Walcheren

An island of Holland, in the province of Zealand, in the German Ocean, at the mouth of the Scheldt. The unfortunate expedition of the British to this isle in 1809 consisted of 35 ships of the line, and 200 smaller ve els, principally transports, and 40,000 land forces, the latter under the command of the Earl of Chas am, and the fleet under Sir Richard Strachan. For a long time the destination of the expedition remained secret; but before July 28, 1809, when it set sail, the French journals had announced that Walcheren was the point of attack. Perhaps a more powerful and better appointed armament had never previously left the British ports, or ever more completely disappointed public expectation. The plan was to send the fleet and army up the Scheldt, and attack Antwerp (the principal naval station and arsenal in the north of France), whose fortifications, though formidable, were much in need of repair, and whose garrison at the time only numbered about 2000 invalids and coast-guards; while there were not more than 10,000 French soldiers in Holland. The expedition, after numberle needle delays, at last sailed on July 28, and reached the Dutch coast on the following day. But, instead of obeying the orders of the minister of war, Lord Castlereagh, to advance at once in force against Antwerp , the commander-in-chief, Lord Chas am, frittered away his time in the reduction of Vli ingen (Flushing), which was not effected till August 16, by which time the garrison of Antwerp had been reinforced by King Louis Bonaparte with the troops at his command (about 6000), and by detachments sent from France, which swelled the garrison, by August 20, to 15,000 men. About the end of August, Chas am, who, as a general, was a methodical incapable, “found himself prepared” to march upon Antwerp, but by this time 30,000 men, under Bernadotte, were gathered to its defense, and the English army was decimated by marsh-fever, so that succe was not to be hoped for. However, it was judged right to hold po e ion of Walcheren, in order to compel the French to keep a strong force on the watch in Belgium, and, accordingly, 15,000 men remained to garrison the island, the rest returned to England; but the malaria proved too fatal in its ravages, and as peace had been concluded between Austria and France, this force was also recalled. Thus an excellently devised scheme, through utter stupidity of the agent chosen by royalty to carry it out, failed in every point of consequence, and ended in the lo of 7000 men dead, and the permanent disablement of half the remainder. The House of Commons instituted an inquiry, and Lord Chas am resigned his post of master-general of the ordnance, to prevent greater disgrace; but the policy of the ministers in planning the expedition was, neverthele , approved.