Part 23

After having spoken of the many virtues of the amiable Captain Miller, Sir Sidney thus enlarges upon the merits of his departed friend, Major Oldfield:--"The next is Major Oldfield, of the Marines. I will tell the company where the body of this brave man was contended for, and they will judge where and how he died; it was a sortie of the garrison of St. John D'Acre, when attacked by General Buonaparte, that Major Oldfield, who commanded a column, was missing. On our troops advancing he was found--his body was found at the mouth of one of the enemy's mines, and at the foot of their works. Our brave men hooked him by the neckcloth as he lay dead, to draw him off; the enemy at the same time pierced him in the side with a halbert, and each party struggled for the body. The neckcloth gave way, and the enemy succeeded in dragging to their works this brave man; and here I must do them justice, which such gallant foes are justly entitled to, they buried him with all the honours of war."

Lieut. Beattie, of Marines, was wounded in this ever-memorable sortie, which reflected a bright lustre upon all that composed it.

The personal attention of Buonaparte to the operations of the siege was soon after diverted to another object, in repelling the bold attacks of the Samaritan Arabs, whom, by a train of able measures, he beat in every part of an extended line, and drove them across the Jordan.

My bounds will not allow me to detail the many incidents of this brilliant siege, where perseverance was constantly opposed to vigorous effort.

On the 1st of May, the French having cannonaded and made a breach, they a fourth time risqued a storm, but they were repulsed with heavy loss. The flanking fire from two ravelins run out on each side of the enemy's nearest approach, and in which the Marines of the Tigre and Theseus, to the admiration and gratitude of the Turkish garrison, worked and fought, though exposed to an incessant discharge upon them, contributed chiefly to the salvation of the place upon that day. The disposition of those ships, and of the inferior craft, was so judicious, that the republican trenches were unceasingly annoyed. These progressive duties afforded many tests of Naval zeal and courage. The early fall of Captain Wilmot, of that Corps, was felt a heavy loss, as he was an excellent Officer and a worthy man. The unfortunate death of Colonel Philippeaux would have been considered as an irretrievable disaster, if it had not been compensated by the active talents of Sir John Douglas, upon whom devolved the additional cares of an Engineer. These were much lessened by the co-operating abilities of Sir Sidney Smith, whose scientific and comprehensive mind promptly embraces a wide scope of knowledge, and its dictates are ever quickly pushed into action by the energies of a resolute soul.

The ravelins upon which the Marines worked, within ten yards of the enemy's approaches, were in a progress of completion between the 2d and 8th of May, and were each night assailed by the French, who were as often repulsed, in nine different attempts to storm, with immense slaughter. The gallantry of my Corps, in all, exceeds praise. Many sorties were made to incommode their covering works, and most unprecedented were the bodily fatigues and mental anxiety of all.

The republicans had some time past opened with heavy guns, which they had received from Jaffa, and from which a serious impression was made upon the works of the garrison. Resorting to fresh expedients, Buonaparte tried to effect a new breach in the eastern curtain, by a sap and mine; but the unremitting activity of the brave defenders of Acre, by making approaches under ground, destroyed the frame-work and his hopes. Again directing his attacks upon the Tower, an effort to establish a lodgment in the glacis was once more unavailing.

Fifty-one days of vindictive and unceasing contest, save those short intervals necessary to recruit exhausted nature, had elapsed, when the garrison beheld their long-expected reinforcements under Hassan Bey.

Foiled in every essay to carry the place, Buonaparte saw with grief and disappointment this flotilla, which was to blast all his ambitious schemes, and to relieve his now almost worn-out opponents. With a desperate ardour, impelled by wounded pride, he lost not a moment to prepare and advance to the assault, in the sanguine idea that by one bold effort he might consummate his ardent wishes before Hassan's troops could land. At ten, on the night of the 7th of May, the carnage began. Mr. Scroder, Master's Mate of the Theseus, from an 18 pounder in the Light House Castle; a 24, under Mr. Jones, Midshipman of the Theseus, mounted in the north ravelin, and two 68 pound carronades, under the direction of Mr. Bray, carpenter of the latter ship, which threw shells from two germes in the Mole, added to the Turkish musquetry, committed dreadful havoc amongst the French columns in moving on to the attack. Much might be said were I to diverge upon the many chequered events of the night and the following day. The morning's dawn displayed the enemy's standard flying on the outer angle of the Tower, which their intrepidity had carried, having ascended on its ruins. Here they made a lodgment by two traverses across the ditch, constructed and filled with sand bags, and the bodies of their dead.

