Sir John Duckworth had orders to force the passage of the Dardanelles, anchor before Constantinople, and bombard the city, unless certain conditions were complied with. The passage of the straits was effected in the midst of a fire from the forts of Sestos and Abydos. At the same time Sir Sidney Smith directed his efforts against a squadron; and a battery, which, if completed, might have defended the Turkish vessels, was stormed by a party of the British. The Turkish squadron and bastion were destroyed, in which enterprise Sir Sidney Smith lost only four men killed and twenty-six wounded. Sir John Duckworth now passed in apparent triumph into the Bosphorus, whence he sent a letter to the Reis Effendi, demanding a declaration of the sultan’s views—whether he was determined to espouse the cause of France, or renew his alliance with England, and second her efforts in opposing the tyranny of Napoleon. The British were again overreached by French subtilty. Sebastiani, the French envoy, inspired the Sultan with confidence, and persuaded him to enter into a negociation, while in the mean time all the approaches to Constantinople should be fortified. All this was done, and when the proposals of the British government were rejected, the wind and current, as Sebastiani had foreseen, prevented the hostile fleet from taking such a position as would enable it effectually to bombard the city. Sir John Duckworth, therefore, was obliged to hasten his departure; and in repassing the Dardanelles, he sustained considerable loss from the fire of the castles. A new enemy was added to the list already in battle array against England. In Turkey, her agents and settlers were exposed to considerable annoyance, and a sequestration of British property to a large amount was promptly executed in various quarters. The fate which awaited the Mussulman negociator was a lamentable one: he was accused of imbecility or treachery; and his head was taken off his shoulders to decorate the niche over the Seraglio gate: he paid dear for his friendly feelings towards the English. So ended the famed expedition to the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. It broke the spell by which the passage of the Dardanelles had for ages been guarded; but beyond this it was little more than a brilliant bravado, followed by a series of humiliating blunders. And yet no investigation was instituted into the causes of the failure, Sir John Duckworth being a favourite admiral of the “all talents” ministry; and subsequently, after their dismissal, he being sheltered from censure by the strife of parties.
GEORGE III. 1807—1809
EXPEDITION TO EGYPT.
A still more imbecile expedition was sent by the “all talents,” ministry against Egypt. In the hope of subduing that country, and thus opposing a barrier to the design which Napoleon meditated against our oriental possessions, a force of 5,000 men, under the command of Major-general Mackenzie Fraser, was ordered to invade it. These troops effected a landing on the coast of Alexandria, and a detachment seized and occupied the fort of Aboukir. Alexander also surrendered to the British arms, and its easy conquest induced General Fraser to attempt the reduction of Rosetta. The inhabitants of that town, however, were more courageous than the Alexandrians: every house therein was used as a fortress, whence a constant fire was directed against the assailants. The attempt to take it was a complete failure: the British were obliged to retreat with loss. A second attempt was made with about half the army; but it was fruitless: a retreat again became necessary, and the troops were obliged to fight their way back to Alexandria. General Fraser remained at Alexandria till September, when, finding that its retention was impracticable, he obtained the release of every British prisoner by consenting to evacuate Egypt.
DISASTERS IN SOUTH AMERICA.
It is an old proverb that “misfortunes never come alone.” Thus it was with the expeditions planned by the “all talents” ministry—t was hoped that the reverses in the Mediterranean might be compensated in the South Atlantic Oceans; but this hope was illusive. In October 1806, a re-enforcement had been sent to the Rio de la Plata, under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, who, on arriving at Maldonado, resolved to attack the strong post of Monte Video, the key to the navigation of that river. His efforts were at first successful,—the town and castle with fifty-seven vessels of war and trade were captured. This success, however, was followed by a series of reverses, induced by rashness and misconduct. When intelligence arrived in England of the re-capture of Buenos Ayres by the Spaniards, orders were transmitted to General Crauford, who had been sent against Chili with 4,200 men, accompanied by a naval force, under Admiral Murray, to proceed with his army to the river Plate. He reached Monte Video on the 14th of June, where he found General Whitelocke, with a re-enforcement from England of 1,600 men. The chief command of the British forces was entrusted to General Whitelocke, and he had orders to reduce the whole province of Buenos Ayres. A general attack on the town was ordered to be made on the 5th of July, each corps being directed to enter the streets opposite to it, and all with unloaded muskets. No mode of attack could have been so ill-adapted against a town consisting of flat-roofed houses, disposed in regular streets, intersecting each other at right angles. Volleys of grape-shot were poured on our columns in front and flank as they advanced, and they were equally assailed from the house-tops. The service was executed, but it was with the frightful loss of 2,500 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Sir Samuel Auchmuty succeeded in making himself master of the Plaza de Toros, where he took eighty-two pieces of cannon, and an immense quantity of ammunition; but General Crauford, with his brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Duff, with a detachment under his command, were obliged to surrender. Surrounded with foes, General Whitelocke, who had arrogantly refused to treat before the attack, now consented to a negociation with the Spanish commandant; and he not only agreed to evacuate the town, on condition of recovering his own prisoners, and those taken from General Beresford, but to give up Monte Video, with every other place on the Rio de la Plata held by British troops, within the space of two months. The result of this expedition brought General Whitelocke before a court-martial, and he was sentenced to be cashiered for lack of zeal, judgment, and personal exertion. Against the ill-success of these expeditions, the solitary capture of the Dutch colony of Curacoa only can be recorded: this island surrendered, on the 1st of January, to a squadron of our frigates under Commodore Brisbane.