Part 25

"It is my directions to the Captains of the ships, named in the margin,[5] under my orders, to communicate to the Marines, serving on board the respective ships under their command, the above letter from the Commander in Chief, and I feel equally happy their good conduct has merited such a mark of approbation from him and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

"(Signed) A. Mitchell.

"29th December, 1801."

Much to the credit of the Formidable, Captain Grindall, that ship was totally exempt from the diabolical spirit, and it is proper to be remarked that the thanks of the Board of Admiralty were withheld from the parties of Marines in the Vengeance and Resolution, entirely through mistake, as both were truly entitled to them, for a similar zeal, with the rest of their brother Soldiers.

I now bid adieu to the domestic transactions of 1801, and hasten to those quarters of the world, where the British character appears in all its manly and native vigour, not palsied by murmurs, but invincible by discipline.

After the desertion of Buonaparte from his Egyptian Army, and the annulment of the Treaty of El Arisch, the genius of Kleber, his successor, retrieved every thing. By the battle of Heliopolis he eventually drove the Turks across the desert to seek refuge in Gaza, recaptured Cairo, which had been formerly evacuated, and by a train of good policy as well as a system of judicious defence, rendered the French power in Egypt more firm than ever. But a dark assassin deprived their Army of this distinguished leader, after whose tragical death, the chief command devolved upon General Menou, who following the footsteps of his predecessors, and by a peculiar assimilation to the tenets and manners of the Mahometans, seemed to have resolved upon fixing a permanent Empire in Lower Egypt. He rejected, with disdain, every overture towards a renewal of the Treaty of El Arisch, and, excepting a number of Greeks embodied under the auspices of Kleber, who were trained in European tactics, rested all his hopes of defence against native inroads, or foreign invaders, in the remnants of his countrymen.

It was reserved for a branch of my corps, combined with a British Army, to assist in rooting out this powerful force, to restore those conquered dominions to their rightful Lord, and thus to close a war by subduing those motives of ambition which had continued to cherish it.

A very considerable armament, which had been employed on other services during the last year, had entered the Mediterranean, and the troops who formed a part of it, were landed at Malta and Minorca. These were destined to expel the French from Egypt, in co-operation with an Army, under General Baird, from the regions of India, and an Ottoman force, under the Grand Vizier, which was to cross the deserts of Syria.

Lord Keith, with the English fleet, rendezvoused early in January 1801, in the Bay of Marmorice, on the coast of Caramania,[6] where preparations, necessary for the intended expedition, were carried on. Two days previous to their sailing for Egypt, his Lordship signified his directions to Lieutenant Colonel Smith, who commanded the Marines, to hold himself in readiness to disembark with the Officers and men from the different ships, and to place himself under the orders of General Sir Ralph Abercrombie; at the same time vesting him with a power of issuing such preparatory instructions as he might deem proper for the future regulations of his battalion.

Upon the 23d of February the fleet steered for the coast of Egypt, conveying an army of 15,330 Soldiers, and anchored in the auspicious Bay of Aboukir, on the 2d of March. An incessant gale prevented any debarkation until the 8th, when a landing was effected by the greater part of the Army, under circumstances that very signally attested their discipline and their valour. The Officers and Seamen of the fleet had likewise their share of these attached merits. This important object having been accomplished, Sir Ralph Abercrombie advanced to within six miles of Alexandria, and three of the enemy, who were strongly posted on a ridge, with the canal of that city on their right flank and the sea on their left.

Agreeably to the arrangement that had been made in the Bay of Marmorice, and by the order of battle given out, the Marines were attached to the 3d brigade under Lord Cavan, and united in it with the 50th and 79th Regiments.

Previous to the landing of the Marines, Lord Keith addressed the following letter to Lieutenant Colonel Smith:

"Foudroyant, in Bay of Aboukir, 9th March, 1801.

"SIR,

"If it shall be requisite to land the Marines from some of the ships for a short time, I beg you will furnish me with the arrangements you have made, and the temporary ranks necessary to be given, so that I may furnish the Officers with authority.

