Page:The Siege of London - Posteritas - 1885.djvu/55

 French transports, which, it was known, were conveying troops round Ireland; but the latter were remarkable for speed under sail and steam, and well calculated to outstrip the heavy ironclads sent in pursuit. The Atlantic Ocean, moreover, was a wide enough field for naval manoeuvres to enable fast steamers to elude capture, as was soon proved.

In the meantime, two Highland battalions received orders to march with all speed on the French camp. These battalions moved byway of Assynt, and came in sight of the enemy towards the evening, and prepared to intrench themselves until the reserves came up. The French commander, however, resolved to attack them immediately. He therefore started at midnight with half of his division of infantry and the whole of his artillery. He ascended the heights in his enemy's rear, and at daylight opened a cannonade. The Highlanders, who had bivouacked near the town, were utterly taken by surprise, but springing to arms, they rushed up the slopes to attack the batteries; but the French infantry, masked by the long ridge on which the artillery stood, rapidly deployed, and passed between the Scotch troops and the town of Assynt, thus surrounding the unfortunate Highlanders. The townspeople, sees this, fell upon the foe in fury, but with no effect, and many of the wretched people fell in the streets, even women being amongst the killed and wounded. A circle of great numerical superiority closed upon the devoted Scotchmen with a converging fire. The slaughter was consequently terrific, and the Highlanders being reduced to a mere handful, saw that to struggle longer was hopeless and would involve the loss of every man. They therefore threw down their arms, to avoid further bloodshed, and surrendered themselves as prisoners of war. They were immediately marched to the French camp, and the dead were buried and the wounded on both sides attended to. While this sanguinary conflict was being waged, five battalions from Aberdeen, Perth, Stirling, and Hamilton were rapidly moving up, but they arrived too late to save their unfortunate comrades, and so they immediately proceeded to intrench themselves. On the following morning, on looking seaward, they observed a fleet of vessels, and