Bravery of the 35d.

In the early part of this affair, Colonel Wellesley, and his little band, must have displayed great activity; but the charge of the superior body of the enemy was so impetuous, both on the cavalry and infantry, that at first they had the advantage, and, it is even said, had taken the two curricle guns; but the reserve of the 33d coming up, the guns were retaken, and the enemy repulsed, so as to allow of the gallant few falling back with regularity on the main body.

The enemy still persevering in their attack, and being now reinforced, advanced on the village of Geldermalsen, both in front and flank; but after a great deal of musquetry firing, for about an hour, were every where repulsed by the steadiness of the troops, and forced to retire.

The violence of the frost having now converted the whole country into a kind of plain, which thereby afforded the greatest facilities to the French army, in all their movements, General Dundas thought it necessary to fall back during the night upon Beuren, where General Dalwick was already stationed.

This circumstance, and the excessive fatigue which the troops had undergone in those operations, at a season of the year, and in situations, in which they were often obliged, from want of cantonments, to pass the night without cover, determined the Commanderin-Chief to take up a position behind the Leck, extending from Cuylenberg to Wageningen.

Another reason for this movement, was a march made by a considerable column of the enemy, attended by a large train of artillery towards Gorcum ; whilst their attack upon the right, combined with an attempt upon Thiel, evidently indicated a regular plan of operations, even during the severity of the weather.

In the mean time a partial change took place in the movements of the British; for a very considerable and sudden thaw having come on upon the 6th, which offered a prospect of still preserving the position upon

Severities of the weather.

the Waal, it was judged proper that the troops which had not yet crossed the Leck should remain in the cantonments they then occupied, and that the rest should again move forward.

On this occasion Lieutenant-Genéral Abercromby and Major-General Hammerstein, with the greatest. part of their corps, and some Austrian battalions, were to have begun their march upon Thiel, and towards Bommel upon the 7th; and General Dundas's corps received orders, in consequence, to occupy Bueren, and the heights near it, on the 8th, in order that they might co-operate with the former detachments.

Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, it was extremely changeable; and it had happened very unfortunately that the frost set in again most unexpectedly; but as the troops were already put in motion, and counter-orders might have prevented a combination, from the extent of the line, General Dundas having assembled his corps, with a zeal and exertion both on his part and that of the different commanding officers, which drew forth the highest praise from the Commander-in-Chief, he proceeded towards Bueren on the morning of the 8th, having detached in advance two battalions, who were afterwards to have marched upon Thiel, to co-operate in the attack upon that place. On their arrival at Bueren, they found all the British posts upon the Lingen driven in, and the enemy in force near Bueren; but as soon as more troops came up, Lord Cathcart was sent forward in advance, and soon drove back the enemy with great loss beyond Geldermalsen.

The retreat of the British army was still, however, absolutely necessary; but under circumstances of the most horrible suffering, which cannot be related better than in the words of an eye witness:

"On the 16th of January, we marched at the appointed hour; and, after a very laborious journey, about three o'clock in the afternoon reached the verge of an immense desert, called the Welaw, when instead

Sufferings of the troops.

of having a resting place for the night, as we expected, we were informed that we had fifteen miles further to go. Upon this information many began to be very much dejected, and not without reason; for several of us, besides suffering the severity of the weather, and fatigue of the march, had neither eat nor drank any thing, except water, that day.

For the first three or four miles such a dismal prospect appeared as none of us was ever witness to before; a bare sandy desert, with a tuft of withered grass, or solitary shrub, here and there. The wind was excessively high, and drifted the snow and sand together so strongly, that we could hardly wrestle against it to which was added a severity of cold almost insufferable. The frost was so intense, that the water which came from our eyes, freezing as it fell, hung in icicles to our eye-lashes; and our breath, freezing as soon as emitted, lodged in heaps of ice about our faces, and on the blankets or coats, that were wrapped round our heads.