Feeble is my panegyric of the unsurpassed heroism, the decisive resources, the conciliating address, and bold expedients of Sir Sidney Smith, during 25 hours of almost constant action. They have been but rarely equalled, and will never be outdone. He was well seconded by his able coadjutor Sir John Douglas, who combines a natural perseverance of character with the most manly judgment. Their virtues transcended to every subordinate rank, and animated all.

The British uniform was every where, even in the individual, a rallying point, and my Countrymen and my Corps, through this unrivalled defence, lay claim to the pre-eminent glory of having fixed a barrier to the boundless ambition of Buonaparte, and of republican France. Egypt was conquered at Acre, and India preserved. The Turks, aroused by the daring examples of a few British Seamen and Marines, performed feats of enthusiastic valour, and the French were driven, with immense slaughter, from every hold.

The dispirited and reduced state of the Army before Acre, in consequence of these heavy losses, urged Buonaparte to withdraw the division of Kleber, from the fords of the Jordan. Much was anticipated from this Corps, from its recent good conduct near to Nazareth. It was early destined to ascend that breach, in which so many of their countrymen had fallen victims. But the gallant sortie of a Turkish regiment, anxious to wipe away the stigma of indiscipline, cut out sufficient work for them, and carried the third parallel of the enemy. Their forward zeal exposed them to some loss in pushing on to the second trench; but they found sufficient employ for Kleber, who, instead of proceeding against the breach, was obliged to devote all his efforts to regain his works.

The attacks upon the 10th of May, were the last vigorous essays of the French to carry St. Acre. Hitherto, lavish of blood, Buonaparte saw its ineffectual waste, and the Soldiery perceiving themselves offered up as daily sacrifices to his insatiable ambition, lost all their ardour. Unrestrained by the principles of honour, he resorted to the blackest treachery, and the unexampled refuge of a Soldier--that of poisoning his opponent, and demanding a cessation of arms, in order to break it. His vain attempt to subdue a brave garrison during this sacred interval, in one day withered all his laurels, most impressively delineated his genuine character, and will one day be numbered amongst his crimes, by the historian of that country which he now rules with tyrannic despotism.

Precluded from every hope of success, Buonaparte retreated in disorder from before the walls of Acre, during the night of the 20th of May, Sir Sidney and his brave associates did not fail to pursue him, and to annoy his flying columns along the sea beach, while the Arabs, assembled by his counsels, harassed their rear.

Thus ended this memorable siege, during which, 53 British Seamen and Marines were killed, 13 drowned, 113 wounded, and 32 taken prisoners. It has immortalized every gallant fellow who bore a part in it.

The services of Sir Sidney Smith and Colonel Douglas did not terminate here. Although in many instances they were unfortunate, through Turkish indiscipline, they were still splendid in their nature, and momentous in their consequences.

Sir Sidney, returning to Cyprus, by his zeal and the general esteem in which he was held, raised an army of 13,000 men, which, being united to the Turkish fleet, and some English Seamen and Marines, proceeded to Aboukir, were landed, and headed by Colonel Douglas, who volunteered to lead them against Buonaparte in person. The Turks taking flight, were all either killed or taken, and their Chief, with Colonel Bromley, a French Emigrant Officer, owed their preservation from the sabres of the republican cavalry by riding into the sea, where they were picked up by Sir Sidney, who bravely rowed in shore, and kept their pursuers in awe, with a field-piece in the bow of his boat.

