. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 313 exactly calculated for the intended ;' The Admiralty, however, seems to have been dilatorj', and while Grey fumed at Canterbury the plan grew, the feasibility of bombarding Flushing was discussed, while it was decided to send some of the troops, after the raid, to capture the island of Ameland and help to blockade the Te.\el. On May 8 the necessary secret instructions were issued to Popham, who was to com- mand the fleet, and emphasis was laid on the fact that the main objective was the destruction of the canal gates. One sentence deser^'es to b
. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 313 exactly calculated for the intended ;' The Admiralty, however, seems to have been dilatorj', and while Grey fumed at Canterbury the plan grew, the feasibility of bombarding Flushing was discussed, while it was decided to send some of the troops, after the raid, to capture the island of Ameland and help to blockade the Te.\el. On May 8 the necessary secret instructions were issued to Popham, who was to com- mand the fleet, and emphasis was laid on the fact that the main objective was the destruction of the canal gates. One sentence deser^'es to be noticed: " You are to endeavour to destroy by shells whatever ships or boats may be in the port [Ostend], but if there should not be any vessels which may be so destroj-ed, j'ou are not to throw shells into the town, which though it might distress Individuals, would produce neither honor nor advantage to His Majesty's ; The troops were embarked upon the 14th, but a gale of wind forced them to anchor off the North Foreland, and Grey was left fretting ashore, writing letter after letter to town, and, when the last post was gone, even sending a dragoon thundering along the London road by night with the good news that the fleet was ready to sail. In the early dawn of the i6th the expedition got under weigh, and Grey's excitement burst forth in his letter to Huskisson, Dundas's secretary: " I beg he [Dundas] will, in the meantime and untU the issue is knowTi (which shall be successful) be planning in his own mind another entertainment for our neighbours, following the one, just gone forth, vigor- ously up, and I will answer for liis making tliis great (or rather unprincipled) nation sick of Invasion, and cause the People to revenge themselves of the Directory, plundering Paris, in the room of England, so insolently held out to them. Mr. Dundas will have the goodness to excuse this freedom, for I must have my ; The troops which were embarked for this ex
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