out a powerful armament to the Scheldt, and attacking the fortress of Antwerp. The scheme no doubt was a happy one, for Antwerp, though defended by extensive and formidable works, was not in a condition to sustain a vigorous siege; the fortifications being out of order, and the garrison insignificant. Nor was it capable of being relieved; for the regular armies of France were absorbed by the war on the Danube and that in the Peninsula, and there was every reason to believe that it might be carried by a coup-de-main almost before the intelligence of its danger could reach the Emperor. The effects of such a capture would be very great. It would check the encroachments of Bonaparte, open the French empire to the terrors of invasion, restore the sinking courage of Northern Germany, destroy the most cherished naval establishment of the enemy, and thwart for a time, if not entirely prevent, his favourite project of invading England. But the English government, though forewarned by the experience of a sixteen years' war, had not learnt the efficacy of a blow dealt at the time when, and the place where, it is least expected. Had the expedition reached its destination previously to the battle of Aspern (May 22nd)-nay, had it but landed before the 5th of July-not only must it have succeeded, but it is far from improbable that the day of Wagram (which bears that date) would have had a different issue. Succeed, however, it did not-not because it was a false step, nor that it was ill-arranged, nor that it was too weak to execute the work assigned to it but because it was too late in the field. By the end of June, and not before, thirty-five sail of the line, and transports innumerable, were ready to convey an armament of a hundred thousand men; but no orders having been given to prepare battering trains till the 19th June, the whole armament was delayed until the end of July. This armament, the largest and best equipped that had put to sea in modern times, arrived on the coast of Holland on the 29th of July. On the following day twenty thousand men were disembarked in the isle of Walcheren, and speedily took possession of Middleburgh, its chief town, besides driving the French troops inside the walls of Flushing. At the same time another division landed in Cadsand, and, expelling the enemy from that island, opened the way for the passage of the fleet up the western or principal branch of the Scheldt. Some days afterwards, Sir Richard Strachan, who commanded the naval force, disregarding the distant and ineffectual fire of the Flushing batteries, passed the straits with eighteen ships of the line, and soon both branches of the Scheldt were crowded with the British pendants. Nor was the progress of the land forces less rapid. Ter Vere, Goes, aud Batz, were in a few days occupied by British troops; the British standards were only five leagues from Antwerp, and, in a few days more, thirty thousand men might be assembled beneath its walls. The French military writers are all of opinion, that had the English commander-in-chief, Lord Chatham, advanced at once against the citadel, the capture of which was the grand object of the expedition, it might have been carried by a coup-de-main. The enemy's fleet was not in a position to present any obstacle, though it might have easily been cut off and empowered; the defences of the city on the left bank of the river were most imperfect, and the garrison amounted to only three thousand men. Lord Chatham, however, neglecting these advantages, deferred his opportunity, and lost it. By the 26th of August, twenty-six thousand of the enemy had assembled in the Scheldt, the fleet was moved to a position of safety, and the citadel was placed in a thorough state of defence. Meanwhile, twenty thousand British troops were kept inactive in South Beveland, almost within sight of the towers of Antwerp, three thousand of the army were in hospital, and the remainder were suffering grievously from the pestilential exhalations rising from the marshy land on which they were encamped. The interval had been employed by Lord Chatham in reducing Flushing, which, after three days' bombardment, surrendered with five thousand eight hundred prisoners-a miserable recompence for the failure of the leading object of the expedition and the valuable lives which were afterwards to be sacrificed To undertake the siege of Antwerp was now hopeless-it was too late; a council of war was accordingly held, and it was unanimously resolved that further advance being impossible the whole of the troops should be withdrawn into the island of Walcheren. It was now the beginning of September, and it remained to be decided whether this position, which commanded the Scheldt, should be retained or abandoned. It was at first thought practicable to retain it, and fifteen thousand men were left as a garrison in the island, the remainder of the troops being sent back to England. But the malaria distemper of the country, since too well known under the name of the Walcheren fever, proved so fatal in its ravages, that the resolution was abandoned; not, however, till it was too late to avoid the serious consequences. Towards the middle of September, the average number of deaths was from two to three hundred a-week, and nearly half the garrison was in hospital. Orders were therefore given to abandon the island: in the middle of November the works and naval basins of Flushing were destroyed, and before Christmas the whole was evacuated by the British troops; but it appeared that seven thousand men had been lost in the enterprise, and that nearly half the troops (upwards of twelve thousand) brought home with them the seeds of a distemper, which few were