March 31.
The reader will probably have been struck during the narrative1 of the American campaign of 1758 with the inferiority of the French in numbers to the British at every point. The French colonies were in fact allowed to take their chance, while French soldiers were poured by the hundred thousand into Germany to avenge2 King Frederick's sarcasm3 against Madame de Pompadour. A Pitt was hardly needed to perceive that the more employment that could be found for French armies in Europe, the fewer were the men which could be spared for the service of France's possessions beyond sea; and Pitt resolved accordingly to keep those armies fully4 occupied. By the convention of Klosterzeven, as has already been told, it was agreed that the Hanoverian army should be broken up; but even before Cumberland's return to England, the question of repudiating5 that convention had been broached6, and a fortnight later a message was despatched to Frederick announcing that the army would take the field again, and requesting the services of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick as General-in-Chief. Frederick assented8; and on the 24th of November Ferdinand arrived at Stade, fresh from the victory of Rossbach in which he had taken part three weeks before, to assume the command. The whole aspect of affairs changed instantly, as if by magic. Setting his force in motion at once Ferdinand by the end of the year had driven the French back to the Aller, and renewing operations after six weeks spent in winter-quarters pressed the enemy still farther back, even across the Rhine.
[340]
June 5.
June 7.
June 29.
July 1.
It is said that even before Ferdinand had achieved this success Pitt had resolved to reinforce him with British troops, but for the present the minister reverted9 to his old plan of a descent on the French coast, which might serve the purpose of diverting French troops alike from America and from Germany. The first sign of his intention was seen in April, when the officers of sixteen battalions10 received orders to repair to the Isle11 of Wight by the middle of May. Such long notice was a strange preliminary for a secret expedition, for the troops themselves did not receive their orders until the 20th of May; and it was the end of the month before the whole of them, some thirteen thousand men,[296] were encamped on the island. The Duke of Marlborough was selected for the command, and, since his military talent was doubtful, Lord George Sackville, whose ability was unquestioned, was appointed as his second, with the duty of organising the whole of the operations. Two squadrons, comprising twenty-four ships of the line under Lord Anson, Sir Edward Hawke, and Commodore Howe, were detailed12 to escort the transports, and on the 1st of June the armament set sail, arriving on the 5th at Cancalle Bay, about eight miles from St. Malo. A French battery, erected13 for the defence of the bay, was quickly silenced by the ships, and on the following day the entire army was landed. One brigade was left to guard the landing-place, and the remainder of the force marched to St. Malo, where the light dragoons under cover of night slipped down to the harbour and burned over a hundred privateers and merchant-vessels. The Duke of Marlborough then made dispositions14 as if for the siege of St. Malo, but hearing that a superior force was on the march to cut off his retreat, retired15 to Cancalle Bay, re-embarked17 the troops, and sailed against Granville, a petty town some[341] twenty miles to north-east of St. Malo. Foul18 weather frustrated19 the intended operations; and on the 27th the expedition arrived off Havre de Grace. Preparations were made for landing, but after two days of inactivity Marlborough decided20 against an attack, and the fleet bore up for Cherbourg. There once more all was made ready for disembarkation, but the weather was adverse22, forage23 and provisions began to fail, and the entire enterprise against the coast was abandoned. So the costly24 armament returned to Portsmouth, having effected absolutely nothing. It is, however, doubtful whether blame can be attached to the officers, either naval25 or military, for the failure. Pitt had procured26 no intelligence as to the dispositions of the French for defence of the threatened ports; so that a General might well hesitate to run the risk of landing, when he could not tell how soon he might find himself cut off by a superior force from the sea.
June 23.
Aug. 21.
Meanwhile Ferdinand following up his success had pursued the French over the Rhine and gained a signal victory over them at Creveld. This action appears to have hastened Pitt to a decision, for within four days he announced to the British Commissary at Ferdinand's headquarters the King's intention to reinforce the Prince with two thousand British cavalry27. The troops were warned for service on the same day; but within three days it was decided to increase the reinforcement to six thousand troops,[297] both horse and foot, and a week later the force was further augmented28 by three battalions. The first division of the troops was shipped off to Emden on the 11th of July, and by the second week in August the entire reinforcement had disembarked at the same port under command of the Duke of Marlborough, joining Prince Ferdinand's army at Coesfeld on the 21st.[298] There for the present we must leave them, till [342]the time comes for Ferdinand's operations to engage our whole attention. Meanwhile the reader need bear in mind only that the British Army is definitely committed to yet another theatre of war.
