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INTO TtfB CAX3SE O i? m^ -«»^ s. — jjY 1118 BBOTIIEK, - M4J0R A. II. II. MERCER, ^"''*' *^ LATE 89th EEOIMEHT. LEADER AND TORONTO : PATRIOT STEAM-PRESS, 63 KING ST. BAST. 1865. I: V I ^**1f' I ^ \^ " And it came to pass in the mornin)^, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriaii. And bo wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the fore-front of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die. " And it came to pass that when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he linew that valiant men were. " And the men of the city went out, and fought with f oab ; and there fell some of the people of the servants of David, and Uriah, the Hittite, died also."— 3 Sam.xl 14-17. I deem it my duty to appeal to the public, as the only remaining means of obtaining redress for the sacrifice of a dear brother, a brave soldier and an honourable and high minded man. And I shall aim* to perform that duty with the frankness of a soldier and the exact- ness of a man of honour. The fate of the late Captain Henry Mercer of the Royal Artillery -was interwoven with my own fortunes ; and the means of a clear comprehension of his case are only to be found in a recital of some prelim- inary facts, which without this explanation might seem misplaced, connected with myself. He was killed — I here use no stronger words — at ihe battle of Eangiriri, New Zealand, in November, 1863, on a forlorn hope on which he had been irregularly sent — this being tke duty of infantry — and in which success was impossible and death certain. The facts I am about to relate, in as few words as possible, illus- trate two points. First, that the whispered suspicion against the honour of a British oflScer, of which he may have been long in hearing, if it happens to involve a charge similar to what rumor has given free circulation concern- ing a superior — say the commander-in-chief — has little chance of being cleared up by an investigation. Secondly, the sin incurred by one brother of showing a bold front to the Horse Guards may be visited upon another to his / '/ ruin. The necessity of miiintainintc strict discipline in tlio army, and the adviintai;o sometiines taken of that necessity to pr-rpctrato act.s of unworthy revenge, render it very difficult tor an officer, as long as he remains in tlie service, to obtain redress of many species of wrong to which he may he subjected. Tf the reader wil' follow me through a detail, which I shall endeavor to make as concise as possible consis- tent with a full statement of the facts, he will then be able to judge whether I have succeeded in establishing these [)ointK. I landed in the Crimea on the 15th December, 1S54, and two days after I was in camp before the heights of Sebas- topol. Work in the trenches was at once commenced ; and 1 had to attend with the men on this arduous duty, every alternate day or night for twelve hours. The fatigue added to the deficiDnt fare — my rations consisting of biscuits, Turkish figs and rum and water — naturally told upon my health. It is true we had plenty of pork but no means of cooking it ; no wood being supplied, at this time, and no fuel except the almost worthless roots of shrubs being attainable even by personal exertion under fire of the enemy. After 1 had been subjected to this regimen eleven days, the Adjutant came to me, on the 28th, and asked me if I could go to Balaklava to fetch cooking stoves, hospital stores and medicines, most of the oflicers being sick and the rest being required for duty in the trenches. Though I was myself suflering from the prevailing com- ])laint, and had been ordered to go on the sick list, but three days before, I at once replied that I would go. I thought the journey would afford me an opportunity to bring i;p stores for myself of which, in my enfeebled condition, 1 was so much in need ; and that if there was danger in the exertion, anything would be preferable to dying by inches from want of suitable nourishment. 1 started with a .party of men next morning, reaching 4 5 I^ilaklava about noon ; and at onco procccdotl to fulfil my mission, and to obtain supplies for myself. Owing to a misapprehension, the sergeant mistook the wharf at which ho was to rejoin mo and went to another ; consequently we failed to meet at the appointed time; and I being pressed with the urgency of my complaint found it necessary to go on board the Magdalina, wliere I took a few glasses of j)ort wine. From the deck of the steamer I could see the wharf to which I expected the sergeant to come ; but as the party did not arrive there my anxiety caused mo to go ashore, about half-past three o'clock, when I proceeded in search of them. At ten minutes to four I mot Captain Conycrs with another officer in tho street ; when, to my surprise, he in- formed mo that having fallen in with my party ho had sent them ofl: to tho camp. Tliero was only one mtfans by which I could possibly overtake them, and that I resolved to try. To come up with them by following the beaten track, which mado a dUour lound tho head of tho harbor, was out of the question ; but if I could go straight across tho plain, where the Turkish burial ground was situated, I should probably save a mile or more ; a great consideration in my feeblo condition. If I succeeded, I should overtake the party before they reached the Kadakoi church, for that was the end of tho dUour mado by the beaten path. A stranger to tho place, never having been in Balaklava before, except when we landed, I was unacquainted with tho nature of the ground across the plain, but it proved to be marshy ; and walking in the deep soft mud was extremely fatiguing. Feeling tho need of support, in my weak state, I took a littlo spirits which I had in my flask, when I proceeded on my journey till I sank exhausted and overcome, not very far from tlie point at which I had hoped to be able to overtake my party. I was found by some artillerymen that night, when I was awoke, and proceeding with them to their tent, only two or three « 1 hundred yards from the point of the road which it hadheen my object to attain, I remained