The capture of this valuable island having been achieved, the troops were again commended in general orders for their excellent conduct: and the ROYAL FUSILIERS were subsequently honoured with the privilege of bearing the word "MARTINIQUE" inscribed on their colours, as a mark of royal favour and approbation. Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Blakeney received a gold medal for his conduct in this service. After the completion of this brilliant enterprise, the ROYAL FUSILIERS returned to Nova Scotia; before embarking they were again commended in general orders. They sailed from Martinique on the 15th of March, and arrived at Halifax in April. Lieutenant-Colonel Pakenham being anxious to stimulate the ROYAL FUSILIERS to good conduct by distinguishing merit, assembled a board of officers for that purpose, and the names of the following non-commissioned officers and soldiers were recorded in the "BOOK OF MERIT." Serjeant Thomas Simpson for meritorious and gallant conduct at Martinique. Quarter-Master-Serjeant Timothy Meagher, Serjeants John Ledsam, John Henry, John Day, William Harris, William Inchbold, Joshua Redshaw, Thomas Beale, Thomas Miller, George Kenney, ---- Willson, George Clementson, Corporal Dove, Drummer Thomas Maud, Privates William Vagg, Mark Ewing, Benjamin Price, James Haughney, Nathaniel Moss, and James Delamy for general good conduct; Serjeants Meagher and Henry were afterwards promoted to commissions. In April, 1809, Lieutenant and Adjutant Orr, a most meritorious officer, was promoted to a company, on which occasion the serjeants presented him with an address, expressive of their regard and gratitude for the manner in which he had performed the duty of adjutant. This circumstance was, however, deemed a departure from strict discipline, and the Commander-in-Chief in North America, General Sir James Craig, declared in General Orders, that the serjeants had been guilty, unintentionally, of an act of insubordination.[17] The sentiments expressed in this order obtained the concurrence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, who stated in orders;--"The reason for which the Commander-in-Chief has directed the circulation of this Order, is, that he may avail himself of this opportunity of declaring to the army his most perfect concurrence in the sentiments therein expressed by the distinguished and experienced officer by whom it was framed, on a subject which appears to have been by some very much misunderstood.--The circumstance of inferiors of any class of military men assembling for the purpose of bestowing praise and public marks of approbation on their superiors, implies a power of deliberation on their conduct which belongs to the Sovereign alone, or to those officers who may be intrusted with the command and discipline of the troops. It is a procedure equally objectionable whether in the higher or lower ranks of the army; and as the Commander-in-Chief cannot but regard it as a principle subversive