able entirely to shake off during the remainder of their lives. The unfortunate issue of this expedition became in the next session the subject of Parliamentary inquiry. After a lengthened investigation and debate, in which the opposition endeavoured to throw the whole blame upon ministers, rather than on a commander who, whether competent or not, had certainly failed in acting according to his instructions, ministers were declared not blamable upon the general policy of the expedition, by a majority of 48 (275 to 227): a majority which, on the subordinate question of whether the protracted retention of Walcheren was blamable, fell to 23. This narrow majority and the obloquy which it brought upon government led to important changes in the Cabinet. But there is so strong a resemblance between some of the circumstances which then transpired, and events of recent occurrence, that instead of continuing to condense the narrative from Alison, as we have hitherto done, we prefer to conclude by quoting his own words: "Mr. Canning, who, since the formation of Mr. Perceval's administration, had held the seals of the Foreign Office, had long conceived that Lord Castlereagh, who was Secretary-at-War, was unfit to be intrusted with the important and hourly increasing duties of that department. Early in April, he had intimated to the Duke of Portland, the nominal head of the administration, that he conceived the public service required that either he or Lord Castlereagh should resign; and offered to remove all difficulties by his own retirement. Anxious to prevent any schism in the cabinet at such a crisis, the Duke consulted Lord Camden, and prevailed on Mr. Canning meanwhile to suspend his resignation; the King was afterwards spoken to on the subject, but he also postponed any definite opinion. "A long negotiation subsequently ensued, which, against Mr. Canning's strongest remonstrances, was protracted till the issue of the Scheldt expedition became known: and although some of Lord Castlereagh's friends were made aware of what was going on, yet they did not deem it advisable to make him privy to it. At length, in the first week of September, his lordship was informed of the whole by his friends, further concealment having become impossible by Mr. Canning's resignation. Lord Castlereagh, under the impression that he had been ill-used by Mr. Canning in this transaction, by not having been made acquainted from the first with the steps calculated to prejudice him which he had adopted, immediately sent Mr. Canning a challenge. The parties met; and at the second fire Mr. Canning fell, having received a severe wound in the thigh. Both gentlemen had previously sent in their resignations, and though a reconciliation was subsequently effected, and their joint services were regained for their country, the quarrel had the effect, for the time, of excluding both from administration." VAIN WARNINGS. MORN calleth fondly to a fair boy straying DUMENIL AT ACRE. CHARLES SWAIN. DURING the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, while Napoleon was in the trenches, a shell fell at his feet, and one of the corps of guides, threw himself between him and the shell, and shielded the General with his body. Luckily the shell did not explode. At the moment, forgetful of the danger, Napoleon started up, exclaiming, "What a soldier!" This brave man was afterwards General Dumenil, who lost a leg at Wagram, and who was governor of Vincennes until 1814. Upon the Russian summons to surrender, his laconic reply was, "Give me my leg, and I will give you the place!" VOL. II. 2 K EGEDE THE MISSIONARY; OR, SCENES IN GREENLAND.-No. XI. We see but dimly through the mists and vapours, What seem to us but sad funereal tapers, May be Heaven's distant lamps." LONGFELLOW. TILL this moment, cold, icebound Greenland had always been a home for Egede, in spite of its short summer and long winter, and its unfriendly inhabitants, because he had always had his dear family with him. Now it seemed suddenly to become to him a land of horror and of need-of misery and despair. If he had not had to keep up the heart of his fellow-sufferers, it is impossible to say where even his trust in God might have gone! Wretched and comfortless he raised his head, which had sunk to the ground, and fixed his eyes on the little house which had sheltered his dear ones within its walls. Ah! what is that which suddenly sheds a bright look over his face, causes his eyes to glitter, and gives new life to his limbs? It is a dove of peace which carries the leaf in its mouth; and this dove-was the chimney of the hut, and the leaf-a thin wreath of smoke gently ascending from it. How constantly are our spirits either raised or depressed, as the case may be, by some trifling thing! This little wreath of smoke was a most important point for Egede, and one most comforting to him. He had the firmest conviction that if any of the colonists were yet there, they would be some of his own family. In this belief he gradually approached the cottage. But when he stood before the little door his courage failed him. He listened, but the only sound he heard was the beating of his own heart. A death-like silence seemed to reign around, when suddenly, after the pastor had well-nigh sank down for want of courage, he heard a gentle voice, saying "Pray, my children; yes! pray to God that He will give us strength to bear our great trial!" This voice sounded to Egede like that of an angel, for it was the voice of his wife Gertrude. "Peace be with you," he answered; and with these refreshing words he entered into the midst of the weeping circle. They thought at first it was his spirit; for the faithless Kilterik and |