Star.
London, England, 1812-01-21 00:00:00

tans of his Majesty's ships, requesting. them to give
similar orders. I sailed the same evening in the Mo-
deste, and, after meeting the Windham transport, and
ordering her with the 3d volunteer battalion to Cheri-
bon, directed my course to Samarang. I arrived
there on the 9th, and was shortly afterwards joined
by Rear Admiral Stopford, the Commodore, and a
few transports, having on board a part of his Ma-
e•sty's I4th regiment, half die 73th, the art;llery
detachments, six field-pieces, and the detachment of
pioneers.
. _ _

a- n'cli.()fec
hertowain
rthtehefaecat otfurGeeonteraleoJansloin'asmperGriesenanced,
the troops from Bugtenzorg,p might have chaogcd
his plan, I repeated to him on the 10th, in concert
with the Admiral, an invitation to surrender the
i island on terms of capitulation, and Captain Elliott
1 and Colonel Agnew were charged with the commu-
nication. They saw the General, received his reply,
ascertained that he had still with him at least a nu-
merous staff, and that he professed a determination
to persevere in the contest. The small force with me
did not admit of my attempting to assault the place,
while it was supposed to be thus occupied ; but an at-
tack was made that night bythe boats of th squadron
on several gun vessels of the enemy moored across
the entrance of the rivers leading to the town end ;
.the precipitation with which they were abandoned
gave a character of, probability to accounts, which
reached us from fishermen and. others, that the Gene-
ral was occupied in withdrawing his-troops to the in-
terior, and had fortified a position at a /short distance
on the road towards Solo Soercarta, the residence of
the. Emperor of Java.
On the 12th September, as no other troops had ar-
rived, it was determined to attack the town ; a suM-
mons was lust sent to the Commandant, and it ap-
peared that the enemy had (as at Batavia) evacuated
the place, leaving it to be surrendered by the Com-
mander of the Burghers. It was that night occupied
by a detachment under Colonel Gibbs, and all the
troops I could collect were landed on the following
day.
It was ascertained that the enemy had retired to a
strong position about six miles distance on the Solo
Road, carrying with him all the chief, civil, as well
as military officers, of the district, and that he was
busied in completing batteries and entrenchments in.
a pass of the hills, where he had collected the residue
of his regular troops, some cannon, and a force, in-
cluding the auxiliary troops of the native princes, ex-
ceeding 800 men, cavalry, infantry, and artillery,
commanded by many European officers of rank.
As any check of the attempts of our troops at this
important period might have been productive of the
i worst effects, I thought it prudent to wait the hourly
expected arrival of a larger force, but alter two days
passed at Samarang without their appearance, I re-
solved to tisk an attack with the slender means at my
disposal, rather than to give the enemy confidence
by a longer delay, or afford them time to complei:e
their works, which were said to be still imperfect.
For these reasons, on the evening of the 11111, I
had directed preparations to be made for an attack
on the following day, when intelligence arrived
that the Windham had sailed for Cheribon with
some troops, and several vessels were seen in the
offing; I, therefore, countermanded the orders, in
the expectation of succours, but the Admiral, anxious
on account of the approaching unfavourable season,
to secure a safe anchorage for the ships, sailed in the
morning, with two ships of the line and three frigates,
to attack Fort Louis, and if successful, to occupy the
harbour of Sourabaya.
The Windham alone arrived in the course of the
night, and even the very slender reinforcement which
she brought was, situated as we were, of great im- i
portance, and it enabled me to withdraw all the Eu-1
ropean garrison from the Fort of Samarang, and to I
add a company of Sepoys to the field force, which I
thus strengthened did not exceed one thousand one
hundred infantry, and the necessary artillery to man
four 6-pounders, with some pioneers.
I did not think it proper to assume the direct com-
mand of so small a detachment; I confided it to Co-
lon,el Gibbs, of his Majesty's 59th regiment, pro-
ceeding, however, with the troops, that I might be at
hand to profit by any fortunate result if the attack.
Experience has warranted my reposing the fullest
confidence is the valour and discipline of the troops
I had the goad fortune to command, and taught me
to appreciate those which the enemy could oppose to
them. Many of the fugitives from Corneiis were
in their ranks, and the rest of their forces were strong-
ly impressed, by their exaggerated accounts, with the
danger ta be dreaded from the intrepidity of our
troops. I dial not therefore feel apprehensive of any
unfortunate result from attacking the enemy, with
munbers so very disproportionate ; but from our total
want of cavalry, I did not expect any decisive advan-
tage beyond that of driving them from the position
they had chosen.
The small party of cavalry of which I had been
disappointed by the absence of the transports which
conveyed them, would have been invaluable ; much
of the enemy's force seas mounted, and they had
some horse artillery, while not even the horses of my
staff were arrived, and our artillery and ammunition
were to he moved by hand by the Lascars and pio-
neers, who for this purpose were attached to the
field. pieces.
Colonel Gibbs marched at two o'clock on the
morning of the 16th from Samarang, and after as-
cending some steep hills, at the distance of near six
miles, the fires of the enemy appeared a little before
the dawn of day extending along the summit of a
hill, which crossed our front at Jattee Allee, and over
part of which the road was cut ; the doubtful light,
and the great ln.ight of the hill they occupied, made
the posit:on appear at first most formidable. It was
resolved to attack it immediately, and as the leading '
division or advance of the detachments moved for-
ward to turn the enemy's left, a fire was opened on
them from many guns placed on the summit of the
hill, and various positions on its face, which com-
pletely commanded the road ; these were answered
by our field-pieces as they came up, with the effect,
though fired from a considerable distance, and with
i
great elevation, of confusing the enemy's artillery n
directing their fire, from which a very trifling loss
was sustained, Their flank was turned with
difficulty, the me
culty, but what arose from steepnesshttle
of the ascent, and after a short but ineffectual at-
tempt to stop, by the fire of some guns advantage-
ously posted, across a deep ravine, the
aabdanvancecodl the
u
body of our detachment, the enemy don