August.
Even so, however, Pitt remained unsatisfied without another stroke against the French coast. While the troops were embarking29 for Germany he had formed a new encampment on the Isle of Wight and was intent upon a raid on Cherbourg. So intensely distasteful were these expeditions to the officers of the Army that the Duke of Marlborough and Lord George Sackville used their interest to obtain appointment to the army in Germany, so as to be quit of them once for all. The result was that when Lieutenant-General Bligh, who had been originally selected to serve under Prince Ferdinand, arrived in London from Ireland to sail for Emden, he found to his dismay that his destination was changed, and that he must prepare to embark16 for France. He accepted the command as in duty bound, the more so since Prince Edward was to accompany the expedition, but he was little fit for the service, having no qualification except personal bravery and one great disqualification in advanced age. Accordingly, obedient but unwilling30, he set sail on the 1st of August with twelve battalions[299] and nine troops of light dragoons, escorted by a squadron under Commodore Howe. Not yet had the gallant31 sailor learned of his succession to the title through the fall of his brother Lord Howe at the head of Lake Champlain.
Aug. 16.
September.
The expedition began prosperously enough. The fleet arrived before Cherbourg on the 6th and at once opened the bombardment of the town. Early next morning it sailed to the bay of St. Marais, two leagues from Cherbourg, where the Guards and the grenadier-companies, having landed under the fire of the ships, attacked and drove off a force of three thousand French[343] which had been drawn32 up to oppose them. The rest of the troops disembarked without hindrance33 on the following day and advanced on Cherbourg, which being unfortified to landward surrendered at once. Bligh thereupon proceeded to destroy the docks and the defences of the harbour and to burn the shipping35, while the light cavalry scoured36 the surrounding country and levied37 contributions. This done, the troops were re-embarked; and after long delay owing to foul winds the fleet came to anchor on the 3rd of September in the Bay of St. Lunaire, some twelve miles east of St. Malo. There the troops were again landed during the two following days, though not without difficulty and the loss of several men drowned. Bligh's instructions bade him carry on operations against Morlaix or any other point on the coast that he might prefer to it, and he had formed some vague design of storming St. Malo from the landward side. This, however, was found to be impracticable with the force at his disposal; and now there ensued an awkward complication. The weather grew steadily38 worse, and Howe was obliged to warn the General that the fleet must leave the dangerous anchorage at St. Lunaire, and that it would be impossible for him to re-embark the troops at any point nearer than the bay of St. Cast, a few miles to westward39. Accordingly he sailed for St. Cast, while Bligh, now thrown absolutely on his own resources ashore40, marched for the same destination overland.
Sept. 9.
The army set out on the morning of the 7th of September, and after some trouble with small parties of French on the march encamped on the same evening near the river Equernon, intending to ford41 it next morning. It speaks volumes for the incapacity of Bligh and of his staff that the passage of the river was actually fixed42 for six o'clock in the morning, though that was the hour of high water. It was of course necessary to wait for the ebb-tide; so it was not until three in the afternoon that the troops forded the river, even then waist-deep, under a brisk fire from small parties of French peasants and regular troops. Owing to the[344] lateness of the hour further advance on that day was impossible; and on resuming the march on the following morning the advanced guard encountered a body of about five hundred French troops. The enemy were driven back with considerable loss, but their prisoners gave information of the advance of at least ten thousand French from Brest. Arrived at Matignon Bligh encamped and sent his engineers to reconnoitre the beach at St. Cast in case he should be compelled to retreat. Deserters who came in during the night reported that the French were gathering43 additional forces from the adjacent garrisons44; and in the morning Bligh sent word to Howe that he intended to embark on the following day.
Sept. 11.
