people were confirmed in their opinion of Vernon; and his good fortune induced the minister to continue him in the command of the British fleet in the West-Indies.

This compliance with the wishes of the people, however, served only to render the popular members in the house of commons more clamorous. They considered it as a partial victory, and resolved to push their advantage; they attempted the entire removal of the minister; and a motion was even made to that purpose. Piqued at this ungenerous return, as he considered it, to his condescensions, sir Robert Walpole concluded a masterly speech, (in which he refuted every charge brought against him) with the following keen expressions, that strongly marked the character of those contentious and venal times. "Gentlemen," said he, "have talked a great deal of "patriotism; a venerable virtue, when duly practised! "But I am sorry to observe, that of late it has been so "much hackneyed, that it is in danger of falling into disgrace: the very idea of true patriotism is lost, and the "term has been prostituted to the worst of purposes. A

patriot! why patriots spring up like mushrooms: I could "raise fifty of them within the four and twenty hours. I "have raised many of them in a night. It is but refusing "to gratify an unreasonable or an insolent demand, and

up starts a patriot.-I have long heard of this patriotic "motion," added he; " and let gentlemen contradict "me, if they can, when I say I could have prevented it. "By what means I leave the house to judge!"

The reduction of Porto-Bello was but a prelude to greater enterprises. Nothing less was resolved upon than the utter destruction of the Spanish settlements in the new world. With this view, an English squadron was dispatched to the South-Sea, under commodore Anson, in order to ravage the coasts of Peru and Chili; while a fleet of twenty-seven sail of the line, command

26. Parliamentary Debates, 1740.

ed

ed by sir Chaloner Ogle, beside frigates fire-ships, bomb-ketches, store-ships, victuallers, and transports, with upward of ten thousand land forces on board, was sent to the West-Indies, to reinforce admiral Vernon, and cooperate with Anson, by means of intelligence to be conveyed across the isthmus of Darien. The land forces were commanded by lord Cathcart, a nobleman of approved honour, as well as experience in military affairs: and the ardour of both soldiers and sailors to come to action was excessive. This ardour drew from lord Cathcart the following words, in a letter to admiral Vernon. "In the troops I bring you, there is spirit, there is good will; which, when properly conducted, will produce, I hope, what the nation expects from us-will make us the glorious instruments of finishing the war, with all the advantages to the public that its happy beginning promises; and with this distinguishing circumstance, that those happy effects have been owing to a perfect harmony between the sea and land-forces27."

The want of that harmony proved the ruin of the armament. As lord Cathcart unfortunately died soon after his arrival in the West-Indies, the command of the land-forces devolved upon brigadier-general Wentworth, an officer without experience, resolution, or authority. He had nothing in common with Vernon but his obstinacy, and as great a contempt for the sea, as the admiral had for the land-service. These two ill-associated A. D. 1741. commanders, whose powers were discretion- MARCH 9. ary, after being reinforced with some troops from the English colonies in North-America, determined to attack Carthagena.

The city of Carthagena is seated on a peninsula, or sandy island, which is joined to the continent by two artificial necks of land, the broadest of which is not above seventy

27. Modern Universal Hist. vol. xv. fol. edit.

yards

yards wide. Its fortifications are regular, and after the modern manner. The houses are mostly of stone, and the streets are broad, straight, and well paved. It is supposed to contain about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Nature has placed at a little distance a hill of a middling height, on which is built the citadel of St. Lazarus. This fort commands the town, and in some measure, the harbour, which is the safest in the American dominions of Spain, and one of the best any where known. It is two leagues in extent, and has a safe and excellent bottom. At the time the trade of the Spanish settlements in South-America was carried on by the galleons, those ships sailed to Carthagena before they went to Porto-Bello, and visited it again on their return. Its trade has declined since their abolition; but the excellence of its harbour, and its vicinity to the rich proinces of Sant a Fé, Popayan, and Choco, must ever make it a place of great importance.