A second army, collected from Rhodes and other islands, attacked the French at Damietta, under Sir Sidney and Colonel Douglas, destroyed their magazines there, and had erected cannon against the French redoubt; but Turkish disobedience and insubordination subjected this mass to a disaster similar to that of Aboukir. Sensible of Colonel Douglas's professional talents, the Grand Vizier entreated Sir Sidney to permit his repairing to Jaffa, in order to organize his army there; he accordingly went thither.

Colonel Douglas, during four months, shared in the scanty allowances of the Ottoman army, subsisting upon two ounces of rice daily, sent from the Vizier's table, at which no Christian can sit; drinking brackish water, and constantly sleeping in the open air of the desert. Under all these pressures and privations, the energies of that Officer were, however, so great, that he gained possession of the wells of El-Arisch; seized a supply of provisions there, of which the troops were in utter need, carried the place, and by that means kept together the Ottoman army, on the eve of self-dissolution.

Monsieur Cazel, the French Commandant, who delivered up his sword to the Colonel, avowed that its conquest was almost solely achieved by the gallant British detachment which he led.

This important key to the Syrian desert, again restored to its proper owners, facilitated the convention of El-Arisch, by which the whole French army was to evacuate Egypt, and return home. This having been subsequently cancelled, afforded a fresh field for the valour of my Corps upon its shores.

The following letter from the Grand Vizier to Sir Sidney Smith, fully identifies his grateful sense of the merits of Colonel, now Sir John Douglas, of Marines.

"To the Commander of his Britannic Majesty's Fleet, to our much-esteemed and beloved friend Sir Sidney Smith, our best greeting. May your destiny be ever prosperous, and your health flourishing.

"We send you by the present our friendly advice and information concerning his Britannic Majesty's Officer, Colonel Douglas, to make known unto you, that, during his stay at, and co-operation with the army under our command, he has evinced not only the greatest activity and skill, but also the most undaunted courage and bravery. As his glorious and faithful services have afforded us the highest satisfaction, so do we wish the same may prove to him most honourable and advantageous; and as we think it just and expedient for all Powers and Sovereigns nobly to reward eminent merit, so have we written this letter, for the express purpose, to beg you to transmit to our dear, most respected, and great friend and ally, the King of Great Britain, a faithful narrative of Colonel Douglas's gallant behaviour, that accordingly he may be raised to the rank he so well deserves. We hope and trust, that at the receipt of our letter, you will act in conformity with this sincere desire.

"L. S.

"Given at our camp, before El-Arisch,

"Feb. 2, 1800."

Sir John Douglas has lately received a solid mark of his country's approbation, in a pension of 400_l_. a year, commencing from that day upon which Buonaparte retreated from the walls of St. Acre.

It was the destiny of my Corps to participate in a short, but brilliant campaign, which drove the French out of the Neapolitan kingdom, and restored its Monarch to the throne.

Amongst the followers of the fallen fortunes of his Sicilian Majesty, in his retreat to Palermo, was Cardinal Ruffo, whose enterprizing genius planned the loyal design of paving the way for the return of his self-exiled King, to the former seat of his power. Repairing to Calabria, he quickly collected a large army, by rekindling a spirit of royalism, exerting his clerical influence amongst people alike fanatical and ignorant, and by alternately exercising the functions of the Soldier and of the Cardinal.

Captain, now Sir William D'Arley, of Marines, landed singly in the Neapolitan territory, in order to acquire a knowledge of the state, strength, and views of the Royal party; during which period he made many a hair-breadth escape. So judiciously did he discharge this important mission, that the command of a district was assigned him; he was entrusted with a high military post, in which he continued to animate the motley army of Ruffo, by his counsels and his energies. In a variety of actions they fought, and beat the united French and rebel troops, who had possessed themselves of the kingdom of Naples, and had organized it into a republic; taking also Cotrona and Cantanzaro.

Introductory to their principal operations, the British squadron was extremely active. In April, Captain Hallowell, with some Seamen and Marines, obtained Procita and its castle, in the Gulf of Naples; while Captain Knox, of my Corps, was detached to the Isle of Ischia, which, with its strong fortress, was delivered up without resistance.

