initial commit of ebook 17929HEADmain

10 files changed, 24546 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/17929-8.txt b/17929-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9da124f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8145 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by Edward Osler
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth
+
+Author: Edward Osler
+
+Release Date: March 5, 2006 [EBook #17929]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE
+
+OF
+
+ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH
+
+BY EDWARD OSLER, ESQ.
+
+     For every virtue, every worth renowned,
+     Sincere, plain hearted, hospitable, kind;
+     Yet like the mustering thunder when provoked,
+     The dread of tyrants, and the true resource
+     Of those who under grim oppression groaned.
+
+                                              THOMSON.
+
+A New and Revised Edition.
+
+LONDON:
+GEO. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON-STREET
+AND 18, BEEKMAN-STREET, NEW YORK.
+1854
+
+London:
+Printed by STEWART and MURRAY,
+Old Bailey.
+
+
+TO
+
+THE NAVY,
+
+The Bulwark of their Country,
+
+AND
+
+WHOSE TRIUMPHS ARE THE PRIDE OF HER HISTORY,
+
+THIS WORK
+
+IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+At the commencement of hostilities, whose extent and duration none can
+foresee, it is the wisdom of those to whom England will hereafter commit
+the honour of her Flag to study well the example of the great
+sea-officers whose services illustrate the annals of their country.
+
+Among these bright examples, none is more worthy of careful study than
+Admiral Lord Exmouth. Entering the service a friendless orphan, the
+success which he achieved by merit alone is most encouraging to all who
+must rise by their own deserts. In his perfect seamanship, his mastery
+of all that relates to his profession, his zeal and energy, his
+considerate forethought, his care to make his crews thorough seamen, and
+the example by which he spurred and encouraged them, the secret may be
+found, not less available to others, of his many brilliant successes,
+and of the little loss with which he obtained them. His truly parental
+care for his young officers to train them to their duties and to advance
+their interests, as conspicuous when commander-in-chief as in his first
+frigate, is a lesson for all in authority. Nor will his personal
+qualities be less admired: the honourable independence which he
+maintained as an officer and a peer, and the moral excellence which
+marked his life, and was finally proved on his death-bed.
+
+And here I may relate an anecdote, as the praise it gives is only for
+the subject of the biography, and for which I am indebted to
+Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew. Soon after the first appearance of
+this work, one of the first officers in the French navy, Vice-Admiral
+Bergeret, whose name appears more than once in the following pages,
+presented a copy to a young relative he was sending to sea, and bade him
+to learn from the example it afforded to become all that his friends and
+his country could desire.
+
+Lord Exmouth's attack on Algiers, the most memorable occasion on which
+men-of-war have attacked fortifications, is peculiarly instructive now.
+The immediate destruction of the enemy's works opposed to the _Queen
+Charlotte_, and the comparative impunity she thus obtained, shows the
+wisdom of laying the ships as close as possible, where the concentrated
+fire of her batteries may overwhelm the enemy, and destroy the few guns
+which alone can be opposed to her; whereas, by anchoring at a distance,
+the enemy's guns from a great extent of the works may be trained to bear
+on her, while her own shot strike with uncertain aim and diminished
+effect. The results of this latter course may be learnt from the fate of
+the floating batteries at the siege of Gibraltar, and from the
+_Impregnable_ at Algiers; the ships having anchored at too great a
+distance, were exposed to a destructive fire, while their own attack was
+comparatively harmless.
+
+This biography of Lord Exmouth was written at the desire and under the
+eye of his eldest brother; in youth his second father, and through life
+his confidential friend. Every incident relating to points of service
+was supplied or corrected by officers personally engaged; and the whole
+was finally revised by four officers who were the most constantly and
+intimately acquainted with the Admiral--Mr. Gaze, master of the fleet in
+the Mediterranean and at Algiers, and who sailed with him in every ship
+from 1793 to the last day of his command; Sir Christopher Cole and
+Captain Crease, his intimate friends; and his only surviving sailor son,
+Captain, now Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FAMILY HISTORY.
+
+     Birth and education--Anecdote of early daring--Enters the
+     Navy--Leaves his ship, with one of his companions, at
+     Marseilles--Joins the _Blonde_, Captain Pownoll--His
+     activity--Anecdote of General Burgoyne--Instance of extraordinary
+     boldness--Campaign on the Lakes of Canada--Distinguishes himself in
+     the actions, of October 11th and 13th, 1776--Complimented by Sir C.
+     Douglas, Lord Howe, and Earl Sandwich--Appointed to command the
+     _Carleton_--Nearly takes General Arnold--Narrowly escapes being
+     made prisoner--Commands a brigade of seamen in Burgoyne's
+     campaign--In danger of killing his brother--Events of the
+     campaign--Constructs a bridge, by which the army crosses to
+     Saratoga--His brother killed in action--Recaptures a provision
+     vessel from the enemy--Admitted to the Council of War, and pleads
+     that the sailors may be exempted from the capitulation--Sent home
+     with despatches in a transport--Defends her against a
+     privateer--Promoted to be a Lieutenant.                      page 1
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.
+
+     Influence of the late campaigns on his character--His extraordinary
+     strength and activity--Narrow escapes from drowning--Appointed to
+     a guard-ship--Presses for active employment, and proposes to resign
+     his commission--Appointed to the _Licorne_--Becomes First
+     Lieutenant of the _Apollo_, Captain Pownoll--Action with the
+     _Stanislaus_, French frigate; Captain Pownoll killed, enemy driven
+     on shore--His letter on the occasion to Earl Sandwich--Promoted to
+     be a Commander--Anecdote in relation to his promotion--Appointed to
+     the _Hazard_--Appointed to the _Pelican_--Gallant action--Promoted
+     to be a Post-Captain--Appointed to the temporary command of the
+     _Artois_--Captures an enemy's cruiser--Anecdote of Captain
+     Macbride--Marriage--Appointed to the _Winchelsea_ frigate--Conduct
+     in her--Appointed to the _Salisbury_, Vice-Admiral
+     Milbanke--Anecdote of Lord Thurlow.                         page 28
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.
+
+     Becomes a farmer--Remarks on naval officers' farming--His ill
+     success--Omen of his future fortune--Offered a command in the
+     Russian Navy--Remarks on serving foreign states--War of the French
+     Revolution--Appointed to the _Nymphe_ 36-gun frigate--Enters a
+     number of Cornish miners for her--Cornish miners--Equipment and
+     movements of the _Nymphe_--Captain Israel Pellew joins her as a
+     volunteer--Sails from Falmouth--Remarkable dream of one of the
+     officers--Falls in with the _Cleopatra_; her high state of
+     equipment--Gallantry of both ships--Cap of Liberty--Action--Death
+     of the French Captain, Mullon; his heroism--Captain Pellew's letter
+     to his brother.                                             page 47
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.
+
+     Presented to the King and knighted--His liberality to the widow of
+     Captain Mullon--Use of carronades--He suggests the employment of
+     independent squadrons in the western part of the Channel, to check
+     the enemy's cruising frigates--Value of these squadrons--Appointed
+     to the _Arethusa_, and joins Sir J.B. Warren's squadron--Action of
+     April 23rd, 1794--Engages and captures _La Pomone_--Action of
+     August 23rd, 1794 A second squadron fitted out, and placed under
+     his orders--_Artois_ and _Revolutionaire_; chivalrous conduct of
+     Sir Sidney Smith--Conveys important intelligence to the
+     Admiralty--Appointed to the _Indefatigable_, 44--His dispute with
+     the Navy board--Allowed to fit her according to his own
+     plans--Success of them--Accuracy of his judgment on a ship's
+     qualities--_Indefatigable_ strikes on a rock--Sir Edward nearly
+     lost in attempting to save two of his people--His success on
+     different occasions in saving lives--Wreck of the _Dutton_ at
+     Plymouth--He boards her, and saves all the people--His report of
+     the service--Honours and rewards; created a Baronet--Captain Cole,
+     and _L'Unité_ French frigate--Sir Edward's letters on the occasion
+     to Earls Chatham and Spencer--Notice of Captain Cole--His death,
+     and Sir Edward's feeling--Action of _Indefatigable_ and _La
+     Virginie_--Conduct and gallantry of her Captain, Bergeret.  page 61
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.
+
+     State of parties--Enemy's preparations for invasion--Reflections on
+     Ireland--Lord Exmouth's opinion on the Roman Catholic question--Sir
+     E. Pellew watches Brest with his frigates--His perseverance and
+     hardihood--Sailing of the expedition--He embarrasses its
+     movements--Arrives in England--Misfortunes of the British
+     fleet--Enemy arrive at Bantry Bay--Prevented from landing, and
+     driven off the coast by gales--Reflections on the failure of the
+     expedition--Sir Edward puts to sea with the _Indefatigable_ and
+     _Amazon_--Meets and engages the _Droits de l'Homme_, 74--Finds
+     himself on a lee-shore, hauls off, and saves the _Indefatigable_
+     with difficulty--_Amazon_ wrecked--Admirable conduct of her
+     officers and crew--_Droits de l'Homme_ wrecked--Horrible
+     circumstance of her fate--Anecdote of the French
+     Commodore--Eventual fate of the Captain of the _Amazon_.    page 86
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE MUTINY.
+
+     Remarks on Sir Edward's character as a seaman and an officer--His
+     conduct when his ship was on fire--His consideration for his
+     officers and men--The Duke of Northumberland--Mutiny at
+     Spithead--Preparations for a second invasion of Ireland--General
+     Daendels--Proposed expedition baffled--Sir Edward off
+     Brest--Proposes to burn the French fleet--Success in capturing the
+     enemy's cruisers--_La Vaillante_--Royalist priests and Madame
+     Rovère--His liberality--Appointed to _L'Impetueux_, 78--Her
+     mutinous state--Observations on the mutinies in the Navy, from
+     1797--Sir Edward's opinions on the subject--His
+     precautions--Attempted mutiny in the _Indefatigable_--Conspiracy in
+     the Channel fleet--Mutiny on board the _Impetueux_--His firmness
+     and promptitude in suppressing it--Court-martial--Earl St.
+     Vincent's opinion of his conduct--His conduct at the execution--His
+     decision on the court-martial on a mutineer--Illustrative
+     anecdote--He commands an expedition to Quiberon--Proposes to attack
+     Belleisle--Cruises off Port Louis--Mr. Coghlan cuts out _La
+     Cerbère_--He directs the landing of the army at Ferrol.    page 108
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BLOCKADE OF FERROL.--PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.
+
+     Peace--Made Colonel of Marines--His popularity--Envy in
+     consequence--Anecdote--Elected M.P. for Barnstaple--State of
+     parties--Renewal of hostilities--Appointed to the _Tonnant_,
+     80--Pursues a Dutch squadron--Blockades a French squadron in
+     Ferrol--His seamanship and exertions in maintaining the
+     blockade--Difficulty of supplying the ships--His recall--Earl St.
+     Vincent's naval reforms--Mr. Pitt's opposition--Naval inquiry,
+     March 15, 1804--Sir Edward's speech--Its effect--Promoted to be a
+     Rear-Admiral, and appointed to be Commander-in-chief in India.
+                                                                page 134
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.
+
+     Character required for a Commander-in-chief--Hostility of the new
+     Ministry--Sir T. Troubridge sent to take the more valuable part of
+     the command--Oversight of the Admiralty--Dispute between the two
+     admirals--Sir Edward confirmed in his command--Melancholy fate of
+     the _Blenheim_, Sir T. Troubridge--Sir Edward sends Captain
+     Troubridge in search of his father--Actions in the Indian
+     Seas--_San Fiorenzo_ and _Psyché_--_Piedmontaise_ and _Warren
+     Hastings_--Ferocity of the French first lieutenant, and Sir
+     Edward's general order in consequence--_San Fiorenzo_ and
+     _Piedmontaise_--French privateers--Murderous contest between the
+     _Victor_ and Malay pirates--Attack on Batavia Roads, and
+     destruction of the shipping--Captain Fleetwood Pellew at
+     Samarang--Attack on Griessée, and destruction of the line-of battle
+     ships--Sir Edward's protection of commerce--Convoy
+     system--Resolutions of the Bombay merchants--His care of the
+     fleet--Establishes a naval hospital at Madras--Punishment: Sir
+     Edward's regulations--Encounters a hurricane on his homeward
+     voyage.                                                    page 148
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMANDS.
+
+     Declines an offer to be second in command in the
+     Mediterranean--Commander-in-chief in the North Sea; his activity
+     and energy--Receives the Mediterranean command--Affair off
+     Toulon--His expectations of a battle--Disposition of his
+     force--System of the fleet--His attention to discipline; to
+     economy--Frigate affairs off Toulon--Care of his officers--Nature
+     of the service in the Mediterranean--Daring of the crews--Effect of
+     their successes--Diplomatic responsibility--Sir Edward's anxiety
+     for a battle--Anecdote of Napoleon--Affair of November 5th,
+     1813--of February 13th, 1814--Capture of Genoa--Peace.     page 170
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
+
+     Sir Edward created Baron Exmouth--His letter on the occasion--Made
+     Knight of the Bath--Renewal of hostilities--Resumes the command in
+     the Mediterranean--Services at Naples--Services at
+     Marseilles--Instructed to negotiate with the Barbary
+     Powers--Anecdote of the Pope--Causes the city and defences of
+     Algiers to be surveyed--Previous ignorance of the place--General
+     order to the fleet--Peace made with Algiers--Abolition of slavery
+     at Tunis and Tripoli--Second visit to Algiers--Violent discussions,
+     negotiation broken off, danger of the party, hostile
+     proceedings--Negotiation renewed--Arrangement--Lord Exmouth's
+     anxiety at having exceeded his instructions--Debate in the House of
+     Commons--Massacre at Bona--Determination of the Government to
+     enforce the abolition of Christian slavery.                page 187
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
+
+     Description of the defences--Force demanded by Lord
+     Exmouth--Surprise of the Admiralty at the small force he
+     required--Lord Exmouth's confidence--His entire satisfaction with
+     the arrangements of the Admiralty--He refuses to allow his
+     relations to accompany him--His promptitude--Sails--Preparations
+     for the battle--A Dutch squadron joins at Gibraltar--Preparations
+     made by the Algerines--Particulars of the battle--Fleet hauls
+     off--Lord Exmouth's conduct after the battle--His very narrow
+     escapes--Submission of the enemy--Lord Exmouth's account of the
+     battle, in a private letter--Closing remarks.              page 200
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.
+
+     Honours paid him--His exertions for his officers--Thanks of
+     Parliament--Activity of his mind--Command at Plymouth--Trial of the
+     Queen--His unpopularity, and remarks on it--His independence in
+     politics--Catholic question--His religious principles and
+     conduct--Peace of his declining years--Anxiety for the safety of
+     the country--Death of his daughter--Death of his grandchild; his
+     reflection on the occasion--Made Vice-Admiral of England--Death of
+     Sir Israel Pellew--Lord Exmouth's attachment to the Church, and
+     confidence in God's protection of it--His last illness and death.
+                                                                page 221
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE
+
+OF
+
+ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FAMILY HISTORY.
+
+
+The life and services of Lord Exmouth are of no common interest; not
+more because he has advanced the reputation of his country, and
+connected his name with her history, than that he began his career an
+almost unfriended orphan, and rose to the highest honours of his
+profession without having been indebted to fortune or to patronage. One
+of the most interesting spectacles is that of rising merit struggling
+from its difficulties. The most encouraging, is the honour which rewards
+its exertions. The young officer, who, like him, has devoted himself to
+an arduous service, with nothing to rely on but his sword, may derive
+instruction from his example, and encouragement from his success.
+
+Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, descended from a family which was
+settled in the west of Cornwall for many centuries, but came originally
+from Normandy, where the name is still met with. After the close of the
+war he received a letter from a family there, claiming kindred, and
+offering the name and armorial bearings in proof. The original
+orthography, "Pelleu," was retained until a comparatively recent period.
+They are said to have landed at Pengersick Castle, near St. Michael's
+Mount, and appear to have remained in that part of the county until the
+beginning of the 17th century. They had a family tomb in Breage, a
+parish on the eastern side of the Mount's Bay, in which they had
+acquired property, and they still possess a small estate in that
+neighbourhood. Part of this early history, it will be seen, can rest
+only upon tradition; and indeed, it is of very little importance. The
+weakness of seeking credit from remote ancestors, for one whose personal
+honours require no further illustration, may well be exploded. But there
+is one kind of ancestry where an inquiry will always be
+interesting--that where the traits which distinguished the founder of a
+family may be traced in the character of his forefathers.
+
+The earliest of the family of whom anything is certainly known lived
+during the great rebellion at Plymouth, where his loyalty made him so
+obnoxious to the republicans, that the mob on one occasion assaulted him
+on the Hoe, and plundered his house. A small piece of antique plate,
+still preserved, and bearing the date 1645, was the only article of
+value saved from them. His son, Captain Pellew, Lord Exmouth's
+great-grandfather, served in the navy during the war of the succession.
+A very fine portrait of him remains.
+
+Humphry Pellew, the grandfather, was an extensive merchant. He held a
+large property in shipping, and traded chiefly to America, where he had
+purchased a valuable tobacco plantation of 2,000 acres, in Kent Island,
+Maryland. Of this estate, upon which the town of Annapolis Royal is
+partly built, the writings remain, but the property was lost at the
+revolt of the colonies. No portion of the compensation fund voted by
+Parliament was in this instance ever received; and General Washington
+afterwards declared to a friend of the family, that the fact of three
+of the brothers having borne arms against the States would prevent the
+success of any application to the American Government.
+
+Mr. Pellew built part of Flushing, a large village on the shores of
+Falmouth harbour, including the present manor-house, in which he
+resided; but this, being leasehold property, has long ago reverted to
+the lord. In 1692, he married Judith Sparnon, of Sparnon and Pengelly,
+in Breage, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. Mr. Pellew
+maintained a high character through life, and his memory was long
+preserved among the older inhabitants of the village. He died in 1721.
+His son Israel married Miss Trefusis, upon whom the estate of Trefusis,
+which includes Flushing, was entailed, in default of more direct heirs
+from the then possessor; Thomas married Miss Whittaker, who was
+grand-daughter of Viscount Fauconberg by a daughter of Cromwell; three
+died unmarried; and the children of the youngest son were at length the
+only male survivors of the family.
+
+Samuel, youngest son of Humphry Pellew, commanded a Post-office packet
+on the Dover station, to which he had been appointed through the
+interest of the Spencer family. He was a man of great determination, and
+became in consequence the subject of a characteristic song, which was
+long remembered by the watermen and others at Calais. The recollections
+of his family, and documents which have been preserved, show him to have
+been most exemplary in the duties of private life. In 1652, he married
+Constance Langford, daughter of Edward Langford, Esq., a gentleman
+descended from a considerable family in Wiltshire. The co-heiress of
+Edward Langford, Esq., of Trowbridge; married Henry Hyde, of Hinton,
+father of the great Earl of Clarendon, and by the marriage of her
+grand-daughter with James II. became the ancestor of Queen Mary and
+Queen Anne. Thus connected by blood, as well as attached by principle to
+the exiled family, Mr. Langford joined the standard of the Pretender in
+1715, and distinguished himself at the battle of Preston. After the
+Rebellion was suppressed, he escaped to the west of Cornwall, and
+settled at Penzance. The Pretender took an opportunity to acknowledge
+his services by a present of costly china. His daughter, Mrs. Pellew,
+was a woman of extraordinary spirit. Mr. Pellew's political feelings
+differed widely from those of his father-in-law. It was his practice to
+make his children drink the king's health on their knees every Sunday.
+He died in 1765, leaving six children, four of them boys, of whom the
+eldest was at that time eleven years old, and Lord Exmouth, the second,
+only eight. Three years after, an imprudent marriage of the widow
+deprived the children of their remaining parent, and threw them upon the
+world with scanty resources, and almost without a friend.
+
+It has been well observed, that a general condition of distinguished
+eminence is to be required to force a way to it through difficulties.
+Desertion at an early age indeed subjects the individual to a most
+severe trial; but where there is strength to bear the discipline, it
+exalts the principle which it fails to subdue, and adds force to the
+energies which it cannot tame. The Pellews were probably indebted for
+much of their success, as well as for the fearless independence which
+distinguished them, to the circumstances which thus compelled them from
+childhood to rely only upon themselves.
+
+Samuel Humphry, the eldest brother, was intended for the navy, and was
+borne on the books of H.M.S. _Seaford_, Captain Macbride. But afterwards
+devoting himself to medicine, he became one of the earliest pupils of
+John Hunter, with Home, Pitcairn, and Baillie, for his class-fellows.
+After serving for some time as a surgeon of marines, and assistant
+surgeon to the Dockyard at Plymouth, he relinquished a partnership with
+Dr. Geach, of the Royal Hospital, and settled at Truro, where he
+obtained a considerable and lucrative practice. He finally became
+collector of the customs at Falmouth. Gifted with a clear and active
+mind, he did not confine himself to the routine of his official duties,
+and his suggestions on several important subjects were adopted by the
+Government. The Quarantine Law of 1800 was first proposed by him, and
+framed chiefly on his suggestions; as well as a tonnage duty by which
+the charges of the quarantine establishment were covered. The convoy
+duty was also imposed on his recommendation; and he first proposed the
+plan of warehousing goods in bond, and was much consulted during the
+perfecting of the measure, by which so great facilities have been
+afforded to the trade of the country--to the merchant, relief from the
+necessity of locking up large amounts of capital; to the consumer,
+cheapness, and a security against adulteration. Mr. Pellew served at his
+post till he was fourscore years old, and for years beyond that, he
+retained the freshness of feeling and enthusiasm of youth. He died in
+his 90th year.
+
+Israel, the third brother, born August 25th, 1758, was sent to sea at an
+early age. He served with distinction in the American war, and was one
+of the officers entrusted with the defence of posts, when the Comte
+d'Estaign appeared off New York. Promoted to be a lieutenant, he cut out
+a vessel so well protected by batteries, that his brother officers
+thought it a service too desperate to be attempted. In command of the
+armed cutter _Resolution_, he engaged and captured in the North Sea, the
+Dutch privateer _Flushinger_, of fourteen guns, which had proved so
+destructive a cruizer, that the merchants of Hull memorialized the
+Admiralty in his favour; and Keppell, the First Lord, continued him for
+three years in command of the cutter, notwithstanding the signature of
+peace the day before the action, expressly to reward his gallantry and
+success. He was made a commander in 1790. He was passenger in his
+brother's frigate the _Nymphe_, when she gave the first earnest of the
+naval successes of the war, by the capture of the _Cleopatra_; and he
+contributed much to the brilliant result of the action, by taking
+charge of the after quarter-deck gun, with which he disabled the enemy's
+wheel. For this service he was at once promoted and appointed to a ship,
+and he continued to be so actively employed, that he never once saw his
+family, till after the peace. In September, 1796, his ship, the
+_Amphion_, 32-gun frigate, blew up while alongside the hulk in Hamoaze,
+and nearly all on board, about 300, perished. Captain Pellew was at the
+moment at dinner in his cabin, with Captain Swafneld, of the
+_Overyssel_, 64, and the first lieutenant. At the shock of the
+explosion, which took place in the fore magazine, Captain Pellew, and
+the lieutenant sprang into the quarter gallery, and were thrown into the
+water and saved; Captain Swaffield perished.
+
+Soon after the renewal of hostilities, he was appointed by Earl St.
+Vincent to the _Conqueror_, one of the largest and most powerful
+seventy-four's in the Navy. She carried twenty-four pounders on her
+upper deck, there being only fourteen ships, out of 100 of the same
+nominal force, which were so heavily armed. In her he shared with Nelson
+the chase of the combined fleet to the West Indies and back, and took a
+very distinguished part in the battle of Trafalgar. Following, abreast
+of the _Leviathan_, the three leading ships of Nelson's column, she
+engaged, captured, and took possession of the _Bucentaure_, flagship of
+the commander-in-chief of the enemy, Villeneuve; and she afterwards
+assisted in the capture of the _Santissima Trinidada_, and _Intrepide_.
+In 1807, still in command of the _Conqueror_, Captain Pellew joined in
+saving the fleet and royal family of Portugal, when the French, under
+Junot, entered Lisbon; and afterwards in blockading a Russian squadron
+of nine sail of the line in the Tagus, till the victory of Vimiera
+placed them in the hands of the British.
+
+He became rear-admiral in July 1810, and on his brother being appointed
+commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in the following May, he sailed
+with him as captain of the fleet, to the close of the war. On the
+return of Napoleon from Elba, he rejoined his brother in the same
+capacity, having, on the extension of the Order of the Bath, been
+appointed a knight-commander. His last service was to take a chief part
+in the negotiations with the Barbary Powers, for the abandonment of
+Christian slavery, in 1816. Lord Exmouth would not allow him, or any of
+his family, to accompany him to the attack on Algiers, in the autumn of
+that year. He died at Plymouth, June 19th, 1832, only seven months
+before his brother Lord Exmouth.
+
+John, the youngest brother, entered the army. While still a youth, he
+became aide-de-camp to General Phillips in Burgoyne's campaign, and was
+killed in the battle of Saratoga.
+
+Edward, the second son of Samuel and Constance Pellew, was born at
+Dover, April 19, 1757. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and
+as there appeared at first but little probability that he would live, he
+was baptized on the same day. Before he was quite eight years old, he
+lost his father. The widow then removed with her family to Penzance,
+where he was placed at school with the Rev. James Parkins, the clergyman
+of the parish. Here he gave a remarkable proof of a daring spirit. A
+house, in which was a considerable quantity of gunpowder, took fire; and
+while every one else was afraid to approach, he went alone into the
+burning house and brought out all the powder. He was afterwards sent to
+the grammar school at Truro, of which the Rev. Mr. Conon was head
+master, under whom he made a satisfactory progress, and before he left
+could readily construe Virgil. As it was then the general practice in
+schools to allow the boys to settle their own disputes, the fearlessness
+of his character, and a strength beyond his years, enabled him to
+maintain a very respectable position among his school-fellows. At
+length, having inflicted upon some opponent a more severe punishment
+than was usual in juvenile combats, the fact came under the cognizance
+of the master, and to escape a threatened flogging, he ran away He told
+his elder brother, who had now to act as head of the family, that he
+would not return to school to be flogged for fighting, but would go to
+sea directly. Happily, his inclinations were indulged, though his
+grandfather, who wished him to be placed in a merchant's office,
+strongly opposed the step. "So, sir," said the old gentleman, when the
+boy came with his brothers to take a farewell dinner with him, "they are
+going to send you to sea. Do you know that you may be answerable for
+every enemy you kill? and, if I can read your character, you will kill a
+great many!" "Well, grandpapa," replied young Pellew, "and if I do not
+kill them, they'll kill me!"
+
+He entered the navy towards the end of 1770, in the _Juno_, Captain
+Stott, which was sent to the Falkland Islands, in consequence of the
+forcible seizure of them by the Spanish squadron. It is remarkable that
+this paltry dispute, which might be almost forgotten but for the
+virulent invective of "Junius," and the masterly defence of the
+Government by Dr. Johnson, should have given to the navy two such
+officers as Nelson and Pellew; neither of whom might otherwise have
+found an opportunity to join the service until they were too old, in the
+five years of peace which followed. After the _Juno_ had been paid off,
+Captain Stott was appointed to the _Alarm_, in which Mr. Pellew followed
+him to the Mediterranean, where an unpleasant difference with his
+commander made him leave the ship. Captain Stott, who had been a
+boatswain with Boscawen, was an excellent seaman, but unfortunately
+retained some habits not suited to his present rank. He kept a mistress
+on board. Among the midshipmen was a boy named Frank Cole, who was three
+years younger than Mr. Pellew, but had entered on board the _Juno_ at
+the same time. Mr. Pellew was warmly attached to him. The woman had some
+pet fowls, which were allowed to fly about; and one day, when the ship
+was at Marseilles, and the captain absent, one of them was driven off
+the quarter-deck by young Cole, which led to great abuse from the
+woman, and a sharp reply from the boy. When the captain returned, he
+became so much enraged by her representations, that he not only
+reprimanded the youngster severely for what he termed his insolence, but
+so far forgot himself as to give him a blow. This was not to be borne,
+and having consulted his friend Pellew, he applied for his discharge.
+Captain Stott ordered a boat immediately, for the purpose, as he said,
+of turning him on shore. Pellew instantly went to the captain, and said,
+"If Frank Cole is to be turned out of the ship, I hope, sir, you will
+turn me out too." Their spirited conduct attracted the notice of the two
+lieutenants, Keppel and Lord Hugh Seymour, and laid the foundation of a
+friendship which continued through life: and Lord Hugh Seymour, finding
+that the boys had no money, very kindly gave them an order on his agent
+at Marseilles. Captain Stott afterwards tried to induce them to return,
+but not succeeding, he gave them the highest testimonials of their
+ability and desert, saying that he believed that they would become an
+honour to the service. Mr. Pellew found a master of a merchant vessel on
+shore, who had known his family at Dover, and now offered to take him to
+Lisbon, but declined to accommodate a second passenger. Mr. Pellew
+pleaded so earnestly for his young friend, and so positively refused to
+leave him, that the other at length consented to give them both a
+passage. From Lisbon they reached Falmouth in one of the packets. Little
+could he then suppose that he was next to see Marseilles as a
+commander-in-chief, and one day to save it from destruction. Twelve
+years after, when he had become a post captain, and was in command of
+the _Winchelsea_, he took under his protection a son of Captain Stott,
+who was then dead, and did every thing in his power to promote the young
+man's interests.
+
+It was now his happiness to sail in the _Blonde_, with Captain Pownoll,
+an officer who had been trained and brought forward by Admiral
+Boscawen, and whose character was among the highest in the service.
+Captain Pownoll soon appreciated the merit and promise of his
+midshipman, who returned his kindness with almost the affection of a
+son. Such mutual confidence and attachment between a captain and his
+midshipman has very rarely been met with; and it was peculiarly
+fortunate for Mr. Pellew, that his quick and determined character,
+which, with a judgment not yet matured by experience, might have carried
+him into mistakes, found a guide so kind and judicious as Captain
+Pownoll.
+
+And here it will not be uninteresting to observe how far the influence
+of a great commander may extend. St. Vincent and Pownoll, who were
+brought up under Boscawen, and received their lieutenant's commissions
+from him, contributed materially to form a Nelson and an Exmouth; each
+the founder of a school of officers, whose model is the character of
+their chief, and their example his successes.
+
+Active beyond his companions, and devoted to his profession, he soon
+became a thorough seaman; while the buoyancy of youth, and his playful,
+fearless spirit, prompted him continually to feats of extraordinary
+daring. In the spring of 1775, General Burgoyne took his passage to
+America in the _Blonde_, and when he came alongside, the yards were
+manned to receive him. Looking up, he was surprised and alarmed to see a
+midshipman on the yard-arm standing on his head. Captain Pownoll, who
+was at his side, soon quieted his apprehensions, by assuring him that it
+was only one of the frolics of young Pellew, and that the General might
+make himself quite at ease for his safety, for if he should fall, he
+would only go under the ship's bottom, and come up on the other side.
+What on this occasion was probably spoken but in jest, was afterwards
+more than realized; for he actually sprang from the fore-yard of the
+_Blonde_, while she was going fast through the water, and saved a man
+who had fallen overboard. Captain Pownoll reproached him for his
+rashness, but he shed tears when he spoke of it to the officers, and
+declared that Pellew was a noble fellow.
+
+The revolt of the American colonies, which rose in this year to the
+importance of a national war, was soon to furnish him with objects
+worthy of his skill and courage. On the 10th of May the Americans
+surprised Ticonderoga, and, having secured the command of Lake Champlain
+by a strong squadron, were enabled to prosecute offensive operations
+against Canada. Sir Guy Carleton, the governor and commander-in-chief of
+that province, had very inadequate means to defend it. The enemy took
+Montreal, and in the beginning of December laid siege to Quebec,
+expecting an easy conquest; but their commander, General Montgomery, who
+had summoned Sir Guy Carleton in the most arrogant and threatening
+style, was killed on the 31st, in attempting to storm the place, and his
+troops were repulsed. The siege, however, was continued by Arnold, till
+Commodore Sir Charles Douglas, in the _Isis_, with two other ships under
+his Orders, forced his way through the ice, much before the season at
+which the river is usually open. His appearance drove the besiegers to a
+hasty flight, in which they suffered such extreme privations, especially
+their sick and wounded, that General Carleton most humanely issued a
+proclamation, in which he ordered them to be treated as fellow-creatures
+in distress; and encouraged them to claim the offered hospitality, by
+assuring them that they should be unconditionally liberated as soon as
+they were able to return home. At the same time, with energy equal to
+his humanity, he hastened to complete the deliverance of the province.
+Additional reinforcements which reached him in the spring enabled him to
+give the enemy a final defeat at Trois Rivières in June, and then to
+take measures for wresting from them the command of Lake Champlain; an
+object essential to the security of Canada, as well as to prosecuting
+offensive operations against the New England States.
+
+Lake Champlain is a long narrow lake to the N.E. of Ontario,
+communicating with the St. Lawrence a few miles below Montreal by the
+river Chamblee, or Sorel. It is nowhere more than eighteen miles across,
+and its average breadth does not exceed five. Below Crown Point it is a
+mere channel for ten or twelve miles to its southern extremity at
+Ticonderoga. Here it receives the waters from a small lake to the
+southward, Lake George, but the communication, as well as that with the
+St. Lawrence, is interrupted by shoals and rapids. From Lake George to
+the Hudson is only six or eight miles, the sole interruption to a water
+frontier from the St. Lawrence to New York, navigable for vessels of
+burden for four-fifths of its length, and for bateaux nearly all the
+way. The command of this line would enable the northern and southern
+armies to co-operate effectually; to press on the New England States
+along their whole border; to cut off all communication between them and
+the rest of the Union, and to prevent any hostile attempt on Canada.
+
+Measures were promptly taken to secure this important object.
+Detachments from the King's ships at Quebec, with volunteers from the
+transports, and a corps of artillery, in all, nearly 700 men, were sent
+across to the Lake, there to construct, with timber felled by
+themselves, and in the presence of a superior enemy, the vessels in
+which they were to meet him. A party joined from the _Blonde_, under
+Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown, one of the midshipmen. Mr. Pellew was
+to have remained with the ship; but he appeared so much disappointed at
+the arrangement, that Captain Pownoll allowed him also to go.
+
+The season was already so far advanced, that it would have been a
+creditable service only to complete the preparations for the next
+campaign; but the zeal and exertions of the officers and men surpassed
+all calculation. They got across to the Lake thirty long-boats, many
+large flat-bottomed boats, a vast number of bateaux, and a gondola of
+thirty tons, carrying them over land, or dragging them up the rapids.
+The keel and floor-timbers of the _Inflexible_, a ship of three hundred
+tons, which had been laid at Quebec, were taken to pieces, and carried
+over to St. John's, on the Lake, where a dockyard was established, under
+the superintendence of Lieutenant Schanck, an officer of extraordinary
+mechanical ingenuity. Here, on the morning of the 2nd September, the
+_Inflexible_ was again laid down, and by sunset, all her former parts
+were put together, and a considerable quantity of additional timbers
+prepared. The progress of the work was like magic. Trees growing in the
+forest in the morning, would form part of the ship before night. She was
+launched in twenty-eight days from laying her keel, and sailed next
+evening, armed with eighteen twelve-pounders, and fully equipped for
+service. Two schooners, the _Maria_, and the _Carleton_; the _Loyal
+Convert_, gondola; the _Thunder_, a kind of flat-bottomed raft, carrying
+twelve heavy guns and two howitzers; and twenty-four boats, armed each
+with a field piece, or carriage-gun, formed, with the _Inflexible_, a
+force equal to the service, where but a few days before, the British had
+scarcely a boat upon the waters. No time was now lost in seeking the
+enemy, and Sir Guy Carleton himself embarked with the squadron. Captain
+Pringle, as commodore, sailed with Lieutenant Schanck in the
+_Inflexible_. Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown and Mr. Pellew, were
+appointed to the _Carleton_.
+
+On the 11th of October, the enemy was discovered drawn up in a strong
+line across the passage between Valicour, one of the numerous islands on
+the lake, and the Western land; and so well concealed by the island,
+that the squadron had nearly passed without observing them. They had
+fifteen vessels, carrying ninety-six guns, fourteen of which were
+eighteen-pounders, (eight of them traversing), and twenty-three twelves.
+General Arnold commanded. The _Carleton_, being nearest to the enemy,
+attacked at once, though her force was only twelve six-pounders.
+Unfortunately, from the state of the wind, no other vessel could come to
+her assistance, and she was obliged to engage the whole force of the
+enemy single-handed. Sir Guy Carleton saw her desperate position with
+extreme anxiety, but it was impossible to bring up the squadron, and he
+could only send in the artillery-boats to support her. Meantime she was
+suffering most severely. Very early in the action, Mr. Brown lost an
+arm; and soon after, Lieutenant Dacres fell, severely wounded and
+senseless. He would have been thrown overboard as dead, but for the
+interference of Mr. Pellew, who now succeeded to the command. He
+maintained the unequal contest, till Captain Pringle, baffled in all his
+efforts to bring up the squadron, made the signal of recall, which the
+_Carleton_, with two feet water in her hold, and half her crew killed
+and wounded, was not in a condition to obey. In attempting to go about,
+being at the time near the shore, which was covered with the enemy's
+marksmen, she hung in stays, and Mr. Pellew, not regarding the danger of
+making himself so conspicuous, sprang out on the bowsprit to push the
+jib over. The artillery-boats now towed her out of action, under a very
+heavy fire from the enemy, who were enabled to bear their guns upon her
+with more effect, as she increased her distance. A shot cut the towrope,
+and Mr. Pellew ordered some one to go and secure it; but seeing all
+hesitate, for indeed it appeared a death-service, he ran forward and did
+it himself. The result of the action was far beyond anything that could
+have been expected from the excessive disparity of the force engaged;
+for the _Carleton_, with the assistance of the artillery-boats, had sunk
+the _Boston_ gondola, carrying an eighteen pounder and two twelves; and
+burnt the _Royal Savage_, of twelve guns, the largest of the enemy's
+schooners.
+
+Arnold escaped in the night. The squadron pursued, and on the morning of
+the 13th overtook him, within a few leagues of Crown Point. After a
+running fight of two hours the four headmost vessels of the enemy
+succeeded in reaching Crown Point, and sheltering themselves in the
+narrow part of the lake beyond it. Two others, the _Washington_ and
+_Jersey_, were taken; and the rest were run on shore and burnt by their
+own crews. The enemy then set fire to their works on Crown Point, and
+abandoned it.
+
+The _Carleton's_ action on the 11th, which certainly was never surpassed
+for gallantry and conduct, obtained for her crew the credit they so well
+deserved. Lieutenant Dacres, who recovered sufficiently to go home with
+the despatches, received promotion as soon as he arrived in England, and
+was honoured with a personal interview with the king. He rose to be a
+vice-admiral. How Mr. Pellew's services in this, his first action, were
+appreciated by his superior officers is best told in their own words. In
+a few days, Sir Charles Douglas, the senior officer at Quebec, to whose
+command all the Lake service was subordinate, sent him the following
+letter:--
+
+
+                                    "Isis, Quebec, Oct. 30th, 1776.
+
+     "SIR,--The account I have received of your behaviour on board the
+     _Carleton_, in the different actions on the Lakes, gives me the
+     warmest satisfaction, and I shall not fail to represent it in the
+     strongest terms to the Earl of Sandwich and my Lord Howe, and
+     recommend you as deserving a commission for your gallantry; and as
+     Lieutenant Dacres, your late commander, will no doubt obtain rank
+     for his conduct, when he reaches England, I am desired by General
+     Sir Guy Carleton to give you the command of the schooner in which
+     you have so bravely done your duty.
+
+                                                 "CHARLES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+The report of Sir Charles Douglas, obtained for Mr. Pellew the following
+letter from the Commander-in-Chief:--
+
+
+                                 "Eagle, New York, Dec. 20th, 1776.
+
+     "SIR,--The account I have heard of your gallant behaviour from
+     Captain Charles Douglas, of H.M.S. _Isis_, in the different actions
+     on Lake Champlain, gives me much satisfaction, and I shall receive
+     pleasure in giving you a lieutenant's commission, whenever you may
+     reach New York.
+
+                                                            "HOWE."
+
+
+It is, perhaps, a singular occurrence for a midshipman to be honoured
+with a letter of thanks from the First Lord of the Admiralty, but the
+service itself was important, and Captain Pownoll strengthened Sir
+Charles Douglas' report of his young officer's conduct, by a
+communication of his own. Their joint eulogy obtained for Mr. Pellew the
+following letter from Lord Sandwich:--
+
+
+                         "Admiralty Office, London, Jan. 5th, 1777.
+
+     "SIR,--You have been spoken of to me by Sir Charles Douglas and
+     Captain Philemon Pownoll, for your good conduct in the various
+     services upon Lake Champlain, in so handsome a manner, that I shall
+     receive pleasure in promoting you to the rank of a lieutenant,
+     whenever you come to England; but it is impossible to send you a
+     commission where you now are, it being out of the jurisdiction of
+     the Admiralty.
+
+                                                        "SANDWICH."
+
+
+Sir Guy Carleton remained at Crown Point as long as the season would
+permit. He employed Mr. Pellew on the narrow inlet, which extends from
+Crown Point to Ticonderoga, along which his proposed operations were to
+be conducted; and Mr. Pellew attended to his charge with unceasing
+vigilance and activity. On one occasion, the American Commander-in
+Chief, Arnold, most narrowly escaped becoming his prisoner. Having
+ventured upon the Lake in a boat, he was observed, and chased so closely
+by Mr. Pellew, that when he reached the shore and ran off, he left his
+stock and buckle in the boat behind him. This was preserved as long as
+he lived by Mr. Pellew's elder brother, to whom Arnold's son, not many
+years ago, confirmed the particulars of his father's escape. The
+General, seeing that his men were panic-struck when they found
+themselves chased, encouraged them to exertion by the assurance that the
+pursuers were not enemies, but only a boat endeavouring to outrow them.
+Pulling off his stock, and seizing an oar, he promised them a bottle of
+rum each, if they gained the shore first. Well had it been for Arnold;
+happy for the gallant young officer, who was the victim of his conduct;
+and perhaps, on so small a contingency may the fate of a campaign
+depend, happy for the British army, to whose misfortunes in the
+following year his skill and courage so materially contributed, had the
+fortune of the chase been different.
+
+Mr. Pellew had a scarcely less narrow escape. He was invited with a
+party of officers to spend an afternoon with some young ladies in the
+neighbourhood, and they were on the way to keep their engagement, when
+Mr. Pellew stopped, and said to his companions, "We are doing a very
+foolish thing: I shall turn back, and I advise you all to do the same."
+They hesitated, but at length returned with him; and afterwards learnt
+that their Delilahs had posted a party of soldiers to make them
+prisoners.
+
+At length Sir Guy Carleton, having satisfied himself that Ticonderoga
+was too strong to be attacked with his present force at that advanced
+season, re-embarked the troops, and returned to Canada. He there exerted
+himself through the winter, in making preparations for the ensuing
+campaign, and had almost completed them, when the command of the army
+was taken from him, and given to officers who had been serving under his
+orders. Though his success had surpassed the utmost hopes of his
+country, and his great local knowledge and experience claimed the
+confidence of the British Government, he was not even consulted on the
+expedition they had planned, and of which the very details were so far
+settled in the cabinet, that little was left to the unfortunate General
+who was to conduct it. He felt like an officer on the occasion, and
+resigned the government of Canada; but he acted like an Englishman, and
+though he disapproved materially of some parts of the plan, he omitted
+no exertion which might contribute to its success.
+
+The army devoted to an expedition thus inauspiciously commenced, was
+composed of 7,000 regular troops, of whom 3,200 were Germans; a corps of
+Artillery, 2,000 Canadians, and 1,000 savages. Sir Guy Carleton knew too
+well the ferocious and uncertain character of the Indians to trust them;
+but the government at home entertained a very different opinion; and it
+was, perhaps, the chief motive for their conduct towards him, that he
+had only amused and kept them quiet, instead of calling them into active
+service. Lieutenant-General Burgoyne was selected for the command,
+assisted by Major-Generals Phillips and Reidesel, and Brigadiers Frazer,
+Powell, Hamilton, and Specht.
+
+Mr. Pellew was attached to the army, with the command of a party of
+seamen, and during its advance, was again actively employed on the Lake.
+While on this service, he narrowly escaped a calamity, which would have
+clouded all his future life. His youngest brother had come out from
+England to join the army; and being appointed Aide-de-Camp to General
+Phillips, though only seventeen years of age, he was sent down the Lake
+in charge of the General's baggage. He was told that he had nothing to
+fear from the enemy, but that he would probably meet his brother; and,
+with the unthinking sportiveness of youth, as he knew that he was not
+expected, he determined to surprise him. Accordingly, he fell in with
+him in the night, and when hailed, answered, "A friend!" "What friend?"
+exclaimed his brother; "tell who you are, or I'll shoot you." "What! do
+not you know me?" "No!" said the other, presenting a pistol. "Your
+brother John!"
+
+On the 21st of June, the army being encamped on the western side of the
+Lake, and a little to the north of Crown Point, General Burgoyne made a
+war-feast for the savages, and addressed them in a speech which enforced
+every motive calculated to restrain their ferocity. But, unfortunately,
+he hoped to terrify the inhabitants to submission by threatening them
+with all the horrors of Indian warfare; and a proclamation which he
+published to this effect, was remembered to his serious prejudice. After
+a short stay at Crown Point, the troops advanced along both sides of the
+Lake, accompanied by the squadron under Lieutenant Schanck; and on the
+2nd of July, arrived before Ticonderoga, then garrisoned by General St.
+Clair, with nearly 5,000 men. Ticonderoga possessed great natural
+advantages. It was protected on three sides by the water, with very
+rocky shores; and on the fourth, partly by a morass, and where that
+failed, by a strong breast-work. It was, indeed, commanded by a
+neighbouring height, Sugar Hill, which the Americans had neglected to
+secure, presuming upon its almost inaccessible character. Opposite
+Ticonderoga, they had fortified a high conical hill, Mount Independence,
+and connected it with the fort by a very strong bridge, which was itself
+protected by a massy boom. The Americans had been employed for ten
+months, in giving to these works the utmost possible strength and
+solidity.
+
+On the 5th, the British had nearly completed their preparations, and
+General Phillips had carried a road almost to the top of Sugar Hill,
+when General St. Clair determined to evacuate the fort. That night he
+sent away his stores and baggage in more than two hundred bateaux, under
+convoy of five armed gallies, to Skenesborough, a town about eight miles
+distant, at the head of a small inlet, South Bay, which branches off
+from the Lake at Ticonderoga. The troops marched to the same place,
+leaving more than a hundred guns behind.
+
+Daylight showed the flight of the enemy. Reidesel and Frazer immediately
+followed in pursuit, while Burgoyne embarked the rest of the army on
+board the squadron. The boom and bridge, which had cost so many months
+of labour to complete, were presently cut through by the sailors and
+artificers. The squadron were enabled to pass at nine o'clock, and at
+three came up with the enemy near Skenesborough Falls. After a short
+resistance, two of the gallies surrendered, and the enemy set fire to
+the others, and to all their bateaux and stores.
