1761 command of Major-General Studholme Hodgson, against Belle-Isle, a French island in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of Brittany. Major-General Hodgson had the undermentioned officers and regiments placed under his orders, which amounted to nearly nine thousand men :— Major-General John Craufurd; Brigadier-Generals William Rufane, Hamilton Lambert (afterwards Colonel of the SIXTY-SEVENTH), Guy Carleton, Honorable William Howe, Robert Douglas, and Philip Jennings; DeputyAdjutant-General Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, Bart.; Deputy-Quartermaster-General Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Thomas. 97th ditto* Lieut.-Col. Commandant J. Stuart. 600 The expedition appeared before Belle-Isle on the 7th of April, and a landing was attempted on the following day; but the whole island appeared like one vast fortress ;-the little which nature had left undone by rocks and crags, having been supplied by art; so that when the grenadiers gained the shore, the enemy was discovered so strongly fortified, that no efforts of the few men which could be landed at once, were of any avail. A boat of Erskine's grenadiers (SIXTY-SEVENTH), commanded by Captain *Disbanded in 1763. Thomas Osborne, landed at a point, and drew up undiscovered. His situation flanked the enemy, but no other boat followed. The French immediately came out, and Captain Osborne advanced to meet them. Twice brought to the ground by a shot, he pressed on, and approached so close to the enemy, that he exchanged thrusts with the French officer in command. The English fired, and then charged with the bayonet. The commanders on both sides were killed, when the English, being without leaders, were unable to maintain their position. Attempts to secure a landing on other points of the island being also unsuccessful, orders were given to desist from the attempt, and the men returned to the boats, and proceeded back to their several ships. Many of the boats were destroyed or damaged in this attempt, and about five hundred men were lost in killed, wounded, and missing. Commodore Keppel stated in his letter, of the 13th of April, 1761, to the Right Honorable Mr. Secretary Pitt, afterwards created the Earl of Chatham, that "One of the flat boats landed sixty of Erskine's "grenadiers (SIXTY-SEVENTH regiment), who got up a very difficult place to the top of the hills, where they "formed with great skill, but were so immediately "routed by a much more numerous body of the enemy, "that all attempts to succour them were ineffectual, any "further than the boats bringing from the rocks about twenty of them." On the 8th of April, 1761, the SIXTY-SEVENTH had Captain Thomas Osborne and Lieutenant John Gardner killed. Lieutenants Marmaduke Green and William Herdsman were taken prisoners. The other casualties were, two serjeants, one drummer, and six rank and file killed; and sixteen rank and file wounded. Major-General Hodgson subsequently received the following reinforcements : 1761 and another attempt to effect a landing was resolved upon. Brigadier-General Hamilton Lambert, on the 22nd of April, 1761, effected a landing on the rocks near Point Lomaria, where the difficulty of ascending the precipice had made the enemy least attentive to that part. Beauclerk's grenadiers (Nineteenth foot), with Captain Patterson of that regiment, gained the summit before the enemy saw what was intended, who immediately marched a body of three hundred men to attack them; the grenadiers, however, maintained their ground till the remainder of Brigadier Lambert's troops arrived. The success, thus gained, was promptly followed up; the French were eventually repulsed, and three brass fieldpieces, with a few prisoners, were captured. The cannon was afterwards landed from the ships and dragged up the rocks; the lines which covered the town of Palais were carried by assault, and the siege of the citadel was prosecuted with vigour. The garrison under their Governor, the Chevalier de St. Croix, made a gallant defence, but on the 7th of June were forced to surrender, and were permitted to march through the breach with the honours of war in consideration of their bravery. The capture of the island was thus achieved, with the loss of about eighteen hundred men killed and wounded.t *Disbanded in 1763. † On the 17th June, 1761, the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, waited on His Majesty, and the Recorder, Sir William On the 29th of May, 1761, Major-General Sir Henry 1761 Erskine was removed to the Twenty-fifth regiment, and King George III. was pleased to promote Lieut.-Colonel Moreton, spoke the following address, referring to the capture of To the King's most excellent Majesty. The humble Address of the Most Gracious Sovereign, With reverential awe and gratitude to the Supreme Giver of all victory, we, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of your City of London, in Common Council assembled, humbly approach your Royal Presence, to express our joy and exultation on the entire reduction of the important island of Belle-Isle, by the conduct, intrepidity, and perseverance of your Majesty's land and naval forces:-a conquest which, after more than one fruitless attempt in former times, seems to have been reserved by Divine Providence to grace the auspicious beginning of your Majesty's reign, and confirms our hopes of a long continuance of wise, steady, and successful measures. A blow so humiliating to the pride and power of France, cannot but impress that haughty nation with a due sense of the superiority of a Patriot King ruling over a free, brave, and united people, and will, we trust, convince them of the danger of delaying to accept such terms of peace as Your Majesty's equity, wisdom, and moderation shall think fit to prescribe. What therefore have we more to wish, but that Your Majesty may long, very long, continue the guardian and protector of the religious, civil, and commercial rights of Great Britain and her Colonies; and that Your Majesty's wisdom may ever be seconded by equally faithful and spirited councils; and your commands executed with no less ardour, emulation, and success. On our part, permit us humbly to assure Your Majesty, that your faithful citizens of London will, with unwearied zeal and cheerfulness, contribute to support a vigorous prosecution of this just and necessary war; until Your Majesty, having sufficiently vindicated the honor of your Crown, and secured the trade, navigation, and possessions of your subjects, shall enjoy the blessing and the glory of giving repose to Europe, of wholly attending to and promoting the virtue and happiness of your people, and of cultivating all the softer arts of peace. Signed by Order of the Court, JAMES HODGES. 1761 Hamilton Lambert, from the Thirty-first regiment, to the SIXTY-SEVENTH regiment, as a reward for his gallantry at the capture of Belle-Isle. 1762 1763 While success attended the arms of Great Britain, in various parts of the world, the Sovereigns of France and Spain were negotiating a compact, which gave a new turn to the nature of the war; and the two crowns attempted to coerce Portugal to unite in their designs against Great Britain. Portugal at this period was particularly weak; the capital, Lisbon, had been destroyed by an earthquake five years previously, when nearly thirty thousand inhabitants had been buried in its ruins. This disaster had been followed by a conspiracy against the life of the King, while the country was shaken by internal commotions; at the same time the military force of the kingdom was weak in numbers, scantily furnished with arms, and without experienced officers. Notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, the King of Portugal resolved to adhere to his ancient alliance with Great Britain; and in consequence of this decision, France and Spain declared war against him. A powerful Spanish army assembled on the frontiers, and threatened to crush the Portuguese, when a military force, with artillery, arms, stores, provisions, and money, was furnished by Great Britain to assist its faithful ally; and the SIXTY-SEVENTH, which had returned with the expedition from the coast of France, was one of the regiments selected for service in Portugal. The regiment proceeded to Portugal, and continued in that country until the termination of hostilities by the treaty of Fontainebleau, the preliminary articles of which were signed by the Duke of Bedford at Fontainebleau, on the 3rd of November, 1762. Peace was proclaimed in London on the 22nd of March, |