with them till morning. TheSergoantof A.rtillery remarked to me, in the morning, that it was lucky that tlicy had fallen in with me, or that I should have been taken by the French and English cavalry, who were out on a reconnoisancc, I gave him my name and rank, and those of my late father, with his regiment. I felt keenly the difficulty of my position; my commis- sion being at stake. It occurred to mo that it would bo beat fof me to join the cavalry, who were between the tent at which I was and the Russians, and explain how I had missed my party on the i>revious day. In pursuance of a resolution rapidly formed, I did join the French reserve cavalry, about ten o'clock a.m. A skirmish was, at the time, going on between the advance of the French and English cavalry and the Eussians. I there met an English officer of the staff, whose name I never learned, as he was on the point of starting to join the advance. He asked rae what had brought mo there. I explained how I had missed my way on the previous night ; adding that if he would give me a horse I would accompany him. He replied that I must remain with the French ; at the same time makirg some remarks to the Captain of the French cavalry which I did not comprehend. I remained accordingly, and at three o'clock r. m. the advance party returned from the reconnoisancc ; when I met Captain (now Colonel) Baynes, an old acquaintance, to whom I explained the reason of my presence there. He very kindly offered me the shelter of his tent for the night ; and I gladly accepted the offer. Had every one with whom I had to deal been actuated by the same manly and honorable feelings that he was, this incident would have led to no further result. I reached my camp next day, the Slst December, when I was immediately placed under arrest, and ordered to explain the cause ot the delay in my return. I replied in 4 I tliat I i the tcnns I Imil before used in oxplniniug to C\>t. Bayncs and the officer of the staff whom I met when I ',. aa witli the Frencli cavah'y. Major (now Col.) Egcrton took the matter up warmly, professing to desire to serve mc, and at the same time strongly pressing me to say where I had spent the night of the 21)th ; but as I was to be tried by a Court Martial, I refused to say more than that I spent it on the ground, and that I was not called upon to condemn myself* This was strictly true ; for when the artilleryman found me I was fast asleep, and I spent the rest of the night in his tent. The truth is I had miscalculated my strength, and did not desire to give any one an opportunity of bringing up the artilleryman as a witness. I was kept under arrest, and though I was entitled by the rules of the service to have delivered to me, two days before the trial a copy of ihe charges on which I was to bo tried, I was never permitted to know what they were till they were read, at the court martial, by the President, at Lord llaglan's head-quarters. The omission was equally unfair and irregular. The charges were inebriety and a breach of duty. The first charge not being true at the time I met the two officers in the streets of Balaklava, and tho artilleryman ' / whom I was found not being present, I was acquitted. Still the fact of delayed absence was constructively a breach of duty ; but the court found that it occurred under extenuating circumstances, and Lord Baglan expressed the opinion, which was unquestionably correct, •' that Lieutenant Mercer " would not have been guilty of this neglect of duty, if he ' had been in the enjoyment of his usiml health." He whom it most nearly concerns is often among the last to hear of a rumour to his disadvantage ; and a considerable time elapsed before it reached my ears that some one, who had not the manliness and the honesty to accuse me before a Court Martial, founded on the above circumstance the 4 8 protunco that, on tlio morning on wliicK I joined tlio French cavalry, 1 ilosircd to go over to tiio Russians ; a cahuuny which, I have abundant reasons for bolioving, has proved disastrous to mo and fatal to a near and dear relative. I never coukl obtain the justice of an investigation ; and I cau now only api)oal to the circumstances to parry this dastardly stab, made in the dark by nn unknown hand, at jny honour. Soon aficr the Goiu't Martial, I was made a supernumary captain, and could have returned to the depot in England ; but I volunteered to remain. Captain Philipps returned instead of mc. If, on the morning of the 80th December previous I had desired to join the Russians to avoid danger, is it likely that I shouhl have allowed '^^his opportunity which anc»tlier might have eagerly embraced, to have passed ? It must have been quite evident to every military man, that I had no business with the reserve French cavalry ; and that I could only have gone there to cover up some- thing which required to be concealed. But I telt that I was being tried by a body ot honornble men ; and while I natti- rally made every effort to obtain an acquittal on the charges brought again^Bt me, I made a point of indicating that I had no fear of being arraigned on any other, by using, in my defence, the words : " The next morning [December 30], I saw troops not far from me, which I joined. They proved to be French and English cavalry." I said this to show that I had no fear of facing a charge of desiring to go over to the Russians, and to give the Court Martial an opportu- nity of raising that point if they desired. The value of a thing depends upon the estimate one puts upon it ; and as I would rather have lost my iife than my commission, or had my honour doubted, I used every means open to me to secure an acquittal ; but whUe I did this, I went out of the way to make it known that I was not afraid of being tried on a charge similar to that which scandal had insinnated » Froncli iluiuny proved livo. 1 and I •ry IhiH und, at made a e depot ?hilippB he 30th siana to «vod *hiB ibraced, try man, cavalry ; ip 8ome- lat I was I natu- ) charges lat I had g, in my )er 30], I ly proved to show ) go over opportu- alue of a ;; and as tissioD, or 1 to me to lut of the eing tried nsinnated Against Lord DnnkoUin and the Duko