the weather was adverse; and it was eson Gower drew up for him, his plan not till the 28th of June that the river of attack. The town and suburbs were was crossed and the troops landed at divided into square blocks measuring Ensenada, thirty miles below Buenos one hundred and forty yards every Ayres. The landing was not really way, and the houses, having flat roofs opposed, but from the moment when surrounded by a parapet wall, were the army began its advance it was con- well adapted for defence. While walkstantly surrounded by a cloud of light ing round Monte Video Whitelocke cavalry moving just out of musket- had pointed this out to Craufurd, and range. One staff-officer was taken added that he would not expose his prisoner while carrying his orders be- troops to such an unfair contest as tween two brigades, and another was would necessarily ensue if he attempted stabbed within three hundred yards to attack so large a town as Buenos of the flank of the line. Thus per- Ayres through the streets. Neverthepetually harassed the army advanced less he sent his infantry up no fewer through a country intersected by than fourteen streets, in this wise. swamps and deep, muddy rivulets, The Sixth Dragoon Guards (Carbinwhich made the march more than ordi- eers) and some of the Ninth Dragoons, narily fatiguing; and on the 3rd of dismounted, with two 6-pounders, were July it reached the village of Reduc- to advance up the great central street, tion, where, under Beresford, the first leading to the great square and fort action on the Plata had been fought three miles away. The Light Battalion just twelve months before. Warned and the Ninety-Fifth under Craufurd by previous experience the Spaniards had constructed batteries and entrenchments to guard the Rio Chuelo, and had made it a strong line of defence. This line Whitelocke turned, by marching in two columus from his left, and fording the river higher up. The right column under General Leveson Gower, consisting of Lumley's Brigade (ThirtySixth and Eighty-Eighth) and Craufurd's (the Light Battalion and the Ninety-Fifth) after advancing some way through a difficult and strongly enclosed country, fell in, close to the suburbs, with a hostile force which opened a heavy fire of artillery. Gower, finding that his guns were unable to keep up with the infantry, had left them behind, so he simply ordered Craufurd to attack the enemy with the bayonet; which Craufurd promptly did, dispersing them in five minutes with the loss of sixty killed, seventy prisoners, and ten guns. Whitelocke, who had been misled by his guide, did not come up with the main body of his army till next day, when he found it, as he had ordered, so stationed by his brigadiers as almost to invest the town. Next day he drew up, or rather Lev1 A battalion made up of the light companies of all the regiments present.

were to take the two streets next to the right of the centre, a wing of each regiment and a 3-pounder in each street. The Forty-Fifth was to take the two streets next to the right of Craufurd, and occupy the Residencia at the far end thereof. On the left of the centre Lumley with the Thirty-Sixth and Eighty-Eighth was to take four streets - half a regiment in each street. On the left of Lumley, Auchmuty was to send the Fifth and Eighty-Seventh up four more streets; and on the extreme left he was to seize the Plaza de Toros and the strong ground adjacent to it with the Thirty-Eighth.

The troops, thus distributed, were ordered to advance straight to their front, and not to halt till they had traversed the town from end to end and reached the last square of houses next the river Plata. These houses they were to seize, two corporals being told off to the head of each column with tools to break open the doors, and they were then to form on the housetops and await orders. Finally the whole force was to advance unloaded; no firing was on any account to be permitted till the troops had successfully run the gauntlet of the streets and reached their final destination. The force de

tailed for this extraordinary duty can- | Beresford had selected a year before as not much have exceeded six thousand his position of defence; but finding no

men.

support in that direction, he thought it best to return and occupy a convent from which he hoped to get into a church nearer to the fort. On his right the Forty-Fifth had reached its destina