Constant alarms during the night showed that the enemy was near at hand; and it would have been thought that Bligh, having made up his mind to retreat, would in so critical a position have retired as swiftly and silently as possible. On the contrary, at three o'clock on the morning of the 11th the drums beat the assembly as usual, to give the French all the information that they desired; while the troops moved off in a single column so as to consume the longest possible time on the march. It was nine o'clock before the embarkation21 began, and at eleven, when two-thirds of the force had been shipped, the enemy appeared in force on the hills above the beach. For some time the French were kept at a distance by the guns of the fleet, but after an hour they found shelter and opened a sharp and destructive fire. General Drury, who commanded the rear-guard, consisting of fourteen hundred men of the Guards and the grenadiers, was obliged to form his men across the beach to cover the embarkation. Twice he drove back the enemy, but, ammunition46 failing, he was forced back in turn, and there was nothing left but a rush for the boats. The French bringing up their artillery47 opened a furious fire; and all was confusion. So many of the boats were destroyed that the sailors shrank from approaching the shore and were only kept to their work by the[345] personal example of Howe. In all seven hundred and fifty officers and men were killed and wounded, General Drury being among the slain48, and the rest of the rear-guard were taken prisoners. The fleet and transports made their way back to England in no comfortable frame of mind, for the French naturally magnified their success to the utmost; and so ended Pitt's third venture against the coast of France.
There can be little doubt but that Bligh must be held responsible for the failure. It should seem indeed that he was ignorant of the elements of his duty, even to the enforcing of discipline among the troops, who at the first landing near Cherbourg behaved disgracefully. The Duke of Marlborough had met with the same trouble at Cancalle Bay, but had had at least the strength to hang a marauding soldier on the first day and so to restore order. But after all Pitt was presumably responsible for the selection of Bligh; or, if he was aware that he could not appoint the right man for such a service, he would have done better to abandon these raids on the French coast altogether. The conduct of Marlborough and Sackville in shirking the duty because it was distasteful to them does not appear commendable49; but Sackville at any rate was no fool, and Pitt might at least have recognised the military objections that were raised against his plans. The truth of the matter is, as Lord Cochrane was to prove fifty years later, that sporadic50 attacks on the French coast are best left to the Navy; for a single frigate51 under a daring and resolute52 officer can paralyse more troops than an expedition of ten or fifteen thousand men, with infinitely53 less risk and expense. Pitt had not yet done with his favourite descents, but his next venture of the kind was to be directed against an island instead of the mainland, when the British fleet could interpose between his handful of battalions and the whole population of France. Meanwhile Cherbourg had at any rate been destroyed, so like a wise man the minister made the most of this success,[346] by sending some of the captured guns with great parade through Hyde Park to the Tower.
April 30.
Oct. 26.
Dec. 29.
The operations already narrated54 of the year 1758 were of considerable scope, embracing as they did the advance of three separate armies in America, two raids on the French coast, and the despatch7 of British troops to Germany; but these by no means exhaust the tale. There were few quarters of the globe in which the British had not to complain of French encroachment55, and to this insidious56 hostility57 Pitt had resolved to put a stop once for all. Five years before, the merchants of Africa had denounced the unfriendliness of the French on the Gambia, who were building forts and stirring up the natives against them. The Royal African Company also, with its monopoly of the slave-trade, was anxious for its line of fortified34 dep?ts on the West Coast, and prayed to be delivered from its troublesome neighbours at Senegal and in the island of Goree.[300] One of Pitt's first actions in 1758 was to order an expedition to be prepared against Senegal, a duty for which two hundred marines and twenty-five gunners were deemed a sufficient force. On the 23rd of April Captain Marsh58 of the Royal Navy sailed into the Senegal river, and by the 30th Fort Louis had surrendered and was flying the British flag. Two hundred men of Talbot's regiment59[301] were at once sent to garrison45 the new possession, and then for some months there was a pause, while the troops for Germany and Cherbourg were embarking for their destinations. But no sooner was Bligh's expedition returned than a new enterprise was set on foot, and Captain Keppel of the Royal Navy received secret instructions to convoy60 Lieutenant-Colonel Worge with Forbes's regiment[302] and two companies of the Sixty-sixth to the West Coast.[303] Within three weeks the troops were embarked [347]at Kinsale, and by the 28th of December Keppel's squadron was lying off Goree. On the following day the ships opened fire on the French batteries, and at nightfall the island surrendered, yielding up over three hundred prisoners and nearly an hundred guns. So with little trouble were gained the West African settlements of the French.
