Continuing our march half a league farther on, we arrived at the clean village of Cloting, containing a good church, and a handsome house in the centre of it, which was the residence of the Burgomaster; we took up our quarters in the different houses, and the men in the spacious handsome barns, painted green, such as may be seen near gentlemen's houses in England. Five companies of our regiment were detached to another village. The humble dwellings of the peasantry bore an air of comfort, and the abundantly supplied dairies, paved with well washed tiles, presented a freshness seldom exhibited among the poorer classes of other countries.—A considerable flotilla proceeded to Bathz, where they arrived on the 11th; the enemy attacked the fort with two frigates, one bearing a Vice Admiral's flag, thirty brigs, eight luggers, one schooner, and fourteen gun boats; at the expiration of a smart firing, they were beaten off, leaving six gun boats aground, five being destroyed, and one brought in. In the afternoon of the same day, Capt. Lord W. Stuart, commanding the Lavinia and nine other frigates, availed himself of a light breeze from the westward, (notwithstanding the tide was against the proceeding,) sailed up the west Scheldt, and passed the batteries between Cadzand and Flushing; the ships were under the enemy's fire for nearly two hours, without any material accident, with the exception of a shell striking the L'Aigle, and falling through her decks into the bread-room, where it exploded: one man was killed and four wounded, and her stern frame much shattered. The Amethyst got aground after passing Flushing.
On the 13th, the batteries before Flushing being completed, and some frigates and bombs having taken their station, a fire was opened at half past one p.m. from upwards of fifty pieces of heavy ordnance, including mortars and howitzers, which was vigorously returned by the enemy; an additional battery was finished during the night, of six twenty-four-pounders, (worked by sailors,) and the whole continued to play on the town; until late on the following day. At half-past ten on the morning of the 14th, the following line of battle ships (anchored in the Duerlo passage) got under weigh: the St. Domingo, Blake, Repulse, Victorious, Denmark, Audacious, and Venerable,—and ranged along the sea-front of the town, led in by Rear-Admiral Sir R. Strachan; but before they had opened their fire, the wind came more southerly, and the St. Domingo grounded inside the Dog-land; an officer, not knowing her situation, passed inside of her, by which means the Blake also grounded; the other ships were ordered to haul off to anchor as at first intended. The Domingo was soon got off, and the Blake became again afloat, and came to anchor with the rest of the squadron; the ships continued to ply the enemy with a furious cannonade until four in the afternoon, when the town presented a vast conflagration, burning in all quarters. The firing having nearly ceased from the ramparts, Gen. Monnet, the Governor was summoned to surrender, but he having given an evasive answer, hostilities recommenced and continued until two o'clock in the morning of the 15th, when the enemy demanded a suspension of arms, and within an hour the Governor surrendered the town, (when two detachments of the Royals and 71st regiments took possession of its gates,) and the whole of the garrison, prisoners of war, besides those already taken in the different forts and islands of Walcheren, South Beveland, Shouwen, Duivland, Brouwershaven, and Zierigkzee, with all the valuable stores therein. The loss in killed, wounded, and missing of the British, during the siege, was about seven hundred and twenty, including officers.
From this moment offensive operations seemed at an end: we were surrounded with abundance, our days were occupied in the sports of the field, our evenings passed at each others' quarters in idle and pleasant conversation, pay was issued almost to the day that it was due. Provisions of all descriptions were offered for sale at a very low rate: tea, sugar, and coffee, were not half the price of the same in England; wines, brandy, hollands, and liqueurs, might be purchased for a mere trifle; and fat fowls or ducks for tenpence the pair. In this land of plenty we were lulled into a fatal security, for, about the 20th, the soldiers fell ill, staggered, and dropped in the ranks, seized by dreadful fevers[10], and with such rapidity did this malady extend, that in fourteen days, twelve thousand and eighty six soldiers were in hospital on board ship, or sent to England; the deaths were numerous, and sometimes sudden; convalescence hardly ever secure; the disorders ultimately destroying the constitution, and causing eventually the destruction of thousands in far distant climes.
The natives now became ill, and informed us that one-third of them were confined to their beds every autumn until the frosty weather set in, which checked the exhalations from the earth, and gave new tone to their debilitated frames, and thereby stopped the progress of the complaint. Independently of the records of the unhealthiness of these islands, where every object depicts it in the most forcible manner, the bottom of every canal that has communication with the sea is thickly covered with an ooze, which, when the tide is out, emits a most offensive effluvium; and every ditch that is filled with water, is loaded with animal and vegetable substances. If persons living in these islands from their infancy, who practise a cleanliness that cannot be excelled, and live in good houses, cannot prevent the effects of the climate, it may readily be supposed how much more a foreign army must suffer. The inhabitants informed us, that in the preceding autumn, two hundred French troops were quartered in the village, out of whom one hundred and sixty had the fever, and seventy of them died.
Our landing had excited a great sensation in the north of France; so much so, that numerous corps of the national guards marched to the succour of Antwerp, only garrisoned when we first made our descent on the coast with three thousand men, besides the eight thousand sailors on board the fleet, that had retired up the Scheldt. Many of the national guards suffered from the climate, and shortly returned to their families with ruined constitutions.
