760 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



commonly made and allowed in si- 

 milar circumstances. 



When, by the public recogni- 

 tion, on the part ot France, of the 

 independence of the United States 

 of North America, hostilities with 

 that kingdom were deemed una- 

 voidable, general Melville was con- 

 sulted by administration on the 

 means to be adopted for the secu- 

 rity of our own West India colo- 

 nies, and for the conquest of those 

 belonging to France ; and had the 

 opinions he offered on those sub- 

 jects accorded with the views al- 

 ready entertained by his majesty's 

 ministers, the country would again 

 have reaped the fruits of his local 

 and military knowledge in an im- 

 portant command beyond the At- 

 lantic. He was, however, too well 

 acquainted with the nature of 

 the service on which he was con- 

 sulted, and, above all, with the ta- 

 lents and dispositions of the Mar- 

 quis de Bouille, commander-in- 

 chief of the French forces in the 

 West Indies, and this not from re- 

 port only, but from personal inter- 

 course in the course of his govern- 

 ment; — with the formidable quali- 

 ties of that distinguished com- 

 mander, general M. was too well 

 acquainted to undertake the ser- 

 vices then in agitation, without 

 being accompanied by a force far 

 more respectable than that which 

 it seemed to be in contemplation to 

 place under his command. Other 

 measures were accordingly adopt- 

 ed, and the result is well known : 

 in a short time M. de Bouille was 

 in possession of the greater num- 

 ber of the British colonies in the 

 West Indies. 



The resemblance, in many im- 

 portant points, between these two 

 commanders, was peculiarly strik- 



ing ; both men eminently endowed 

 with all tlie qualities requisite for 

 the discharge of their several du- 

 ties; both men of consummate 

 valour and military skill ; both pe- 

 culiarly distinguished by a high 

 sense of honour, and actuated by 

 motives the most disinterested, ge- 

 nerous and humane; both accus- 

 tomed to service in the probable 

 scene of action ; and both per- 

 sonally acquainted with the quar- 

 ters where that service would pro- 

 bably be required; both inflamed 

 with ardent zeal in the cause of 

 their respective countries; and 

 each with a determination to re- 

 commend himself to his antago- 

 nist by the faithful discharge of his 

 duties : a contest between two 

 such commanders, on proper terms, 

 must have furnished ample room 

 for the instruction of every mili- 

 tary man. 



The last service rendered to his 

 country by general Melville, in a 

 public capacity related to Tobago, 

 an island originally settled by him, 

 and long fostered with peculiar 

 care. This colony, in the course 

 of the conquests of M. de Bouille, 

 fell into his hands, after a defence 

 in which the civil governor (George 

 Ferguson, esq.), and the inha- 

 bitants so greatly distinguished 

 themselves as to merit and to ob- 

 tain from the captor a most liberal 

 capitulation. By the preliminary 

 articles of peace concluded in the 

 beginning of the year 1783, To- 

 bago was ceded to France, with- 

 out any of those stipulations 

 for the advantage of the British 

 settlers, proprietors, and traders, 

 usually granted on similar occa- 

 sions. 



To remove as much as possible the 

 alarm excited by this circumstance 



in 



