684 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



1807. 



Attempt 



upon 



Egypt. 



Failure of 

 the attack 

 upon Ro. 



serta. 



The British 

 evacuate 

 Egypt- 

 Proceed- 

 ings at 

 Buenos 

 Ayres. 



with difficulty saved. In this unhappy enterprize, we 

 lost 2,50 men. 



The failure of this expedition was not compensated 

 by the next attempt that was made upon our Turk- 

 ish enemies. 



On the 6th of March, a force of .5000 men was 

 dispatched, by General Fox, from Messina, under 

 the command of General M'Kenzie, to capture Alex- 

 andria ; a service which was effected with little diffi- 

 culty or bloodshed on the side of the British ; but, 

 unfortunately, from a groundless fear of scarcity in 

 the captured place, an attempt to take Rosctta also 

 was made, and from the failure of the expected aid 

 of the Mamelukes, as well as from the orders of the 

 commander in chief to the storming party being in- 

 tercepted, a large force of the British were surround- 

 ed and cut off. Nearly 1000 men were killed, wound- 

 ed, or lost in the affair. 



Before this attack on Alexandria was known at 

 home, a new ministry had succeeded, and the succes- 

 sors of these who had planned the expedition did 

 not choose to support it by reinforcements from Si- 

 cily or Malta. This disposition, \ve may presume, 

 was known to the commanding officers at Alexandria, 

 who being now threatened with expulsion by the dis- 

 affection of the inhabitants, and with fresh attacks of 

 the enemy, who were pouring down troops from 

 Cairo, abandoned the idea of defending the place, and 

 consented to evacuate Egypt, on condition of the 

 Turks restoring the prisoners who had been taken at 

 Rosctta. Having obtained those terms, the British 

 troops returned to Sicily. 



The event of Sir Home Popham's unauthorized 

 expedition to Buenos Ayrcs, had left the remnant of 

 the British forcos in that quarter, at the end of 1806, 

 in possession of only the single post of Maldonado. 

 Unlike the administration which succeeded them, in 

 their conduct respecting Alexandria, the ministry of 

 Lord Grenville, though they disapproved of the ex- 

 pedition, did not choose that the national glory 

 should be sullied, by being driven from a conquest 

 which had once been made. 



When intelligence of the recapture of Buenos 

 Ayres reached ministers, they dispatched counter- 

 orders to General Crawford, who had been sent on 

 an expedition to Chili, to desist from that enterpri/.e, 

 and to repair to the Rio de la Plata. The whole Bri- 



tish force in the Plata now amounted to 9500 men.f Britain. 

 Unhappily ministers superaddcd to their orders, that ' y-~ 

 General Whitelocke should sail to take the chief com- GEORGE!!: 

 mand. At the head of nearly 8000 of these troops, 1807> 

 some of the finest brigades in the British service, that 

 ill-starred commander proceeded to attack the city 

 of Buenos Ayres. 



Though provided with artillery, he sent on the Attack 

 troops, with unloaded arms, and iron crows, to force u f on Bue 

 their way into the town, and burst open the houses. n< 

 The result of a plan (if it deserved such a name) so 

 desperately rash, was to give an undisciplined enemy, 

 fighting from behind walls and houses, the greatest 

 advantage that could be given them over regular 

 troops. Some of our troops, indeed, forced their 

 way intothetown, by successful gallantry, but a great 

 proportion were overpowered by irresistible numb; 

 Terrified by the loss of three thousand men, who 

 were sacrificed in the rash attempt, the general nego- 

 tiated with the enemy, for the restoration of the pri- 

 soners ; and having agreed to withdraw his army 

 from the river Plata, returned to England to await 

 the just indignation of his countrymen. He was 

 condemned, by a lenient sentence, to be dismissed 

 from his majesty's service. 



On the 1st of January 1807, the island of Curacoa Surrend 

 surrendered to a small squadron of frigates, under the ofC'ura$ 

 command of Captain Brisbane ; and the inhabitants of 

 its chief town, Amsterdam, to the number of 30,000) 

 swore allegiance to the British government. .it 



The termination of Lord Grenville's short admi- 

 nistration has been already alluded to. It was an- 

 nounced before the first adjournment of the new par- 

 liament, on the elections to which tii 'v had built 

 their firmest hopes. Public opinion will, possibly, 

 be long divided on the merits of the financial scheme, 

 announced by Lord Henry Petty, during the last 

 session of his chancellorship of the exchequer a 

 scheme, by which that minis; -d, that upon 



the data which he laid down, it would not be neces- 

 sary to increase the public burthens beyond a trifling- 

 amount, during the ensuing period of 20 years. It 

 was, however, necessary from this flattering conclu- 

 sion to suppose, that the national expenditure should 

 not exceed, during that period, the snail of 38 mil- 

 lions yearly ; a supposition so improbable, as to* dis- 

 pel the fairest hopes attached to his system. { 



|- Before the news of the recapture of Buenos Ayres had reached Lord Grenville's ministry, they had dispatched a 

 considerable reinforcement of troops, who, under the gallant conduct of Sir Samuel Achmuty, had taken Monte Video by 

 storm. 



J The plan of Lord Henry Petty was adapted to meet a scale of expenditure nearly equal to that of the year 1806 ; and it 

 assumed, that, during the war, the annual produce of the permanent and temporary revenues, would continue equal to the 

 produce of the same year 1806. It was understood, that any further or unforeseen change, or any deficiency of revenue, 

 should be separately and specifically provided for. Keeping these premises in view, it w;rs proposed that the war h 

 the years 1807, 1808, and 1809, should be twelve million* annually ; for the year 181", li millions; and for each of the lei 1 

 following years, 1C millions annually. These several loan:;, amounting- for the 11 years to 210 millions, were to be made a 

 charge on the war-taxes, which were estimated to produce 10 millions annually. The charge, thus thrown mi the war-taxes, 

 was meant to be at the rate of 10 per cent, on each loan. Every such loan would, therefore, pledge so much of the war taxe.?, 

 as would be sufficient to meet this loan: That is, a loan of 12 millions would pledge L.1, 200,000 of the ivar taxes. And in 

 ach year, if the war should be continued, a further portion of the war taxes would, in the same manner, he pledged. Con- 

 jequently, at the end of 14 years, if the war should last so long, 21 millions, the whole produce of the war taxes, would be 

 pledged for the total of the loans, which at that time would have amounted to 210 millions. The (0 per cent, charge I 

 companying each loan, would be applied to pay the interest of the loan, and to forma sinking fund, which si.'kii 

 would cvidenily be more than five per cent, on such of the several loans as should be obtained at a Jess rate of interest ;ha;. 

 five per cent. 



A five pel cent sinking fund, accumulating at compound interest, w ill redeem any sum of vnpital dcht in 14 years, 

 fluently the several porti .ns of the war taxes proposed to be pledged for the several loans above mentioned, would have redeem- 

 ed their respective loans, and Iw successively liberated in periods of 1-1 years, from the date of each The portions 

 of vat taxes thus-liberated, might, if the war were prolonged, become applicable in a revolving series, and might be again 