The robberies, murders, and rapine committed by their French friends in Italy had alienated almost every heart, and wherever an Englishman appeared, he was greeted as the deliverer of a country groaning under the bitterest sufferings.

A partial debarkation of some Marines and Sailors at Salerno, after having effected its capture, was obliged to retreat, before very superior numbers of the enemy. The cool gallantry of Lieutenant Vyvion, of Marines, upon that occasion, gave a strong earnest of future eminence. He was a young man of the most promising talents, but his country and his brethren have now to deplore his subsequent fall.

Cardinal Ruffo, learning the evacuation of Naples, and the defeats of the French armies by the Russian General Suwarrow, put in motion his army towards that Capital; part of which he gained upon the day of St. Anthony's feast. Exceeding his powers, a treaty which he had concluded with the Members of the Republican Government, and the Patriots in the Forts, was cancelled by his Sicilian Majesty, and the transports in which they were embarked for Toulon, were blockaded by the British squadron.

Many of the rebel party, united with their allies the French, retiring to the strong holds of St. Elmo, Ovo, and Nuova, it was judged expedient to land the Marines, who, with other auxiliaries, were destined to reduce them. On the 27th of June they were disembarked, to the number of 800 men, under the following Officers, who had the honour of accomplishing the important services that ensued, with much credit.

Lieut. Colonel Strickland, Commanding Officer.

Captain Creswell (Brevet Major, _pro tempore_.)

Capt. Weir ---- Dunsmuire ---- Minto ---- Knox ---- Wolfe ---- Torkington ---- Williams.

Lieut. Noble ---- Hare ---- M'Carthey ---- Pearce ---- Burford ---- Short ---- Wills ---- Harvey ---- Scobill ---- Adair ---- Burne ---- Jones ---- Walker

Lieut. Hart ---- Collins ---- Jewell ---- Toomer ---- Perroll ---- Millar ---- Buzon ---- Wright ---- Wheeler ---- Ross ---- Wyemyss } Adjutants ---- Tyldsley } ---- Vyvion, Quarter-master.

Four hundred Portugueze Marines were also landed, which, joined to 500 Swiss, 450 Russians, and 70 Greeks, formed a total of 2170, besides Officers.

Captain Hood took possession of the Castles of Ovo and Nuovo, in which he was placed with a garrison of Seamen, and in his public character preserved the peace of that turbulent Capital, during the whole series of that trying duty.

Captain Trowbridge, of the Royal Navy, conducted with much ability those military operations, which may be said to have reinstated the Neapolitan King upon his throne.

At five on the morning of the 30th of June, he marched from Castle Nuovo, with the British and Portugueze Marines, was joined by the Russians in Naples, and proceeded instantly against St. Elmo, whose Commandant he summoned to surrender. Being answered in the negative, that zealous and spirited Officer lost no time in erecting batteries against the Castle. Between the 3d and 5th of July, nine heavy cannon and eight mortars were opened on its garrison and works, which played incessantly, in the hope of effecting a breach sufficient to storm. On the 6th, four mortars were added, and by the indefatigable labours of the Seamen, six 36-pounders were dragged to the summit of an almost inaccessible precipice, which soon compelled Monsieur Mejan to capitulate. The Marine Grenadiers marched into the Castle on the 12th, and the enemy, upwards of 1500, were allowed the honours of war.

On the 13th, the main body of the army returned to Castle Nuovo, from whence they advanced against Capua, that key to Naples, upon the 19th, where they arrived on the 21st, pitched their tents near to its walls, and in a short time opened batteries, which continued to play against the town until the 27th, when terms were discussed and agreed on.

On the 29th, the French, to the number of 1500, marched out, and were conveyed to Naples, under an escort of 400 Marines, and two squadrons of General Acton's Cavalry.

The conduct of Captain Trowbridge was prompt and animated, and he spoke highly of the unremitting attention and discipline of Colonel Strickland, Major Creswell, the Officers and men. The exertions of those of the allied troops were also highly meritorious.

