256 WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. [A.D. Proso 4th of August, retook Nizza, and threatened Belgrade. rowsky was much chagrined at this inroad, and his health broke down under the anxiety and fatigues of his command, so that about this period he died, when Prince Bagration succeeded to the command of the Russian army. In order to bring back the GrandVizier, Bagration forthwith crossed the Danube at the embouchure of the Pruth, near Galatz, which opened a way for the Russian flotilla to enter into the mouth of the Danube, and then invested Ismail, which surrendered on the 26th of September. He then advanced against Silistria, and on his way surprised the entrenched camp of Khoref Pacha at Bassavata. The Vizier, however, contrived to throw in 15,000 Turks, under Pechlivar, for the defence of that fortress, and the Russians were consequently obliged to limit their operations against the place to a blockade, during the continuance of which their army was seriously diminished by the unhealthiness of the autumn season on the banks of the Danube. At the end of October the Grand-Vizier boldly took the field, and on the 3rd of November came up and fought a bloody battle with the Russians at Tartarizza, in which there is no doubt that the Russians were worsted, for the result of it was the raising of the blockade of Silistria. After this Bagration withdrew across the Danube, and took up winter quarters in Bessarabia, leaving a single corps entrenched near Hirsova, in order to maintain their ground on the south bank of the Danube. Some little lustre was, however, shed on the Russian armies, by which honour was derived to the first campaign of Prince Bagration; Brahilow having, after a long investment, surrendered on the 21st of November to the division of General Essen, by which a secure means was obtained of passing troops across the Danube at any future time. In Georgia, the Russian army, under General Tomasof, seized and held possession of Poti, at the embouchure of the river Phasis, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Pacha of Trebizonde to save it. The place was strategically important, from being situated at the confluence of the Phasis with the Black Sea; and it strengthened the Russians in their further relations with Persia. 36. WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. An expedition of a formidable character was undertaken by the British this year against the heart of the continental dominions of France. Antwerp had been made into a very extensive naval arsenal by the orders of Napoleon, who discovered that he had, by the acquisition of the Belgian provinces, not only become master of the entrance of the Scheldt, but also the possessor of a capacious basin or harbour in which a fleet of 20 sail of the line could lie in perfect readiness for sea, almost within sight of the British shores; that Antwerp was in effect the true key of England, threatening an entire eastern seaboard, on which there was no corresponding estuary or harbour for a fleet. The attention of the Emperor having been directed to the advantages possessed by this city for 1809.] WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. 257 offensive operations, very considerable activity had lately become apparent in her arsenals. In the summer of this year Rear-Admiral Missiessy had at anchor under his command, to the south-east of Cadsand, "Le Charlemagne," 74, bearing the Admiral's flag; "L'Albanais," 74," L'Anversois," 74, "Le César," 74, "Le Commerce de Lyon," 74, "Le Dalmate,” 74, “Le Dantzig,” 74, “Le Duguesclin," 74, "Le Pultusk," 74, and "Le Ville de Berlin," 74. There were also at this time on the stocks of Antwerp 6 ships of war of 80 guns each, and 3 of 74. The number of slips for building ships in this arsenal had been increased to nineteen, all situated close under the protective fire of the citadel, and at this moment not one of these slips was without the keel of a vessel of war, large or small. It was understood that Napoleon had expended already on the fortifications, basin, dockyard, and arsenal of Antwerp no less a sum than two and a half millions sterling. This aggressive entrepôt now, therefore, constituted an important object of attack for Great Britain, either to be destroyed, or temporarily held as a diversion in favour of Austria. It is agreed by all military writers, that such was the weakness of the position of Antwerp at this moment, that had the British advanced rapidly either on shore across Beveland, or by the waters of the Scheldt, pursuing vigorously the French fleet, which must have fled for safety under the guns of the citadel, all the forts and defences of the river must have been taken by surprise, and would have fallen. The fortress itself, badly garrisoned, and paralysed by a vigorous attack, must have succumbed in terror. The coast was so denuded of troops, that nothing could have impeded the march of an army such as was now preparing against it-whether it should move by the route abovenamed, or, what might have been under the circumstances preferable, land on some part of the coast of Belgium opposite Bruges, and march by Ghent, and along the high road to the Tête de Flandre. This might have been accomplished in three days, during which the fleet might have pushed along the estuary, and silenced all the intermediate forts capable of impeding a subsequent retreat if necessary. The instructions drawn up for the military portion of the expedition contemplated its being landed at Zartoleit, which is eighteen miles from Antwerp, and it was calculated that leaving the Downs on the 4th, and losing no time in hesitation, they might summon Antwerp on the 12th. Everything in such an enterprise depended upon secrecy and despatch, and under such a commanding genius as Napoleon, whose arm alone possessed the power to wield such a thunderbolt, it was perfectly practicable-in fact, he admitted as much at St. Helena, but thought that a landing might have been preferably effected at Williamstadt, and that from that point a coup-de-main would have succeeded. It was clear that the object contemplated depended not only on a considerable and well-appointed force, naval and military, but in a very eminent degree upon the character and qualities of the commanders. The naval part of the expedition was placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, an officer of consi 258 WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. [A.D. derable experience, and of recognised energy. The command of the army was intrusted to Lieutenant-General the Earl of Chatham, an officer (of no military experience, and utterly unknown to fame), reputed to possess a vigorous understanding, for which, as the son and brother of the most eminent statesmen of the age, men readily gave him credit. He was a man whose habits of life were proverbial for nerveless indolence, so that he enjoyed the soubriquet of the late Lord Chatham. Who was the insidious friend who brought him out of his obscurity to jeopardise the little reputation he ever had; whether he had studied the theory of war after a fashion, and fancied himself born to inherit distinction and honour; or whether his political associates put him forward to restore his narrow and somewhat embarrassed fortune, have not been remembered; but there can be no doubt that his appointment to the command of the army was a fatal blunder, and the cause of its entire failure. So much has been recorded in these "Annals" to show the supreme importance of activity, energy, and untiring industry in high military command, that it is scarcely necessary to do more than state that all these qualities were wanting in the General selected to carry into effect one of the best prepared enterprises ever devised to uphold the policy of Great Britain. ever. It was in the latter end of May that the British Government first resolved to send an expedition to the Scheldt. The General Commanding the army in chief, at this juncture, was Sir David Dundas, who had, indeed, reported that 15,000 men could scarcely be spared from the requisites of home service for any foreign expedition whatGreat exertions were, nevertheless, demanded at his hands, and made, so that before the 8th of June the muster rolls of the disposable force showed on paper an army of no less than 40,000 men. Before the end of May the news of the battle of Essling arrived to cheer the allied cause; and the information was not to be doubted that Napoleon had withdrawn from the Antwerp defences so many troops for his necessities on the Danube that the utmost number left to garrison the forts did not exceed 2,400 men, of whom more than one-half were invalids or non-effectives. It required the exact counterpart of the mighty spirit then working on the island of Lob-awe, for his own gigantic object, to prepare a force of the magnitude of the British conjunct expedition, which was to include a battering train of 70 large breaching guns and 74 mortars, and a fleet of 37 sail of the line, and all the stores requisite for an immense armament, and this within the very earliest period of time. As it was, the news of the battle of Wagram and of the armistice of Znaim actually took the preparations by surprise, for it was the 28th of July before the fleet quitted the Downs. On the 29th, in the morning, the two Commanders-in-chief, with Rear-Admiral Sir Gordon Keats, and Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope, reached the enemy's waters nearly opposite Zeirickzee, in the Roompoot channel, between Noord-Beveland, and Schonwen. The following morning Rear-Admiral Otway arrived with the left wing of the army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, at 1809.] WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. 259 Domburg, but there was such a surf on the western coast of Waicheren that a landing here was considered impracticable, and they were accordingly carried round to the Roompoot and up the Veeregat, where they anchored the same evening in safety. Meanwhile three other divisions, under the command respectively of Lieutenant-General the Marquis of Huntly, the Earl of Rosslyn, and Grosvenor, were brought into the Wieling branch of the Scheldt, to be landed on the coast of Cadsand. On the 30th the bombvessels and gunboats, under the direction of Captain Sir Home Popham, opened a cannonade on the town and fort of Veer, but on the first appearance of an enemy, the French General Bries, who had command of 600 men, abandoned his post, and crossed over the dyke to Zuid-Beveland, leaving Colonel Van Bogart inside the fort. The defenceless town of Middleburg was, however, taken possession of by a division nnder Lieutenant-General Fraser the same day, and in the course of the night Van Bogart sent in a flag of truce with an offer to capitulate, which was accepted, and on the 11th of August the fort of Veer was taken possession of by the British. On the 3rd, fort Ramekens, near Flushing, surrendered, and General Hope having established himself in Zuid-Beveland, General Bries evacuated the important fort of Battz, which was taken possession of. As the transports successively entered the mouth of the Scheldt and landed the troops, the British fleet came into the channels; on sight of which Admiral Missiessy weighed and stood further up the Scheldt, and by the 1st had passed the boom opposite Fort Lillo. General Rousseau, who commanded in Cadsand, had but 300 men, but by some mistake the transports that were to have landed the division on that island went round to the Veergat, and the French General, finding himself unassailed, immediately sent orders to put the town of Flushing in a state of preparation to resist the enemy. The "Raven," 16, Captain Hauchett, did his utmost to prevent the communication of the French with Flushing across the Steen Diep, but he got terribly mauled by the guns of the place, and at length only saved himself by getting on shore on the Elborg sand; so that by the exertions of General Rousseau, some 7,000 men, under General Monnet, were passed across to make a garrison for that fortress. The officers of the British navy were indefatigable in sounding and buoying the various channels of the Scheldt, and in assisting to bring the supplies and matériel of the army to land, but it was on the 16th, in the afternoon, before the following 10 frigates, under the command of Captain Lord William Stuart, entered the western branch of the Scheldt:-His own ship "Lavinia," 40, Perlen," 38, Captain Norbonne Thompson, "Rota," 38, Captain Somerville, "Statira," 38, Captain Worsley Boys, "Amethyst," 36, Captain Sir Michael Seymour, "Aigle," 36, Captain Wolfe, "Euryalus," 36, Honourable Captain Dundas, "Dryad," 36. Captain Galwey, Nymphe," 36, Captain Maxwell, Heroine," 32, Captain Christian. This flotilla forced the passage between Flushing and Cadsand, with slight loss and very little damage. 66 66 From the 3rd to the 8th of August, the soldiers were construct 260 66 BOMBARDMENT OF FLUSHING. [A.D. ing and arming batteries to bombard Flushing, on which latter day General Monnet ordered a sortie, under General Osten, but all his endeavours could not carry a single battery from its defenders, and the French were driven in again, with the loss of 800 men. It had been arranged that a squadron of 7 effective line-of-battle ships, under the command of Rear-Admiral Lord Gardiner, should cooperate with the army in cannonading Flushing. Accordingly, on the 12th, the " Blake," 74, Captain Codrington, with his lordship's flag, the "Repulse," 74, Captain Arthur Legge; the "Dannemark,” 74, Captain Bissett; the " Victorious," Captain Graham; the "Audacious," 74, Captain Campbell, and the "Venerable," 74, Captain King, were assembled under the immediate direction of the Commander-in Chief, Sir Richard Strachan, who was in the "St. Domingo," 74, Captain Gill. One division of bomb and gun vessels under the command of Captain Cockburn, and a similar division under Captain Philip Browne, were stationed off the south-east and south west of the town. On the 13th and 14th, all these batteries opened at once on the devoted place, and continued without intermission for 42 hours, when the whole town was in a blaze from the Congreve rockets, and the fire of the garrison ceased. After a first summons had been refused, General Monnet himself proposed to surrender, but could obtain no better terms than marching out with the honours of war, and being sent prisoner to England. Napoleon was always severe upon any officer who surrendered a garrison, and accordingly ordered General Monnet to be tried for lâcheté et trahison, and he was condemned to death par contumace, but remained a prisoner in England till the restoration, when he was reinstated in his honours by the Bourbons. The loss sustained by the British in reducing the place was comparatively insignificant. The ships were many of them set on fire by red hot shot and seriously damaged in hull, mast, and rigging, but the loss of men in the ships was 9 killed and 55 wounded, but the whole loss from the first did not exceed 112 killed and 498 wounded. Upon the receipt of the despatch of General Rousseau, bringing the account of a British invasion, the Minister of War at Paris (Clarke, Duc de Feltre) sent off to apprise Napoleon at Schönbrunn, and immediately took active measures for the safety of Antwerp. Superior officers of every arm of military science were found in Paris, together with a Civil Governor, and the Senator Rampon immediately repaired thither, and the National Guards and every dispo able detachment of troops which could be brought together, were marched in all haste to the banks of the Scheldt. On the 12th, King Louis Bonaparte arrived there in person, with 6,000 men, and the Prince Marshal Bernadotte followed on the 14th, who immediately assumed the command of the army, and the King withdrew to Amsterdam. A ter the fall of Flushing, the islands of Schonwen and Duiveland came into the peaceable possession of the army, and Lord Chatham, on the 21st, removed his head quarters from Middleburg to Veer, and on the 23rd to Goes; and, while 10,000 men were |