+
+Early next morning, Reidesel and Frazer overtook a strong body of the
+enemy, and defeated them, with the loss of their Commander, and nearly
+1,000 men killed, wounded, and taken. Another division was encountered
+and routed by Colonel Hill. The fugitives escaped to Fort Edward, on the
+Hudson.
+
+General Burgoyne might now have returned to Ticonderoga, and thence
+crossed to the head of Lake George, from which there was a waggon-road
+to Fort Edward, only eighteen miles distant. But fearing that a
+retrograde movement might check the enthusiasm of the army, now elated
+with their rapid career of victory, underrating the difficulties of the
+country, and too much despising an enemy who had been so easily
+dispersed, he determined to ascend Wood Creek as far as Fort Anne,
+whence the direct distance to the Hudson is shorter. He waited,
+therefore, a few days near Skenesborough for his tents, baggage, and
+provisions; employing himself, in the mean time, in clearing the
+navigation of Wood Creek, while his people at Ticonderoga were
+transporting the stores and artillery over the portages to Lake George.
+
+The enemy offered little resistance in the advance to Fort Edward, but
+the difficulties of the country were almost insurmountable. So broken
+was it by creeks and morasses, that it became necessary to construct
+more than forty bridges and causeways, one of them over a morass two
+miles long. The enemy had created every possible obstruction by felling
+trees across the paths, and destroying the communications. Scarcely
+could the army advance a mile in a day, and it was the end of July
+before it arrived on the Hudson.
+
+On the approach of the British, the enemy quitted Fort Edward, and
+retreated to Saratoga. All kinds of provisions and stores had already
+reached Fort George; but the means of transport were lamentably
+deficient, and the impossibility of bringing up supplies compelled the
+army to a fatal inaction. On the 15th of August, after a fortnight's
+incessant exertion, there were only four days' provisions in store.
+
+Meantime, the enemy was daily becoming stronger. The conduct of the
+savages had roused the whole country; and the British bore the odium of
+excesses which the General could not prevent, and dared not punish. The
+loyalists could not remain near the army, for they were almost equally
+exposed to the cruelties of the savages, who spared neither age nor sex.
+Others, who would have gladly staid at home, found that their only
+safety was to take arms, and join the camp. Thus the British were left
+without a friend in the country, while the American commanders, who took
+every advantage of these atrocities, were soon at the head of an army
+more numerous and formidable than that which had been dispersed.
+
+General Arnold was sent to command the force at Saratoga. He drew it
+back to Stillwater, a township about twelve miles down the Hudson, that
+he might check Colonel St. Leger, who, with 700 or 800 men, was
+besieging Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk, and had given a severe defeat to
+a party sent to relieve it. General Burgoyne, desiring to effect a
+junction with St. Leger, moved down the east bank of the Hudson to
+Saratoga, where he threw a bridge of rafts over the river, and crossed
+an advanced corps. Being almost destitute of supplies, and too weak to
+maintain his communications with Fort George, he detached a force to
+surprise the enemy's magazines at Bennington; but on the 15th of August
+it was overpowered and defeated, with considerable loss. A week after,
+St. Leger was obliged to retire from before Fort Stanwix. General Gates,
+who was now the enemy's Commander-in-chief, detached Arnold against him
+with 2,000 men, and the savages, hearing of his approach, threatened to
+desert St. Leger if he remained, and even murdered the British
+stragglers on the retreat.
+
+Provisions for thirty days were at length collected; but nearly three
+months had been consumed in forcing a way through almost impassable
+woods and morasses in the worst of weather, and in vexatious inaction
+from deficiency of means to advance; service far more destructive than
+severe fighting. A heavy swell caused by the rains had carried away the
+bridge, but Mr. Pellew constructed another by which the army crossed to
+Saratoga. The General would afterwards rally him as the cause of their
+subsequent misfortunes, by affording the means for their advance in the
+construction of this bridge. General Gates remained in the neighbourhood
+of Stillwater; and the army, advancing through a difficult country,
+found itself on the 19th of September very near the enemy. General
+Burgoyne marched at the head of the right wing, which was covered by the
+light infantry and grenadiers, under Frazer and Breyman, who moved along
+some high ground commanding its flank; while the left wing and
+artillery, under Phillips and Reidesel, kept along the road and meadows
+by the river side. While thus advancing, the enemy marched out of his
+camp, and attempted to turn the right wing, and take the British in
+flank. Foiled in this by the position of General Frazer, they
+countermarched under cover of the woods, and threw all their strength
+upon the left. Arnold led them on to repeated, and most determined
+attacks; nor were they finally repulsed till dusk, after four hours'
+severe fighting. Victory remained with the British; but the fact that
+the enemy could so long withstand regular troops in the open field, was
+decisive of the fate of the campaign.
+
+Next morning the army took a position almost within cannon shot of the
+enemy, fortifying the right wing, and covering the bateaux and hospital
+with the left. The position of the enemy was unassailable. The savages,
+whose atrocities had mainly contributed to create the present
+difficulties of the army, now deserted altogether; and great part of the
+provincials and Canadians followed their example.
+
+Hoping that he might be relieved by a diversion from New York, Burgoyne
+sent advices to Sir Harry Clinton, acquainting him with his present
+situation, and his intention to remain till the 12th of October.
+Meantime, he took every precaution to secure his camp. While his army
+was melting away by sickness, battle, and desertion, the enemy were
+daily becoming stronger. They had even been enabled to detach a force to
+the northward, which, on the 17th of September, surprised the posts on
+Lake George, and took an armed sloop, some gun-boats, and a great number
+of bateaux. They afterwards ventured to attack Ticonderoga and Mount
+Independence, and cannonaded them four days before they were repulsed.
+
+At the beginning of October it became necessary to reduce the allowance
+of provisions. This and every other hardship was submitted to without a
+murmur; and never did an army better maintain its character than did
+this gallant force in its hour of hopeless danger. On the 7th, as there
+had been no intelligence from New York, General Burgoyne, accompanied by
+Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer, made a movement to reconnoitre towards
+the enemy's left, with 1,500 men, and ten guns. They had advanced within
+three quarters of a mile of the enemy, when a sudden and determined
+attack was made upon their left, while a strong body moved to flank
+their right. The light infantry and part of the 24th regiment were
+quickly disposed to prevent the success of this latter movement, and
+cover a retreat; but the enemy, throwing an additional force upon the
+left, already hard pressed, it gave way, and the light infantry and 24th
+were obliged to hasten and support it. In this movement General Frazer
+fell. The troops retreated in good order, but with the loss of six
+guns.
+
+Scarcely had they regained the camp, when the enemy rushed to storm it;
+Arnold, as usual, distinguishing himself by the impetuous courage with
+which he led on his men. The battle was maintained where he fought with
+the utmost desperation, till he fell, severely wounded, and his
+followers were driven back. In another part, the enemy were more
+successful. Colonel Breyman was killed, and the entrenchments, defended
+by the German reserve which he commanded, were carried. Night ended the
+battle, and left to the army the melancholy task of summing up its loss,
+which included several officers of distinction. The brother of Mr Pellew
+was among the dead.
+
+But there is little grief for the slain when every one feels that he may
+lie with them to-morrow. That night the army moved to a new position,
+and next morning offered battle; but the enemy were securing their
+object by safer means. They pushed forward a strong body to turn the
+right of the British and surround them. To prevent this, the army
+retreated in the night through torrents of rain, to Saratoga. The sick
+and wounded were necessarily left behind.
+
+Next morning, a party was seen throwing up entrenchments on the heights
+beyond the army; but a demonstration being made against them, they
+crossed the river, and joined a force on the other side. A retreat to
+Fort George was attempted, and the artificers were sent forward to
+repair the bridges, and open the road; but the appearance of the enemy
+made it necessary to recall them. The opposite bank of the river was
+covered with parties of the enemy, and the bateaux could no longer be
+effectually protected. Some were taken; and among others, the vessel
+which contained the small remaining store of provisions. This loss would
+have deprived the army of its last hope; but Mr. Pellew, with his
+sailors, attacked and recaptured the vessel. To guard against such a
+calamity for the future, the provisions were landed. General Burgoyne
+acknowledged this service in the following letter:--
+
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--It was with infinite pleasure that General Phillips and
+     myself observed the gallantry and address with which you conducted
+     your attack upon the provision-vessel in the hands of the enemy.
+     The gallantry of your little party was deserving of the success
+     which attended it; and I send you my sincere thanks, together with
+     those of the army, for the important service you have rendered them
+     upon this occasion.
+
+                                                    "JOHN BURGOYNE.
+
+     "N.B.--The vessel contained 500 barrels of provisions, of which
+     article the army was in great want."
+
+
+A retreat to Fort Edward by a night march, the troops carrying their
+provisions on their backs, now offered the only hope of safety; but
+while preparations were being made for this, it was found that the enemy
+had effectually provided against it, by throwing up entrenchments
+opposite the fords, and securing the heights between Fort Edward and
+Fort George. Secrecy was impossible, for the parties of the enemy were
+everywhere so numerous, that not a movement could be concealed.
+
+Still hoping to be relieved from New York, the army, now reduced to
+3,500 effective men, of whom not 2,000 were British, lingered in their
+camp, where they lay always under arms, with the grape and rifle shot of
+the enemy falling continually around them. On the 13th they had only
+three days' provision remaining. A council of war was therefore held, to
+which General Burgoyne summoned all the principal officers. Mr. Pellew
+attended, as commander of the brigade of seamen; and a more decisive
+testimony to his merits and services could not be afforded, than the
+unprecedented compliment of calling a midshipman, only twenty years of
+age, to sit in council with generals.
+
+Mr. Pellew, as the youngest officer present, was required to offer his
+opinion the first. He pleaded earnestly that his own little party might
+not be included in the proposed capitulation, but permitted to make the
+best of their way back. He had never heard, he said, of sailors
+capitulating, and was confident he could bring them off. It is very
+possible that they might have escaped. Soldiers are accustomed to act
+only in orderly masses; but sailors combine with discipline the energy
+of individual enterprise. Mr. Pellew's party had acted as pioneers and
+artificers to the army during its advance; and their knowledge, and
+readiness at resources, would have given them great facilities in making
+their way through a hostile country. But their escape would have cast a
+very undeserved discredit upon the army, and the proposal was
+discountenanced. Burgoyne said, what sailors could do, soldiers might
+do; and if the attempt were sanctioned for the one, the others must
+throw away their knapsacks and take their firelocks. As Mr. Pellew still
+clung to his proposal, the General took him aside, and having
+represented the impossibility of drawing off the army, convinced him of
+the impropriety of permitting the attempt by a small part of it.
+
+The result of the council was a communication to General Gates, who,
+knowing the desperate condition of the British army, and his own
+irresistible superiority, must have been surprised at the gallant spirit
+manifested in its hopeless extremity. When he observed that the retreat
+of the British was cut off, he was told that the British could never
+admit that their retreat was cut off while they had arms in their hands;
+and to his proposal that the troops should pile arms within their camp,
+it was replied, that sooner than submit to such an indignity, they would
+rush on the enemy determined to take no quarter. Terms proposed by
+General Burgoyne were finally acquiesced in; and the American commander,
+as far as _he_ was concerned, faithfully observed and enforced them with
+the most considerate delicacy.
+
+Mr. Pellew, after having shared in the hospitality of General Gates, was
+sent to England by General Burgoyne with despatches, a distinction to
+which his services in the campaign were considered to have entitled him.
+At Quebec he met his former commander, Sir Guy Carleton, whose successor
+had not yet arrived, and who charged him with additional despatches, and
+the following letter to Lord Sandwich:--
+
+
+                                         "Quebec, November 2, 1777.
+
+     "MY LORD,--This will be presented to your lordship by Mr. Edward
+     Pellew, a young man to whose gallantry and merit during two severe
+     campaigns in this country, I cannot do justice. He is just now
+     returned to me from Saratoga, having shared the fate of that
+     unfortunate army, and is on his way to England. I beg leave to
+     recommend him to your lordship, as worthy of a commission in his
+     Majesty's service, for his good conduct.
+
+                                                    "GUY CARLETON."
+
+
+He came home in a transport, in which Major Foy was also a passenger. An
+enemy's cruiser chased them, and the Major, as the superior officer, was
+proceeding to assume the command; but Mr. Pellew told him that he was
+the only naval officer on board, and must himself fight the ship. The
+Major acquiesced; and under Mr. Pellew's command, the transport engaged,
+and beat off the privateer.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to state that immediately on his arrival he
+received the promotion which his services had so well deserved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.
+
+
+There are circumstances which in a few weeks or months may give the
+experience of years; and when these occur in early life, they make a
+permanent impression on the character. In the honours and misfortunes of
+the late campaign, its toils, and its anxieties, Mr. Pellew had very
+largely shared; and if rashness would have been the natural fault of a
+mind like his, a more effectual corrective could not have been desired.
+The quick conception, and the forethought, which enabled him in after
+life so well to combine caution with daring, must have greatly depended
+upon natural character, but he certainly owed much of it to the severe
+discipline of his early service.
+
+He had now completed his twenty-first year. Tall, and with a frame of
+strength and symmetry, nerved by the hardships of two severe campaigns,
+his personal activity and power were almost unrivalled. The spot was
+shown for many years at Truro, where he sprang over the high gate of an
+inn-yard at the back of one of the hotels, when, hastening across the
+court to assist on the sudden alarm of a fire, he found the gate fast.
+The consciousness of superior strength, while it made him slow to
+offend, enabled him to inflict suitable punishment on offenders, and
+some incidents of a ludicrous character are still remembered.
+
+The water was as a natural element to him, and he often amused himself
+in a manner which, to one less expert, would have been attended with the
+utmost danger. He would sometimes go out in a boat, and overset her by
+carrying a press of sail. Acts of daring like these must find their
+excuse in the spirit of a fearless youth. But he often found the
+advantage of that power and self-possession in the water which he
+derived from his early habits, in saving men who had fallen overboard,
+and especially in the happiest of all his services, his conduct at the
+Dutton. More than once, however, he nearly perished. In Portsmouth
+harbour, where he had upset himself in a boat, he was saved with
+difficulty, after remaining for a considerable time in the water. On
+another occasion, he was going by himself from Falmouth to Plymouth in a
+small punt, fourteen feet long, when his hat was blown overboard, and he
+immediately threw off his clothes and swam after it, having first
+secured the tiller a-lee. As he was returning with his hat, the boat got
+way on her, and sailed some distance before she came up in the wind. He
+had almost reached her when she filled again, and he was thus baffled
+three or four times. At length, by a desperate effort, he caught the
+rudder, but he was so much exhausted that it was a considerable time
+before he had strength to get into the boat.
+
+The gratification felt at receiving his commission was soon forgotten,
+when he found himself appointed to a guard-ship. He repeatedly solicited
+more active employment, and at length took an opportunity to accost Lord
+Sandwich in the street at Portsmouth. The First Lord asked him if he
+were the young man who had been writing him so many letters; and after a
+reproof for accosting him in the street, appointed an audience at the
+hotel. He there told him that he could not be employed as he wished,
+because he was included in the convention of Saratoga; and when Mr.
+Pellew pleaded that the enemy had broken the convention, Lord Sandwich
+replied, that was no reason why England should do so too. At length,
+after every other plea had been urged in vain. Mr. Pellew took out his
+commission, and begged that he might be allowed to return it, declaring
+that he would rather command a privateer, than remain inactive while the
+war was going on. Lord Sandwich, smiling at his ardour, desired him to
+put up his commission, and promised that he should not be forgotten.
+Soon after, he was appointed to the _Licorne_.
+
+In the spring of 1779, the _Licorne_ sailed for the Newfoundland
+station, under the orders of Captain Cadogan, who had lately superseded
+Captain Bellew, her former commander. On her passage out, she engaged
+two of the enemy's cruisers, and Lieutenant Pellew's conduct in the
+action received the praise of his captain. She returned to England in
+December, when he left her to join the _Apollo_, commanded by his
+excellent friend and patron Captain Pownoll, who was so delighted to
+obtain once more the services of a follower whom he regarded with equal
+pride and affection, that he removed for his sake an officer of high
+connexions, whose seniority would have prevented Mr. Pellew from being
+the first lieutenant.
+
+Mr. Pellew was too soon deprived of this inestimable friend. On the
+morning of the 15th of June 1780, the _Apollo_, cruising in the North
+Sea, in company with some other ships, was ordered away by the senior
+captain in pursuit of a cutter. She had almost come up with the chase,
+when the _Stanislaus_ French frigate hove in sight, and the _Apollo_
+left the cutter for a more equal opponent. She overtook and brought her
+to action at half-past twelve, engaging under a press of sail, for the
+enemy made every effort to escape to the neutral port of Ostend, which
+was not far distant. In an hour after the action commenced, Captain
+Pownoll was shot through the body. He said to his young friend, "Pellew,
+I know you won't give his Majesty's ship away;" and immediately died in
+his arms. Mr. Pellew continued the action for more than an hour longer,
+and drove the enemy, beaten and dismasted, on shore; but he was
+disappointed of his prize, which claimed protection from the neutral
+port. The _Apollo_ had five killed, besides the captain, and twenty
+wounded. A musket ball, which had struck Captain Pownoll in a former
+action, was found after his death, lodged among the muscles of the
+chest. The _Stanislaus_ was got off, and carried into Ostend, where,
+being brought to sale, she was purchased by the British government, and
+added to the navy.
+
+None despond so readily as talented and sanguine young men, who are too
+apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for
+the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong
+mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates
+facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel
+for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this
+lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and
+disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed
+altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on
+this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial
+proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a
+modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest
+sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with
+earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might
+induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to
+an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his
+officers and men, are blended in this very characteristic letter. It is
+not certain that it was ever sent; for the copy preserved is too
+carefully written for a rough draft, yet contains many corrections and
+erasures. He was, perhaps, dissatisfied with it, and before he had
+determined what to send, his promotion spared him the necessity of an
+application. Still it is an interesting document, affording, as it does,
+a detailed account of the action, a sketch of his former services, and
+a transcript of his feelings at the time.
+
+
+     "MY LORD,--Your Lordship will receive herewith, from Admiral Drake,
+     an account of an action fought by H.M.S. _Apollo_, at sea, June 15,
+     which lasted for two hours and twenty minutes. I trust your
+     Lordship will excuse my troubling you with a private account of the
+     engagement, to inform you of many occurrences during the action
+     which my public letter would not admit of. When the action began,
+     both ships had all their sails set upon a wind, with as much wind
+     as we could bear. The ever-to-be-lamented Captain Pownoll received
+     a wound through his body about an hour after the action commenced,
+     when standing at the gangway. The enemy had then suffered much,
+     having lost the yard-arms of both his lower yards, and had no sails
+     drawing but his foresail, main-top-gallant-sail, and mizen-topsail,
+     the others flying about. We had engaged her to leeward, which, from
+     the heel his ship had, prevented him from making our rigging and
+     sails the objects of his fire; though I am well convinced he had
+     laid his guns down as much as possible. When I assumed the command,
+     we had shot upon his bow. I endeavoured to get the courses hauled
+     up, and the top-gallant-sails clewed up, neither of which we could
+     do, as we had neither clue-garnets, bunt-lines, or leach-lines
+     left. However, we got the top-gallant-sails down, with most of the
+     stay-sails, and the mizen-topsail aback; but finding we still
+     outsailed him, I had no other method left but that of sheering
+     across his hawse, first on one bow, then on the other, raking him
+     as we crossed, always having in view the retarding his way, by
+     obliging him either to receive us athwart his bowsprit, in which
+     case we should have turned his head off shore, or to sheer as we
+     did. He, foreseeing our intention, did so; but never lost sight of
+     gaining the shore. In this situation we had continued for a
+     considerable time. His bowsprit had been at two different times
+     over our quarter-deck, but never so far forward as to enable us to
+     secure him. All this time we were approaching the shore, and we
+     were then, I am certain, within two miles of it. I had been
+     cautioned by the master, whose abilities and great assistance I
+     must ever gratefully remember, more than once, of the shoal water,
+     and I had repeatedly called for and sent after the pilot; and I am
+     sorry to inform your Lordship he did not appear. Thus situated, in
+     three and a half fathoms water, and steering towards danger, there
+     was no time to hesitate; and, with the advice of the master, I
+     wore, and brought to under the mizen, with her head off shore,
+     until we could get the courses and other sails taken in, not having
+     then a brace or bowline left, and being fully determined to renew
+     the action in a few minutes. We had scarcely wore, when his
+     foremast, main-top-mast, main-yard, and main-top fell, leaving his
+     mainmast without rigging; and the ship at the same time took a
+     large heel, which made us all conclude she had struck the ground.
+     It was then half-ebb, and I firmly believe, had we pursued him, in
+     less than ten minutes we must have run aground. She had fired a gun
+     to leeward, seemingly to claim the protection of the port, which
+     was answered by three from the garrison. I was at this time
+     preparing to wear again, to anchor alongside him; but Mr. Unwin,
+     the purser, bringing me some orders found in Captain Pownoll's
+     pocket, among which was one relative to the observance of
+     neutrality, I did not think myself justified in renewing the
+     attack. I therefore continued lying to, to repair our damages. Our
+     masts are much wounded, the rigging very much torn, and several
+     shot under water, by which we made two feet water an hour.
+
+     "Your Lordship will, I hope, pardon me, for troubling you with the
+     relation of private feelings. The loss of Captain Pownoll will be
+     severely felt. The ship's company have lost a father. I have lost
+     much more, a father and a friend united; and that friend my only
+     one on earth. Never, my Lord, was grief more poignant than that we
+     all feel for our adored commander. Mine is inexpressible. The
+     friend who brought me up, and pushed me through the service, is now
+     no more! It was ever my study, and will always be so, to pursue his
+     glorious footsteps. How far I may succeed I know not; but while he
+     lived, I enjoyed the greatest blessing, that of being patronized by
+     him. That happiness I am now deprived of, and unassisted by
+     friends, unconnected with the great, and unsupported by the world,
+     I must throw myself totally on your Lordship's generosity. If I
+     have erred, it was not from the heart; for I will be bold to say,
+     the love and honour of his country makes no heart more warm than
+     mine.
+
+     "And if, after a constant service, never unemployed for thirteen
+     years,[1] and the character I bear with every officer with whom I
+     have had the honour to serve; having been three years in America,
+     and in every action on Lake Champlain, for one of which, in the
+     _Carleton_, Lieutenant Dacres, our commander, received promotion;
+     afterwards in a continued series of hard service, in that
+     unfortunate expedition under General Burgoyne, whose thanks for my
+     conduct I received in the course of the campaign, and whose
+     misfortunes I shared at Saratoga, not in common with others, but
+     increased by the melancholy sight of a dead brother, fallen in the
+     service of his king; having then returned to England in a transport
+     to fulfil the convention, with Generals Carleton's and Burgoyne's
+     despatches, as well as General Carleton's letter, recommending me
+     to your Lordship; and permit me to mention, my Lord, without being
+     thought partial to my own story, my having received the thanks of
+     Sir Charles Douglas, by letter, for my behaviour in the different
+     actions in Canada; and having acquitted myself much to Captain
+     Cadogan's satisfaction in action with two ships, when on our voyage
+     to Newfoundland; and if on the present occasion, conscious of the
+     rectitude of my conduct, I can be entitled to your Lordship's
+     approbation, permit me to hope from your Lordship's well-known
+     generosity, which I have already experienced, that you will extend
+     to me that protection which I have lost in my dear departed
+     benefactor. I have now no friend to solicit your Lordship in my
+     favour. I stand alone to sue for your protection, in some
+     confidence that you will not suffer the dejected and unsupported to
+     fall. I presume to hope forgiveness for thus intruding on your
+     time, particularly by a memorial that comes unbacked by any other
+     name; but believe me, my Lord, there never was an officer with whom
+     I have sailed, who would not do much more than back this, were his
+     ability equal to his good wishes for my promotion.
+
+     "I cannot, in justice to the officers, close this without assuring
+     your Lordship of the great and unremitting assistance I received
+     from Mr. Milburn, the master, on every occasion; and from Mr.
+     Mansfield, the marine officer, who was particularly active to
+     assist on the quarter-deck. To Mr. Bunce, second lieutenant, I am
+     much indebted for his exertions on the main-deck, and his diligence
+     was unremitting in distributing men where most wanted. Mr. Ritchie,
+     master's mate, was particularly distinguished for his gallantry
+     and activity; and the behaviour of the whole, my Lord, was such as
+     entitles them to my warmest gratitude, and general commendation.
+     Most of the wounded are dangerously so, being all by cannon balls.
+     We had three guns dismounted.
+
+                                                   "EDWARD PELLEW."
+
+
+Lord Sandwich's communication to him was equally kind and prompt. On the
+18th of June, only three days after the action, he wrote to him:--"After
+most sincerely condoling with you on the loss of your much-lamented
+patron and friend, Captain Pownoll, whose bravery and services have done
+so much honour to himself and his Country, I will not delay informing
+you that I mean to give you immediate promotion, as a reward for your
+gallant and officer-like conduct."
+
+He was made commander into an old and worn-out sloop, the _Hazard_, in
+which he was stationed on the eastern coast of Scotland. Having nothing
+but the emoluments of his profession, he found it difficult to meet the
+expenses required by his promotion and appointment. A tradesman in
+London, Mr. Vigurs, equally known and respected by the young men from
+Cornwall, who were generally referred to him for the advice and
+assistance they required on their first coming to town, not only
+supplied him with uniforms, though candidly told that it was uncertain
+when he would be able to pay for them, but offered a pecuniary loan; and
+Captain Pellew accepted a small sum which made the debt 70£. In a few
+weeks he received 160£. prize-money, and immediately sent 100£. to his
+creditor, desiring that the balance might be given in presents to the
+children, or, as he expressed it, "to buy ribbons for the girls." He
+never afterwards employed another tradesman. When he had become a
+commander-in-chief, it was his practice to prevent a deserving, but
+necessitous young officer from suffering similar embarrassments, by
+advancing him a sum equal to his immediate wants when he gave him a
+commission.
+
+He took command of the _Hazard_ on the 25th of July, 1780, and paid her
+off in the following January, having been employed between Shields and
+Leith. He held his next ship for a still shorter time. On the 12th of
+March, 1782, he commissioned the _Pelican_, a French prize, and a mere
+shell of a vessel; so low, that he would say his servant could dress his
+hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin. He sailed from Plymouth,
+on his first cruise, April 20th; and next day took a French privateer,
+with which he returned to port. On the 24th he sailed again, and stood
+over to the French coast. On the 28th, observing several vessels at
+anchor in Bass Roads, he made sail towards them; upon which a brig and a
+lugger, of ten or twelve guns each, laid their broadsides to the
+entrance of the harbour. He attacked them immediately, and compelled
+them to run themselves on shore under a battery, which opened on the
+sloop. The _Pelican_ tacked, and stood out of the harbour, returning the
+fire, and the same night arrived at Plymouth. Her loss was only two men
+wounded. A heavy shot which struck her was begged by a friend, who, in a
+recent letter, makes a jocular allusion to it, and says that it is still
+doing service in the kitchen as a jack-weight. The action was most
+important in its results, for it obtained for him that rank in which he
+would rise by seniority to a flag. Had he remained a commander through
+the peace, which, but for this action, in all probability he would have
+done, he could not have become a flag-officer till near the close of the
+revolutionary war. The country would then have lost his most valuable
+services; and he would have been remembered only as a distinguished
+captain. His promotion was announced to him by the First Lord in the
+following terms:--
+
+
+                                    Admiralty Office. May 25, 1782.
+
+     "SIR,--I am so well pleased with the account I have received of
+     your gallant and seaman-like conduct in the sloop you command, in
+     your spirited attack on three privateers inside the Isle of Bass,
+     and your success in driving them all on shore, that I am induced to
+     bestow on you the rank of a post-captain, in the service to which
+     your universal good character and conduct do credit: and for this
+     purpose, I have named you to the _Suffolk_, and hope soon to find a
+     frigate for you, as she is promised to a captain of long standing.
+
+                                                          "KEPPEL."
+
+
+Captain Pellew thus obtained every step of rank expressly as a reward of
+a brilliant action in which he personally commanded; and in this
+respect, and in the number and extent of his services while he remained
+in the lower grades of his profession, he was singular, not only among
+his contemporaries, but perhaps in the annals of the navy.
+
+On the 4th of June, in the absence of Captain Macbride, of the forty-gun
+frigate _Artois_, Captain Pellew assumed the temporary command of that
+ship, and sailed two days after to cruize on the coast of Ireland. Her
+master was Mr. James Bowen, so highly distinguished in the battle of the
+1st of June, when he was master of the fleet, and who afterwards became
+a retired commissioner, and rear admiral. On the 1st of July, the
+_Artois_ fell in with a French frigate-built ship, the _Prince of
+Robego_, of twenty-two guns, and 180 men; and after a four hours'
+pursuit, and a running fight of half an hour with the chase guns, ran
+alongside, and took her. Captain Pellew gladly availed himself of this
+opportunity to show his grateful respect to the memory of his
+benefactor, Captain Pownoll, by giving the agency to his brother-in-law,
+Mr. Justice, one of the officers of Plymouth-yard: and the plea of
+gratitude which he offered to his own brother, was felt to be quite
+conclusive. Captain Macbride wished to appoint an agent of his own; but
+Captain Pellew asserted his right, as the actual captor, with so much
+temper and firmness, that the other at length gave way. He had known
+Captain Pellew from early childhood, having been his father's intimate
+friend, and quite understood his character, of which he now expressed an
+opinion in language less refined than emphatic. "Confound the fellow,"
+said he, "if he had been bred a cobbler, he would have been first in the
+village."
+
+
+Peace left him without employment for the next four years. In 1783, he
+married Susan, daughter of J. Frowd, Esq., of Wiltshire; who survived
+him nearly four years. For a short time after his marriage, he lived at
+Truro; but when his elder brother became collector of the customs at
+Falmouth, he removed to the village of Flushing, which is separated from
+Falmouth only by a narrow creek, and which had peculiar attractions for
+him from family associations.
+
+During this period he went out in command of his brother's armed lugger,
+the _Hawk_, in search of a notorious outlaw, Wellard, who commanded an
+armed smuggler in the Channel, and who was at length killed in action
+with the _Hawk_, and her consort, which captured his vessel. Active
+occupation, indeed, was essential to his comfort, and he found a life on
+shore most irksome. At length, in 1786, he commissioned the
+_Winchelsea_, for the Newfoundland station. Among her midshipmen was the
+late gallant Sir Christopher Cole,[2] to whose pen the reader is
+indebted for the following animated sketch of his service in that
+frigate:--
+
+
+     "I joined the _Winchelsea_ under Captain Edward Pellew's command in
+     1786, recommended to him by my brother. Captain Frank Cole, who
+     told me, 'You are going to serve under a gallant and active
+     officer, and one of the best seamen in the navy, who, if he live,
+     must one day be at the head of his profession. Make a friend of
+     him by your good conduct, and you will do well.' The _Winchelsea_
+     was manned with good seamen, with scarcely a landsman on board; and
+     the first lieutenant, senior master's mate, and boatswain, were all
+     excellent practical seamen; so that the midshipmen and youngsters,
+     to the number of nearly thirty, could not be in a better situation
+     for obtaining a knowledge of practical seamanship. We soon found
+     that the activity of our captain would not allow us an idle hour,
+     and there was so much kindness of heart, and cheerfulness of
+     manner, blended with daring exertion in the performance of his
+     duties, that we were all happy to imitate his example to the best
+     of our abilities. In the course of our passage to Newfoundland we
+     encountered much blowing weather, and at all hours of the day or
+     night, whenever there was exertion required aloft, to preserve a
+     sail, or a mast, the captain was foremost at the work, apparently
+     as a mere matter of amusement; and there was not a man in the ship
+     who could equal him in personal activity. He appeared to play
+     amongst the elements in the hardest storms, and the confidence this
+     gave to those under his command, on many occasions, is not to be
+     described.
+
+     "The reduced peace complement of the crew made it necessary that
+     they should work watch-and-watch, and one part of his system was,
+     that the watch on deck, assisted by the idlers, should be in the
+     habit of making themselves equal to every call of duty, without
+     trespassing on the rest of those whose turn it was to be below. I
+     remember relieving the deck one night after eight o'clock, when the
+     captain was carrying on the duty, and shortening sail upon the
+     quick approach of a severe gale, and being an old sailor for my
+     age, being then sixteen, he ordered me to the mizentop, to close
+     reef and furl the mizen-topsail; and this being done, from the
+     increase of the gale, we had before twelve o'clock to take in
+     successively every reef, furl most of the sails, and strike the
+     topgallant-masts and other spars, to make the ship snug; the
+     midshipmen being on the yards as well as the men, and the captain,
+     when the gale became severe, at their elbow. In close reefing the
+     main-topsail, there was much difficulty in clewing up the sail for
+     the purpose of making it quiet, and the captain issued his orders
+     accordingly from the quarter-deck, and sent us aloft. On gaining
+     the topsail-yard, the most active and daring of our party hesitated
+     to go upon it, as the sail was flapping about violently, making it
+     a service of great danger. A voice was heard amidst the roaring of
+     the gale from the extreme end of the yard-arm, calling upon us to
+     exert ourselves to save the sail, which would otherwise beat to
+     pieces. A man said, 'Why, that's the captain--how the ---- did he
+     get there!' The fact was, that the instant he had given us orders
+     to go aloft, he laid down his speaking trumpet, and clambered like
+     a cat by the rigging over the backs of the seamen, and before they
+     reached the maintop, he was at the topmast-head, and from thence by
+     the topsail-lift, a single rope, he reached the situation he was
+     in. I could mention numberless instances of this kind, but will
+     proceed to relate a few others fresh in my recollection. On our
+     arrival at St. John's Newfoundland, we anchored in the narrow
+     entrance in the evening; and many officers would have been
+     satisfied to have remained there until the morning, as we could
+     reach our anchorage only by the tedious and laborious operation of
+     laying out anchors, and warping; but we saw that the captain was
+     bent upon exertion, and we went heartily to work. In the course of
+     our progress against a strong wind, the ship had been warped up to
+     the chain rock, and it became necessary to cast off the hawser
+     attached to it, but all the boats were employed in laying out an
+     anchor and warps elsewhere. The captain called to the men on the
+     forecastle, and desired 'some active fellow to go down by the
+     hawser, and cast it off,' at the same time saying that a boat would
+     soon be there to bring him on board again. The smartest seaman in
+     the ship declined the attempt. In an instant the captain was seen
+     clinging to the hawser, and proceeding to the rock; the hawser was
+     cast off, and to the astonishment of every one, he swang himself
+     to the side of the ship by the same means, mounted the ship's side,
+     and was again directing the duty going on. After nine hours
+     laborious and incessant exertion, the ship was anchored near the
+     _Commodore_ in St. John's harbour, before daylight; and as a salute
+     had been prepared in the hope of seeing the _Commodore's_ pennant
+     before sunset on the evening before, the captain remained on deck
+     with the gunner only to assist him. The rest of the officers and
+     men, being excessively fatigued, had been sent below to rest; and I
+     was not singular in being unconscious of the firing, although my
+     hammock hung close to the open hatchway, and immediately under the
+     deck that the guns were fired from.
+
+     "The strong mind and fertile genius of our commander kept the young
+     mids., in particular, in constant employment. Besides that some of
+     the number were stationed on every yard in the ship, the mizen-mast
+     from the deck to the truck was entirely managed in the sails and
+     rigging by the midshipmen, who were not such dandies as to despise
+     the tar-bucket, or even volunteering the laborious task of working
+     the oars of one of the boats in harbour. They were all emulous to
+     leave nothing undone to make themselves practical seamen, and they
+     all found the advantage of such examples as they had then before
+     them, many years afterwards, at the breaking out of the
+     revolutionary war.
+
+     "In the course of this year we visited every harbour, nook, and
+     corner, on the east coast of Newfoundland, that the ship could be
+     squeezed into; and the seamanship displayed by the captain, in
+     working the ship in some most difficult cases, was not lost upon
+     the officers and crew. With respect to his personal activity, I
+     have often heard the most active seamen, when doubting the
+     possibility of doing what he ordered to be done, finish by saying,
+     'Well, he never orders us to do what he won't do himself;' and they
+     often remarked, 'Blow high, blow low, he knows to an inch what the
+     ship can do, and he can almost make her speak. On our return from
+     Newfoundland, he applied to cruise after smugglers in the winter
+     months, instead of being kept idle in harbour until the season
+     opened for visiting Newfoundland again; but this did not come
+     within the scope of the management of that day. In 1787, we
+     returned to our station at Newfoundland. The summers there are very
+     hot, and on the birthday of the good old king, George III., the 4th
+     of June, the ship's company obtained permission to bathe. The ship
+     was at anchor in St. John's harbour, and the captain prepared
+     himself for the public dinner at the Governor's by dressing in his
+     full uniform, and mounted the deck to step into his barge, which
+     was ready to take him ashore. The gambols and antics of the men in
+     the water caught his attention, and he stepped on one of the guns
+     to look at them; when a lad, a servant to one of the officers, who
+     was standing on the ship's side near to him, said, 'I'll have a
+     good swim by-and-by, too.' 'The sooner the better,' said the
+     captain, and tipped him into the water. He saw in an instant that
+     the lad could not swim, and quick as thought he dashed overboard in
+     his full dress uniform, with a rope in one hand, which he made fast
+     to the lad, who was soon on board again, without injury, though a
+     little frightened, but which did not prevent his soon enjoying the
+     ludicrous finish of the captain's frolic. The lad's boasting
+     expression gave an idea that he was a good swimmer, and I believe
+     if ever the captain was frightened, it was when he saw the
+     struggles in the water: but his self-possession and activity did
+     not forsake him, and no one enjoyed the laugh against himself more
+     than he did when the danger was over.
+
+     "This season at Newfoundland was passed in the same course of
+     active exertion as the former one. We sailed for Cadiz and Lisbon
+     in October, for the purpose of receiving any remittances in bullion
+     to England, which the British merchants might have ready on our
+     arrival. We had light winds and fine weather after making the coast
+     of Portugal. On one remarkably fine day, when the ship was
+     stealing through the water under the influence of a gentle breeze,
+     the people were all below at their dinners, and scarcely a person
+     left on deck but officers, of whom the captain was one. Two little
+     ship-boys had been induced, by the fineness of the weather, to run
+     up from below the moment they had dined, and were at play on the
+     spare anchor to leeward, which overhangs the side of the ship. One
+     of them fell overboard, which was seen from the quarter-deck, and
+     the order was given to luff the ship into the wind. In an instant
+     the officers were over the side; but it was the captain who,
+     grasping a rope firmly with one hand, let himself down to the
+     water's edge, and catching hold of the poor boy's jacket as he
+     floated past, he saved his life in as little time as I have taken
+     to mention it. There was not a rope touched, or a sail altered in
+     doing this, and the people below knew not of the accident until
+     they came on deck when their dinner was over.
+
+     "In every instance when a life was in danger, he was instant to
+     peril his own for its preservation; and I could fill pages, if it
+     were necessary to notice any but those which I was so fortunate as
+     to witness."
+
+
+After the _Winchelsea_ had been paid off in 1789, Captain Pellew was
+appointed to the _Salisbury_, 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral
+Milbanke, on the Newfoundland station; in which he served till 1791. His
+brother Israel became the first lieutenant, and was promoted from her.
+While in this ship, he was one day required to decide on the case of a
+seaman belonging to a merchant vessel in the harbour, who came on board
+to complain that his captain had punished him for a theft. Finding that
+the captain had acted illegally, though the man had really deserved a
+far more severe punishment, he said to the complainant, "You have done
+quite right in coming here: your captain had no business to punish you
+as he has done, and that he may learn to be more cautious in future, we
+order him to be fined--a shilling!" The man turned to leave the cabin,
+much disappointed at the award; but how was his surprise increased, when
+Captain Pellew said, "Stop, sir; we must now try you for the theft." The
+fact, which had been already admitted, allowed of no defence; and before
+the man left the ship, he was deservedly brought to the gangway.
+
+The admiral's secretary, Mr. Graham, afterwards the well-known police
+magistrate, related this circumstance to Lord Thurlow. The chancellor
+relaxed his iron features, and throwing himself back in his chair in a
+burst of laughter, exclaimed, "Well, if that is not law, it is at least
+justice. Captain Pellew ought to have been a judge."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] This seems to require explanation, for Mr. Pellew entered the navy
+in 1770, only ten years before. It was the allowed practice at that
+time, and for many years after, for young men intended for the navy to
+serve by proxy. A ship's boy would be borne on the books in the name of
+the future midshipman, who was allowed the credit of his substitute's
+service, and whose time in the navy was thus running on while he was
+still at school. Not only so, but, by permission of the Admiralty, the
+time served by one boy, personally, or even thus by proxy, might, if he
+left the service, be transferred to the account of another! It has been
+stated that Mr. Pellew's eldest brother was borne on the books of the
+_Seaford_, till he gave up the profession of the sea for that of
+medicine; and while Mr. Pellew was serving in America, he wrote to his
+brother a letter which still exists, requesting him to procure the
+transfer to himself, of his nominal Service. It would therefore appear
+that Lord Exmouth, when a midshipman, had the three years of his elder
+brother's nominal service added to his own time, though his brother was
+never at sea.
+
+[2] The Coles were through life intimately connected with the Pellews,
+to whom they were neighbours in childhood, when both families lived on
+the shores of the Mount's Bay; and their fortunes were very similar.
+Left when very young, to the care of a widowed mother, and in narrow
+circumstances, they all rose high by their own deserts. Two entered the
+church, and became, one Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the
+other Chaplain to Greenwich Hospital, and Chaplain-General of the Navy.
+Two entered the Navy, of whom Frank, the eldest, was selected to take
+charge of the late King William IV., when he was sent to sea as Prince
+William Henry. Christopher went to sea at ten years old, and became one
+of the first officers in the service, and not less distinguished for
+business habits and talents, in every post of duty. His capture of the
+strongly fortified island of Banda Neira, garrisoned with 1,200
+soldiers, with a mere boat party of 180 men, was an exploit, perhaps,
+unequalled. He was in charge of two frigates and a sloop of war, and
+having obtained the Admiral's permission to attempt the capture, nor
+without a strong caution, he proposed to come upon the place
+unexpectedly at day-break, and, like Sir Charles Brisbane at Curaçoa,
+lay the ships as close as possible, and storm the works under their
+fire. This plan was baffled by the premature discovery of the ships by
+the enemy. He then resolved upon a night attack with the boats, and left
+the ships soon after midnight with 400 men: but the wind rose and
+dispersed the party, and at day-break he found himself with only 180 at
+hand. Undismayed, he pushed ashore with his little handful of heroes,
+rushed up the hill to Fort Belgica, which crowned and commanded the
+island, mounted the walls, swept the ramparts like a whirlwind, followed
+with the panic stricken enemy through the gate of an inner
+fortification, and carried the fortress, and with it the island, without
+the loss of a man, and even without a wound. He was second in command of
+the naval force at the capture of Java, and directed the landing of the
+troops, which, by his promptitude, and wise arrangements, was effected
+without loss. He twice received the thanks of the Supreme Government of
+India for important, political services. From his sovereign he received
+the rank of K.C.B.; from the Admiralty, a naval medal; from Oxford, the
+honorary degree of D.C.L., and from the East India Company, a service of
+plate. He represented Glamorganshire in Parliament for twelve years; was
+captain of the _Royal Sovereign_ yacht, and colonel of marines. He died
+suddenly, August 24th, 1836. It may encourage young officers whose
+promotion is slow, to learn that the brilliant successes of Sir
+Christopher Cole were preceded by thirteen years active service as
+midshipman and mate, and seven years as lieutenant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.
+
+
+Rich only in reputation, and with an increasing family, Captain Pellew
+felt the pressure of narrow circumstances; and with the mistake so often
+made by naval officers, he thought to improve them by farming. There was
+a moderately large farm, Treverry, within a few miles of Falmouth, which
+had descended in the family to his elder brother, and he proposed to
+cultivate this upon the principle of sharing the profits. His brother,
+though not very sanguine on the result, readily agreed to the
+experiment; and when in no long time Captain Pellew complained that he
+found it impossible to keep the accounts so as to make a fair division,
+he was allowed to rent it on his own terms. It will not occasion
+surprise that the undertaking was anything but profitable.
+
+Indeed, farming is almost always a very losing employment to a
+gentleman, and especially to a sailor. Nothing can be more incorrect
+than the conclusion that education ought to excel, because ignorance
+succeeds; for success depends upon attention to a multiplicity of petty
+details, which inexperience will be likely to overlook, and talent may
+find it irksome to attend to. If the small farmer, who cultivates his
+little ground by the labour of his own family, and the more considerable
+one, who devotes to his estate skill, capital, and undivided attention,
+so often fail, what can he hope for, who depends upon labourers whose
+mistakes he cannot correct, and whose indolence, and even dishonesty, he
+is scarcely able to check? The failure of crops which depend for their
+success upon the knowledge and activity of the principal; and the
+necessary and constant outlay, which is great beyond the conception of a
+novice, may ruin even him who farms his own land, when the care of it is
+only a secondary object; and this it will generally be to a professional
+man.
+
+The expected pleasures of fanning will be likely to disappoint, even
+more than its profits. When the fields are waving with abundance,
+nothing appears more delightful than to direct the labours they require;
+but the enjoyments of the harvest month, when all the weary toil of
+preparation is forgotten, will be found a poor compensation for the
+daily annoyances of the year. To be excelled in management by the
+uneducated, and over-reached by the cunning: to study systems of
+agriculture, to be thwarted in carrying them into effect, and when they
+fail, to become an object of contemptuous pity to the ignorant but
+successful followers of the old routine: to find that all around take
+advantage of his ignorance: that servants, the best with other masters,
+become careless and unfaithful with him: to become involved in petty
+disputes with low neighbours, and to be unable to avoid them except by a
+forbearance which encourages aggression: to find, that with all his
+attention and trouble, the income lags far behind the outgoings--those
+are among the pleasures of a gentleman farmer.
+
+To Captain Pellew, the employment was peculiarly unsuitable. His mind,
+happy only while it was active, could ill accommodate itself to pursuits
+which almost forbade exertion; and a business within the comprehension
+of a peasant was not for a character which could fill, and animate, with
+its own energy an extended sphere of action. Even now, when agriculture
+has become an eminently scientific profession, it requires to make it
+interesting that it shall be thoroughly understood, and conducted upon a
+proper scale; but at that time it was commonly a mere routine of dull
+drudgery, and nowhere more so than in the west of Cornwall. To have an
+object in view, yet be unable to advance it by any exertions of his own,
+was to him a source of constant irritation. He was wearied with the
+imperceptible growth of his crops, and complained that he made his eyes
+ache by watching their daily progress. He was not likely to excel in
+occupations so entirely uncongenial. The old people in the neighbourhood
+of Treverry speak with wonder of the fearlessness he displayed on
+different occasions, but shake their heads at his management as a
+farmer. They have no difficulty in accounting for his fortune. While he
+lived at Treverry, a swarm of bees found an entrance over the porch, of
+the house, and made a comb there for many successive years; and to this
+happy omen they attribute all his after success. The apartment is still
+called the "bee-room."
