Page:Kickerbocker Feb 1833 vol 1 no 2.djvu/1

LTHOUGH not among the warriors who have filled the world with their renown, the name of this distinguished foreign officer claims a place here by a double title—first, on the general public ground that he is now in command of a fortress, upon which the eyes of the nations are intent; and secondly, that he is of the race of those from whom spring the genuine Knickerbackers.

The engraving which accompanies this memoir, presents faithfully the lineaments of this veteran soldier. It is executed from an engraving recently received from Holland, and does more than justice to the original. In the compressed mouth, and resolute brow, and air of decision which this portrait exhibits, the daring character and well proved heroism of the man whose life, even unto old age, has been spent amid the din and perils of battle, speak to every eye.

According to a brief notice we find of him in the Biographie des Contemporains—a record, we may say in passing, of as high talents and attainments in every department of knowledge or of art, of as noble characters, and of as daring achievements, as the annals of the world can shew—David Henry Chassé was born on the 18th March, 1765, at Thiel, in Guelderland, and at ten years of age, with hereditary taste, (his father being a military officer) he entered as a cadet into the service of the United Provinces. He obtained in 1781 the rank of lieutenant, and in 1787 that of captain. At this period the disputes, which had long agitated the United Provinces, broke out into open and violent conflicts. The republican

9