of that small colony, and making every necessary arrangement for baffling the designs of the enemy, should they send a force from Guadaloupe against him.
On landing at Mariegalante, Governor Maurice found that the garrison consisted of only 400 marines, no less than 300 of whom were then dangerously ill in the hospitals; and that notwithstanding the vigilance of those still doing duty, the enemy were constantly supplied with intelligence respecting the state of the island, all the inhabitants being French, and many of them related to, or otherwise connected with persons residing in Guadaloupe. A negro regiment was soon afterwards raised by order of Sir Alexander Cochrane; but although this corps proved useful in preserving order for the time being, it could not have been depended upon in case of an invasion. Every thing tended to keep the governor’s mind in a state of constant anxiety; false alarms were often given: on one occasion a French squadron actually approached the island, hove to, and appeared to be meditating an attack; such of the marines as returned to their duty were in a very debilitated state, and even if the whole had been under arms, they were greatly out-numbered by their black auxiliaries, whose real feeling towards them it was impossible to discover. At length. Governor Maurice himself was attacked with the intermittent fever, and after a distressing illness of three months, he found himself obliged to try a change of climate; for which purpose he embarked in the homeward-bound packet., Oct. 13th, 1809. Previous to his quitting Mariegalante, he received an address from the legislative body and principal inhabitants, expressing the happiness and comfort they had experienced under his administration, and imploring him, if possible, to continue at the head of their affairs.
Captain Maurice’s next appointment was, in Aug. 1810, to be governor of Anholt, an island situated in the Cattegat, and at that time forming an important point of communication between Great Britain and the Baltic[1]. A brilliant exploit performed by the officers and men under his command, is thus