"I am, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant,

"(Signed,) Keith.

"Lieut.-Col. Smith, Marine Forces, his Majesty's ship Kent."

In consequence, many Officers obtained brevet rank, in the course of the Egyptian campaign, and received additional pay according to the proportions of each.

An institution alike liberal and just was adopted by Lord Keith towards the Marine Corps, that while its Officers and Soldiers were employed on shore, in advancing the interests of their Country, their claims for prize-money were considered as valid during the whole period of their absence.

It was on the morning of the 12th of March, that the Marines of the fleet were landed in the Bay of Aboukir, consisting of 35 serjeants, 32 corporals, 22 drummers, and 500 privates, besides Officers. It may be well conceived how difficult, yet how honorable was the duty of fitting, for immediate service, this heterogeneous body, drawn from 30 different ships, unknown to one another, and a great many of them totally ignorant of every military evolution. The battalion, however, was formed between the hours of 12 and 3 upon that day, under a scorching sun, and on a burning sand, after which one half was detached to fill bags for the batteries, whilst the other was marched a considerable distance, all the while nearly knee-deep in sand, and laden with their comrades musquets and knapsacks. After such labours, during the day, orders arrived at seven in the evening for the whole to join the main body of the Army, then 15 miles distant, which they effected, after much fatigue, at one on the morning of the 13th of March. At five they were again under arms, with a view to have attacked the enemy, advancing towards him in two lines by the left, in order to have turned his right flank. But anticipating the movements of the British, he descended from the heights which he had occupied, and struck at the leading brigades of both our lines. The battle began on the right at seven, and those on the left instantly formed.

It cannot be supposed that this detachment of my corps, hitherto untrained to military tactics, could evince that regularity and precision in manœuvre which so much distinguished those veteran Soldiers with whom they served. But if they failed in the minutiæ of discipline, they were not behind them in valour. The engagement becoming warm and general, they were somewhat crouded in their ranks by the alignment of the regiments on their right and left, owing to the narrowing of the Peninsula upon which they acted, and at the moment when they sustained their severest loss. Although not perfectly regular to command, they still, under a gallant impulse, rushed forward in charge towards the enemy, and acquired, for their conspicuous bravery, the appellation of the _Bull Dogs_ of the Army. The French were driven at last, with an irresistible impetuosity, to take shelter under the fortified heights, that constitute the chief defence of Alexandria.

The details of loss were fully proportionate to those of their brethren in arms, being 2 Officers and 22 rank and file killed, 4 Officers, 2 Serjeants, 2 Drummers, and 27 rank and file wounded. Amongst the former were Lieutenants Paul Hussey, and Linzee Shea, holding rank as Captains in the Marine battalion, and Captain Minto, with that of brevet as Major, besides Captain Robert Torkington, 1st Lieutenant John Parry, and 2d Lieutenant George Peebles.

Upon the day after the battle the following were the public orders issued by the Commander in Chief, who had intimated to Lord Keith the gallantry of the Marines upon that occasion:

"Camp, 4 miles from Alexandria, 14 March, 1801.

"Sir Ralph Abercrombie desires that Lieutenant Colonel Smith and the battalion of Marines, will accept his Thanks for their conduct, in the course of the service of yesterday; at the request of Lord Keith.

"The Commander in Chief has the greatest satisfaction in thanking the troops for their soldier-like conduct in the action of yesterday."

In the afternoon the battalion marched to Aboukir, where they were placed under the command of Earl Dalhousie, and remained there some time after the surrender of its Castle.

Those brave fellows were truly sensible of their defect in point of discipline, but a generous spirit of emulation pervaded the whole of them, and under the able superintendance of Lieutenant Colonel Smith, and Major Minto, this mixed body of men, in a very few days, might have vied with any regiment in the field. They meritedly gained, and repeatedly obtained from the Commander in Chief and Major General Coote, under whom they were brigaded, the highest encomiums for their soldier like appearance, steady conduct, and the good order of their encampment, when in front of Alexandria. It was their destiny to be entrusted with the defence of Aboukir Castle, and its vicinity, which precluded them from displaying their rapid improvement in evolution, or of sharing in the laurels acquired by the Army, on the glorious 21st of March; a day upon which every British Soldier may well exult, but not without mingling with his proud joy, an unfeigned sigh over the memory of that great and good man who led, and whose honorable life was sacrificed at the shrine of victory.

