But with the expectations he had been
induced to form, he did not think himself justified in having
recourse to desperate expedients.
"These hopes were now at an end. The enemy had already silenced
his batteries. Nothing remained to hinder them from completing
their second parallel, three hundred yards nearer to the
besieged than the first. His lordship had received no
intelligence of the approach of succours, and a probability did
not remain that he could defend his station till such time as he
could expect their arrival. Thus circumstanced, with the
magnanimity peculiar to him, he wrote to Sir Henry Clinton, to
acquaint him with the posture of his affairs, and to recommend
to the fleet and the army that they should not make any great
risk in endeavouring to extricate them.
"But although he regarded his situation as hopeless, he did not
neglect any effort becoming a general, to lengthen the siege,
and procrastinate the necessity of a surrender, if it was
impossible finally to prevent it. The number of his troops
seemed scarcely sufficient to countenance a considerable sally,
but the emergency was so critical, that he ordered about three
hundred and fifty men, on the morning of the 16th, to attack the
batteries that appeared to be in the greatest forwardness, and
to spike their guns.
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