502 THE SERVICES OF LIETJT.-COLONEL FRANCIS DOWNMAN, R.A. 
for a little time very fiercely, but as tbe night advanced dwindled 
away. 
December 29th .—As soon as the dawn of day appeared we found 
our conjectures respecting the embarkation of the French army to be 
true, not a French soldier to be seen on the shore, and all their 
small craft and boats are gone from the shore to the fleet which is 
still at anchor. What the intention of the French can be now, we 
must leave a few days to determine. I am much afraid they will 
return from whence they came and again give Byron the slip. If 
they are destined to any of our islands they still leave themselves 
exposed to our fleet, that is, if ever that unfortunate fleet should come 
to this country. At eight o'clock this morning a flag came from the 
Governor with terms of capitulation. Some lig’ht infantry from General 
Medows's post went and took ground on the hills in our front where 
the French were yesterday. At ten o'clock some of the enemy's ships 
of war got under way—also their small craft and are turning to wind¬ 
ward under the lee of the island and others are standing over towards 
Martinique. About 12 o'clock the whole fleet were under sail and 
shaped their course for Martinique.—0 Byron thou unfortunate dog ! 
This is the third time thou hast lost a glorious, golden opportunity of 
immortalising thy name. They are gone, the birds are flown, there¬ 
fore go and hang thyself; an unlucky planet reigned when thou 
wert born ! Thou never will have in thy power such another moment 
to serve thy King and country. 
The dastardly d'Estaing before he took his leave, told the Governor, 
M. de Micoud, he would wait in the harbour six hours after the troops 
were embarked, and told him to send to us directly and get the best 
terms he could. The Governor took his advice, for d'Estaing's boats 
had scarcely left the shore when the flag came in. We are well in¬ 
formed that the French did not lose less than 2,000 men during their 
stay on shore, and a very great number of them by cannon shot. The 
battery I had the honor to command on the attack of the 18th, did 
great execution. I received the thanks of Generals Grant and Medows, 
the latter called me his best ally. I had a fine situation for galling 
the French army as they marched to the attack in columns, I had them 
then charmingly, and while forming, and after being formed, and also 
in their retreat. I kept up as heavy a fire as I could on their flank 
which was presented to me the greatest part of the action. My shot in 
this situation swept them off by the dozens at a time, and Frenchmen's 
heads and legs were as plenty and much cheaper than sheep's heads 
and trotters in Scotland. Three of my guns were cracked during the 
action, one of them is rendered totally unservicable, the others will do 
at a pinch. 
It is now evening. That poltroon d'Estaing and his fleet are totally 
out of sight, they are all safe in the harbour of Fort Royal. What a 
despicable figure has he made of himself! He attacked us the day 
after our arrival before we were prepared to receive him and reckoning 
the weight of his guns and ours, he had more than" double our ships, 
and many of our transports were not got quite out of the way^when 
the action began. Twice the same day did each ship of this formid- 