of Cambridge, the first of whom had been taken prisoner by the Kut^sians, and the latter was reported to have desired to have boon taken, at the battle of Inkermann. The time was approaching when I was to suiiur an net ot gross injustice, at the hands of the Duke of Cambridge, ns commander-in-chief. This will require a few words of pre- liminary explanation. On the night of the 13tli April, 1855,1 received a severe contusion in the head,whilc on duty with a working party in the trenches. From this injury I sustained a complete loss of health. After my rcturnf roin the Crimea, in July, 1855, 1 obtained leavo of absence, at di f- ferent times, amounting perhags altogether to a year, wlion the Horse Guards informed mo that my leave could not bo further extended, and that I must either retire on temporary half pay or sell my commission. In the meantime — June, 1856 — I had been gazetted Brevet Major, by Lord Harding, with a number of other officers, for distinguished service in the field, while in the Crimea. After receiving the above notification, in November, 1856, I applied to the IIor.?o Guards to have my rank as Brevet Major substantiated. I was informed, in reply, substantially, by General York, tliat the Duke of Cambridge did not consider my case one do- serving favorable consideration. I have mislaid the letter; but I am confident that I do not mistake its import. Dis- pleased with this reply I, with impolitic precipitation perhaps, sent in my papers with a view <^o selling my commission. On the 9th December, 1856, before the sale of my com- mission was effected, I received a letter from the Horse Guards saying that I was desired to tell the Duke of Cam. bridge personally whether I wished to leave the army. It is difiicult to understand the object of this notification, as it was well known at the Horse Guards that a medical board which had sat on me — ^the third or fourth that had done so i •3 10 — liad reported that I ..us scarcely able to speak. It could therefore have been no secret that I was wholly unable to hold any such persoLal interview. 1 sold my commission and retired from the army, in January, 1857. In the spring of that year, accident took me to Bath, and I now heard for the £rst time a faint whisper, that a doubt had, by some concealed foe, been oast upon rny honour, while I was in the Crimea. I met the late Col. Philipps of the 89th regiment, and he, in a half joking half oerious way, said there was an imprsssion that when I joined the French Reserve Cavalry, on the morn- ing of the 30tii December, 1854, 1 had intended to go over to the Russians ; aud that if the facts had been known he thought that I should not have been tried. I scarcely knew how to take his statement, at the time ; for if sucn a suspi- cion had existed I ought to have had, in a Court Martial, the means of proving my innocence, or failing this to have suffered the consequence. But any doubt I had as to the seriousness of the charge was by degrees, and in various ways, removed. Among other things, I received a letter from Major (now Colonel) Egerton, of the 89th regiment, in which instead of saying, as he had been required, what was thought of the affair, ho said that as I had been honorably acquitted by the court martial, I ought to think no more about it. But surely wlien I Ueard that people were dis- cussing the doubt that had, by whom I was not pe *nitted to know, been thrown upon my honour as a iJritish soldier, I was bound to give the circumstance the first consideration in my thougiits. The next incident that tended to give the charge a character of seriousness in my mind was this : the wife of my elder brother, a daughter of Sir Charles Niglitiugale, Baronet, who had resided for some time at Tenby, in Wales, told her husband, that an oflScer of the 89 th regiment had informed her that I had acted the part of a coward in the Crimea. Tliat officer, I con- 11 e t could able to •my, in ccident a faint been I met II a half on that e morn- go over lown he ly knew a suspi' rtial, the to have [IS to the various tter from nent, in v^hat was onorably no more vera dis- e. ^nitted soldier, I ideratiou give tho this : the Charles time at officer of ad acted er, I con- f jectured, was Colonel Philipps; because his fiimily had also resided at Tenby ; and it seemed probable that what ho had stated to me in a sort of banter, he might have said to others in seriousness. Still this was a mere conjecture ; and I was i.'ot authorized to conclude positively that it was lie who had circulated the story. However this may be, my brother, in his communications with the Horse Guards, with no ill intentions towards me, informed them what his wife had stated about my conduct in the Crimea ; but the opportunity thus given them for investigating the matter waij most unfairly not availed of by them. I had and still have no doubt that, i^ Lord Harding had lived, my rank would have been substantiated, and I was determined if possible to find out the real cause why his successor had refused to do mo that justice. Ac- cordingly, in June, 1858, 1 waited on the Duke of Cambi'idge with a view of learning from himself the reasons he had to give. When I was recounting that it was true I had been absent two nights from my regiment in tho Crimea, and been tried by a Court Martial, but that this could not affect my right to a rank subsequently conferred for distinguished services in the field, the duke, with flushed countenance and great embarrassment, replied, in a half imploring tone, *' I beg. Sir, that you will not come to me." I, therefore, bowed, and immediately retired. Determined to leave no means untried, I proceeded at once to General Sir C. York, the Duke's Secretary, and told him of the visit just made, and I desired to know from him why my rank had not been substantiated. He replied, with a laugh that seemed to betray his knowledge of the reception I must have met : " Well, and what did the Duke say to you ?" I said His Poyal Highness appeared as if he did not wish to see me." " Well, sir," rejoined General York, " you know you were tried by Court Martial, in the Crimea." " The sum and substance of the affair