SINGULAR WOUND. In the memorable battle of Leipzic, a soldier received a musket shot in the head, which penetrated within the skull and could not be discovered; the soldier complained of long and severe head aches and occasionally experienced epileptic fits. Eleven months after the infliction of the wound, he died, and on examination, the bullet was found completely embedded in the substance of the brain. Hufeland's Journal of Medicine. EPITAPH On Benjamin Tremlyn, an old Soldier, buried in Bremhill Church A poor old soldier shall not be unknown, Here, in his native village, drooping age His look with instant animation glow'd, Hope, Christian, that his spirit lives with God; TIPPOO SULTAN, Killed by a Private of the Light Company of the 12th Regiment of Foot, at the Assault and Capture of Seringapatam, 1799. Extract of a Letter from the Camp at Seringapatam. I send you the following particulars, relative to the conduct of the late Tippoo Sultan, on the 4th of May, collected chiefly from the Killadar of Seringapatam, and from accounts given by some of his own servants. The Sultan went out early in the morning, as was his custom daily, to one of the cavaliers of the outer rampart of the north face, whence he could observe what was doing on both sides. He remained there till about noon, when he took his usual repast under a pandal. It would appear, that he had at that time no suspicion of the assault being so near; for when it was reported to him that our parallels and approaches were unusually crowded with Europeans, he did not express the least apprehension, nor take any other precaution but desiring the messenger to return to the west face, with orders to Meer Gofhar, and the troops on duty near the breach, to keep a strict guard. A few minutes afterwards he was informed, that Meer Gofhar had been killed by a cannon shot near the breach; which intelligence appeared to agitate him greatly. He immediately ordered the troops that were near him under arms, and his personal servants, to load the carbines which they carried for his own use, and hasten along the ramparts towards the breach, accompanied by a select guard and several of his chiefs, till he met a number of his troops flying before the van of the Europeans, who he perceived had already mounted and gained the ramparts. Here he exerted himself to rally the fugitives, and uniting them with his own guard, encouraged them by his voice and example to make a determined stand. He repeatedly fired on our troops himself; and one of his servants asserts, that he saw him bring down several Europeans near the top of the breach. Notwithstanding these exertions, when the front of the European flank companies of the left attack approached the spot where the Sultan stood, he found himself almost entirely deserted, and was forced to retire to the traverses of the north ramparts. These he defended, one after another, with the bravest of his men and officers; and, assisted by the fire of his people on the inner wall, he several times obliged the front of our troops, who were pushing on with their usual ardour, to make a stand. The loss here would have been much greater on our part, had not the light infantry, and part of the battalion companies of the 12th regiment, crossing the inner ditch, and mounting the ramparts, driven the enemy from them, and taken in reverse those who, with the Sultan, were defending the traverses of the outer ramparts. While any of his troops remained with him, the Sultan continued to dispute the ground, until he approached the passage across the ditch to the gate of the inner fort. Here he complained of pain and weakness in one of his legs, in which he had received a bad wound when very young; and, ordering his horse to be brought, he mounted: but seeing the Europeans still advancing on both the ramparts, he made for the gate, followed by his palankeen, and a number of officers, troops, and servants. It was then, probably, his intention either to have entered and shut the gate, in order to attack the small body of our troops which had got into the inner fort, and, if successful in driving them out, to have attempted to maintain it against us, or to endeavour to make his way to the palace, and there make his last stand; but as he was crossing to the gate, by the communication from the outer rampart, he received a musket ball in the right side, nearly as high as the breast: he however still pressed on, till he was stopped, about half way through the arch of the gateway, by the fire of the 12th light infantry from within, when he received a second ball close to the other. The horse he rode on, being also wounded, sunk under him; and his turban fell to the ground. Many of his people fell at the same time, on every side, by musketry, both from within and without the gate. The fallen Sultan was immediately raised by some of his adherents, and placed upon his palankeen, under the arch, and on one side of the gateway, where he lay, or sat, for some minutes, faint and exhausted, till some Europeans entered the gateway. A servant, who has survived, relates, that one of the soldiers seized the Sultan's sword-belt, which was very rich, and attempted to pull it off: when the Sultan, who still held his sword in his hand, made a cut at the soldier with all his remaining strength, and wounded him about the knee; on which he put his piece to his shoulder, and shot the Sultan through the temple, when he instantly expired. Not less than three hundred men were killed, and numbers wounded, under the arch of this gateway, which soon became impassable, excepting over the bodies of the dead and dying. About dusk, General Baird, in consequence of information he had received at the palace, came with lights to the gate, accompanied by the late Killadar of the fort, and others, to search for the body of the Sultan; and, after much labour, it was found, and brought from under a heap of slain, to the inside of the gate. The countenance was no way distorted, but had an expression of stern composure. His turban, jacket, and sword-belt were gone; but the body was recognized by some of his people who were there to be the Sultan's; and an officer who was present, with the leave of General Baird, took from off his right arm the talisman, which contained. sewed up in pieces of fine flowered silk, an amulet of a brittle metallic substance of the colour of silver, and some manuscripts in magic Arabic, and Persian characters; the purport of which, had there been any doubt, would have sufficiently ascertained the iden tity of the Sultan's body. It was placed on his own palankeen, and, by General Baird's orders, conveyed to the court of the palace, where it remained during the night, furnishing a remarkable instance, to those who are giving to reflection, of the uncertainty of human affairs. He who had left his palace in the morning, a powerful, imperious Sultan, full of vast ambitious projects, was brought back a lump of clay; his kingdom overthrown, his capital taken, and his palace occupied by the very man (Major-General Baird) who, about fifteen years before, had been, with other victims. of his cruelty and tyranny, released from near four years of rigid confinement in irons, scarce three hundred yards from the spot where the corpse of the Sultan now lay. Thus ended the life and power of Tippoo Sultan. It will require an able pen to delineate a character apparently so inconsistent; but he who attempts it must not decide hastily. LOYALTY--EARL OF DERBY. DURING the civil wars, General Ireton proposed to the Earl of Derby the re-possession of his estates in England, on condition of his surrendering the Isle of Man to the Parliament. The Earl treated this proposal with extreme contempt, and made the following reply: "I received your letter, and with scorn I return you this answer. I cannot but wonder whence you should gather any hopes from me that I should, like you, prove treacherous to my sovereign; since you cannot be insensible to my former actings in his late Majesty's service, from which principle of loyalty I have in no way departed. "I scorn your proffers-I disdain your favors-I abhor your treasons and am so far from delivering this Island to your advantage, that I will keep it, to the utmost of my power, to your destruction. "Take this final answer, and forbear any further solicitations; for if you trouble me with any more messages upon this occasion, I will burn the paper, and hang the bearer. "This is the immutable resolution, and shall be the undoubted practice of him who accounts it his chiefest glory to be His Majesty's most loyal and obedient servant, DERBY." |