Page:The Siege of London - Posteritas - 1885.djvu/68

56 alternative but to carry the place by assault. Then ensued much desultory fighting. The defence not being regular, the consequence was there was great slaughter on both sides, But the town that had made such a brave struggle for its life and liberty fell at last, and the invaders not only sacked it, but committed horrible cruelties. A brigade of infantry and two battalions of field artillery were left to hold it, and the main body of the army continued its march on London; but its strength was diminished by 830 wounded, and nearly a thousand killed in these operations against the stubborn town of Derby.

A feeling of shuddering despair now ran through the length and breadth of the land, for all indeed seemed doomed to be lost. Great Britain’s first defence,—her navy,—had failed her in her hour of need, and a pitiless enemy was tightening his grip upon the country. The people might and still would struggle desperately for their freedom, but their heroism now could do little more than display to the world how a brave people could die, defiant to its latest breath.

HILE the operations we have described were being carried out in the North, the Southern Army of Invasion not only obtained entire possession of Dover, with all its powerful works and defences, but it had sent forward a flying column to seize and hold Canterbury. In the meantime, the French transports were pouring in an enormous number of troops, together with a mighty siege