did so; and the French and colonial soldiers instantly gave way, flying with a speed which the British could not equal, and leaving not only their two field-pieces, but their commanding officer, Lieutenant Rockman, of the 18th regiment, who was made a prisoner while in the act of spiking the two field-pieces; and who, observes Captain Willoughby in his despatch, "deserved to command better soldiers."

Hitherto twilight had hid from view the force of the British, but full day now showed the Néréide's small band of volunteers to the enemy; whose strongest battery was still unsubdued, and to gain which it was necessary to pass the river le Galet, running at the foot of a high hill covered with wood, and defended by the commandant of the Savannah district, Colonel Etienne Colgard, with two long 12-pounders drawn from the battery on the right, and a strong body of militia. Owing to the recent heavy rains, the river had become so swollen and its stream so rapid, that the tallest man could scarcely wade across. The short, however, were helped over; and the whole party, more than half of whom were upon the swim, and all exposed to a heavy fire, succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, but not without the loss of the greater part of the ammunition. No sooner was the river crossed, than three cheers warned the enemy to prepare for the bayonet. On the gallant fellows rushed and the hill, the two guns, and the battery, with its colours, were carried "in style;" and the commandant, Colonel Colgard, was taken prisoner. "Nor," says Captain Willoughby, with the candour of a brave man, "do I think an officer or man of the party, except myself, had an anxious thought for the result of this unequal affair."

Having spiked the guns and a mortar, burnt and destroyed their carriages, also the works and magazine, and embarked the two field-pieces, with a quantity of naval and military stores, Captain Willoughby was upon the point of returning to the Néréide, when the party which had been driven from the first battery appeared to have recovered from their panic, and, strongly reinforced by the militia and the bourgeois inhabitants. of the island, were drawn up in battle array on the left. Knowing that this was the first hostile landing which had ever been effected upon the Isle of France; knowing, also, that its principal defence consisted in its militia, Captain Willoughby resolved to run some risk in letting the latter know, what they were to expect if ever the island was attacked by a regular British force. He accordingly moved towards the assembled French militia and regulars; and these, on advancing within musket-shot, opened their fire. As a proof of his good generalship, Captain Willoughby resolved to get into the rear of his opponents in order to cut them off in the retreat, to which, he knew, they would again resort. The captain and his party immediately turned into the interior, in an oblique direction to the

islanders, who at first halted and remained upon their ground. But the moment the British, by moving in quick time, discovered their intention, the French militia, followed by the regulars, took to their heels, as had been conjectured, and, a second time, beat the British seamen and marines in fair running. On their way back to their boats, to reach which they had again to wade across the river Galet, the bold invaders burnt the signal-house and flagstaff, situated nearly a mile from the beach: a proof to what a distance the fugitives had led them. Having well sounded the harbour, Captain Willoughby took with him the French schooner, which the midshipman left in charge of the boats had secured just as she was sweeping to sea, and rejoined the Néréide in the offing. The ship, a fine vessel of 400 tons, proved to be an American: and, although she was detainable for a breach of blockade, Captain Willoughby did not capture her.

This very gallant, and, as we shall see, far from unimportant enterprise, was executed with so comparatively trifling a loss, as one marine killed, Lieutenant Deacon (slightly), four seamen, and two marines wounded. The loss of the enemy could not be ascertained; nor was it exactly known what force the British had defeated. From information, corroborated by what fell from the French officers, a body of 600 troops could reinforce the batteries at the post, by signal, within an hour; and the signal for an enemy was flying during the whole four hours that the British remained on shore. Nor did the seamen or marines, much to the credit of themselves and their officers, commit the slightest injury to the houses or private property of the inhabitants.

As soon as the Néréide joined the squadron off Port-Louis, Captain Lambert sent in a flag of truce, with the captured militia commandant, lieutenant of infantry, and enseigne de vaisseau, and received in exchange for them 39 British seamen and soldiers. This was an immediate good result of the enterprise at Jacolet. The benefits of a more permanent nature, arising from the exploit of Captain Willoughby, were, an instance of the practicability, hitherto doubted, of making a descent upon the Isle of France, and a proof that the principal part of the troops in the island consisted of militia; of whose prowess, also, as defenders of any spot of ground, some very conclusive evidence had been obtained.

