means we had free access to Brabant, even before the flotilla arrived, no attempt was made to reconnoitre on that side.

The islands of Schouwen and Duiveland capitulated on the same day that Flushing was surrendered; they had never at tempted resistance, nor discovered any hostile disposition towards the English. Bathz was now made the great point of assembly; a division of line of battle-ships anchored there; the troops under generals Grosvenor and Graham were re-embarked on board transports, and ordered to rendezvous there; and horse transports, storeships, fire-ships, gun-boats, and vessels laden with heavy artillery were directed to the same station. Here they remained crowded in a narrow channel, and exposed to the most imminent danger from fire-ships, had there been any spirit of enterprise in the enemy. Mean time the earl of Chatham remained at Middleburgh, undecided himself what course to pursue, and therefore keeping all the military and naval officers who were in this advanced position, in the greatest perplexity. On the 17th, sir Richard Keats wrote to the earl of Rosslyn, (who had now the command in South Beveland,) telling him, that, being vested with full authority himself, and presuming that his lordship had the like powers to act without delay, he was ready to co-operate with him for the destruction of the ships at Antwerp. Earl Rosslyn's reply was, that he had received no instructions whatever on the subject of ulterior operations, but that he had some reason to expect the commander-in-chief at Ter Goes in the course of the morrow or next day, and would not fail to give sir Richard the earliest notice of his arrival. It was impossible for the navy to act alone; and all that admiral Keats could do was to communicate this to sir Richard Strachan, observing how extremely convenient and advantageous it would be to ascertain as early as possible the plans of the commanderin-chief, that their preparatory measures might be directed accordingly.

On the 19th, it was announced in general orders, that head-quarters would be re

moved to Ter Goes. Hopes were now conceived of some active proceedings, but throughout the whole business procrastination prevailed;-on the 20th, it was stated that they would not be removed till the day following, and in fact it was not till that day that the earl of Chatham left Middleburgh and proceeded to Ter Goes, a distance of about fourteen miles. He had a conference on the 22nd, with sir John Hope at Scheu, which is seven miles on the road to Bathz, but he returned the same night to Ter Goes, and travelled only thirteen miles towards Bathz the next day. On the 24th, he performed the remaining six of the nineteen miles between Ter Goes and Bathz, and established his head-quarters at that place, eight days and some hours after the surrender of Flushing. On that day sir Richard Strachan heard from him; he did not see him till the next, and then he found that his lordship had not come to a determination.

It

Earl Chatham had in fact waited till little choice remained. Nine and twenty days had now elapsed since the expedition arrived on the shores of Zealand. Bernadotte had come to Antwerp and taken upon himself the command; and such means of defence were prepared as would have proved insuperable to an hostile army. The dykes were cut, batteries were erected on both banks of the Scheldt, and a strong boom chain was extended across the river from Lillo to Liefkenschock. was also discovered that the river above Antwerp was navigable for large ships, so that the French fleet could be removed, a circumstance which affected the whole policy and conduct of the expedition, but was unknown to its projectors. The supplies of South Beveland and the other islands possessed by the troops, were now exhausted, and the navy and army equally anticipated the approach of famine. A more tremendous evil at the same time afflicted the troops. About the middle of August the effects of the baneful mosphere began to appear, and 3000 men were already on the sick list, when the commander-in-chief assembled the lieu

at

On the 12th of July, when the expedition was about to sail, Mr. Keate wrote very earnestly to the war department, imploring that two more hospital ships should be furnished with the necessary equipments, to receive the sick of the troops about to sail from Portsmouth. Lord Castlereagh's secretary answered, that one hospital ship had already been provided, and refused the request. On the 17th, Mr. Keate renewed his application, stating the great inconvenience and distress the service must inevitably suffer from this arrangement. The request was The request was again refused, and the fleet, already provided with one pilot, sailed with one hos pital ship.

All these arrangements fell under the official management of lord Castlereagh, the secretary for the war department. On the 8th of April, while the expedition was in preparation, but three months before it actually sailed, the secretary of state for foreign affairs, (Mr. Cauning,) gave notice that he would resign if lord Castlereagh were not removed from his office. On the 28th of April, lord Camden, president of the council, admitted that much advantage would accrue to the public service by the dismission of lord Castlereagh, (now conducting the expedition,) from office. On the 31st of May, the secretary of state again represented his intention to resign, if his lordship was not removed from the management of the war, and obtained a promise that he should be removed. But, notwithstanding this verdict of incapacity against lord Castlereagh, the secretary his accuser, and the cabinet his condemning jury, the government permitted him to conduct this most important expedition; and, er it had failed, disclosed their intention to exclude him from his present situation. The secretary of war and colonies then resigned, and, as I shall have occasion to record, shot the secretary for foreign affairs on Wimbledon common. All the Dutch provinces are subject to marsh distempers, but Zealand in particular, is not only low and damp like the rest, but surrounded by the mouths of the Scheldt, whose oozy beaches unite with

the marshy lands, so that, except the sea breeze from the westward, every wind comes laden with pestilential vapours. The bottom of every canal that communicates with the sea is thickly covered with ooze, which, when the tide is ebbed, disperses a most offensive and noxious effluvia. The whole island is intersected with ditches. They are filled with water in which masses of animal and vegetable matter are always putrifying; and numerous as these ditches are, they do not suffice to drain the swampy soil. The effects of such a country are visible in the natives, though counteracted by the Dutch habit of high feeding, by the use of ardent spirits, and by the practice of smoking. It is computed that nearly a third of the inhabitants are attacked with fever every sickly season. Children are very subject to glandular swellings, to obstructions in the viscera, and to dropsies. They are pale, their circulation languid, and their fibres lax. Dentition is a longer process than in other countries; the teeth are slow in becoming solid, and soon decay. Scrofula is a very general complaint, and deformed persons are numerous. As they grow up, the complexion is sallow, the body bloated, and premature old age inevitable.

The sickly season begins with June and ends with October, continuing as long as the sun has power sufficient to draw up marsh miasmata. Our armament went at the worst time; but as the first effects of this poisonous atmosphere are slow, and as activity and excitement are more efficacious than all other counteracting causes, the troops, as long as they were in active service, resisted its influence. Not a single man had died of the disease when Flushing surrendered; and, when it first began to appear, it was attributed more to accidental and temporary causes than to the permanent and irremoveable nature of the coun try

The stench proceeding from the half extinguished fires in the town, the inunda tion which had spread widely through the British lines, and the exhalations from the dead bodies of the enemy, which had been laid in heaps and just covered over