+
+The offer of a command in the Russian navy gave him an opportunity to
+escape from his difficulties. It was recommended to him by an officer of
+high character, with whom he had served, and who possessed so many
+claims upon his confidence that he thought it right to strengthen his
+own decision by the opinion of his elder brother, before he finally
+refused it. His brother, who had always encouraged his every ambitious,
+and every honourable feeling, and who, even at this time, confidently
+anticipated for him a career of high distinction, of which, indeed, his
+past life afforded ample promise, would not for a moment listen to his
+entering a foreign service. He said, that every man owes his services,
+blood, and life, so exclusively to his own country that he has no right
+to give them to another; and he desired Captain Pellew to reflect how he
+would answer for it to his God, if he lost his life in a cause which had
+no claim upon him. These high considerations of patriotism and religion
+are the true ground upon which the question should rest. Deeply is it to
+be regretted that men of high character should have unthinkingly
+sanctioned by their example what their own closer reflection might have
+led them to condemn. Still more is it to be deplored that deserving
+officers, hopeless, in the present state of the navy, (1834) of
+promotion, or employment, should be driven by their necessities to
+sacrifice their proudest and most cherished feelings, and to quit for a
+foreign flag the service of which they might become the strength and
+ornament. War is too dreadful a calamity to be lightly incurred. Only
+patriotism, with all its elevating and endearing associations of
+country, homes, and altars, can throw a veil over its horrors, and a
+glory around its achievements: patriotism, which gives to victory all
+its splendour; sheds lustre even on defeat; and hallows the tomb of the
+hero, fallen amidst the regrets and admiration of his country. But he
+who goes forth to fight the battles of another State, what honour can
+victory itself afford to him? or how shall he be excused, if he attack
+the allies of his own country, whom, as such, he is bound on his
+allegiance to respect?
+
+The decision of Captain Pellew on this occasion proved as fortunate as
+it was honourable. At the beginning of 1793, there was no appearance of
+hostilities; and when the French republicans put to death their king, on
+the 21st of January, and declared war against England twelve days after,
+the Government, which had made no preparation for such an event, was
+taken by surprise almost as much as the country. The navy was on the
+peace establishment, with only sixteen thousand seamen and marines; and
+it became necessary in the course of the year to raise for it sixty
+thousand men. Mr. Pellew, whose situation at Falmouth enabled him to
+obtain the earliest information, hastened to Treverry as soon as he saw
+that war was likely to break out, and advised his brother immediately to
+offer his services to the Admiralty in person. Captain Pellew, too happy
+in the prospect of exchanging the ploughshare for the sword, returned
+with him to Falmouth; and the same night was on the road to London.
+
+He was immediately appointed to the _Nymphe_, of thirty-six guns,
+formerly a French frigate, which, by a striking coincidence, had been
+taken by boarding in the former war, after having been disabled by the
+loss of her wheel. He fitted her with extraordinary dispatch; but from
+the number of ships commissioned at the same time, there was great
+difficulty in manning her. Anticipating this, Captain Pellew wrote to
+Falmouth as soon as he had received his appointment, and adverting to
+the importance of getting his ship to sea quickly, he requested his
+brother to assist him in procuring a crew--of sailors, if possible; but
+if not, then of Cornish miners.
+
+The choice may appear extraordinary, but Cornish miners are better
+calculated to make seamen than any other class of landsmen; not so much
+because they are always accustomed to difficult climbing, and familiar
+with the use of ropes, and gunpowder, as that the Cornish system of
+mining, with an order and discipline scarcely surpassed in a ship of
+war, compels the lowest workman to act continually upon his own
+judgment. Thus it creates that combination of ready obedience, with
+intelligence, and promptitude at resource, which is the perfection of a
+sailor's character. Familiarity with danger gives the miner a cool and
+reflective intrepidity; and the old county sport of wrestling, so
+peculiarly a game of strength and skill, now falling into disuse, but
+then the daily amusement of every boy, was admirably calculated to
+promote the activity and self-possession necessary in personal
+conflicts.
+
+Captain Pellew's quick discrimination is remarkably shown in thus
+discovering the capabilities of a class of men, who had never before
+been similarly tried, and with whom he could have had comparatively but
+little acquaintance There were no mines in the immediate neighbourhood
+of anyplace where he had lived; and as his professional habits were not
+likely to give him an interest in the subject, he had probably never
+held much intercourse with miners, except when he might have met them as
+rioters. For at that period, the attention of the west countrymen was
+devoted almost exclusively to their mines and fisheries, to the neglect
+of agriculture; and the county being thus dependent upon importations,
+famine was not uncommon. At such times, the poor tinners would come into
+the towns, or wherever they had reason to believe that corn was stored,
+with their bags, and their money, asking only barley-bread, and offering
+the utmost they could give for it, but insisting that food should be
+found for them at a price they could afford to pay. If the law must
+condemn such risings, humanity would pity them for the cause, and
+justice must admire the forbearance displayed in them. At one of these
+seasons of distress, when there was a great quantity of corn in the
+customhouse cellars at Falmouth, a strong body of miners came in to
+insist that it should be sold. Mr. Pellew, the collector, met them in
+the street, and explained to them the circumstances under which he was
+entrusted with it, and which left him no power to sell. They were
+famishing men, and the corn was in their power; but they had come to
+buy, and famine itself, with the almost certainty of impunity, could not
+tempt them to steal. They received his explanation, and left the town
+peaceably.
+
+About eighty miners entered for the _Nymphe_ and joined her at Spithead.
+She sailed on her passage from Spithead to Falmouth very badly manned,
+having not more than a dozen seamen on board, exclusive of the officers,
+who were obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the sails, the captain
+setting the example wherever anything was to be done, and often steering
+the ship. A corporal of marines was captain of the forecastle. Arriving
+at Falmouth, after a rough passage, she soon picked up a few good men.
+She took a convoy from thence to the Nore, another from the Nore to
+Hamburgh, and a third from Cuxhaven to the Nore again; never letting
+slip an opportunity to press as many men as could be spared from the
+merchant-ships. The captain would remain in a boat all night, and think
+himself amply repaid if he obtained only one good man. From the Nore,
+she returned to Spithead, and thence sailed on a cruize, in company with
+the _Venus_, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, having now a full proportion of
+good seamen, though she was still short of her complement, and none of
+the crew had ever seen a shot fired. She parted company with the _Venus_
+in chase, but rejoined her on the 29th of May. On the 27th, the _Venus_
+had engaged the French frigate _Semillante_, one of a squadron then
+cruizing in the Channel under the orders of Captain Mullon, of the
+_Cleopatra_. The action had continued two hours, much to the
+disadvantage of the enemy, when the _Cleopatra_ was seen coming up, and
+the _Venus_ was obliged to fly. On the _Nymphe_ rejoining her, the two
+frigates went in pursuit of the enemy as far as Cherbourg. Thence
+Captain Pellew proceeded to the North Channel, where some French
+cruisers were reported to have gone; but having swept the Channel
+without seeing anything of them, and taken on board his brother Israel,
+then living, a commander on half-pay, at Larne, he returned to Falmouth.
+Here, on the 16th of June, the _Nymphe_ pressed the crew of a
+South-seaman, which full manned the ship.
+
+She sailed from Falmouth on the evening of the 18th. That afternoon,
+Captain Pellew was informed that two French frigates had again been seen
+in the Channel, and he discussed with his brother Israel, at their elder
+brother's table, the course most likely to intercept them. After they
+had talked over the advantages of sailing along the English or the
+French coast, they at length determined to keep mid-channel.
+
+An active and most anxious pursuit of the enemy for the last three weeks
+had made the crew not less eager than their commander; and the subject
+of the expected battle engrossed their sleeping and waking thoughts. A
+dream of Captain Israel Pellew had perhaps some influence on the result.
+His brother would not allow him to be called till they were just closing
+the French frigate, and meeting him as he ran on deck half dressed, he
+said to him, with much emotion,--"Israel, you have no business here! We
+are too many eggs from one nest. I am sorry I brought you from your
+wife." But Israel, whose whole attention was occupied with the enemy,
+exclaimed, "That's the very frigate I've been dreaming of all night! I
+dreamt that we shot away her wheel. We shall have her in a quarter of an
+hour!" His brother, who had already inferred her high state of
+discipline from her manoeuvres, replied, "We shall not take her so
+easily. See how she is handled." He was a perfect artillerist, and,
+prompted by the suggestions of his sleep, he took charge of a gun, made
+the wheel his object, and ultimately shot it away. Not less
+extraordinary was the dream of a master's mate, Mr. Pearse, who had
+served in the _Winchelsea_. He dreamt that the _Nymphe_ fell in with a
+French frigate the day after leaving port, that they killed her captain,
+and took her; and so vivid was the impression, that he firmly believed
+it to be a supernatural intimation, and spoke of it accordingly to his
+messmates. They rallied him immoderately on his superstition, but his
+confidence remained unshaken; and when his papers were examined after
+his death, for he was killed in the action, it was found that he had
+written the dream in his pocket-book.
+
+At day break on the 19th, as they were proceeding up Channel, being
+still some miles to the westward of the Start, a sail was observed in
+the south-east, winch was soon made out to be a French frigate. Before
+six o'clock they had approached very near, the enemy making no attempt
+to escape; and, indeed, if both nations had wished at this early period
+of the war to try the merit of their respective navies by a battle, no
+ship could have been better calculated than the _Cleopatra_ to maintain
+the honour of her flag. Her commander, Captain Mullon, was deservedly
+considered one of the most able officers of the French marine. As
+Suffren's captain, he had taken a prominent part in the actions with Sir
+Edward Hughes in the East Indies; and the code of signals then used
+along the French coast was his own invention. The _Cleopatra_ had been
+more than a year in commission, and, with such a commander, it may be
+supposed that her crew had been well trained to all their duties.
+Indeed, it was known that the enemy had taken great pains in the
+equipment of their cruizers; and the generally inferior description of
+the English crews, inevitable from the circumstance that a navy was to
+be commissioned at once, had led to great apprehensions for the result
+of the first action. The seaman-like style in which the _Cleopatra_ was
+handled did not escape the eye of Captain Pellew; who, conscious of his
+own disadvantage, from the inexperience of his ship's company,
+determined to avail himself of the power which the enemy's gallantry
+afforded him, to bring the ships at once to close action, and let
+courage alone decide it.
+
+In the courage of his men he placed the firmest reliance; and when he
+addressed a few words to them, before they closed with the enemy, he
+knew how to suggest the most effectual encouragement in a situation so
+new to them all. To the miners, he appealed by their honour and spirit
+as Cornishmen; a motive which the feelings of his own bosom told him
+would, above all things, animate theirs. Probably there is no place
+where local pride prevails so strongly as in the west of Cornwall. The
+lower classes, employed for the most part in pursuits which require the
+constant exercise of observation and judgment, and familiarized to
+danger in their mines and fisheries, are peculiarly thoughtful and
+intrepid; while the distinctness of name and character which they derive
+from the almost insular position of their county, and the general
+ignorance of strangers in the interesting pursuits with which they are
+so familiar, have taught the lower classes to regard it less as an
+integral part of England, than a distinct and superior country. They
+have a nobler motive for this feeling, in the successes of their
+forefathers against the arms of the rebel parliament, when their
+loyalty, unwavering amidst prosperous treason, and their victories over
+superior discipline and numbers, obtained for them the grateful eulogy
+of their unfortunate sovereign. His letter remains painted, as he
+directed, in a conspicuous part of their older churches, a most
+honourable monument of their virtues and his gratitude. No man could be
+prouder of his county than Captain Pellew himself; and, as it was an
+object much coveted by the most promising of its young men to serve in
+his ship, and he continued steadily to patronize those who showed
+themselves deserving, there is scarcely a town in it from which he has
+not made officers. Thus his feelings were in perfect unison with theirs;
+and never was an appeal made with greater confidence, or answered with
+higher spirit, than when he reminded them of their home.
+
+At six o'clock the ships were so near, that the captains mutually
+hailed. Not a shot had yet been fired. The crew of the _Nymphe_ now
+shouted "Long live King George!" and gave three hearty cheers. Captain
+Mullon was then seen to address his crew briefly, holding a cap of
+liberty, which he waved before them. They answered with acclamations,
+shouting, "Vive la Republique!" as if in reply to the loyal watchword of
+the British crew, and to mark the opposite principles for which the
+battle was to be fought. The cap of liberty was then given to a sailor,
+who ran up the main rigging, and screwed it on the mast-head.
+
+At a quarter past six, the _Nymphe_ reached the starboard quarter of the
+_Cleopatra_, when Captain Pellew, whose hat was still in his hand,
+raised it to his head, the preconcerted signal for the _Nymphe_ to open
+her fire. Both frigates immediately commenced a furious cannonade, which
+they maintained without intermission for three quarters of an hour,
+running before the wind under top-gallant-sails, and very near each
+other. At a little before seven, the mizen-mast of the _Cleopatra_
+fell, and presently after her wheel was shot away. Thus rendered
+unmanageable, she came round with her bow to the _Nymphe's_ broadside,
+her jib-boom pressing hard against the mainmast. Captain Pellew,
+supposing that the enemy were going to board, ordered the boarders to be
+called, to repel them; but the disabled state of the _Cleopatra_ was
+soon evident, and he at once gave orders to board her. Immediately the
+boarders rushed on the forecastle, a division of them, headed by Mr.,
+afterwards Capt. George Bell, boarding through the main-deck ports, and
+fought their way along the gangways to the quarter-deck. The
+republicans, though much superior in numbers, could not resist the
+impetuosity of the attack. At ten minutes past seven they had all fled
+below, or submitted, and the pennant of the _Cleopatra_ was hauled down.
+
+While the boarders were pouring in upon the enemy's forecastle, the
+mainmast of the _Nymphe_, having been much wounded, and with the main
+and spring-stays shot away, was most seriously endangered by the
+pressure of the _Cleopatra's_ jib-boom. Fortunately, the jib-boom broke,
+and the _Cleopatra_ fell alongside the _Nymphe_, head and stern. The
+mainmast was again in danger, from the _Cleopatra's_ larboard
+maintopmast-studding-sail boom-iron hooking in the larboard leech-rope
+of the main-topsail, and dragging the sail. Captain Pellew ordered some
+active seaman to go out upon the yard, and free the sail, promising ten
+guineas, if he succeeded; and a main-top-man, named Burgess, immediately
+sprang out, and cut the leech-rope. Lieutenant Pellowe had been already
+directed to drop the best bower-anchor, as a means of getting the ships
+apart; and by the time half the prisoners had been removed, the prize
+separated, and fell astern.
+
+The crew fought with a steadiness and gallantry above all praise. A lad,
+who had served in the _Winchelsea_ as barber's boy, was made second
+captain of one of the main-deck guns. The captain being killed, he
+succeeded to command the gun; and through the rest of the action,
+Captain Pellew heard him from the gangway give the word for all the
+successive steps of loading and pointing, as if they had been only in
+exercise. In the heat of action, one of the men came from the main deck
+to ask the captain what he must do, for that all the men at his gun were
+killed or wounded but himself, and he had been trying to fight it alone,
+but could not. Another, who had joined but the day before, was found
+seated on a gun-carriage, complaining that he had been very well as long
+as he was fighting, but that his sea sickness returned as soon as the
+battle was over, and that he did not know what was the matter with his
+leg, it smarted so much. It was found that the poor fellow had received
+a musket ball in it.
+
+The loss was severe on both sides, and, in proportion to the respective
+crews, nearly equal. The _Nymphe_, out of a crew of 240, had 23 killed,
+including her boatswain, a master's mate (Pearse), and three midshipmen;
+and 27 wounded, among whom were her second lieutenant, the lieutenant of
+marines, and two midshipmen. The _Cleopatra_ lost 63 killed and wounded,
+out of a crew of 320. She came out of action, therefore, with 67
+effective men more than her conqueror. It is highly creditable to the
+_Nymphe's_ crew, that they beat a ship like the _Cleopatra_ by gunnery,
+notwithstanding their inexperience; and carried her by a hand-to-hand
+conflict, notwithstanding their inferior numbers.
+
+Captain Mullon was killed. A cannon-shot struck him on the back, and
+carried away great part of his left hip. Even at that dreadful moment he
+felt the importance of destroying the signals which he carried in his
+pocket; but in his dying agony, he took out his commission in mistake,
+and expired in the act of devouring it;--a trait of devoted heroism
+never surpassed by any officer of any nation. These signals, so valuable
+as long as the enemy did not know them to be in possession of the
+British, thus fell into the hands of Captain Pellew, who delivered them
+to the Admiralty.
+
+Captain Pellew arrived at Portsmouth with his prize on the following
+day. He sent the flag under which she fought, and the cap of liberty, to
+his brother. This, the first trophy of the kind taken in the
+revolutionary war, is about seven inches long, made of wood, and painted
+red; with a round, tapering spear of brass, about three feet and a half
+long, the lower half being blackened, with a screw at the end to fix it
+on the mast. The following letter accompanied these trophies:--
+
+
+     "DEAR SAM,--Here we are--thank God! safe--after a glorious action
+     with _La Cleopâtre_, the crack ship of France; 40 guns, 28 on her
+     main-deck, and 12 on her quarter-deck, some of 36 pounds, and 320
+     men. We dished her up in fifty minutes, boarded, and struck her
+     colours. We have suffered much, but I was long determined to make a
+     short affair of it. We conversed before we fired a shot, and then,
+     God knows, hot enough it was, as you will see by the enclosed.[3] I
+     might have wrote for a month, had I entered on the description of
+     every gallant action, but we were all in it, heart and soul. I owe
+     much to Israel, who undertook with the after-gun to cut off her
+     rudder and wheel. The tiller was shot away, and four men were
+     killed at her wheel, which I verily believe was owing to him. I
+     will write again in a day or two, and do all I can for everybody.
+     We must go into harbour. _Cleopatra_ is fifteen feet longer, and
+     three feet wider than _Nymphe_--much larger, Poor dear Pearse is
+     numbered with the slain[4]--Plane and Norway slightly wounded--old
+     Nicholls safe. God be praised for his mercy to myself, and Israel,
+     and all of us!
+                                              "Yours, ever,   E.P."
+
+     "Be kind to Susan--go over, and comfort her; I cannot write to poor
+     Pearse's mother for my life--do send her a note; I really cannot. I
+     loved him, poor fellow, and he deserved it.
+
+     "_June 20, 1793._"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] A list of the killed and wounded.
+
+[4] After the action, Mr. Norway requested permission to keep the body
+of Mr. Pearse for interment by his friends. Captain Pellew for answer
+desired Mr. N. to read the contents of a paper which he drew from his
+pocket. It was a direction that if he, Capt. P., should foil, his body
+should at once be thrown overboard. Of course Mr. N. immediately
+withdrew his request.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.
+
+
+The capture of the first frigate in a war is always an object of much
+interest; and the circumstances of the late action, the merit of which
+was enhanced by the skill and gallantry of the enemy, gave additional
+importance to Captain Pellew's success. "I never doubted," said Lord
+Howe, "that you would take a French frigate; but the manner in which you
+have done it, will establish an example for the war."
+
+The brothers were introduced to the King on the 29th of June, by the
+Earl of Chatham, First Lord of the Admiralty; when Captain Pellew
+received the honour of knighthood, and his brother was made a
+post-captain. Besides the usual promotions, the master, Mr. Thomson,
+received a lieutenant's commission. As Mr. Thomson was a master of
+considerable standing, the captain supposed that he would decline the
+change to be a junior lieutenant; but the master preferred to get into
+the line for promotion, and as the result showed, he decided wisely, for
+he followed Sir Edward to the _Arethusa_ and _Indefatigable_; and as he
+had the singular fortune to fight four brilliant actions in three years
+and a-half, each of which obtained promotion for his first lieutenant,
+Mr. Thomson thus rose rapidly to seniority, and was made a commander for
+the action with the _Droits de l'Homme_.
+
+Captain Mullon was buried at Portsmouth, with all the honours due to
+his gallantry. One of Sir Edward's first acts was to write a letter of
+condolence to the widow; and as he learnt that she was left in narrow
+circumstances, he sent, with her husband's property, what assistance his
+then very limited means enabled him to offer. Madame Mullon acknowledged
+his attention and kindness in a most grateful letter. He received also
+the warm acknowledgments of the _Cleopatra's_ surviving officers, the
+senior of whom requested and received from him testimonials of the skill
+and gallantry with which they had defended their ship, without which
+their defeat, in the bloody councils which then prevailed, would
+probably have brought them to the scaffold. What was scarcely to be
+expected at such a time, and after a first defeat, it was admitted in
+the _Moniteur_ that the "superb frigate" the _Cleopatra_ had been taken
+by a frigate of equal force.
+
+The action between the _Nymphe_ and _Cleopatra_ is interesting as the
+first in which a ship had substituted carronades for her quarter-deck
+guns of small calibre, making them a material part of her force. This
+gun had been invented about three years before the close of the former
+war, and the Admiralty had allowed it to be introduced generally into
+the navy; but except in one ship, the _Rainbow_, 44, which was armed
+entirely with heavy carronades, it was considered as supplementary to
+the regular armament, being mounted only where long guns could not be
+placed, and not affecting the ship's rating. The _Flora_, when she took
+the _Nymphe_, in 1780, thus carried six 18-pounder carronades, in
+addition to her proper number of long guns; and the _Artois_, when Sir
+Edward commanded her, was armed in the same manner. The carronade was at
+first very unpopular with the sailors, generally prejudiced as they are
+against innovations, and who, not understanding how to use it,
+attributed failures which arose from their own mismanagement to defects
+in the invention. Sir Edward, who had no prejudices to contend with in
+training his crew, obtained permission, when he fitted the _Nymphe_, to
+exchange the six-pounders on her quarter-deck for 24-pounder carronades;
+and the result of the battle confirmed his favourable opinion of them.
+His next ship, the _Arethusa_, was armed precisely as the forty-four gun
+frigates at a later period of the war, with eighteen-pounders on the
+main-deck, and 32-pounder carronades on the quarter-deck and forecastle.
+He joined her in January 1794.
+
+Towards the end of 1793, the enemy fitted out a number of frigates,
+which cruised at the entrance of the Channel, chiefly in small
+squadrons, and committed the most serious depredations. Sir Edward
+formed the idea of checking them by an independent cruising squadron;
+but, expecting that a measure so unusual as to create a distinct command
+within the limits of an Admiral's station would be very strongly
+opposed, he would not, as an officer without influence, venture to
+recommend it himself; but he explained his views to Sir J. Borlase
+Warren, whose interest was great, and urged him to apply for such a
+command. The Admiralty, whose attention had already been anxiously
+directed to the successes of the enemy, approved of the proposal, and
+gave Sir John a small squadron of frigates, of which the _Arethusa_ was
+one, and which were to rendezvous at Falmouth. Such was the origin of
+the Western squadrons, which, from the number of their successes, and
+their character of dashing enterprise, became the most popular service
+in the navy. As a school for officers and seamen, they were never
+surpassed. Almost all their captains rose to high distinction, and a
+list of well-known flag-officers may be traced in connection with them,
+such as, perhaps, was never formed by any other service of the same
+extent. It may suffice to mention such names as Sir Richard Strachan,
+Sir Israel Pellew, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Sidney Smith, Sir Richard
+Keats, Sir James Saumarez, Sir Philip Durham, Sir Charles V. Penrose,
+Admirals Barlow, and Reynolds. Nothing equals the animating duties of a
+cruizing frigate squadron. The vigilance in hovering on the enemy's
+coast, or sweeping over the seas around it; the chase, by a single ship
+detached to observe a suspicious stranger, or by the whole squadron to
+overtake an enemy; the occasional action; the boat-attack;--service like
+this gives constant life to a sailor. In a line-of-battle ship, with the
+perfection of discipline, there is less demand for individual
+enterprise, and fewer of the opportunities which fit crews for exploits
+where all depends on rapidity and daring. On the other hand, a single
+cruizer wants the stimulus supplied by constant emulation. But in a
+squadron, all the ships vie with one another; and the smartest of them,
+herself always improving, gives an example, and a character to the
+whole.
+
+In the middle of April 1794, Sir J.B. Warren sailed from Portsmouth in
+the _Flora_, with the _Arethusa_, _Concorde_, _Melampus_, and _Nymphe_.
+At daylight on the 23rd, he fell in with a French squadron off the Isle
+of Bass; the _Engageante_, _Pomone_, and _Resolue_, frigates; and the
+_Babet_, 22-gun corvette. The enemy, who were standing to the
+north-west, made sail on perceiving the British squadron; the Commodore
+in _l'Engageante_ being a-head, then _Resolue_, _Pomone_, and _Babet_.
+Soon after, the wind shifted two points, from S.S.W. to south, giving
+the British the weather-gage, and preventing the enemy from making their
+escape to the land.
+
+Outsailing her consorts, the _Flora_ came up with the enemy at half-past
+six; and giving the _Babet_ a passing broadside, stood on and attacked
+the _Pomone_. The _Pomone_ was at that time by much the largest frigate
+ever built, being only one hundred tons smaller than a 64-gun ship, and
+carrying long 24-pounders on her main deck. The _Flora_, being only a
+36, with 18-pounders, was a very unequal match for this powerful ship,
+which soon cut her sails and rigging to pieces, shot away her
+fore-topmast, and left her astern. The _Melampus_, which,
+notwithstanding her endeavours to close, was still far to windward on
+the _Pomone's_ quarter; now fired on her, but unavoidably at too great a
+distance to produce any material effect, though the heavy guns of the
+enemy inflicted on her a greater loss than was sustained by any other
+ship in the squadron. The _Arethusa_, which had previously cannonaded
+the _Babet_, while she was pressing on to overtake the frigates, soon
+came up with the _Pomone_, closed her to windward, and engaged her
+single-handed, and within pistol-shot, till she struck. The _Flora_, in
+the mean time, took possession of the corvette. A short time before the
+close of the action, the _Pomone_ took fire, but her crew succeeded in
+extinguishing the flames. At half-past nine, the _Arethusa_ shot away
+her main and mizen masts, and compelled her to surrender.
+
+As soon as the enemy struck, the Commodore, in the full warmth of his
+feelings, wrote to Sir Edward a short and expressive note:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAR PELLEW,--I shall ever hold myself indebted, and under
+     infinite obligations to you, for the noble and gallant support you
+     gave me to-day.
+
+       "God bless you and all yours!
+                        "Your most sincere,
+                              "And affectionate friend,
+                                          "J.B. WARREN."
+
+
+He then made signal for a general chase. Both the _Flora_ and _Arethusa_
+were too much crippled to follow immediately, though the latter in a
+very short time repaired her damages sufficiently to enable her to make
+sail; and the _Nymphe_, to the great mortification of all on board, was
+so far astern from the first, that she was never able, with all their
+exertions, to take any part in the action. But the _Concorde_, commanded
+by Sir Richard Strachan, by superior sailing, came up with the
+_Resolue_; when the French Commodore, in _l'Engageante_, coming to
+assist his consort, Sir Richard brought his new opponent to close
+action, and took her. The _Resolue_ escaped. It is remarkable that this
+frigate had been attacked and compelled to submit by Sir R. Strachan,
+in November, 1791, for resisting the search of some vessels which were
+carrying stores to Tippoo Saib; and that she was afterwards taken by the
+_Melampus_.
+
+The squadron carried their prizes into Portsmouth. The Commodore was
+honoured with a red ribbon, a most unusual distinction for a service of
+this extent, and which he often said Sir Edward Pellew had mainly
+contributed to place on his shoulder. Sir J. Warren's acknowledgments
+were not the only flattering notice which Sir Edward received. The First
+Lord of the Admiralty sent him a letter, dated on the third day after
+the action.
+
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I have but a moment to acknowledge your letter, which I
+     have received this morning with infinite pleasure; and to say, that
+     I am extremely happy the same success and honour attend you in the
+     _Arethusa_ as in the _Nymphe_. I shall be very glad to see you
+     while you are refitting, as soon as your leg will permit it, and
+     which, I am happy to hear, is only a sprain.
+
+                             "I am, dear Sir,
+                     "Your very faithful, humble servant,
+                                                    "CHATHAM."
+
+
+From Lord Howe, the Commander-in-chief on the station, then just about
+to sail on the cruise which proved so honourable to himself and to his
+country, he received the following letter:--
+
+
+                   "The _Charlotte_, St. Helen's, 28th April, 1794.
+
+     "SIR,--I had already desired Sir John Warren, before the receipt of
+     your favour of this day's date, to present my congratulations on
+     the very distinguished success which has attended your late
+     undertaking. The superiority of the _Pomone_ adds much to the
+     credit of it; although the event has not surpassed the confidence I
+     should have entertained of it, if I could have been apprized of
+     the opportunity before the action commenced.
+
+     "I am much obliged by the communications which have accompanied
+     your letter; and remain, with sentiments of particular esteem and
+     regard,
+
+                               "Sir,
+                  "Your most obedient, humble servant,
+                                                  "HOWE."
+
+
+On the 23rd of August following, the squadron, now consisting of six
+frigates, which had sailed from Falmouth on the 7th, chased the French
+frigate _Volontaire_, and the corvettes _Alerte_ and _Espion_, into the
+Bay of Audierne, a large bay immediately to the southward of Brest,
+having the promontory at the south entrance of that harbour, the Bec du
+Raz, for its northern, and Penmarck Point for its southern extremity.
+Four of the squadron chased the frigate on shore near the Penmarcks,
+where she was totally wrecked. The corvettes took shelter under the
+batteries, where they were driven on shore and cannonaded by the _Flora_
+and _Arethusa_, until their masts fell, and great part of their crews
+escaped to the land. The boats of the _Arethusa_ were now ordered to set
+them on fire; but when it was found, on boarding them, that many of
+their wounded could not be removed with safety, Sir Edward contented
+himself with taking out the rest of the prisoners, leaving the wounded
+to the care of their friends on shore, and the stranded corvettes, which
+were already bilged, to their fate. _L'Espion_ was afterwards got off by
+the enemy.
+
+The state of the Channel was at this time very different from what it
+had been a few months before. The enemy's cruisers, which then were
+almost in possession of it, could now scarcely leave their ports without
+being taken. While the frigates swept the Channel, spreading themselves
+to command a very extensive range of view, it was difficult for an enemy
+to elude their vigilance. Chasing in different directions, to take
+advantage of every change of wind, and to circumvent him in every
+manoeuvre, it was impossible for him, once seen, to escape their
+pursuit.
+
+The services of the western squadron led the Admiralty to increase the
+force, and divide the command; and the second squadron was given to Sir
+Edward Pellew. On the 21st of October, at daybreak, the _Arethusa_, with
+the _Artois_, Captain Nagle; _Diamond_, Sir Sidney Smith; and _Galatea_,
+Captain Keats, fell in with the French frigate _Revolutionaire_, eight
+or ten miles to the westward of Ushant, the wind being off the land. The
+squadron gave chase, and the Commodore took the most weatherly course,
+observing, that if the French captain were a seaman, the prize would
+fall to himself, for his only chance of escape was to carry a press of
+sail to windward. Instead of this, the enemy kept away; and the _Artois_
+overtook, and brought her to action. After they had been closely engaged
+for forty minutes, the _Diamond_ came up; but Sir Sidney Smith, with
+that chivalrous feeling which marked his character, would not allow a
+shot to be fired, saying, that Nagle had fought his ship well, and he
+would not diminish the credit of his trophy. But when the enemy did not
+immediately surrender, he said, that she must not be allowed to do
+mischief, and ordered a broadside to be ready. Then, taking out his
+watch, he continued, "We'll allow her five minutes: if she do not then
+strike, we'll fire into her." He stood with the watch in his hand, and
+just before the time expired, the French colours came down.
+
+Captain Nagle was deservedly knighted for his gallantry. The prize,
+which had been launched only six months, was 150 tons larger than any
+British-built frigate, and superior to any captured one, except the
+_Pomone_. She had a furnace for heating shot, which the enemy had used
+in the action. She was commissioned by the Commodore's early friend.
+Captain Frank Cole, and attached to the squadron. It would have added to
+the interest Sir Edward felt when he took possession of this very
+beautiful ship, could he have known that she was to close her career in
+the navy under his second son, at that time a child. She was taken to
+pieces in 1822, at Plymouth, after having been paid off by the Hon.
+Captain Fleetwood Pellew, who had commanded her for the preceding four
+years.
+
+On the 22d of December, when Sir Edward's squadron was at anchor in
+Falmouth, the Channel fleet being at Spithead, and a large outward-bound
+convoy waiting for a fair wind at Torbay, an English gentleman, who had
+just escaped from L'Orient, arrived at Falmouth in a neutral vessel, and
+reported to Mr. Pellew, the collector of the Customs, the important fact
+that the Brest fleet had just been ordered to sea. He had received the
+information from the naval commandant at L'Orient, and a line-of-battle
+ship in that port, _Le Caton_, was to join the force. Sir Edward was
+immediately sent for by his brother, and the very important information
+they received appearing certain, it was deemed necessary that Sir Edward
+should communicate it in person to the Admiralty, and send advices from
+the nearest post towns on the road to the admirals at Plymouth and
+Portsmouth, as well as to the senior officer at Torbay. He went off
+express the same afternoon, accompanied by the marine officer of the
+_Arethusa_, afterwards Colonel Sir Richard Williams, K.C.B., late
+commandant of the division of marines at Portsmouth; and arrived in
+London on the 24th, at that time an almost unexampled despatch.[5]
+
+The object of the French fleet in putting to sea at so unusual a season
+was most probably to strike a severe blow at British commerce, by
+intercepting the convoy from Torbay; and in this there is every reason
+to believe they would have succeeded, but for the timely information of
+their intended cruise, and the prompt measures which were taken in
+consequence, for the wind became fair that night. It was one of those
+events which so frequently occur in history, and as often in private
+life, where important consequences depend upon some accidental, or, to
+speak more properly, providential circumstance, which yet is unavailing,
+unless improved by judgment and energy.
+
+When Sir Edward made his communication to the Admiralty, Earl Spencer
+observed, that the first step was to send advices without delay to the
+admirals at Plymouth and Portsmouth. "That," replied Sir Edward, "has
+been already attended to. I sent despatches from Exeter and Salisbury."
+"Then, Sir," said a junior Lord, apparently with displeasure, "you have
+left nothing for the Admiralty to do."--"Except," interposed Lord
+Spencer, "to get the British fleet to sea with as little delay as
+possible."
+
+The Board directed Sir Edward to return to Falmouth, and proceed without
+delay to reconnoitre Brest. During his absence, Sir J.B. Warren had
+arrived with his frigates; and a squadron, consisting of the _Pomone_,
+_Arethusa_, _Diamond_, _Galatea_, and _Concorde_, sailed from Falmouth
+on the 2nd of January, and arrived off Ushant on the following morning.
+The _Diamond_, commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, was sent a-head to
+reconnoitre, and the squadron followed. A line-of-battle ship was seen
+at anchor in Bertheaume Bay on the evening of the 4th. The _Diamond_
+persevered in working up through the night, and at eight next morning
+was seen returning to the squadron.
+
+Sir Sidney reported that he had completely reconnoitred Brest at
+daylight, and ascertained that the enemy's fleet was at sea. On his
+return, he was under the necessity of passing very near the French
+seventy-four, but having disguised his ship with French colours, and a
+_bonnet rouge_ at her head, he went boldly under the enemy's stern, and
+hailed her in French. She was the ship from L'Orient, _Le Caton_, which
+had been obliged to return to port disabled, and her pumps were going as
+she lay at anchor. Sir Sidney gave the name of his own ship as _La
+Surveillante_; and having offered assistance, which was declined, he
+took leave, and made sail for the squadron.
+
+The enemy's fleet, thirty-five sail of the line, thirteen frigates, and
+sixteen smaller vessels, had put to sea towards the end of December.
+Some of them were driven back by a gale, but the fleet continued to
+cruise until the end of January, when they were obliged to return to
+port, with the loss of five ships.[6]
+
+The squadron, having effected their principal object, arrived off
+Falmouth, and landed despatches on the 6th. They afterwards continued
+their cruise until the 22d, when they returned to port.
+
+Sir Edward now left the _Arethusa_, and joined the _Indefatigable_, one
+of three 64-gun ships which had lately been cut down to heavy frigates.
+One part of the plan was to reduce their masts and rigging in proportion
+to the diminished size of their hulls. All of them proved slow and
+unmanageable ships; and Sir Edward, who had satisfied himself of the
+cause of the failure, applied to the Navy Board for permission to alter
+the _Indefatigable_. The Comptroller of the Navy was much offended at
+the request, denying that the plan of the Navy Board had failed; and
+when Sir Edward alluded to the notorious inefficiency of the ships, he
+said that it arose entirely from faulty stowage of the ballast and hold.
+They parted, mutually dissatisfied; and Sir Edward appealed immediately
+to Lord Spencer, who, a short time before, had been placed at the head
+of the Admiralty. This nobleman showed every desire to meet Sir Edward's
+wishes, but expressed very great reluctance to involve himself in a
+difference with the Navy Board; and requested him to arrange the affair,
+if possible, himself. He accordingly attempted it; but finding no
+disposition to meet his views, he at length declined the appointment,
+saying that he would not risk his credit by commanding a worthless ship.
+This brought the question to a point; and he was allowed to alter the
+_Indefatigable_ according to his own plans. They were entirely
+successful, for she became an excellent sailer and a most efficient
+ship.
+
+Sir Edward was remarkably accurate in judging of a ship's qualities. For
+this he was probably indebted in the first place to the practical
+knowledge of ship-building which he acquired, when he assisted to
+construct the squadron on Lake Champlain, and to his very close intimacy
+with Lieutenant (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Schanck, an enthusiast on the
+subject, and who always regarded him with peculiar pride and attachment,
+as a pupil of his own. The general knowledge which he thus obtained,
+could not fail to be improved in the course of his own service. Many
+illustrations may be given of the correctness of his opinion in this
+respect. The _Bordelais_, a French cruiser taken by the
+_Revolutionaire_, carrying 24 guns on a flush deck, 149 feet long, was
+bought into the service, and commissioned by Captain Manby. She was one
+of the fastest and most beautiful vessels ever seen, but so dangerous,
+that she was called, in the navy, "the coffin." Sir Edward saw her
+alongside the jetty at Plymouth, and pointing out to her commander the
+cause of her dangerous character, recommended the means of guarding
+against it. His advice was always acted upon, and the _Bordelais_
+survived; while two other captured sloops of war, the _Railleur_ and
+_Trompeuse_, built after her model, but on a reduced scale, foundered
+with their crews on the same day. When the 10-gun brigs were introduced
+into the service, he condemned them in the strongest terms; and being
+asked what should be done with those already built, he replied, "Put
+them all together, and burn them, for they will drown their crews." His
+prediction has been too correctly fulfilled in the fate of these
+vessels, of which six were lost in the packet-service in six years and a
+half, with two hundred and fifty people. At a much later period, when
+the beautiful _Caledonia_, the most perfect ship of her class, was about
+to be made the victim of an experiment, he implored, but unfortunately
+in vain, that she might be spared.
+
+The _Indefatigable_ sailed from Falmouth on her first cruise on the 2nd
+of March; and in the following week, the squadron captured fifteen out
+of a convoy of twenty-five vessels, which had taken shelter among the
+rocks of the Penmarcks. On the 7th of May, she had a most narrow escape
+from shipwreck. The extraordinary circumstances connected with the
+accident, are related in the words of the late Capt. George Bell, at
+that time one of the officers.
+
+"In the summer of 1795, the _Indefatigable_, when cruising off Cape
+Finisterre, fell in with Admiral Waldegrave's squadron of line-of-battle
+ships, and the _Concorde_ frigate. The admiral made signal for the
+_Indefatigable_ and _Concorde_ to chase a small strange sail running
+along shore. All sail was soon set, royals, top-gallant studding-sails,
+&c., the wind being northerly, and the water as smooth as glass. At
+noon, Mr. George Bell, acting master, was in the act of crossing from
+the starboard gangway to the quarter-deck, to report twelve o'clock to
+the captain, who was looking over the larboard quarter-deck hammocks at
+the land, and strange sail, when he suddenly heard a rumbling noise, as
+if a top-sail-tie had given way, and the yard was coming down. He looked
+aloft, but saw nothing amiss, and then perceived that the ship was
+aground. Mr. Bell instantly sprang into the main-chains, and dropped the
+hand lead over. Only eighteen feet water was on the rock, the ship
+drawing nineteen and a half feet abaft. There were twelve and fourteen
+fathoms under the how and stern, consequently she hung completely in the
+centre. Sir Edward, whose judgment in moments of danger was always so
+correct and decisive as never to have occasion to give a second order,
+immediately directed some of the main-deck guns to be moved, and the
+ship's company to sally her off the rock. This fortunately succeeded.
+The ship fell over heavily, and started into deep water, with five feet
+water in her hold. Signals of distress were now made to the flag-ship,
+and the admiral ordered the _Indefatigable_ to proceed to Lisbon to
+repair, and the _Concorde_ to accompany us to the mouth of the Tagus. We
+arrived on the third day after the accident. So serious was the leak,
+that the men could not quit the pumps for a moment, and only a good
+ship's company, such as we had, could have kept the ship afloat.
+
+"On the evening of our arrival, the English consul sent on board a
+number of Portuguese, to relieve the crew. Early next morning (having
+the morning watch) I observed all these people leave the pumps. It was a
+saint's day, and they would not work. I ran into the Captain's cabin to
+state the circumstance; he in a moment came out in his dressing-gown,
+with a drawn sword, chased the Portuguese round the gangways and
+forecastle, made them to a man lay in at the pumps, and kept them at it
+till the pumps sucked.
+
+"In order to ascertain whether both sides of the ship had been injured.
+Sir Edward resolved to examine the bottom himself; and to the
+astonishment and admiration of everybody who witnessed this heroic act,
+he plunged into the water, thoroughly examined both sides, and satisfied
+himself that the starboard side only had been damaged. This saved much
+time and expense; for had not Sir Edward hazarded the experiment, the
+apparatus for heaving down must have been shifted over. The
+_Indefatigable_ was docked on her arrival at Plymouth, early in August,
+and it then appeared how accurately he had described the injury. She had
+twenty-seven of her floors and first futtocks broke, and the Portuguese,
+in repairing her, had put in seventeen feet of main-keel. The frame of a
+regular-built frigate could not have stood the shock.
+
+"A few days after the submarine inspection, the gun-room officers
+invited Sir Edward to dinner, to commemorate the 10th of June, the
+_Nymphe's_ action, on board the _Principe Real_, a Portuguese 80-gun
+ship, used as a hulk by the _Indefatigable's_ crew, while their ship was
+repairing. In the evening, some of the crew took Sir Edward on their
+shoulders, carried him all over the hulk, and swore they would make him
+an admiral."
+
+In her next cruise, the _Indefatigable_ nearly lost her gallant captain.
+On the 31st of August she had strong gales and squally weather, the wind
+flying round from W. by S. to N.E., S.E., and S.W. In the afternoon the
+weather moderated. The ship had been hove to under a close-reefed
+main-topsail, with the top-gallant yards down, the sea running very
+high, and the ship pitching much. It was Sunday, and the captain was at
+dinner with the officers, when a bustle was heard on deck. He ran
+instantly to the poop, and saw two men in the water, amidst the wreck of
+a six-oared cutter. One of the tackles had unhooked, through a heavy sea
+lifting the boat, and the men had jumped into her to secure it, when
+another sea dashed her to pieces. The captain stepped into the gig,
+which was carried over the stern above the cutter, and ordered it to be
+lowered; and though his officers urgently dissuaded him from so
+dangerous an attempt, he determined to hazard it. At this moment the
+ship made a deep plunge aft, the boat was stove, and the captain left in
+the water. He was much hurt, and bled profusely, for he was dashed
+violently against the rudder, and his nostril was torn up by the hook of
+one of the tackles. But his coolness and self-possession did not
+forsake him, and calling for a rope, he slung himself with one of the
+many that were thrown to him, and cheerfully ordered those on board to
+haul away. As soon as possible, the jolly-boat, with an officer and
+crew, was hoisted out from the booms, and fortunately saved the men.
+
+This was the third time within the present year that Sir Edward had
+risked his life to save others. While the ship was being fitted out, he
+had been instrumental in saving two lives at Point Beach. Again, a short
+time before she sailed, and while she was lying at Spithead, the
+coxswain of one of the cutters fell overboard. The captain ran aft, and
+was instantly in the water, where he caught the man just as he was
+sinking. Life was apparently extinct, but happily was restored by the
+usual means. Perhaps no man has oftener distinguished himself in this
+manner; but the splendour of one act of heroism and humanity leaves all
+the others in the shade.
+
+On the 26th of January, 1796, when the _Indefatigable_ was lying in
+Hamoaze, after having been docked, the _Dutton_, a large East Indiaman,
+employed in the transport service, on her way to the West Indies with
+part of the 2nd, or Queen's regiment, was driven into Plymouth by stress
+of weather. She had been out seven weeks, and had many sick on board.
+The gale increasing in the afternoon, it was determined to run for
+greater safety to Catwater; but the buoy at the extremity of the reef
+off Mount Batten having broke adrift, of which the pilots were not
+aware, she touched on the shoal, and carried away her rudder. Thus
+rendered unmanageable, she fell off, and grounded under the citadel,
+where, beating round, she lay rolling heavily with her broadside to the
+waves. At the second roll she threw all her masts over board together.
+
+Sir Edward and Lady Pellew were on their way to dine with Dr. Hawker,
+vicar of Charles,--who had become acquainted with Mr. Pellew when they
+were serving together at Plymouth as surgeons to the marines, and
+continued through life the intimate and valued friend of all the
+brothers. Sir Edward noticed the crowds running to the Hoe, and having
+learned the cause, he sprang out of the carriage, and ran off with the
+rest. Arrived at the beach, he saw at once that the loss of nearly all
+on board, between five and six hundred, was almost inevitable. The
+captain had been landed on account of indisposition on the preceding
+day, and his absence could not fail to increase the confusion of a large
+and crowded transport under such appalling circumstances. The officers
+had succeeded in getting a hawser to the shore, by which several of the
+people landed; but this was a slow operation; and none but a bold and
+active person could avail himself of this means of escape, for the
+rolling of the vessel would now jerk him high in the air, and then
+plunge him among the breakers. Every minute was of consequence, for
+night was approaching, and the wreck was fast breaking up.
+
+Sir Edward was anxious to send a message to the officers, and offered
+rewards to pilots, and others on the beach, to board the wreck; but when
+every one shrank from a service which they deemed too hazardous to be
+attempted, he exclaimed, "Then I will go myself." Availing himself of
+the hawser which communicated with the ship, he was hauled on board
+through the surf. The danger was greatly increased by the wreck of the
+masts, which had fallen towards the shore; and he received an injury on
+the back, which confined him to his bed for a week, in consequence of
+being dragged under the mainmast. But disregarding this at the time, he
+reached the deck, declared himself, and assumed the command. He assured
+the people that every one would be saved, if they attended quietly to
+his directions; that he would himself be the last to quit the wreck, but
+that he would run any one through who disobeyed him. His well-known
+name, with the calmness and energy he displayed, gave confidence to the
+despairing multitude. He was received with three hearty cheers, which
+were echoed by the thousands on shore; and his promptitude at resource
+soon enabled him to find and apply the means by which all might be
+safely landed. His officers in the mean time, though not knowing that he
+was on board, were exerting themselves to bring assistance from the
+_Indefatigable_. Mr. Pellowe, first lieutenant, left the ship in the
+barge, and Mr. Thompson, acting master (son of Mr. Thompson, who had
+been master of the _Nymphe_), in the launch; but the boats could not be
+brought alongside the wreck, and were obliged to run for the Barbican. A
+small boat belonging to a merchant vessel was more fortunate. Mr.