of Court Martial was," I said, " that 5,1 12 I over estimated ray strength." " Oh yes," said General York, " you shuffled through it." These words released me from the necessity of being very choice in the com which I gave in exchange, and I at once said : " I beh'eve, sir, you swindled me out of mv commission." General York then walked hastily towards the door, where I was, much ex- cited, and asked me how I dared to address a general officer in sueli terms. His motion and voice conveyed the idea that he intended to strike me. I, looking him directly in the face and snapping ray fingers, replied, " I do not caro iliat for a genwal officer." In an instant General York's mena- cing tone was exchanged for one of great blandness; and he said that tho precipitate manner in which I had sent in ray papers put it out of the power of the Horse Guards to do anything for me ; and he a8^:ed mo what I myself conceived could be done. I replied that it was in their power to give me a barrack mastership ; and that all that was wanting was that the Duke of Cambridge should recommend me for one. " You cannot," he said, " expect that he should do that ;" to Avhich I replied that I did expect he would do me justice. I believed that I had, in the rumour that I desired to go over to the Russians when I joined the French reserve cavalry, got at the secret of the treatment which I had received at the hands of the Duke of Cambridge; that he had listened to a slander which had been invented to my disadvantage, and instead of having it investigated, had acted as if it were true. Still I did not wish to assume this to be the case, without some other proot than that derived from inferences which were fairly enough deducible from the treatment I had received, interpreted in the light of these rumours. As no hint of the kind had come to mo from the Horse Guards, I did not think it would be the wisest course for me to pursue to state to them, over my own signature, the rumours that had reached me ; because ^ * i 13 General ased me which I sir, you rk then luch ex- il officer the idea ectly in not caro s mena- and he It in my ds to do jnceived r to give wanting lend me 3 should trould do •ed to go . reserve :h I had ?e; that invented stigated, > assume lan that educible the light le to me I be the )ver my because 4 after all it was just possible that what Colonel Philipps had said to me was only so much " chaff," and that the state- ment of my brother's wife was might have had a like If I could, without seeming to fall under the origin. censure of the French maxim Que s^exciise s'accusc^ bring the matter so under the cognizance of the Duke of Cain- bridge that he would bo obliged to notice it, my object would be served. I therefore had recourse to an expedient which, under most circumstances, would have been improper. I procured a lady to call the attention of the Dnke to the matter by means of an anonymous letter ; but it contained nothing to which I would not have willingly put my name ; to which I did not intend to put my name if this expedient failed, and to which I did afterwards in a letter to the Duke append my own proper signature. Tliis much I say by way of explaining an expedient which, under many circum- stances, would be highly improper; but which, as I was myself the one chiefly accused, was not, in this case, I submit, a procedure deserving of censure. The purport ot the letter was that a young officer in the Crimea had had his reputation stabbed in the dark : the scandal was that he was supposed to have desired to go over to the Russians. !Now His Royal Highness would know whether such a case had come before him ; and it so he ought not to jump at a hostile conclusion without enquiry, as die writer could assure him that his own honor had been doubted at the battle of Inkerman. This statement legarding the Duke could do him no injnry as it was not made to any third person, and it had before been a matter of scandal. This letter v/as not more successful than the statement in that of my brother had previously been. No notice was taken of the slander which had been circulated to my disadvantage, and no investigation was ordered. But another and very different result came under my notice. The Duke of Cambridge received this letter in May, 1860, 14 and my name was dropped out of the Army List for the next two months. To what cause was this owing, if not to the treating of this scandal as if it were true : visiting me with punishment and neglecting to enter upon an enquiry that could alone have elicited the truth I But why did not the Duke send for me personally and ask an explanation ? Can it be that he felt that the charge of an ofiicer desiring to go over to the Russians was a delicate one lor him to deal with? Can it be that he fancied the public, if they should come to know it, might say it ill became him to seem to volunteer to throw stones at any one, in any way under such a suspicion ? Crooked arc many of the ways of military life ; and it is not always possible to fathom the motives which lead a superior oihcer to acts that wear the outward appearance of caprice. A little before the time to which I am now referring — sometime in the spring of 1860 — the Duke of Cambridge went to Shorncliflf, where he complimented my brother, Captain Henry Mercer, of the Royal Artillery, in the most flattering terms, on the excellence of his battery ; and Adjutant-General Bingham added that, in consequence of this state of efficiency, it was to remain at that place. But, in spite of this assurance, and without any plea of urgency to cause a change ot determination, my brother was suddenly ordered to Woolwich, about the time that my name was struck from the Army List. "Were the sins of my temerity in dealing with the Horse Guards to be visited upon him 2 The answer to this question, if the inferences I draw from the facts be correct, is one of the most melan- choly stories in the history of the British army ; and it shows a degree of culpability in high places which a high spirited, justice-loving people, like the English, are not likely long to tolerate after it has once been exposed. It is not pretended that