Night approaching fast, a great number, both men and women, began to linger behind, their spirits being. quite exhausted, and without hope of reaching their destination; and if they once lost sight of the column of march, though but a few moments, it being dark, and no track to follow, there was no chance of finding it again. In this state numbers were induced to sit down, or creep under the shelter of bushes, where, weary, spiritless, and without hope, a few moments consigned them to sleep; but, alas! whoever slept waked no more, their blood instantly congealed in their veins, the spring of life soon dried up; and if ever they opened their eyes, it was only to be sensible of the last moments of their miserable existence.

Others, sensible of the danger of sitting down, but having lost the column, wandered up and down the pathless waste, surrounded with darkness and despair; no sound to comfort their ears, but the bleak whistling wind; no sight to bless their eyes but the

Melancholy anecdote.

wide trackless waste, and shapeless drift;' far from human help, far from pity, down they sunk, to rise no more !*

The sufferings of the British army, at this period, were indeed great in the extreme; but the public indignation, though just in its censure, was unfortunately thrown upon those who least deserved it. An extract from the report of an eye-witness will, however, do justice to the Commander-in-Chief, and give reason for great praise to those whose indefatigable care and attention have tended much to render the situation of the British soldier comparatively comfortable, even under circumstances of the greatest privation. This accurate writer observes that the British hospitals, which had been so lately crowded, were then much thinned. Removing the sick in waggons without sufficient clothing to keep them warm, in that rigorous season, had indeed sent some hundreds to their graves: whilst the shameful neglect that then pervaded all the medical departments had rendered the hospitals nothing better than slaughter houses.

Without covering, without attendance, and even without clean straw, and sufficient shelter from the weather, they were thrown, he asserts, together in heaps, unpitied and unprotected, to perish by conta

gion,

* Dreadful as this scene was in the evening of the 16th, the contemplation of it the next morning was more horrible. An officer of the guards, who passed over the plain, relates that one scene made an impression upon his memory, which time can never efface. Near a cart, which lay on the common, he discovered a stout looking man, and a beautiful young woman with an infant about seven months old, at her breast; all three frozen and dead. The mother had most certainly expired in the act of suckling her child; as, with one breast exposed, she lay upon the drifted snow, the milk, to all appearance in a stream, drawn from the nipple by the babe, was instantly congealed. The infant seemed as if its lips had but just then been disengaged, and it reposed its little head upon the mother's bosom, with an overflow of milk frozen as it trickled from the mouth; their countenances were perfectly composed and fresh, resembling those of persons in a sound and tranquil slumber,"

Humanity of the Duke of York.

gion, whilst legions of vultures, down to the stewards, nurses, and their numberless dependants, pampered their bodies, and filled their pockets with the nation's treasure--the picture is too horrible to finish-but, he adds, " His Royal Highness has at all times paid great attention to the sick of his army; and directions have been given, and regulations made, as circumstances required, tending to promote their comfort, and restore their health, besides a number of standing orders, which, if strictly attended to, would, in many cases, have removed the evils complained of." It is added, that the magnanimity, humanity, and sincere regard to the interest and honour of his country, with which the Duke of York discharged the duties of his important office, were too well known not to be universally acknowledged. Had he been apprised of the delinquencies and the frequent inhumanity here noted, he would not have suffered their continuance.

It was, indeed, after His Highness had left Holland, that these cruel neglects and peculations were most apparent and flagrant.

Though the sufferings which Colonel Wellesley must now have endured were great in the extreme, in common with the whole army, yet these were to him a school of experience; and he has ever since directed his best attentions to the comfort of his troops, whose conduct under the most trying circumstances have always tended to their glory.

At this period the diminished British army had every disadvantage to encounter; for through the activity of the French commanders, and the inhospitable feelings of the Dutch, whose hatred was never concealed when they had fair and safe opportunities of manifesting it, they were totally unable to make any thing like a determined stand. On the 27th of January 1795, they were able to reach Deventer, after one of the most fatiguing and distressing marches which perhaps was ever experienced by a retreating army. Here then they fondly hoped to enjoy some

little