WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. 153 have formed the sea brigade on shore, and I have only heard of these in the 'Dryad' and 'Impérieuse.' Whether anything further is to be attempted or not, I know not; but as the frigates and flotilla are close to Ellewontsdyke, and may perhaps reach this during the next tide, in spite of a dead calm which increases the risk of getting on shore, it may and ought to be very soon decided. September 7. Yesterday evening we moved down to our former anchorage near Flushing, and all our ships are now safe out of the reach of the enemy, who took possession of Beveland immediately after our retiring, and whom we saw at Ellewontsdyke; indeed they there caught a number of officers and people of the 'Bloodhound' (I believe 17) who were on shore in the village, in direct opposition to both signal and order. September 7. There appears to be a great actual enmity in Sir R. against Lord C. by his letter in the newspaper, which announces the giving up further operations; and by what I to-day learnt from this feeling is gaining strength by their present correspondence upon the security of Walcheren. Lord C. requires a chain of small vessels from Flushing to Veer; but Sir R. desires to know what sea defence he has raised (which he knows to be none), and points out the probability of their being driven for shelter both to Veer and Flushing, the two extremes. But are we to keep the island only at the expense of the lives that the service in these vessels would of course lose us? The gunboats and flotilla have done wonders, have done all the hardest duty, the men being exposed to all the worst which can be met with from weather and climate; and according to this kind of generalship there would be no period to their sufferings but in death. With all the array of Staff, they have not yet attempted to do anything to resist an attack from South Beveland; and it is doubtful if Walcheren can be kept, even with all proper works to defend it. September 8, 8 P.M. If the island of Walcheren is to be protected by the navy entirely, it would be better to remove the army entirely, instead of letting them stay here to die; and as Monnet lost fifteen hundred men (or the half of his garrison) last autumn, what are we English to expect with our beef-and-gin-loaded stomachs, and our extreme imprudence arising from inexperience in regular campaigning? Lord C., in his letter, says the Generals were unanimous in their opinion that the army should not advance further on the 25th August; but he could not say that such would have been their opinion if he had assembled them at Bathz on the 16th or 17th, which he might have done, even if his presence were necessary at Flushing till its surrender on the 15th. Sir H. P. says that he told Lord C. that from the 1st August, when the landing would probably be known fully by the enemy, he might expect his force to increase at the rate of 1,000 a day. September 9. The Resolution,' I am told, has made her number, and as there are two others with her, 'Revenge' and 'Agincourt,' perhaps we may really be to go to Helvoet. In this case it appears to me we can only land our men and support the flotilla, and I am pretty sure it will be an affair unconnected with the army. We are all sick of conjunct expeditions, and, indeed, the army does not seem equal now to dispose of any troops for further operations. I hear Sir R. is now regretting the writing such a letter as he did from Bathz about Lord C..... From Mrs. C. Walmer: September 6. No sooner is one anxiety over than it is succeeded by another and now you are all going on a second expedition. I trust it will be better planned than the last, and I am sure it will be better executed if left entirely to the navy-for, whatever faults our chief may have, forwarding the service he is sent on is his first object most certainly. Success and safety attend you all! The report is that it is to Helvoet and Wilhelmstadt you are destined. The day (the 2nd) I dined at the General's (Lord Carrington) I was told that there had been a most dreadful scene on the beach the whole morning, just under their windows, landing the sick, actually some dying as they landed. And even here so inefficient are the arrangements that there was not room enough for the numbers that did arrive, and the poor fellows were lying about in the barrack yard for hours without refreshment and exposed the whole time; now there are tents pitched for them, but that seems a very bad plan for invalids with ague. September 9. 1,039 sick arrived here to-day; out of 100 in a transport eight were thrown overboard between Flushing and this place, and they generally die six or eight every day! It is really too dreadful to think of. WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. 155 From Captain C. to Mrs. C. September 11. The weather is good for the climate, the fever arising, I fancy, from stagnant air and stagnant water. Middleburg is clean, airy, and higher than most parts, and moreover is cleansed by the tide. The extensive illness I conceive to be caused by the sleeping in the low swampy places during the little hot exhaling weather we have had. Middleburg: September 14. I came here on Tuesday the 12th. King, who receives Lord Chatham this day, in order to take him to England in the 'Venerable,' will, if he should come out here again, offer you a passage; and though I can give you no proper information or advice about it, I will not say don't accept it. If the worst came to the worst, as the saying is, I could get you sent back in a cutter. Off Flushing: September 16. The old lady with whom I am billeted at Middleburg by means of Acland, entreats me not to part with