WALOHEREN EXPEDITION, one of the most disastrous military failures in the his. tory of modern warfare, was undertaken, like that of sir John Moore to Spain, with the view of helping the continental allies of Britain, by creating such a diversion as would prevent the concentration of Napoleon's strength, in overwhelming amount, against any one of his opponents. The expedition was planned in 1807, when Prussia, Russia. and Austria were all in arms against France; but it was pot till early in the summer of 1809 (when Napoleon, who had meantime overwhelmed Prussia, and reduced Russia to neutrality, was gradually forcing Austria to succumb) that the British ministry resolved to carry it out. The plan was to send a fleet and army up the Scheldt and attack Ant, were (the principal naval station and arsenal in the ii. of France), whose fortifications, though formidable, were much in need of repair, and whose garrison at the time only numbered about 2,000 invalids and coast-guards; while there were not more than 10,000 French soldiers in Holland. The expedition, after numberless needless delays, at last sailed on July 28; and, to the number of 37 men-of-war, 23 frigates, 115 sloops and gun boats, accompanied by transports, carrying about 41,000 soldiers, reached the Dutch coast on the following day. But, instead of obeying the orders of the minister of war, lord Castlereagh, to advance at once in force against Antwerp, the commander-in-chief, lord Chatham (the elder brother of Pitt), frittered away his time iu the reduction of Vlissingen (Flushing), which was not effected till Aug. 16, by which time the
garrison of Antwerp bad been re-enforced by king Louis Bonaparte with the troops at his command (about 6,000), and by detachments sent from France, which swelled the garrison, by Aug. 20, to 15,000 men. About the end of August, Chatham, who, as a general, was a methodical incapable, "found himself pre pared " to march upon Antwerp, but by this time 30,000 men, under Bernadotte, were gathered to its defense, and the English army was decimated by marsh-fever, so that success was not to be hoped for. However, it was judged right to hold possession of Walcheren, in order to compel the French to keep a strong force on the watch in Bel gium, and. accordingly, 15,000 men remained to garrison the island, the rest returning to England; but the malaria proved too fatal in its ravages, and as peace had been con cluded between Austria and France, this force was also recalled. Thus an excellently devised scheme, through the utter stupidity of the agent chosen by royalty to carry it out, failed in every point of consequence, and ended in a loss of 7,000 men dead, and the permanent disablement of half the remainder. The failure of the Walcheren expedition was made the occasion of furious onslaughts on the ministry in the house of commons and in the public journals.