The Sun.
London, England, 1804-05-11 00:00:00

BELLEISLE.

The following Narrative of the attack on Belle_
isle in 1761, extrafted from a recent Historical
Res,it-u, of the Royal Marine Corps, may not be
found uninteresting at the present moment.

A secret Expedition was prepared early in this
year, which was committed to the joint condua of
Major-General Hodgson and Commodore ICeppel,
and was subsequently direaed against the Island of

Eleven battalions of Foot, four troops of the.r6th
Light Dragoons, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bur.
Boyne, a detachment of the Royal Artillery, and a
corps of TOOO Marines formed into two battalions,
commanded by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John
'Mackenzie, amounting nearly to to,ooo men, corn..
posed the 'strength of the Army upon this service.
The whole were escorted and spiritedly seconded by
ten ships of the line, eight frigates, three bomb
ketches, and two fire ships ; which set sail upon the
zgth 'of March from Sr. Helens, but did not gain
sight of their wished-for objet until the 6th of
April. This force was afterwards augmented by
troops and men of war.
In addition to the natural strength of this Island,
no means of defence had been negleted by the
enemy, who, aware of the attack, had construtted
works, and placed guns on every spot that afforded
a possibility of descent.
Upon the 7th the Fleet stood along the south end
of Belleisle, with a view to reconnoitre its sttcogli,
and to ascertain a proper quarter for debarkation.
Coming to anchor in the road of Palais on the noon
of that day, the principal officers of both services,
accompanied by some of she engineers, proceeded
to the northward, in order to fioisli their observa.
tions upon the general state of the coast. The
final result convinced all, that great obstacles were
to be surmounted every where, and that the sacri.
fice of many lives was unavoidable in attaining the
first objea of their views.
After mature deliberation, it was resolved to
eirea a landing early in the morning of the Bth of
April, for which purpose the fiac.bottomed boats
were hoisted out, and the troops placed in them
ready to advance towards Port Andro, on a signal
being made. They were preceded by His Ma.
jesty's ships Dragon and Achilles, commanded by
the Hon. Captains Harvey and Barrington, whose
orders-were to silence the battery, which priatefted
the-entrance into this Bay. These gallant Officers
soon accomplished the duty, and intinuted that no
opposition to the landing of our forces was to be
dreaded from that point of defence.
The boats hairing proceeded under the immediate
superintendance of Commodore Keppel, who had
shifted his pendant from the l'a/irrnt into the Prince
of Orange, were then ordered to row towards the
shore, arranged in three divisions, under the direc-
tion of Captain Barton, of the Royal Navy. Not.
withstanding a prodigious fire of musketry, our
brave Soldiers made good their landing, and evinced a
series of valour that must have conquered any thing
within th,.: power of man. _ _

The French were intrenehed to the chin on a
steep hill, the base of which they had cut into a
perpendicular form, which prevented our gallant fel-
loWs from ascending their works without scaling
ladders, of which there were unforOnately none.
Alter a heavy loss, and a contest which did them
honour, a retreat became the only alternative.
On this trying occasion, the distinguished cou.
rage and coolness of Generals Crawford and Carle.
ton, were very highly conspicuous ; the. latter was
wounded.

One boat landed sixty 'of Erskinefs Grenadiers,
under Captain :isborne, who were unobserved h.,
the rest of our force, and not being supprted, fell
vkliins, excepting twenty, to very superior num-
bers, after the most noble resistance. Their brave
leader was classed among the unfortunate. The
lire from the ships was opened to cover the return.of
our troops, who sustained a loss of nearly Soo
men.

A diversion was carrying on in another quarter.
during these operations, in order to aid them by
attracting the enemy's force from the real °Ned of
attack, towards Saucon. This was composed of the
96th and 97th Regiments, and the Mari►.es ; but
nothing could avert the disaster.
A dreadful gale coming on after the return of
the boats, occasioned the losS of many of them,
which was felt extremely ; and the transports were
also very considerably damaged. After it ceased,
the attention of the whole fleet was turned to repair
these accidents.

Having obtained some reinftircements, and after
a second very minute review of the Island, it was
determined to make another descent at Fort D'Arsic,
to be supported by two separate attacks, in order to
distract the enemy, near Sr. Foy, and at Saucon.
The last, which was intended merely as a feint,
was composed of the four troops of Light Pra.
goons under Lieutenant-Colonel Burgoyne ; which
being distributed amongst a number of transports,
and escorted by a large naval force, appeared the
most formidable of the whole. Ships of war were
allotted to co-operate with the other two, headed
by Major-General Crawford and Brigadier Lam-
bert, in covering their debarkation, and silencing
the different batteries.