there was any hardship in this change, considered in itself ; but there was something strange in the 15 the next ot to the me with uiry that r and ask rge of an icate one public, ame him in any and it is h lead a larance of am now Dnke of lented my •tillery, in J battery ; Qseqaence bat place, ly plea of y brother e that my sins of my be visited inferences ost melan- Y\ and it Ich a high not likely It is not is change, nge in the sudden departure, without any adequate cause, from an assurance which had been just given. Under the circum- stances, it was but natural that my brother should ask the reason of the change ; but so little courteous was the reply that it simply stated in a peremptory tone, that, us ho had entered the army to obey orders, he must not expect his question answered. If a sudden necessity for sending men on some distant foreign or colonial duty had arisen, no officer would hate thought of enquiring why ho was sent ; but my brother did not get orders to leave Woolwich till October, six months after his removal from Shorncliff; and he did not embark for New Zealand till November. Conceiving that this charge indicated a determination on ihh rrt of the Ilorao Guards to give my brother annoyance on my account, I thought it best for his sake, not to push my own matter to the extremity of appealing to the public. Before reaching New Zealand, a mutiny, real or simu- lated, broke out in my brother's battery ; in the coui'so of which some of the men threatened to throw him overboard. This occurred at four o'clock in the afternoon of tlie 29th December, 1860. My brother put it down in a manner which, on his arrival in New Zealand, elicited great praise from General Cameron, on the energy and decision shown in what ho was pleased to call a critical moment. I have always had my doubts as to the genuineness of this mutiny; but if this circumstance stood alone I confess there would be no sufficient grounds for them to rest upon. But if, as I have given one incident to show, it was intended to connect liis fortunes with mine — to put to all sorts of irregular tests the courage cf one brother because an accusation had been whispered against another brother that he had desired to go over to the Russians, in the Crimea — grounds for this suspicion will not be found wanting. And when I shall prove that my brother was put to a still more irreguUr test, by which I hold that his life was wantonly sacrifi: ?'^, 17 I 16 tlio jnobability of tho supposition that the mutiny was pliuiiied by some one in authority for the purpose I have mentioned, becomes stronger ; and if it does not rise to tho lieight of absolute certainty, this may be on account of the difficult character of the evidence with which I have to deal* My brother, Captain Henry Mercer, was engaged in the war in Kew Zealand, and was mentioned with enconiums in General Cameron's dispatches tor the part he had taken, in ISCl. And now occurred a deviation jD[om established practice to his disadvantage. His promotion to the rank of Brevet Major should have followed. But this not being done, he petitioned the Duke of Cambridge, on the subject, without favourable result. This was the second time that I liad a reason to think there was a determination to inflict some sort of punishment on him for what had passed between ni3 and the Horse Guards, in 1860; and that surmise was much strengthened by wliat subsequently occurred. Having exhausted all other means without avail to cause the suspicious against myself to be enquired into, and being convinced that ray brother was still being made to suffer on my account,!, on the 29th August, L862, wrote to the Duke of Cambridge accepting the responsibility of the letter of May, 1S60, addressed to him, and of the origin of which he had hitherto no better light than what was afforded by conjec- ture to guide him. I told the Duke frankly I had heard his honour doubted in tho Crimea, and I offered, if he should desire it, to name my authority. Of this letter I received an acknowledgement, in September, 1862, Irom General Foster^ who had now become tho Duke's Secretary. All that it in- formed me was that the letter had been received and laid before His Eoyal Highness. But the Duke never troubled me for my authority that his honour had been thus doubted. It will be fair to take this neglect as a mea'.ure of the solici- tude which His Royal Highness felt for his honour when it had been called in question, and I may say, withoutj^incur- 11 iny was 1 I have io to tlie It of the ) to deal* d in the iconiums id taken, tablished D rank of lot being ) subject, ne that I to inflict [between mise was I. . to cause ind being ) suffer on e Duke of r of May, ;h he had by conjee- heard his lie should iceived an ral Foster, that it in- L and laid r troubled \ doubted, the solici- ir when it outiincur- ring the charge of egotism, that it is very different from the way in which I was desirous to have alike rumour affecting me treated. There was another essential difference between us. Instead of seeking like His Eoyal Highness an early oppor- tunity of going home from the Crimea, I voluntarily remain- ed eight months after I could have gone, taking my share of work and danger in the trenches, on the open field and in the attack on the Redan, on the 18ti\ June, 1855. I must now return to my late unfortunate brother, Capt. Henry Mercer, ais exploits and his sad fate. " In conse- quence," says Colonel Warre in his report of the engagement with the natives, in the second New Zealand war In 1853, at Katikara, " of the admirable manner in which Capt. Mercer's guns were served and the precision of their fire, the infantry were enabled to gain the position they were ordered to take with slight loss." And again: "the enemy was completely surprised and was so confused by the admirable manner in which Captain Mercer's guns were served that the fire from the rifle pits was very wild, and it was only at the assault when the enemy was speedily oyerpowered by numbers, that the severe casualties occurred." General Cameron in a despatch giving an account of the same action, says, " I have also made favorable mention in my