Bellgarde found it in vain to attempt any thing further, after his last shameful defeat; and being with his black army shut out of Fort Bourbon by General Rochambeau (who, when he retreated after the loss of his camp on Sourier under cover of the fire of that fort, shut the gates against him), he now determined to make the best bargain he could for himself; and accordingly on the 25th of February sent a message to Sir Charles Grey, offering to give up his army, on condition that himself, and certain others that he named, should be permitted to go to America; which request the Commander in Chief complied with; and on the 4th of March, Bellgarde, with his secretary, a white man, by whose councils he had always been guided, and eight people of colour, sailed in a schooner for America, whither he had taken the precaution at various times to forward a quantity of wealth against any change of circumstances should make such a retreat desirable[22]. [22] Since writing of this, news has arrived from the West Indies of the capture of a ship belonging to Victor Hughes (the present republican tyrant of Guadaloupe) loaded with wealth amassed by this plunderer to the amount of half a million sterling. Such has been the general conduct of the French Commanders, while ours have been vilified for claiming even the legal bounty for their suffering and exhausted followers. On Tuesday the 4th of March his Royal Highness Prince Edward arrived at this island, and was received with a royal salute from the fleet. Immediately he took the command of that brigade of the army encamped on the Cas Navire side, and at La Coste, which had hitherto been under the direction of Sir Charles Gordon[23].--Intelligence having reached the Commander in Chief that a number of brigands, composed of some runaways from Bellgarde's army, and other wretches, had committed many depredations and murders, pillaging and burning houses and villages in several parts of the island; he dispatched a detachment of the fifteenth regiment, commanded by Lord Sinclair, with a party of the Prince of Wales's light dragoons, commanded by Lieut. Shadwell, and conducted by Captain Cunningham (one of his Excellency's aid de camps), who surprised one hundred and fifty of these people in the act of burning and plundering the village of Francois[24]. At the first charge the enemy were routed, thirty-six of them, with their chief (who was cut down by a dragoon), were killed, and four taken prisoners, who were instantly hung up, to deter others from such infamous acts as had been committed by these miscreants.--Every preparation was now made for opening our batteries against Fort Bourbon, which were constructed only about eight hundred paces from the fort, and about six hundred in front of our own lines. These batteries would have been constructed much sooner, but, owing to the heavy rains that fell almost constantly, and which, at this