Murray, with a company of Marines, landed and
climbed the rocks. Soon afterwards other troops
fbllowed their intrepid example, . when, having
reached the summit, the whole formed upon it.
The French were amazed at the attempt, but
pushed on p veteran corps of 300 men, to atone for
their want of precaution.
Contiguous to the ground occupied by our troops,
there was a wall, which suggested itself as an eli-
gible post of defence. This enabled our inadequate
numbers to oppose the enemy, until they were far-
ther reinforced by Brigadier Lambert, at the bead
of the grenadiers of the 3oth, and tht rest of the
Marines under Colonel Mackenzie. The tables
were now turned, when the Regiment of Bigorre
was beat back to the rising ground from which it
had advanced.

Captain Sir Thomas Stanhope, whose duty it was
.to co-operate with this Brigade, had watched these
spirited eff,rts with 'an anxious zeal: He instantly
manned and armed all the boats of his squadron,
which rowed ashore as a farther support, while the
force that had proceeded against Fort D'Arsic, ob-
serving this unexpeled
.success, also pushed on to
unite with Brigadier- Lambert. Thus strengthened,
that alive Officer allowed no interval, but moved
against the the enemy upon the hill, whom he drove
to their main body, taking their field pieces and
some prisoinets.
Captain'Paterson, of Beauclerek's regiment, Co_
Mackenzie and Capt. Murray of the Marines,
were wounded ; all of whom were much distinguish-
-ed during the whole course of this short, but sharp
service, which did not exceed the space of two
hours. About five in the evening the debarkation
was completed, the Army was pushed upwards of
three miles info the country, and took post upon an
eminence through the night.
The enemy, during the day, had withdrawn all
their detachments from their extensive batteries on
the coast,- blown tip their magazines, and united ail
their furces under the command of General de St.
Croix.

On the morning of the 23d, the British Army
was in motion against the town and citadel of Palais,
.while that of the French occasionally seemed deter.
mined to dispute our progress, at last retired with-
out a conflid, into that strong fortress, and its dc_
pendant works.
Some d;lys of boisterous weather prevented the
landing of our battering cannon, and other necessary
stores, that were essential for commencing opera-
tions against Palais, of which General St. Croix
availed himself, by construding six different re-
doubts ; all of which were to be carried before
breaking ground in front of the town•and citadel.
The English Commander also profited himself of
this interval, by dispersing assurances of protedion
to the laws, religion, and property of the natives,
who should submit themselves ; which were not
without their effed. A short time, however, en.
abled General Hodgson to employ more convincing
arguments,' by opening his batteries upon the 23 of
,May. The brave St. Croix's answer to a summons
was, that he would defend his charge to the last ex.
tremity.
The enemy attempiel a sortie on the night of
the 3d against our most advanced works, which
they carried, killing a number of our troops, ann
making General Crawford and both his Aids.de.
Camp prisoner's. Following up this success, they
advanced against the trenches, when a sharp action
commenced that remained doubtful, until a party
of Marines, under Captain Hepburn, arrived, who
charged the enemy, and forced them to retire with
considerable loss.

In order to facilitate our approaches, the engi-
neers pronounced that it was absolutely necessary.
to carry one of the intervening redoubts. Accord.
ingly a detachment of zoo men, composed of a part
of Loudon's Regiment, and Marines, under Captain
Carruthers, of the latter corps, were warned, upon
the evening of the izth, for this duty. A heavy
fire of shut and shells swas kept up during the
night upon that object, with a view to make some
breach, and to harass the enemy. Soon after the
dawn of day, those assailants advanced against the
works with fixed bayonets, when after a very spi-
rited contest, they soon carried the redoubt, and-
maintaine.d it. Captain "Carruthers, with a ready
promptitude, observing the panic amongst the French,
did not permit it to subside, but instantly pushed
ov against two others,. which were successively eva-
cuated by their defenders, who retreated with pre-
cipitation into the Citadel. Tbis party becoming
reinforced by 370 of the 69th Regiment, under
Major Nesbit, achieved the conquest of the whole
of the French'redoubts, and with an impetuous per-
severing ardour entered the town of Palais, pell-
ma, with the flying enemy.
The gallantry exhibited by all who fought on this
memorable day, very justly immortalized the mili-
tary fame of every individual, which extended its
honourable influence to those corps at large from
whom they were detached.
Very distinguished encomiums were bestowed by
the enemy upon " Les Petits Grenadier: ;" a title
derived from the caps worn by the Marine Soldiers.
Thus was every Obstacle relmved, which pre-
vented the close investment of the Citailel of Palais;
a fortress that had beeee planned and raised under
the superintending genius of the celebrated Vauban.
During this period the fleet rendered very materi.
al services, by their stopping sulaplies from the Con-
tinent ; and their vigilance during the subsequent
continuance of the siege was highly meritorious.
The condua of the French Commander tetitded
honour upon himself and the French arms. From
the r 6th of May until the 7th of June he persevered
in maintaining his post against an unceasing fire
from 4,4 heavy cannon, 5o mortars and howitzers,
besides field pieces, which, in many places, ruined
the works, killed numbers, and from which there
was no safe retreat but within the casemates.