or elsewhere. Second in command was the late Secretary for Ireland, Lord George Sackville. With these embarked a crowd of high-born volunteers, "the purplest blood of 'England," says Horace Walpole.* At the head of the naval branch was Commodore Howe; Lord Anson also embarked with the expedition, but stood out to sea with the larger ships. On the 5th of June the transports cast anchor in the Bay of Cancalle. Next day the troops, being set on shore, were led by the Duke of Marlborough against St. Malo. The strength of the fortifications precluded a coUP DE MAIN but the Duke set on fire and destroyed, almost under the cannon of the place, a great quantity of naval stores, three ships of war, and about 130 privateers and trading craft. After this feat the troops were quietly re-embarked. The armament in its further progress appeared before both Granville and Cherbourg, but was restrained from any attack by the state either of the weather or the works. On the 1st of July it was again anchored safe at Spithead. There is no doubt that the damage done to the French shipping had been considerable, and that the apprehension or the approach of this expedition had effectually withheld the French from sending any succours to Germany. This effect was frequently and warmly acknowledged in Prince Ferdinand's despatches. On the other hand, it can as little be denied that the results of this great armament were far from corresponding to the sums it had cost, or to the hopes it had excited. Mr. Fox, and other grumblers, called it breaking windows with guineas, and applied the fable of the mountain and the mouse. Moreover, the speedy re-embarkation of the troops, which must attend this kind of warfare, has always an appearance of flight, and affords matter of triumph *** *To Sir H. Mann, June 11. 1758. This phrase is derived from the Sangre Azul of the Castillians, — a phrase by which they express a descent "Through the most Gothic gentlemen of Spain." ** "Sur le plus grand de ces flots de granit on a bati St. Malo, qui à "marée haute ne tient à la terre que par la grande route. ... A marée "basse le parapet est souvent à soixante pieds des flots." (Mémoires d'un Touriste (M. Beyle), vol. ii. p. 144. ed. Bruxelles, 1838.) *** Lord Chesterfield to his son, June 27. 1758, 1758. WORKS AT CHERBOURG DESTROYED. *143 to an enemy, The King remarked of this expedition very sensibly: "I never had any opinion of it; we shall brag of "having burnt their ships, and they of driving us away.' Next month, however, the attempt was resumed with a smaller force. On this second occasion the command had been offered to Lord George Sackville, but he, preferring to serve under the Duke of Marlborough in Germany, replied that he was "tired of buccaneering!" The command, therefore, devolded on General Bligh, a worn-out veteran. With him embarked the young and high-spirited Prince Edward, next brother to the Prince of Wales. The troops being set on shore near Cherbourg, found the town forsaken by the garrison, and proceeded to destroy the forts and the basin. So strong and compact was the masonry of the latter that for a long time it baffled the miner's tools. It bore an inscription commemorating its construction through the orders of Cardinal Fleury and the plans of Marshal Asfeld, and announcing that it stood for all eternity **; — that eternity, as it proved, lasted less than thirty years! 170 pieces of iron cannon were destroyed; twenty-two of fine brass were embarked, and afterwards carried with great pomp and procession through the City of London to the Tower. But whatever glory might redound to the British troops from such trophies became tarnished by their own ill-conduct; discipline was neglected by the officers; and the common men, notwithstanding a Manifesto promising protection to the peaceable inhabitants, disgraced themselves by numerous acts of plunder and riot. The destruction being completed, and the troops re-embarked, they steered towards St. Malo, and were again set on shore. It was found, however, (as the commanders should * Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 305. Ars, Naturæ Victrix.... simul Principem, sapientem, heroa posteritati commendat. have known from the former expedition,) that St. Malo was too strong to be attacked with any prospect of success. Thus then the army was allowed to rove in a desultory manner over the adjoining district without any settled plan, and committing numerous excesses. At length, news was brought that the Duke of Aiguillon was approaching at the head of superior forces, and our troops hastened to rejoin the ships in the bay of St. Cast. But here there was no care taken to cover and protect the embarkation. The French kept aloof until, on the 11th of September, the whole army was on board, except the rear-guard of 1,500 men under Major General Dury; they then began a regular and wellconcerted attack. General Dury himself was dangerously wounded, and attempting to swim towards his ships was drowned; and the whole English loss in killed and prisoners was nearly 1,000 men. So strong was the public feeling against Bligh for his miscarriage at St. Cast that he found it necessary on his return to England to resign both his regiment and his government.