bank of the river without opposition, just after daylight; and the armed boats moving up the river as the troops advanced, this part of the operations succeeded perfectly; the enemy having been dri ven from every position, leaving behind him seventeen pieces o

cannon.

The great loss however sustained by the principal attac having induced general Lambert to send orders to colonel Thorr ton to retire after spiking the guns and destroying the carriage: the whole were re-embarked and brought back, and the boats, b a similar process of hard labour, were again dragged into the canal, and from thence to the bayou, conveying at the same time such of the wounded as it was thought requisite to send off to the ships.

Major-general Lambert having determined to withdraw the army, measures were taken to re-embark the whole of the sick and wounded that it was possible to move, and the stores, ammu. nition, ordnance, &c. with such detachments of the army, seamen, and marines, as were not immediately wanted; in order that the remainder of the army may retire unincumbered, and the last divison be furnished with sufficient means of transport.

This arrangement being in a forward state of execution, I quitted head-quarters on the 14th instant, leaving rear-admiral Malcolm to conduct the naval part of the operations in that quarter, and I arrived at this anchorage on the 16th, where I am arranging for the reception of the army, and preparing the fleet for further operations.

I must, in common with the nation, lament the loss which the service has sustained by the death of major-general the hon. sir Edward Pakenham, and major-general Gibbs. Their great military qualities were justly estimated while living, and their zealous devotion to our country's welfare, will be cherished as an example to future generations.

In justice to the officers and men of the squadron under my command who have been employed upon this expedition, I cannot omit to call the attention of my lords commissioners of the admiralty to the laborious exertions and great privations which have been willingly and cheerfully borne, by every class, for a period of nearly six weeks.

From the 12th of December, when the boats proceeded to the attack of the enemy's gun-vessels, to the present time, but very few of the officers or men have ever slept on board their ships.

The whole of the army, with the principal part of its provisions, its stores, artillery, ammunition, and the numerous necessary appendages, have been all transported from the shipping to the head of the bayou, a distance of seventy miles, chiefly in open boats, and are now re-embarking by the same process. The hardships, therefore, which the boats crews have undergone, from their being kept day and night continually passing and repassing in the most changeable and severe weather, have rarely been equalled; and it has been highly honourable to both services, and most gratifying to myself, to observe the emulation and unanimity which has pervaded the whole.

Rear-admiral Malcolm superintended the disembarkation of the army, and the various services performed by the boats; and it is a duty that I fulfil with much pleasure, in assuring their lordships that his zeal and exertions upon every occasion could not be surpassed by any one. I beg leave also to offer my testimony to the unwearied and cheerful assistance afforded to the rear-admiral by captains sir Thomas M. Hardy, Dashwood, and Gordon, and the several captains and other officers. Rear-admiral Codrington accompanied me throughout the service, and I feel much indebted for his able advice and assistance.

Captain sir Thomas Troubridge, and the officers and seamen attached, under his command, to the army, have conducted themselves much to the satisfaction of the generals commanding. Sir Thomas Troubridge speaks in the highest terms of the captains and other officers employed under him, as named in his letter (a copy of which is enclosed) reporting their services. He particularly mentions captain Money, of the Trave, who I am much concerned to say, had both bones of his leg broken by a musket shot, advancing under a heavy fire to the attack of the battery that was afterwards carried.

The conduct of captain Money at Washington and near Baltimore, where he was employed with the army, having before occasioned my noticing him to their lordships, I beg leave now to

recommend him most strongly to their protection. The wound that he has received not affording him any probability of his being able to return to his duty for a considerable time, I have given him leave to go to England; and shall intrust to him my despatches.

I have not yet received any official report from the captain of the Nymph, which ship, with the vessels named in the margin,* were sent into the Mississippi, to create a diversion in that quarter. The bombs have been for some days past throwing shells into fort Plaquemine, but I fear without much effect. I have sent to recall such of them as are not required for the blockade of the river.

I have the honour to be, &c.
ALEXANDER COCHRANE.

Letter from capt. Thomas Troubridge to vice-admiral Cochrane. Head-quarters near New Orleans, January 12, 1815.

SIR,

THE Conduct and exertions of the officers and seamen which you did me the honour to place under my command to serve with the army on shore, having been such as to meet very general approbation, I feel it a duty I owe to them to make such known to you, and to particularize the exertions of captains Money, Rogers, and Westphall.

