also, and relying on the strength of Guadaloupe if it were sufficiently garrisoned, they made every effort to throw in succours, generally by means of single ships. Four of their vessels, however, were fortunate enough to effect their escape out of harbour together; two were frigates of 48 guns, carrying 300 men each, the other two ships of the same size, armed en flute, with 20 guns each, and having on board 400 troops with Dec. 13. military stores. Captain 1809. Shortland, in the Junon frigate, with the Observateur brig in company, fell in with them about 150 miles to the windward of Guadaloupe; they were under Spanish colours, and answered correctly the Spanish private signals which he made. Being thus deceived, he stood toward them, but when he came within gun-shot he began to suspect his danger, and gave orders to put the ship about. At that moment French colours were hoisted, and a broadside poured into the Junon, which killed the man at the helm; the one who took his place did not correctly hear the orders, and the ship in consequence, instead of rnnning between the two headmost frigates, sheered on board one of them, and was immediately closed by the other on the opposite side. it was no longer possible to escape, and all Captain Shortland could do was to maintain the conflict to the utmost, and give the enemy sufficient employment to prevent them from pursuing the brig. He had only two hundred men: the two larger frigates lay one on each side of him; of the others, one had passed her bowsprit over the Junon's starboard, the other over her larboard quarter, and a most destructive fire was poured in from all sides, the mus

kets of the troops being particularly galling. Captain Shortland attempted to board, but the boarding party were almost all cut off by a general volley directed against them. It was long before the enemy ventured to make the same attempt; they were three times repulsed in it; at length, however, they succeeded, and after an action of an hour and a quarter, the Junon struck. Ninety of her men were killed and wounded, and the hull so complete a wreck, that the enemy set fire to her the next day. The captain was dreadfully wounded, his head being the only part about him unhurt; it is not known that any man ever received so many severe wounds in one action to the last moment he had headed the men, with a pike in his hand, till a langridge shot laid him senseless on the deck. He was carried on board the French ship with great difficulty, a very heavy sea running at the time; there he was placed in the captain's cabin, but upon a false alarm that an English frigate was in sight, the French cleared for action, and he was removed into the gun room. These removals increased his sufferings, and the enemy being obliged to run into a small creek for fear of the English instead of entering Basseterre, he was carried in an open canoe under a scorching sun 13 miles to the hospital.

His right leg was amputated above the knee; there was, however, little hope or possibility of his recovery. On the part of the French medical staff, every thing was done to alleviate his sufferings. General Ernouf, it is said, never offered him a single comfort, nor sent a single message of complimentary inquiry or condolence; he gave orders, however, that every military honour should be paid to his re

mains, when after six weeks suffering, during the whole of which time he had never been able to sit up in his bed, this brave man was released by death. Captain Shortland's request was, that no catholic priest, nor any emblem of the catholic religion, might be seen at his funeral; for he was especially anxious to have it known, that though it was his lot to die among catholics, he died a firm and fervent believer in the protestant faith. Ac cordingly, a British union-jack was used for his pall,-no fitter could have been devised for such a man, and the funeral service was performed by the purser of the Junon.

The prisoners taken in the Junon were immediately exchanged; for Buonaparte could not afford in the islands to condemn his own soldiers and seamen to life-long imprisonment, for the sake of gratifying his hatred of the English, as he does in Europe. In one of the cartels, General Er. nouf sent two officers to Martinique to organize the intended insurrection, which was to begin when the garrison was weakened, by having part of its force embarked against Guadaloupe. The project was detected by the English governor just when the last ship of war was working out of the bay to join the expedition, and in time to recal her. The prisoners were immediately confined in the fort, and the guns turned upon the town; and the emissaries being seized and their whole plans discovered, the island was made as secure as it could be under its unfavourable and hopeless circumstances.

The action in which Captain Shortland received his death-wounds has never been surpassed in the annals of the British navy. He knew that it was impossible to escape; but he

VOL. III. PArt I.

hoped that, by resisting to the last, the enemy might be prevented from pursuing the brig in his company, and that the intelligence might thus be communicated of the French squa dron. On the third day after the action, the Observateur reached Martinique. Admiral Cochrane immediately put to sea, but the brig had spoken with one of our light squadrons on the way, and when the Admiral, having obtained intelligence that two of the French frigates were in Ance le Barque, to the N. and W. of Basseterre, Dec. 18, arrived there with the in- 1809. tention of attacking them, he found the squadron under Captain Ballard, of the Sceptre, ready to commence the attack. The two frigates were those which were armed en flute; they were moored with their broadsides toward the entrance of the bay, and protected by several batteries: the batteries were stormed, and the enemy deserted their ships and set fire to them. The log-book of one was found, and it bore a high but unintended testimony to the gallantry with which the Junon had been defended; for it was alleged as a reason why the Observateur had not been pursued, that they could not spare one of the frigates for that purpose.