despatch to the Secretary of State for war of the services of C»ptain Mercer, whose excellent practice with his Armstrong guns contri- buted materially to the successes of the day." No promotion followed this second favourable mention. We now come to the closing scene in the life of my brother, the gallant Capt. Henry Mercer, R.A., at the battle of Kangiriri. To guard against the possible imputation of misquotation or misrepresentation, I shall allow General Cameron to tell his own story. In his despatch to the Sec- retary of State for War, dated Camp Rangiriri, November 26, 1863, he says: <' After tho eracuatioa of tbiir position at U«ra-M«re, reported in mj la«t »r 18 dcspalcb, tho rebel natives collected twelve miles higher upthoWaikato lliver at Rangiriri, where, provjoug to Ike oulbrptvk of boatilities, they haa constructed a very strong lino of entrenchment ncross the narrow isthmu!? which divides tho Waikato from Lake Waiknre, thn3 completely barring t'le the road up tho right bank of the river. Having reconnoitred this position in the Pioneer, on tho 18th, Inst, 1 determined on landing a force in the rant of tho lino of entrenchment for the purpose of cutting oil' the retreat jfthe enemy simultaneously with attacking him In tho front. With this view tho head-qnartera 40th Regiment, 300 strong, under Ool. Laslie, C. B. were em- barked on the 20th Inst, on board tho colonial steamers Pioneer and Avon, which, with fonr gunboats, proceeded up the Waikato, under command of Commodore Sir W. Wiseman, whilst witli the force named In the margin* I moved towards Rangiriri, l)y the right Imnk of the river. Hoth arrived near Rangiriri at tho same time, 3 p. m. I halted the troops under tho brow of a hill 600 yards from the enemy's position, and formed them for the attack In the following order. 200 men of the C5th Regiment, under Colonel Wj'at, C B. on the right, one half in extended order, and the rest In support. Bo tween them, a detachment of 72 men of the C5th Regiment, under Lieu- tenant Toker, with scaling ladders and planks; Captain Brooke, with 10 men of the Royal Engineers, was attached to this i)art. The detacbmant of the 1st battalion 12th Regiment, under Captain Cole, and 2nd battalion 14th Regiment, under Lieut. Col. Austen, prolonged the line of skirmishers and supports totlie left of the G5th Regiment. Captain Mercer's two Armstrong guns and the naval six-ponnder Armstrong, under Lieutenant Alexander, of Her Majesty's ship Curncoa, in the centre of the line of skirmishers. The detachment of the 40th Regiment, under Captain Cooke, and the remainder of the 65th Regiment In reserve. The enemy's works consisted of a line of high parapet and double ditch, extending, as I have before stated, between tho Waikato and Lake Waikaro, the centre of this line being strengthened by a square redoubt of very formidable construction, Its ditch being 12 feet wide, and the height from the bottom of tlie ditch to the top of tho parapet 18 feet. The strength of this work was not known boforo the attack as its profde could not bo seen cltlicr from the river or from the ground in front. Behmd the left centre of this main line and at right angles to It, there was a strong intrenched line of rlilc pits facing the river and obstructing the advance of troops from that direction. About 500 yards behind this fron . position was 'a high ridge, the summit of which'was fortiliod with rifle pits i * General Staff — i field oflicers, 1 subaltern, 3 sergeants ; Itoyal Artillery — 1 captain, 1 Eubaltern, 1 nssislant-surgpon, 2 sergeants, 1 drummer, 4") rank and Hie ; Itoyal Engineers— 1 field ottlccr, 1 captain, 12 rank and file; Ist Battalion 12tli Regiment — I captain, 3 sub- alterns. 6 sergeants, 2 drummers, lOO rank and file; 2nd Jtattalion 14tli Regiment— 1 field olficer, 2 captains, 4 subalierns, S2 stafl', 8 sergeants, 3 drummers, 1C4 rank and file; 40th Regiment — 1 captain, 3 subalterns, 4 sergeants, 2 drummers, T.") rank and file ; CSth Regi- ment — 1 field officer, 1 captain, 6 subalterns, 1 assistant-surgeon, 2 staff, 15 sergeants, 6 drummers, 875 rank and file. Total— 7 field oflicers, 1 captains, 18 subalterns, 2 atslstant- ■urgeons, 4 staff, 37 sergeants, 14 drummers, 771 rank and file. ho Waikato a, iheyhu'x OW i!>thlTlU.4 barring I'le his position in the renr treat jftlie view the J. were cm- and Avon, 3niniand of lie margin • ioth arrived !r the brow the attack onel Wyat, )port. Bo indcr Lieu- :c, with ]0 acbmant of talion 14tb niakers and Armstrong exander, of ihers. The '■ remainder of a lino of id, between rengthcned ting 12 feet >ho parapet ttack as ita [id in front. ;here was a ructing the 1 this fron . h rifle pita -1 captain, 1 I Enginecra— iptain, 8 sub- nient— 1 field nd file ; 40th 5 ; CSth Regl- sergeants, 6 ), 2 auLstant- 19 As the left of the line of entrenchment could he enfiladed nod taken in reverie hj the fire from the Htcnnic^'s and gunboats, I selected that part of the enemy's works for the attack. Tlio skirmishers of the 6r)th regiment were to cover the advance of tlio Inddcr party, and when tho latter had succoedod in oscalading the entrenchment, were to follow with the support. The whole then bringing thtir right fhoulders f»rward were to iitlack the line of rifle pits faring the river, and hnviii;/ drii'rn ih" ciiemi/ out of it, wurf In florin l/w centrf. rfdouht. The 12th Regiment wcio to join in the attack on tho centre redoubt; and the second battalion lUh IJcfriment to keep tho enemy in their front In check, until the (>5th and first battalion Tith Regiment wore in tho redoubt. The troops wore hardly in jtosition w'-on tlie '>nemy opened a heavy fire of musketry on every i)art of hia line, but witlioiH .iloct tho, troops being under cover of the brow of the hill. I had arranged with Commodore Sir William Wiseman that tho gnna attached to the force rinder my command and those of the gunboats chould on a preconcerted signal, open fire at tho same moment when the Pioneer and / voa should also land the 40th Regiment. But the strength of tho wind au'' current rendered tho steamers and gunboats almost unmanageable, and at lialf-past 3 o'clock, when I gave tho