my billet, but to lodge with her so long as I stay here; and at all events not to take my name off her door, that she may avoid having any less quiet person. I feel quite ashamed of being thus ordered into the house of a gentlewoman. But, poor people, they are used to it; while, from the discipline of some who have been my predecessors, in the French service, she may well thank me for occupying a bed in her house! She is the widow of a man who was something in office under the Stadtholder at the Hague, and knew Lords Malmesbury, St. Helen's, and Auckland. Her name is Van Citters, which she says is the original of our Vansittart. She had a nephew taken at Jerveer, a Captain Van Citters, who went home in the York.' This good lady is short and fat, has the manners of a woman of fashion, and is very conversible. In what language? you will ask. Both in English and French. What she cannot explain in English she does into French; and I do into English what I cannot explain in French. But you would never laugh at my French if you were to hear Acland. The lady in whose house he is quartered told me, after I had explained for him, that it would be a very great satisfaction to her if Mons. le Général understood French as well as I do! By the bye, my old lady seems to be a great eater, and as I have discovered that she is very fond of English cheese, particularly Double Gloucester, pray send me one for her. If you were to come, you should get Mr. W. to let you have a cutter to secure your retreat. September 18, 1809. I shall commence with an epigram, which Sir Richard received in a letter yesterday, which tells the story of the expedition at once: Says Strachan to Chatham, 'Come let us be at 'em!' Another epigram going about at this time: Lord Chatham with his sword undrawn, Was waiting for Sir Richard Strachan. Was waiting too-for whom?-Lord Chatham. From Mrs. C. Walmer: September 17, 1809. I hear to-day that General Graham is better, but still very weak. He is in London. Major Cathcart is at Deal-not expected to live twenty-four hours. Colonel Macdonald is now taken very ill. Three officers of 63rd died here in two days; in short, I cannot tell you half the melancholy events of this kind I hear of; and as to the privates, it is truly dreadful they die fourteen and eighteen of a day, and yesterday thirteen were buried in one grave, the day before sixteen in another, and so they go on. You would have loved Lord Carrington for the warmth of indignation with which he speaks of the arrangers of this ill-fated expedition, and his wish that the Ministers might be made witnesses of the dreadful havoc thus made amongst their fellow-creatures. September 20. I am glad to say Major Cathcart improves, and hopes are now entertained of his life. From Captain C. to Mrs. C. September 18. We have this day moved into a berth close to Flushing, The fever continues strong at Flushing, but is better at Middleburg. I am sorry to say a gross neglect as to the provision of quarters and hospitals is believed to be the great cause of the extent of it. September 20. I heard yesterday that Sir Richard is going to England directly. I conclude he will return here, as he told me some WALCHEREN EXPEDITION. 157 time ago that he wished to go home to give his opinion as to the advantages of keeping this island. Middleburg: September 20. How can you suppose me braving a disease which has alarmed so many ? The truth is that although I see no danger of catching this complaint (which besides not being contagious appears to me to arise from causes not liable to affect me, were I even less cautious in these matters than I am) there are scarcely any, I believe, who now receive this complaint without being guilty of some imprudence to entitle themselves to it. The disease itself is only prevalent during the hot weather, which produces exhalations from the stagnant waters which abound in this fenny country. But if by eating sour apples and drinking gin, or by any other such means so customary with Englishmen, a man is predisposed to fever, any consequent cold will turn to the prevailing disease of the country. But the country near Gravesend, as well as many other parts of England, is just as bad in this respect, and yet nobody is alarmed about it. As to the number of generals who have been taken ill, their situations do not apply to me. Fraser had a paralytic stroke. Graham, besides being so often surrounded by these evaporations during his night duty, persevered in sleeping in his clothes, even after he was with Lord W. Stuart in the Lavinia,' by way of keeping himself handy-a practice to which few of his age are equal for a continuance. Disney was a man of bad constitution, as well as Houston, and each became ill during the hot oppressive weather, to which I allude as the direct cause of the general reception of the disease. But I need not surely go on thus to convince you that with so many inducements to preserve a life which nature herself had taught me to value before I knew the happiness in store for me, I am not eager to brave a disease which has caused such an extent of mortality. But the extent of this disease does not surprise those who have seen our men packed together in hovels such as would be thought unfit for dogs, exposed to the noxious night-airs, and in some cases with only damp straw to lie on. Indeed, till Lord C. went, and Sir E. Coote, with Dyott and Acland, visited the whole of the hospitals and barracks, even the sick were no better provided, and death has consequently followed the convalescence. Warmth and comfort should certainly attend those just out of fever in all cases, but particularly after a disease so debilitating as this is found to be. |