The appointed signal of a cannonade in the central street having been given, the attack began on the morning of the 5th of July. Auchmuty at once threw the Thirty-Eighth and Eighty-Seventh tion with little opposition and seized from two different points against the the Residencia. There the colonel left Plaza de Toros, and in spite of heavy a small garrison, and then hastened losses captured the position with thirty- down with one company to the help of two guns, six hundred prisoners, and a Craufurd. Craufurd by this time was vast quantity of ammunition. The hard pressed; the convent which he Fifth Fusileers, in the two streets next had occupied was surrounded; and the adjoining, met with little resistance enemy was so far emboldened as to and made its way to the river, where it attempt to take a British gun which occupied a church and a convent. The had been left in the street. The comThirty-Sixth and Eighty-Eighth like-pany of the Forty-Fifth and a few of wise advanced, and were opposed by a the Light Battalion rushed forward to continuous rain of musketry and mis-save it, and in a moment were mowed siles from the windows and housetops. down almost to a man. The NinetyThe doors were barricaded so strongly Fifth kept up a steady fire from the that they could not force an entrance into the houses; and the streets were intersected by deep trenches filled with cannon which poured an unceasing shower of grape on the advancing sections. Nevertheless they, too, forced their way to the river with the bayonet, as they had been bid; but the Eighty-Eighth being nearer to the fort and the principal defences of the enemy, was so terribly cut up that it was fairly overpowered and compelled to surrender. This regiment had started from England seven hundred and ninety-eight strong; it lost fifteen officers and one hundred and eightythree men killed and wounded on that day. The flank of the Thirty-Sixth being thus exposed, that regiment was withdrawn, together with the Fifth, to Auchmuty's station at the Plaza de Toros.

housetops, but were at last driven from them by the eternal shower of musketry and grape, and at four in the afternoon Craufurd, finding himself isolated, was compelled to surrender.

So ended the fighting that day. The enemy's fire had been terrible; almost every street was entrenched and the entrenchments filled with guns; at every street corner were more guns, and from every housetop rained bullets, stones, and brickbats. Every house was a fortress, and every householder with his negroes a garrison. The whole population of Buenos Ayres was up in arms; and six thousand British troops, obeying their orders, had marched through all with the bayonet. Not a regiment, except the Carbineers, failed to force its way to the river; and at the close of the day Whitelocke held a strong position on each flank of the So much for the left of the central enemy and an advanced post in the street. In the central street itself the centre. But of the six thousand men Carbineers attacked the battery to their more than twelve hundred had fallen, front, but losing their colonel and and as many more were prisoners. second in command, fell back a little On the next day Liniers offered Whiteway and halted, though in advance of locke the delivery of all prisoners if he their first position. On the immediate would cease operations and evacuate right of the central street, Craufurd the Plata, adding that he could not be with his light troops and riflemen responsible for the safety of the capforced his way to the river, and wheeled tured if his proposal were refused. to his left to the great square, which Whitelocke accepted his terms; and

thus ended this most fatal enterprise | superfluity of cash, of fighting energy, against the Spanish in South America. and of sentiment, may usefully take to

Of the principal actors Popham had heart. already been tried by court-martial and reprimanded. Whitelocke, on his return, was likewise tried, and cashiered. Of the rest Craufurd, as is well known, fell at Badajos, where many of the famous Ninety-Fifth (now known as the Rifle Brigade) fell with him. Auchmuty lived to do gallant service in the East, and died in 1822. Beresford, as has already been stated, became the Marshal Beresford of the Peninsula and the Viscount Beresford of a later day, and lived to learn from the scornful pen of Napier that posterity, while honoring his gallantry, would not consider him a great general.

J. W. FORTESCUE.

From Blackwood's Magazine. THE GREAT UNCLAIMED. IF there is any subject in which the "mind of the many can be said to exhibit a more unconscionable interest than another, thereby affording the psychological specialist unusual opportunities for study, it is that of unclaimed money, with all its pathos, its romance, and — bunkum! For many years past the mere thought of the