Some time in the month of May Captain Josias Rowley, late of the 64-gun ship Raisonable, having by the orders of Viceadmiral William O'Brien Drury, the commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope, superseded Captain John Hatley in the command of the 38-gun frigate Boadicea, arrived, with the latter frigate and the Sirius, off the Isle of France. The Raisonable in the mean time, being nearly worn out in the service, had sailed for England, commanded by Captain Hatley; and the Leopard having also quitted the Isle of France station for the

Cape of Good Hope, the British force cruising off Port-Louis consisted of frigates and sloops only, the Boadicea, Sirius, Iphigenia, Magicienne, Néréide, Otter, and a few others.

On the 15th of June, while Commodore Rowley, with the Boadicea and Néréide, was watering on Isle Platte, or Flat island, a small island close off the northern extremity of the Isle of France, preparatory to his departure for the Isle of Rodriguez, a very serious accident happened to the captain of the Néréide. Captain Willoughby was on shore exercising his men at smallarms, when a musket he was holding burst, and inflicted upon him a dreadful, and, as it was thought, mortal wound. His lower jaw on the right side was badly fractured, and his neck so lacerated, that the windpipe lay bare; and the surgeon feared, for several days, that it would slough away with the dressings, and of course end the life of the patient. For three weeks, Captain Willoughby could not speak. However, by the skilful attention of the surgeon, Mr. George Peter Martyn Young, and a temperate habit of body, but not until a painful exfoliation of the jaw had taken place, the wound healed. We formerly gave the name of Captain (then lieutenant) Willoughby among the wounded at the unfortunate business of the island of Prota, during the still more unfortunate proceedings in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. The wound Captain Willoughby then received was by two musket or pistol balls: one struck his left cheek, and injured the jaw on that side; the other entered his right nostril, and, from the upward position of his face at the moment, took a slanting direction towards the region of the brain. He lay, for half an hour, insensible on the ground, and was carried to the boats and the ship as one of whom no hopes were entertained. The surgeon introduced his probe several inches into the wound, but the bullet has not, we believe, yet been extracted.

Having watered his two ships, and left the squadron off the Isle of France in the temporary charge of Captain Pym of the Sirius, Commodore Rowley made sail for the island of Rodriguez, a small uninhabited island situated about 100 leagues to the north-east of the Isle of France; and which had recently been taken possession of by Lieutenant-colonel Keating, as a sort of barrack for the troops with which it was in contemplation to attack Isle Bourbon. On the 24th the Boadicea and Néréide anchored at Rodriguez; and on the 3d of July, having embarked as many of the European troops as they could stow, the two frigates sailed on their return, accompanied by 14 transports, having on board the remainder of the 3650 European and native troops, including 1850 of the latter, allotted for the expedition. On board the Boadicea were also as passengers, Lieutenantcolonel Keating, the commanding officer of the troops, and Robert Townsend Farquhar, Esquire, appointed to the government of the island as soon as it should be captured. The

regular force on Bourbon at this time amounted to only 576 rank and file; but there was an organized militia force of 2717

men.

On the 6th, at 4 P. M., the expedition joined Captain Pym's squadron at the appointed rendezvous, about 50 miles to windward of Isle Bourbon; and the Sirius, Iphigenia, and Magicienne received on board from the transports all the remaining European and a portion of the native troops, together with as many of their boats as might be required for landing the men. This done, the five frigates and transports, early on the morning of the 7th, bore away for the different points of debarkation. The first brigade, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Fraser, was to land at Grande-Chaloupe, a spot about six miles to the southward and westward of the town of St.-Dénis, the capital of the island; while the second, third, and fourth brigades, under the respective commands of Lieutenant-colonel Keating, Campbell, and Drummond, were to land at Rivière des Pluies, about three miles to the eastward of the town. The first of these points was on the lee, the other on the weather side of the island.