The town of Flushing, after the siege, presented a deplorable appearance, with many houses burnt down, and most of them unroofed, and scarcely supplying sufficient covering for the sick soldiers, who continued to increase so fast, that ten inhabitants to each regiment were requested to assist as attendants in the hospitals; the medical officers were extremely harrassed, numbers of them became incapable of attending on their patients, being themselves seized by the same fatal malady, so that, as the fever gained ground, the doctors diminished in numbers. At one period, four hundred and ninety-eight soldiers died in a fortnight in Walcheren, which place the Austrians were very solicitous our troops should continue to occupy as long as any chance remained for them against Napoleon, who was at this time in the very heart of their empire.
Early in September, while at dinner, a sudden order reached us to move towards the coast, when we instantly packed up and reached the beach in two hours, where the troops began their embarkation. The captain of the company, with agitated looks, ran towards me, and told me that, in the hurry of moving off, he had left the whole of his company's books in the corner of the room we had occupied, and that the commanding officer had most positively refused him permission to fetch them. Under these circumstances, and at his urgent entreaties, and promises to have a boat in waiting on my return, I undertook the unpleasant excursion, and, rapidly retracing my steps, I re-entered the village at a quick pace, in little more than an hour; it appeared quite tranquil, as if no foreigners had ever been amongst them. One or two natives only were looking from their windows. A sudden thought now struck me that I might be seized and made prisoner, which caused me much uneasiness; but yet to decamp without accomplishing my object, was sorely against the grain with me. While assailed by such conjectures, I entered the door of the house that we had previously occupied, which I found open, and saw the contented inmates enjoying a comfortable meal, nor did they evince the least surprise at my reappearance. Without uttering a word, and passing into the inner apartment, I seized the books, (the dinner was still untouched on the table exactly as we had left it,) and with hasty strides repassed the room where the family were seated, making a slight inclination of the head: they half rose at seeing me loaded; but not a syllable was exchanged between us. Some of the inhabitants had now come out of their houses, and regarded me with suspicious looks: I feigned indifference; but no sooner cleared the village, than I started almost at speed, and had made great progress, when I espied at a distance the light waggons and fat hollow-backed horses, with flowing manes and tails, returning from the beach at a trot; and, being aware that the soldiers were not very ceremonious on these occasions, I was apprehensive the drivers of these vehicles might be disposed to treat me in the same manner, or probably take me back as a hostage. I therefore concealed myself behind a bank until they should have passed by. Night soon came on, but I could descry the lights in the ships' tops, and, in my hurry to follow their direction, I took the wrong road, which led me into a field where it ended. However, with the hope that a short way farther would enable me to reach the beach, I darted onwards, and found a broad ditch impeding my farther progress. It was in vain I ran up and down in search of a narrow part; in almost a fit of desperation, I hurled the books across, one after the other, tried my footing, retired some paces, and, at a run, sprang across it with the greatest exertion, while a momentary joy gleamed over my countenance, on mounting a bank, to find myself at the water's edge. The lights were still stationary, but not a boat to be seen. Owing to my great exertions and haste in passing over fourteen miles of ground, I was in a profuse perspiration, which was soon succeeded by a cold shivering, such as I imagined was the disorder incidental to this swampy country. I feared that I should be left to perish before I could reach the ship; a heavy dew fell, and I was almost perishing with cold, having no other covering than my light infantry jacket, sash, and pantaloons, without drawers or a waistcoat of any sort. Frequently I was forced to run up and down to keep my blood in circulation, and my teeth from chattering. In this manner, alternately sitting, running, or casting my eye towards the lights, which, at times, and in the exuberance of my fancy, I thought were receding, I passed the dreary hours of the night. At daybreak, some sailors pulling in shore, discovered my flying pocket handkerchief, and came to my relief, and, after a considerable pull, we found the regiment on board the Ganges. Then, giving my last dollar to the sailors for grog, I mounted the side of the ship, and descended into the ward-room, where I found the officers scattered about, and lying on a main-sail, that had been spread out for their accommodation. Delivering the books to the owner, I was fully determined never again to volunteer such a Quixotic excursion. The officer assured me that all his endeavours to procure a boat had been unavailing.
The next day two hundred sick soldiers and officers were removed on board small craft to proceed to England, and, as I happened to be one of those for detachment, we left the line-of-battle ship, went on board a transport, and steered our course for the Downs, where we arrived in two days, and cast anchor for forty-eight hours, then again got under weigh, and buffeted about for four days more, between the Downs and Harwich, where we landed our sick soldiers and officers. When we were stepping on shore, a countryman, looking towards us, exclaimed, "There goes the King's hard bargains."
The evening we landed, a fine healthy-looking young serjeant brought me the orderly-book,—and, on visiting the hospital at ten o'clock the next morning, I heard he had been dead one hour. So much for the Walcheren malady! In fact, the most fatal battle could hardly have made such havock in our ranks. Thus, in the short space of seven months, the English coast had been inundated with sick soldiers and scattered regiments from the Land's-end to Yarmouth. Walcheren was finally evacuated in the end of December.
Napoleon had humbled his rivals, had ridden out the storm raised against him, and repulsed all his enemies. Pope Pius the VIIth had indeed thundered forth a spiritual excommunication against him and his followers at the beginning of the Austrian campaign; but he had unluckily fallen into the power of his temporal master, who, seated in the saloon of the Palace of the Tuileries, was meditating new conquests, and weaving silken cords for the Emperor of Austria's daughter.