found, on inquiry, that the captain to whom the general's command was given, delivered his orders to his subaltern--the subaltern to the sergeant--the sergeant to the corporal--and so on to the poor stupid driver of the bullocks. I hope this circumstance may meet the eye of the young soldier, and teach him the absolute necessity of the strictest obedience to orders, and impress upon his mind that, whatever may be his rank, it does not place him above seeing things executed himself. Had those tumbrells, through the neglect which occurred, been blown up, many lives must have been destroyed, and the loss of the contents of the tumbrells would have obliged us to have raised the siege, and given the enemy time to fortify their fort. All this mischief would have fallen on him whose imperative duty it was to have seen the general's orders obeyed, and not to have intrusted their execution to others. Crimes out of number would have been framed against him: such as utter contempt of orders--pointed neglect of duty--wantonly destroying the lives of his soldiers, and the property of the government with which he had been intrusted. Nothing could have saved his commission; and, if the accident had happened, what could have soothed his feelings? As it was, the escape was quite providential; for, scarcely had the last tumbrell got round the corner of the village, before the enemy commenced a heavy cannonade on the very spot from which the ammunition tumbrells had been removed. On my return towards camp I met the general riding towards the fort at speed, still imagining that something was not right. When I reported to him the circumstances just described, he rode on and admonished the captain in most severe terms; but his heart was as humane as it was brave, and he soon pardoned the neglect, and forgot all about it. We then went round the other works, to see that everything was safe and in obedience to his orders. In the mortar-battery, the general observed to the captain of the artillery, that he thought the magazine was too close to the battery; but the officer explained the nature of its construction, which satisfied him of its security, and we rode home again.