While the main force drew the enemy's attention off SainteMarie, about two miles further to the eastward than Rivière des Pluies, Captain Pym, at 2 P. M., in the short space of about two hours and a half, effected the landing at Grande-Chaloupe, without opposition, of the whole of Colonel Fraser's brigade, consisting of 950 men, with some howitzers and the necessary ammunition. Owing to the able dispositions of Lieutenant John Wyatt Watling, second of the Sirius, who with a small detachment of seamen had charge of the beach, not an accident occurred to a single soldier, nor was any part of the ammunition injured. Lieutenant Watling, with his men, then kept possession, during the night, of a neighbouring height between the town of St.Paul and Colonel Fraser's rear; thereby preventing reinforcements being sent from St.-Paul's to St.-Dénis: he also drove in all the enemy's sharp-shooters, and took several cavalry horses. The Boadicea, Iphigenia, Magicienne, and Néréide, when it was supposed that the first landing had been effected, pushed for an anchorage, and were followed by the transports as they arrived. The weather, which until now had been favourable, began to change. The beach on this side of the island, being steep and composed of large shingles, is generally of difficult access; but Captain Willoughby having reported it practicable, a landing was attempted under this officer's direction. Embarking on board the prize-schooner Estafette, Captain Willoughby (with the dressings still on his wound, and after a night's exposure in an open boat) succeeded, with a small detachment of seamen and about 150 troops, in effecting a landing; but not without having the schooner, which belonged to the Néréide's ship's company, dashed to pieces in the surf, together with several

of the boats. Fortunately the only lives lost on the occasion were two soldiers, and two of the Néréide's seamen drowned. Lieutenant-colonel Keating considering it indispensable that a disembarkation should be effected on this most difficult side of the capital, a light transport brig, the Ulney, was run on shore as a breakwater; but the stern cable parting, she formed only a momentary cover for a few boats; and it was found necessary, at the close of day, to relinquish, for the present, any further attempts to land at this point.

The small detachment on shore, having lost a great proportion of their arms, and had the whole of their ammunition spoiled, were now rather critically circumstanced; especially as, on account of the bad state of the weather, no boat could push off to communicate with the squadron. At length, a gallant young officer of the army, Lieutenant Foulstone, who was on board the Boadicea, volunteered to swim through the surf and convey to Lieutenant-colonel Macleod, the commanding officer of the detachment, Colonel Keating's orders. He did so; and the lieutenant-colonel took quiet possession of, and occupied for the night, the fort of Sainté-Marie.

On the morning of the 8th, the beach still appearing unfavourable, the Boadicea, leaving behind the Iphigenia and transports, proceeded to Grande-Chaloupe; where, at about 11 A. M., Colonel Keating and the troops in the Boadicea disembarked. In the course of the day Captain Lambert succeeded in landing the troops from the Iphigenia and transports; but, in the mean time, after an outpost had been assaulted and carried by a detachment from Colonel Fraser's brigade, the French commanding officer on the island, Colonel St.-Susaune, had requested a suspension of arms. This was agreed to, and at 6 P. M. the capitulation was signed, and Isle Bourbon became a British possession; that, too, with so slight a loss as one subaltern, one sergeant, and six rank and file killed, two rank and file and two seamen drowned, and one major (T. Edwards, of the 86th), seven subalterns, two sergeants, two drummers, 66 rank and file, and one seaman wounded; total, 22 killed and drowned, and 79 wounded. On the 9th Mr. Farquhar landed from the Boadicea, and, as had been previously arranged, assumed the government of the conquered island.

A part of the duty of the Sirius frigate was to take possession of the shipping in the bay of St.-Paul. Observing a brig getting ready to sail, Captain Pym, at 11 P. M. on the 9th, despatched the barge under the orders of Lieutenant George R. Norman, to endeavour to bring the vessel out, or to cut her off should she attempt to escape. Finding, by boarding the other vessels in the bay, that the brig had sailed since 9 P. M., Lieutenant Norman pushed on, and, after a hard row of nearly 12 hours, overtook, boarded, and, with three men slightly wounded, carried in a most gallant manner, the Edward privateer, of Nantes, pierced for 16