1759.
Jan. 13.
Jan. 15.
But even before Keppel had received his instructions six more battalions[304] were under orders for foreign service; and his squadron had hardly sailed before another fleet of transports was gathering at Portsmouth. Major-General Peregrine Hopson, who had been Governor at Nova Scotia in the difficult years that preceded the outbreak of war, was appointed to the chief command, and Colonel Barrington, a junior officer, was, despite the honourable61 protests of his brother, the Secretary-at-War, selected to be his second. The expedition was delayed beyond the date fixed for its departure by bad weather, but at length on the 12th of November the transports, escorted by eight ships of the line under Commodore Hughes, got under way and sailed with a fair wind to the west. On the 3rd of January 1759 they reached Barbados, the time-honoured base of all British operations in the West Indies, and there was Commodore Moore waiting with two more ships of the line to join them and to take command of the fleet. After ten days' stay they again sailed away north-westward before the trade-wind. Astern of them the mountains of St. Vincent hung distant like a faint blue cloud; ahead of them two tall peaks, shaped like gigantic sugar-loaves, rose higher and higher from the sea, and marked the southern end of St. Lucia. Then St. Lucia came abeam62, a rugged63 mass of volcanic64 mountains shrouded65 heavily in tropical forest, and another island rose up broad and blue not many leagues ahead, an island which the men crowded forward to see, for they were[348] told that it was Martinique. Still the fleet held on; St. Lucia was left astern and Martinique loomed66 up larger and bolder ahead; then an islet like a pyramid was passed on the starboard hand, the Diamond Rock, not yet His Majesty's Ship; a little farther and the fleet was under the lee of the island; yet a little farther and the land shrank back to eastward67 into a deep inlet ringed about by lofty volcanic hills, and a few useless cannon68-shot from a rocky islet near the entrance proclaimed that the French were ready for them in the Bay of Fort Royal.[305]
Jan. 16.
Jan. 17.
The ships lay off the bay until the next day, while Hopson thought out his plan of operations. The town and fortress69 of Fort Royal lies well within the bay on the northern shore, so Negro Point, which marks the entrance to the harbour to the north, was the spot selected for the landing. The ships next morning stood in and silenced two small batteries mounted at the Point, and in the afternoon the troops landed unopposed in a small bay adjacent to it. A camping ground was chosen in the only open space that could be found, between two ravines, and there the army passed the night formed up in square, to be ready against any sudden attack. At dawn of the next morning shots were heard, and the outposts reported that the enemy was advancing and entrenching70 a house close to the British position. The grenadiers were sent forward to dislodge them, and a smart skirmish ended in the retreat of the French. Hopson would fain have pushed more of his men into action, but the jungle was so dense71 that they could find no enemy. "Never was such a country," wrote the General plaintively72, "the Highlands of Scotland for woods, mountains, and continued ravines are nothing to it."[306] As it was plainly out of the question to attempt to drag the heavy artillery before Fort Royal over such a country, it was decided to re-embark the troops forthwith. Nearly one [349]hundred men had been killed and wounded in the morning's skirmish, but the embarkation was accomplished74 without further loss.
Jan. 18.
On the following day the fleet coasted the island northward75 and by evening lay off St. Pierre, the second town in Martinique, which stood nestling in a little plain at the head of a shallow bay. The men-of-war stood in on the next morning to observe the defences of the place, and the fire of the French batteries from the heights to right and left soon convinced the Commodore that the town could not be taken without such damage to his ships as would disable them for further service. It was therefore resolved that Martinique should for the present be left alone, and that the expedition should proceed to Guadeloupe, which was not only the richest of the French Islands but the principal nest of French privateers in the West Indies. So the fleet steered76 northward once more past Dominica, where the white flag of the Bourbons yet floated over the fort of Roseau; while a single ship was sent forward with the chief military engineer on board to reconnoitre the town of Basseterre, which lies on the western or leeward77 coast a few miles to north of the most southerly point of Guadeloupe.