The Marines, as constituting a material proportion of the strength of Lord Keith's fleet, formed no part of these detachments which penetrated the interior, but their duties were confined to the blockade of Alexandria, where they might be ready to re-embark in case of emergency, at the shortest notice.

The brilliant details of the Egyptian Campaign, are well known to the world. They have been given in a stile highly adapted to yield general information, and to rouse, within our Armies, an emulous zeal.

If it was not the lot of my corps to stand on the annals of splendor by an active co-operation with those bodies who conquered Rosetta, Rhamanich, and Cairo, still their effective presence tended to enable the Commander in Chief to achieve these distant and important objects. Attached to the brigade of Major General Coote, they were withdrawn from the defence of Aboukir, and continued to discharge, with an unrelaxed discipline, the duties of investment, with but little variety, until the 5th day of August, when the previous arrival of reinforcements from England and India, the return of the forces from the recovery of the internal posts in Lower Egypt, and at the express desire of Lord Keith, they were struck off the shore details, and next day were re-embarked on board their respective ships.

With such an accumulated Army General (now Lord) Hutchinson was empowered to push the siege of Alexandria, which was carried on with so great ability and success, that it surrendered on the 30th of August.

It would be a wide attempt for me to embrace a discussion of those movements that led to the expulsion of the French from Egypt, and I am too humble by any panegyric of mine, to add a single mite to the well earned fame of those distinguished Officers, those intrepid Soldiers and Seamen, by whose united talents and valour, such momentous results were obtained. Every individual is registered upon the grateful records of his Country, carries about with him a memorial of his own deeds, which reminds him and every one of his military comrades, that an Englishman is as terrible in the field, as he is upon the ocean.

The solid merits of my corps were such that I cannot omit the following high testimonials, which bespeak them in much more forcible terms, than any I can advance:

"Foudroyant, Bay of Aboukir, 5th July, 1801.

"SIR,

"I have had much satisfaction in receiving the commands of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to make known to you, their Lordships approbation of your conduct, and of that of the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Privates of the Marine battalion, landed from the ships in the squadron, to co-operate with the Army on the coast of Egypt, and I have to request that you will, with the permission of Major General Coote, communicate the approbation which their Lordships have been pleased to express to the Officers and men serving under your command.

"I have the honor to be, Sir,

"Your very obedient and humble servant,

"KEITH."

"Lieut.-Col. Smith, &c. &c. &c."

Major General Coote having received a similar letter from his Lordship, enclosed it to Colonel Smith, at the same time giving his sanction for its contents being published to the Officers and men of the Marine battalion.

Three days previous to their embarkation the Major General thus expressed himself:

"Camp, near Alexandria, 3d August, 1801.

"SIR,

"At the request of Admiral Lord Keith, it is Lieut.-Gen. Sir John Hely Hutchinson's directions, that the battalion of Marines, under your command, is to hold itself in readiness to return on board their respective ships. I cannot, however, suffer you to leave the division of the Army, without assuring you how perfectly satisfied I am, with the attention you have always paid to the Marines. The good conduct of your corps, whilst under my orders, does them the greatest credit, and I beg you will be so obliging as to signify the same both to your Officers and men.

"I have the honor to be, &c.

"EYRE COOTE, Major General.

"Lieutenant Colonel Smith, &c. &c."

They having done duty under Major General Finch, during a time, in the 1st Brigade, that Officer, in consequence, thus conveys his sentiments:

"Brigade Orders, August 5, 1801.

