On the 3rd July General Whitelocke managed to lose his army; but on the next day he found it again, and on the 5th July made his attack on the city. [Sidenote: 5th July.] That is to say, that he sent 6000 men up fourteen different streets through three miles of a hostile town, with strict orders not to fire until they reached the far end. What is more, the 6000 men did it. Nearly every street was entrenched and defended with cannon; every house was strongly barricaded and a fortress in itself; from every roof came a shower not only of bullets but of stones, bricks, and tiles, and every description of missile. Nevertheless the men did fight their way to the other end of the town without firing a shot; but by the time they had reached their allotted positions 1000 of them were down, and 1500 more, Craufurd himself among them, had been overpowered and compelled to surrender. Nevertheless Auchmuty on the left held a strong position, to which many men had rallied, where he had captured 32 guns and 600 prisoners; and with him sixteen mounted men of the Seventeenth, together with some infantry, opened communication, through all the fire, from the reserve. [Sidenote: 1807.] On the extreme right the British also held a strong position, and thither also some mounted men of the Seventeenth made their way from Reduction, to keep in touch with the city. But all was to no purpose. Next day Whitelocke came to terms with the Spaniards, and agreed to withdraw every British soldier from the country. So ended the ill-fated expedition to the Plata. Whitelocke was tried by court-martial on his return, and cashiered. The British in any case could hardly have kept a hold on the country; but Popham’s error was no excuse for Whitelocke’s mismanagement. This was the third time in fifty years in which the Seventeenth was sent on a fool’s errand to a country where the population was expected to receive them with open arms, and met them in fact with loaded muskets. Carolina in 1781, St. Domingo in 1796, and the Plata in 1806, were all part of one great blunder; and for all three the Seventeenth suffered. It is not a soldier’s business when sent on active service to inquire as to the wisdom or unwisdom of the statesmen who send him. He must simply obey orders, and do his duty. But it is hard when years of good and gallant service by a regiment are buried under the cloud of a statesman’s blunder; and this has been the fate of the Seventeenth. CHAPTER X FIRST SOJOURN OF THE 17TH IN INDIA, 1808–1823--THE PINDARI WAR [Sidenote: 1807.]