The batteries against _Morne Fortunée_ were opened on the 14th of May, and on the night of the 17th the strong outpost of _La Vigie_ was assaulted. The THIRTY-FIRST regiment marched from its position, near Choc Bay, at sunset, for the purpose of a night-attack upon this post, which was remarkably strong. It formed a peninsula, accessible only by a narrow isthmus, and commanded the entrance on one side of the Carenage harbour. The post was defended by two batteries; the first placed midway upon the acclivity, and the second on the summit of the height. The approaches to both were by a circuitous path, and the guide who accompanied the regiment was mortally wounded by the first fire from the enemy’s piquet stationed on the isthmus. The regiment, being ignorant of the country, missed the proper direction. Lieut.-Colonel Hay ordered it to ascend the hill _en force_, which was done, although attended with great difficulty from the precipitous nature of the ground. The first battery was gallantly carried by storm, and the enemy retired to the higher one. The regiment was unfortunately separated in the ascent, and was unable to make a concentrated and effectual attack upon the works that crowned the height, which it nevertheless, in spite of all obstacles, bravely attempted, but the enemy’s grape-shot took such effect that the regiment was obliged to withdraw, after a severe struggle. The THIRTY-FIRST had Captains Johnson and Walker, four serjeants, and eighty rank and file _killed_; Lieut.-Colonels Hay and Arbuthnot, Captains Murray and Sorrell, Lieutenants Sullivan and Hawkshaw, four serjeants, and one hundred and twenty-one rank and file _wounded_. On the 25th of May the island of St. Lucia capitulated, and the THIRTY-FIRST, forty-fourth, forty-eighth, and fifty-fifth regiments, under Brigadier-General Moore, were selected to occupy the place. The possession of the island was not a quiet one; small bodies of French, who had deserted from the different fortresses at their capitulation, withdrew into the interior, and joined the runaway slaves and Caribs; taking advantage of the impenetrable nature of the country, they formed themselves into bands for the purpose of molesting the British, and plundering the planters and other residents of the island. Brigadier-General Moore took the field, and penetrated with his force into the wildest quarters of the mountains, in order to eradicate these predatory bands.