Their loss is not known; the English confess they could obtain no account of it, but suppose it to have been very great.
This seems more than probable; for, besides those actually employed in the defence, large numbers of people crowded into the forts to witness the contest.

So great was this curiosity, that, when the action commenced, the parapets were covered with the multitude gazing at the manoeuvres of the ships.

To avoid so unnecessary and indiscriminate a slaughter, Lord Exmouth (showing a humanity that does him great credit) motioned with his hand to the ignorant wretches to retire to some place of safety.

This loss of life in the batteries, the burning of the buildings within the town and about the mole, the entire destruction of their fleet and merchant vessels anchored within the mole and in the harbor, had a depressing effect upon the inhabitants, and probably did more than the injuries received by the batteries in securing an honorable conclusion to the treaty.

We know very well that these batteries, though much injured, _were not silenced_ when Lord Exmouth took advantage of the land breeze and sailed beyond their reach.