The preparations for attacking Guadaloupe were completed about the middle of January; the troops under Lieut.-General Sir George Beckwith, the naval force under Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. The first division, under Major-General Hislop, anchored at Gosier, landed without opposition at the village of St Marie, on the evening of the 27th, and marched onwards to Cabesterre, on the road to Trois Rivieres. + R

The second division, under General Harcourt, made a feint against Trois Rivieres, which prevented the enemy from making a stand at the difficult pass of Trochien; and having effected this, it was landed to the north of Basseterre, near the River du Plessis, about three leagues from the town. The reserve, under Brig.-Gen. Wale, remained at St Marie, to cover the landing of the provisions and stores; and having done this,'it joined the first division at the Three Rivers. The enemy abandoned their batteries just as the British advanced; and finding their right threatened by General Hislop, they abandoned also their works at Palmiste and Morne Houel: this latter position being of great importance, was occupied by General Wale. On the morning of the 3d, General Hislop marched from Palmiste, and crossed the river Gallion at the only practicable pass. One of his brigades took post about a mile from the bridge of Noziere, on the river Noire; the other occupied a house where the French had abandoned a magazine of provisions. The enemy meantime had retired beyond the bridge, having the Black River in their front, and their left extended into the mountains, so asto render the position secure. Their main object had been to defend the passage of the river, and Sir George Beckwith perceived that it was necessary to attack their left wing by the mountains, difficult as the attempt was, from the nature of the ground, and the means of defence which had been provided. General Wale was sent upon this service.

The River de la Pere was to be crossed. General Wale found a guide who pledged his life that he would guide him across by a route which was less than half the length of that

marked in his orders; there was no time to consult the commander-inchief, but this officer did not hesitate to profit by such important intelligence, and Sir G. Beckwith approved afterwards entirely of his "decision. The road was too difficult to be attempted in the dark; an immediate attack therefore was resolved on. General Wale forced the pass of the river, notwithstanding the natural advantages of defence which it afforded had been well improved by every obstruction which the French could place there, and by abbattis lined with troops. The British marched about 100 yards through brakes and bushes on the farther bank, the front companies then branched into three columns, and rapidly ascended the heights; as they approached the summit the ascent became steeper, and a destructive fire from 500 of the enemy's best troops was poured down upon them. But they gained the summit, and finding the French posted behind abbattis and stockaded redoubts, advanced to them, reserving their fire till they were within fiveand-twenty yards, then closed with them, and put them to flight in a few minutes. The whole action, from the time the passage of the river had been won, continued an hour and a half; it was exceedingly severe, from the nature of the ground. General Wale was wounded, so also was Major Henderson, who first ascended the heights, and four captains; four lieutenants were killed, and above eighty men killed and wounded. This exploit decided the campaign; no sooner had General Ernouf perceived that his flank was turned, and the heights in possession of the British, than he hoisted the white flag. The troops surrendered prisoners of war, to be

sent to England. The French part of the island of St Martins was included in the capitulation. Commodore Fahie took possession of it on the 14th, and the Dutch governor yielded the other part before night.

The commodore then sailed for St Eustatius, which surrendered without resistance; and thus the enemy were deprived of their last possession in the Columbian islands,

OUR arms were equally successful in the Indian as in the Caribbean seas; but the British conquests in that part of the world were preceded by an unexpected naval loss, and by events of the most alarming nature to our Indian empire. In March 1808, Sir George Barlow, then governor-general of Madras, received orders to carry into effect certain military reforms, for the purpose of reducing the expences of the presidency, which every year greatly exceeded its revenues. One of these retrenchments was the abolition of what is called the Tent Contract. By this contract, which was established in 1802, every officer received a certain monthly allowance to provide himself with camp equipage, and the commanding officers of the native troops received in like manner an allowance for providing the camp equipage of their corps. These allowances were calculated upon the supposition, that what the officers saved in time of peace, would indemnify them for the losses incident in

war.

In all our Indian wars, there had always been found the most serious difficulty in providing for the draught and carriage of the army; operations of the greatest importance having often been retarded by this cause, to the imminent hazard of their failure. The movements of Hyder and Tip

poo were as expeditious as ours were dilatory, because an establishment of public cattle formed part of the military system of the Mysore government. Upon the conquest of My. sore, the British government continued and extended this important branch of the commissariat. These cattle were only employed in drawing artillery; but it was thought that the same system might advantageously be extended, and the camp equipage conveyed in the same manner; and in 1807, Sir John Craddock, the then commander-in-chief, informed the quarter-master-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Munro, that having long given his attention to the subject, he was convinced that the tent contract was founded upon an erroneous system, both as relating to public economy, and also to the equitable indemnification of commanding officers through the vicissitudes of peace and war; he therefore required the quarter-master-general to take the subject into his special consideration, and draw up a plan which should se cure the two essential points of efficiency and economy, for unless these points could be secured, he would not disturb the existing arrangements. Colonel Munro accordingly prepared a statement in obedience to this order. His opinion coincided with that of the commander-in-chief. "Six