Twelve thousand of the finest British troops
were now established at Montevideo preparing for the expedition which
was to bring Buenos Aires within the British Empire. The attempt,
however, failed completely, and a terrible disaster ensued, the cause of
which is imputed entirely to the crass folly of Whitelocke, who sent his
regiments to march through the streets of the town, to be shot down in
hundreds by the determined defenders congregated on the housetops.
In many instances the result of this extraordinary piece of strategy was
mere slaughter, since the British troops, many of whom had been charged
to use nothing beyond the bayonet and to refrain from firing, could
adopt no retaliatory measures whatever. In the circumstances total
defeat was inevitable, and at the end of the engagement the General
found himself a prisoner in the hands of the South Americans. On this
Whitelocke signed a treaty agreeing to evacuate the River Plate
Provinces altogether, and within two months not a British soldier was
left in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. On his arrival home Whitelocke
underwent a court-martial, and was cashiered with well deserved and
bitter censure.
Apart from the extraordinary incompetence--to call it by no worse
name--shown by General Whitelocke, there is some doubt as to whether the
British would have succeeded in permanently retaining possession of the
territory they had captured.
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