Walcheren, an island in the Dutch province of Zeeland, at the mouth of the Scheldt, containing 52,000 acres and 45,000 inhabitants. The chief places are Middelburg, Flushing, and Campvere. One-half is meadow, the other rich arable land, well wooded to the north. Where it is not protected by natural dunes, strong dykes have been formed, that at West Kappelle being a magnificent work. The drainage-water is carried off by large sea-slues at Middelburg and Vere. Agriculture is the principal employment. The people are chiefly Protestants. Several large artificial mounds are supposed to have been erected by the early inhabitants as places of refuge from high tides.
The Walcheren Expedition, one of the most disastrous failures in the history of modern warfare, was planned in 1807, when Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria were all in arms against France; but it was not till early in the summer of 1809 (when Napoleon, who had meantime overwhelmed Prussia, and reduced Russia to neutrality, was gradually forcing Austria to succumb) that the British ministry resolved to carry it out. The plan was to send a fleet and army up the Scheldt, and attack Antwerp (the principal naval station and arsenal of the French), whose fortifications, though formidable, were much in need of repair, and whose garrison at the time only numbered about 2000 Invalides and coast-guards; while there were not more than 10,000 French soldiers in Holland. The expedition, after numberless needless delays, at last sailed on July 28, and, to the number of 37 men-of-war, 23 frigates, 115 sloops and gunboats, accompanied by transports carrying about 41,000 soldiers, reached the Dutch coast on the following day. But, instead of obeying the orders of the minister of war, Lord Castlereagh (q.v.), to advance at once in force against Antwerp, the commander-in-chief, Lord Chatham (1756-1835), Pitt's elder brother, frittered away his time in the reduction of Flushing, which was not effected till August 16, by which time the garrison of Antwerp had been reinforced by King Louis Bonaparte with the troops at his command (about 6000), and by detachments sent from France, which swelled the garrison, by August 20, to 15,000 men. About the end of August Chatham, who, as a general, was a methodical incapable, 'found himself prepared' to march upon Antwerp, but by this time 30,000 men, under Bernadotte, were gathered to its defence, and the English army was decimated by marsh-fever, so that success was not to be hoped for. However, it was judged right to hold possession of Walcheren, in order to compel the French to keep a strong force on the watch in Belgium, and, accordingly, 15,000 remained to garrison the island, the rest returning to England; but the malaria proved fatal in its ravages, and, peace having been concluded between Austria and France, this force was also recalled. Thus an excellently devised scheme, through the utter stupidity of the agent chosen by George III. to carry it out, failed in every point of consequence, and ended in a loss of 7000 men dead, and the permanent disablement of half the remainder.