When the ministry of England received the first advice, that M. Thurot had escaped from Dunkirk with a small squadron of armed ships, having on board a body of land-troops, designed for a private expedition on the coast of Scotland or Ireland, expresses were immediately despatched to the commanding officers of the forces in North Britain, with orders to put the forts along the coast of that kingdom in the best posture of defence; and to hold every thing in readiness to repel the enemy, in case they should attempt a descent. In consequence of these instructions, beacons were erected for the immediate communication of intelligence; places of rendezvous appointed for the regular troops and militia; and strict orders issued that no officer should absent himself from his duty, on any pretence whatever. The greatest encomium that can be given to the character of this partisan, is an account of the alarm which the sailing of his puny armament spread through the whole extent of such a powerful kingdom, whose fleets covered the ocean. Perhaps Thurot’s career would have been sooner stopped, had commodore Boys been victualled for a longer cruise; but this commander was obliged to put into Leith for a supply of provisions, at the very time when Thurot was seen hovering on the coast near Aberdeen; and, before the English squadron was provided for the prosecution of the cruise, the other had taken shelter at Gottenburgh, in Sweden.
CHAPTER XVII.
State of the Island of Martinique..... Expedition against that Island..... Attempt upon St. Pierre..... Descent on the Island of Guadaloupe..... Skirmishes with the Islanders..... Fort Louis reduced..... Fate of Colonel Debrisay..... The English Fleet sails to Dominique..... General Harrington takes Gosier, and Storms the Post of Licorne..... He takes Petitbourg and St. Mary’s..... The Island capitulates..... Island of Marigalante taken by General Barrington..... He returns to England..... Treaty with the Indians in North America..... Plan of the Campaign..... Ticonderoga and Crown Point abandoned by the French..... General Amherst embarks on Lake Champlain..... Niagara reduced..... Introduction to the Expedition against Quebec..... General Wolfe lands on the Island of Orleans, and takes Point Levi..... The English Fleet damaged by a Storm..... General Wolfe encamps near the Falls of the River Montmorenci, and attacks the French Intrenchments there, but is repulsed..... Brigadier Murray detached up the River..... Council of War called..... The Troops land at the Heights of Abraham..... Battle of Quebec..... Quebec taken..... Rejoicings in England
STATE OF THE ISLAND OF MARTINIQUE.
Having finished the detail of the actions achieved in the European seas by the naval force of Great Britain, within the compass of the present year, we shall now proceed to record the exploits of the British arms within the tropics, and particularly the expedition to Martinique and Guadaloupe, which is said to have succeeded even beyond the expectation of the ministry. A plan had been formed for improving the success of the preceding year in North America, by carrying the British arms up the river St. Laurence, and besieging Quebec, the capital of Canada. The armament employed against the French islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe constituted part of this design, inasmuch as the troops embarked on that expedition were, in case of a miscarriage at Martinique, intended to reinforce the British army in North America, which was justly considered as the chief seat of the war. What hope of success the administration conceived from an attempt upon Martinique, may be guessed from the state of that island, as it appeared in a memorial presented by the French king’s lieutenants of its several districts, to the general of the French island, in consequence of an order issued in November, for holding them in readiness to march and defend the island from the English, of whose design they were apprized. They represented that the trade with the Dutch was become their sole dependence: that they could expect no succour from Europe, by which they had been abandoned ever since the commencement of the war: that the traders vested with the privileges of trafficking among them had abused the intention of the general; and, instead of being of service to the colony, had fixed an arbitrary price for all the provisions which they brought in, as well as for the commodities which they exported; of consequence, the former was valued at as high a price as their avarice could exact, and the latter sunk as low in value as their own selfish hearts could conceive: that the colony for two months had been destitute of all kinds of provision; the commodities of the planters lay upon their hands, and their negroes were in danger of perishing through hunger; a circumstance that excited the apprehension of the most dreadful consequences; as to slaves, half starved, all kinds of bondage were equal; and people reduced to such a situation were often driven to despair, seeking in anarchy and confusion a remedy from the evils by which they were oppressed; that the best provided of the inhabitants laboured under the want of the common necessaries of life; and others had not so much as a grain of salt in their houses: that there was an irreparable scarcity of slaves to cultivate their land; and the planters were reduced to the necessity of killing their own cattle to support the lives of those who remained alive; so that the mills were no longer worked, and the inhabitants consumed beforehand what ought to be reserved for their sustenance, in case of being blocked up by the enemy. They desired, therefore, that the general would suppress the permission granted to particular merchants, and admit neutral vessels freely into their ports, that they might trade with the colonists unmolested and unrestrained. They observed, that the citadel of Port-Royal seemed the principal object on which the safety and defence of the country depended; as the loss of it would be necessarily attended with the reduction of the whole island: they therefore advised that this fort should be properly provided with every thing necessary for its safety and defence; and that magazines of provision, as well as ammunition, should be established in different quarters of the island.—This remonstrance plainly proves that the island was wholly unprepared to repel the meditated invasion, and justifies the plan adopted by the ministry of Great Britain. The regular troops of Martinique consisted of about twenty independent companies, greatly defective in point of number. The militia was composed of burghers and planters distressed and dissatisfied, mingled with a parcel of wretched negro slaves, groaning under the most intolerable misery, from whence they could have no hope of deliverance but by a speedy change of masters; their magazines were empty, and their fortifications out of repair.
EXPEDITION AGAINST THAT ISLAND.