66

great unclaimed " languishing in durThe campaign of the Plata serves at ance vile "unbeknown," without heirs least to enforce the lesson so disas- or owners, has painfully tantalized trously taught by the Carolina cam- many otherwise happy and contented paign of 1780-81, by the occupation of persons. Men and women have been St. Domingo from 1794 to 1800, and by known to go mad (our asylums are full other experiences both of Englishmen of them) because of their fruitless and foreigners on various occasions; quest after moneys that, for them at namely, that it is a fatal mistake for least, never had any existence, save in an alien force to invade a country in imagination or on paper. An old man, sole reliance on the support of dis- for instance, kept calling for many affected inhabitants. This was Pop- years at a well-known banking estabham's grand error, an error into which lishment asking to be paid certain Wellington, as may be seen from his moneys which, he declared, were left memoranda, resolutely declined to be him by a deceased relative. Of course led. With his unerring shrewdness it was all a delusion, but the poor feland foresight he warned the govern- low would never take any denial or ment that South America was pining, rebuff, and would retire consoling himnot for British rule, but for indepen- self with the imagination that, as the dence, and that a British force at best rate of interest was compound, the capcould effect only a revolution and not a ital was every day growing more and conquest. Nevertheless, as fate willed more! Yet who has not some interest it, it was mainly by the efforts of En- in the question of unclaimed money, glishmen that the independence of especially if, as has been quite seriSouth America was finally accom- ously suggested, there is― nay, plished. Lord Cochrane with British must be a veritable Treasure Island officers and seamen afloat, Miller and undiscovered, a "mine of Golconda" the débris of the Peninsula army ashore, these were the men who delivered South America from Spain, with what triumph of gallantry and resource is all too little known. And the fruits thereof are chronic civil war, corruption, and repudiation of debt, the usual result of the deliverance of an oppressed nationality." This, too, is

there

unexplored in almost every commercial community throughout the length and breadth of the country, not to speak of the vast stores of wealth- the accumulations of many years-"banked up" in such reservoirs as the Bank of England, Chancery, and the department of the National Debt Commissioners? In fact, an opinion has been

a lesson which England, with her affirmed that if all the mass of moneys

who had become incapable by reason of infirmity of caring for herself, was removed to the workhouse. On entering one of the dormitories, she was handed over to the care of a female warder to have a necessary change of clothing. Her old garments-filthy rags - were about to be destroyed, when the attention of the warder was drawn to a crumpled paper of some kind sewn up within the folds of a gown. With a tuition born probably of experience, the attendant, on ripping up the garment, found a deposit-receipt for one hundred pounds in the name of the new inmate, and dated twenty-five years previously! With a sublime disregard for her possessions, the poor woman declared she remembered nothing about the receipt, and, in fact, almost disowned it. There can be little doubt but that in this case the money was absolutely forgotten, even though it was apparently carefully concealed.

lying unclaimed, and, so far, inopera- | spite of many incentives to concern tive, in the hands of bankers in the themselves therewith! Not long ago United Kingdom alone could, by some an old and apparently poor woman, means or other, be put into circulation, such a momentum would be given to the trade of the world as has never before been experienced. By the receipt of the streams of gold thus set free the stagnant pools of commerce would, in many departments, begin to flow with a fresh life and vigor, making the wildernesses to blossom as the rose, and the waste places to shout with exceeding joy! But even were it possible to conceive of such a flood-tide of fortune being suddenly set free to flush the channel-ways of trade and commerce, the result would, it is feared, be grievously disappointing to many persons. Expecting the "spate," when nothing more than a dew-fall comes in answer to their petitions, how they would rail at the gods! Let us, however, look into the subject fairly, and without prejudice, and in the first place admit that there are, as every experienced banker knows, not a few valid reasons why the moneys of their customers do sometimes fall under the category of the "great unclaimed." few of these reasons may be enumerated and considered:

A

Second, Owner of money dead; receipt lost or destroyed, and money unknown to next of kin.