+Edsell, signal midshipman to the port admiral, and Mr. Coghlan, mate of
+the vessel, succeeded, at the risk of their lives, in bringing her
+alongside. The ends of two additional hawsers were got on shore, and Sir
+Edward contrived cradles to be slung upon them, with travelling ropes to
+pass forward and backward between the ship and the beach. Each hawser
+was held on shore by a number of men, who watched the rolling of the
+wreck, and kept the ropes tight and steady. Meantime, a cutter had with
+great difficulty worked out of Plymouth pool, and two large boats
+arrived from the dockyard, under the directions of Mr. Hemmings, the
+master-attendant, by whose caution and judgment they were enabled to
+approach the wreck, and receive the more helpless of the passengers, who
+were carried to the cutter. Sir Edward, with his sword drawn, directed
+the proceedings, and preserved order--a task the more difficult, as the
+soldiers had got at the spirits before he came on board, and many were
+drunk. The children, the women, and the sick, were the first landed. One
+of them was only three weeks old; and nothing in the whole transaction
+impressed Sir Edward more strongly than the struggle of the mother's
+feelings before she would entrust her infant to his care, or afforded
+him more pleasure than the success of his attempt to save it. Next the
+soldiers were got on shore; then the ship's company; and finally. Sir
+Edward himself, who was one of the last to leave her. Every one was
+saved, and presently after the wreck went to pieces.
+
+Nothing could equal the lustre of such an action, except the modesty of
+him who was the hero of it. Indeed, upon all occasions, forward as he
+was to eulogize the merits of his followers, Sir Edward was reserved
+almost to a fault upon everything connected with his own services. The
+only notice taken of the _Dutton_, in the journal of the
+_Indefatigable_, is the short sentence:--"Sent two boats to the
+assistance of a ship on shore in the Sound;" and in his letter to
+Vice-Admiral Onslow, who had hoisted his flag at Plymouth a day or two
+before, he throws himself almost out of sight, and ascribes the chief
+merit to the officer who directed the boats:--
+
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I hope it happened to me this afternoon to be
+     serviceable to the unhappy sufferers on board the _Dutton;_ and I
+     have much satisfaction in saying, that every soul in her was taken
+     out before I left her, except the first mate, boatswain, and third
+     mate, who attended the hauling ropes to the shore, and they eased
+     me on shore by the hawser. It is not possible to refrain speaking
+     in raptures of the handsome conduct of Mr. Hemmings, the
+     master-attendant, who, at the imminent risk of his life, saved
+     hundreds. If I had not hurt my leg, and been otherwise much
+     bruised, I would have waited on you; but hope this will be a
+     passable excuse.
+
+              I am, with respect,
+                         Sir,
+        Your most obedient, humble servant,
+                                       ED. PELLEW."
+
+     "Thursday evening."
+
+
+The merit of services performed in the sight of thousands could not thus
+be disclaimed. Praise was lavished upon him from every quarter. The
+corporation of Plymouth voted him the freedom of the town. The merchants
+of Liverpool presented him with a valuable service of plate. On the 5th
+of March following, he was created a baronet, as Sir Edward Pellew, of
+Treverry, and received for an honourable augmentation of his arms, a
+civic wreath, a stranded ship for a crest, and the motto, "Deo adjuvante
+Fortuna sequatur." This motto, so modest, and not less expressive of his
+own habitual feelings, was chosen by himself, in preference to one
+proposed, which was more personally complimentary.
+
+Appreciating Mr. Coghlan's services, and delighted with the judgment and
+gallantry he had displayed, Sir Edward offered to place him on his own
+quarter-deck. It is unnecessary to add that the career of this
+distinguished officer has been worthy his introduction to the navy.
+
+On the 9th of March the _Indefatigable_ sailed from Falmouth, with the
+_Revolutionaire_, _Argo_, _Amazon_, and _Concorde_. On the 21st, the
+_Indefatigable_ gave chase to three corvettes, one of which she drove on
+shore, and destroyed. On the 13th of April, she fell in with the French
+frigate _l'Unité_, on her way from l'Orient to Rochefort, having on
+board, as passengers, the governor's lady, Madame la Large, and her
+family. The _Revolutionaire_, which was ordered to chase in shore to cut
+off the enemy from the land, came up with her a little before midnight.
+Captain Cole hailed the French captain, and urged him repeatedly to
+submit to a superior force; but the enemy refusing to strike, he poured
+in two destructive broadsides. He was preparing to board, the frigates
+at the time running ten knots, when the French ship surrendered. She had
+suffered very severely from the fire of the _Revolutionaire_, without
+having been able to make any effectual return. Sir Edward sent the
+passengers to Brest in a neutral vessel, and finding that one of the
+junior officers of the prize was a son of Mme. la Large, he took the
+young man's parole, and allowed him to accompany his mother.
+
+With his official communication to the Admiralty, which accompanied
+Captain Cole's account of the action, he wrote a private letter to the
+First Lord, and another to the Earl of Chatham. It was his practice
+through life thus to strengthen an interest for his officers in every
+possible quarter, and it was one, though not the only, cause of his
+remarkable success in obtaining promotion for so many of them. His
+letters on this occasion, though they display the warmth of private
+friendship, are not stronger than he was accustomed to write for others,
+whose only claim upon him was that which every deserving officer has to
+the patronage of his commander. The following is the letter to Lord
+Spencer:--
+
+
+     "MY LORD,--I have much pleasure in informing your Lordship of the
+     capture of the French frigate, _l'Unité_, of thirty-eight guns, and
+     two hundred and fifty-five men; and I have more in conveying to
+     your Lordship my sense of Captain Cole's merit upon the occasion.
+     Nothing could be more decided than his conduct; and his attack was
+     made with so much vigour and judgment, that a ship of very superior
+     force to _l'Unité_ must have rewarded his gallantry. To his extreme
+     vigilance and zeal, the squadron are indebted for this prize. It is
+     not improper for me to say, that on all occasions I have found much
+     reason to respect Captain Cole as a skilful and brave officer, and
+     I rejoice in the opportunity of bearing testimony to his merit."
+
+
+To the Earl of Chatham, with whom he was intimate, he wrote in a more
+familiar strain:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAR LORD,--Much as I dislike breaking in upon your time, I
+     cannot resist the pleasure of repeating to you the good fortune of
+     my friend, Frank Cole, who was the fortunate man among us in taking
+     _l'Unité_, alias _la Variante_. There are few things, my Lord, that
+     could raise my friend either in your opinion or mine; but one
+     cannot but rejoice on finding our expectations realized.
+
+     "I am satisfied that nothing could be better conducted than Frank's
+     ship upon this occasion, or courage more coolly displayed; a proof
+     of which was strongly exhibited in his conversation with a vaunting
+     Frenchman, boasting of his own strength, and threatening the
+     vengeance of his partner. It will not be advancing too much when I
+     say, that a ship of far superior force must have shared the same
+     fate. The French commander complains bitterly of Cole's taking such
+     advantages as his superior skill afforded him. The _Revolutionaire_
+     is much improved since her mainmast was moved, and you will believe
+     her, my Lord, always in good order. I have with infinite pleasure
+     given my testimony of Frank to Lord Spencer, and I doubt not but
+     your Lordship will give him a lift in the same quarter."
+
+
+Captain Cole, though his career had been less brilliant than that of his
+friend since they parted, had gained most flattering distinction. His
+high character as an officer, and his reputation for peculiar
+correctness of conduct, added perhaps to his more than common advantages
+in person and manners, had obtained for him the honour of being
+selected, conjointly with the late Sir Richard Keats, to have the
+particular charge of his late Majesty, when he first entered the navy,
+being made lieutenants of the watch in which the Prince was placed. He
+was introduced by his royal pupil to the Prince of Wales, who said of
+him, "They may talk of a cockpit education, and cockpit manners; but a
+court could not have produced more finished manners than those of your
+friend Captain Cole." The friendship between Sir Edward and himself had
+continued from their boyhood, and they had cherished for each other the
+affection and confidence of brothers. He died at Plymouth in 1799. A
+little before his death, Sir Edward, who had just returned from a
+cruise, came to see him for the last time. "Now," said the expiring
+officer, "I shall die more happy, since I have been permitted to see
+once again the dearest of my friends:" and when Sir Edward at length
+tore himself from the room, unable to control his feelings any longer, a
+burst of grief, on returning to the mother and sisters of Captain Cole,
+prevented him for a considerable time from regaining sufficient
+composure to quit the affecting scene.
+
+On the morning of the 20th of April, the frigates were lying-to off the
+Lizard, when a large ship was seen coming in from seaward, which tacked
+as soon as she perceived them, and stood off without answering the
+private signal. The _Revolutionaire_ and _Argo_ were ordered by signal
+to proceed to port with the prize, and the others to make all sail in
+chase, the wind being off the land. Towards evening the _Concorde_ and
+_Amazon_ had been run out of sight, but the _Indefatigable_ gained upon
+the chase, which made the most strenuous efforts to escape, and was
+manoeuvred with no common ability. She was the 40-gun frigate
+_Virginie_, one of the finest and fastest vessels in the French marine,
+and commanded by Captain Jaques Bergeret, a young-officer of the highest
+character and promise. The _Virginie_ was one of the fleet of Villaret
+Joyeuse, when, ten months before, Cornwallis, with five sail of the line
+and two frigates, effected his justly celebrated retreat from thirty
+French men-of-war, of which twelve were of the line. On this occasion,
+Bergeret attacked the _Mars_, with a spirit and judgment which gave full
+earnest of his future conduct.
+
+Finding that the British frigate outsailed her on a wind, the _Virginie_
+bore away; but the _Indefatigable_ continued to gain on her, and at a
+little before midnight came up within gun-shot, and took in royals and
+studding-sails, having run one hundred and sixty-eight miles in fifteen
+hours. The _Virginie_ fired her stern-chasers, occasionally yawing to
+bring some of her broadside guns to bear, but without material effect;
+and the two ships, still running under a press of canvass, came to
+action. The _Indefatigable_ had only one broadside-gun more than her
+opponent; but her size and very heavy metal gave her an irresistible
+superiority. Seven of the _Virginie's_ people were killed at one of the
+quarter-deck guns, which struck such a panic in those around them, that
+it was with difficulty they could be induced to return to their
+quarters. Yet Bergeret fought his ship with admirable skill and
+gallantry, and maintained a very protracted action, constantly
+endeavouring to cripple the _Indefatigable's_ rigging. Sir Edward had a
+very narrow escape. The main-top-mast was shot away, and falling
+forward, it disabled the main yard, and came down on the
+splinter-netting directly over his head. Happily, the netting was strong
+enough to bear the wreck.
+
+It was an hour and three-quarters from the commencement of the action,
+when, the _Virginie's_ mizen-mast and main-top-mast being shot away, the
+_Indefatigable_ unavoidably went a-head. In addition to her former
+damage, she had lost her foreyard and gaff, and her rigging was so much
+cut that she was unable immediately to shorten sail. The _Virginie_ was
+completely riddled. Some of the _Indefatigable's_ shot had even gone
+through the sail-room and out at the opposite side of the ship. She had
+four feet water in her hold, and more than forty of her crew were killed
+and wounded. Yet she attempted to rake her opponent as she was shooting
+a-head, and had nearly succeeded in doing so.
+
+While the _Indefatigable_ was reeving fresh braces, the other frigates
+came up, having been enabled to make a shorter distance by the altered
+course of the combatants during the chase. On their approach, the
+_Virginie_ fired a lee-gun, and hauled down her light; and being hailed
+by the _Concorde_, replied, "We must surrender, there are so many of
+you: we strike to the frigate a-head." A more brave and skilful
+resistance is scarcely afforded by the annals of the war; and the
+officer who thus defends his ship against a very superior force may
+challenge more honour than would be claimed by the victor.
+
+A boat was sent from the _Indefatigable_ for the gallant prisoner, who
+was deeply affected at his misfortune, and wept bitterly. He inquired to
+whom he had struck; and being told Sir Edward Pellew, "Oh!" he
+exclaimed, "that is the most fortunate man that ever lived! He takes
+everything, and now he has taken the finest frigate in France."
+
+Bergeret was for some time the honoured guest of Sir Edward and his
+family, and the British Government considered him an officer of
+sufficient character to be offered in exchange for Sir Sidney Smith, who
+had been made prisoner at Havre just before. They sent him to France on
+his parole, to effect this object; but his application not being
+successful, he returned to England. Two years after, Sir Sidney Smith
+escaped, and the British Government, with a feeling most honourable to
+themselves, set Bergeret unconditionally at liberty. Thus do the brave
+and good, in challenging the respect of their enemies, contribute to
+soften the rigours of war, and to create a better feeling between
+hostile nations.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] A trifling incident occurred in this journey, which may, perhaps,
+deserve to be mentioned. In going down a hill, two or three miles beyond
+Axminster, both leaders fell, and the night being very cold, for the
+wind had set in strong from the eastward, a ring, on which he set
+particular value, dropped from Sir Edward's finger, as he was getting
+into the carriage again. He was vexed at the loss; but the road being
+very dirty, and the night dark, it was useless then to seek it. He
+therefore tore a bush from the hedge, and left it where the carriage had
+stopped: and ordering the post-boys to draw up at the next cottage, he
+knocked up the inmates, and promised them a reward if they found it. To
+his great pleasure, the expedient proved successful, and the ring was
+delivered to him on his return.
+
+[6] The _Revolutionaire_, 110, wrecked Dec. 24, on the Mingan rock, near
+Brest; the _Neuf Thermidor_, 80. _Scipion_, 80, and _Superbe_, 74,
+foundered in a heavy gale on the 28th of January; and the _Neptune_, 74,
+wrecked in Audierne Bay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.
+
+
+France, having at length obtained internal quiet, and a settled
+Government under the Directory, and secured the alliance of Spain and
+Holland, prepared for a decisive blow against Great Britain. The
+condition of the British empire was at that time peculiarly critical. Of
+her allies, some had joined the enemy, and the others had proved unequal
+to resist him. In the East, the most powerful of the native princes were
+preparing to subvert her authority. At home, Ireland was organized for
+rebellion; and England herself contained a strong revolutionary party,
+checked, indeed, by the energy of the Government, and still more by the
+excellent disposition of the people, but prepared to rise in formidable
+activity, whenever the successes of the enemy should enable them to
+declare themselves.
+
+Well acquainted with all her difficulties, the French Government
+hastened to take advantage of them. Through the summer and autumn of
+1796, a powerful fleet was equipped at Brest, to land an army on the
+shores of Ireland; after accomplishing which, a squadron of eight sail
+of the line was to be detached to India, where its support would
+probably encourage the hostile states to an immediate and general war.
+Its prospects were the more promising, as the armies of two of the
+native princes were officered by Frenchmen. As for Ireland, that was
+regarded as a country of which they had only to take possession; and the
+well-known feeling of a considerable part of the inhabitants warranted
+the most sanguine hopes of the invader.
+
+The history of Ireland affords a melancholy, but most instructive
+lesson, pre-eminent as that unhappy country has been, at once for
+natural and political advantages, and for misery, turbulence, and crime.
+A Government, to command the obedience of the people by its firmness,
+and their confidence by a marked consideration for their feelings and
+welfare; a gentry, united with them as their leaders, protectors, and
+friends; and a Church, winning them to a purer faith by the unobtrusive
+display of benefits and excellences: all these blessings might have been
+its own. But by fatal mismanagement, the gentry, those of them who
+remained, were viewed as the garrison of a conquered country by the
+multitude, who were taught to feel themselves a degraded caste. The
+Church became identified in their minds with all that they most
+complained of; and the faith for which they suffered was doubly endeared
+to them. Thus the instruments for their deliverance confirmed their
+thraldom, and what should have won affection aggravated their enmity.
+
+If there were a mistake beyond all this, it was that of expecting peace
+from concessions extorted by violence, and calculated only to give
+increased power to the enemies of existing institutions. Lord Exmouth
+held a very decided opinion upon this point, and foresaw that strong
+coercive measures would become necessary in consequence. He well knew
+how feeble would be the restraint imposed by any conditions contemplated
+by the advocates of change; and in allusion to the remark of the Duke of
+Northumberland, who had expressed a belief that he would think
+differently, when he saw the securities which would accompany the
+concessions--"Securities!" he said, "it is all nonsense! I never yet
+could see them, and I never shall." He justly anticipated, that as long
+as anything remained to be extorted, new demands would be founded upon
+every new concession. "How would you like," he said to one of his
+officers, "to see Roman Catholic chaplains on board our ships of war?"
+While the question was in progress, he wrote with prophetic truth--"The
+times are awful, when the choice of two evils only is left, a threatened
+rebellion, or the surrender of our constitution, by the admission of
+Catholics into Parliament and all offices. I think even this will not
+satisfy Ireland. Ascendancy is their object. You may postpone, and by
+loss of character parry the evil for a short space; but not long, depend
+upon it. You and I may not see it, but our children will, and be obliged
+to meet the struggle man to man, which we may now shirk. By God alone
+can we be saved from such consequences; may He shed his power and grace
+upon us as a nation!"
+
+The political being everywhere dependent on the religious creed, a
+country where popish superstitions prevail will always contain two
+parties hostile upon principle to a free and constitutional government.
+The multitude, who have surrendered the right of private judgment upon
+the most engrossing subject, lose the disposition to exercise it upon
+matters of inferior importance; and become dangerous instruments in the
+hands of designing characters. A party will be found among them, whose
+penetration can detect the mummeries of imposture, but not perceive the
+claims of religion; and who, as they throw off allegiance to God, revolt
+at any exercise of human authority. Political privileges, the strength
+of a nation, where the intelligence and morals of the people support the
+law, will in such a country give power to rebellion, and impunity to
+crime. A government paternal in vigour as in kindness; the control of a
+firm authority, supreme over all influence, to maintain order, to leave
+no excuse for party, to protect the peaceable, promptly to suppress all
+resistance to the law, and to give to the demagogue only the alternative
+between obedience and rebellion, will be required not more for the
+safety of the state, than for the welfare of the misguided people.
+
+When the progress of the French revolution engaged the attention of
+Europe, there was no country where it was regarded with greater interest
+than in Ireland. The Papists hoped from it the opportunity to overthrow
+Protestant supremacy: the Liberals hailed the triumph of their own
+principles. Emissaries were sent to France, who represented that nothing
+was wanting to secure the independence of Ireland but a regular army for
+a rallying point; and France, hoping to give a fatal blow to her most
+formidable enemy, and to gain a valuable province for herself, readily
+promised the aid required, and as soon as her own distracted condition
+would allow, hastened to fulfil her engagement.
+
+The auxiliary force which the rebel delegates deemed sufficient, was
+fifteen thousand men; but an army of at least eighteen thousand was
+provided, commanded by that determined republican and distinguished
+officer, General Hoche, who had very recently succeeded in suppressing
+the revolt in La Vendee. Vice Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, defeated by Lord
+Howe on the 1st of June, was selected to command the fleet; but, a
+misunderstanding having arisen between him and the General, he was
+superseded by Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles.
+
+The Minister of Marine, M. Truguet, whose able arrangements seemed to
+have anticipated and provided for every difficulty, had intended that
+the descent should be made in October, or at latest by the beginning of
+November; but the General having preferred to embark the whole army at
+once, it was delayed for the arrival of Rear-Admirals Pachery and
+Villeneuve; of whom the first, with seven sail of the line and three
+frigates, was waiting for an opportunity to come up from Rochefort, and
+the other was expected with five sail of the line from Toulon. The
+secret of the enemy's intentions was so well kept, that England had to
+conjecture the destination of the armament, and it was doubted to the
+last whether its object was Ireland, Portugal, or Gibraltar. In this
+uncertainty, a principal division of the Channel fleet, under Lord
+Bridport, remained at Spithead: Sir Roger Curtis, with a smaller force,
+cruised to the westward; and Vice-Admiral Sir John Colpoys was stationed
+off Brest, at first with ten, but afterwards with thirteen sail of the
+line. Sir Edward Pellew, with a small force of frigates, latterly
+watched the harbour.
+
+About the middle of November, Sir R. Curtis returned to port, and soon
+after, M. Richery sailed from Rochefort, and entered Brest on the 11th
+of December. Sir E. Pellew, who had necessarily retired on his approach,
+immediately sent off two frigates with despatches, the _Amazon_ to
+England, and the _Phoebe_ to Sir J. Colpoys. On the 15th, he stood in
+with the _Indefatigable_, and though chased by a seventy-four and five
+frigates, stationed in Bertheaume Bay, he persisted in watching the port
+as usual. In the afternoon, he saw the French fleet leave the road of
+Brest, and immediately sent back the _Phoebe_ to report the fact to the
+Admiral. The enemy anchored between Camaret and Bertheaume Bays, in
+front of the goulet, or entrance into Brest road.
+
+Knowing how much depended on his vigilance, Sir Edward had watched Brest
+with the most anxious attention. The wind blew generally from the
+eastward, at times so strong, that the line-of-battle-ships would be
+under a close-reefed maintop-sail and reefed foresail; and the weather
+was intensely cold: yet he went every morning to the mast-head, where he
+would remain making his observations for a considerable part of the day,
+one of the older midshipmen being usually with him. "Well I remember,"
+writes one of his officers, "that on being one day relieved to go down
+to my dinner, I was obliged to have some of the main-top-men to help me
+down the rigging, I was so benumbed with the intense cold: yet the
+captain was there six or seven hours at a time, without complaining, or
+taking any refreshment."
+
+On the 16th, the wind being from the eastward, the French fleet,
+forty-four ships, of which seventeen were of the line and thirteen
+frigates, got finally under way, not waiting the arrival of Villeneuve.
+The Admiral purposed leaving Brest by the southern entrance, the Passage
+du Raz, between the Bec du Raz and the Saintes. By taking this course,
+and by so timing his departure as to clear the land just at nightfall,
+he hoped to elude the vigilance of the British fleet off Ushant, whose
+usual cruising ground was not more than six or seven leagues to leeward.
+But through the delays inseparable from getting a large and encumbered
+fleet to sea, it was four o'clock before all the ships were under sail;
+and as night was fast closing in, and the wind becoming variable, the
+Admiral determined not to attempt the narrow and dangerous passage he
+had fixed on, but to steer for the open entrance in front of the
+harbour, the Passage d'Iroise. Accordingly, he altered his own course,
+and made signal for the fleet to follow; but neither was generally
+observed, and the greater part of the ships, as previously directed,
+entered the Passage du Raz. The Admiral, therefore, sent a corvette into
+the midst of them, to call their attention to his own ship, which
+continued to fire guns, and display lights to mark the change in her
+course. By this time, it was quite dark, and many circumstances
+increased the enemy's confusion. The _Seduisant_, seventy-four, ran on
+the Grand Stevenet, a rock at the entrance of the Passage du Raz, where
+she was totally lost that night, with nearly seven hundred of her
+people. Her guns, and other signals, prevented those of the corvette
+from being attended to; and the _Indefatigable_, which kept close to the
+French Admiral, made his signals unintelligible to the fleet.
+
+Sir E. Pellew had stood in that morning with the _Indefatigable_ and
+_Revolutionaire_, and at noon came in sight of the enemy. At a quarter
+before five, when they had all got underway, he sent off Captain Cole to
+the Admiral, and remained with his own ship to observe and embarrass
+their movements. With a boldness which must have astonished them,
+accustomed though they had been to the daring manner in which he had
+watched their port; under easy sail, but with studding-sails ready for a
+start, if necessary, he kept as close as possible to the French Admiral,
+often within half-gun-shot; and as that officer made signals to his
+fleet, he falsified them by additional guns, lights, and rockets. At
+half-past eight, when the French ships were observed coming round the
+Saintes, he made sail to the north-west, with a light at each mast-head,
+constantly making signals for Sir J. Colpoys, by firing a gun every
+quarter of an hour, throwing up rockets, and burning blue lights. At
+midnight, having received no answer, he tacked, and stood to the
+southward until six o'clock. Still seeing nothing of the Admiral, though
+he had sailed over all his cruising ground, he sent off the _Duke of
+York_, hired armed lugger, to England, with despatches, intending to
+remain with the _Indefatigable_, and take part in the expected battle.
+But reflecting on the importance of conveying the information quickly to
+England, with the uncertainty of its being carried safely by so small a
+vessel; and assured that the _Revolutionaire_, which he had again spoke
+that morning, would not fail to meet Sir J. Colpoys, he gave up the hope
+of distinction to a sense of duty, and made sail for Falmouth. He
+arrived late in the evening of the 20th.
+
+If Lord Bridport had been waiting at Falmouth, with discretional powers,
+Sir Edward having been instructed to communicate directly with him, he
+might have sailed early on the 21st, and found the enemy in Bantry Bay,
+where, perhaps, not a ship would have escaped him. It is, however, to be
+remembered, that as the destination of the French armament was unknown
+to the last, the Admiralty might very properly determine that he should
+receive his final instructions from themselves, and therefore would keep
+the fleet at Spithead for the convenience of ready communication.
+
+On the 25th, Lord Bridport attempted to sail. The enemy had arrived four
+days before, and if the weather had allowed the troops to land, the most
+complete naval victory would have been too late to save the country. The
+fleet was prevented from putting to sea on that day by a succession of
+accidents, by which five of the heaviest ships were disabled before they
+could leave the harbour. The _Prime_ missed stays, and fell on board the
+_Sans Pareil_. The _Formidable_ ran foul of the _Ville de Paris_; and
+the _Atlas_ grounded. Four of these were three-deckers, and the other
+was one of the finest 80-gun ships in the service. When at length part
+of the fleet reached St. Helen's, a shift of wind kept the rest at
+Spithead; and the Admiral could not put to sea till January 3rd. The
+baffled enemy was then returning, and seven of his ships had actually
+arrived in Brest two days before the British sailed from Portsmouth to
+pursue them.
+
+How Sir J. Colpoys missed the enemy may appear extraordinary. The
+explanation, which every circumstance tends to confirm, is, that he was
+restrained from attacking them by his instructions, his force being
+intended only for a squadron of observation: for though the enemy's
+fleet, as it actually sailed, would have given him an easy victory,
+there was always reason to believe that it was much too strong for his
+force. Exclusive of the five sail which were hourly expected from
+Toulon, there were twenty-four line-of-battle ships in Brest, and there
+was no reason to conclude but that the greater part, if not the whole of
+them, were to sail with the expedition. As the British would be so much
+outnumbered, Sir E. Pellew offered, in the event of a battle, to take a
+place in the line with the _Indefatigable_. The Admiral thanked him, but
+declined the offer, believing that the enemy's superiority was too great
+to hope for victory. When the enemy put to sea, the British fleet was
+eight or nine leagues to the westward of their usual cruising ground,
+and thus was missed, not only by the _Indefatigable_, but also by the
+_Revolutionaire_, which did not join with the information till the 19th.
+Next day, the Toulon ships were seen, and chased into port; and the
+Admiral, having no means of learning the course of the Brest fleet, and
+some of his own ships being obliged to part company, in consequence of
+injuries they had sustained in a gale, bore away with the remainder for
+Spithead.
+
+Meantime, almost everything favoured the enemy. The two divisions of his
+fleet, which were separated on the evening of the 16th, by putting to
+sea through different passages, rejoined on the 19th, and reached their
+destination early on the 21st, without having met a single British
+cruiser. When they appeared off the Bay, a number of pilot-boats came
+out, supposing them to be a British fleet; and thus the French Admiral
+obtained pilots for his ships, and gained all the information he wanted
+of the British men-of-war on the coast. A line-of-battle ship and three
+frigates were still missing. Their absence would not have materially
+weakened the enemy, whose force still exceeded what the rebel delegates
+had required; but the two commanders had embarked in one of the missing
+frigates, the _Fraternité_; and Rear-Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy,
+the seconds in command, could scarcely act with decision while their
+chiefs were hourly expected.
+
+The _Fraternité_, with the other three ships in company, was very near
+the fleet on the 20th, but it was concealed from her by a fog; and a
+gale which dispersed the fog, separated her from her consorts.
+Proceeding alone to the Bay, she had nearly reached it on the 21st, when
+she fell in with a British frigate, which she mistook for one of her own
+fleet till she was almost within gun-shot. Night saved her from capture,
+but the chase had carried her far to the westward, and it was eight days
+before she obtained a fair wind to return.
+
+The ships continued beating up to Bearhaven against a fresh easterly
+breeze until the evening of the 22nd, when the Rear-Admiral anchored
+off the eastern extremity of Great Bear Island, with eight sail of the
+line, two frigates, and some smaller vessels. Seven sail of the line,
+and eight frigates, kept under sail; and the wind rising in the night
+blew them all off to sea.
+
+It blew hard, with a heavy sea, through the next day and night. On the
+24th, the weather having moderated, it was determined in a council of
+war to land the remaining troops immediately, and General Grouchy made a
+formal requisition for that purpose. A suitable landing-place was found,
+and the necessary preparations were completed; but it was now late in
+the afternoon, and the landing was necessarily deferred until morning.
+That night, the gale rose from the eastward, and increased through the
+next day to a tempest. At length the ships began to drive from their
+anchors. The _Indomptable_, 80, ran foul of the _Resolve_ frigate, and
+totally dismasted her. The other frigate, the _Immortalité_, in which
+Rear-admiral Bouvet had embarked, though his proper flag-ship was the
+_Droits de l'Homme,_ parted one of her cables in the evening, and was
+obliged to cut the other, and run out to sea. The weather would not
+allow her to return until the 29th, and then the Rear-Admiral, hopeless
+of re-assembling the fleet, decided to proceed to Brest.
+
+Others were less fortunate. The _Tortue_ frigate, two corvettes, and
+four transports, were taken. The _Surveillante_ frigate was wrecked, and
+a transport foundered in the bay; and a third frigate, _l'Impatiente_,
+was driven on shore near Crookhaven. The sailors determined to secure
+for themselves alone the means of escape, leaving the troops to their
+fate. Where such a feeling could exist, the discipline required for
+their own safety was not likely to be found: and all perished but seven,
+who were saved chiefly by the exertions of the people on shore.
+
+Part of the fleet, after having been blown out of the bay, steered for
+the _Shannon_, which had been fixed on as a rendezvous in the event of
+separation; but they were too few to attempt a landing, and after
+waiting for a short time in hope of reinforcements, they found it
+necessary to return.
+
+The _Fraternité_, with the two commanders-in-chief, continued to beat
+against an easterly gale till the 29th, when the wind became fair for
+the bay. Standing towards it, she fell in with the _Scerola_, rasé, in a
+sinking state, with the _Revolution_, 74, engaged in taking out the
+people. She assisted to save them, and the two ships continued their
+course towards Ireland, hoping to fall in with so many of the fleet as
+might still enable them to make a descent. But next day, not having seen
+any of them, and their provisions becoming short, they steered for
+France. On the 8th of January, they were very near eleven of their
+ships, which they would presently have joined, but that they altered
+their course to avoid two British frigates, the _Unicorn_ and _Doris_,
+which at the time were actually being chased by the French. Next day
+they again fell in with the frigates, and on the morning of the 10th
+they were chased by Lord Bridport's fleet, from which they narrowly
+escaped. On the 14th they entered Rochefort, the last of the returning
+ships.
+
+Such was the fate of an expedition, in which nothing was neglected which
+foresight could suggest, and nothing wanting which ability could supply;
+whose fortune attended it until success might be deemed secure, and
+whose defeat was attended with circumstances too extraordinary to be
+referred to common causes. History records no event, not attended by
+direct miracle, in which God's providence is more strikingly displayed.
+The forces of atheism and popery had joined to overthrow a nation, the
+stronghold of Christian truth, and the bulwark of Protestant Europe. In
+this, so emphatically a holy war, no earthly arm was allowed to achieve
+the triumph. Human agency was put aside, and all human defences
+prostrated; and then, when the unresisted invader touched the object of
+his hope, the elements were commissioned against him. That the vigilance
+of a blockading force should be so eluded, and that unusual misfortunes
+should prevent a fleet from sailing till nothing remained for it to do;
+that the enemy's two commanders should be separated from their force
+when it sailed, and afterwards prevented, by so many well-timed
+casualties, from rejoining it; that when the fleet had actually arrived
+in the destined port, half should be blown out to sea again before they
+could anchor, and the rest driven from their anchors before they could
+land the troops; that the returning ships should be prevented from
+meeting their commanders; and that every disappointment should just
+anticipate the moment of success;--such a combination of circumstances
+it were folly and impiety to ascribe to anything less than the hand of
+God.
+
+A victory would have saved the country, but it would not have afforded
+such ground for assured confidence in her future trials. This
+deliverance was a pledge of protection through the terrible struggle of
+the next twenty years; when, long disappointed in her hopes, and at
+length deserted by her last ally, England still maintained her good
+cause with a firmness more honourable to her character than even the
+unrivalled triumph she achieved. It remains a pledge, that amidst all
+dangers she may perform her duty as a Christian country, in full
+reliance upon God's blessing: or, should the greatness of her trials
+confound all human resources, that she may wait, in quietness and
+confidence, for God's deliverance.
+
+It was Sir Edward Pellew's fortune, as he had been prominent in the
+services connected with the sailing of this armament, to mark the return
+of it by a battle, the only one fought, and equally singular in its
+circumstances, and appalling in its result. He put to sea with the
+_Indefatigable_ and _Amazon_ on the 22nd, and supposing the enemy to
+have gone to the southward, cruised off Capes Ortugal and Finisterre
+until the 11th of January. On the 2nd, the _Amazon_ carried away her
+main-topmast, and on the 11th, the _Indefatigable_ sprung her
+main-topmast and topsail-yard in a squall, and was obliged to shift
+them. Returning towards the Channel, on the 13th of January, at a little
+past noon, the ships being about fifty leagues south-west of Ushant, and
+the wind blowing hard from the westward, with thick weather, a sail was
+discovered in the north-west. Sail was made in chase, and by four
+o'clock the stranger, at first supposed to be a frigate, as she had no
+poop, was clearly made out to be a French two-decker.
+
+The enemy's ship, the _Droits de l'Homme_, commanded by Commodore,
+_ci-devant_ Baron Lacrosse, was one of those which had proceeded to the
+Shannon, after having been blown out of Bantry Bay. She was the
+flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bouvet, but this officer, according to a
+frequent practice of French admirals, had embarked in a frigate. General
+Humbert, who commanded one of the expeditions to Ireland in 1798, had
+taken his passage in her. That morning she had arrived within
+twenty-five leagues of Belleisle, and as the weather appeared
+threatening, she stood to the southward, fearing to approach nearer to
+the shore. Early in the afternoon she saw two large ships at a short
+distance to windward, probably the _Revolution_ and _Fraternité_, but
+not waiting to ascertain their character, she made sail from them to the
+south-east. At half-past three she first discovered on her lee-bow the
+two frigates, which had observed her three hours before, and were
+steering a course nearly parallel to her own, to cut her off from the
+land.
+
+The wind had now increased to a gale, and the sea was fast rising. At
+half-past four the enemy carried away her fore and main-topmasts in a
+heavy squall. At three-quarters past five the _Indefatigable_ came up
+with her, and having shortened sail to close-reefed topsails, poured in
+a broadside as she crossed her stern. The enemy returned it from some of
+the upper-deck guns, and by showers of musketry from the troops, of whom
+there were nearly a thousand on board. So close were the ships, that
+some of the _Indefatigable's_ people tore away the enemy's ensign, which
+became entangled in the mizen rigging. The _Indefatigable_ then tried to
+pass ahead and gain a position on the enemy's bow, but the
+line-of-battle ship avoided this, and attempted, but without success, to
+lay the frigate on board, actually grazing the _Indefatigable's_
+spanker-boom.
+
+The British frigate engaged the line-of-battle ship single-handed for
+more than an hour, before her consort, which was several miles astern
+when the action commenced, could get up to assist her. At length,
+reaching the enemy, the _Amazon_ poured a broadside into her quarter,
+and then, with the Commodore, maintained the engagement until about
+half-past seven, when the _Indefatigable_ found it necessary to repair
+her rigging, and both frigates shot ahead.
+
+At a little past eight, the frigates renewed the action, and placing
+themselves one on either bow of the _Droits de l'Homme_, raked her
+alternately. The seventy-four brought her guns to bear upon one or the
+other of her antagonists as well as she could, and occasionally
+attempted, but without success, to close. At half-past ten, her
+mizenmast was shot away, when the frigates changed their position, and
+attacked her on either quarter. Soon after she began to fire shells. The
+gale continued all night, with a very heavy sea, and the violent motion
+of the ships made the labour of the crews most excessive. On the
+main-deck of the _Indefatigable_, the men were often to the middle in
+water. Some of her guns broke their breechings four times; others drew
+the ring-bolts, and from some, the charge was obliged to be drawn after
+loading, in consequence of the water beating into them. But under these
+most trying circumstances, the crew did their duty nobly. The _Amazon_,
+being a smaller ship, experienced still greater difficulties than the
+_Indefatigable_. She emulated her consort most gallantly, and suffered a
+greater loss. Her masts and rigging were very much damaged; her
+mizen-top-mast, gaff, spanker-boom, and main-topsail-yard being
+entirely shot away; the main and foremast, and the fore and main yards
+wounded in several places by large shot; many of her shrouds, stays, and
+back-stays shot away, besides those which had been knotted and stoppered
+in the action; all her spare cordage was expended in reeving running
+rigging, and she had three feet water in the hold. The loss of men in
+both ships was remarkably small. The _Amazon_ had three killed, and
+fifteen badly wounded; and the _Indefatigable_, though she had so long
+fought the seventy-four single-handed, had only her first lieutenant and
+eighteen men wounded; twelve of them slightly, and the two worst cases
+from accidents. The lower-deck guns of the enemy were nearer the water
+than is usual in line of-battle ships, and in consequence of the heavy
+sea, she could use them only occasionally. From this cause, as well as
+from the excellent positions maintained by the frigates, and her
+crippled state through the latter part of the action, she could make but
+a very unequal return to their fire. She suffered very much. More than a
+hundred of her people were killed--a severe loss, yet small compared to
+what it must have been, from the crowded state of her decks, and the
+unprecedented length of the action, if the darkness, the heavy gale, and
+the consequent motion of the ships, had not made the firing slow, and
+the aim uncertain.
+
+It was nearly eleven hours from the commencement of the action, when
+Lieutenant Bell, who was quartered on the forecastle, and who had kept
+the ship's reckoning through the night, satisfied himself that they were
+near the French coast, and ordered one or two sailors to keep a good
+look-out. One of these men thought he saw land, and reported it to his
+officer; who, perceiving it distinctly, went aft, and told the captain.
+Immediately the tacks were hauled on board, and the _Indefatigable_
+stood to the southward, after making the night-signal of danger to the
+_Amazon_, which, with equal promptitude, wore to the northward. The
+enemy, who did not yet see the danger, thought they had beaten off the
+frigates, and poured a broadside into the _Indefatigable_, the most
+destructive she had yet received. Seven shot struck her hull, the three
+lower-masts were wounded, and the larboard main-topmast shrouds were all
+cut away close to the seizings of the eyes at the mast head. It required
+extraordinary activity and coolness to save the topmast, the loss of
+which, at that time, would have made that of the ship inevitable. Under
+the direction of Mr. Gaze, who immediately sprang aloft, the captain of
+the main-top cut away the top gallant-yard; while Mr. Thompson, acting
+master, got up the end of a hawser, which he clinched around the
+mast-head. Thus they saved the main-topmast, and probably prevented the
+mainmast itself from being sprung. Mr. Gaze, who received a master's
+warrant a few weeks after, continued with Lord Exmouth to the last day
+of his command. He was master of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and it
+was he who carried the _Queen Charlotte_ in such admirable style to her
+position at Algiers.
+
+None at this time knew how desperate was their situation. The ships were
+in the Bay of Audierne, close in with the surf, with the wind blowing a
+heavy gale dead on the shore, and a tremendous sea rolling in. To beat
+off the land would have been a difficult and doubtful undertaking for
+the best and most perfect ship. The _Indefatigable_ had four feet water
+in the hold, and her safety depended on her wounded spars and damaged
+rigging bearing the press of sail she was obliged to carry; while the
+crew, thus summoned to renewed exertion, were already quite worn out
+with fatigue. The fate of the other ships was certain; for the _Amazon_
+had all her principal sails disabled, and the _Droits de l'Homme_ was
+unmanageable.
+
+The _Indefatigable_ continued standing to the southward, until the
+captain of the mizen-top gave the alarm of breakers on the lee-bow. The
+ship was immediately wore in eighteen fathoms, and she stood to the
+northward till half-past six, when land was again seen close a-head on
+the weather-bow, with breakers under the lee. Running again to the
+southward, she passed the _Droits de l'Homme_ lying on her broadside in
+the surf, at the distance of about a mile, but without the possibility
+of giving the smallest assistance. Her own situation, indeed, was almost
+hopeless; and Sir Edward Pellew himself was deeply affected, when,
+having done all that seamanship could accomplish, he could only commit
+to a merciful Providence the lives of his gallant crew, all now
+depending upon one of the many accidents to the masts and rigging which
+there was so much reason to apprehend. Happily, the sails stood well;
+the _Indefatigable_ continued to gain by every tack; and at eleven
+o'clock, with six feet water in her hold, she passed about
+three-quarters of a mile to windward of the Penmarcks; enabling her
+officers and men, after a day and night of incessant exertion, at length
+to rest from their toil, and to bless God for their deliverance.
+
+She had scarcely bent new topsails and foresail, the others having been
+shot to pieces, when two large ships were seen at some distance a-head,
+crossing her course, and standing in a direction for L'Orient. One of
+them was at first supposed to be the _Amazon_, of which nothing had been
+seen since the close of the action, and the extent of whose damages was
+not at all suspected. The other was considered to be a French frigate,
+and Sir Edward gave orders to make sail in chase. But the officers
+represented to him, that the crew, entirely exhausted by the
+unparalleled length of the action, and by their subsequent labours, were
+quite incapable of further exertion; that their ammunition was very
+short, scarcely a cartridge filled, and every wad expended. Had the
+French frigate been alone, this would have been a subject of much
+regret; for she was the _Fraternité,_ with the two commanders-in-chief
+and all the treasure of the expedition on board; but her consort was the
+74-gun ship _Revolution_.
+
+The _Amazon_ struck the ground about ten minutes after she ceased
+firing. Her crew displayed the admirable discipline which British seamen
+are accustomed to maintain under such circumstances; more creditable to
+them, if possible, than the seamanship which saved the _Indefatigable_.
+From half past five until nine o'clock, they were employed in making
+rafts, and not a man was lost, or attempted to leave the ship, except
+six, who stole away the cutter from the stern, and were drowned. Captain
+Reynolds and his officers remained by the ship until they had safely
+landed, first the wounded, and afterwards every man of the crew. Of
+course they were made prisoners, but they were treated well, and
+exchanged not many months after.
+
+Conduct like that of the _Amazon's_ people in their hour of extreme
+danger--and it is nothing more than British seamen commonly display in
+the same situation--makes an Englishman proud of his country. Nor should
+it be forgotten, for it exalts the feeling of patriotism and honest
+pride, that a man-of-war's crew at that time was made up, in part, of
+the lowest characters in society. What, then, must be the strength and
+excellence of that moral feeling in England, which can display itself
+thus nobly where it would be the least expected! The fact conveys an
+impressive lesson; for if the intelligence, decision, and kindness,
+which, with few exceptions, characterize our sea-officers, can effect
+such happy results where they operate on the most unpromising materials,
+it is clear, that whatever faults the lower classes in England display
+must be attributed, in a great degree, to the neglect or misconduct of
+those, whose station in society, as it gives the power, imposes the duty
+to guide them.
+
+The fate of the _Droits de l'Homme_ presents an awful contrast indeed to
+that of the _Amazon_. She saw the land soon after the frigates hauled
+off, and after hopeless attempts, first to avoid it, and afterwards to
+anchor, she struck the ground almost at the same moment as the British
+frigate. The main-mast went overboard at the second shock: the fore-mast
+and bowsprit had fallen a few minutes before, in her attempt to keep
+off the land. When danger was first seen, the crew gave an alarm to the
+English prisoners below, of whom there were fifty-five, the crew and
+passengers of a letter-of-marque, which the _Droits de l'Homme_ had
+taken a few days before: "Poor English, come up quickly; we are all
+lost!" Presently, the ship struck on a bank of sand, nearly opposite the
+town of Plouzenec. Cries of dismay were now heard from every part.
+Signals of distress were fired, and several of the guns hove overboard.
+Many of the people were soon washed away by the waves, which broke
+incessantly over her. At daylight the shore was seen covered with
+spectators, but they could afford no assistance. In the meantime, the
+stern was beaten in by the sea, and no provisions or water could
+afterwards be obtained.
+
+At low water an attempt was made to reach the shore, but two boats which
+were brought alongside drifted away and were dashed to pieces on the
+rocks. A small raft was constructed to carry a hawser to the shore, by
+the aid of which it was hoped that preparations might be completed for
+safely landing the people. A few sailors having embarked on it, the rope
+was gradually slackened to allow it to drift to land; but some of these
+people being washed away, the rest became alarmed, cast off the hawser,
+and saved themselves. After a second unsuccessful attempt with a raft, a
+petty officer attached a cord to his body and tried to swim on shore;
+but he was soon exhausted, and would have perished, but that he was
+hauled back to the ship.
+
+On the second day, at low water, an English captain and eight other
+prisoners launched a small boat, and landed safely. Their success
+restored confidence to the multitude, proving, as it did, how easily all
+might be saved, if proper means were quietly adopted. But discipline and
+order were wanting; and attempts made without judgment, and without
+concert, ended in the loss of all who made them.
+
+Perishing with cold, and thirst, and hunger--for the ship, her stern
+now broken away, no longer afforded shelter from the waves, and they had
+tasted nothing since she struck--the unhappy crew saw a third day arise
+upon their miseries. Still the gale continued, and there was no prospect
+of relief from the shore. It was now determined to construct a large
+raft, and first to send away the surviving wounded, with the women and
+children, in a boat which remained. But as soon as she was brought
+alongside, there was a general rush, and about a hundred and twenty
+threw themselves into her. Their weight carried down the boat; next
+moment an enormous wave broke upon them, and when the sea became
+smoother, their corpses were seen floating all around. An officer,
+Adjutant General Renier, attempted to swim on shore, hoping that a
+knowledge of their condition might enable the spectators to devise some
+means for their deliverance. He plunged into the sea and was lost.
+
+"Already nearly nine hundred had perished," says Lieutenant Pipon, an
+officer of the 63rd regiment, who was on board a prisoner, and who
+afterwards published the dreadful story.[7] "when the fourth night came
+with renewed terrors. Weak, distracted, and wanting everything, we
+envied the fate of those whose lifeless corpses no longer needed
+sustenance. The sense of hunger was already lost, but a parching thirst
+consumed our vitals. Recourse was had to wine and salt water, which only
+increased the want. Half a hogshead of vinegar floated up, and each had
+half a wine-glassful. This gave a momentary relief, yet soon left us
+again in the same state of dreadful thirst. Almost at the last gasp,
+every one was dying with misery: the ship, which was now one third
+shattered away from the stern, scarcely afforded a grasp to hold by, to
+the exhausted and helpless survivors. The fourth day brought with it a
+more serene sky, and the sea seemed to subside; but to behold, from fore
+and aft, the dying in all directions, was a sight too shocking for the
+feeling mind to endure. Almost lost to a sense of humanity, we no longer
+looked with pity on those who were the speedy fore-runners of our own
+fate, and a consultation took place to sacrifice some one to be food for
+the remainder. The die was going to be cast, when the welcome sight of a
+man-of-war brig renewed our hopes. A cutter speedily followed, and both
+anchored at a short distance from the wreck. They then sent their boats
+to us, and by means of large rafts, about a hundred and fifty of near
+four hundred who attempted it, were saved by the brig that evening.