"Major General Finch, on taking leave of Lieutenant Colonel Smith and the Marines under his command, requests him to accept his warmest thanks for the order, regularity, zeal, and attention that have uniformly marked their conduct during the period he had the honor of commanding the 1st Brigade, and he shall be happy on all occasions to bear testimony to their merit in the correct performance of their duty, in every respect, which has come under his observation."

Although ulterior in date still, for the sake of connection, I am led to insert the very flattering encomiums of Lord Hutchinson, the Commander in Chief.

"Jermyn Street, June 28, 1802.

"SIR,

"Your sudden departure from Egypt rendered it impossible for me to desire that you would communicate my thanks to the Marines who served under your command during the campaign. May I now beg that you will assure the Officers and men, how highly sensible I am of their meritorious services, and of the zeal and exertion which ever marked their conduct. The order and discipline preserved by the battalion does great credit to your military character, and is equally honorable to the respectable corps which you had the good fortune to command.

"I have the honor to be, &c. &c.

"(Signed) HUTCHINSON, Major General.

"Lieut.-Col. Smith, Royal Marines."

Owing to some omission, the medals which were bestowed by the Grand Signior upon every Officer of the Army, as commemorative of his gratitude, and of their services during the Egyptian campaign, were for a time withheld from those of the corps of Royal Marines, but in consequence of Lord Keith's representation of it to the Earl of Elgin, our Ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, his Sublime Highness most readily compensated for this error, and these honorable marks were conveyed to Sir Richard Bickerton, commanding the British Naval Forces at Malta, who transmitted them along with a letter couched in the following elegant terms:

"Kent, at Malta, March 18th, 1803.

"SIR,

"I have the honor of forwarding to you some Turkish medals, to be distributed among the Officers of Marines who served on shore, and in the squadron employed in the blockade of Alexandria, during the Egyptian campaign.

"The accompanying letter and list,[7] will explain every thing; it therefore only remains for me to add, that I feel a pleasure in having been made a medium in conveying what may be acceptable to a small part of your corps; and I should be much more gratified if it was in my power to congratulate you _on the acquisition of more substantial advantages for the whole_, being every day more fully convinced of its services and utility.

"I have the honor to be, Sir, &c. &c.

"R. BICKERTON.

"Lieut.-Col. Smith, Royal Marines."

Our victorious armies and fleet, which were destined for other services, were suddenly stayed by the tidings of a cessation of arms.

The feats of our squadrons and ships in the Mediterranean lost none of their wonted splendor. Sir James Saumarez's attack upon the French squadron, under the numerous batteries of Algeziras, yields to no one upon record, for boldness of design or spirit in execution. Although the event of the 6th of July was unprosperous, still the gallantry exhibited on that day was productive of the most signal consequences, and it, no doubt, had its effect upon a superior force, who, panic struck, felt the retaliating vengeance of Sir James and his little detachment, on the 12th. In the first action 375 Seamen and Marines were killed, wounded, and missing; amongst the former detail was 1st Lieutenant J. D. Williams, on board the Hannibal, who behaved with true British courage, and with the latter were numbered Lieutenants George Dunford and J. W. Day, of Marines.

Sir James Saumarez, after speaking of the bravery of the men under his command, says, "that Captain Maxwell and the Officers of my corps on board the Cesar, were entitled to much praise." Captain Keates of the Superbe, whose personal intrepidity and zeal were highly instrumental in gaining the victory of the 12th of July, by capturing the St. Antonio, thus acknowledges the merits of his crew to the Commander in Chief: "It is my duty to represent to you, that the Officers of all descriptions, Seamen, and Marines, conducted themselves with the greatest steadiness and gallantry."

The bravery of Captain Hood, his Officers, Seamen, and Marines was also highly conspicuous. A branch of my corps was again included in the legislative thanks of a grateful Country, and Sir James Saumarez, whose name is superior to panegyric, deservedly was crowned with honorary, as well as pecuniary marks of his Sovereign's favor.

The action of the Phœbe, Captain Barlow, with L'Africaine French frigate was marked by an immense carnage, and afforded an evident display of superior discipline in the Sailors and Marines under his orders. That Officer was deservedly knighted after her capture.

