But the circumstances justified its
boldness. With only four thousand men at the start, with
nearly half of this total on the sick list at one rather
critical juncture, with very few trained gunners, and
without any corps of engineers at all, the Provincials
adapted themselves to the situation so defiantly that
they puzzled, shook, and overawed the French, who thought
them two or three times stronger than they really were.
Recklessly defiant though they were, however, they did
provide the breaching batteries with enough cover for
the purpose in hand. This is amply proved both by the
fewness of their casualties and by the evidence of Bastide,
the British engineer at Annapolis, who inspected the
lines of investment on his arrival, twelve days before
the surrender, and reported them sufficiently protected.
Where the Provincials showed their 'prentice hands to
genuine disadvantage was in their absurdly solemn and
utterly futile councils of war. No schoolboys' debating
club could well have done worse than the council held to
consider du Chambon's stereotyped answer to the usual
summons sent in at the beginning of a siege.
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