+Three hundred and eighty were left to endure another night's misery,
+when, dreadful to relate, above one-half were found dead next morning."
+
+Commodore Lacrosse, General Humbert, and three British infantry
+officers, prisoners, remained in the wreck till the fifth morning; and
+all survived: so great is the influence of moral power to sustain
+through extreme hardships. The prisoners were treated with the utmost
+kindness, and in consideration of their sufferings, and the help they
+had afforded in saving many lives, a cartel was fitted out by order of
+the French Government to send them home, without ransom or exchange.
+They arrived at Plymouth on the 7th of March following.
+
+The Admiralty awarded head-money to the frigates for the destruction of
+the _Droits de l'Homme_. As there were no means of knowing her
+complement with certainty, Sir Edward wrote to Commodore Lacrosse to
+request the information, telling him it was the practice of his
+Government to award a certain sum for every man belonging to an enemy's
+armed vessel taken, or destroyed. The Commodore answered, that the
+_Droits de l'Homme_ had been neither taken nor destroyed, but that the
+ships had fought like three dogs till they all fell over the cliff
+together. Her crew, with the troops, he said, was sixteen hundred men.
+
+The gallant captain of the _Amazon_, one of the earliest and closest
+friends of Sir Edward Pellew, perished at length by a not less
+distressing shipwreck. At the end of 1811, being then a rear-admiral, he
+was returning from the Baltic in the _St. George_, a ship not calculated
+to remain so late on such a station. After having received much damage
+in a former gale, she was wrecked on Christmas-day, as well as the
+_Defence_, which attended her to afford assistance; and only eighteen
+men were saved from the two line-of-battle ships. Rear-Admiral Reynolds
+and his captain remained at their post till they sunk under the
+inclemency of a northern winter; when, stretched on the quarter-deck,
+and hand in hand, they were frozen to death together.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[7] Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. p. 467.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE MUTINY.
+
+
+In less than four years Sir Edward had fought as many severe actions,
+and the number of his successes is even less remarkable than the very
+small loss with which he generally obtained them. Against the
+_Cleopatra_, indeed, where he engaged a superior and skilful opponent
+with an inexperienced crew, he suffered much; but he lost only three men
+in taking the _Pomone_, and none in his actions with the _Virginie_ and
+the _Droits de l'Homme_. The same impunity continued to attend him; for
+not a dozen were killed on board his own ships through all the rest of
+his life.[8] Results so uniform, and applying to so long a service,
+cannot be ascribed to accidental causes.
+
+By his seamanship, his example, a strictness which suffered no duty to
+be neglected, and a kindness which allowed every safe indulgence, he
+would quickly bring a ship's company to a high state of discipline. In
+the language of an officer who served with him for almost thirty
+years--"No man ever knew better how to manage seamen. He was very
+attentive to their wants and habits. When he was a captain he
+personally directed them, and when the duty was over, he was a great
+promoter of dancing and other sports, such as running aloft, heaving the
+lead, &c., in which he was himself a great proficient. He was steady in
+his discipline, and knew well the proper time to tighten or relax. He
+studied much the character of his men, and could soon ascertain whether
+a man was likely to appreciate forgiveness, or whether he could not be
+reclaimed without punishment. During the whole time he commanded
+frigates, his men had leave in port, one-third at a time, and very
+rarely a desertion took place."
+
+His quick and correct judgment, which at once saw how an object could be
+attained, was seconded in the hour of trial by a decision which secured
+every advantage. Nothing like hesitation was seen in him. "His first
+order," said an officer who long served with him, "was always his last;"
+and he has often declared of himself that he never had a second thought
+worth sixpence. This would be an absurd boast from a common character,
+but it is an important declaration from one whose life was a career of
+enterprise without a failure. Always equal to the occasion, his power
+displayed itself the more, as danger and difficulty increased; when,
+rising with the emergency, his calmness, the animation of his voice and
+look, and the precision of his orders, would impart to the men that cool
+and determined energy which disarms danger, and commands success.
+
+Not less striking was his influence in those more appalling dangers
+which try the firmness of a sailor more severely than the battle. The
+wreck of the _Dutton_ is a memorable example. At a later period, during
+his command in India, the ship twice caught fire, and was saved chiefly
+by his conduct. On one of these occasions, the _Culloden_ was under easy
+sail off the coast of Coromandel, and preparations had been made for
+partially caulking the ship, when a pitch-kettle, which had been heated,
+contrary to orders, on the fore part of the main deck, caught fire, and
+the people, instead of damping it out, most imprudently attempted to
+extinguish it with buckets of water. The steam blew the flaming pitch
+all around; the oakum caught fire, and the ship was immediately in a
+blaze. Many of the crew jumped overboard, and others were preparing to
+hurry out of her, when the presence and authority of the Admiral allayed
+the panic. He ordered to beat to quarters; the marines to fire upon any
+one who should attempt to leave the ship; the yard-tackles to be cut, to
+prevent the boats from being hoisted out; and the firemen only to take
+the necessary measures for extinguishing the fire. The captain, who was
+undressed in his cabin at the time of the disaster, received an
+immediate report of it from an officer, and hastened to the
+quarter-deck. The flames were rising in volumes from the main hatchway,
+but the Admiral was calmly giving his orders from the gangway, the
+firemen exerting themselves, and the rest of the crew at their quarters,
+all as quiet and orderly as if nothing had been going on but the common
+ship's duty.
+
+His patronage was exerted to the utmost. The manner in which the navy
+was chiefly manned through the war made this one of the most delicate
+and responsible parts of a captain's care. The impress brought into it
+many whom nothing but the strictest discipline of a man-of-war would
+control; but many also who had entered the merchant service with the
+view and the prospect of rising in it, some of whom were not inferior in
+connections and education to the young gentlemen on the quarter-deck.
+Nothing could be more gratifying to a commander than to promote these,
+as opportunity offered, to higher stations. Some thousands of them
+became petty and warrant officers in the course of the war, and not a
+few were placed on the quarter-deck, and are found among the best
+officers in the service. Sir Edward brought forward many of them, and
+his favour has been more than justified by their conduct.
+
+He was particularly attentive to the junior part of his crew. A steady
+person was employed to teach the ship's boys, and he always had the
+best schoolmaster who could be obtained for the young gentlemen. It was
+an object much desired to be placed with him, and could he have stooped
+to make his reputation subservient to his interest in this respect, he
+might have secured many useful political connections; but this
+consideration never seems to have influenced him. Many of his midshipmen
+had no friend but himself, and rank obtained no immunities, but rather a
+more strict control. He once removed from his ship a young nobleman of
+high connections, and who afterwards became a very distinguished
+officer, for indulging in what many would consider the excusable frolics
+of youth; but to which he attached importance, because the rank of the
+party increased the influence of the example; nor could he be induced by
+the young man's friends to reconsider his determination. The Duke of
+Northumberland, who had himself known all the duties and hardships of
+service, could appreciate the impartial strictness of Sir Edward; and
+when he determined to send into the navy, first a young man whom he
+patronized, and afterwards his own son, the present Duke, he was happy
+to avail himself of the services of Captain Schanck, to place them with
+such an officer. Acting upon the same principle, he would allow neither
+of them more than the usual expenses of the other midshipmen. All who
+entered a public service, he said, whatever their rank, should have no
+indulgences beyond their companions. His sense of Sir Edward's conduct
+was shown by a warm friendship, which terminated only with his life.
+
+In a few weeks after the action with the _Droits de l'Homme_, the mutiny
+broke out at Spithead, which deprived the country for a short time of
+the services of the Channel Fleet. The western squadrons were now of
+peculiar importance, for they became, in fact, the protectors of the
+Channel. The _Cleopatra_, commanded by the late excellent Sir Charles V.
+Penrose, was at Spithead when the mutiny took place; but the good
+disposition of his crew enabled him with admirable address to escape,
+and she joined Sir Edward's squadron at Falmouth. Thence she sailed with
+the _Indefatigable_ and _Revolutionaire_ on a cruise, in which all
+displayed extraordinary exertion, as, under such circumstances, all felt
+the necessity for it. One incident will mark their zeal and activity.
+The _Cleopatra_ carried away her fore-topmast in chase, but replaced it
+so quickly, that she never lost sight of the privateer, which she
+overtook and captured. Several armed vessels were taken; and Sir Edward
+was careful often to run in with the squadron upon different parts of
+the French coast, that he might impress the belief that a considerable
+British force was at sea.
+
+Undismayed by the failure of their attempt on Ireland, the enemy were
+now preparing for a more formidable descent. They equipped a larger
+fleet than before, with a far more numerous army, over which they
+appointed the same able commander: and by an agreement with Holland, the
+Dutch fleet in the Texel, under Admiral de Winter, was to carry over a
+second army. This was to be commanded by General Daendels, an officer of
+great ability and decision. Napoleon thought very highly of him, and it
+was a material part of his own plan of invasion to send him with thirty
+thousand chosen troops to Ireland. He afterwards became Governor of
+Java, where he acted with an independence which awakened the jealousy of
+his master. Discovering this, he wrote to declare that he could hold the
+island against any force which France, or even England, could bring
+against him; but that to mark his devotedness to his emperor, he was
+ready to resign his command, and serve in the French army as a corporal.
+He was Governor of Mons during the invasion of France by the Allied
+armies; and he boasted to Mr. Pellew, who spent a few days with him
+after the peace, that an advancing army made a considerable circuit to
+avoid him, and that he held the fortress unmolested until Napoleon had
+abdicated; when he wrote to the Allied Sovereigns, asking to whom he
+should resign it. An invasion of Ireland, directed by generals such as
+Hoche and Daendels, and at a time when the British navy was in a state
+of mutiny, was an event justly to be dreaded; but all these mighty
+preparations were overturned more easily and quietly than the former.
+Everything was ready; and General Hoche had gone to Holland to make the
+final arrangements with his brother commanders, when the Legislative
+Assembly of France quarrelled with the Directory, and gained a temporary
+ascendancy. On the 16th of July, the new government displaced
+Vice-Admiral Truguet, the able Minister of Marine, and appointed M.
+Pléville le Peley his successor. With the usual madness of party, the
+new minister and his employer hastened to overturn all that had been
+done by their predecessors. They discharged the sailors, dismantled the
+fleet, and even sold some of the frigates and corvettes by public
+auction. When the Directory regained their power, September 4th, after
+an interval of only six weeks, they found that the preparations which
+had cost them so much time and treasure to complete, were utterly
+destroyed. In the following month, Admiral Duncan annihilated the Dutch
+fleet, and thus the proposed expedition was baffled at every point. Were
+a history of England written, with due regard to the operations of
+Divine Providence, in deliverances and successes effected not by human
+wisdom, or human strength, what cause would it afford for unbounded
+gratitude, and for unbounded confidence!
+
+While the enemy were fitting out this armament, Sir Edward was again
+employed to watch the harbour of Brest; a service which he performed so
+much to the annoyance of the French commander, that he sent a squadron
+to ride at single anchor in Bertheaume Bay, to prevent the frigates from
+reconnoitring the port. This squadron chased the _Indefatigable_ and her
+consorts repeatedly, but without being able to bring them to action, or
+to drive them from their station. Once, however, a frigate narrowly
+escaped capture. The _Cleopatra_ was becalmed close inshore, with the
+_Indefatigable_ about two miles to seaward, and another frigate between
+them, when a light air rose, and freshened off the land. The French
+ships slipped, and bringing the breeze with them, neared the
+_Cleopatra_; and a frigate actually succeeded in cutting off her
+retreat, while a seventy-four was fast coming up. Just then, when the
+capture of the _Cleopatra_ seemed inevitable, the _Indefatigable_ made
+the well-known signal for a fleet, by letting fly the sheets, and firing
+two guns in quick succession. Ushant being on her weather-bow, the enemy
+naturally supposed, as was intended, that the British fleet was coming
+up from behind the island; and putting about immediately, hastened back
+to their anchorage. A similar deception is understood to have been
+practised successfully by _the Phaëton_, during the celebrated retreat
+of Cornwallis; nor is it in either case an imputation upon the enemy,
+that they should readily take alarm, when they knew that a British fleet
+was cruising near them.
+
+Early in August, the _Indefatigable_, after a short stay in England, was
+again at her station off Brest; and Sir Edward, having carefully
+observed the port, and fully satisfied himself of the state of the
+French fleet, returned to Falmouth on the 14th, and, on the 26th, joined
+Lord Bridport at Torbay. At this time he offered to conduct an attack,
+which, had it been made, and with success, would have transcended the
+most brilliant results of naval enterprise. The weakness of the French
+Government, arising out of the struggle of parties for the ascendancy,
+seemed to offer a favourable opportunity to the royalists, with whose
+chiefs Sir Edward was on terms of confidential intercourse; and to
+assist them in their objects by an exploit which should strike terror
+into the republicans, he proposed to go into Brest with his frigates,
+and destroy the dismantled fleet. He thought it probable that he should
+succeed, and urged that the greatness of the object might warrant an
+attempt in which nothing was to be risked but a few frigates. The
+conception was in the highest degree daring, but there is a faith in
+naval affairs which works impossibilities, and it has been generally
+found, that the officer who can plan a bold action, has shown himself
+equal to accomplish it. Relative strength is almost thrown out of
+calculation by a well concerted and unexpected attack, conducted with
+that impetuosity which effects its object before the enemy can avail
+himself of his superior force. Thus, Sir Charles Brisbane, with four
+frigates, at Curaçoa, and Sir Christopher Cole, with a few boats' crews
+at Banda, achieved, with little or no loss, what would have been justly
+deemed proud triumphs for a fleet of line-of-battle ships. Sir E. Pellew
+was never a man to commit himself rashly to what he had not well
+considered. "There is always uncertainty," he would say, "in naval
+actions, for a chance shot may place the best managed ship in the power
+of an inferior opponent." Hence he would leave nothing to chance, which
+foresight could possibly provide for. With such a character, and with
+his intimate knowledge of Brest and its defences, which were almost as
+familiar to him as Falmouth harbour, his own confidence affords strong
+presumption that he would have succeeded.
+
+The First Lord took an opportunity to submit this proposal to Lord
+Bridport at Torbay, and Sir Edward was in consequence called on board
+the flag-ship by signal. The Admiral received him on the quarter-deck
+with a very low and formal bow, and referred him to Earl Spencer, in the
+cabin, whom he soon found not to be influenced by any arguments he could
+employ.
+
+Lord Bridport was never pleased that independent frigate squadrons were
+appointed to cruise within his station. It was, indeed, an irregularity
+which nothing but the emergency could have justified, when it was
+desirable to relieve the commander-in-chief from lesser
+responsibilities, and enable him to devote all his attention to the
+fleet which threatened the safety of the country. Their successes had
+made the squadrons so popular, that the system was continued when they
+might, perhaps, have been placed, with equal advantage, under the
+orders of the Admiral; and it would naturally give pain to that officer
+to find himself denied the privilege of recognizing and rewarding the
+most brilliant services performed within his own command. Lord Bridport
+would occasionally evince such a feeling when speaking of the "Western
+Commodores," and it may have influenced his manner upon this occasion;
+but his approval of Sir Edward's plan was not to be expected, for he
+would scarcely sanction the proposal to effect with a few frigates what
+it would not be thought prudent to attempt with a fleet.
+
+The _Indefatigable_ sailed from Torbay with a convoy, from which she
+parted company on the 13th of October, off the Isle of Palma. On the
+25th, near Teneriffe, a large corvette chased her, supposing her to be
+an Indiaman, and approached very near before she discovered the mistake.
+She had formerly been the frigate-built sloop _Hyæna_, which the enemy
+had taken very early in the war, and cut down to a flush ship; a change
+which improved her sailing qualities so much, that she might perhaps
+have escaped from the _Indefatigable_, if she had not lost her
+fore-topmast in carrying a press of sail. It is remarkable, that in this
+war Sir Edward took the first ship from the enemy, and after nearly five
+years, recaptured the first they had taken from the British.
+
+It was a part of Sir Edward's system, while he commanded cruising ships,
+to have the reefs shaken out, the studding sail-booms rigged out, and
+everything ready, before daylight; that if an enemy should be near there
+might be no delay in making sail. In the course of 1798 his squadron
+took fifteen cruisers. The circumstances connected with one of these,
+_La Vaillante_ national corvette, taken on the 8th of August by the
+_Indefatigable_, after a chase of twenty-four hours, were of much
+interest. She was bound to Cayenne, with prisoners; among whom were
+twenty-five priests, who had been condemned for their principles to
+perish in that unhealthy colony. It may well be supposed that they were
+at once restored to liberty and comfort; nor would Sir Edward show to
+the commander of his prize the attentions which an officer in his
+situation expects, until he had first satisfied himself that the severe
+and unnecessary restraint to which they had been subjected, for he found
+them chained together, was the consequence of express orders from the
+French Government. His officers and men vied with him in attentions to
+the unfortunate exiles, and when he set them on shore in England he gave
+them a supply for their immediate wants. Among the passengers on board
+_La Vaillante_ were the wife and family of a banished deputy. M. Rovère,
+who had obtained permission to join him, and were going out with all
+they possessed, amounting to 3,000_l_. Sir Edward restored to her the
+whole of it, and paid from his own purse the proportion which was the
+prize of his crew.
+
+Early in the following year the Admiralty determined to limit the period
+of command in frigates. In obedience to this regulation, on the 1st of
+March, Sir Edward, with much regret, left the ship and crew he had so
+long commanded, and exchanged the activity of a cruising frigate for a
+service which offered little prospect of distinction. He was
+complimented with the _Impétueux_, formerly _L'Amérique_, one of the
+prizes taken by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, a most beautiful ship, and
+so much superior to the largest 74, that she was made a class by
+herself, and rated as a 78. He was allowed to select twenty men to
+follow him from the _Indefatigable_.
+
+Going on board the _Impétueux_ for the first time, he was accosted at
+the gangway by the boatswain: "I am very glad, sir, that you are come to
+us, for you are just the captain we want. You have the finest ship in
+the navy, and a crew of smart sailors, but a set of the greatest
+scoundrels that ever went to sea." He checked him on the spot, and
+afterwards, sending for him to the cabin, demanded what he meant by
+addressing him in that manner. The boatswain, who had served with him in
+the _Carleton_ on Lake Champlain, pleaded former recollections in
+excuse; and after submitting to the reproof with which Sir Edward
+thought it necessary to mark his breach of discipline, informed him that
+the crew were all but in a state of mutiny, and that for months past he
+had slept with pistols under his head.
+
+Mutinies were the natural fruit of the system which had prevailed in the
+navy, and it is only wonderful that obedience had been preserved so
+long. All the stores were supplied by contract, and the check upon the
+contractor being generally inadequate, gross abuses prevailed. Officers
+who recollect the state of the navy during the first American war can
+furnish a history which may now appear incredible. The provisions were
+sometimes unfit for human food. Casks of meat, after having been long on
+board, would be found actually offensive. The biscuit, from inferior
+quality and a bad system of stowage, was devoured by insects,[9] until
+it would fall to pieces at the slightest blow; and the provisions of a
+more perishable nature, the cheese, butter, raisins, &c., would be in a
+still worse condition. Among crews thus fed, the scurvy made dreadful
+ravages. The _Princessa_, when she formed part of Rodney's fleet in the
+West Indies, sent two hundred men to the hospital at one time. The
+purser received certain authorized perquisites instead of pay, and
+one-eighth of the seamen's allowance was his right, so that their pound
+was only fourteen ounces. Prize-money melted away as it passed through
+the courts and offices. Not even public charities could escape; and the
+noble establishment of Greenwich was defrauded by placing in it
+superannuated servants, and other landsmen, as worn-out sailors, and
+conferring the superior appointments, intended for deserving naval
+officers, upon political friends. The well-known case of Captain
+Baillie,[10] who was removed and prosecuted for resisting some of these
+abuses, is a memorable, illustration.
+
+A gradual improvement in all the departments of the public service
+commenced from the time of Mr. Pitt's accession to power; and the worst
+of these abuses had been corrected long before 1797. Still so much
+remained, that the demands of the seamen, when they mutinied at
+Spithead, were not less due to themselves than desirable for the general
+interests of the service. A moderate increase in their pay, and
+Greenwich pensions; provisions of a better quality; the substitution of
+trader's for purser's weight and measure; and an allowance of
+vegetables, instead of flour, with their fresh meat, when in port, were
+their chief claims. They did not resort to violent measures till
+petitions, irregular ones it is true, had been tried in vain. They urged
+their demands firmly, but most respectfully; and they declared their
+intention to suspend the prosecution of them if their country should
+require their services to meet the enemy at sea. But though their claims
+were most just, and their conduct in many respects was worthy to be much
+commended, _that_ was a mistaken conclusion, and most deeply to be
+regretted, which made any concession to violence. Hard as the principle
+may appear, no grievance can be held to justify a breach of discipline;
+and when the sailors at Spithead had placed themselves in the position
+of offenders, the question of redress ought to have been preceded by
+unconditional, and, if necessary, enforced submission. It was humbling
+the majesty of the law to negotiate with criminals, and destroying its
+authority to submit to them. If the sailors had first been compelled to
+return to their duty, and their grievances had afterwards been properly
+investigated and redressed, the whole fleet would have respected the
+authority which enforced obedience, and received every favour with
+gratitude. Nor is there reason to believe that it would have been
+difficult to bring men to their duty, whose hearts were still sound. It
+is most honourable to the character of the country, that respect for the
+law, and obedience to the constituted authorities, are so much the habit
+and the principle of Englishmen, that invincible as they are in a good
+cause, they have always shown themselves cowards in crime. A few
+soldiers are sufficient to disperse the largest mob. The timely decision
+of an officer has seldom failed to quell the most formidable mutiny.
+Timorous as the men are from conscious guilt, uncertain in their plans,
+and doubtful of the firmness of their companions, the respect
+involuntarily felt for the noble bearing of a man whom they have always
+been accustomed to obey, and who in a good cause is standing as it were
+alone against a multitude, gives a commander all the power he could
+desire. But if he would take advantage of this feeling, he must be
+prompt to assert his authority. If he waver--if he allow the men once to
+feel their strength, and to stand committed to one another--his
+influence is gone. And if Government should stoop to parley with them,
+it sanctions their proceedings, strengthens their hands by the
+confession of its own weakness, and raises them from being offenders
+against the law, to the dignity of injured men, honourably asserting
+their rights. Thus, when the Lords of the Admiralty, and the first
+Admiral of the British navy, received on terms of courtesy criminals
+whose lives were forfeited, and negotiated with them as with
+equals--when the Government submitted to demands which it evidently
+feared to resist--and the Parliament hastened to legislate at the
+bidding of triumphant mutineers, the navy was taught a fatal lesson. The
+fleet at the Nore mutinied almost immediately after, without the shadow
+of a pretext; and the idea of mutiny once become familiar, the crews of
+the best ordered ships thought little of seeking redress for any real or
+fancied grievance by resisting the authority of their officers. Almost
+every ship on the home station mutinied in the course of the year; and
+considering bow naturally the first fault leads to more guilty excesses,
+and how many worthless characters were swept into the navy, disgracing
+the service by making it the avowed punishment of crime, and corrupting
+it by their example, nothing can appear more natural than that mutiny
+should at length display itself in a darker character, and proceed in
+some unhappy instances to murder and treason.
+
+Sir Edward Pellew deeply lamented the submission of the Government. He
+was satisfied that a proper firmness would have quelled the present, and
+prevented the future evil; and he was strengthened in his opinion by the
+circumstances of the mutiny on board one of the ships at Spithead, in
+which one of his own officers was a principal actor. Captain Williams,
+of the marines, formerly lieutenant in the _Arethusa_, applied to his
+captain for authority to act, assuring him of the good disposition of
+his own men, and pledging himself by their means to save the ship. But
+his captain, though one of the bravest and best men in the service,
+shrank from committing the marines to a possible conflict with the
+sailors, and recommended a little delay. In a few minutes the marine
+officer returned: it was not yet too late, but not another moment could
+be spared. The humane feelings of the commander impelled him still to
+temporize, and when the marine officer returned, it was to say that his
+men must now save themselves, and the ship was lost. The more desperate
+mutiny at the Nore was not quelled by submission.
+
+Afterwards, when mutinies were continually occurring among the ships at
+Plymouth. Sir Edward proposed a very decisive measure to stop the
+mischief. He recommended that a ship, manned with officers, and with
+volunteers who could be fully trusted, should attack the next that
+mutinied, and, if necessary, sink her in the face of the fleet. The
+officer who takes the first step in any measure must feel himself
+committed decisively to all possible consequences; but the mere display
+of such a resolution, with the knowledge that an officer of unflinching
+determination commanded the attacking ship, would most probably spare
+the necessity of firing a shot. Lives are commonly sacrificed only when
+a mistaken humanity shrinks from duty till the proper time for action
+has gone by. The disposition of the crews was not generally bad, but
+they were misled by example, and encouraged by impunity. When the
+_Greyhound_ mutinied, and Captain Israel Pellew demanded if he had ever
+given them cause for dissatisfaction, if he had not always been their
+friend, they admitted that they had nothing to complain of, but said
+they must do like their friends around them. They would have landed him
+with every mark of respect; but he declared that, after such conduct,
+not one of them should ever row him again, and he hailed a waterman to
+put him on shore. Still, though he had reproached them in no measured
+terms, they manned the side, and gave him three cheers when he left the
+ship.
+
+Even Sir Edward Pellew, popular as he was, and though he might well
+expect that a crew which had fought with him two successful actions
+within the past year would be too proud of their ship and commander ever
+to fail in their duty, yet felt it necessary to take precautions, when
+mutinies were occurring around him without the smallest reasonable
+cause. Determined to maintain his authority at all hazards, he prepared
+for the worst, and provided himself with weapons such as he deemed would
+be the most effectual, if he should be compelled to the dreadful
+necessity of a personal conflict with his crew. A pointed and two-edged
+blade, four inches long, was fixed in a rough buckhorn handle, with a
+groove for the thumb across the top. A pair of these were carried in
+sheaths, secured in each waistcoat-pocket. With these, a strong and
+active person, in the midst of a crowd where he could not use a sword,
+could strike right and left with terrible effect.
+
+Once a mutiny was planned in the _Indefatigable_, but he checked it
+before it broke out. She was lying with the _Phoebe_ in Falmouth
+harbour, and the frigates were to sail next morning, when the crews were
+determined not to proceed to their station until they had received their
+pay. A sailor who had overstayed his leave came in the dead of the night
+to inform his commander of the plot; and assured him, that though all
+the crew were privy to it, more than half of them would support their
+officers. Sir Edward professed to discredit the information, and,
+apparently, took no steps in consequence. But when the ship was to be
+got under weigh, the lieutenant complained to him that the men were
+sulky, and would not go round with the capstan. He then came forward,
+and declaring his knowledge of their intentions, drew his sword, and
+ordered the officers to follow his example. "You can never die so well,"
+he said, "as on your own deck quelling a mutiny; and now, if a man
+hesitate to obey you, cut him down without a word." The crew, accustomed
+to prompt obedience, and attached to their officers, at once returned to
+their duty, and the _Indefatigable_ was soon under sail. The _Phoebe_
+was earned by her crew to Cawsand Bay, and in justice to them it should
+be added, that although she anchored in the midst of several ships which
+had lately mutinied, no further irregularity took place: and after
+having been paid, she hastened to join the _Indefatigable_ off Brest.
+
+The crew of the _Impétueux_ supposed, and probably with truth, that Sir
+Edward was selected to command them in consequence of their known
+disaffected state, his frigate having been almost the only ship on the
+home station which had not actually mutinied. Under this impression, a
+mistaken pride would not allow them to be controlled, and their secret
+spirit of revolt became more determined. The feeling might have worn
+itself out in a short time if the ship had remained at sea, for the men
+soon learned to respect their new commander. But when, on the 25th of
+April, the French fleet escaped from Brest, and sailed for the
+Mediterranean, the British Admiral, Lord Bridport, supposing it to have
+gone to Ireland, cruised for a few days off Cape Clear, and then
+anchored with twenty-six sail of the line in Bantry Bay. Here the bad
+spirits of the fleet had leisure for mischief, and facilities to
+communicate with one another. A general mutiny was planned, and the
+disgraceful distinction of setting the example was assigned to the
+_Impetueux_.
+
+On Thursday, the 30th of May, at noon, Sir Edward, being engaged to dine
+with Sir Alan Gardner, had gone to dress in his cabin, leaving orders
+with the officer of the watch to call all hands at the usual time, one
+watch to clear hawse, and the other two to wash decks. When the order
+was given, it was obeyed by all the marines, but by scarce any of the
+sailors. Very shortly after, signal was made to unmoor, upon which a
+noise of "No--no--no!" was heard from the main hatchway, and the seamen
+came pressing forward in great numbers; those in the rear crying, "Go
+on--go on!" The first lieutenant, Ross, and Lieutenant Stokes, the
+officer of the watch, demanded what was the matter; and after some
+murmuring, were told that there was a letter. The officers asked for it,
+that it might be given to the captain, but the cry of "No--no--no!" was
+immediately renewed. Lieutenant Ross then desired Lieutenant Stokes to
+inform the captain, upon which the mutineers shouted, "One and all--one
+and all!" Sir Edward instantly ran out in his dressing-gown, and found
+between two and three hundred on the quarter-deck. On his appearance,
+the clamour was increased, mingled with cries of "A boat--a boat!" He
+asked what was the matter, and was told they had a letter to send to
+Lord Bridport, complaining of tyranny, and hard usage. He demanded the
+letter, declaring that he would immediately carry it himself, or send an
+officer with it, to the Admiral; but all cried out, "No, no,--a boat of
+our own!" He persisted in his endeavours to pacify them as long as a
+hope remained of bringing them to reason, intreating them not to forfeit
+their character by such shameful conduct. But when some of the
+ringleaders declared with oaths that they _would_ have a boat, and would
+take one, he quietly said, "You will, will you?"--gave a brief order to
+Captain Boys, of the marines, and sprang to the cabin for his sword. The
+marines, who had previously withstood every attempt of the conspirators
+to seduce them from their duty, now displayed that unwavering loyalty,
+and prompt obedience, for which, in the most trying circumstances, this
+valuable force has always been distinguished. Sir Edward returned
+instantly, determined to put to death one or more of the ringleaders on
+the spot, but the evident irresolution of the mutineers spared him the
+necessity. He immediately ordered the quarter-deck to be cleared, the
+marines to be posted on the after-part of the fore-castle, and the
+fore-part of the quarter-deck and poop, and the sentries to be doubled.
+The carpenter in the mean time ran to Sir Edwards cabin, and brought
+swords for the officers, who, at the first alarm, had hastened to place
+themselves by their captain's side. The mutineers, after a moment's
+hesitation, ran off the quarter-deck, and threw themselves down the
+hatchways, exclaiming to put out all lights, and remove the ladders. The
+officers followed them closely, and soon secured the ringleaders. Sir
+Edward himself seized one of the most violent, and threatening him with
+instant death if he resisted, dragged him up from below to the
+quarter-deck. The letter, an unsigned one, was now given up, and the
+ship's company returned quietly to their duty.
+
+The plot was thus entirely disconcerted; for the crews of the other
+ships, who knew nothing of the attempt and its failure, but waited for
+the example of the _Impetueux_, followed her when she obeyed the
+Admiral's signal. On the 1st of June, Lord Bridport, who had now learned
+the course taken by the French fleet, sent off Sir Alan Gardner with
+sixteen sail, of which the _Impetueux_ was one, as a reinforcement for
+Earl St. Vincent in the Mediterranean. His orders on this occasion were
+promptly attended to; and no other attempt was made by any of the crews
+to resist the authority of their officers.
+
+The _Impetueux_ being now for a short time under Earl St. Vincent's
+command, Sir Edward took the earliest opportunity to enforce the
+application for a court-martial, which he had previously made to Sir
+Charles Cotton. The Earl, upon inquiry, was so startled at the magnitude
+of the plot, that he thought it better, as the mutiny had been so
+promptly suppressed, to conceal it altogether. Sir Edward differed from
+him entirely. He considered that the worst effects would follow, if the
+men were allowed to think that their officers feared to punish the
+ringleaders in such a conspiracy; and as the Earl, who was on the point
+of resigning the command from ill-health, appeared still reluctant, he
+decided the question by declaring that if the court-martial were not
+granted, he should immediately go on shore. Accordingly, it was held on
+board the _Prince_, in Port Mahon, on the 19th and 20th of June, when
+three of the ringleaders received sentence of death. One of them, after
+his condemnation, disclosed all the history and circumstances of the
+plot; and this, added to the consideration of his previous good
+character, to which Sir Edward had borne a strong testimony on the
+court-martial, made his captain think him a proper subject for mercy.
+But upon this point, Earl St. Vincent was inflexible. "I am glad of it,"
+he said, when Sir Edward spoke favourably of the prisoner's former
+conduct; "those who have hitherto suffered had been so worthless before,
+that their fate was of little use as an example. I shall now convince
+the fleet that no character will save the man who is guilty of mutiny."
+May there never be a recurrance of such unhappy times as shall make it
+the duty of an officer to act upon this stern principle!
+
+The circumstances were concealed from the country, and the rest of the
+fleet, as effectually as if the court-martial had never been held. The
+distant and retired harbour where the mutiny occurred; the quietness
+with which it was suppressed; the holding of the court-martial abroad;
+the frequency of aggravated mutinies within the preceding two years; the
+magnitude of the political occurrences at that period; and the anxiety
+felt at the movements of the enemy's fleet, probably the largest they
+ever had at sea, for it numbered, with the Spaniards, forty sail of the
+line, all concurred to prevent it from becoming an object of public
+attention. But Earl St. Vincent appreciated Sir Edward's conduct very
+highly. "Your brother," he once said to Mr. Pellew, "is an excellent and
+valuable officer, but the most important service he ever rendered to his
+country was saving the British fleet in Bantry Bay. We know that it was
+the intention to burn the ships, and join the rebels on shore."
+
+When the time arrived for executing the mutineers, it was found that
+preparations had been made to give to their fate the appearance of a
+triumph. For it strongly marks the general feeling in the navy during
+this unhappy period, that the individuals who thus suffered were
+regarded rather as martyrs than criminals. Encouraged to hardihood by
+his mistaken shipmates, generally excited by spirits, and some times
+even decorated with knots of ribbon, the mutineer went boldly to
+execution, leaving the spectators less appalled at his fate, than
+admiring his fearless bearing. Sir Edward quickly changed this feeling
+when the prisoners came up to the forecastle. Addressing a few words,
+first to the men who had followed him from the _Indefatigable_, and
+afterwards to the rest of the crew, "_Indefatigables_" he said, "stand
+aside! not one of you shall touch the rope. But _you_, who have
+encouraged your shipmates to the crime by which they have forfeited
+their lives, it shall be your punishment to hang them!" Quailing before
+their commander, their false feeling was destroyed in a moment; and as
+there is no medium between the hardihood and the cowardice of guilt,
+they felt as he intended, and many of them wept aloud. Afterwards, there
+was not in the service a more orderly ship than the _Impetueux_, or a
+crew more pleasant to command.
+
+Considerate as he was upon all occasions where human life was concerned,
+and unwilling to resort to punishment, he was always anxious to make it
+as impressive as possible, whenever it became necessary to inflict it.
+He assisted to try one of the mutineers of the _Hermione_, whose crew
+had murdered their officers, and carried the ship into a Spanish port.
+This man's crime was attended with circumstances of peculiar
+aggravation. He was coxswain to Captain Pigott, who, savage tyrant as he
+was in general, and richly deserving of the fate he provoked, had
+brought him up from a boy, and treated him with much kindness and
+confidence. Yet he headed the murderers; and when they broke into the
+captain's cabin, and that officer, perceiving their intention, called
+for his coxswain to protect him, he replied with an opprobrious epithet,
+"Here I am to despatch you!" He had been entrusted with the captain's
+keys; and when the work of blood was over, the officers, even to
+unoffending midshipmen, being slaughtered, and the murderers were
+regaling themselves with wine, he told them that he knew where to get
+them better than what they were drinking. His crime was fully proved;
+and the court being cleared, Sir Edward proposed that sentence should be
+executed immediately. The circumstances of the case demanded, in his
+opinion, unusual severity, which might be expected to have a good effect
+upon the fleet; while there was every reason to conclude, from the
+prisoner's demeanour before them, that if delay were allowed, he would
+meet his fate with a hardihood which would destroy the value of the
+example. The court at first questioned their power to execute without
+the warrant of the Admiralty; but this was quickly settled by reference
+to the Act of Parliament. The President then declared that he could not
+make the order. "Look here!" said he, giving to Sir Edward his hand,
+trembling violently, and bathed in a cold perspiration. "I see it, and I
+respect your feelings," replied Sir Edward, "but I am sure that such an
+example is wanted, and I must press the point." "Well," he replied, "if
+it be the _unanimous_ opinion of the court, it shall be done." It was
+agreed to, and the prisoner was called. Though, sure that he must be
+condemned, he entered with a bold front; but when informed that he would
+be executed in one hour, he rolled on the cabin-deck in an agony. "What!
+gentlemen," he exclaimed, "hang me directly? Will you not allow me a few
+days--a little time, to make my peace with God?" The whole fleet was
+appalled when the close of the court-martial was announced to them by
+the signal for execution; and at the end of the allotted hour, the
+wretched criminal was brought up to undergo his sentence.
+
+A similar stern decision quelled in a few hours the spirit of resistance
+during the special commission for trying the Luddites at York, when the
+county was almost in a state of rebellion; and it was found necessary to
+protect the court with cannon. Six of the ringleaders having been
+convicted on the first day, the intrepid judge, Le Blanc, ordered them
+all to be hung at six o'clock next morning. While the multitudes,
+stunned by this unexpected vigour, waited in trembling anxiety for what
+was next to follow, eight more were convicted on the second day, and as
+promptly executed. The whole county was struck with terror; and the
+judge, having thus effected the great object of punishment, by
+compelling them to respect and fear the law, could now venture to show
+mercy. It is the hardest effort of human resolution for a judge to
+consign to certain and ignominious death the helpless being who stands
+trembling before him, imploring the mercy or the delay which it rests
+but with him to grant; but whenever justice demands life, duty requires
+that so great a sacrifice shall be made most useful; and to effort
+this, execution must take place before abhorrence for the crime is lost
+in pity for the offender. _His_ proper time for repentance is the
+interval before conviction. Little dependence can be placed on the
+contrition which never shows itself till every hope of life is gone.
+
+The _Impetueux_ formed part of the force which pursued the combined
+fleets from the Mediterranean to Brest, and from which they escaped so
+narrowly. She afterwards remained with the Channel fleet, under Lord
+Bridport and Sir Alan Gardner. On the 1st of June, 1800, Earl St.
+Vincent, who had assumed the command a short time before, detached Sir
+Edward Pellew, with seven sail of the line, and some smaller vessels, to
+Quiberon Bay, whore they were to land five thousand troops under General
+Maitland to assist the royalists. Next day, the squadron arrived and
+anchored; and on the 4th, the forts on the peninsula were attacked and
+silenced by the _Thames_, 32, with some of the small craft; and
+destroyed by a party of troops. Several vessels, taken at the same time,
+were brought off or scuttled. Very early on the morning of the 6th, the
+armed launches, and a division of small craft, were sent away under
+Lieutenant Pilford, of the _Impetueux_, which completed the destruction
+of the shipping in the Morbihan, bringing off six prizes, and destroying
+several others, among which was the _Insolente_, 16-gun brig. They
+landed at the same time about three hundred troops, who carried and
+dismantled a fort. The whole service was effected with the loss of two
+men killed on board the _Thames_, and one in the boats. By this time, it
+was placed beyond doubt that the invalids were not strong enough to
+warrant a descent. Sir Edward, therefore, proposed an immediate attack
+on Belleisle, which had long been a favourite object with him, from a
+conviction that nothing would enable the British to harass the enemy
+more effectually than the possession of that island. He earnestly
+combated the doubts of the General, and pressed the point with all the
+energy of his character. Filled with the ardour so naturally inspired by
+the opportunity to attempt a long-cherished enterprise, he exclaimed, "I
+will be everywhere at your side, only let us attack the place without
+delay." But the General, who could not feel that confidence founded on a
+knowledge of the place, which Sir Edward had gained from having long
+cruised in the neighbourhood; and who well knew the difficulty and loss
+which a much larger force had formerly experienced in taking it,
+objected to the attempt, and the enemy in a few days decided the
+question by strongly reinforcing the garrison. The troops were then
+landed upon the small island of Houat, about two leagues to the
+south-east of Quiberon Point, where they remained encamped, while Sir
+Edward cruised with his squadron off Port Louis.
+
+Towards the end of July, Mr. Coghlan, who had assisted Sir Edward in
+saving the people from the _Dutton_, and was now commanding the _Viper_
+cutter, tender to the _Impetueux_, with the rank of acting lieutenant,
+proposed and obtained permission to cut out a brig of war, which lay
+moored within the port. Accordingly, with twelve volunteers from the
+_Impetueux_, and a midshipman and six men from the _Viper_, in the
+line-of-battle ship's ten-oared cutter, a boat from the _Viper_, and
+another from the _Amethyst_ frigate, he went away on the night of the
+26th to attack a national brig of seven guns, three of them long
+twenty-four pounders, and with eighty-seven men on board.
+
+The object of his attack, _La Cerbère_, was moored with springs on her
+cable, within pistol-shot of three batteries, surrounded with armed
+vessels, and not a mile from a seventy-four and a frigate.
+Notwithstanding her formidable position, and though her crew were
+prepared, while the boats of the _Amethyst_ and _Viper_ had not been
+able to keep up with the cutter, he pushed on with the single boat, and
+made a dash at the brig's quarter. In the act of springing on board, he
+became entangled in a trawl-net, and before he could disengage himself,
+he was pierced through the thigh with a pike, and knocked back into the
+boat. Still undismayed, they boarded the brig further ahead, and after a
+desperate struggle on her deck, carried her. Of the boat's crew, one man
+was killed, and eight wounded; the brig had six killed, and twenty
+wounded. The other boats now came up, and the prize was towed out under
+a heavy, but ineffectual fire from the batteries.
+
+This very brilliant action was rewarded with peculiar notice. The
+squadron gave up the prize to the captors; Earl St. Vincent presented
+Mr. Coghlan with a sword; and a most unusual distinction, he was
+immediately made a lieutenant by an order in council, though, by the
+regulations of the service, he had still to serve a year and a half
+before he would be entitled to promotion.
+
+A few days after, Sir J.B. Warren arrived, with a small squadron and a
+fleet of transports; and having re-embarked the troops from Houat, and
+taken the _Impetueux_ under his orders, proceeded to attack Ferrol. The
+fleet arrived in the bay of Playa de Dominos on the 25th of August, and
+Sir James Pulteney, the military commander-in-chief, desired that the
+troops might be landed immediately. The direction of this service was
+committed to Sir Edward Pellew, who first silenced a fort of eight
+twenty-four pounders by the fire of the _Impetueux_, assisted by the
+_Brilliant_, 28-gun frigate, _Cynthia_, sloop of war, and _St. Vincent_
+gun-boat; and landed the whole army the same evening, without losing a
+man. Sixteen field-pieces were landed at the same time, and the sailors
+got them, with the scaling ladders, to the heights above Ferrol.
+
+A slight skirmish took place on the first advance of the troops, and a
+sharper one next morning; but the enemy were effectually driven back,
+and the heights which command the harbour of Ferrol gained, with the
+loss in all of sixteen men killed, and five officers and sixty-three men
+wounded. Six sail of the line, two of them large first-rates, were in
+the harbour. Sir James now resolved to abandon the enterprise. Sir
+Edward entreated that he might be allowed to lead on with his sailors,
+for he was confident that the town must yield. But Sir James--to the
+intense disappointment and indignation of Sir Edward, who refused
+afterwards and in consequence even to meet him at dinner--declined to
+advance, and the troops and guns were all re-embarked without loss the
+same night. It was afterwards ascertained, that the garrison, despairing
+of effectual resistance, were prepared to surrender the keys.
+
+The squadron escorted the transports to Gibraltar, to join a force
+already assembled there; with which, under the command of Abercromby,
+and protected by the fleet of Lord Keith, they proceeded to Egypt.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Quiberon Bay, one killed in the boats; landing at Ferrol, none;
+Batavia Roads, one killed in the boats; Griessee, none; skirmishes off
+Toulon, one killed by accident; Algiers, eight.
+
+[9] The sailors gave professional names to the various specimens of
+entomology which infested their stores. Thus, a large maggot found in
+the biscuit they called "Boscawen's bargemen."
+
+[10] The case of Captain Baillie is remarkable as the first in which
+Erskine pleaded. When this brilliant advocate, then a junior, unknown
+even to his brethren at the bar, was assailing Lord Sandwich as the
+prosecutor of his client with equal eloquence and courage, and even in
+defiance of a rebuff from the Judge, the latter, Lord Chief Justice
+Mansfield, leant over the bench and inquired in a whisper, "Who is that
+young man?" "His name is Erskine, my lord," replied the clerk. "_His_
+fortune is made," observed the Judge as he resumed his seat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BLOCKADE OF FERROL.--PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.
+
+
+The _Impetueux_ remained with the Channel fleet until she was paid off
+at the end of the war, when Sir Edward was allowed a short repose. He
+passed it chiefly in the quiet of domestic retirement at Trefusis, a
+seat belonging to Lord Clinton, which occupies the promontory between
+the two principal branches of Falmouth harbour, and adjoins the little
+town of Flushing, where his grandfather had lived. Here, in the bosom of
+his family, and with many of his companions and friends in the service
+around him, he enjoyed his first period of relaxation from the beginning
+of the revolutionary war.
+
+Early in 1801, there was a naval promotion, which left him nearly at the
+head of the post list; and he was shortly after made a Colonel of
+Marines. His popularity was now very great, for the credit gained by his
+first action was increased by every future success, until there was no
+officer of his rank whose name was more known and honoured through the
+country. That this should create jealousy was only to be expected; for
+it is always the hardest trial of liberality to be just to the superior
+fortunes of a competitor. Some, contending that he enjoyed a reputation
+beyond his deserts, would under-rate his services, which, they said, any
+other officer with the same chances could have performed as well. But
+chance, though it may afford an occasional instance of unexpected
+fortune, never gives a long and uniform career of distinction. Sir
+Edward displayed the same character through all his grades of rank, and,
+except in the _Hazard_, which was employed on a station and a service
+which could afford no opportunity for distinction, obtained the same
+success in every ship he commanded. It is encouraging to unassisted
+merit to observe, that he had no influential friends until he had made
+himself independent of their support, and was attached to the fortunes
+of no leading commander. All his promotions, and every honour he
+received, were given expressly to reward some recent and distinguished
+service.