signal, only one of tho gunboats was ready to open fire, and the steamers were still fiir from the landing place. After shelling the enemy's works for an hour and a half— the day being now far advanced, and there bong little prospect of the remainder ot tho gunboats getting in»o position, or of the steamers reaching the landing place — I gave orders for the assault. The whole line of skirmishers and supports rushed eagerly down the slope of the hill, and advanced towards the entrenchment at as rapiu a pace as tho rugged and uneven nature of tho intervening ground would admit, exposed tho whole time to a destructive fire from tho enemy. Tho skirmishers of tho 65th Regiment having approaclied to within 60 yards of the entrenchment, and the scaling ladders having been quickly planted under cover of their fire, the skirmishers and the ladder party followed lss of a sin- show, than ifice of my r it had no nation. It is a toldier^B part to brave danger ; and ho is not entitled to hold his lite of greater importance than the performance of his duty. On the contrary, duty is with him first and last, something that he is never to forsake. At the same time his life is not to be recklessly hazarded upon inutile expedients, and if out of caprice ho is sent to certain death, without any adequate object in the enterprise, thorn is only one word in the English language that fully describes the sacrifice. After Captain Henry Mercer had fallen, struck by a ball in the jaw, ho was allowed to remain, in a dying condition closo by the redoubt, for hours, till a trench had been run up to the point where he was. It seems to me that a brave general who had sent a brotlier officer on such an errand as this should at least have had tho humanity and the cou- rage to place himself at the liead of his troops, numbering over a thousand men, to rescue him. He fell close at the entrance of the redoubt, where he was exposed to the fire of friends and foes ; and it was owing solely to tho humanity of a generous native chief, Teoriori, who, at the risk of his own life placed him out of tho tire of either party. In the Parliamentary papers relative to the aft'airs of New Zealand, 1864, 1 find "Recollections of a conversation with Teoriori, a New Zealand Chief, on board the prison ship Marion," 8igned«E. W.Buckley."— ■.. , " DiiriDg tho attack upon Rangiriri," Teoriori says : " I saw a woundod soldier ; hfi had ribbons [braid] oa each side of his coat ; ho was lying in a position where he was liable to be struck by the bullets of both his friends and foes. I went to save him, so that I might be able to say; ' he is a man whose life I have saved.' I assisted him to rise, and with my arms extended supported him towards a hollow, where be would not be exposed to tho fire of either party. Whilst I was in the act of assisting him I was struck by two balls, one immediately after the other ; one in tho heel, tho other in the calf of the leg. I then left him and returned to the pah. • w * Signed, E. W, Puckley, Interpreter. ' While lying where this noble savage had placed him. Captain Henry Mercer was visited by Dr. Temple, and 1':^ I' ii' 34 Lieutenant Pickard, B.A., and they remained with him till the troops hal dug a trench to the spot lor the purpose of taking him away* In this they showed a courage and devotion above all praise. Both of them have been decorated with the Victoria Cross for this service. The only question that can arise out of the conduct of General Cameron, in this affair, is whether he committed a fatal blunder or something worse. Knowing all the facts and circumstances of the position, as his despatches show, he had no excuse for blundering. Can it be that, in obedience to a suggestion from the Duke of Cambridge or from the late Colonel Adjutant General Bingham, R.A,,* with the Duke's concurrence, to put Captain Mercer to some severe test, he took this method of securing favor in high quarters ? Irritated at the openness of manner I had shown in my dealings with the Horse Guards, the Duke of Cambridge or his Adjutant General appears plainly, at a previous date, to have resolved to visit upon my brother the sins of which he seems to have regarded me as being guilty. The sudden recall from Shorucliff, the curt answer to an enquiry why a previously expressed determination was changed, the — as I believe — sham mutiny, the refusal to recognize services which had twice been mentioned ia General Cameron's despatches, and the unusual circumstance of sending artil- lerymen on a forlorn hope, are antecedent facts to which different minds may give different degrees of weight. To me, with a knowledge derived from sixteen years experience of how things may be done in the army, they appear as so many links in a connected chain, reaching from Inkerman and the Horse Guards to Kangiriri. Such being my views of the case, I, on receiving General * Colonel Bingham, Adjutant General, R.A., was nerer known to nerform any brilliant exploit, though be was doubtless an useful instrument in the hands of his superior at the Horse Guards. And I and in the Dublin Wdrdtr, Mftjr 87, 18, that a pension of JBISO a yoar from the Ciril List, in addition to the ordinary military pension, has been gra&ted to his widow. I note the cireumstance because it ii very uaaanitl« aad beMuae he WM not whclly unconnected with the story of Uiis pamptdet. him till urpose of rage and tve been )Dduct of amitted a the facts hes show, that, in bridge or Ti, R.A,,* kLercer to 5 fayor in wn in my ibridge or lis date, to ' which he le sadden iry why a the — as I 3 services Cameron's ling artil- to which ight. To xperience pear as so [nkerman » General any brilliant iiperlor at tho lion of £100 a len granted to M b« WM not I 25 Cameron's despatches, in March, 1864, wrote a strong letter to the Duke of Cambridge, complaining that the life ot a brave soldier had been sacrificed to the unprecedented expedient of sending an artillery officer, with an inadequate force, on a hopeless forlorn hope. I got no explanation, and not even an acknowledgment. I afterwards wrote io the Secretary at "War, to the same purpose, adding that one thing which it was obviously