ABSTRACT
Admiral Cochrane^s dispatches, with his report of the capture of Guadaloupe, contains the following paragraph of additional information : " On the 2d of February, five days' provisions having been prepared for the troops, they proceeded on to the heights of Palmiste, and the shipping anchored again about two miles to the northward of Basse Terre. At half past six o'clock in the afternoon, on my appearing off the town, the chiefs of the provisional govern-
ment sent off a flag of truce to implore safety for themselves and the town; to which I replied by assuring the inhabitants, that their persons and property should be protected and held inviolable, provided they gave up the forts which commanded the town; but on their sending off a second time to say they had no power or controul over the troops garrisoning them, and that they were only peaceable and defenceless inhabitants in Basse Terre, I forbore to fire on the forts for fear of injuring the town; but on the following day at two o'clock, I sent Commodore Fahie with detachments of marines from all the ships, to march and take possession of it, and to guard all the avenues leading to the forts, so as to keep the enemy's troops in them in check, which service was performed gready to my satisfaction."
