SIR RICHAKD STRACHAN. 283 



after the bombardment of Flushing, what 

 he thought of their operations, he replied, 

 in one of his coarse, off-hand speeches, in 

 which he used to indulge, (for he was 

 one of the old school,) and which I must 

 not repeat that we had covered our- 

 selves, not with laurels, but disgrace. 

 The expedition returned, and those of 

 the army that were left returned but the 

 shadows of the men who had departed 

 but six months before, in the full glow of 

 health and plenitude of vigour. 



I have diverged thus far from the 

 straight course of my narrative, to point 

 out that while the people generally were 

 discontented at these repeated failures 

 while trade and commerce languished and 

 manufacturers stood still while the news- 

 papers teemed with doleful prognostics of 

 the issue of the war and the Opposition 

 in Parliament were loud in their denun- 

 ciation of the continuance of our army 

 in the Peninsula the maritime towns were 