Jan. 23.
Jan. 24.
Jan.
The engineer returned with no very encouraging report. The town though lying on an open roadstead was well fortified, and all the approaches to it along the coast were well protected, while the fort of Basseterre, situated78 on a lofty eminence79 at the southern end, was declared to be impregnable by the attack of ships alone. Moore, however, was resolute that the town could and should be taken, and at ten o'clock on the morning of the 23rd the ships of the line and bomb-ketches opened a heavy fire on the fort and batteries. In a few hours the town, crammed80 with the sugar and rum of the past harvest, was burning furiously, and by nightfall every battery was silenced and the town was a heap of blackened ruins. At dawn of the morrow the troops were landed, to find the elaborate lines of defence inland[350] deserted81 and every gun spiked82, while desultory83 shots from among the sugar-canes alone told of the presence of the enemy. The army encamped in Basseterre, but the firing from the cane-fields increased, and picquets and advanced posts were harassed84 to death by incessant85 alarms and petty attacks. Hopson sent a summons to the French Governor to surrender, but received only an answer of defiance86. The Governor had in fact withdrawn87 his force some six miles from Basseterre to an impregnable position such as can be found only in a rugged, mountainous and untamed country. Each flank was covered by inaccessible88 hills clothed with impenetrable forest; in his front ran the river Galeon with high and precipitous banks, and beyond the river a gully so steep and sheer that the French themselves used ladders to cross it. The position was further strengthened by entrenchments and cannon. To attack it in front was impossible. The only practicable access was by a narrow road which led through dense forest upon one flank; and this was most carefully guarded. Here therefore the French commander lay, refusing to come to action but sending out small parties to worry the British outposts, in the hope that the climate would do the work of repelling89 his enemy for him.
Feb. 14.
Nor was he without good ground for such hope; for Hopson was in great doubt whether it would not be more expedient90 for him to re-embark. His own health was failing rapidly, and the men were beginning to fall down fast under the incessant work at the advanced posts and the fatigue91 of carrying provisions to them. From the day of landing it had been found necessary to push these advanced posts farther and farther inland and to make them stronger and stronger, until at last they embraced a circuit of fully three miles. By the end of January the men on the sick list numbered fifteen hundred, or fully a quarter of the force. Hopson sent six hundred invalids92 to Antigua in the hope of saving at least some of them, but therewith his efforts[351] came to an end, nor could all the representations of Barrington stimulate93 him to further action. Yet new operations were by no means difficult either of conception or of execution. Guadeloupe is in reality not one island but two, being divided by a narrow strait known as the Salt River. It is very much of the shape of a butterfly with wings outspread, flying south; the western wing being known as Guadeloupe proper and the eastern as Grande Terre, while the Salt River runs in the place of the butterfly's body. Grande Terre, the most fertile part of the island, still lay open to attack, with an excellent harbour at Point à Pitre, of which the principal defence, Fort Louis, could be reached by the cannon of ships. Moore being fortunately independent of Hopson in respect of naval operations, sent ships round to Fort Louis, which speedily battered94 it into surrender, and installed therein a garrison of three hundred Highlanders and Marines. But even with this new base secured to him Hopson declined to move. He was indeed sick unto death, and on the 27th of February he died, leaving the command to devolve on Barrington.
March 6.
March 11.
March.