Lord Cochrane in the Speedy, who was nobly supported by all his followers, gave early hopes of what may yet be expected from him by his Country, by boarding and carrying the frigate Gamo of 32 guns and 319 men, while his own force was only 14 guns and 54 men.

Lieutenant Wilson, of Marines, with his party from the Mercury, was noticed by Captain Rogers, for their courage and good conduct, first in boarding a French Pirate amongst the rocks in the Tremite Islands, and afterwards driving her renegado crew from the hills which they occupied, with a four pounder gun and musquetry. Lieutenant Wilson covered Lieutenant Mather and the Seamen while heaving the vessel off the rocks, and then re-embarked with some prisoners.

Those Officers had been highly distinguished upon a former occasion in bringing his Majesty's late sloop, the Bull Dog, from the port of Ancona under a heavy fire of cannon and musquetry from the Mole, but they were obliged to abandon her to the enemy from an insetting current, and a calm, after all their gallant efforts. This ship was reserved for a future but more successful attempt by the Seamen and Marines of the Champion, who bravely assaulted her, and brought her out from under the guns of Gallipoli, guided by the daring zeal of Lord William Stuart.

The Swiftsure of 74 guns fell into the hands of Admiral Gantheaume's squadron; after a resistance which reflected honor upon Captain Hallowell, his subordinates, and the British Navy.

Lord Cochrane, in union with Captain Pulling, again gave a test of intrepidity, by striking at a Spanish convoy in the Bay of Orepeso, protected by a castle, a xebeck, and gunboats. These they destroyed with little loss.

In August Captain Halsted's squadron took La Caniere of 44 guns, after a short action. Lieutenant Douglas, of Marines, was wounded, but died after amputation on board La Pomone. This frigate was on her way with a convoy, having stores and ammunition on board, for the French Army then carrying on the siege of Porto Ferrajo, in the Isle of Elba.

This little fortress disdaining to participate in that terror which had disgraced the continent of Italy, afforded refuge to Mr. Isaac Grant, English Vice Consul at Leghorn, and others of his countrymen, who fled from our rapacious enemies on their entrance into Tuscany. His example and precepts roused the natives to arms, while the very females shared in the patriotic impulse of defending their families and their Country, from those universal spoilers. Mingled with its garrison, were Lieutenant Lawrence and his party of Marines from the Pearl, whose animated efforts, during a long series of six months fatigue and danger, are little known, but were such as to entitle the whole to the highest praise. This little force, by their constancy and courage, ever set the best of examples, were always foremost on service, and stood to their post and guns when the Tuscan and other foreign troops gave way. They were likewise unremittingly useful in preparing shells, mounting and transporting cannon, and in repairing their carriages, as well as constructing works. Their knowledge of gunnery, acquired by experience in a long siege, and their ambition to gain honor to their corps and themselves, induced them to live in the batteries, and the little sleep which they enjoyed, was by their cannon. Such zealous perseverance impaired the healths of this brave detachment, and if the place had not been relieved by other troops, Lieutenant Lawrence and his faithful companions must have fallen victims to incessant toil.

The merits of Colonel Airey, in the defence of Porto Ferrajo, were great indeed. Nothing could surpass his cool judgment and spirited exertions in foiling a very superior enemy in all their attempts. The bravery and good conduct of Mr. Isaac Grant, in repeated sallies, were eminently conspicuous. Few occasions have exhibited a more manly patience, or a nobler stand.

Upon the 12th of September Sir John Warren appeared with his squadron to relieve this brave garrison. He had previously given an order to Captain John Richardson, of Marines, to act as Brigade Major to Lieutenant Colonel Airey, and he was disembarked, as well as Captain Johnstone, from the Gibraltar, 12 Subalterns, 17 Serjeants, 18 Corporals, 11 Drummers, and 390 Privates. A force of 240 Seamen was also landed under Captain Long of the Royal Navy. Captain James Weir, (now on retirement), who commanded the Marines at Malta, served in Porto Ferrajo at the head of a Maltese corps, with distinguished reputation.