della Core, and within 3 miles of General Miranda’s quarters, with a force of nearly 2000 men, including Indians, collected from all quarters; took possession of the only watering place for the vessels under Captain Campbell’s orders, and surprised the master of a transport and 14 seamen who landed in the night without his knowledge. At day-break on the 9th, a party of 20 sailors landed from the Lily, under the command of her second Lieutenant (Barclay), to endeavour to rescue the prisoners; but unfortunately only one man reaped benefit from their exertions: 10 or 12 of the enemy were, however, killed in the skirmish which took place.
The firing of the combatants being observed by General Miranda, Colonel Downie was immediately sent with 50 men to attack the enemy, if he conceived it practicable to obtain any advantage; but from their very superior force and favorable position, he considered it prudent to retire.
The Spanish commandant was soon afterwards joined by 400 men from Maracaibo; and a council of war being assembled by Miranda, it was unanimously agreed, that nothing further could be effected with so small a force as that patriotic chief then had at his disposal. The motley little army was consequently re-embarked, and conducted by Captain Campbell, in safety, to Aruba.
We have been thus minute in our relation of the circumstances attending General Miranda’s expedition to Venezuela, in consequence of a very incorrect statement which appeared in the first number of the Naval and Military Magazine, the Annual Biography and Obituary for 1827, and various other periodicals, wherein the whole credit of the enterprise is given to Captain Dacres and his second lieutenant; whereas the Bacchante’s officers and crew, although their zeal and bravery cannot be questioned, were certainly nothing more than secondary actors on the occasion. A sense of duty induces us to add, that Miranda entertained much more sanguine ideas of success, than his slender force warranted him in doing; and that nothing short of 1000 soldiers, inheriting the spirit of Britons, would have enabled him to obtain possession of Caraccas, a city where he possessed numerous friends, but who
