722 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



ver, and pursued at the point of the 

 bayonet, they totally evacuated 

 Spain, and the Portuguese saw them 

 return in disorder to their territor}'. 



At the same period, an army of 

 equal force suddenly made its ap- 

 pearance at the entrance of the 

 Scheldt, with the intention of burn- 

 ing the dock-yards at Antwerp; 

 there our enemies were covered 

 with confusion. At their approach, 

 Flushing was provided with a nu- 

 merous garrison; 12,000 picked 

 troops marched from St. Omer^ un- 

 der the orders of the Senator-ge- 

 neral Rampon, and eight demi-bri- 

 gades of reserve, which were at 

 Boulogne, Louvaine, and Paris, 

 proceeded post, to the points that 

 were menaced. 



These troops were of themselves 

 sufficient for the defence of Ant- 

 werp. That place which is covered 

 by a strong rampart, and the ad- 

 vanced works which your majesty 

 caused to be constructed four years 

 ago, is still further protected by ex- 

 tensive inundations; and on the left 

 bank of the Scheldt, the fort of La 

 Tete de Elandre, which is itself sur- 

 rounded by an inundation of 2,000 

 toises, secures the communication 

 of Antwerp with our fortresses in 

 the north. 



The English expedition was form- 

 ed upon the supposition that Ant- 

 werp was only an open city, whereas 

 that fortress could not be taken but 

 after a long siege. Independent of 

 troops of the line, your majesty saw, 

 at the first signal, 150,000 national 

 guards ready to march, and at their 

 head the majors of your infantry, 

 officers of the fifth battalions, and 

 veteran officers ; you found in their 

 ranks a number of old soldiers. 



Numerous detachments of caval- 

 ry of the line were preceded by the 



fens-d'-armerie of France. The 

 English were not aware that this 

 branch of force alone could, at a 

 moment's notice, assemble at any 

 given pointGOsquadrons, composed 

 of men that had seen sixteen years 

 of service, all equally experienced, 

 equally well disciplined and well 

 armed as those brave cuirassiers, 

 who, under your majesty's orders, 

 have brought to so high a pitch the 

 glory of the French cavalry. 



As if by enchantment, the dispo- 

 sitions prescribed by your majesty, 

 caused to appear, at the same in- 

 stant, on the banks of the Scheldt, 

 and at the rendezvous of the reserve 

 at Lisle and Maestricht, four differ- 

 ent armies under the command of 

 marshal the prince of Ponte Corvo, 

 and marshals the dukes of Corne- 

 glian, Valmy, and Istria. 



The sudden developement of 

 such a force, and the national im- 

 pulse which continued to multiply 

 its numbers, struck the enemy with 

 consternation. Their enterprise, 

 calculated upon false data, com- 

 pletely failed. 



Europe has witnessed the realiz- 

 ation of that which your majesty's 

 penetration anticipated, when you 

 pronounced that this expedition 

 originated in ignorance and inexpe- 

 rience; and when, sparing of French 

 blood, and directing that a plan 

 merely defensive shonid be follow- 

 ed, you wrote to me : — " We are 

 happy to find the English crowding 

 into the marshes of Zealand ; let 

 them be merely kept in check, and 

 their army will be speedily destroy- 

 ed by the bad air, and the epidemic 

 fevers of that country." 



Whilst our troops were distribut- 

 ed in comfortable cantonments ia 

 the environs of Antwerp, or station- 

 ed in that fortress, the English army, 



encamped 