Returning to Naples, an embarkation took place against Gaieta on the 30th of July, where they landed on the 3d of August, gained possession of its gates on the next day, and upon the 5th, delivered up the town to the loyal subjects of his Majesty the King of Naples.

The retreat of the French armies was felt throughout Italy, and their disasters roused the Tuscans to arms, who drove them from their bosom. Florence was abandoned, and Leghorn was evacuated; but Rome was unsubdued. Its besiegers had been driven from its walls, and every effort to reduce it was ineffectual. It did not, however, resist against the tenders of British honour; for on Captain Trowbridge appearing off the mouth of the Tiber, and a summons being sent to General Garnier, he agreed to surrender Rome, Civita Vechia, and every dependency within the state, to that Commander.

Some Seamen, and the Marines of the Culloden and Minotaur, occupied Corneto and Tolsa, as well as Civita Vechia, during the 29th and 30th of September, while the enemy, amounting to 5000, were sent off, agreeable to the terms of capitulation.

Captain Trowbridge maintained the acknowledged faith of his Country, in every article, with a dignity becoming the high character in which he stood. Colonel Strickland supported that discipline in his Corps, which must have ensured success against a contending enemy. This train of important services, derives a double merit, from that rapidity with which they were performed.

During the present year Earl St. Vincent resigned the command of the Mediterranean Fleet. The system by which he maintained its good order, is worthy of being adopted by every Officer in the British Navy.

One of the most gallant boarding contests took place upon that station, during the day of the 9th of June, which appears on the face of this war. It was cutting out a Spanish polacre of 10 guns and 113 men, from the port of La Selva, supported by a heavy battery, and a large body of men under arms on the shore, by the boats of the Success, carrying only 42 men.

Lieuts. Facey and Stupart, of the Navy, and Lieut. Davison, of my Corps, headed this daring enterprize. They were all distinguished; but limiting the detail of it to my peculiar province, I am led to notice the cool courage of that promising brother Officer, who, taking a steady aim with a pistol amidst this confused scene, shot a Swiss Soldier in the mouth, who had levelled his musket at Mr. Pomeroy Peter, a brave young Midshipman, in the act of boarding over a high close netting. Mr. Peter did the rest with a pike. A gallant Marine, Thomas Needham, having his right arm broken by a grape shot, on being asked by Lieutenant Facey, if it was not disabled? answered "Yes, but, thank God, I can pull a trigger with my right, and with my left hand I can still manage a cutlass." In this state he continued to fight until the vessel was carried.

In the West Indies the Dutch Colony of Surinam was taken without opposition. Lieutenant M'Gee, of Marines, and his party from the Trent, behaved most handsomely, in union with their brethren the Seamen, by storming a battery in a bay near Cape Roso, and afterwards bringing from under it a large Spanish ship and schooner.

It was on the morning of the 25th of October that Captain (now Sir Edward) Hamilton, at the head of 100 Seamen and Marines, attacked and carried the Hermione, of 44 guns, after having killed and wounded 216 men, with the single loss of Lieutenant J. Busey, acting Lieutenant of the Surprize. After the greatest feats of valour in all, he brought her out from under the formidable batteries of Porto Cavallo. John Ingram and Joseph Titley, private Marines, were wounded upon this honorable occasion, which sufficiently speaks its own praise.

In the East, La Forte, of 50 guns, was captured by the British Sybille, after a desperate resistance, during which Captain Cooke unfortunately fell.

Every domestic event of this year sinks, in consequence, when compared to the expedition against Holland. Its details, however, do not properly fall within my narrative. After having gained possession of the Helder, the duties allotted to the Marines, were to garrison its forts, while the Army, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, penetrated into the Country. These my corps performed with their usual alertness and zeal, and much to the satisfaction of their superiors. Unfortunate as was the issue of the attempt, originally undertaken at a late season of the year, and against a dangerous coast, still the very important capture of the remains of the Batavian Navy, amply compensated for its final miscarriage. An unsurpassed unanimity between the land and naval services prevailed, and English valour was conspicuous throughout.