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 414 APPENDIX. placed openly under the 'State,' could be looking besides to the Palace. However, the simple fact is that, whether with or without good excuse, Lord Chatham disobeyed all that part of the instructions which enjoined rapid movements with a part of the force, and acted with the whole of his army as if he had been tlie subordinate officer, who according to the instructions would be left behind with a part of it to establish a hold on the islands. Conducting an expedition which both actually and avowedly depended for success upon swiftness, he deliberately ' sat down ' before Flush- ing ; and, whether he alone was to blame, or whether also the admiral, he was altogether so slow in his movements that he failed to intercept the enemy's fleet, and allowed it to escape by running up the Scheldt into Antwerp. It was only on the 26th of August — a whole month after the landing — that Lord Chatham moved his headquarters to Bacz — a place within sight of the mainland, though divided from it by an arm of the Sclieldt. If time had been of no value, this first month of the campaign might have seemed altogether prosperous ; for, having landed at the close of July, our people seized Middelburgh, reduced Flush- ing on the 1 6th of August, taking 5300 prisoners and 200 guns ; took Ter Verre (the fortress commanding the Veeregat), with its garrison of 1000 men ; and Gors (the capital of South Beveland) ; and drove the enemy out of Bacz (the place reached at last, as we saw, by Lord Chatham's headquarters) ; whilst our fleet, unresisted or triumphant at every point, was in full occupation of both the East and the West Scheldt. But all was too late ; for by this time the enemy's fleet had found shelter under the guns of Antwerp ; and whilst still in South Beveland, our people were met by two ugly pieces of intelligence, both apparently new to them, though one of the two was so far from fresh, that (with proper appliances for obtaining such information) they must have learnt it in earlier years. They learnt that Antwerp, though weak, though defenceless in the times that had passed, was now, in 1809, a Strong Place; and that, owing no doubt in part to want of due secrecy, though much more to the slowness of Lord Chatham's advance, the enemy, with abundant forces, had found time to come to the rescue of what was now a real fortress protecting the enemy's fleet. Under such conditions there was judged — and by a council of war — to be no better resource than the simple and primitive one of turning ' right ' about face,' marching back into the island of Walcheren, and preparing to hold it continuously in obedience to one of the clauses contained in Lord Castlereagh's directions. So ended what one may call the combative part of the Expedi- tion, but not the Expedition itself ; for .soon there followed a