The campaign on the Canadian frontier had been waged with varying fortune: sometimes success attended our arms, at others we suffered considerable reverses. We were fighting, however, under many disadvantages. The bulk of our forces were employed in Spain, or in the abortive expedition to the Low Countries. The abdication of Napoleon, however, set free a portion of our troops, and a brigade was despatched, under the command of Major-General John Ross, from the South of France to North America. It consisted of the 4th (King's Own), the 41st (Welsh), and the 44th (Essex). On arrival at Bermuda it was met by the 21st (Royal Scots Fusiliers), and by Admiral Cochrane, commanding the naval forces on the station. The Admiral had been in the habit whilst blockading the coast of landing at the mouth of the Potomac River, and making incursions into the country, accompanied only by a few Marines. He pointed out to the General the feasibility of an attack on Washington, the young capital of the United States. On August 15 the General, accompanied by the Admiral, landed and made a lengthy reconnaissance up the Patuxent River, which runs parallel to the Potomac, and a short distance to the east. The landing presented no difficulties, and on the 20th the whole of the brigade, having arrived, were disembarked without opposition at a place called Benedict, on the right bank of the Patuxent, only fifty miles from Washington. On the following day the force moved to Nottingham in three columns. The right, under Colonel Brooke, of the 44th, consisted of the 4th (King's Own) and the 44th (Essex); the centre, commanded by Colonel Patterson, of the 21st (Royal Scots Fusiliers), comprised that corps and a strong naval brigade; whilst the left column, which was under Colonel Thornton, of the 85th (King's Light Infantry), was made up of that regiment and the light companies of the other three battalions, and was accompanied by the little artillery force, which consisted of but a couple of 3-pounders and a howitzer. On August 22 the brigade reached Marlborough, a small town sixteen miles from the capital, and here Ross learnt that a body of American troops, about 6,000 strong, was drawn up for the defence of Washington at Bladensburg, to the north of the city. Leaving some marines to guard his lines of communication at Marlborough, Ross pushed on, the left column, under his own personal command, leading, and on the morning of the 24th he found the enemy. The action was soon over, and by nightfall Ross entered Washington, having captured ten of the enemy's guns. Whether the subsequent burning of the Capitol was justified or not is a question that everyone will decide for himself. Suffice to say that public property to the extent of close on half a million sterling was destroyed, in addition to several ships on the stocks, and that we carried away 206 guns. Our losses were by no means heavy. In justice to the memory of the General, it should be put on