le midshipmen commanded sections of a light battery,
marines were cannoneers, and sailors rode the horses, using, in their
amphibious state, the oddest medley of sea-terms and military jargon
that ever grated on professional ears. It would have been equally
proper to put an artillery captain in command of the frigate Cumberland
then lying in the harbor of Vera Cruz, with no less a prospect of
brilliant manoeuvres in the hour of battle. The English company is
really what it purports to be, and is one hundred and twenty strong,
including eight corporals and four bombardiers; besides, it has eight
serjeants, three buglers, one second and one first lieutenant, one
second captain (brevet-captain in our service), and one first captain.
The aggregate here is fifty-eight, not quite one-half of the British
company.

It will be seen, from what has been said, that the Greenwich dragoon, or
foot soldier, is, in five cases out of six, either a Dutchman, Irishman,
or American; and an observer can easily perceive in each his national
characteristic and temperament. Karl is dull and heavy, generally sober,
always ready to lend his pipe, or sing a song. Pat is merry, loves a
glass at any time, is handy with the spade, and uses his mother-wit in
rounding off a capital story. Jonathan is all these, and something more.
He astonishes his trans-atlantic comrades by the incomprehensible manner
in which the knave will turn up when he deals the "pictures;" and the
neat manner in which he mends the rent in his coat sleeve; is one short
of funds, he will generously lend him a safe amount until "next pay
day," provided, at that time, fifty per cent. be added thereto; and, if
some doubt arises in the mean time, he disposes of his stock to some
other speculator; so that Wall-street-like panics are not
unfrequent--sometimes among the bulls, sometimes among the bears. If he
chooses, he will do more work in less time, or less work in more time,
than Karl or Patrick, and he often manages to make a cats-paw of them to
scratch out his delinquencies. He knows well how to make use of the
technicalities of the limited monarchy under which he is governed, and
bewilders dull Karl by his manifold risks and little punishment.

It matters not whether our man is cooped up at Eastport, or bivouacked
on the Rio-Grande--he is every where essentially the same. With scarce a
thought beyond the morrow, he awaits it without impatience. In all
places, and at all times, h