In consequence of the resolution of the English commanders to attack this opulent and strong city, a descent was made on the island of Tierra Bomba, near the entrance of the harbour, which is known by the name of Bocca Chica, or Little-mouth, from its narrowness, and which was fortified in a surprising manner with castles, batteries, booms, chains, cables, and ships of war. Several of the smaller castles were almost instantly reduced by sir Chaloner Ogle, to whom that service was committed; and batteries being erected against the principal fortifications, the Boradera battery and fort St. Joseph were successively taken by storm. A breach was made in Castillo Grande, and the British troops, supported by the seamen, advanced to the assault. Contrary to all expectation, they found the works abandoned. The Spanish ships, which lay across the mouth of

28. Ulloa, lib. i. chap. 3.

the

the harbour, were either taken or destroyed; the passage was opened; the fleet entered without farther opposition, and the troops were disembarked within a mile of the city.

After surmounting so many difficulties, with such facility, the besiegers thought that little remained but to take possession of Carthagena. A ship was accordingly sent express to London with intelligence to that effect; and public rejoicings were held at Jamaica, and over all the English islands in the West-Indies. But the animosities which broke out between Vernon and Wentworth, disappointed the hopes of the nation, as well as the sanguine expectations of those concerned in the expedition. Each seemed more eager for the disgrace of his rival, than zealous for the honour of his country. The admiral was always putting the general in mind of the necessity of cutting off the communication between the town and the country, and of attacking the citadel of St. Lazarus, by which it was defended. Resolutions, in a council of war, were taken for that purpose, but nothing was done in consequence of them. A shameful inactivity, which might partly proceed from the climate, seems to have possessed the troops29.

The general, by way of recrimination, threw the blame of the delay upon the admiral, in not landing the tents, stores, and artillery. And it must be admitted that both were in fault. If Wentworth had attacked the citadel before the enemy had recovered from the panic, occasioned by the reduction of the forts that defended the harbour, the

29. The heat is excessive and continual at Carthagena; and the torrents of water that are incessantly pouring down, from May to November, have this singularity, that they never cool the air, which is sometimes a little moderated during the dry season, by the north-east winds. The night is as hot as the day. Hence the inhabitants, wasted by profuse perspiration, have the pale and livid appearance of sick persons; all their motions are languid and sluggish; their speech is soft and slow, and their words are generally broken and interrupted. Every thing relative to them indicates a relaxed habit of body. Ulloa, Voy. lib. chap. v.

English

English would certainly have become masters of the place; whereas the inaction of the land forces, beside the diseases to which it exposed them, gave the Spaniards time to recover their spirits, and to take every precaution for their defence. Nor was Vernon less remiss in his duty, in not sending his ships to batter and bombard the town by sea; for it is beyond dispute, notwithstanding some surmises to the contrary, that great execution might have been done by such a mode of attack. The largest ships could have lain near enough to have damaged the buildings without being exposed to much alarm; and the bombs would have been attended with great effect, as the houses in that country are chiefly covered with shingles, or small thin boards, instead of slate or tiles.

During these disputes, the army was employed in erecting batteries, in order to make a breach in fort St. Lazarus. But the heavy cannon not being yet arrived, nor the batteries near completed, the chief engineer gave it as his opinion, that the place might be rendered so much stronger before the batteries could be opened, as to over-balance the advantage to be expected from them. This absurd opinion, seconded by the importunities of Vernon, determined Wentworth to hazard an assault, after all rational prospect of success from such a mode of attack had ceased, until a breach should be made in the walls. So firm, however, was the courage of the British troops, that, if other instances of misconduct had not accompanied that unsoldier-like attempt, there is reason to believe Carthagena would have been taken. The assault, instead of being made in the night, was delayed till morning; the soldiers were conducted, by mistake, against the strongest part of the citadel; the scaling ladders were found too short; the woolpacks and granado-shells were left in the rear; and the admiral neglected to divert the attention of the enemy by battering the town by sea, or even making use of his bomb-ketches3°. In consequence of these several blunders, and others con

30. Univ. Hist ubi. sup. Smollett's Hist. Eng. vol. xi.

nected