fine train of artillery. The advance of this army toward the posts of the enemy produced (on the 19th of September) the battle of Bergen.

General d'Herman, with a column chiefly composed of Russians, disordered the French by the impetuosity of his attack, and pursued them along the open downs and hills to the woods near Bergen. In the mean time, lieutenant-general Dundas stormed the strong post of Warmenhuysen; and sir James Pulteney attacked Oude-Carspel; while Abercromby, unopposed, took possession of the town of Hoorn.

General Brune found a rallying point in the woody vicinage of Bergen; and, being reinforced from Alkmaar, he fell upon the Russians while some of their battalions were employed in acts of pillage, and the rest were dispersed in or near the woods. Notwithstanding their utmost, efforts, he drove them from Bergen, after having captured their general; and would not suffer them to defend Schorel, from which post they were retreating when an English brigade came up. This body, supported by a strong corps from the column of Dundas, re-took Schorel, and, having checked the progress of Brune, leisurely retired to Petten.

Pulteney's division met with formidable obstacles. Oude-Carspel was remarkably strong, and was vigorously defended by Daendels; but it was at length forced by colonel Spencer. Having discovered a point of favourable approach, he advanced with two battalions under a very heavy fire, and, by taking a momentary shelter behind an embankment, encouraged the Dutch to sally forth then driving them back, he entered the lines with them; and they fled toward Alkmaar. The report, however, of the misfortune sustained by the Russians, occasioned a dereliction of the post; and Abercromby was recalled from Hoorn.

The conflict was maintained for thirteen hours. The number of the French and Dutch exceeded that of the English and Russians, as fourteen thousand of the invaders were not actually engaged. Three thousand of the enemy became captives, and about two thousand were killed or wounded. The British sufferers, and the missing, were about one thousand five hundred ; and, on the part of the Russians, the amount approached three thousand. The great loss of lives, in this battle, may reasonably be lamented, as the allies gained no ground by their efforts; for (says the duke of York) "the whole of the army re-occupied its former position."

When the army had received new accessions both from Britain and Russia, the duke (on the 2d of October) risqued another engagement. He sent one column under Abercromby to Egmont-op-Zee, to turn the enemy's left flank; and two other divisions were ordered, after some variations of service, to co-operate with that officer in an attack upon Brune's principal post; while a fourth column was to act as a corps of observation. While the first column was on its march, major-general d'Essen with the Russians, and Dundas with the third division, attacked Schorel and the neighbouring posts with success. The sand hills, from the wood of Bergen to the sea, were warmly contested. Rallying after frequent repulses, the French appeared in great force upon a long ridge; but so fierce an attack was made, that they were dislodged from this commanding post.

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Abercromby merely skirmished until he approached Egmont. He was then opposed by a formidable body of infantry, posted on the hills, while the cavalry and artillery threatened him from the beach. The French had the advantage both of number and situation; but the English had the superiority in cavalry. Major

general Moore assaulted the strongest part of Brune's position, and, though wounded, did not discontinue his gallant exertions. Sir Ralph animated his men by his bold example; and the French at length gave way, when the cavalry had charged them with impetuous alacrity.

The loss of lives, in a conflict of twelve hours, could not be inconsiderable. On the part of the retiring army, above three thousand are said to have been killed or wounded. Of the British troops, only two hundred and thirty-seven are stated to have lost their lives on the spot: but, of eleven hundred who were wounded, many soon after died. About six hundred Russians were captured, wounded, or numbered among the dead.

The consequences of the victory seemed to be important, but were not permanently beneficial. Bergen and Alkmaar were taken; and the allies considered themselves as masters of North-Holland.

The French and Dutch were now stationed between Wick-op-Zee and Beverwick; and the duke resolved to attack them before they could strengthen the post by art. Four days after the second battle of Bergen, he took possession of some posts to the southward of Egmont. In endeavouring to gain a height near one of these posts, the Russians were fiercely encountered ; and, when Abercromby advanced to support them, fresh troops were sent by Brune. The conflict was not merely spirited: it was very warm and obstinate. The allies were obliged, by the superior number of their antagonists, to fall back; but they were not defeated. They renewed their efforts, and disordered the hostile ranks. Amidst the gloom of a rainy night, the work of slaughter was for some hours continued; and, before the enemy retired, above eight hundred British soldiers were killed or wounded, while six hundred were stated

to be missing: above eleven hundred Russians suffered or were captured; and, of the French and their associates, as many fell, in all probability, as in the preceding battle.

The inclemency of the weather, the bad state of the roads, the want of supplies, and the necessity of forcing the almost impregnable post of Beverwick, and also that of Purmerend, before the army could advance to any useful purpose, induced the commander in chief to call his chief officers to a council; and it was their opinion that a retreat was adviseable, as so little had been gained even by victories. The retrograde march commenced at night from Egmont, and terminated at Schagen on the following evening. After the re-occupation of Petten and the adjacent villages, two of the posts were attacked by a considerable force, so as to render a dereliction expedient; and, as the capture of these stations by the enemy diminished the security of Schagen, the country near this village was inundated. To provide for a safe embarkation, a much more extensive inundation seemed requisite; but to avoid an extremity which would have been severely injurious to the inhabitants, the duke of York and admiral Mitchel, without waiting for instructions from Great-Britain, proposed an armistice, to which, after the fruitless demand of a restitution of the Dutch fleet, and of the release of fifteen thousand prisoners detained in England, general Brune (on the 18th of October) agreed, on condition of the delivery of eight thousand captives, unexchanged for others. This agreement was regularly executed: the fleet and army returned; and Holland remained, in effect, a province of France.

The acquisition of the Dutch fleet was certainly a considerable advantage: but the military part of this expedition was disastrous, even amidst honorable victo

ries. The courage of the troops, and the great hardships which they patiently sustained, deserved a better recompence than the result of the enterprise afforded.

The colonial interests of the Dutch were injured, near the end of the summer, by the success of a small British armament on the coast of South America. Lord Hugh Seymour and lieutenant-general Trigge made their appearance near the mouth of the Surinam river, and demanded, from the governor of the Dutch possessions, a surrender of the whole province. As resistance did not promise success, he forbore to oppose the requisition; and the town and its dependencies were subjected to British sway.

The expulsion of the allies from Holland threw a lustre over the administration of Sieyes, who had for some months acted as president of the directory, and had concurred with Barras in dispossessing La-Reveillère, Merlin, and Treilhard, of their share of the executive government, and in substituting individuals less obnoxious and unpopular. This change tended to rescue the two assemblies from their degradation; but, as the people had suffered severely under the mal-administration of the different factions which had successively prevailed in their agitated country, a more regular and steady government was the object of general desire; and an opportunity of exaltation seemed to offer itself to some bold leader of a party, or some distinguished military commander. Moreau, being celebrated as a warrior and esteemed as a man, might perhaps have effected the subversion of the directorial government : but either the scheme did not occur to him, or he despaired of success in so hazardous an attempt. Bonapartè, more ambitious and more sanguine, conceived and cherished the idea; or it was suggested to him by Sieyes or Talleyrand, whose intrigues at Paris, in the