His death came none too soon, for the force was on the brink95 of destruction. The number of the dead cannot be ascertained96, but over and above the six hundred invalids sent to Antigua there were more than sixteen hundred men on the sick list, and the remainder were succumbing97 so fast that sufficient men could hardly be found to do the daily duty. Barrington resolved to close this fatal period of inaction at once. The defences of the fort of Basseterre had already been repaired and rendered safe against attack, so the Sixty-third regiment was left to hold it while the remainder of the troops were embarked on board the transports. After five days of weary beating against the trade-wind a portion of the ships came to anchor before Fort Louis; but more than half of them had fallen to leeward. The next day was spent by Barrington in an open boat reconnoitring the coast, but on his return in the evening[352] he was met by the bad news that a French squadron had been sighted to northward of Barbados and that Moore felt bound to fall back with his own squadron to Prince Rupert's Bay, Dominica, in order to cover Basseterre and the British Leeward Islands. Finally, as sickness had wrought98 little less havoc99 in the fleet than in the army, the Commodore begged for troops to make up the complement100 of his crews.
Few situations could have been more embarrassing than that in which Barrington now found himself. He loyally gave Moore three hundred soldiers for his ships, and watched the fleet on which his communications depended vanish from sight. Nearly if not quite half of his force had perished or was unfit for duty; while of the rest a part was isolated101 in Basseterre and fully one moiety102 was at sea, striving to beat into Point à Pitre. Fort Louis, the only strong position in which he could hope to wait in safety, was found to be untenable; and the French were already preparing to besiege103 it. Yet with a resolution which stamps him as no common man, he resolved despite all difficulties to begin offensive operations at once. He had at any rate transports though he had no men-of-war, and he resolved to use them; his plan being, if he failed to bring the enemy to action, to ravage104 the whole island and reduce it by starvation. The cultivated land in such a confusion of mountains could lie only in the valleys, and the settlements must needs lie at the mouths of those valleys where there was communication with other parts of the island by sea or by roads that followed the coast. The French had raised abundance of batteries and entrenchments to protect these settlements, but such multiplicity of defences necessarily implied dispersion of force. Barrington's troops, few though they might be, were at any rate to some extent concentrated; and it was in his power to embark men sufficient to overwhelm any one of these isolated settlements, and so to break up the defences in detail. The operations were not in fact difficult when once a man had thought out the method[353] of conducting them, but it was precisely105 in this matter of thought that Hopson had failed.
March 27.
March 29.
A fortnight was occupied in strengthening the defences of Port Louis; and on the 27th of March six hundred men were embarked under command of Colonel Crump and sent off to the south coast of Grande Terre, with orders to land between the towns of St. Anne and St. Fran?ois, destroy both of them and ruin the batteries erected for their protection. Crump, an excellent officer, performed this duty punctually and with little loss; and on the 29th Barrington, guessing that the French would certainly have detached some of their troops from Gosier, a port a few miles to westward of St. Anne, sailed with three hundred men against it, and at dawn fell upon the enemy in their entrenchments. The troops, eager for work after long inaction, attacked with great spirit, drove the enemy out with little difficulty and slight loss, and then prepared to force their way back to Fort Louis by land. Barrington had ordered two separate sallies to be made by the garrison upon the lines erected by the French against the fort, but owing to some mistake one only was delivered. Nevertheless his own little detachment did the work unaided, captured a battery of twenty-four pounders which had been planted by the enemy to open on the fort on the next day, and returned to its quarters triumphant106.
April 12.
April 13.
By this time the missing transports had succeeded in working into Point à Pitre; but to countervail this advantage there came news from Basseterre that the colonel in command, a valuable officer, had been killed, together with one or two of his men, by an accidental explosion, and that the French were constructing batteries to bombard the fort. Barrington appointed a new commander, with orders to sally forth73 and capture these batteries without more ado; and the task, since he had chosen the right men to execute it, was performed with little trouble or loss. Moreover, having now ruined the most important settlements in Grande Terre he resolved to apply the same principles of warfare107 to[354] Guadeloupe. Accordingly on the 12th of April Brigadier Clavering, with thirteen hundred men and six guns, was sent off to a bay close to Arnouville,[307] where they landed unopposed, the enemy retiring to a strong position in rear of the river Licorne. This position was all-important to the French since it covered Mahault Bay, which was the port by which the Dutch supplied Guadeloupe with provisions from the island of St. Eustatia. It was so strong by nature that it needed little fortification by art; access to the river being barred by a mangrove108 swamp, across which there were but two narrow approaches, both of them protected by redoubts, palisaded entrenchments, and cannon. None the less Clavering determined109 to attack. Covered by a heavy fire of artillery the Fourth and Forty-second advanced against the French left, firing by platoons as coolly as if on parade, till the Highlanders drawing their claymores made a rush, and the Fourth dashing forward with the bayonet drove the French from the redoubt. Then pushing round to the rear of the entrenchments on the French right they forced the enemy to evacuate110 them also, and captured seventy prisoners. The French then retreated southward, setting fire to the cane-fields as they passed in order to check the British pursuit, and took post behind the river Lezarde, breaking down the bridge behind them. It was too late for Clavering to attack them on that day, for the only ford on the river was protected by a redoubt and four guns; but keeping up a fire of artillery all night in order to distract the enemy's attention, he passed a party in a canoe across the river below the position of the French, who no sooner saw their right flank turned than they retired with precipitation, abandoning all their guns. Following the coast southward to Petit Bourg, where they had prepared fortified lines and armed redoubts, the French again tried to make a stand; but Barrington had sent a[355] bomb-vessel to await them off the coast, which opened fire with shell and drove them back once more, before they could withdraw their guns from the entrenchments.