+
+Many years after he had retired from active employment, he made a modest
+allusion to this subject at a naval dinner, at which his late Majesty,
+then Lord High Admiral, presided. In rising to return thanks, when his
+health was drunk with compliments which demanded acknowledgment, he
+referred to his own history as a proof that no officer, however
+unsupported by influence, need despair of receiving his due reward from
+the justice and gratitude of his country. "I have never known," he said,
+"what fortune meant. I never chose my station, and never had a friend
+but the King's pennant; but I have always gone where I was sent, and
+done what I was ordered; and he who will act upon the same principles,
+may do as I have done."
+
+At the general election in 1802, he was solicited to stand for
+Barnstaple; for which, after a severe contest, he was returned on the
+8th of July, by a very large majority. His correspondence at this period
+shows he was very early wearied with his situation. Nor was he better
+satisfied when he had gained an insight into the nature of a
+parliamentary life. Indeed, a naval officer of reputation will seldom
+promote his comfort by going into Parliament; where his inactivity may
+present an unfavourable contrast to his professional character, or his
+prominence expose him to the virulence of party. Yet the experience
+thus obtained was not without value to a man who was henceforth to be
+employed as a commander-in-chief, with a greater share of political
+responsibility than usually attaches to a naval command. If he had
+wished to estimate the value of political friendships, and the spirit of
+party intrigue, a lesson which professional employment at sea is little
+calculated to teach, he could not have entered Parliament at a better
+season. The high character and truly English politics of Mr. Pitt had
+united very different parties to support him in carrying on a just and
+necessary war; but when the bond which he had afforded to his party was
+removed by his going out of office, and peace had deprived them of their
+common object, former principles of repulsion regained their influence;
+and the uncertainty whether the premier was the rival or the _locum
+tenens_ of Pitt increased the confusion. It was still more embarrassing
+when, at a later period, Mr. Pitt threw himself into avowed opposition
+to a government, of which the premier was his friend and pupil, and the
+other ministers, one of whom was his own brother, might all be regarded
+as his nominees. Indeed, six remained in office when he returned to
+power, and the ex-premier himself joined the administration in a few
+mouths after.
+
+Sir Edward had not long been in Parliament, before he expressed a
+confident opinion that Mr. Pitt would soon come in. Succeeding events
+strengthened this conviction; and when the peace, or rather armed truce,
+of Amiens was evidently drawing to a close, he said in one of his
+letters, "Pitt _must_ now be the minister." He gave a general support to
+the Government in the very small part which he took in the business of
+the House, but he availed himself of the earliest opportunity to escape
+from it; and on the very day when the King's message was delivered,
+which indicated the renewal of hostilities, he solicited and obtained
+employment.
+
+On the 11th of March, 1803, he was appointed to the eighty-gun ship
+_Tonnant_, in which, after some delay, occasioned by the general
+difficulty of procuring men, he joined the Channel fleet. Anxious to
+take part in the important naval operations to be expected, he wished to
+sail with Nelson, whose reputation gave a just presage that the most
+decisive blow would be struck where he commanded; but after he had been
+appointed to a station, his sense of naval obedience forbade any attempt
+to change it. With that care for the improvement of his young officers
+which was always a prominent feature of his conduct, he advertised for a
+superior schoolmaster for the _Tonnant_, to whom he offered 50_l._ per
+annum, in addition to his pay, that he might obtain for them better
+instructions than the regulations of the service would afford.
+
+Early in the summer, he was detached from the Channel fleet, with the
+_Mars_ and _Spartiate_ under his orders, to intercept or blockade a
+Dutch squadron, which had put into the neutral port of Ferrol, on their
+passage to India. The enemy had proceeded on their voyage the day before
+he arrived, and he followed under a press of sail as far as Madeira.
+They were the ships which he afterwards destroyed at Griessee. In his
+absence, a French squadron of five sail of the line arrived at Corunna
+from St. Domingo, and took advantage of the first westerly gale to cross
+the bay to Ferrol. Here they were blockaded by Sir Edward, whose force
+was soon increased to six, and afterwards to eight sail of the line.
+
+On the 2nd of September, during a strong easterly gale, with thick
+weather, two other French ships from St. Domingo, the _Duguay Tronin_
+74, and _Guerrière_ frigate, were chased by Sir Robert Calder, who was
+coming out to relieve the Commodore. The _Culloden_ had a running fight
+with the enemy for two hours and a half, but could not prevent them from
+getting into Corunna. In autumn, the _Tonnant_ having been refitted at
+Plymouth, Sir Edward resumed the command, and maintained a very close
+blockade, at considerable risk, by night and day. He constantly expected
+a French force from Brest, and often remarked to his officers, that
+they would have to fight both squadrons at once. Under such
+circumstances, every precaution was required, and though unwilling to
+interfere with the men's rest, yet, to prevent surprise, he thought it
+necessary to keep them at quarters all night, and pipe down the hammocks
+in the morning.
+
+As the season advanced, the weather became so tempestuous that the
+squadron was often driven off the land for many days together, and only
+occasionally fetched near Ferrol. Sir Edward became anxious therefore to
+find an anchorage in the neighbourhood, where the fleet could ride out a
+gale, and obtain necessary supplies. He first examined a bay near Cape
+Ortugal, but this was too distant. He then went in a cutter into the Bay
+of Bentanços, between Ferrol and Corunna, on the eastern side of which,
+in a bay called Ares, he considered, contrary to the opinion of the
+celebrated Spanish hydrographer Tofino, that the anchorage was safe, and
+the ground good. The correctness of his judgment was proved by the
+number of heavy gales which the squadron rode out through the winter.
+The place much resembles Cawsand Bay, and a windmill stood on the
+adjacent height, from which the harbour of Ferrol could be seen as
+distinctly as Hamoaze from Maker Tower. In this mill, the English and
+French officers on the look-out often met. As long as the wind was
+westerly, the squadron remained here; but when it shifted to the
+eastward, which was fair to leave Ferrol, Sir Edward anchored his ships
+across the entrance of the harbour.
+
+Owing to the prevalence of the westerly gales, the supplies from England
+were totally inadequate to the wants of the squadron: and it became
+indispensable to procure them on the spot. Occasionally a few live
+cattle were received, but the vessels bringing them were driven back, or
+detained, until the beasts were almost dead. Water was soon found: but
+it was not easy to obtain provisions in the depth of winter from so poor
+a country. The Spaniards were very lukewarm, and the French Admiral
+naturally created every obstacle in his power. This important charge was
+entrusted to Mr. Fitzgerald, purser of the _Tonnant_, and acting
+secretary to the Commodore, a gentleman of great resources, and
+unbounded courage and enterprise. By his exertions a small supply of
+fresh meat was obtained, with some wine and biscuit; and as confidence
+became established, cattle and other necessaries were purchased forty
+miles in the interior. In the performance of his arduous service, Mr.
+Fitzgerald was twice attempted to be assassinated; and he escaped only
+by killing the assailant upon one occasion, and by wounding some of the
+party on the other. Sir Edward was thus enabled to maintain an effectual
+blockade all the winter. He always expected an attack from Brest, which
+perhaps might have been attempted if the enemy had known his real
+strength; but his frequent exchanges with the Channel fleet deceived the
+French Admiral into a belief that a force was cruising in the
+neighbourhood, of which the ships he saw were only the in-shore
+division. Early in the year ships arrived from England with supplies,
+and every difficulty had been removed, when political events at home led
+to his recall.
+
+While the general wishes and confidence of the country were directed to
+Mr. Pitt, as the only minister to carry on the war with energy, the
+chief support of the Government was the reputation and decisive
+character of Earl St. Vincent, First Lord of the Admiralty, whose
+ability as a great commander was even surpassed by his consummate skill
+as a politician. But the Earl was now suffering the common fate of a
+practical reformer, to be opposed by the retainers of a former system,
+and distrusted by all who could not appreciate his innovations.
+Thoroughly acquainted with his own service, he had introduced
+everywhere, and especially into the dockyards, a bold and unsparing
+reform, which no ingenuity could evade, and which was felt the more from
+being coincident with the reductions of peace. All who were thus cut
+off, and others whose emoluments he curtailed, naturally became hostile;
+and the inconvenience always created by a change, and which it was the
+direct interest of so many to aggravate, afforded too favourable
+opportunities for the prejudiced to misrepresent, and the candid to
+misunderstand him. In abolishing the practice of building line-of-battle
+ships in private yards, he took a step of which all subsequent
+experience has proved the wisdom; but it united against him an extensive
+and most powerful interest. It was contended that his measures displayed
+great and unnecessary harshness, and were calculated to break down the
+effectiveness of the navy. Very many persons of the highest integrity,
+too little acquainted with the facts, were thus deceived; and even Mr.
+Pitt, though he had recommended Earl St. Vincent for the Admiralty,
+believed that he was weakening the most important arm of the country.
+Under such circumstances, Sir Edward Pellew was recalled, ostensibly,
+that the Admiralty might confer with him upon these disputed questions.
+Nothing could be more flattering to him, or indeed more honourable to
+both parties, than this confidence; for there had never been much
+cordiality between Earl St. Vincent and Sir Edward, who was both
+politically and personally an admirer of Mr. Pitt; and it was clear to
+every one that the ministry was about to fall. But the Earl was too
+conscious of the wisdom of his measures to fear the judgment of a candid
+opponent; and he too well appreciated Sir Edward's character not to feel
+assured that he would allow no private motive, or political
+predilection, to interfere with the discharge of his duty.
+
+Thus, when Mr. Pitt gave notice of a motion for inquiry into the state
+of the navy, of which the avowed object was to censure the naval
+administration, a mutual friend was employed by the Admiralty to learn
+Sir Edward's opinion of the subjects it embraced, and on finding that
+his judgment condemned them, to induce him to express his sentiments in
+the House. To this proposal he readily assented. They had all engaged
+his attention previously, particularly that relating to the gun-boats,
+which he had frequently discussed with the late Sir Sidney Smith, who
+contended that they might be made effective against a line-of-battle
+ship. Sir Edward would always say, "I should choose to be in the
+line-of-battle ship." On the day he went to the House, he observed in a
+letter to his brother that he now quite understood why he had been
+recalled from Ferrol.
+
+On the 15th of March, Mr. Pitt brought forward his threatened motions.
+He contended, that although the enemy had made the most formidable
+preparations for an invasion, which would probably be attempted within a
+few weeks, the effective force of the navy, from line-of-battle ships
+down to hired armed vessels, was at that moment inferior, and less
+adequate to the exigency of the danger, than at any former period.
+Notwithstanding it was so evidently necessary to oppose to the enemy's
+flotilla a force of a similar description, capable of acting in shallow
+water, the Admiralty had ordered only twenty-three gun-vessels to be
+built, of which five were to be completed in three, and the remainder in
+six months, though the necessity for them was immediate and urgent. He
+condemned the Admiralty for giving up the former approved plan of
+building line-of-battle ships by contract in private yards. Two-thirds
+of the navy, he said, had been thus built; for during a war all the
+strength of the King's yards was required for repairing ships, and
+building was necessarily suspended in them almost entirely. Through the
+last war, of twenty-nine line-of-battle ships, twenty-seven had been
+built in merchants' yards; while in the present only two had been
+contracted for, although fourteen or fifteen slips fit for building them
+were then unoccupied in the river. He contended, finally, that the
+Admiralty had been very remiss and unsuccessful in raising men for the
+navy. In the war of 1793 we began with 16,000 seamen and marines, and
+had 75,000 or 76,000 at the end of the year. In the present war we
+began with 50,000 men, and had raised them only to 86,000. Thus, in the
+former war there had been an increase of 60,000 men in the year; but in
+the present only of 36,000, though our mercantile marine was so much
+greater. Upon these arguments he founded motions for an account of all
+ships, from line-of-battle ships down to hired armed vessels inclusive,
+in commission on the 31st of December 1793, 30th of September 1801, and
+31st of December 1803, specifying the service on which they were
+respectively employed; for a copy of the contracts made, and the orders
+given by the Admiralty in 1793, 1797, and 1803, with respect to the
+number of gun-vessels to be built; for a list of ships built in the
+King's yards for 1793 and 1801; but if it should be thought that any
+intelligence on this head might be a channel of improper information to
+the enemy, he would abstain from pressing it, for he was aware that
+there would still be grounds sufficiently strong to convince the House
+that it was the preferable plan to construct vessels in the merchants'
+yards; and, finally, for a similar list of vessels built by contract in
+private yards.
+
+Mr. Tierney, who led the defence for ministers, would agree only to the
+first and second motions; and he moved, as an amendment to the first,
+that it should include all other armed ships and vessels employed in the
+public service. He denied Mr. Pitt's assertions, and combated his
+arguments. It was an extraordinary proceeding, he said, that an inquiry
+should be proposed, having for its object the censure of the Admiralty,
+when every port of the enemy was sealed up, our commerce protected in
+every direction, and our trade prosperous in an unexampled degree. Our
+naval force was immense, and admirably calculated for a great variety of
+service. We had 1,530 vessels employed, of which 511 included the force
+from line-of-battle ships to hired armed vessels; and 624 were a
+flotilla completely equipped and ready for immediate service; besides 9
+block-ships supplied by the Trinity-house, 19 ships furnished by the
+East India Company, and 373 lighters, and small craft, fitted in the
+King's yards. Of 100,000 seamen and marines voted by Parliament, 98,174
+had been raised, besides 25,000 sea-fencibles; and this, although the
+volunteer force of the country was 450,000. He strongly condemned the
+practice of building ships in merchants' yards. He alluded to the
+_Ajax_, which had been thus built. She had cost 41,000_l_., and the
+bargain was thought a good one, yet in three years she required a
+further sum of 17,000_l._ to fit her for service.
+
+Two parties in the House supported the motions; Admiral Berkeley, Mr.
+Wilberforce, and others, because they agreed with Mr. Pitt in condemning
+the measures of the Admiralty; Mr. Fox and his friends, because they
+considered that an inquiry would redound most highly to the credit of
+Earl St. Vincent. They contended that ministers opposed it only to
+screen their notorious incapacity under the shelter of his great name.
+On the other hand, Admiral Sir Charles Pole, Mr. Sheridan, Mr.
+Addington, Captain Markham, and others, supported Mr. Tierney, and
+confirmed all his statements. Nothing, it was said, could afford a
+stronger proof how enormous were the abuses which Earl St. Vincent had
+corrected, than the argument of Mr. Pitt and his friends, that
+men-of-war could not be built in the King's yards, although 3,200 men
+were employed in them; and it was known that forty-five shipwrights
+could build a seventy-four in a year. Four hundred of the men discharged
+had been receiving six shillings a day for doing nothing. Blockmakers'
+and coopers' work, for which 2,000_l._ had been paid, was proved upon a
+survey to be worth only 200_l._ As to the gun-boats alluded to, which
+were built by contract in the last war, they were so bad, that
+eighty-seven out of a hundred-and-twenty had been sold by public
+advertisement for almost nothing. The men-of-war launched from private
+yards had been the ruin of the navy. Three of them went to Portugal, and
+were found so defective that it was necessary to send them home, with a
+frigate for convoy. The arrangements for the naval defence of the
+country were most admirable and complete, and if there were any delay in
+building the twenty-three gun-vessels ordered by the Admiralty, it was
+because no dependence was placed upon that description of force. It
+would be folly to meet the enemy with the inferior weapons which
+necessity obliged him to employ, when we possessed a more powerful arm
+in our heavy men-of-war and frigates. The depth of water would allow
+these to act close to our very shores; and if the enemy's flotilla
+should venture out, Captain Markham, Sir Edward Pellew, Sir Thomas
+Troubridge, or any officer known in our naval records, would, with a
+single seventy-four, shoot through and sink a crowd of their
+contemptible craft.
+
+Ministers obtained a majority of 201 against 130; a most triumphant
+result for Earl St. Vincent, considering the character of his accuser,
+and the grounds upon which Mr. Fox and his friends voted for the
+motions.
+
+Sir Edward Pellew met the charges against the Admiralty with the plain
+and straightforward declarations of a seaman. Nothing could be more
+disinterested than his conduct upon this occasion; for there was little
+to hope from the gratitude of a ministry just tottering to their
+overthrow, and everything to fear from the resentment of their
+successors. But he justly considered that upon a vital question, and at
+such a crisis, no personal or party feeling should intrude; and he felt
+himself called upon to support the Admiralty with more than a silent
+vote, because he quite approved their measures, which no man could
+better understand. He rose fifth in the debate, and spoke as follows:--
+
+
+     "SIR,--As I very seldom trouble the House, I hope I may be
+     permitted to make a few observations on a subject of which, from
+     the professional experience I have had, I may be presumed to have
+     some knowledge. From the debate of this night, there is one piece
+     of information I have acquired, that the French have got upwards of
+     a thousand vessels in Boulogne. I am glad to find they are shut up
+     there; we have one advantage in it--we know where they are. I wish
+     we had any means of knowing when they intend to come out. I know
+     this much, however, that they cannot all get out in one day, or in
+     one night either; and when they do come out, I trust that our
+     cockleshells alone, as an honourable admiral has called a very
+     manageable and very active part of our force, will be able to give
+     a good account of them.
+
+     "Sir, I do not really see in the arrangement of our naval defence
+     anything to excite the apprehensions of even the most timid among
+     us. On the contrary, I see everything that may be expected from
+     activity and perseverance to inspire us with confidence. I see a
+     triple naval bulwark, composed of one fleet acting on the enemy's
+     coast; of another, consisting of heavier ships, stationed in the
+     Downs, and ready to act at a moment's notice; and a third, close to
+     the beach, capable of destroying any part of the enemy's flotilla
+     that should escape the vigilance of the other two branches of our
+     defence.
+
+     "In respect to what has been said of building ships by contract, I
+     must confess that I do not much admire that mode of keeping up our
+     navy. I have seen some of them--I particularly allude to the _Ajax_
+     and _Achilles_--that I took for Frenchmen.
+
+     "As to these gun-boats, which have been so strongly recommended,
+     this musquito fleet, they are the most contemptible force that can
+     be employed. Gun-brigs, indeed, are of some use; but between a
+     gun-brig and a gun-boat there is almost as much difference as
+     between a line-of-battle ship and a frigate. I have lately seen
+     half a dozen of them lying wrecked on the rocks.
+
+     "As to the probability of the enemy being able, in a narrow sea, to
+     pass through our blockading and protecting squadrons, with all that
+     secresy and dexterity, and by those hidden means that some worthy
+     people expect, I really, from anything that I have seen in the
+     course of my professional career, am not disposed to concur in it.
+
+     "I know, sir, and can assert with confidence, that our navy was
+     never better found; that it was never better supplied; and that the
+     men were never better fed and better clothed. Have we not all the
+     enemy's ports blockaded from Toulon to Flushing? Are we not able to
+     cope anywhere with any force the enemy dares to send out against
+     us? And do we not even outnumber them at every one of the ports we
+     have blockaded? It would smack a little of egotism, I fear, were I
+     to speak of myself; but as a person lately having the command of
+     six ships, I hope I may be allowed to state to the House how I have
+     been supported in that command. Sir, during the time that I was
+     stationed off Ferrol, I had ships passing from the fleet to me
+     every three weeks or a month; and so much was the French commander
+     in that port deceived by these appearances, that he was persuaded,
+     and I believe is to this very hour, that I had twelve ships under
+     my command, and that I had two squadrons to relieve each other, one
+     of six inside, and the other of six outside."
+
+
+He was highly complimented by several who followed him in the debate,
+particularly by Mr. Addington, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Courtenay, as well
+as by other members out of the House. Twenty, who had come down
+intending to vote for Mr. Pitt's motions, were induced to support the
+Admiralty, confessedly by Sir Edward's statements. But it is, perhaps,
+the most decisive proof of the effect of his speech, that Mr. Pitt
+himself referred to it in a debate on the defence of the country six
+weeks after. At the same time he disavowed the gun-boats, and contended
+for "good stout gun-brigs," declaring that he had observed with much
+satisfaction the efforts which had lately been made to increase that
+description of force.
+
+Mr. Addington resigned on the 12th of May, with Earl St. Vincent; Mr.
+Yorke, the Home Secretary; and Lord Hobart, Secretary at War. They were
+succeeded by Mr. Pitt, and Lords Melville, Harrowby, and Camden.
+
+On the 23rd of April, there was a naval promotion, in which some of the
+senior captains, including Sir Edward Pellew, were advanced to be
+Rear-Admirals of the White, passing over the intermediate step. This
+favour was probably considered due to them, for they had served
+considerably beyond the time which had hitherto given an officer his
+flag, the former promotion having been a small one, and the interval
+much longer than usual.
+
+Sir Edward received with his promotion the appointment to be
+commander-in-chief in India. He hoisted his flag in the _Culloden_, and
+gratified Captain Christopher Cole, the youngest brother of his deceased
+friend, and who had served with him as a midshipman in the _Winchelsea_,
+by naming him for his captain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.
+
+
+The arduous charge of a commander-in-chief requires more than great
+decision, and a judgment matured by experience. It claims also a mind
+naturally comprehensive, that it may be equal to great and complicated
+responsibilities. He has other, and not less important duties than to
+harass the enemy. He is to protect the commerce of his country; to make
+his influence so felt over every part of his station, that merit may be
+encouraged, and negligence effectually controlled; to provide in all
+respects for the efficiency of his fleet; and to act with the full
+powers of an ambassador, whenever there is no accredited minister. In
+addition to these more obvious duties, occasions will continually arise
+which demand the utmost temper and discretion. If the secret history of
+the greatest, and most popular commanders were fully made known--what
+difficulties they encountered, and what anxieties they endured--not many
+would be found to envy them their distinctions.
+
+The change in the ministry, which took place within three weeks after
+Sir Edward's promotion and appointment, subjected him, in its
+consequences, to many and great inconveniences; for the new Board of
+Admiralty manifested a decidedly hostile feeling. Such was the temper
+displayed, that he thought it necessary to caution his brother Israel to
+observe the utmost circumspection in all his conduct, and never even to
+sleep out of his ship. The evident desire to deprive him of his command
+left him very little expectation that he would be allowed to keep it,
+and in his first letter from India he observed, "Probably my successor
+is already on his way to supersede me." He was not far mistaken.
+
+The most valuable, indeed the only valuable part of his command was that
+to the eastward of Ceylon, which included the two chief presidencies,
+and all the rich colonies of the enemy. It was resolved to deprive him
+of this, by creating it a separate station, leaving to him only the
+western seas. The more desirable portion was conferred upon Rear-Admiral
+Sir Thomas Troubridge, an officer whose reputation must endure as long
+as the name and services of Nelson are remembered; and whose
+unquestioned merit affords every cause to regret that he was innocently
+made the instrument of such a proceeding. He hoisted his flag in the
+_Blenheim_, an old three-decker which had been cut down to a
+seventy-four, and sailed from England in the spring of 1805, with a
+fleet of Indiamen under his convoy; and after beating off Rear-Admiral
+Linois, who attacked him with the _Marengo_ and _Belle Poule_, reached
+India in August.
+
+When Sir Thomas went on board the _Culloden_, on his unwelcome, but not
+unexpected errand, Sir Edward inquired if he had brought his own letters
+of recall. Finding that the Admiralty had overlooked the essential step
+of sending them, he declared, that until they arrived he could not
+resign any part of his command. He was charged with it by the King, and
+was required by the regulations of the service to hold it until recalled
+by the same authority. Sir Thomas thought that a commission was
+cancelled by a posterior one, without a direct recall; but Sir Edward,
+who was equalled by very few in his knowledge of naval law, found it
+easy to convince him to the contrary, or at least to refute his
+arguments. He told Sir Thomas that if he remained in India, it must be
+under his own orders, for his commission comprehended all the station,
+and it was impossible for a junior to command in the presence of his
+superior officer. When Sir Thomas, indignant at the proposal, refused to
+act under the other's authority, Sir Edward brought the question very
+promptly to an issue, by writing, and handing to Sir Thomas, an order on
+service.
+
+Both officers were naturally warm, and Sir Thomas, disappointed as well
+as irritated, and who was taken so entirely by surprise, had by this
+time quite lost his temper. Indeed, the altercation had gone so far,
+that nothing but a sense of their public responsibility prevented a more
+unpleasant meeting. Sir Edward had hitherto maintained his self-command;
+but as Sir Thomas continued warm, and he was conscious of the infirmity
+of his own temper, he went himself to the cabin-door, and calling for
+Captain Cole, desired him to remain as a witness of all that passed. The
+two Admirals quickly came, not perhaps to a more friendly feeling, but
+at least to a better understanding. Sir Thomas could not but see that
+the other was acting in strict conformity to his duty, and he had the
+assurance that the Admiralty would correct their oversight as soon as a
+reference could be made to them. Sir Edward must have felt it most
+painful thus to meet an officer whose character stood deservedly among
+the highest in the service; the trusted friend, and almost the other
+self of Nelson. Acting with the utmost disinterestedness, though he
+could only expect to be superseded, for a public board will seldom
+confess itself to have been in error, he did not hesitate, as soon as
+his own authority had been properly admitted, to give Sir Thomas a
+separate squadron in the best part of the station. It proved a most
+lucrative command, for in addition to its general advantages, some
+prizes of immense value were taken. On the 20th of July, 1806, the
+_Greyhound_ frigate and _Harrier_ sloop of war fell in with two large
+armed Indiamen, richly laden with spices, and protected by a frigate and
+a corvette. The British gallantly attacked them, and captured, with
+little loss, the frigate, and both the Indiamen. To add to the
+gratification of the Admiral, it was his son, Captain Troubridge, who
+commanded the _Harrier_.
+
+Sir Edward, as far as he was himself concerned, had eventually little
+reason for regret. The position of true dignity, to be always ready to
+sacrifice to public duty personal feelings, and to surrender, when
+necessary, personal interests, but never to compromise any point of
+principle or character, is generally the course not less of prudence
+than of honour. He obtained on this occasion all he could desire, and
+more than he had hoped for, a candid inquiry. Before his letter reached
+England, there had been a change in the ministry, and Mr. Grey was at
+the head of the Admiralty. Nothing could be more honourable than all his
+conduct. It was at first believed that Sir Edward had committed an
+illegal and unprecedented act of resistance to that authority which, as
+an officer, he was bound implicitly to obey. Yet, believing that he had
+acted hastily, Mr. Grey himself went to the Duke of Northumberland, as
+Sir Edward's friend, to say, that the board would allow him to write a
+letter on service, recalling his ill-advised communication. The Duke
+sent to Sir Edward's brother, who was then in town, that he might write
+to India without delay; but Mr. Pellew at first thought the step
+unnecessary. His brother, he said, was not in the habit of acting
+without due consideration, and he did not think it would be found that
+he had done so now. But next day. Earl St. Vincent called upon the Duke,
+and insisted more strongly on the necessity for the step. Sir Edward's
+letter, he said, was not a question of this or the other administration,
+but an act of insubordination which no ministry could overlook: that his
+professional prospects would be entirely destroyed if the board took
+cognizance of it; and that extraordinary lenity was shown in allowing
+him to recall it. A letter was accordingly written; but before a ship
+sailed, Mr. Grey came a second time to the Duke, and told him he had
+found, upon inquiry, that Sir Edward was right. He did more; for he
+wrote to Sir Edward himself a very kind and handsome letter; and though
+opposed to him in political opinions, while Sir Thomas Troubridge was
+connected with his own friends, he recalled this officer, whom he
+appointed to the Cape, and continued to Sir Edward, as at first, the
+entire command in India.
+
+Sir Thomas had with great reason assured himself of a different result.
+He prepared immediately to cross the Indian Ocean to the Cape in the
+_Blenheim_, though she was utterly unseaworthy, and required constant
+pumping even in harbour. She had grounded on a shoal in the Straits of
+Malacca, and was obliged to throw her guns overboard, and cut away her
+masts, before she could be got off. Her back was broken, her frame
+shaken to pieces, and she hogged excessively. In fact, her head and
+stern fell so much, that she rose like a hill amidships, and a person at
+the door of the poop-cabin could not see the sentry on the forecastle
+below his middle. Sir Edward Pellew entreated the Admiral to select any
+other ship on the station for his flag. The Captain of the _Blenheim_
+formally reported her condition, but was told, that if he were afraid,
+he might go on shore, a taunt that compelled the unfortunate officer to
+sacrifice himself with the ship's company. The Admiral thought to force
+back the broken keel to its place by putting in a very heavy mainmast,
+and could not be convinced that he thus increased the danger. The
+distinguished officer who supplied these particulars went on board the
+_Blenheim_ the day she sailed, to take leave of the Captain, and found
+that he had just written a last farewell to his wife, from a conviction
+that the ship must inevitably founder. On the 12th of January, 1807, she
+sailed from Madras, in company with the _Java_ frigate, and the
+_Harrier_ sloop of war. On the 5th of February, the _Harrier_ parted
+company off the island of Rodrigues, in a very heavy gale, in which the
+unfortunate _Blenheim_ and _Java_ were seen to make repeated signals of
+distress. They were never again heard of!
+
+The possibility that the ships might have run on shore induced Sir
+Edward to send the Admiral's son with the _Greyhound_ frigate in search
+of his lamented parent. Captain Troubridge explored the coasts with all
+the anxiety that filial affection could inspire, receiving every
+assistance from the French authorities at the isles of France and
+Bourbon; but he could discover no certain traces of the ships, and no
+doubt remained that they had both foundered.
+
+Sir Edward had been in India but a very short time, when his friend and
+former opponent, Bergeret, was brought to him a prisoner. This gallant
+officer had employed himself through the peace in the merchant service,
+with the _Psyché_, formerly a small national frigate. When hostilities
+were renewed, he armed her with thirty-six guns, and sent her out in
+charge of another officer, Captain Trogoff, not choosing to command a
+privateer. In her first cruise, on the 11th of April, 1804, she
+attacked, and was beaten off by the _Wilhelmina_ store-ship, Captain
+Henry Lambert, and returning to the Isle of France, disabled, General
+Decaen, the governor, bought her into the national marine, and appointed
+Bergeret to command her. He cruised in the Bay of Bengal for a short
+time with much success, while his very liberal conduct obtained for him
+the highest respect of the British residents. Fortune was again unjust
+to him. On the 14th of February, 1805, the _San Fiorenzo_, commanded by
+Captain Lambert, late of the _Wilhelmina_, and which had been sent
+expressly in pursuit of him, fell in with the _Psyché_ off Vizagapatam,
+and after a chase of two days brought her to action. Bergeret defended
+his ship against a very superior force for three hours and a half, when
+the _San Fiorenzo_ hauled off to repair her rigging, leaving him with
+his ship entirely disabled, and more than half his crew killed and
+wounded. On the approach of the British frigate to renew the action, he
+surrendered.
+
+Sir Edward was a warm admirer of the brave prisoner, whose character so
+much resembled his own, and who returned his friendship with equal
+warmth and sincerity. There is not often such a scene on board a
+man-of-war as occurred when the two officers first met on the
+quarter-deck of the _Culloden_. Both were deeply affected, and the
+struggle of their feelings, from meeting under such circumstances, drew
+tears from many who witnessed the interview.[11]
+
+Sir Edward was not always so happy as to meet with enemies thus
+deserving of his sympathy. A French frigate, the _Piedmontaise_, was
+guilty of conduct which would have-disgraced a pirate. Cruising off the
+Cape, on the 17th of February, 1805, she fell in with the _Warren
+Hastings_, one of the China fleet which on a former voyage so gallantly
+bent off the squadron of Admiral Linois; and after a very long and
+severe action, in which the Indiaman was dismasted, and otherwise
+completely disabled, took her. Her brave defence appears to have excited
+the fury of the enemy, probably because her very crippled state
+increased the probability of recapture. Before taking possession of the
+prize, the frigate, by her own mismanagement, fell on board.
+Immediately, the first lieutenant, with a party of ruffians, many of
+whom, like their leader, were intoxicated, rushed on the deck of the
+Indiaman with horrid imprecations and drawn daggers, accusing the
+prisoners of having run foul of the frigate intentionally. The
+lieutenant himself wounded Captain Larkins dangerously, and stabbed a
+young midshipman in several places; and the second officer, the surgeon,
+and a boatswain's mate, were wounded by his followers. Sir Edward did
+not become acquainted with these facts for two years, as Captain Larkins
+and his crew could not depose to them until they reached St. Helena,
+after they had been liberated from the Isle of France. The
+_Piedmontaise_ was then cruising in the Indian seas, and Sir Edward
+transmitted copies of the depositions to every ship on the station,
+with a general order, in which "the attention of the respective captains
+and commanders of H.M.'s squadron is especially called to the statement,
+in order that the ferocious conduct of the first lieutenant, and part of
+the crew of the _Piedmontaise_, may receive the general reprobation of
+H.M.'s service."
+
+The _San Fiorenzo_ was again the fortunate frigate which stopped the
+career of the enemy. Commanded by Captain George Nicholas Hardinge,
+brother of Lord Hardinge, the present Commander-in-Chief--a young
+officer of great promise and distinguished courage--she fell in with the
+_Piedmontaise_ on the evening of the 6th of March, 1808; and after an
+exchange of broadsides that night, and a severe but still undecided
+engagement next morning, brought her to close action on the afternoon of
+the third day, and took her. The _San Fiorenzo_ commenced action with
+only 186 effective men; the _Piedmontaise_, a larger and heavier
+frigate, had more than 500, including 200 Lascars. Captain Hardinge was
+unfortunately killed on the third day. For some time before the enemy
+struck, the first lieutenant was seen exposing himself to the hottest of
+the fire; till, disappointed of the death he sought, and dreading to
+fall into the hands of the British, he discharged his pistols into his
+own body. It is said, that as he did not die immediately, he ordered
+some of his people to throw him overboard alive.
+
+The French naval force in the Indian seas was at no time considerable,
+for whenever a cruiser was known to be committing depredations, her
+career was generally cut short by some of the squadron. It consisted
+chiefly of privateers, for which the Isle of France afforded a
+convenient rendezvous; and of which some were large enough to capture a
+regular Indiaman. The _Emiline_, taken after a two days' chase by the
+_Culloden_, had been a British sloop of war: and the _Bellone_, taken by
+the _Powerful_ and _Rattlesnake_, was added to the navy as a small-class
+frigate, and actually maintained a running fight with the seventy-four.
+The resemblance between ships of war and the larger Indiamen more than
+once deceived the enemy. The _Union_, a small privateer, mounting only
+eight guns, thus ventured to chase, and was taken by the _Culloden_; and
+the _Jena_, national corvette, was taken in the same manner by the
+_Modeste_ frigate. The _Jena_ was a remarkably fine and fast vessel,
+and, as the _Revenant_ privateer, had formerly cruised long and very
+successfully. She was commissioned as the _Victor_, to replace a sloop
+of war of that name, which in the preceding year had been the scene of
+one of the most extraordinary and tragical events on record.
+
+The _Victor_, commanded by Captain George Bell, whose name has been
+already mentioned in connection with the _Nymphe_ and _Indefatigable_,
+had taken four brigs in Batavia Road, and was returning to Prince of
+Wales' Island. On the 15th of April 1807, off Cheribon, she met three
+Malay prows under Dutch colours, which, on its falling calm, she
+detained with the armed boats, and brought alongside. The crews of two
+of them, a hundred and twenty men, were taken on board the _Victor_, and
+placed under a guard, while the prows were being examined; but the
+people in the third being refractory, a carronade was fired into her,
+and some small arms, which they returned by throwing spears and firing
+pistols. A second gun was therefore fired, some sparks from which
+reached a quantity of powder which had been taken out of the prows, and
+blew up the after-part of the ship. The guard ran to extinguish the
+flames, leaving the prisoners, who instantly seized their arms, with the
+spears and knives which had been thrown on board, and attacked the crew
+with all the desperation of their character. The prows were immediately
+cut adrift, and the crew, under the direction of their officers,
+proceeded with admirable order and coolness, one part to extinguish the
+fire, and the rest to defend themselves against the murderous attack.
+After half an hour's dreadful struggle for life, for the Malays would
+take no quarter, eighty of them lay dead on the deck, and the rest were
+driven overboard. The _Victor_ had her first lieutenant and five men
+killed, and her captain and twenty-five wounded; nine of whom died
+shortly after.
+
+Holland, which in reality, though not yet in name, was now a French
+province, had a moderately strong squadron in India. Two frigates had
+been taken since Sir Edward's arrival, the _Maria Riggersbergen_, by the
+_Caroline_; and the _Pallas_, by the _Greyhound_ and _Harrier_. The
+first was the unfortunate ship which, under the name of the _Java_,
+shared the fate of the _Blenheim_; the other was the convoy of the spice
+ships. Two line-of-battle ships, the _Pluto_ and _Revolutié_ with a
+frigate and several corvettes and gun-boats, were at anchor in Batavia
+Road; and information had been received by the _Powerful_, 74, Captain
+Plamplin, that Rear-Admiral Willaumez, with six sail of the line, one of
+them commanded by Jerome Bonaparte, might be expected in the Indian
+seas. To destroy the ships already at Batavia, and to intercept the
+French squadron, Sir Edward sailed on the 22nd of October 1806, from
+Madras to Trincomalee. Here a fleet of Indiamen under his convoy was
+joined by other ships, and went on to Europe in charge of the _Woolwich_
+and _Duncan_; while the Admiral, with the _Culloden_, _Powerful_,
+_Russell_, and _Belliqueux_ line-of-battle ships, and _Terpsichore_
+frigate, proceeded to the Straits of Sunda, where the _Albion_ and
+others were to join him. Lieutenant Owen, commanding the _Seaflower_
+brig, was instructed to disguise her as one of the expected French
+squadron, and to hasten on before. On the 23rd of November, they were
+joined by the frigate _Sir Francis Drake_, Captain Pownoll Pellew; and
+on the same day they learnt that Willaumez had gone to America. On the
+26th they arrived in the Straits of Sunda, where they found the
+_Seaflower_, which had already communicated with the Dutch authorities
+at Bantam as one of the expected French force, and information was sent
+accordingly to the Governor at Batavia. So completely were the enemy
+deceived by this step, that the squadron sailed along the coast of
+Java, and anchored on the 27th in Batavia Road, before its character was
+suspected.
+
+As soon as it was known to be British, the _Phoenix_, 40-gun frigate;
+the _Aventure_ and _Zee-ploeg_, national corvettes; the _Patriot_, and
+another ship of 20 guns, and three brigs of 14, Company's cruisers; with
+more than twenty merchant vessels, ran themselves on shore under the
+extensive batteries of Batavia. Another corvette, the _William_, struck
+to the _Terpsichore_ as she was entering the road; but the
+line-of-battle ships had sailed a few days before to Griessee, a
+fortified harbour on the Sourabaya river, at the eastern extremity of
+the island. The boats of the whole squadron, with five hundred picked
+men, commanded by the Admiral's second son, Captain Fleetwood Pellew, of
+the _Terpsichore_, and covered by the fire from the frigates, were sent
+without delay to destroy the enemy's ships. The decision of Captain
+Pellew, which scarcely allowed them time to man their guns, made their
+fire almost harmless. He boarded the _Phoenix_, whose crew quitted her
+on his approach; turned her guns on the other armed vessels; burnt all
+the shipping except three merchant vessels, which were brought away; and
+in less than two hours returned with the boats, having effected the
+whole service with no greater loss than one man killed and four wounded.
+
+One of the ships lay at the little island of Onroost, which is piled and
+jettied all around, and contained a small and compact repairing yard for
+merchant vessels of all nations. Two boats were sent to destroy her,
+with strict orders to injure nothing on shore; but unfortunately she
+drove alongside the jetty, and, to the great regret of the Admiral, the
+flames communicated to the buildings, and occasioned much damage. The
+squadron sailed on the 1st of December, the _Culloden_ and _Belliqueux_
+to return to India, the others for their respective stations. Thus
+easily was completed an enterprise, as admirably planned as it was
+gallantly executed. General Daendels, when he became Captain-General of
+Java and the Moluccas, some time after, sent a message to Sir Edward,
+that he hoped he would not pay him a visit without an invitation.
+
+In the following June, the Admiral sent Captain Fleetwood Pellew in the
+_Psyché_, with the _Caroline_ under his orders, to ascertain the
+condition of the Dutch line-of-battle ships at Griessee. Captain Pellew
+displayed on this occasion the same spirit which had marked his former
+service. The frigates reached their destination August 29th, and on the
+following day learned that the men-of-war were lying in the port
+dismantled, and very much out of repair. They now proceeded to Samarang,
+where the _Psyché_ arrived, and anchored off the port at midnight, the
+_Caroline_ having parted company in chase. At daylight she weighed, and
+stood into the road, where an armed schooner and a merchant brig were
+anchored near the batteries. These were brought out by the boats, under
+a heavy but ineffectual fire. Two large ships and a brig had been seen
+early in the morning at anchor outside, afterwards found to be the
+_Resolutié_, armed merchant vessel, of 700 tons, with a valuable cargo,
+and having the colours and staff of a Dutch European regiment on board;
+the _Scipio_, national corvette, of 24 guns and 150 men; and the
+_Ceres_, Company's brig of war. That he might be ready to take advantage
+of the sea-breeze, Captain Pellew destroyed the prizes, and before noon
+the _Psyché_ was clear of the harbour in chase, the enemy having weighed
+and stood to sea. The frigate gaining fast upon them, they all ran
+themselves on shore at half-past three, and opened their fire. The
+_Psyché_ anchored as near as the depth of water would allow, and
+presently compelled the merchant ship to surrender. At half-past four,
+just as the frigate was lowering her boats to board, the _Scipio_
+struck: and the brig soon after fired a broadside, and hauled down her
+colours. They were all got off safely the same night, and Captain
+Pellew, after arranging with the Governor of Samarang for sending on
+shore the prisoners, who far outnumbered his own crew, returned to port
+with his prizes.
+
+On the arrival of the _Psyché_, Sir Edward sailed from Madras, with the
+_Culloden_ and _Powerful_, seventy-fours; _Caroline_ and _Fox_,
+frigates; _Victor_, _Samarang_, _Seaflower_, and _Jaseur_, sloops of
+war; and _Wexford_, a large Indiaman, fitted as a troop-ship: with five
+companies of the 34th regiment, and a company of artillery, under
+Lieutenant-Colonel Lockhart. The squadron proceeded first to Prince of
+Wales' Island, where it embarked the Royals, and the 34th; and on the
+20th of November sailed finally for its destination. On the morning of
+the 5th of December it arrived off Point Panka, the eastern extremity of
+Java; and Sir Edward sent a summons to M. Cowell, commander of the
+Gallo-Batavian force, to surrender the ships of war under his orders.
+"The British," he wrote, "are the natural friends of the Dutch. We are
+impressed with correspondent sentiments. It is become our duty to
+prevent the Dutch ships of war from acting under the control of France
+in hostility to the British." He then proposed that the ships of war,
+and all vessels under French colours, be given up, promising in that
+case security for the inhabitants and garrison; and threatening, in the
+event of a refusal, those hostile operations which the naval and
+military forces were jointly prepared to accomplish. Captain Fleetwood
+Pellew, with a military officer, and the Admiral's secretary, delivered
+this proposal to the French commodore; but that officer, in violation of
+the flag of truce, detained them all as prisoners, and returned an
+answer of defiance.
+
+The force assembled for the attack was such as might deter the enemy
+from attempting resistance, with a sufficient force of small vessels to
+be equal to the service, if the line-of-battle ships should be unable to
+get up. At the entrance of the river, about ten miles up the harbour,
+the _Culloden_ and _Powerful_, though they had been previously
+lightened, and trimmed to an even keel, to equalize their draught of
+water fore-and-aft, grounded on what was called the bar, and which
+proved to be a flat, several miles in extent. Part of their water was
+started, and their guns, shot, provisions, and whatever would materially
+lighten them, were removed into three coasting-vessels detained for that
+purpose; but still they remained fast. The rest of the squadron, except
+the troop-ship, which was also aground, crossed the bar, and passing a
+stockade of large trees, anchored in deep water below the island of
+Madura. On the evening of the 6th, Sir Edward, seeing no probability of
+carrying up the large ships, determined to force the passage, and attack
+the place without them, and accordingly shifted his flag to the
+_Caroline_. Fortunately, at nine o'clock that night the water began to
+rise; and by ten, the _Culloden_ was afloat and under sail. Following a
+boat with a light, which was directed by Mr. Gaze, the master, she
+passed the stockade, and by eleven o'clock was anchored above the bar in
+deep water. Before daylight, the Admiral returned to her, and all the
+squadron, except the _Powerful_ and the troop-ship, which had not yet
+floated, weighed with the sea-breeze, and stood for the narrow passage
+between Madura and Java. At half-past eleven, they were engaged with the
+batteries on the island; but they passed them by half-past twelve,
+without having received material damage. At a little past four, the
+squadron anchored abreast of the Fort of Griessee, but no farther
+resistance was offered, except a few ineffectual shots fired from that
+fort at the _Culloden_; M. Cowell having previously determined to defend
+the place to the last against the frigates and sloops, but to surrender
+if the line-of-battle ships got up. The _Powerful_ joined next day. In
+coming up, she was struck from the batteries on Madura with hot shot,
+but her people extinguished the fire. The troops took possession of the
+fort, leaving the town in the hands of the civil authorities: and on the
+9th, the Governor and Council of Somabaya, having thankfully acquiesced
+in the liberal terms dictated by Sir Edward, all hostilities ceased.
+They had promptly released the gentlemen whom the commodore had so
+unjustifiably detained; and a deputation of three members of their own
+body accompanied them to the Admiral, to disavow the act of M. Cowell,
+and to treat for a capitulation.
+
+Having burnt the _Pluto_, _Revolutié_, and _Kortenaar_, line-of-battle
+ships, and a large Indiaman, fitted as a frigate, and destroyed the
+military stores and batteries at Griessee and Madura, the squadron
+weighed on the 13th, and stood down the river in charge of the Dutch
+pilots. On the 15th, they crossed the bar, and two days after, having
+completed their provisions and water, left the coast. Not a man was lost
+in all the service. When Java was taken, in 1811, a squadron was sent to
+Sourabaya; but none of the large ships could get over the bar; and their
+officers would scarcely credit the fact that the _Culloden_ and
+_Powerful_ had reached Griessee.
+
+The _Culloden_ arrived at Madras on the 10th of February, and found
+there the _Russell_ and _Duncan_, with troops embarked to attack
+Tranquebar. They sailed next day, and the place surrendered on being
+summoned.
+
+But all these operations, complete as they were in their success, were
+of far less importance than the effectual protection which Sir Edward
+afforded to commerce. His position, with reference to this point, had
+been peculiarly fortunate: for the confidential intercourse which
+existed between him and his brothers, and the warm interest which they
+took in one another's pursuits, had induced him to give much attention
+to the commercial system of the country. Particularly, he had become
+familiar with the important subject of insurance and convoys, upon which
+his brother had been much in communication with the government. At an
+early period of his command in India, he submitted to the merchants and
+underwriters a proposal to establish a regular system of convoys; and
+invited them to suggest from their own local experience the regulations
+likely to be the most convenient and effectual. The merchants entered
+readily into his plans and the results were satisfactory. Some loss was,
+indeed, still experienced through a frequent practice of masters of
+vessels to sail without convoy, or to separate from it on the passage.