Were it possible to obtain statistics

First, The money, or deposit, is abso-bearing on this "reason," it would lutely forgotten by owner.

most likely be found that by far the It might well be supposed that larger portion of moneys "unclaimed " money is one of the last things about are in this position because of the death which the memory of ordinary people of the original owners and the conseshould become oblivious. In these quent loss of the vouchers, or from times especially, the experience is per- the fact that the existence of the dehaps too much the other way. And posits is unknown to the next of kin. yet, in every one of the four or five It is the every-day experience of bankthousand banks (inclusive, of course, ers to have inquiries addressed to them of branches) doing business throughout by relatives of deceased persons as to the United Kingdom at the present the probability of deposits being at time, it has been estimated that there credit; for it is strange that, invariably are not a few depositors whose balances almost, the inquiries assume there are are either" dormant” or “unclaimed " | funds! Every banker is familiar with from this cause alone. In some in- them, sometimes too much so. Оссаstances the number must obviously be much larger than in others, but the fact is enough, surely, to indicate the existence of an enviable idiosyncrasy with respect to money matters in the minds of hundreds of persons, and in

sionally the inquiries do actually lead to the discovery of what is, in a sense, "found money" to the relatives of deceased depositors, but far more frequently they lead to nothing, and of course there is the inevitable disap

It will scarcely be credited, but such actually is a not uncommon reason why money becomes unclaimed in the hands of bankers. Of course it applies to a very restricted class of persons, to whom the penalty sometimes attached to the losing of a deposit-voucher appears to be more formidable and annoying than it really is, and so becoming indifferent after a time, they grow into the belief that they have forfeited their right to their money!

pointment. "The money must be | ceipt and actually thinks the deposit is here; we know that our friend has forfeited. been seen to enter the office!" is often the answer the patient official gets when the search has resulted in nil. And because a man has been seen once or twice to enter the door of a bank, he must, forsooth, have left a pile in its coffers! Such is by no means an uncommon notion on the part of the relatives of deceased persons, in whose affairs they have suddenly developed a really affectionate interest! An amusing incident in illustration of this amiable concern happened some time since, in the office of a public bank, where it Fourth, Owner keeping money as a has been the practice for some years to provision for the inevitable “rainy day,” advertise from time to time for lapsed but that emergency, if it ever has actually depositors having pretty considerable occurred, not having required that the balances at their credit. One of these money should be uplifted as anticipated, depositors was a lady-a spinster-owner permits the money to lie dormant, whom the bank officials thought to be and eventually forgets about it.

dead. A few days after the advertisement appeared, however, she walked

Fifth, Owner abroad, or removed from

Sixth, Owner has deposited money

Seventh, Legal dispute between owner and other persons places an embargo on the money, pending a settlement of the dispute, which perhaps is not arrived at till after many years.

into the bank and presented her re-locality where the money is deposited. ceipt for re-indorsement and the addition of arrears of interest. Receiving back her voucher, she promised not to against sickness, or perhaps to provide be so long again in returning to the for funeral expenses, and religiously bank, and then took her leave. She leaves it untouched. had not long left the premises when a young woman stepped forward to the counter, and declared with some degree of pride that she was a niece of the person advertised for, whom she now called to represent, believing honestly her relative was dead, as she had How suggestive does the term "In not heard of her for a long time. Chancery” seem in this connection ! "What do you want to know?" cau- Of the tides of fortune that are ever tiously inquired the official. "Oh, emptying themselves into that Niagara how much money my aunt has left of gold, as Chancery may not inaptly me," replied the young woman. "I be described, perhaps the most imporcan't very well tell you that," said the tant, at any rate the most interesting banker; "but if you take the trouble from a humanitarian point of view, is to call at No. Street" (giving that whose waters have been troubled the aunt's address), "you will see by legal imbroglios. Indeed here rests, somebody there who can tell you how undisturbed and dormant in the most much she is likely to leave you when literal sense possible, as much money, she is done with it!" Surmising the "embargo'd" from this cause alone, as truth, that her aunt was alive and able could, were it conceivable to apply it to to look after her money matters herself, such a purpose, wipe out the national the next of kin left the bank with some debt of England, and leave the chanprecipitancy. cellor of the exchequer a few millions sterling as a surplus! But, of course,

Third, Owner living, but has lost re- it cannot be said on any pretext what