April 14.
April 18.
April 19.
May 1.
Then and not till then did Clavering grant his men a halt after their hard work under the tropical sun; but on the 15th he was in motion again, and a detachment of a hundred men was sent to capture the next battery to southward at the town of Gouyave. The French, now thoroughly111 disheartened, waited only to fire one shot and then fled, leaving seven guns behind them, when the British having spiked the cannon retired to Petit Bourg. On the same day Colonel Crump was sent with seven hundred men to Mahault Bay, where he found the French defences abandoned. Having destroyed them, together with a vast quantity of stores, he marched to join Clavering at Petit Bourg and to help in the work of desolating112 the country round it. Heavy rain suspended operations during the two following days; but on the 18th the entire force, excepting a garrison of two hundred and fifty men which was left at Petit Bourg, renewed the advance southward upon St. Maries, where all the French troops in the island were assembled to oppose it. The French position was as usual strongly entrenched113, but the paths that led to rear of it, being judged impassable, were left unguarded. A detachment was therefore sent to turn the entrenchments by these paths, and the artillery was hastened up to the front; but the guns had hardly opened fire when the French, perceiving the movement in their rear, deserted their fortifications and fled to another entrenched position on the heights beyond St. Maries. The British pursued; and, while the ground was clearing for the artillery to come into action, part of the infantry114 tried to force a way through the forest and precipices115 on the flank of the earthworks. The French, weary of finding position after position turned, left their fortified lines to meet this attack, whereupon Clavering instantly launched the remainder of his troops[356] straight at the lines, and despite a heavy fire of artillery and musketry swept the enemy out of this last refuge. On the morrow the army entered the district of Capesterre, reputed the richest in the whole of the West Indies; and the inhabitants, dreading116 lest it should be overtaken by the fate of the rest, came and begged for terms. A capitulation was therefore granted on liberal conditions, and Guadeloupe, one of the wealthiest of the Antilles, with a harbour large enough to shelter the whole Navy of England from hurricanes, passed for the present to the Crown of Britain.
May 26.
The surrender came in the nick of time, for the ink of the signatures was hardly dry when news came of the arrival of General Beauharnais from Martinique with six hundred French regular troops and two thousand buccaneers. A day earlier this reinforcement would have saved Guadeloupe; but on hearing of the capitulation Beauharnais re-embarked his troops and sailed away. Nothing therefore remained for Barrington but to settle the administration, fortify117 the harbour, and leave a sufficient garrison to hold it. The island of Mariegalante, which had not been included in the capitulation, made some show of defiance but surrendered on the first display of force. Crump was installed as Governor; the Fourth, Sixty-third, and Sixty-fifth were left with him; the Thirty-eighth returned to its old quarters in the Leeward Islands, the Highlanders were shipped off to America, and in June Barrington, with the remnant of the Buffs, Sixty-first, and Sixty-fourth, returned to England.