Such was the state of Martinique, when the inhabitants every day expected a visit from the British armament, whose progress we shall now relate. On the twelfth day of November in the preceding year, captain Hughes sailed from St. Helen’s with eight sail of the line, one frigate, four bomb-ketches, and a fleet of transports, having on board six regiments of infantry, and a detachment of artillery, besides eight hundred marines distributed among the ships of war; this whole force being under the command of major-general Hopson, an old experienced officer, assisted by major-general Barrington, the colonels Armigerand Haldane, the lieutenant-colonels Trapaud and Clavering, acting in the capacity of brigadiers. After a voyage of seven weeks and three days, the fleet arrived at Barbadoes, and anchored in Carlisle-bay; where they joined commodore Moore, appointed by his majesty to command the united squadron, amounting to ten ships of the line, besides frigates and bomb-ketches. Ten days were employed in supplying the fleet with wood and water, in waiting for the hospital ship, in reviews, re-embarkations, councils of war, assemblies of the council belonging to the island, in issuing proclamations, and beating up for volunteers. At length, every great ship being reinforced with forty negroes, to be employed in drawing the artillery; and the troops, which did not exceed five thousand eight hundred men, being joined by two hundred Highlanders, belonging to the second battalion of the regiment commanded by lord John Murray in North America, who were brought as recruits from Scotland under convoy of the ship Ludlow-castle; the whole armament sailed from Carlisle-bay on the thirteenth day of January; but by this time the troops, unaccustomed to a hot climate, were considerably weakened and reduced by fevers, diarrhoeas, the scurvy, and the small-pox; which last disease had unhappily broke out amongst the transports. Next morning the squadron discovered the island of Martinique, which was the place of its destination. The chief fortification of Martinique was the citadel of Port-Royal, a regular fort, garrisoned by four companies, that did not exceed the number of one hundred and fifty men, thirty-six bombardiers, eighty Swiss, and fourteen officers. One hundred barrels of beef constituted their whole store of provisions; and they were destitute of all other necessaries. They were almost wholly unprovided with water in the cisterns, with spare carriages for their cannon, match, wadding, and langrage; they had but a small stock of other ammunition; and the walls were in many parts decayed. The only preparations they had made for receiving the English were some paltry intrenchments thrown up at St, Pierre, and a place called Casdenavires, where they imagined the descent would probably be attempted. On the fifteenth day of the month, the British squadron entered the great bay of Port-Royal, some of the ships being exposed to the shot of a battery erected on the isle de Ranieres, a little island about half way up the bay. At their first appearance, the Florissant, of seventy-four guns, which had been so roughly handled by captain Tyrrel in the Buckingham, then lying under the guns of Fort-Negro, along with two frigates, turned up under the citadel, and came to an anchor in the Carenage, behind the fortification. One frigate, called the Vestal, under favour of the night, made her escape through the transports, and directed her course for Europe; where she was taken by captain Hood, as we have already related. Next day three ships of the line were ordered to attack Fort-Negro, a battery at the distance of three miles from the citadel, which, being mounted with seven guns only, was soon silenced, and immediately possessed by a detachment of marines and sailors; who, being sanded in flat-bottomed boats, clambered up the rock, and entered through the embrasures with their bayonets fixed. Here, however, they met with no resistance: the enemy had abandoned the fort with precipitation. The British colours were immediately hoisted, and sentinels of marines posted upon the parapet. The next care was to spike and disable the cannon, break the carriages, and destroy the powder which they found in the magazine: nevertheless, the detachment was ordered to keep possession of the battery. This service being successfully performed, three ships were sent to reduce the other battery at Casdenavires, which consisted only of four guns, and these were soon rendered unserviceable. The French troops, reinforced with militia which had been detached from the citadel to oppose the disembarkation, perceiving the whole British squadron, and all the transports, already within the bay, and Fort-Negro occupied by the marines, retired to Port-Royal, leaving the beach open; so that the English troops were landed without opposition; and, being formed, advanced into the country towards Fort-Negro, in the neighbourhood of which they lay all night upon their arms; while the fleet, which had been galled by bomb-shells from the citadel, shifted their station, and stood farther up the bay. By ten next day, the English officers had brought up some field-pieces to an eminence, and scoured the woods, from whence the troops had been greatly annoyed by the small shot of the enemy during the best part of the night, and all that morning. At noon the British forces advanced in order towards the hill that overlooked the town and citadel of Port-Royal, and sustained a troublesome fire from enemies they could not see; for the French militia were entirely covered by the woods and bushes. This eminence, called the Morne Tortueson, though the most important post of the whole island, was neglected by the general of Martinique, who had resolved to blow up the fortifications of the citadel: but, luckily for the islanders, he had not prepared the materials for this operation, which must have been attended with the immediate destruction of the capital, and indeed of the whole country. Some of the inferior officers, knowing the importance of the Morne Tortueson, resolved to defend that post with a body of the militia, which was reinforced by the garrisons of Fort-Negro and Casdenavires, as well as by some soldiers detached from the Florissant: but, notwithstanding all their endeavours, as they were entirely unprovided with cannon, extremely defective in point of discipline, dispirited by the pusillanimity of their governor, and in a great measure disconcerted by the general consternation that prevailed among the inhabitants, in all probability they could not have withstood a spirited and well-conducted attack by regular forces. About two o’clock general Hopson thought proper to desist from his attempt. He gave the commodore to understand that he could not maintain his ground, unless the squadron would supply him with heavy cannon, landed near the town of Port-Royal, at a savannah, where the boats must have been greatly exposed to the fire of the enemy; or assist him in attacking the citadel by sea, while he should make his approaches by land. Both these expedients* being deemed impracticable by a council of war, the troops were recalled from their advanced posts, and re-embarked in the evening, without any considerable molestation from the enemy.