+The commanders of the enemy's cruisers generally treated their prisoners
+well, and released them at the earliest opportunity; so that sailing
+without protection became a mere commercial calculation between a higher
+premium of insurance, and the profits from an early arrival, for little
+personal inconvenience was to be apprehended from capture. To check this
+practice, the Bengal Government, in December, 1806, issued a
+proclamation, declaring that all masters of vessels who separated from
+their convoy without sufficient cause, should be removed from India; and
+in 1808, the Court of Directors ordered, that the master of every
+country ship should enter into a bond of 5,000 rupees, at the
+custom-house from which he cleared, as a penalty for any separation. Not
+that the danger was often great, for the vigilance of the squadron
+seldom allowed an enemy's cruiser a long career; but it sometimes
+happened, as was particularly the case while the force was assembled for
+the expedition to Sourabaya, that an enemy would unexpectedly show
+himself, and commit serious depredations.
+
+During the debate in the House of Commons, on the vote of thanks for the
+victory at Algiers, Mr. Money, an East India Director, who had been in
+India during Sir Edward's command, bore a strong testimony to the merit
+and success of his system. "Such," he said, "was the vigilance with
+which Sir Edward had chased the enemy from our extensive shores, and so
+powerful the protection which he gave to our commerce in those seas,
+that property to the amount of millions had been saved, which otherwise
+would have fallen into the hands of the enemy." Making all the allowance
+which a loose and general estimate usually requires, the assertion at
+least shows the estimation in which Sir Edward's services were held. A
+series of resolutions entered into by the merchants and underwriters of
+Bombay, in December, 1808, when he was on the point of returning to
+Europe, affords more precise evidence. From the data furnished by the
+trade of this port, may be inferred the greatness of the benefits which
+the commerce of India received from his protection.
+
+
+     "Resolved--That it appears to this meeting of merchants,
+     shipowners, and underwriters, of Bombay, to be an indispensable act
+     of justice, more especially under existing circumstances, publicly
+     to declare, on the approaching departure of his Excellency
+     Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew for Europe, the extent of the
+     protection which the commerce of Bombay has received, since the
+     assumption by his Excellency of the command-in-chief of his
+     Majesty's ships in the Indian seas.
+
+     "--That it appears by a document framed in the insurance-office of
+     Bombay, that the rate of premium from Bombay to China, and from
+     China to Bombay, from the year 1708 to 1805, fluctuated between
+     twelve, ten, nine, and eight per cent.; while, during the period of
+     Sir Edward Pellew's command, from 1805 to 1808 inclusive, it has
+     stood at eight per cent., with a return of three per cent., if
+     sailing with convoy, and at five per cent., if warranted with
+     convoy: the rate of insurance has, therefore, been fifty per cent,
+     lower on the commerce of the port of Bombay during Sir Edward
+     Pellew's command than at any former period.
+
+     "--That since the arrival of Sir Edward Pellew, a period of only
+     three years, one hundred and ten ships have exported and imported,
+     to and from China, under convoy during the whole voyage; while only
+     twenty-eight have run the passage unprotected, in consequence of
+     their sailing out of the seasons fixed for the regular convoys; at
+     the same time that those which have departed unprotected on the eve
+     of appointed convoys, or have separated in the course of the
+     voyage, have not failed to attract the notice and remonstrance of
+     his Excellency.
+
+     "--That the operation of the system of convoys had afforded
+     complete security to the trading capital of Bombay, of which the
+     amount insured at this settlement, from May 1st, 1806, to October
+     31st, 1808, has been 6,700,000_l._; that the premium paid by the
+     trade on that sum amounts to 445,000_l._; that the losses by
+     captures amount to 61,000_l._; that the losses by sea risks
+     extended to 69,000_l._; and that the profits to the underwriters
+     amount to the sum of 314,000_l._; the losses by captures being
+     under one per cent, on the principal insured, and exceeded by those
+     arising from sea-risks; while the former have occurred beyond the
+     influence, or have been a consequence of a departure from that
+     regular system of convoy, by which the commerce of the western
+     division of the peninsula of India has been so extensively
+     benefited.
+
+     "--That the advantage resulting from protection by convoys, which
+     the trade of this port has thus experienced, has originated in that
+     system which was established, and has prevailed, since the
+     succession to the command of H.M.'s ships in India by Sir Edward
+     Pellew; a system proposed at his express invitation, in the letter
+     addressed to his Excellency by the three leading firms in behalf of
+     the merchants of Bombay, on the 12th of February, 1806, and adopted
+     in the reply of his Excellency's secretary of the following day.
+
+     "--That at a time when the enemy has sacrificed his maritime
+     reputation, and every feeling of naval ambition, to a degrading
+     system of privateering, in the prosecution of which national ships
+     of superior force and construction are employed, for the purpose of
+     committing depredations on our trade, it is indispensable to the
+     successful prosecution of our commercial interests, essential to
+     our national credit, and justly due to the character of those to
+     whom the protection of these valuable and important trusts is
+     committed, that a steady adherence to that system should be
+     observed, of the solid advantages of which, the experience of
+     three years has afforded so decided a proof.
+
+     "--That independently of the ample protection afforded to the
+     commerce of the port, his Excellency Sir Edward Pellew has
+     manifested a degree of personal anxiety for the security of its
+     trade, characteristic of that zeal and vigilance which have ever
+     distinguished his professional career; that the interference of his
+     Excellency led to the advertisements issued at his suggestion by
+     the insurance society of Bombay in the year 1806, promotive of
+     encouragement to sail and continue under convoy; and subsequently,
+     to the salutary provisions contained in the proclamations published
+     by the governments of Bengal and Bombay in the year 1807,
+     restrictive of the practice of ships separating from convoy; and,
+     moreover, that his Excellency's solicitude in this respect has
+     succeeded in establishing a degree of control over our shipping,
+     hitherto unknown in the Indian seas.
+
+     "--That these important facts, as established by the most minute
+     investigation, do eminently entitle his Excellency Sir Edward
+     Pellew, to a more formal declaration of those grateful
+     acknowledgments which he has already received from a great and
+     decided majority of the merchants, shipowners, and underwriters of
+     Bombay.
+
+     "--That these resolutions be communicated to his Excellency Sir
+     Edward Pellew, with a suitable address, and published in the
+     _Bombay Courier_.
+
+                                        "CHARLES FORBES, Chairman."
+
+
+The great extent of the Indian command, and the comparatively small
+force with which it was held, called forth the utmost exertions of every
+officer; and the attention of the commander-in-chief was unceasingly
+directed to everything which was calculated to maintain his squadron in
+the highest state of efficiency. Lord Torrington, who was at that time
+serving under his orders, bore testimony in the House of Lords to the
+care and judgment by which, while he prevented any waste of naval
+stores, he kept the ships always well supplied, and in a state always
+ready for action. Overlooking nothing connected with the interest of his
+crews, he established a naval hospital at Madras, a measure fraught with
+economy to the country, and advantage to the service.
+
+As an Admiral, not less than as a Captain, Sir Edward interested himself
+in the welfare and comfort of every man under his command; but the
+clamour of that false humanity which is one of the most prominent vices
+of the present day would never influence him. He knew that, even in the
+best ordered ships, punishment may be sometimes necessary as an extreme
+alternative, though the exercise of it demands great discretion. Too
+many will be found, especially during a war, when it is impossible to
+inquire into the character of those who come into the service, who are
+callous to every better motive; and with reference to such, we must
+respect the humanity more than the judgment of those who would
+substitute privations injurious to health, for the pain of the lash, and
+studied indignities for the shame of it. Little consideration can be
+claimed for that pretended sense of honour, which is sensitive to the
+shame of punishment, but callous to the degradation of crime. The
+experience of every good officer will bear out the assertions, that a
+strict commander is always the most popular; that the orderly system of
+a well regulated ship, in which every man knows his duty, and performs
+it without being teasingly interfered with, affords the best security
+against offences; and that when an offence has been committed, the
+ship's company, and even the culprit himself, will respect the captain
+who patiently investigates the fault, and dispassionately orders the
+deserved punishment.
+
+But on the other hand, except in particular cases, as where a ship has
+been manned by drafts from the fleet; in other words, by receiving the
+skulkers and incorrigibles, whom every captain desires to get rid of,
+frequency of punishment is the most certain proof of unsatisfactory
+discipline. Either there will be a laxity which encourages by the
+prospect of impunity, or else a want of system, in which the caprice of
+the officer is the rule for the moment, and the men can never fall into
+regular habits. Sir Edward's observation had taught him, that while the
+power to punish can be entrusted only to the discretion of the
+commander, it is right, on every ground, that it should be exercised
+under some check. Accordingly, soon after he went to India, he required
+a monthly return of punishment from every ship in his fleet; and the
+Admiralty, struck with the simplicity of the plan, and not less with the
+excellent effects, adopted it for all the navy. This was the first step
+in the milder and more effectual system of discipline which has since
+prevailed; and if he had no other claim than to have originated this, it
+would be sufficient to entitle him to the gratitude of every officer and
+man in the service.
+
+He sailed from India in February, 1809, with a fleet of Indiamen under
+his convoy. Off the Isle of France they encountered a violent hurricane,
+in which the _Culloden_ was in the greatest danger. For three days no
+provisions could be cooked, and the crew subsisted chiefly on dry rice,
+with a dram every four hours. So violent was the motion of the ship, as
+she rolled from broadside to broadside, that the chain-pumps were almost
+useless. All the quarter-boats were lost, the quarter-galleries washed
+away, and three of the dead lights stove. Fortunately her bottom was
+sound, but she broke much in the upper works; the bolts working
+themselves loose, and many of the knees giving way. Even the cabin
+bulkheads were thrown down. It was suggested to the Admiral, who was
+almost constantly on deck, encouraging the men at the pumps, that the
+ship would be materially eased if the upper deck guns were thrown
+overboard. He replied, "I do not think it necessary; she will do very
+well, and what would become of the convoy if we meet an enemy?" It was
+his intention, if the gale had continued, to cut away the mainmast,
+which, being very heavy--for it weighed twenty-one tons--strained the
+ship exceedingly. The mizen-mast had given way in the top. Four of the
+convoy foundered, and the rest were scattered; but all which escaped the
+gale re-assembled at St. Helena, and, with the _Culloden_, arrived
+safely in England.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] Bergeret rose to be an Admiral, and was not long since
+Commander-in-Chief at Brest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
+
+
+The expedition to the Scheldt was being fitted out when Sir Edward
+arrived from India; and had he reached England but a few days sooner, it
+was understood that he would have received the naval command. The
+military commander-in-chief, whose friendship he had long enjoyed,
+wished him to be appointed; but the final arrangements of the Admiralty
+had been already completed.
+
+Lord Mulgrave afterwards proposed to him to be second in command in the
+Mediterranean; and suggested that Lord Collingwood would probably be
+glad to surrender his charge to an officer who possessed the confidence
+of the Admiralty; for that of late he had repeatedly expressed a desire
+to be relieved from it on account of his declining health. But Sir
+Edward, who was not aware of the actual condition of that distinguished
+Admiral, declined the offer, for he could not be persuaded that Lord
+Collingwood would resign a command which he filled so usefully and
+honourably, as long as he could possibly hold it with advantage to his
+country.
+
+He did not remain long unemployed, though he never attempted to create
+an interest in his favour by any indirect means. Political intrigue, he
+has said, does not sit well on a sea-officer; and he would not attach
+himself to the fortunes of any administration, or party. This, as it is
+the most honourable, is also in the end the most successful path; but
+the man who travels thus alone and unsupported, must be prepared for the
+many attacks to which such a position will expose him. Some such
+annoyance or interference may have prompted the following blunt avowal
+of independence in a letter, of the 28th of July, 1810.
+
+"I have no right to the favour of Mr. Percival, or any minister.--I have
+never intrigued, nor ever will--and as to sneaking after such people, I
+will not--and as to the command of the Channel fleet, be it Pole, or be
+it Calder, I care not one straw--and whether I am on the shelf by any
+new set, is equally indifferent--and for me, who am fifty-three, except
+the heart-felt satisfaction of serving my country in such times, I will
+never be at the trouble to write a letter to ask a favour of any
+minister alive. I care not who comes in, or who goes out, and if they
+send me on shore, well; and if not, it is the same."
+
+In the spring of 1810 he hoisted his flag on board the _Christian VII_.
+as commander in-chief in the North Sea. He rode at anchor with his fleet
+all the summer, off the mouth of the Scheldt, just in sight of land;
+while his smaller vessels were actively employed along the whole line of
+coast. He frequently stood into the Scheldt in a cutter, that he might
+reconnoitre the enemy's fleet in person. A gale from the eastward having
+blown the fleet off the coast, it was at anchor in the Downs, when a
+gun-brig arrived with intelligence that the enemy had dropped down to
+the Western Scheldt, apparently ready to sail. He ordered the fleet to
+sea immediately; but many of them having made signal of inability, for
+the pilots refused to get them under weigh, he sent for the chief pilot
+of the flag ship, and questioned him if it were practicable to take out
+a ship in such weather. The pilot having reported that it was quite
+safe, even for the _Christian VII._, which from her great length was the
+least manageable ship in the fleet, much more so for the others, some
+of which worked like cutters, the Admiral made signal for all captains
+and pilots to come on board. He then repeated his order to sail, and
+enforced obedience. The fleet sailed, and beat across the North Sea to
+their station, without an accident; and the enemy returned to their
+former anchorage as soon as the blockading force appeared. As the autumn
+advanced, the pilots gave up the charge of the fleet; but Sir Edward
+kept his station, until the increasing severity of the gales compelled
+him to take shelter in the Downs.
+
+In the spring of 1811, he succeeded Sir Charles Cotton as
+commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. He proceeded to his station in
+the _Caledonia_, with his brother Israel, lately promoted to be a Rear
+Admiral, as captain of the fleet; and arrived off Toulon on the 18th of
+July. Next morning, two French frigates returning from Genoa with
+conscripts for the fleet were chased by the _Conqueror_ and _Sultan_,
+the inshore squadron; and the French commander, Vice-Admiral Comte
+Emeriau, sailed out with thirteen line-of-battle ships and a frigate, to
+protect them. The _Conqueror_ approached near enough to fire upon the
+frigates, and afterwards, with her consort, exchanged a few distant
+broadsides with the advanced ships of the enemy: but these, whose only
+object was to secure the frigates, did not wait for the main body of the
+British force, now fast coming up, but hastened back to their anchorage.
+This affair, with the evident high state of equipment of the French
+fleet, led all to expect that there would soon be a general action; a
+hope in which the Admiral fully participated. He writes thus on the 28th
+of December, 1811, when the fleet was on its way to Mahon:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAR BROTHER,--I would not permit a ship to sail direct for
+     England without carrying you a few lines to say we are all well, on
+     our way to replenish our provisions and water for the winter's
+     cruise: when this is done, we return to our old ground; or it is
+     possible we may attempt to lay in Hyères Bay, should we find the
+     ground good for winter gales, of which at present we are not quite
+     assured. We lay there a month in full expectation it would force
+     the enemy to give us battle, and it will probably at last compel
+     them to do so next spring. They are actively fortifying the islands
+     and bay all around, in order to guard against attack, and have at
+     least ten thousand men at work: they suspect our army will move
+     this way. As far as we can judge from appearances, I have never yet
+     seen a French fleet in half the order the Toulon one is. They have,
+     I am sorry to say, adopted but too many of our arrangements, and in
+     point of clothing, they exceed us. They also keep everybody on
+     board, so that the French officers are now of necessity obliged to
+     find amusement in their duty; and become acquainted with their
+     people. The ships are magnificent; four of 120 guns, larger than
+     _Caledonia_, and twelve fine two-deckers, are all ready and manned.
+     Two of 120, and two of 80 are building, and may launch by March or
+     April; so that I think we shall have twenty to fight, without any
+     from Genoa, Naples, or Venice; and I trust a glorious day we shall
+     have. Keats is a host of strength to me; and we are all well
+     together, eager for the day, which I trust will help to put an end
+     to the miseries of war, and the irksome eighteen years' confinement
+     between wooden walls we have all experienced.
+
+                      "God be with you ever,
+                           "My dear Sam,
+                      "Your truly affectionate brother,
+                                                 "E. PELLEW."
+
+
+The hopes of the fleet were disappointed: for the enemy came out only
+when the wind was fair to return; and thus, though they often allowed
+the advanced ships to approach nearly within gunshot, nothing was, or
+could be done, on those occasions.
+
+In the following week, prompted perhaps by the recollections of the new
+year, he again writes:--
+
+
+     "I never expect to live the war through, and am not at all anxious
+     about it. If I can only have the happiness of doing service to the
+     country, I would give a great deal to be ten years younger; but as
+     that cannot be, I must content myself with the reflection that my
+     children are good, and provided for; and that I leave them attached
+     to their mother, and to each other. We have all reason to be
+     thankful, and to praise God for his great and manifold mercies. We
+     are ready to start at a moment's notice, and have a strict
+     look-out. The enemy are also ready, sixteen sail, a three-decker of
+     140 guns launched Christmas Day.
+
+     "God bless you, and yours; and may He enable me to do honour to my
+     country and my family--for myself, I care not."
+
+
+The number of points which required to be constantly watched (for more
+than two thousand miles of coast, from the Ionian Islands to Gibraltar,
+was in the hands of the enemy), made a considerable force necessary; and
+the Mediterranean fleet was at this time one of the largest ever
+entrusted to an Admiral. The commander-in-chief, with a principal part
+of the line-of-battle ships, blockaded the French fleet in Toulon,
+cruising off that port from the beginning of March to the end of
+November, and sheltering in Mahon through the three winter months. A
+Rear-Admiral was kept at Malta, with a sufficient force under his
+direction to guard the different points of the station at the upper part
+of the Mediterranean. Another Rear-Admiral was stationed on the south
+coast of Spain, to watch the movements of the enemy, and to assist the
+Spaniards whenever they could assemble in numbers to make a stand. A
+third remained at Gibraltar; and a Commodore, with a ship of the line,
+and frigates, watched the Gulf of Genoa, and the western coast of Italy.
+Frigates and small vessels were detached wherever their services became
+necessary.
+
+Knowing from his own experience what could be done by the flag-officers
+and captains of his fleet, he was enabled to assign to all of them their
+respective duties in the full confidence that they would not disappoint
+him. He associated much with them, and was in the habit of freely
+communicating his ideas, as well on general subjects connected with the
+movements of the fleet, as on their own personal charge. By his prompt
+measures, and personal attention to the repairs, victualling, and
+storing of the fleet, and his care to obtain ample supplies of stores
+and provisions from England in such good time as never to be deficient
+in any necessary article, he kept all the ships in a high state of
+equipment, and afforded at the same time an example of activity and
+forethought which was not lost upon his officers. He was attentive to
+everything which affected the discipline of the crews, and was
+particularly strict in enforcing regulations for constant exercise at
+the great guns and small arms.
+
+How perfect was the discipline of the fleet may be inferred from the
+fact, that with so many ships, and on a station where the enemy had the
+chief part of his naval force, he lost, in three years that he held the
+command, not a single vessel by capture: and only one, a small gun-brig,
+by shipwreck. It may be added, that through almost twenty years of
+command in war, as Commodore and Admiral, no vessel under his orders was
+ever taken. Something of this may be ascribed to fortune; but more must
+be referred to the excellence of the officers and crews; which, when the
+results are so uniform, is in fact also the praise of the commander.
+Indeed, the superiority of the Mediterranean fleet under his command was
+well known, and James, in his Naval History, complaining of the dearth
+of good seamen on other stations, laments that "so many thousands of the
+very best of seamen, who, under the wise regulations of Sir Edward
+Pellew, were daily improving themselves in the neglected art of gunnery,
+should be denied the power of showing their proficiency where it was the
+most wanted."
+
+He was particularly anxious to keep down the expense of the fleet, and
+indefatigable in his exertions to economize stores of every description,
+which at this time were procured from home with much difficulty. When it
+was found that fresh water could be obtained at the mouths of the Rhone,
+the fleet went there, and usually completed in forty-eight hours. He was
+thus enabled to discharge several transports. From the size and force of
+that river, the fresh water floats for a considerable distance over the
+sea; and at first, some of the cruisers completed their water by dipping
+it carefully from the surface. But on the fleet anchoring in the bay,
+the launches, with the armed boats to protect them, were sent up the
+river, where the water was not at all brackish. An arrangement was
+eventually made with the French General, who agreed not to molest the
+boats, the Admiral on his part promising that none of his people should
+be suffered to land on the marshes, or in any way to disturb the cattle
+grazing there, of which there were many thousands. In the strong
+north-west gales, so common in the Gulf of Lyons, the ships were in the
+practice of furling sails every night, and driving off from Toulon,
+standing in-shore again under easy sail when the gale moderated. During
+the winter months, when he sheltered in Mahon harbour, the ships had
+their repairs made good, and their stores and provisions completed; the
+Admiral being as active in the dockyard, where he would often be found
+at the earliest dawn of the morning, as he showed himself when afloat.
+Care was taken that while the fleet thus lay in harbour, it should
+always be ready for an immediate start if the enemy should put to sea;
+and two frigates, occasionally with a line-of-battle ship, were kept off
+Toulon to make a daily observation of the state and movements of their
+force. On two occasions, the in-shore frigates particularly
+distinguished themselves. On the 22nd of September, 1811, the
+_Volontaire_ and _Perlen_ retreated from a division of three
+line-of-battle ships, and two frigates, with which they were repeatedly
+engaged during six hours; and saved themselves through their admirable
+seamanship without loss: and in the following May, the _Menelaus_ alone,
+when close in-shore, was chased by several line-of-battle ships; and
+though her fore-topmast was nearly cut in two by a shot from the
+batteries, she secured it, and escaped.
+
+Competent masters were provided for the young gentlemen of the
+_Caledonia_, who were assembled every day in the Admiral's fore-cabin,
+and kept closely at their studies; the Admiral himself often visiting
+them, and interesting himself in their progress. The French and Spanish
+interpreters instructed them in these languages: the flag-lieutenant
+superintended their navigation, and that they might perfect themselves
+in seamanship, a frigate-built yacht of eight or ten tons was provided,
+upon which they were exercised in sailing, rigging and unrigging, and
+every part of a practical seaman's duty. All the arrangements of the
+ship, with regard both to officers and men, displayed consideration for
+their comfort and advantage. When the Admiral thoroughly knew his
+officers, he confided in them in their respective situations, never
+teasing them with interference, or disturbing himself by unnecessary
+watching or anxiety, after his orders had been given. The influence
+which he exerted on their behalf, and his great success in obtaining
+promotion for them, gave every one the strongest inducement to excel. He
+had known the anxieties of a young man forcing his way through the
+service without friends; and his own recollections taught him how best
+to assist and encourage others.
+
+No man could be more careful of the reputation and feelings of his
+officers, or more ready to suggest a plea in excuse for their errors. He
+had an extreme dislike to bring any of them to a court-martial, and
+would never resort to this painful extremity where it could with any
+propriety be avoided. Very few cases occurred under his command; so few,
+indeed, that it has even been asserted that not one took place. This it
+would be too much to affirm. It may be quite true that he was in no case
+the accuser: it certainly was his practice to prevent extreme measures
+wherever he could support the authority of the superior without
+subjecting the accused to the consequences of a public trial; and the
+recommendation of the commander-in chief would generally be conclusive.
+Still, a serious case would sometimes occur, in which it was impossible
+to prevent the law from taking its course. At a particular period of his
+command, and on a very important and critical occasion, one of his
+captains placed him in a position of much embarrassment, by entering
+without authority into a treaty with the Queen and Court of Murat. The
+commander-in-chief arrived very soon after, and annulled the treaty; but
+he spared the officer the pain of his position by charging him with the
+most prominent and honourable service connected with his own
+arrangements. In his despatches to the Admiralty on the occasion, he
+touches very lightly on the error, but enforces every exculpatory plea.
+Of the unauthorized arrangement with the enemy, he merely writes, "which
+I should have been glad he had never entered upon;" yet he adds, "from
+my conviction that he had been actuated by the purest motives, and
+placed in a peculiar situation. I thought it right, in acknowledging his
+letter, to express my approbation of his general proceedings; and in
+consideration of all the circumstances connected with his engagements. I
+gave him my sanction to," &c. He then proceeds to describe the
+flattering trust he had committed to this officer.
+
+But kind as he was, he endured no relaxation of discipline, and never
+forgot what was due to his rank and station. His manners were formed by
+his character; and whenever an individual with commanding talents
+directs them to worthy objects, combining a proper sense of what he owes
+to himself with a just consideration for others, he will always, and
+without an effort, appear dignified and amiable: far more so in his
+unaffected simplicity, than the man who only assumes the character of
+the chief and patron, because his position requires it.
+
+His temper was warm, the common failing of quick and active minds. No
+one was more conscious of it than himself; and where he feared it had
+given pain, he would labour to remove the impression by marked and
+continued attentions. In the multiplicity of cares and duties which
+surround a commander-in-chief, there are so many sources of irritation
+and disappointment, that it is no wonder the mind should sometimes be
+brought to that extreme point of endurance, when a small additional
+annoyance destroys its equanimity.
+
+The service in the Mediterranean was one of multiplied details,
+individually too unimportant for history, yet calculated to influence
+materially the progress and result of the war. Along the eastern coast
+of Spain, the support and co-operation of the ships afforded that
+encouragement to the inhabitants which in the western provinces they
+derived from the presence of the British army. Even when the fortresses
+had fallen, and Spain had no longer a force for a rallying point in that
+part of the country, the guerillas, acting in concert with the fleet,
+were enabled to perform exploits which alarmed and distressed the
+invader, and kept alive the spirit of hope and resolution. Along the
+shores of Italy and France, the most daring and brilliant enterprises
+were continually achieved. Batteries and forts were stormed in open day,
+and prizes, sometimes in whole convoys, carried off from anchorages
+where they seemed to be unassailable. Looking at the evident danger of
+such attempts, one is astonished at the constant success which attended
+them, and at the generally inconsiderable loss sustained. It would be
+unjust to the courage of the enemy, and still more to that of the
+gallant officers and men who performed such services, not to state the
+cause of this impunity and success. It was not that the defences on
+shore were feebly maintained, or that their defenders were surprised and
+overpowered by the reckless desperation of the assailants; but that the
+different boat attacks were planned with a judgment, and supported by a
+force, which prevented effectual resistance. Officers such as Hoste,
+Gordon, Rowley, Maxwell, Duncan, Ussher, and indeed all, for no
+commander ever placed more general and deserved confidence in his
+officers than Sir Edward Pellew, were not men to send away their people
+on doubtful and desperate services. The Admiral himself, much as he
+admired enterprise, strongly discouraged all acts of useless daring. He
+was always most unwilling to risk men's lives in boat attacks, when they
+could not be supported by the fire from the ships; and when his own
+boats were necessarily detached on service, his anxiety for their safety
+was very great. But the men, who saw in these successes only the daring
+courage which obtained, but not the considerate judgment which planned
+them, learned to fancy themselves invincible, and would go to what might
+appear a death service, as if it were an excursion of pleasure. The crew
+of the _Imperieuse_, who had often distinguished themselves in these
+attacks, petitioned their captain to remain with them, when he had been
+appointed to a finer ship, and offered to prove their attachment to him
+by taking any two French frigates they could meet. It is right to add,
+that their captain, a son of the great and good Lord Duncan, submitted
+their petition to Sir Edward Pellew, who continued him with his faithful
+followers. "You are a brave nation," said Napoleon at Elba to an English
+captain, one of Sir Edward's officers, "so are the French; but the
+English are individually brave." Services like these create the
+individual bravery which Napoleon admired.
+
+Still more important was the moral influence which these attacks
+impressed on the enemy. When the inhabitants along the southern coasts
+of Europe could scarcely look upon the waters without seeing an English
+cruiser; when they saw the apparent ease with which their strongest
+defences were carried; when they felt themselves at the mercy of the
+assailants, yet always experienced their forbearance and protection; the
+respect felt for an enemy so powerful and generous, taught them to
+desire the more earnestly their own day of deliverance from the common
+tyrant. And when the tremendous judgment which visited him in the
+Russian campaign offered the prospect of his speedy and final overthrow,
+every facility existed for acquainting them with the full extent of his
+reverses, and preparing them to avail themselves of the earliest
+opportunity to assert their freedom. "Affairs in these countries," says
+Sir Edward, in one of his letters, "look well, and promise much next
+summer, all over the East. Detestation, amounting to horror, is the
+general expression against this tyrant of the earth."
+
+The ordinary cares and duties of his command, and his very extensive
+correspondence, for the number of letters he was in the habit of writing
+on service was almost incredible, were by no means Sir Edward's heaviest
+charge. Perhaps there was no ambassador on whom a greater diplomatic
+responsibility was imposed than on the commander in the Mediterranean.
+It formed by much the largest and most anxious portion of Collingwood's
+duties, and the greatness of the trust, the impossibility of confiding
+it to another than the commander on the station, and the uncommon
+ability with which Collingwood sustained it, gave the British Government
+much uneasiness when the state of that officer's health threatened to
+deprive them of his services. It increased materially in extent and
+importance after Sir Edward had succeeded to the command, when the
+reverses of the French in Russia opened a prospect of deliverance to all
+the states along the shores of the Mediterranean, including the southern
+provinces of France itself. Sir Edward exerted himself unceasingly to
+prepare them for this consummation, and to encourage them to seize the
+first opportunity to effect it; and the judgment he displayed in these
+services obtained from a British Cabinet minister the declaration, that
+"great as he may be as a sea-officer, he is still greater as a
+statesman."
+
+One professional distinction was yet wanting, and this he anxiously
+desired, as a means of hastening an honourable peace, and on personal
+grounds, perhaps, to connect his name with the history of his
+country--to command in a general action. Though the enemy had shrunk
+from meeting him, as he expected when he first assumed the command, yet,
+while they continued to build ships of the largest class, and to keep
+their fleet always ready for sea, he could not but hope that they only
+waited for a favourable opportunity to try the fortune of their flag. At
+the end of 1811 there were sixteen sail of the line in Toulon. Two
+others were launched next year, and by the close of 1813 there were
+twenty-two, of which six were three-deckers of the largest size. Sir
+Edward gave them every opportunity, and every prudent advantage, but he
+never could induce them to attack him. They had been forbidden to
+engage, and the Emperor had hitherto seen nothing to induce him to
+recall the order. Thus, though they were kept in a state of high
+equipment through the whole period of Sir Edward's command, they never
+ventured far beyond the protection of the batteries; and came out only
+when they had a leading wind to return.
+
+The restoration of his fleet was a favourite ulterior object with
+Napoleon; and if a different result of the Russian campaign had placed
+the resources of Europe at his command, there is no doubt but that the
+days of St. Vincent and Trafalgar would have been renewed. There was an
+English officer who was much in his presence and confidence at Elba, and
+to whom he proposed the most flattering inducements to enter his
+service. "I am honoured by your Majesty's offer," was the reply, "but I
+was born an Englishman." Conversing with him on naval affairs, he one
+day said, "I would have had two hundred sail of the line, and when I
+brought against you such a force, you must have been crushed." But the
+officer soon convinced him that the tactics which he had made so
+effectual on land, by concentrating an overwhelming force upon his
+enemy, were not applicable to naval operations. Sailors are made but
+slowly. It requires an able commander to direct twenty ships, and the
+most skilful could scarcely manoeuvre forty. Dark nights and gales would
+disperse the unwieldy armada, and a small, but well managed force, would
+hang upon it and destroy it in detail. The Emperor saw the force of the
+objections, and closed the conversation with the compliment already
+related.
+
+Once, towards the end of the war, an opportunity seemed to be offered by
+which the enemy might be compelled to sacrifice part of his fleet, or to
+risk a general battle. On the morning of November 5th. 1813, the French
+fleet had sailed out of Toulon with the wind at E.S.E., and advanced to
+a greater distance than usual, when the wind suddenly shifted to
+south-west. Immediately the enemy made every exertion to work back to
+their harbour. The main body of the British fleet was just in sight to
+the southward, and an advanced squadron of four sail, with a fifth at no
+great distance, was about half-way between the two fleets. This squadron
+lay up for the enemy under all sail, with every appearance of being able
+to cut off the rear ships, the _Wagram_ of 130 guns, with four
+two-deckers and four frigates. On the approach of the British, the enemy
+tacked, and stood in so close, that many thought they intended to run
+themselves on shore; but they again tacked off to the southward, and the
+advanced squadrons stood on with every prospect of passing to windward
+of them. Unfortunately, as the British ships approached, the wind headed
+them, and threw them off so much, that they only fetched just within
+gun-shot of the _Wagram_, the enemy's rear ship. The fleet was at this
+time bringing up the original wind, and the _Caledonia, San Josef_, and
+_Boyne_, actually fetched within gun-shot of the French Admiral, before
+the wind headed them. The _Wagram_, which had reserved her fire for the
+_Caledonia_, exchanged broadsides with her, but at too great a distance
+to produce material effect; and the enemy being so far to windward,
+succeeded in reaching Toulon. Eleven shots from the _Wagram_ and the
+batteries struck the _Caledonia_, wounding the mainmast, cutting some of
+the shrouds, and destroying a small boat upon the booms. Much
+disappointment was felt by all the fleet, and the conduct of the
+advanced squadron was strongly censured by many in the ships astern, who
+supposed that they had intentionally bore away, when in fact they had
+come up within influence of the head wind.
+
+A more serious, though very partial affair occurred in the following
+February. On the evening of the 12th, Rear-Admiral Kosmao Kerjulien
+sailed from Toulon, with three sail of the line, and three frigates, to
+escort a seventy-four which was expected from Genoa. On the following
+morning, the fleet returning from Mahon, discovered the enemy to the
+eastward of Hyères Islands. They were at first supposed to be British
+ships, but the Admiral himself going aloft, clearly made out their
+character. The _Boyne_, Captain Burlton, a small three-decker, sister
+ship to the _Victory_, was considerably in advance of the fleet. It was
+on Sunday, and the ships were preparing for the morning service, which
+had already commenced on board the _Boyne_, when the signal for a
+general chase was thrown out. The wind blew strong from E.S.E., and the
+_Boyne_, perceiving the enemy's intention to come through the little
+pass of Hyères Bay, stood for that pass to intercept them. Sir Edward,
+who was leaning on the foreyard, watched her with admiration, but
+extreme anxiety. "Hold on, my brave Burlton!" he exclaimed, as the
+_Boyne_ dashed at their whole force. Then, as he feared they would all
+close, and overpower her before he could arrive to her assistance, he
+turned to an officer at his side, and declared with energy, "If they
+take her they sha'nt keep her, for I'll go in with the fleet!"
+
+Passing through the enemy immediately astern of a frigate, to which she
+gave a broadside, the _Boyne_ separated the rear-ship from the others,
+and brought her to action. This ship, the _Romulus_, a two-decker,
+immediately hauled in for the north shore, and kept so close, going
+round all the bays, that the _Boyne_ could neither run her on board, nor
+get inside her. They ran side by side with studding sails set, and at
+the rate of ten knots, before the wind, which blew directly into Toulon.
+Once it was thought that the _Romulus_ was aground, as she luffed up to
+the wind, which brought all her sails aback, and her starboard lower
+studding-sail in upon the gangway. The _Boyne_ also backed her sails,
+and continued close to the enemy; but the _Romulus_ paying off, and
+filling again, continued to run alongshore, and when she reached Cape
+Brun, at the entrance of the harbour, had gained on the _Boyne_. The
+_Caledonia_ had by this time come up, and the Admiral waved to Captain
+Burlton to haul his wind to the southward. The _Boyne_ tacked
+accordingly, being then within pistol shot of Cape Brun battery; and the
+_Caledonia_ fired a broadside at the _Romulus_, as she ran in to join
+her consorts in the harbour. The _Caledonia_ then gave the _Boyne_ three
+hearty cheers, and Captain Burlton received the thanks of the
+commander-in-chief by signal.
+
+Napoleon was now contending for existence on the soil of France, and the
+remains of his former conquests were rapidly melting from him. In the
+course of January and February, every place in the Adriatic had
+surrendered. In the following month, Lord William Bentinck left Palermo
+with an army, supported by a squadron under Commodore J. Rowley, to
+reduce Genoa. The advanced guard was landed considerably to the
+eastward, and moved forward, supported by the squadron, carrying and
+dismantling the batteries as they advanced. On the 30th, the defences
+round the Gulf of Spezzia capitulated. On the 13th of April, the army
+was landed at Recce, in the Gulf of Genoa; and at day-break on the 17th,
+a joint attack was made by the land and sea forces on the defences
+around the place. These were carried in the course of the day; and
+preparations were in progress to attack the town, when Sir Edward Pellew
+arrived with several line-of battle ships. The governor, already alarmed
+at the rapid progress of the assailants, capitulated, and the town was
+taken possession of next morning. Four gun-brigs, and a number of
+merchant vessels were found in the mole; and the _Brilliant_, a fine
+seventy-four on the stocks, was launched, and still remains in the navy
+under the appropriate name of the _Genoa_.
+
+Paris had already capitulated; and on the 28th of this month, Napoleon
+left France in a British frigate for Elba. He landed on the 3rd of May
+on the little island which had been assigned to him for a sovereignty,
+and a prison: and thus ended a war, one of the longest, the most
+dreadful, but in all respects the most glorious, which England had ever
+waged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
+
+
+The contest for naval supremacy was so entirely decided by the battle of
+Trafalgar, that no opportunity was afterwards afforded for great
+successes. But at the end of the war, when the leading Peninsular
+generals were raised to the peerage, it was thought due to the service
+to confer a similar distinction upon a naval officer. Sir Edward Pellew
+received this mark of his sovereign's favour. He was created Baron
+Exmouth, of Canonteign, a mansion and estate in the South of Devon which
+he had purchased for a family property; and the pension was settled on
+him which is usually granted when a peerage is conferred for eminent
+public services.
+
+He was still in the Mediterranean when the news of his elevation reached
+him, and he received the first account of it from a newspaper. In
+allusion to it, he writes:--"I was never more surprised than at this
+event. Never was man more ignorant of its being thought of; much less
+reason had I to expect it; and it has happened only by a combination of
+events quite unconnected with influence or power. I had some reason to
+believe a red ribbon was intended, and ---- wrote that it had been
+granted; but if so, it was changed next day to what it is, which, for
+the sake of our family, I hope will be useful and respectable. For
+myself I am indifferent, and know it will only tend to multiply my
+enemies, and increase my difficulties." ... In the course of this year,
+he received a handsome compliment from the officers of the Mediterranean
+fleet. It is a beautiful model of the Warwick vase, executed by Messrs.
+Rundel and Bridge, at a cost of 580 guineas, and bears the following
+inscription:--"Presented to the Right Honourable Admiral Lord Exmouth,
+&c., &c., &c., as a mark of their respect and esteem, by the officers
+who served under his Lordship's command in the Mediterranean."
+
+At the beginning of the next year, when the order of the Bath was
+extended, he was included among the knights commanders; and was
+afterwards advanced on an early vacancy to be a grand cross. The former
+was entirely unexpected, as he knew nothing of the intention to extend
+the order. He thus begins a letter to his brother on the 5th of
+January:--"I seize this moment, when the arrival of the post has brought
+me the enclosed without one single line from any friend I have on earth:
+possibly, it was owing to the lateness of the nomination. I had not the
+most distant idea of this event, and I can only account for its coming
+to me by the squabbling of parties ... to end which, it was probably
+decided on giving it to the commander-in-chief. On this ground only can
+I account for it, as it was by no means necessary to add this, which was
+once considered due to me as a reward of sufficient magnitude, without
+any other.
+
+"6th January, 1815.--I had written the above before any gazette reached
+me, which explains the whole. But as it shows my heart and mind to you
+without reserve, and as I can call God to witness, that I never in my
+life kept anything from you. I send it.--May God bless you."
+
+He had remained but a few months in England, when, on the renewal of
+hostilities consequent on the return of Napoleon from Elba, he was sent
+back to the Mediterranean. Hoisting his flag in the _Boyne_, and again
+with his brother, Sir Israel, as captain of the fleet, he hastened to
+his station. His services were first required at Naples, which he was
+so happy as to save from all the horrors of anarchy. Murat, that he
+might create a diversion in favour of Napoleon, had rashly attacked
+Austria, and thus violated the compact by which he was allowed to hold
+his usurped throne. What followed scarcely deserves the name of war. His
+army, not waiting for the enemy to approach, fled like sheep, and left
+the Austrian commander an unresisted march to Naples. Lord Exmouth,
+after having arranged with Lord W. Bentinek for the co-operation of the
+forces from Sicily with the allies, had arrived on the evening of the
+18th of May, at Civita Vecchia, whence, on learning the rapid advance of
+the Austrians, he proceeded without delay for Naples, where he anchored
+on the evening of the 20th. Madame Murat embarked the same night on
+board a British seventy-four, and immediately wrote to Lord Exmouth,
+requesting that he would take measures for the security and peace of the
+city. No capital in Europe contains within itself more formidable
+elements for popular tumult; and upon this occasion, the mob, excited by
+the general confusion, and not restrained by any adequate authority,
+were proceeding to the last excesses of rapine and violence. Lord
+Exmouth was not slow to take the steps which such an emergency required.
+On the morning after his arrival, he landed the marines, who took
+possession of the forts, and the castle of St. Elmo, and conjointly with
+the civic guard, restored, and maintained order. On the 23rd, the
+Austrian army entered the city, and next day the forts were delivered
+up, and the marines embarked. The king, Ferdinand, was unbounded in his
+expressions of gratitude, and invested him on the spot with his highest
+order.
+
+After having concluded some very difficult and delicate negociations
+respecting the queen and court of Murat, who were eventually sent to
+Trieste, Lord Exmouth proposed to General Bianci, to embark a few
+thousand men, and make a dash at Toulon. Unfortunately, the instructions
+of the Austrian commander would not allow him to join in such an
+expedition. The squadron therefore sailed for Leghorn, where it landed
+the first division of the Austrian army, and thence proceeded to Genoa.
+Accounts received on the 3rd of July of the situation of affairs on the
+coast of Provence determined Lord Exmouth, in concert with Sir Hudson
+Lowe, to embark 3,000 men, part of the garrison of Genoa, consisting of
+the 14th, and two Italian regiments, and including 200 artillery and
+cavalry, with which he sailed direct for Marseilles. Here the troops
+were landed, with a body of seamen, and the marines of the squadron, and
+stopped the advance of the rebel Marshal Brune, who was marching from
+Toulon upon Marseilles avowedly to destroy it. The inhabitants, grateful
+to their preservers, were unceasing in their attentions, both to the
+fleet and army, as long as they remained in the place. Their sense of
+the important services which the two commanders had rendered, as well to
+their city, as to the cause of their rightful sovereign, was marked by
+the present to each of a large and beautiful piece of plate, which was
+executed at Paris. On the base of that presented to Lord Exmouth is a
+medallion of the noble Admiral; and a view of the port of Marseilles,
+with the _Boyne_, his flagship, entering in full sail. It bears the
+simple and expressive inscription,--"_A l'Amiral mi Lord Exmouth, la
+ville de Marseilles reconnoissante_."
+
+The squadron wintered in Leghorn roads, being detained in the
+Mediterranean for instructions, which were delayed for some time,
+through the magnitude of the negotiations then in progress. At the
+beginning of 1816, Lord Exmouth was ordered to proceed to the different
+Barbary powers, to claim the release of all the Ionian slaves, who, by
+the late political arrangements, had become British subjects: and to
+make peace for Sardinia. These were to be matters of compulsion; but he
+was also to make peace for any of the other states in the Mediterranean
+who would authorize him to do so. Naples readily availed herself of his
+offer. Unable to protect herself, it was to her an inestimable blessing
+to gain security from such a dreadful scourge on the easiest terms which
+the influence of the first maritime power could obtain for her. Nothing
+can be conceived more horrible than the condition of the Christian
+slaves, subjected as they were, in countries where no law gave
+protection, to all the caprice and cruelty of masters, who hated and
+despised them for their faith. Nor was it a small aggravation of their
+misery, that as Roman Catholics, they were cut off from the observance
+of rites which they deemed essential. To the fear and danger of being
+reduced to this miserable condition was the maritime population of the
+states around the Mediterranean continually exposed: while the great
+naval powers, deterred from exterminating these pirates, either by more
+pressing concerns, or by the failure of the different expeditions which
+had attempted it, purchased a discreditable security by presents.
+
+Lord Exmouth afterwards visited Rome; but the Pope declined the offer of
+his services, perhaps from difficulties arising out of religious
+scruples at confiding a formal trust to a Protestant. He received the
+Admiral, however, with the utmost courtesy, and even attended to his
+request upon a subject where it was scarcely to have been expected that
+the interference of a Protestant would be allowed. A young Spanish lady,
+who was confined in a convent at Minorca, under circumstances of an
+oppressive and distressing nature, had contrived to bring her case to
+the knowledge of Lord Exmouth, and to place in his hands a memorial,
+which he took an opportunity to deliver personally to the Pope. A
+British admiral interceding with the Pope for a Spanish nun was a novel
+occurrence; but Pius VII. received the memorial very graciously, and
+placed it in the hands of Gonsalvi that proper inquiries might be made.
+It is satisfactory to add, that Lord Exmouth received a letter a few
+months after, informing him that the poor girl's prayer to be set at
+liberty had been complied with.
+
+Before he took any steps in fulfilment of his instructions he made the
+arrangements necessary for an attack, which was to be the alternative if
+negotiations failed; a result much to be expected at Algiers, which had
+hitherto withstood so many formidable armaments. He ordered Captain
+Warde, of the _Banterer_, to proceed to Algiers, where he was carefully
+to observe the town and the nature of its defences. Lord Exmouth's
+instructions on this occasion, and which were written with his own hand,
+afford an admirable illustration of the forethought with which he
+provided for every contingency, and which was the chief secret of his
+constant success.
+
+It were injustice to Captain Warde to state how he performed this
+difficult and important service in any language but that of the Admiral.
+In his despatch which accompanied the treaty made with Tripoli, and
+which he sent to the Admiralty when proceeding on his second visit to
+Algiers, he writes:--"Previous to my leaving Leghorn, I despatched
+Captain Warde in the _Banterer_ to Algiers, to make his observations on
+the anchorage and sea-defences, which service he performed with entire
+secresy and judgment, and highly to my satisfaction. The accompanying
+plan of the works, with his remarks after visiting all the forts and
+arsenal, I found correct in every respect; and when it is considered
+that he had not the means of taking angles, but was compelled to pace
+the distances, and trust much to his recollection, to avoid being
+suspected, I think him deserving of the highest commendation. The
+soundings round the mole, and the bay to the N.W. of the lighthouse,
+were all made by him personally in the night without discovery; nor did
+even the consul suspect the purport of his visit."
+
+Indeed, Captain Warde played the careless idler to perfection. He
+escorted the ladies of the consul's family everywhere by day, and danced
+with them in the evenings, covering a keen and constant observation with
+the appearance of frivolity; while at night he was silently moving
+outside the port in a boat, taking the soundings with a pole.
+
+It adds to the merit of this officer, that all the previous plans of
+Algiers were so incorrect, that he was obliged to begin his own from the
+outlines, as if the place were a new discovery. Lord Exmouth afterwards
+declared that if he had proceeded to hostilities at his first visit,
+without having been furnished with Captain Warde's plan and
+observations, he should have assigned to the ships stations which they
+could not have occupied. The plan in the Admiralty book of charts, among
+other inaccuracies, laid down the sea-face of the city as four miles
+long, instead of one; omitted the bay to the north-west of the
+lighthouse; represented the pier on which the strong fortifications are
+built as quite straight from the lighthouse in a southerly direction,
+whereas it forms a quarter of the compass, bending round to the
+south-west, or towards the city; and laid the distance between the piers
+at the entrance of the mole, a mile, instead of sixty, or sixty-five
+fathoms. Notwithstanding this, and his great disadvantages arising out
+of the secresy he was compelled to observe, Captain Warde's observations
+were so accurate and complete, that Lord Exmouth afterwards sent to the
+Admiralty his original plan, to illustrate the despatches of the battle.
