d
deter the boldest enemy from approaching either Fort Lisset or Fort
Saint Vaast. James, however, who knew something of English seamen, was
not perfectly at ease, and proposed to send strong bodies of soldiers on
board of the ships. But Tourville would not consent to put such a slur
on his profession.

Russell meanwhile was preparing for an attack. On the afternoon of the
twenty-third of May all was ready. A flotilla consisting of sloops, of
fireships, and of two hundred boats, was entrusted to the command
of Rooke. The whole armament was in the highest spirits. The rowers,
flushed by success, and animated by the thought that they were going
to fight under the eyes of the French and Irish troops who had been
assembled for the purpose of subjugating England, pulled manfully and
with loud huzzas towards the six huge wooden castles which lay close to
Fort Lisset. The French, though an eminently brave people, have always
been more liable to sudden panics than their phlegmatic neighbours the
English and Germans. On this day there was a panic both in the fleet and
in the army. Tourville ordered his sailors to man their boats, and would
have led them to encounter the enemy in the bay. But his example and his
exhortations were vain. His boats turned round and fled in confusion.
The ships were abandoned. The cannonade from Fort Lisset was so feeble
and ill directed that it did no execution. The regiments on the beach,
after wasting a few musket shots, drew off. The English boarded the
men of war, set them on fire, and having performed this great service
without the loss of a single life, retreated at a late hour with the
retreating tide. The bay was in a blaze during the night; and now and
then a loud explosion announced that the flames had reached a powder
room or a tier of loaded guns. At eight the next morning the tide came
back strong; and with the tide came back Rooke and his two hundred
boats. The enemy made a faint attempt to defend the vessels which were
near Fort Saint Vaast. During a few minutes the batteries did some
execution among the crews of our skiffs; but the struggle was soon
over. The French poured fast out of their ships on one side; the English
poured in as fast on the other, and, with loud shouts, turned the
captured guns against the shore. The batteries were speedily silenced.
James and Melfort, Bellefonds and Tourville, looked on in helpless
despondency while the second conflagration proceeded. The conqu