I cannot sufficiently express the high sense I entertain of the zeal and activity of lieutenant Scott, of the Tonnant, and lieutenant Fletcher of the Norge, who, on all occasions, have shown themselves most deserving officers.

Captains Money and Rogers, who were detached across the river, again report the exertion and gallantry of lieutenant Scott, and also of Mr. Woolcombe, midshipman of his majesty's ship Tonnant, who particularly distinguished themselves in leading their men under a heavy fire to the battery that was carried. It is with infinite regret that I report the severe wound captain Money received while on this service. To lieutenants Wroote, of the Royal Oak, and Franklin, of the Bedford, with the many other officers employed, every praise is due.

I have the honour to be, &c.
THOMAS TROUBRIDGE.

* Nymph, Herald, Ætna, Meteor, Thistle, Pigmy.

No. 7.

Letter from general Lambert to earl Bathurst.

His Britannic Majesty's ship Tonnant, off Chandeleur's island, January 28th, 1815.

MY LORD,

After maturely deliberating on the situation of this army, after the command had unfortunately devolved upon me, on the 8th instant, and duly considering what probability now remained of carrying on with success, on the same plan, an attack against New Orleans, it appeared to me that it ought not to be persisted in. I immediately communicated to vice-admiral sir A. Cochrane that I did not think it would be prudent to make any further attempt at present, and that I recommended re-embarking the army as soon as possible, with a view to carry into effect the other objects of the force employed upon this coast; from the 9th inst. it was determined that the army should retreat, and I have the satisfaction of informing your lordship that it was effected on the night of the 18th inst. and ground was taken up on the morning of the 19th on both sides of the bayone, or creek, which the troops had entered on their disembarkation, fourteen miles from their position before the enemy's line, covering New Orleans, on the left bank of the Mississippi, and one mile from the entrance into Lac Borgne: the army remained in bivouac until the 27th instant, when the whole were re-embarked.

In stating the circumstances of this retreat to your lordship, I shall confidently trust that good order and discipline ever existed in this army, and that zeal for the service, and attention was ever conspicuous in officers of all ranks. Your lordship is already acquainted with the position the army occupied, its advanced post close up to the enemy's, and the greater part of the army were exposed to the fire of the batteries which was unremitting day and night since the 1st of January, when the position in advance was taken up. The retreat was effected without being harassed in any degree by the enemy; all the sick and wounded (with the exception of eighty, whom it was considered dangerous to remove), field artillery, ammunition, hospital and other stores of every description, which had been landed on a very large scale,

were brought away, and nothing fell into the enemy's hands, excepting six iron eighteen-pounders, mounted on sea carriages, and two carronades, which were in position on the left bank of the Mississippi; to bring them off at the moment the army was retiring was impossible, and to have done it previously would have exposed the whole force to any fire the enemy might have sent down the river. These batteries were of course destroyed, and the guns rendered perfectly unserviceable; only four men were reported absent next morning, and those, I suppose, must have been left behind and have fallen into the hands of the enemy: but when it is considered the troops were in perfect ignorance of the movement, until a fixed hour during the night, that the picquets did not move off till half-past three o'clock in the morning, and that the whole had to retire through the most difficult new made road, cut marshy ground, impassable for a horse, and where, in many places, the men could only go in single files, and that the absence of men might be accounted for in so many ways, it would be rather a matter of surprise the number was so few.

An exchange of prisoners has been effected with the enemy upon very fair terms, and their attention to the brave prisoners, and wounded, that have fallen into their hands, has been kind and humane, I have every reason to believe.

However unsuccessful the termination of the late service the army and navy have been employed upon, has turned out, it would be injustice not to point out how much praise is due to their exertions; ever since the 13th December, when the army began to move from the ships, the fatigue of disembarking and bringing up artillery and supplies from such a distance has been incessant; and I must add, that owing to the exertions of the navy, the army has never wanted provisions. The labour of the seamen and soldiers was particularly conspicuous on the night of the 7th inst. when fifty boats were dragged through a canal into the Mississippi, in which there were only eighteen inches of water, and I am confident that the vice-admiral sir Alexander Cochrane, who suggested the possibility of this operation, will be equally ready to admit this, as well as the hearty co-operations of the troops on all occasions.