and to the instructions of my own immediate commander, if I had less exerted myself than I did on those occasions. That our endeavours have met with the approbation of our country, and have received from you, Sir, so generous an expression of that approbation, is the proudest event of our lives; it ought, and will animate |