So ended the campaign of Guadeloupe. The story is one which is little known, and the name of John Barrington is one of which few have heard; yet surely the achievements of himself and of his troops are such as should not be forgotten. Barrington took over from Hopson an army weakened by sickness, worn to death by defensive118 warfare of the most harassing119 kind, and disheartened by the consciousness that it was working to no purpose. He at once shifted his base[357] for more active operations, only to find, to his great mortification120, half of his force literally121 at sea, and the fleet taken from him for other duty. Yet he went to work at once; and knowing that he could not take the island by force reduced it to submission122 by cutting off and destroying its supplies. I have not hesitated to describe the petty engagements which followed, since there was not one which did not show forethought in the planning and skill in the execution. It is true that the French regular troops on the island were few, and that the enemy which deserted its entrenchments so readily was made up mainly of raw militia123 and armed civilians124; but they never fought except in a strong position protected by artillery. It is true also that the actual work in the field was done by Crump and Clavering, two excellent officers, for Barrington was so much crippled by gout that he could hardly leave Fort Louis. Nevertheless the whole scheme of operations was Barrington's, and no man more cordially acknowledged the fact than Clavering himself. The number of the British killed and wounded in action is unfortunately not to be ascertained, but judging by the casualties of the officers, of whom eleven were killed and twenty-one wounded, it was not very great. But it is not lead and steel that are most fatal in a tropical expedition, and it is not in killed and wounded that its cost must be reckoned. The island had been conquered, but the climate had not; and the climate took its revenge. By the close of the seven months that remained of the year 1759 nearly eight hundred officers and men of the garrison had found their graves in Guadeloupe.
Authorities.—For the expeditions to Cancalle Bay and Cherbourg, see Account by an officer of the late expedition. Entick also gives details from the official documents. For the operations at Goree, see State Papers (Record Office), C. O., Col. Corres., Sierra Leone, 2, 3. For Guadeloupe, see State Papers, C. O., America and West Indies, 100, 101; W. O., Orig. Corres., 26. Entick again gives a confused statement.
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1
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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2
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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4
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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5
repudiating
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的现在分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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6
broached
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| v.谈起( broach的过去式和过去分词 )；打开并开始用；用凿子扩大（或修光）；（在桶上）钻孔取液体 | |
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7
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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10
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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12
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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13
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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14
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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15
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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16
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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18
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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19
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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20
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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21
embarkation
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| n. 乘船, 搭机, 开船 | |
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22
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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23
forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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24
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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25
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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embarking
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| 乘船( embark的现在分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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30
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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32
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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33
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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34
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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scoured
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| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
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37
levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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38
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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39
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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40
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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41
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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42
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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43
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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44
garrisons
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| 守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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45
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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46
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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47
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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48
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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49
commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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50
sporadic
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| adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的 | |
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51
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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52
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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53
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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54
narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
encroachment
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| n.侵入，蚕食 | |
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56
insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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57
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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58
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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59
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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60
convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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61
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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62
abeam
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| adj.正横着(的) | |
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63
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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64
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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65
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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66
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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67
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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68
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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69
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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70
entrenching
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| v.用壕沟围绕或保护…( entrench的现在分词 )；牢固地确立… | |
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71
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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72
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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73
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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74
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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75
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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76
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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77
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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78
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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79
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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80
crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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81
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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82
spiked
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| adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的 | |
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83
desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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84
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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85
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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86
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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87
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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88
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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89
repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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90
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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91
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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92
invalids
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| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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93
stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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95
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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96
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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succumbing
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的现在分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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98
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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99
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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100
complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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101
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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102
moiety
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| n.一半；部分 | |
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103
besiege
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| vt.包围，围攻，拥在...周围 | |
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104
ravage
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| vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废 | |
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105
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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106
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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107
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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108
mangrove
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| n.(植物)红树，红树林 | |
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109
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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110
evacuate
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| v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便 | |
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111
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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112
desolating
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| 毁坏( desolate的现在分词 )； 极大地破坏； 使沮丧； 使痛苦 | |
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113
entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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114
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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115
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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116
dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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117
fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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118
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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119
harassing
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| v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人） | |
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120
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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121
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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122
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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123
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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124
civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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