* On the Elbe, the new General of the Hanoverian army, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, commenced his campaign before the close of February. He had no longer the Duke de Richelieu before him; that chief had so far alienated Hanover, and ruined his own army, by his exactions and want of discipline, that he had been recalled to Paris. In his place had come the Count de Clermont, a Prince of the Blood Royal, wholly inexperienced in war, and chiefly known as holding the rich abbey of St. Germain. The wits of Paris used to say of him, that he preached like a soldier and fought like and apostle!** Before his arrival the French forces were * The French commander was no less blamed than the English. "M. "d'Aiguillon, au lieu de se mettre à la tête des troupes, monta dans un "moulin, d'où il vit l'action et les Anglais repoussés." (Mémoires de Besenval, vol. ii. p. 172.) ** "Moitié casaque, moitié rabat, "Et se bat comme un apôtre." Preuss, Lebens-Geschichte, vol. ii. p. 133. 1758 CAMPAIGN OF PRINCE FERDINAND. 145 reduced to a dismal situation by their own excesses, by sickness, by the want of due supplies, and by the severity of the season. It is alleged that Count de Clermont hereupon wrote to his Sovereign as follows:-That he had found His Majesty's army divided into three bodies, one above ground, who were become a parcel of thieves and vagabonds, and all in rags; another under ground; — and the third in the hospitals. Therefore he desired His Majesty's instructions whether he should endeavour to bring the first away, or whether he should stay till it had joined the other two.* Thus then the French forces were in no condition to withstand the Hanoverian when advancing with boldness and directed with ability. As Prince Ferdinand approached, the enemy retired successively from Zelle, from Hanover, from Hameln; and they were dislodged at Hoya on the Weser, with the loss of 1,500 prisoners. The whole Electorate was recovered for King George, but was found most grievously plundered and impoverished. "We are a ruined people in "this country," writes a gentleman of Zelle, on the 9th of March, "and God knows how we shall or can maintain ourselves. I have been this week out of town, and have "found most people there, as I may say, naked; they creep "together like sheep, to keep one another warm; and they "have nothing left to live upon." But one at least of the French generals stands clear from the guilt of having caused such sufferings. The Duke de Randan, Governor of the town of Hanover, had not only taken effectual measures for restraining his garrison within the bounds of discipline, but when he commenced his retreat, instead of destroying the magazines of provisions which he could not remove, according to the usual practice of war, he ordered them to be distributed among the poor. His name, and this was surely no light compliment after such a conquest, was gratefully commemorated in the sermons preached at Hanover on the day of solemn thanksgiving for their national deliverance. * Entick's History, vol. iii. p. 126. Mahon, History. IV. 10 Still retreating, and still pursued, the French gradually fell back to the Rhine, and crossed that river near Wesel. Prince Ferdinand, with equal skill and spirit, effected his own passage in the neighbourhood of the enemy, and on the 23d of June brought them to a battle at Crefeld, when, notwithstanding their superiority of numbers, the French were worsted with a loss of 6,000 men. The first result of this victory was the fall of Düsseldorf, which Prince Ferdinand immediately invested, and in a few days reduced. But the battle of Crefeld had also important consequences both in Paris and in London. The French Ministers, exasperated at their failure, recalled their incapable commander, and sent in his place the Mareschal de Contades at the head of considerable reinforcements. They also directed the Prince de Soubise to attempt a diversion by marching forward from Hanau into Hesse. This order was promptly executed, and the Hessians were overthrown, with heavy loss. Under all these circumstances, Prince Ferdinand, finding it impossible to maintain his position beyond the Rhine, or to bring the enemy to another conflict, retired into Westphalia, fixing his head-quarters at Munster. British auxiliaries, however, were already on their way to reinforce him. So elated was the whole nation at the gallantry and success of Prince Ferdinand at Crefeld, that Pitt found himself supported, nay impelled, by the public feeling, when he adopted the bold measure of sending to his aid several regiments from England. No sooner had the Duke of Marlborough landed from the first expedition to St. Malo than he was ordered on this service. The troops disembarked in the port of Embden, which, during the French retreat from Hanover, had been occupied by two English ships of war. From thence they marched to join Prince Ferdinand's army, but arrived too late for him or for them to undertake any thing further during this campaign. Moreover, their chief, the Duke of Marlborough, died shortly after their arrival, — of a dysentery, as was said, — |