proper to do, under the dis- tressing circumstances, was to give Captain Mercer's widow a pension suitable to his acknowledged services. I received an answer, dated August 30, 1864, to the effect that she could not, under the regulations, get more than the pension of a Captain's widow. The case, it seemed plain to me, was one demanding enquiry ; and on the 5th November, 1864, I wrote to Lord Palmerston, expressing a hope that he would " immediately cause a public enquiry to be made into the cause ot my poor brother's death." To this demand, which seemed to mo so reasonable and so proper, I was not honoured with any reply, and a repetition of the request was not more fortunate in the result. As a last resort, so far as official personages were concerned, I wrote to Her Gracious Majesty the Queen, laying the circumstances before her. I received the courtesy of a prompt reply, dated Osborne, 16th January, 1865, in these words : " Sir Charles Phipps has received the commands of Her Majesty the Queen to acknowledge the receipt of Major Meicer's letter of the 29tli ult., and regrets that his request cannot be Cc^nplied with. Pensions for military services are granted under fixed regulations, with which it is impossible for Her Majesty personally to interfere." It adds to the mystery of this case that, after the reply I had received from the Secretary at war, my brother's widow could only receive the pension of a captain's widow, and after this statement that Her Majesty could nut inter- i '26 fere with the fixed rules, whicli govern such cases, the pension assignable to a Lienterant Colonel's widow should in March last, have been grauied. The greatei- pension was, if I am correctly informed, granted on the recommendation of the Duke of Cambridge. If there had not been merit or mystery in this case, it is quite certain thif would not have been done. Though the granting of the greater pension was a very proper thing to do, no pecuniary consideration can make amends for the sacrifice of a brave officei". TIow tlie greater pension came to be granted, I '"o not pretend to be able to divine. It may be that Her Majesty, ^';ithout at all infringing those constitutional rules which it is so proper for sovereigns as well as subjects to observe, feeling the interast of a widow in the case of a widow whose husband had been taken from her otherwise than by the ordinary visitations of Providenco, directed the attention ot the proper officers to the matter. There is only one other way I con- ceive this part of the wrong to have been righted. In February last, I, by letter, placed the Editor of The Times in possession of the facts; and he may liave thought the case one for private enquiry rather than publicity, and acted accordingly. When I was informed of the increased pension being granted, I was asked by my brother's widow tlienceforth to obsorve a sL.'ict silence in regard to every circumstance coniiected with him. But I, the only near surviving relative who is in a position to take the part of his defender, cannot accept this condition. My other brother is in the army, and whatever his opinions may be — and what they are I do not know — upon bin) silence is imposed. But I am free to speak and act ; and General Cameron is already aware that, come what will, I shall hold him personally responsible for the fatal order he gave my brother to do an impossible The world is wide, and if act in the face of certain death. 27 ho so will it, we can settle our differences in France or the United States or some other foreign territory, where he will be PS free as myself from any restraint which the shackles of the service might be supposed to impose upon him. Whatever instructions he might have received to put Captain Mercer to extraordinary tests of courage, he had no right to sacrifice him. as he did. Whatever doubt there may be as to the participation oi i-'r. .- one else in this affair — and I have shown why it is that T have none — the case is plain so far as regards him. It admits of no doubt, and only of one possible explanation. If it was a blunder, it was a very gross one ; and it is open to liim to explain and apologize. If it was no blunder, then it must 1 o brought to a di ercnt arbitramon*^. When I heard of that partial redross of a great wrong which is implied in the granting of the increased pension, I thought it my duty .to give the Duke of Cambridge the benefit of any possible doubt as to tlie extent of his previous knowledge or action in the matter'; and I therefore volun- tarily withdraw some harsh expressions 1 had used in my letter of March, 1864, to him, and of which the public knew nothing. But his Royal Highness having failed in the ordinary courtesy ot an acknowledgment, leads me to question whether he was entitled to such considerate treat- ment. I submit that, whether the facts I have related properly constitute a connected and complete chain of evidence or not, I have at least succeeded in showing that this is a caco for enquiry. The life of my brother, Captain Henry Mercer, of the Eoyal Artillery, was improperly sacrificed; and justice demands that the matter should be investigated. I was myself unjustly denied a confirmation of my rank as Brevet Major, conferred for distinguished services in the field. I have given what I believe to be the cause of this '4 < 2S injustice ; and my brother, who appears to have been ill- treated on mj account, finally lost his life in obeying an order for which there was neither necessity nor justification. I therefore appeal to the justice of the British public with full confidence that there will be a general agreement with me that the case is one which imperatively calls for a searching public enquiry. ,,, .., ,. . ..>.., n i. . .tn'.\l r>.' ■;.-*"^; . *-.«s ■:>,"!: ce u'.^'. "■ >i -.,r....,. : ; yr.^t ; I .r"t. . ; (. n tp/tr ii :^'-'7 isffO :-■>- vino f% T*** i' ' , y V- ^ "•h .1 ill *. ■I 8,-.. . I • > r . - ■^■-. J - i -Ml^ ^V f;1' • ^ r ■" {..7/ •r-^ : -i '.1..:-; . Ui "1 : -" L -•• 1 J .1 • i'tH been ill- jying an location. )lie with ent with Lis for a ■,i'J •li? It 51.'^ •'lil.I .' -m^h^ 'r:o'r[ 4 ' nc It's*'?;- » 'f t ' ' ■ ? " f 'i V ?: