effected without loss. Brigadiers Grant and Haviland were detached to the Bay of Ance Darlet, where they made a descent without opposition. On the 16th, General Monckton and the whole army landed in the neighbourhood of Cas de Navire, under Morne Tortueson and Morne Garnier, two considerable eminences which overlook and completely command the town and citadel of Fort Royal. Till these were carried, the town could not be attacked with any reasonable prospect of success; but if the enterprise should prove successful, the enemy, without being able to return it, would be exposed to the fire of these commanding heights, from whence every shot would plunge through the roof to the foundation of every house in the town. Suitable precautions had therefore been taken to secure these important stations against attack. Like the other high grounds in this island, they were protected by very deep and rocky ravines, and their natural strength was much improved by art. Morne Tortueson was first attacked. To support this operation, a body of troops and marines, (800 of the latter having been landed from the fleet,) were ordered to advance on the right, along the sea side, towards the town, for the purpose of attacking two redoubts near the beach. Flatbottomed boats, each carrying a gun and manned with sailors, were ordered close in shore to support this movement. On the left a corps of light infantry was to get round the enemy's left, whilst the attack on the centre was made by the grenadiers and Highlanders, supported by the main body of the army; all to be under cover of the fire of the new batteries, which had been hastily erected on the opposite ridges. With their usual spirit and activity, the sailors had dragged the cannon to the summit of these almost perpendicular ridges on which the batteries had been erected. The necessary arrangements were executed with great gallantry and perseverance. The attack succeeded in every quarter. The works were carried in succession; the enemy driven from post to post; and, after a severe struggle, our troops became masters of the whole Morne. Thus

far they had proceeded with success; but nothing decisive could be done without possession of the other eminence of Garnier, which, from its greater height, enabled the enemy to cause much annoyance to our troops. Three days passed ere proper dispositions could be made for driving them from this ground. The preparations for this purpose were still unfinished, when the enemy's whole force descended from the hill, and attacked the British in their advanced posts. They were immediately repulsed; and the troops, carried forward by their ardour, converted defence into assault, and passed the ravines with the fugitives. "The Highlanders, drawing their swords, rushed forward like furies; and, being supported by the grenadiers under Colonel Grant, and a party of Lord Rollo's brigade, the hills were mounted and the batteries seized, and numbers of the enemy, unable to escape from the rapidity of the attack, were taken." The French regulars escaped into the town, and the militia fled, and dispersed themselves over the country. This action proved decisive; for the town, being commanded by the heights, surrendered on the 5th of February. This point being gained, the General was preparing to move against St Pierre, the capital of the colony, when his farther proceedings were rendered unnecessary by the arrival of deputies, who came to arrange terms of submission for that town and the rest of the island, together with the islands of Grenada, St Vincent, and St Lucia. This capitulation put the British in possession of all the Windward Islands.

The loss in this campaign amounted to 8 officers, 3 serjeants, and 87 rank and file, killed; and 33 officers, 19 serjeants, 4 drummers, and 350 rank and file, wounded. Of this loss the proportion which fell upon the Royal Highlanders consisted of Captain William Cockburn, and Lieutenant David Barclay, and 1 serjeant and 12 rank and file,

• Westminster Journal,

killed; Major John Reid, Captains James Murray,* and Thomas Stirling, Lieutenants Alexander Mackintosh, David Milne, Patrick Balneaves, Alexander Turnbull, John Robertson, William Brown, and George Leslie, 3 serjeants, 1 drummer, and 72 rank and file, wounded. Of Montgomery's Highlanders, Lieutenant Hugh Gordon and 4 rank and file were killed; and Captain Alexander Mackenzie, 1 serjeant, and 26 rank and file, wounded.

Great Britain having declared war against Spain, preparations were made to assail her in the tenderest point. For this purpose, it was determined to attack, in spring, the Havannah, the capital of the large island of Cuba, a place of the greatest importance to Spain, being the key of her vast empire in South America, and deemed by the Spanish ministry impregnable.

The capture of this strong town, in which the whole. trade and navigation of the Spanish West Indies centered, would almost finish the war in that quarter; and, if followed up by farther advantages, would expose to danger the whole of Spanish America. The command of this important enterprise was entrusted to Lieutenant-General the Earl of Albemarle, Admiral Sir George Pocock, and Commodore Keppell, together with Lieutenant-General Elliot, Major-Generals Keppell and La Fausille, and Brigadier-Generals Haviland, Grant, Lord Rollo, Walsh, and Reid. Lord Rollo, being attacked by fever, was carried on board ship, and proceeded to England. The following year, he died at Leicester, on his way to Scotland, and was buried with military honours, respected and lamented as a brave and able officer. Colonel Guy Carleton succeeded to the command of his brigade upon his departure.

Much valuable time was lost in preparations at home:

See an account of his wound in the article Athole Highlanders. This was one of the many remarkable instances of the rapid cure of the most desperate gun-shot wounds in the climate of those islands, which proves so deleterious to European constitutions in fever and inflammatory complaints.

and, instead of reaching the West Indies in time to sail for their destination immediately after the reduction of Martinique, the commanders did not leave England with the fleet till the month of March. The best period for action in these latitudes was thus lost, and an arduous service was to be undertaken in the most unhealthy season of the year. One part of the arrangements, however, was well executed. The fleet arrived off Cape Nicholas, on the 27th of May; and Commodore Sir James Douglas, with a fleet and troops from Martinique, joined them on the evening of the same day. The armament now included nineteen sail of the line besides eighteen frigates and smaller vessels of war, with the Royals, 4th or King's Own, 9th, 15th, 17th, 22d, 27th or Inniskilling, 28th, 34th, 35th, 40th, Royal Highlanders, 48th, 56th, 60th, 65th, 72d, 77th or Montgomery's HighLanders, 90th, 98th, two corps of provincials, and a detachment of marines under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon; in all, upwards of 11,000 firelocks. A further reinforcement of 4000 men was expected from New York. As the hurricane months were approaching, much of the success of the enterprise depended on expedition. The Admiral resolved, therefore, to run through the Straights of Old Bahama, a long narrow and dangerous passage. This bold attempt was executed with so much judgment and prudence, that the whole fleet, favoured by good weather, and sailing in seven divisions, completed, without loss or interruption, a navigation which is reckoned perilous for a single ship, and on the 5th of June arrived in sight of the Havannah.

The harbour of this city is the best in the West Indies. Its entrance is narrow, and is secured on one side by a fort called the Puntal, surrounded by a strong rampart, flanked with bastions, and covered by a ditch. In the harbour lay nearly twenty sail of the line, which, instead of making any attempt to oppose the operations of the invaders, secured themselves by sinking three ships in the mouth of the harbour, and throwing an iron-boom across it. The prepara,

tions being completed on the 7th June, the Admiral made a demonstration to land to the westward, while a body of troops disembarked to the eastward of the harbour without opposition, the squadron under Commodore Keppell having previously silenced a small battery on the beach. The army was divided into two corps, one of which, under Lieutenant-General Elliot, (afterwards Governor of Gibraltar,) was to cover the siege, and protect the parties employed in procuring water and provisions,—a service of great importance, for the water was scarce and of a bad quality, and the salt provisions were in such a state that they were more injurious than the climate to the health of the army.

• In this respect, as well as in the size and quality of the ships employed in transporting troops, there is now a great and important improvement, affording much additional security to the health of the troops, greater safety on the voyage, and more chance of success in all enterprises. Their provisions of all kinds (with the exception of the rum) are now of the best quality; and from the existing regulations, which direct all provisions to be surveyed by boards, composed of officers, it depends on themselves if they allow any bad provisions to be received. In former times, instances have been known when, in consequence of bad and heavy sailing transports, and provisions improperly cured, voyages have been so tedious, and the troops have become so sickly, that, on reaching the destined point of attack, nothing could be attempted, of which the expedition to Portobello in 1740, celebrated in so many doleful ballads, is a memorable instance. Great improvements are still required. While new rum is so notoriously known to be ruinous to health, that even the Negroes call it kill the devil, it is matter of regret that the troops should continue to be poisoned by the issue of such deleterious liquor. If good rum is dear, let the supply be discontinued; but when the health of the soldier is at stake, and (considerations of humanity apart) when the value of a soldier's life on foreign stations, and the expense of supplying vacancies, are considered, surely the difference in the value between good and bad spirits, in the daily allowance to the troops, ought not to be regarded. On the other hand, when, by proper encouragement, a full supply of the best fresh beef for all our West India garrisons can be obtained from Trinidad and the Spanish Main, a third cheaper than salt pork and beef can be sent from England, it is to be hoped that so important a subject will not be much longer neglected, and that our troops in tropical climates will not be fed on salf beef and pork, new rum and dry bread, which, in the language of the soldiers, who speak what they feel, must in a hot climate be "the devil's own diet."