death. " The march," says an eye-witness, "was marked by scenes of the most calamitous nature. We could not proceed a hundred yards without seeing the dead bodies of men, women, children, and horses, in every direction. One scene," adds the writer, " made an impression on my mind, which time will never be able to efface. Near a cart, a little further in the common, we perceived a stout-looking man and a beautiful young woman, with an infant about seven months old at the breast, all three frozen dead. The mother had most certainly died in the act of suckling her child, as, with one breast exposed, she lay upon the drifted snow, the milk, to all appearance, in a stream drawn from the nipple by the babe, and instantly congealed. The infant seemed as if its lips had just then been disengaged, and it reposed its little head upon the mother's bosom, with an overflow of milk frozen as it trickled down from its mouth. Their countenances were perfectly composed and fresh, as if they had only been in a sound and tranquil slumber." The British army reached Deventer, after incredible exertion, on the 27th of January, 1795; but they were not able to maintain the position, being closely pursued by a well-appointed army, upwards of fifty thousand strong. They continued their progress, alternately fighting and retreating, till the end of March, when the main body, now reduced one-half, reached Bremen, where they were embarked for England. Nothing could exceed the vigilance, patience, and perseverance of General Abercromby during this retreat, in which he was ably seconded by General Dundas and Lord Cathcart; nor did the troops ever hesitate, when ordered, to halt, face about, and fight, even in the most disastrous and distressing circumstances.
While the French were making those gigantic efforts at home, which confounded all previous calculations in European warfare, they also made unexpected struggles abroad. They repossessed themselves in the West Indies of Guadeloupe and St. Lucia, made good a landing upon several points in the island of Martinique, and made partial descents on the islands of St. Vincent, Grenada, and Marie Galante. In these various incursions they plundered, in the several islands, property to the amount of one thousand eight hundred millions of livres (about 72,000,000). To put an end to these depredations, a fleet was fitted out in the autumn of the year 1795, for the purpose of conveying a military force to the West Indies; sufficient for not only protecting what yet remained, but recovering that which had been lost. The charge of the land troops was given to Sir Ralph Abercromby, with the appointment of commander-in-chief of the forces in the West Indies. In consequence of thia appointment, he took the command, and hastened the embarkation; and, although the equinox overtook them, and, in the squalls that usually attend it, several of the transports were lost in the Channel, the fleet made the best of its way to the West Indies, and by the month of March, 1796, the troops were landed and in active operation. St. Lucia was speedily captured by a detachment of the army under Sir John Moore, as was St. Vincent and Grenada by another under General Knox. The Dutch colonies, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, on the coast of Guiana, likewise fell into the hands of the British about the same time, almost without stroke of sword. The remainder of 1793 having been thus employed, Sir Ralph made preparations for attacking, early in 1797, the Spanish island of Trinidad. For this purpose, the fleet sailed, with all the transports, from the island of Curacao on the morning of the 15th February, 1797, and next day passed through the Barns into the Gulf of Bria,