+
+Thus prepared for every alternative, Lord Exmouth, on the 21st of March,
+made known to the squadron the service upon which they were proceeding
+in the following General Order:--
+
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief embraces the earliest moment in which he
+     could inform the fleet of his destination, without inconvenience to
+     the public service.
+
+     "He has been instructed and directed by his Royal Highness the
+     Prince Regent, to proceed with the fleet to Algiers, and there make
+     certain arrangements for diminishing at least the piratical
+     excursions of the Barbary states by which thousands of our
+     fellow-creatures, innocently following their commercial pursuits,
+     have been dragged into the most wretched and revolting state of
+     slavery.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief is confident that this outrageous system of
+     piracy and slavery rouses in common the same spirit of indignation
+     which he himself feels; and should the government of Algiers refuse
+     the reasonable demands he bears from the Prince Regent, he doubts
+     not but the flag will be honourably and zealously supported by
+     every officer and man under his command, in his endeavours to
+     procure the acceptation of them by force; and if force must be
+     resorted to, we have the consolation of knowing that we fight in
+     the sacred cause of humanity, and cannot fail of success.
+
+     "These arrangements being made at Algiers and Tunis, the
+     Commander-in-Chief announces with pleasure that he is ordered to
+     proceed with all the ships not on the peace establishment to
+     Spithead without delay, except the _Bombay_, bearing the flag of
+     Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Penrose, which ship is to be relieved by
+     the _Albion_, daily expected.
+
+                                       (Signed)           "EXMOUTH.
+
+     "N.B. This General Memorandum to be entered in the public
+     order-book, and communicated to the respective officers, seamen,
+     and marines of the fleet."
+
+
+The squadron went in the first place to Algiers, where Lord Exmouth
+obtained the objects of his mission without difficulty. The Ionian
+slaves were freely released as British subjects; and peace was made for
+Naples and Sardinia, the former paying a ransom of five hundred, the
+latter of three hundred dollars a head. The fleet then sailed for Tunis,
+where accident gave an entirely new character to the subsequent
+proceedings. Lord Exmouth had directed the interpreter to tell the Bey,
+that it would be very agreeable to the Prince Regent if slavery were
+abolished; but the interpreter, by mistake, said that the Prince Regent
+had determinded to abolish it. Upon this the negotiation was suspended,
+and the Divan assembled. Lord Exmouth soon became aware of the mistake,
+and availing himself of the important advantage which it gave him, he
+allowed them two hours for deliberation, and retired to the consul's
+house to await the result. Before the time expired he was sent for, and
+informed that the Divan had deliberated on his proposal, and would
+comply with it. Proceeding to Tripoli, he made a similar demand, and it
+was there submitted to without hesitation.
+
+In the mean time, he had received instructions to claim from Algiers the
+privilege of selling prizes, and refitting privateers in that port,
+which had lately been granted by treaty to America. Returning on this
+errand, he took the opportunity to press, as at the other Regencies, the
+abolition of Christian slavery; but here he had a more formidable power
+to deal with. His demand was refused; and when he hinted at the
+alternative of force, the Dey answered as a man confident in his
+strength to resist it. Lord Exmouth assured him that he formed a very
+inadequate idea of a British man of-war, and declared, that if
+hostilities should become necessary, he would engage with five
+line-of-battle ships to destroy the place. A very sharp altercation
+ensued; and Lord Exmouth left the Divan, giving them two hours to
+consider his proposal. When the time expired, he took Mr. M'Donell, the
+consul, and walked with him towards the boat; but they were stopped at
+the gate. After a communication had been made to the Dey, Lord Exmouth
+was allowed to pass on, but the consul was detained, on the pretext that
+money was due from Portugal, for which, as well as for England, Mr.
+M'Donell was accredited. The whole party had been in the greatest
+danger. The crowd who surrounded them discussed aloud the question of
+putting them all to death; and the conduct of the captain of the port
+was extremely suspicious. He was observed to cock his pistol, and Sir
+Israel Pellew exclaiming, "At least we'll die with arms in our hands!"
+attempted to draw his sword. Happily, the pressure of the throng
+prevented him; for in the temper which then prevailed, the appearance of
+a hostile movement would probably have been fatal. Lord Exmouth was much
+irritated at this outrage; and when one of the principal officers of
+state followed, and asked him, as he was just stepping into the boat, to
+allow them two days to consider his proposal, he replied with warmth
+"No, not two hours!" Hastening on board, he got the fleet under weigh to
+attack the place immediately; but the wind was too strong to allow the
+ships to take their stations, and they were obliged to anchor again.
+
+Two British officers, Captains Pechell and Warde, had gone on shore, not
+anticipating a hostile movement. They were seized by the people, who
+dragged them off their horses, rifled their pockets, tied their hands
+behind them, and in this state marched them through the town to the Dey.
+But when they reached the palace they were immediately released; and
+except some trifling articles, which could not be found, all their
+property was restored. After two or three interviews with the Dey, the
+object of which appeared to be to investigate the cause of a cut which
+Captain Pechell had received in the hand, when he was taken off the
+horse, they were allowed to go to their ships. Such conduct, at a moment
+when Lord Exmouth was evidently preparing to attack the place, indicated
+an irresolution which might enable him to gain his object without a
+battle; and next morning, as a calm, with a heavy swell, prevented the
+fleet from moving, he sent Captain Dundas, of the _Tagus_, with renewed
+proposals. The result was, that Sir Israel Pellew, with Captains
+Brisbane, Pechell, Dundas, Warde, and others, went on shore; and the Dey
+agreed to appoint an ambassador, who should proceed first to
+Constantinople for the sanction of the Porte, and thence to England to
+treat on Lord Exmouth's proposal. It may be supposed that the Admiral
+would not have endured this evasion, had he been authorised to act; but
+he had pressed the demand without instructions, and felt that he would
+not be justified in resorting to force, if it could be creditably
+avoided. He was not even certain that his conduct in thus pressing the
+abolition of slavery would be favourably received; for it was a common
+remark, that the obstructions to the navigation of the Mediterranean,
+created by the Barbary corsairs, were advantageous to British commerce.
+He expressed this doubt in a letter which he sent on shore on the 23rd
+of June, when the fleet had arrived in the channel:--"It is with great
+delight I again bring myself nearer to you and the rest of my family,
+after a longer absence than I had any reason to expect when I left
+England, and which has at last ended without realizing that for which it
+was said we were kept so long abroad after peace was signed. I had
+anxiously hoped I should have been directed to enforce the abandonment
+of their cruel system of retaining Christians who fell into their hands
+(in what they term war) in slavery. I hope I have made the path easy for
+the Government, having obtained by my own exertions the relinquishment
+from two States, and a promise to treat on that point from the most
+violent, Algiers, after discussions which did not promise sometimes
+amicable terminations. But I intreat you to observe the utmost silence
+on this point, as it may lead me into an awkward situation; for I have
+acted solely on my own responsibility, and without orders; the causes
+and reasoning on which, upon general principles, may be defensible, but
+as applying to our own country, may not be borne out, the old mercantile
+interest being against it."
+
+Four days previous to the date of this letter, Mr. Brougham had moved in
+the House of Commons for copies of Lord Exmouth's treaties with Algiers
+for Naples and Sardinia, and for all the correspondence connected with
+them. He condemned the principle upon which the treaties had been
+conducted, because, by ransoming the slaves, we had virtually
+acknowledged the right of these parties to commit their depredations. He
+understood that the Algerines, dissatisfied with the Dey for having
+limited their sphere of plunder, had been pacified only by the
+assurance, that though restrained from cruising against Neapolitan
+subjects, there still remained a wide field for their enterprise. The
+Roman States had already felt the effect of the new direction given to
+their piracies. He then described the wretched condition of the slaves.
+In one case, out of three hundred prisoners, fifty had died of
+ill-treatment on the first day of their arrival, and seventy during the
+first fortnight. The rest were kept in the most miserable condition,
+being allowed only a pound of bread a day, and subject to the lash from
+morning to night. No age, no sex was spared. A Neapolitan lady of
+distinction, carried off with eight children, six of whom survived, had
+lately been seen by a British officer in the thirteenth year of her
+captivity. That it might be seen we did not countenance such
+proceedings, it was necessary to ascertain what use we had made of our
+influence in the late negotiations.
+
+The minister objected to the motion, only however on the ground that all
+the documents necessary to afford complete information had not yet
+arrived; and he assured the House, that the cause of humanity had been
+very materially served by the proceedings of the squadron. An animated
+debate followed, in which every one expressed the utmost anxiety that
+the barbarians should be compelled, and by force, if necessary, to
+relinquish their piracies. This unanimous display of feeling in the
+House of Commons, ensured to Lord Exmouth full approval of all that he
+had done, and enabled the Government to take the decisive step which
+immediately after became necessary. It is, indeed, a subject for just
+pride, that upon every national question, the feelings of the people
+have never hesitated to throw themselves upon the side of humanity and
+justice, however seemingly opposed to their own interest.
+
+Lord Exmouth had not yet reached England, when accounts arrived which
+determined the Government not to await the issue of the proposed
+negotiations with Algiers, but at once to exact the most ample
+satisfaction and security. On the 23rd of May, the crews of the coral
+fishing-vessels at Bona had landed to attend mass, it being
+Ascension-day, when they were attacked by a large body of Turkish
+troops, and most barbarously massacred. Lord Exmouth was at Algiers when
+this took place; but as Bona is two hundred miles to the eastward, and
+he sailed as soon as he had agreed with the Dey, he did not hear of it
+until he arrived in England; and thus it devolved upon the British
+Government to direct the measures which such an atrocity demanded.
+Justly concluding that these barbarians, so long the common enemies of
+the civilized world, and whose very existence was a reproach to it, had
+filled the measure of their crimes by this last bloody outrage, they
+determined to exact complete submission, or to inflict the most signal
+vengeance. They appointed Lord Exmouth to complete his work, and placed
+at his disposal whatever force he thought necessary to effect it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
+
+
+The town of Algiers is built on the declivity of a hill fronting to the
+eastward. It is of a triangular form, having for its base the sea-front,
+which is about a mile in length, and rises directly from the water. It
+is strongly fortified on the land side, and the sea defences are most
+formidable, as well from the great thickness of the walls, as the number
+of heavy guns.
+
+The harbour is artificial. A broad straight pier, three hundred yards in
+length, and upon which the storehouses were built, projects from a point
+about a quarter of a mile from the north extremity of the town. A mole
+is carried from the end of this pier, which bends in a south-westerly
+direction towards the town, forming nearly a quarter of a circle.
+Opposite the mole-head is a small insulated pier, which leaves the
+entrance to the harbour about a hundred and twenty yards wide. The rock
+upon which the mole is built extends about two hundred yards to the N.E.
+beyond the angle at which the pier joins it. The shores recede
+considerably from the base of the pier, forming a small bay on either
+side of it.
+
+All the works around the harbour were covered with the strongest
+fortifications. Immediately beyond the pier-head stood the Lighthouse
+battery, a large circular fort, mounting between sixty and seventy guns,
+in three tiers. At the extremity of the point of rock beyond the
+lighthouse was a very heavy battery, of two tiers, mounting thirty guns
+and seven mortars in the upper. The mole itself was filled with cannon,
+like the side of a line-of-battle ship, mostly disposed in a double
+tier, with ports below, and embrasures above; but the eastern batteries,
+next the light-house, had an inner fortification, with a third tier of
+guns, making sixty-six in these batteries alone. All these batteries had
+together above two hundred and twenty guns--eighteen, twenty-four, and
+thirty-two pounders; besides two, at least sixty-eight pounders, and
+upwards of twenty feet long. On the sea wall of the town were nine
+batteries; two at the southern extremity; then the Fish-market battery
+in three tiers, bearing three hundred yards west of the molehead; three
+between the Fish-market and the gate leading to the mole; one over this
+gate; and two on the wall beyond it. Along the shore, within twelve
+hundred yards south of the town, were three batteries, and a very heavy
+fort. Another large fort, and six batteries, commanded the bay to the
+N.W. Many guns in other parts of the fortifications of the town, and in
+forts and batteries on the hills around it, were in situations which
+enabled them to fire upon ships. Altogether, the approaches by sea were
+defended by scarcely less than five hundred guns.
+
+The Admiralty were greatly surprised when Lord Exmouth proposed to
+attack these works with five sail of the line. Many naval officers who
+were consulted by the Board considered them unassailable. Nelson, in a
+conversation with Captain Brisbane, had named twenty-five line-of-battle
+ships as the force which would be required to attack them. The opinion
+was not founded upon his own observation, and he was evidently misled by
+the errors in the received plans; for that number of ships could not
+have been placed before the town; but it marks his sense of the great
+danger in attacking powerful batteries with ships, and of the tremendous
+strength of Algiers. Lord Exmouth was offered any force he required, but
+he adhered to his first demand; for he had satisfied himself that five
+ships could destroy the fortifications on the Mole as effectually as a
+greater number, and with far more safety to themselves. After he had
+fully explained his plans, and marked the position which every ship was
+to occupy, the Admiralty allowed him to act upon his own judgment;
+though they found it not easy to believe that the force was equal to the
+service; nor were persons wanting to remark that he had at length
+involved himself in a difficulty, from which he would not escape with
+credit. His own confidence never wavered. "All will go well," he wrote,
+"as far at least as it depends on me." As he was going down Channel, he
+said to his brother, who accompanied him as far as Falmouth, "If they
+open their fire when the ships are coming up, and cripple them in the
+masts, the difficulty and loss will be greater; but if they allow us to
+take our stations, I am sure of them; for I know that nothing can resist
+a line-of-battle ship's fire." He wrote to the Admiralty before he left
+England, declaring himself fully satisfied with all the arrangements,
+and taking on himself the responsibility of the result.
+
+He was scarcely appointed, when officers came forward in crowds to offer
+their services. On the 29th of June, only six days after he arrived in
+the Channel, he writes--"Government has taken a very proper view of the
+subject, and has determined to send out a proper force. I immediately
+said, it was my duty to finish that which I had begun, and that I should
+cheerfully go. My offer is accepted, and I embark in the _Queen
+Charlotte_, with _Impregnable_, and others. The only delay will be want
+of men; but I hope they will be induced by the offers made, to volunteer
+for the service, to be rewarded after it." On the 4th of July, he says,
+"I have refused Israel, Pownoll, Fleetwood, Harward, and both Admiral
+and Captain Halsted,[12] volunteers. Even Lord Spencer brought his son,
+and a hundred others."
+
+With very few exceptions, the officers were selected by the Admiralty.
+It was understood that Sir Charles Penrose would be the second in
+command, his appointment at that time as commander-in-chief in the
+Mediterranean entitling him to the preference. He was very highly valued
+by Lord Exmouth, under whom he had served with the _Cleopatra_ in the
+western squadron. It was intended that despatches should be sent in time
+to enable him to join the expedition; but greatly to the disappointment
+of both officers, the information was received too late.
+
+Lord Exmouth persisted in refusing all his relations. The motive of
+duty, which was imperative on himself, applied to none of them; and all
+were anxious to go. For himself, he might well trust that the Providence
+which had shielded him forty years, for so long was it since he had
+fought the _Carleton_ on Lake Champlain, would guard him in the
+approaching battle; or, if he were doomed to fall in what might truly be
+deemed a holy war, he had a better confidence than the pride of a hero,
+or even the self-devotedness of a patriot. Before he sailed, he made
+every arrangement which his death would render necessary; and among
+others, wrote a letter for his eldest son, chiefly on the subject of the
+duties which would devolve upon him as a British nobleman, and which he
+designed for his last injunctions. The existence of this letter was not
+known until some time after his death, when it was found among his
+papers.
+
+The Admiralty would not send back the squadron which had just returned
+from the Mediterranean, probably thinking it right that ships going
+expressly to fight a severe battle should be manned with volunteers.
+This decision greatly increased his difficulties. Naval officers seldom
+think a ship effective until she has been some time in commission.
+Within two months, Lord Exmouth commissioned, fitted, and manned a
+fleet, and fought the battle.
+
+As soon as he had completed his first arrangements at the Admiralty, he
+hastened to Portsmouth, where the _Boyne_, his flag-ship, was lying
+with her consorts. He went on board as soon as he arrived, and there was
+not a little excitement when the Admiral was seen coming alongside at a
+very early hour in the morning. He mustered the ship's company on deck,
+and having read to them the Admiralty letter, invited them to join him;
+but at that time scarcely a man came forward. They were unwilling to
+enter for a new service until they had enjoyed some liberty on shore;
+but after they had been paid off, and spent their money, numbers of them
+volunteered, and many more would probably have done so, but for the very
+short time in which the crews were completed. No difficulty was
+experienced in manning the fleet. The whole ship's company of the
+_Leander_, then on the point of sailing as the flag-ship on the North
+American station, volunteered to go, and accordingly her destination was
+changed for the time. Rear-Admiral Milne, for whom she had been fitted,
+obtained permission to go out with her; and as Sir Charles Penrose did
+not join at Gibraltar, he hoisted his flag in the _Impregnable_, as
+second in command. Among other volunteers were a number of smugglers,
+who had been taken on the western coast, and sentenced to five years'
+service in the navy. They were sent to the eastward as prisoners in a
+cutter in which Mr. Pellew had taken a passage to make a parting visit
+to his brother, and they implored his intercession on their behalf. He
+advised them to enter for the _Queen Charlotte_, and gain a title to the
+indulgence they sought by their good conduct in the battle. They all did
+so: no serious casualty occurred among them, and they behaved so well
+that Lord Exmouth applied to the Admiralty, and obtained their
+discharge.
+
+Lord Exmouth's marine officer in the _Arethusa_, the late Sir Richard
+Williams, then commanded the marine artillery, and Lord Exmouth wrote to
+request that he would aid him to the best of his abilities, by selecting
+officers and men from his corps. Sir Richard displayed on this occasion
+all the activity and judgment to be expected from his character, and
+Lord Exmouth acknowledged his services after the glorious result of the
+expedition, in the following words:--"I should be very ungrateful, my
+dear friend, if I neglected to thank you for the care and pains you took
+in selecting, for the service I was ordered upon, the best officers and
+men I ever saw during my service. I assure you that all the officers did
+you full justice: they not only knew their duty well, but they performed
+it well."
+
+In addition to the five line-of-battle ships, two of which were
+three-deckers, the force included three heavy frigates, and two smaller
+ones; four bomb vessels, and five gun-brigs. Four of the line-of-battle
+ships were to destroy the fortifications on the Mole; while the fifth
+covered them from the batteries south of the town, and the heavy
+frigates, from those on the town wall. The bomb-vessels were to fire on
+the arsenal and town, assisted by a flotilla of the ships' launches,
+&c., fitted as gun, rocket, and mortar-boats. The smaller frigates and
+the brigs were to assist as circumstances might require.
+
+The fleet left Portsmouth on the 25th of July. On the 28th it sailed
+from Plymouth Sound, and the same afternoon was off Falmouth. Twenty
+three years before, Lord Exmouth had gone from the house of his brother,
+who now took leave of him, and sailed to fight the first battle of the
+war from the port whence he was proceeding on the service which was to
+close and crown it. From this place the _Minded_, 74, was sent on to
+Gibraltar, that the necessary supplies might be ready when the fleet
+arrived. Through all the passage the utmost care was taken to train the
+crews. Every day, Sunday excepted, they were exercised at the guns; and
+on Tuesdays and Fridays the fleet cleared for action, when each ship
+fired six broadsides. On board the _Queen Charlotte_ a twelve-pounder
+was secured at the after part of the quarter-deck, with which the first
+and second captains of the guns practised daily at a small target, hung
+at the fore topmast studding-sail boom. The target was a frame of laths,
+three feet square, crossed with rope-yarns so close that a twelve-pound
+shot could not go through without cutting one, and with a piece of wood,
+the size and shape of a bottle, for a bull's-eye. After a few days'
+practice, the target was never missed, and on an average ten or twelve
+bottles were hit every day. Thus kept in constant preparation for the
+battle, and daily gaining new confidence in themselves, the crews were
+in the highest degree elated. Officers and men felt they were going to
+an assured victory, and that to obtain complete success the plans of
+their chief required only the exertions which every one resolved to
+make. As a consequence of this enthusiasm, which never had a check, for
+the excitement of preparation was followed by the flush of victory,
+their health and vigour were beyond all parallel. Scarcely a man came on
+the sick-list; and when the _Queen Charlotte_ was paid off on her
+return, only one had died, except from the casualties of battle, out of
+nearly a thousand who had joined her more than three months before.
+
+On the 9th of August, the fleet reached Gibraltar, where the _Minden_
+had arrived only the preceding night. Here they found a Dutch squadron
+of five frigates and a corvette, commanded by Vice-Admiral the Baron Von
+de Capellan, who, on learning the object of the expedition, solicited
+and obtained leave to co-operate. The ships, having completed their
+ordnance stores and provisions, were ready to sail on the 12th; but the
+strong easterly wind prevented them from moving for two days. On the
+13th, every ship received a plan of the fortifications, with full
+instructions respecting the position she was to occupy. A general order
+to this effect had been issued on the 6th, but the co-operation of the
+Dutch squadron had made some change in the arrangements necessary. To
+this squadron was assigned the duty of attacking the fort and batteries
+south of the town, a service previously intended for the _Minden_ and
+_Hebrus_, which were now to take a position among their consorts in
+front of the Mole.
+
+The fleet sailed next day, and on the 16th was within two hundred miles
+of its destination, when the wind again shifted to the eastward. That
+evening the ship-sloop _Prometheus_, Captain Dashwood, joined direct
+from Algiers, with information that the Algerines were making every
+preparation to meet the attack. All the former defences had been made
+completely effective, and new works had been added; forty thousand
+troops had been assembled; all the Janizaries called in from distant
+garrisons; and the whole naval force of the regency, four frigates, five
+large corvettes, and thirty-seven gun-boats, were collected in the
+harbour. The _Prometheus_ brought the wife, daughter, and infant child
+of Mr. M'Donell, the British consul. The two former had succeeded in
+getting off, disguised as midshipmen; but the infant, which had been
+carefully concealed in a basket, after a composing medicine had been
+given to it by the surgeon of the _Prometheus_, awoke, and cried as it
+was passing the gateway, and thus led to the arrest of all the party
+then on shore. The child was sent off next morning by the Dey, and, "as
+a solitary instance of his humanity," said Lord Exmouth, "it ought to be
+recorded by me;" but the consul was confined in irons at his house, and
+the surgeon, three midshipmen, and fourteen seamen of the _Prometheus_,
+were detained as prisoners; nor could the most urgent remonstrances of
+Captain Dashwood induce the Dey to release them.
+
+The fleet continued beating against a head wind until midnight on the
+24th, when the wind shifted to south-west. On Monday the 20th, at noon,
+they made Cape Cazzina, the northern point of the Bay of Algiers, and
+about twenty miles from the town. Next morning at daybreak, Algiers
+itself was in sight As the ships lay nearly becalmed, Lord Exmouth sent
+away Lieutenant Burgess in one of the _Queen Charlotte's_ boats, under a
+flag of truce, with the terms dictated by the Prince Regent, and a
+demand for the immediate liberation of the consul, and the people of the
+_Prometheus_. The _Severn_ was directed to tow the boat, but as she
+made very little way, the boat was ordered by signal to cast off, and
+proceed alone to the shore. At eleven o'clock, she was met outside the
+mole by the captain of the port, who received the communication, and
+promised an answer in two hours. In the mean time, a breeze springing up
+from the sea, the fleet stood into the bay, and lay to about a mile from
+the town.
+
+At two o'clock the boat was seen returning, with the signal that no
+answer had been given. The _Queen Charlotte_ immediately telegraphed to
+the fleet, "Are you ready?" Immediately the affirmative was displayed
+from every ship, and all bore up to their appointed stations.
+
+The _Queen Charlotte_ led to the attack. It was Lord Exmouth's intention
+not to reply to the enemy's fire in bearing down, unless it should
+become galling. In that case, the middle and main-deck guns, thirty long
+24-pounders, were to have opened; keeping the upper deck for shortening
+sail, and the lower for working the cables. The guns on these decks were
+not primed until the ship had anchored. But the Algerines reserved their
+fire, confident in the strength of their defences, and expecting to
+carry the flagship by boarding her from the gun-boats, which were all
+filled with men. Steered by the master of the fleet, Mr. Gaze, who had
+sailed with Lord Exmouth in every ship he commanded from the beginning
+of the war, the _Queen Charlotte_ proceeded silently to her position. At
+half-past two, she anchored by the stern, just half a cable's length
+from the Mole-head, and was lashed by a hawser to the mainmast of an
+Algerine brig, which lay at the entrance of the harbour. Her starboard
+broadside flanked all the batteries from the Mole-head to the
+Light-house. The Mole was crowded with troops, many of whom got upon the
+parapet to look at the ship; and Lord Exmouth, observing them as he
+stood upon the poop, waved to them to move away. As soon as the ship was
+fairly placed, and her cables stoppered, the crew gave three hearty
+cheers, such as Englishmen only can give. Scarcely had the sound of the
+last died away, when a gun was fired from the upper tier of the eastern
+battery; and a second, and a third followed in quick succession. One of
+the shots struck the _Superb_. At the first flash, Lord Exmouth gave the
+order, "Stand by!" at the second. "Fire!" The report of the third gun
+was drowned in the thunder of _Queen Charlotte's_ broadside.
+
+The enemy now opened from all their batteries, the _Queen Charlotte_ and
+_Leander_ being the only ships which had yet reached their stations.
+Preparations had been previously made in all, to avoid the necessity of
+exposing the men aloft when shortening sail. Following the flag-ship,
+the _Superb_ anchored about two hundred and fifty yards astern of her,
+and the _Minden_ at about her own length from the _Superb_. The _Albion_
+came to astern of the _Minded_, which passed her stream cable out of the
+larboard gun-room port to the _Albion's_ bow, and brought the two ships
+together. The _Impregnable_ was anchored astern of the _Albion_.
+
+The large frigates, and the Dutch squadron, particularly the _Melampus_,
+their flag-ship, went into action under a very heavy fire, and with a
+gallantry that never was surpassed. The _Leander_ had placed herself on
+the _Queen Charlotte's_ larboard bow, at the entrance of the harbour;
+her starboard broadside bearing upon the Algerine gun-boats with the
+after guns, and upon the Fishmarket battery with the others. The
+_Severn_ lay ahead of the _Leander_, with all her starboard broadside
+bearing upon the Fishmarket battery. Beyond her the _Glasgow_ fired upon
+the town batteries with her larboard guns. The Dutch squadron took the
+assigned position, before the works to the southward of the town. It was
+their Admiral's intention to place the _Melampus_ in the centre; but his
+second ahead, the _Diana_, having anchored too far to the southward to
+allow this, he pushed the _Melampus_ past her, and anchored close astern
+of the _Glasgow_.
+
+The two smaller frigates, the _Hebrus_ and _Granicus_, were left to take
+part in the battle wherever they might find an opening. Eager to gain a
+position, in the line, the _Hebrus_ pressed forward to place herself
+next the flag-ship, till, becalmed by the cannonade, she was obliged to
+anchor on the _Queen Charlotte's_ larboard quarter. Captain Wise, of the
+_Granicus_, waited until all the ships had taken their stations. Then,
+setting topgallant-sails and courses, he steered for where Lord
+Exmouth's flag was seen towering above the smoke; and with a seamanship
+equalled only by his intrepidity, anchored in the open space between the
+_Queen Charlotte_ and _Superb_; thus, with a small-class frigate, taking
+a position, of which, said Lord Exmouth, a three-decker might be justly
+proud.
+
+Eastward of the Lighthouse, at the distance of two thousand yards, were
+placed the bomb-vessels; whose shells were thrown with admirable
+precision by the Marine Artillery. The smaller vessels, except the
+_Mutine_, which anchored, continued under sail, firing occasionally
+wherever they saw opportunity. The flotilla of gun, rocket, and mortar
+boats, directed, by Captain Michell, were distributed at the openings
+between the line-of-battle ships, and at the entrance to the Mole.
+
+Thus the ships commanded the strongest of the enemy's defences, while
+they were exposed to the weakest part of his fire. The officers and men
+felt new confidence when they saw the power derived from the admirable
+disposition of their force. All behaved most nobly; and it was not long
+before the state of the Algerine batteries gave proof that their courage
+was fully equalled by their skill.
+
+In a few minutes, indeed before the battle had become general, the
+_Queen Charlotte_ had ruined the fortifications on the Mole-head. She
+then sprang her broadside towards the northward, to bear upon the
+batteries over the gate which leads to the Mole, and upon the upper
+works of the Lighthouse. Her shot struck with the most fatal accuracy,
+crumbling the tower of the Lighthouse to ruins, and bringing down gun
+after gun from the batteries. The last of these guns was dismounted
+just as the artillerymen were in the act of discharging it; when an
+Algerine chief was seen to spring upon the ruins of the parapet, and
+with impotent rage, to shake his scimitar against the ship. Her men
+proved themselves as expert amidst the realities of war, as they had
+before shown themselves in exercise; and some of them were detected
+amusing themselves, in the wantonness of their skill, by firing at the
+Algerine flag-staffs.
+
+Soon after the battle began, the enemy's flotilla of gun-boats advanced,
+with a daring which deserved a better fate, to board the _Queen
+Charlotte_ and _Leander_. The smoke covered them at first, but as soon
+as they were seen, a few guns, chiefly from the _Leander_, sent
+thirty-three out of thirty-seven to the bottom.
+
+At four o'clock, when a general and heavy fire had been maintained for
+more than an hour without producing any appearance of submission, Lord
+Exmouth determined to destroy the Algerine ships. Accordingly, the
+_Leander_ having first been ordered to cease firing, the flag-ship's
+barge, directed by Lieutenant Peter Richards, with Major Gossett, of the
+Miners, Lieutenant Wolrige, of the Marines, and Mr. M'Clintock, a
+midshipman, boarded the nearest frigate, and fired her so effectually
+with the laboratory torches, and a carcass-shell placed on the main
+deck, that she was completely in flames almost before the barge's crew
+were over her side. The crew of a rocket-boat belonging to the _Hebrus_
+were prompted by a natural, but unfortunate ardour, to follow the barge,
+though forbidden; but the boat pulling heavily, she became exposed to a
+fire of musketry, which killed an officer and three men, and wounded
+several others. Lord Exmouth stood watching the barge from the gangway,
+delighted with the gallantry and promptitude with which his orders were
+executed. When the frigate burst into a flame, he telegraphed to the
+fleet the animating signal, "Infallible!" and as the barge was
+returning, he ordered those around him to welcome her alongside with
+three cheers.
+
+It was hoped that the flames would communicate from this frigate to the
+rest of the Algerine shipping; but she burnt from her moorings, and
+passing clear of her consorts, drifted along the broadsides of the
+_Queen Charlotte_ and _Leander_, and grounded a-head of the latter,
+under the wall of the town. The gun-boats, and the _Queen Charlotte's_
+launch, then opened with carcass-shells upon the largest frigate, which
+was moored in the centre of the other ships, too far within the Mole to
+be attempted safely by boarding. They soon set her on fire, and
+notwithstanding the exertions of the Algerines, she was completely in
+flames by six o'clock. From her the fire communicated, first to all the
+other vessels in the port, except a brig and a schooner, moored in the
+upper part of it, and afterwards to the storehouses and arsenal. At a
+little past seven, she came drifting out of the harbour, and passed so
+close to the flag-ship as nearly to involve her in the same destruction.
+
+About sunset, a message was received from Rear-Admiral Milne, requesting
+that a frigate might be sent to divert from the _Impregnable_ some of
+the fire under which she was suffering. She had anchored more to the
+northward than was intended, and consequently became exposed to the
+heavy battery on the point of rock beyond the lighthouse, and which was
+covered from the fire of the rest of the fleet. The _Glasgow_ weighed
+immediately, but the wind had been driven away by the cannonade, and she
+was only able, after three-quarters of an hour's exertion, to reach a
+new position between the _Severn_ and _Leander_; a better for annoying
+the enemy, but where she was herself more exposed, and suffered in
+proportion. As it was found impossible to assist the _Impregnable_, Lord
+Exmouth sent on board Mr. Triscott, one of his aides-de-camp, with
+permission to haul off. The _Impregnable_ was then dreadfully cut up;
+150 men had been already killed and wounded, a full third of them by an
+explosion, and the shot were still coming in fast; but her brave crew,
+guided and encouraged by the Rear-Admiral and Captain Brace, two of the
+most distinguished and successful officers in the service, would not
+allow her to go thus out of battle; and she kept her station,
+maintaining an animated fire to the last. To relieve her in some degree,
+an ordnance sloop, which had been fitted at Gibraltar as an
+explosion-vessel, with 143 barrels of powder, was placed at the disposal
+of the Rear-Admiral. She had been intended for the destruction of the
+Algerine fleet, but this service had already been effected by other
+means. Conducted by Lieutenant Fleming, who had been commanding a
+gun-boat near the _Queen Charlotte_, with Major Reed, of the Engineers,
+and Captain Herbert Powell, a volunteer on board the _Impregnable_, the
+explosion-vessel was run on shore under the battery which had annoyed
+her, where, at nine o'clock, she blew up.
+
+The fleet slackened their fire towards night, as the guns of the enemy
+became silenced, and the ships began to feel the necessity for
+husbanding their ammunition. Their expenditure had been beyond all
+parallel. They fired nearly 118 tons of powder, and 50,000 shot,
+weighing more than 500 tons of iron; besides 960 thirteen and ten-inch
+shells thrown by the bomb-vessels, and the shells and rockets from the
+flotilla. Such a fire, close, concentrated, and well-directed as it was,
+nothing could resist; and the sea-defences of Algiers, with great part
+of the town itself, were shattered and crumbled to ruins.
+
+At a little before ten, the objects of the attack having been effected,
+the _Queen Charlotte's_ bower-cable was cut, and her head hauled round
+to seaward. She continued, however, to engage with all the guns abaft
+the mainmast, sometimes on both sides. Warps were run out to gain an
+offing, but many of them were cut by shot from the batteries southward
+of the town, which had been very partially engaged, and also from forts
+on the hills out of reach of the ships' guns. A very light air was felt
+about half-past ten, and sail was made; but the ship, after cutting from
+her remaining warps and anchors, was manageable only by the aid of her
+boats towing, and then the only point gained was keeping her head from
+the land. At eleven she began to draw out from the batteries, and at
+twenty-five minutes past she ceased to fire. The breeze freshened, and a
+tremendous storm of thunder and lightning came on, with torrents of
+rain; while the flaming ships and storehouses illuminated all the ruins,
+and increased the grandeur of the scene. In about three hours the storm
+subsided, and as soon as the ship was made snug, Lord Exmouth assembled
+in his cabin all the wounded who could be moved with safety, that they
+might unite with him and his officers in offering thanksgiving to God
+for their victory and preservation.
+
+The two Admirals came on board the _Queen Charlotte_ as soon as they
+could leave their ships, and spoke their feelings of admiration and
+gratitude to Lord Exmouth with all the warmth of language and
+expression. The Dutch Admiral, who, with his squadron, had most nobly
+emulated the conduct of his British allies, declared himself in terms of
+the highest eulogy of the _Queen Charlotte_, which, he said, by her
+commanding position and the effect of her fire, had saved five hundred
+men to the fleet. Perhaps there was no exaggeration in the praise; for
+the destruction occasioned by her first broadside, as she lay flanking
+the Mole, must have contributed much to protect the ships which had not
+yet reached their stations; and the havoc she inflicted by a cannonade
+of nine hours must have been great indeed, since her fire could destroy
+the fortifications on the Mole-head in a few minutes.
+
+In no former general action had the casualties been so great in
+proportion to the force employed. One hundred and twenty-eight were
+killed, and six hundred and ninety wounded, in the British ships, and
+thirteen killed and fifty-two wounded in the Dutch squadron. Yet,
+except the _Impregnable_, which had fifty men killed, no ship suffered
+so much as is usual in a severe engagement. Generally, in fleet actions,
+the brunt of the battle, and the chief amount of losses, fall upon a
+few; but here every ship had her allotted duty, and was closely engaged
+throughout. After the _Impregnable_, the frigates suffered the most,
+particularly the _Granicus_, which took a line-of-battle ship's station;
+and the _Leander_, which was much cut up by the Fish-market and other
+batteries, and as late as seven o'clock was obliged to carry out a
+hawser to _the Severn_, to enable her to bear her broadside upon one
+which annoyed her. The loss in the other line-of-battle ships was
+remarkably small. They had together but twenty-six killed, including the
+casualties in their respective boats.
+
+Lord Exmouth escaped most narrowly. He was struck in three places; and a
+cannon-shot tore away the skirts of his coat. A button was afterwards
+found in the signal locker; and the shot broke one of the glasses and
+bulged the rim of the spectacles in his pocket. He gave the spectacles
+to his valued friend, the late gallant Sir Richard Keats, who caused
+their history to be engraven on them, and directed, that when he died,
+they should be restored to Lord Exmouth's family, to be kept as a
+memorial of his extraordinary preservation.
+
+On the 28th, at daylight, Lieutenant Burgess was sent on shore with a
+flag of truce, and the demands of the preceding morning; the
+bomb-vessels at the same time resuming their positions. The captain of
+one of the destroyed frigates met the boat, and declared that an answer
+had been sent on the day before, but that no boat was at hand to receive
+it. Shortly after, the captain of the port came off, accompanied by the
+Swedish consul, and informed Lord Exmouth that all his demands would be
+submitted to. On the morning of the 29th, the captain of the port came
+off again, being now accompanied by the British consul; upon which
+Captain Brisbane, of the flag-ship, went on shore, and had a conference
+with the Dey. Sir Charles Penrose, whom the Admiral had expected to the
+last, arrived this day in the _Ister_ frigate, from Malta, where he had
+waited for his expected orders, until he heard that Lord Exmouth was in
+the Mediterranean. Lord Exmouth committed to him the management of the
+negotiations, the only compliment he could now offer. Where nothing
+remained but submission for the vanquished, the arrangements were soon
+concluded, and next day the final result was officially communicated to
+the fleet.
+
+
+                  "_Queen Charlotte_, Algiers Bay, August 30, 1816.
+
+                  "General Memorandum.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief is happy to inform the fleet of the final
+     termination of their strenuous exertions, by the signature of
+     peace, confirmed under a salute of twenty-one guns, on the
+     following conditions, dictated by His Royal Highness the Prince
+     Regent of England.
+
+     "I. The abolition of Christian slavery for ever.
+
+     "II. The delivery to my flag of all slaves in the dominions of the
+     Dey, to whatever nation they may belong, at noon to-morrow.
+
+     "III. To deliver also to my flag all money received by him for the
+     redemption of slaves since the commencement of this year--at noon
+     also to-morrow.
+
+     "IV. Reparation has been made to the British consul for all losses
+     he has sustained in consequence of his confinement.
+
+     "V. The Dey has made a public apology, in presence of his ministers
+     and officers, and begged pardon of the consul in terms dictated by
+     the captain of the _Queen Charlotte_.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief takes this opportunity of again returning
+     his public thanks to the Admirals, Captains, Officers, Seamen,
+     Marines, Royal Sappers and Miners, Royal Marine Artillery, and the
+     Royal Rocket Corps, for the noble support he has received from
+     them throughout the whole of this arduous service; and he is
+     pleased to direct that on Sunday next a public thanksgiving shall
+     be offered up to Almighty God, for the signal interposition of his
+     Divine Providence during the conflict which took place on the 27th,
+     between his Majesty's fleet and the ferocious enemies of mankind.
+
+     It is requested that this memorandum may be read to the ship's
+     company.
+
+     "To the Admirals, Captains, Officers, Seamen, Marines, Royal
+     Sappers and Miners, Royal Marine Artillery, and the Royal Rocket
+     Corps."
+
+
+Above twelve hundred slaves were embarked on the 31st, making, with
+those liberated a few weeks before, more than three thousand, whom, by
+address or force, Lord Exmouth had delivered from slavery.[13] Having
+sent them to their respective countries, and leaving a ship to receive a
+few who had yet to come up from the interior, he sailed on the 3rd of
+September for England. On the 8th, when on his way to Gibraltar, he
+wrote an account of the battle to his brother, to whom he had previously
+sent a very laconic communication, stating merely the result.
+
+
+     "It has pleased God to give me again the opportunity of writing
+     you, and it has also pleased Him to give success to our efforts
+     against these hordes of barbarians. I never, however, saw any set
+     of men more obstinate at their guns, and it was superior fire only
+     that could keep them back. To be sure, nothing could stand before
+     the _Queen Charlotte's_ broadside. Everything fell before it; and
+     the Swedish consul assures me we killed above five hundred at the
+     very first fire, from the crowded way in which troops were drawn
+     up, four deep above the gun boats, which were also full of men. I
+     had myself beckoned to many around the guns close to us to move
+     away, previous to giving the order to fire; and I believe they are
+     within bounds, when they state their loss at seven thousand men.
+     Our old friend John Gaze was as steady as a rock; and it was a
+     glorious sight to see the _Charlotte_ take her anchorage, and to
+     see her flag towering on high, when she appeared to be in the
+     flames of the Mole itself; and never was a ship nearer burnt; it
+     almost scorched me off the poop; we were obliged to haul in the
+     ensign, or it would have caught fire. Everybody behaved uncommonly
+     well. Admiral Milne came on board at two o'clock in the morning,
+     and kissed my hand fifty times before the people, as did the Dutch
+     Admiral, Von Capellan. I was but slightly touched in the thigh,
+     face, and fingers--my glass cut in my hand, and the skirts of my
+     coat torn off by a large shot; but as I bled a good deal, it
+     looked as if I was badly hurt, and it was gratifying to see and
+     hear how it was received even in the cockpit, which was then pretty
+     full. My thigh is not quite skinned over, but I am perfectly well,
+     and hope to reach Portsmouth by the 10th of October. Ferdinand has
+     sent me a diamond star. Wise behaved most nobly, and took up a
+     line-of-battle ship's station; but all behaved nobly. I never saw
+     such enthusiasm in all my service. Not a wretch shrunk any where;
+     and I assure you it was a very arduous task, but I had formed a
+     very correct judgment of all I saw, and was confident, if
+     supported, I should succeed. I could not wait for an offshore wind
+     to attack; the season was too far advanced, and the land-winds
+     become light and calmy. I was forced to attack at once with a
+     lee-shore, or perhaps wait a week for a precarious wind along
+     shore; and I was quite sure I should have a breeze off the land
+     about one or two in the morning, and equally sure we could hold out
+     to that time. Blessed be God! it came, and a dreadful night with
+     it, of thunder, lightning, and rain, as heavy as I ever saw.
+     Several ships had expended all their powder, and been supplied from
+     the brigs. I had latterly husbanded, and only fired when they fired
+     on us; and we expended 350 barrels, and 5,420 shot, weighing above
+     65 tons of iron. Such a state of ruin of fortifications and houses
+     was never seen, and it is the opinion of all the consuls, that two
+     hours more fire would have levelled the town; the walls are all so
+     cracked. Even the aqueducts were broken up, and the people
+     famishing for water. The sea-defences, to be made effective, must
+     be rebuilt from the foundation. The fire all round the Mole looked
+     like Pandemonium. I never saw anything so grand and so terrific,
+     for I was not on velvet, for fear they would drive on board us. The
+     copper-bottoms floated full of fiery hot charcoal, and were red hot
+     above the surface, so that we could not hook on our fire-grapnels
+     to put the boats on, and could do nothing but push fire-booms, and
+     spring the ship off by our warps, as occasion required."
+
+
+The battle of Algiers forms a class by itself among naval victories. It
+was a new thing to place a fleet in a position surrounded by such
+formidable batteries. Bold and original in the conception, it was most
+brilliant and complete in execution. Nor was it more splendid for the
+honour, than happy in the fruits. It broke the chains of thousands; it
+gave security to millions;--it delivered Christendom from a scourge and
+a disgrace. To complete the happiness of the achievement, a nation
+co-operated, the natural ally of England, and the truest of her friends;
+bound to her by the proudest recollections of patriotism, and the
+dearest ties of religion; and which, if it should be required once more
+to strike down the power of whatever evil principle may desolate Europe,
+will again be found at her side, strong in virtue as in courage, to
+emulate her prowess, and to share the triumph.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Sir Israel, his brother; Captains Pownoll and Fleetwood, his sons;
+Captain Harward, and Sir Lawrence Halsted, his sons-in-law.
+
+[13] Slaves liberated by Admiral Lord Exmouth:--
+
+                       AT ALGIERS.
+
+     Neapolitans and Sicilians                1,110
+     Sardinians and Genoese                      62
+     Piedmontaise                                 6
+     Romans                                     174
+     Tuscans                                      6
+     Spaniards                                  226
+     Portuguese                                   1
+     Greeks                                       7
+     Dutch                                       28
+     English                                     18
+     French                                       2
+     Austrians                                    2--1,642
+
+                       AT TUNIS.
+
+     Neapolitans and Sicilians                  524
+     Sardinians and Genoese                     257----781
+
+                      AT TRIPOLI.
+
+     Neapolitans and Sicilians                  422
+     Sardinians and Genoese                     144
+     Romans                                      10
+     Hamburghers                                  4----580
+
+                                                   _______
+                                                     3,003
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.
+
+
+Lord Exmouth's services were acknowledged as became such a victory. He
+was advanced to the dignity of a Viscount, and received an honourable
+augmentation of his arms. In the centre of the shield a triumphal crown
+was placed by the civic wreath; below was a lion rampant, and above them
+a ship, lying at the Mole-head of Algiers, and surmounted with the star
+of victory. The former supporters were exchanged for a lion on the one
+side, and a Christian slave, holding aloft the cross, and dropping his
+broken fetters, on the other. The name "Algiers" was given for an
+additional motto. The kings of Holland, Spain, and Sardinia, conferred
+upon him orders of knighthood. The Pope sent him a valuable cameo. The
+city of London voted him its freedom, and a sword, ornamented with
+diamonds, which was presented by the Lord Mayor at a banquet,
+appropriately given by the Ironmongers' Company, as trustees of a
+considerable estate left for ransoming Christian slaves in Barbary by
+Mr. Betton, a member of the company, who had himself endured the
+miseries of slavery. He received the freedom of the city of Oxford, and
+the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University. A society for
+promoting the liberation of Christian slaves, lately formed at Paris,
+chiefly by the exertions of Sir Sidney Smith, caused a medal to be
+struck to commemorate the victory. It presents a well-executed profile
+of the Admiral, with a suitable inscription on the reverse.
+
+In general, every disposition was shown in France to do justice to Lord
+Exmouth's merit on this occasion. Yet it was to be expected that the
+feelings so natural under the circumstances of their recent defeat, and
+the present occupation of their territory, would lead many to detract
+from the honours of the nation which had so severely humbled them. Some
+illiberal reflections which appeared in the French journals, prompted
+the following lines by the late Lord Grenville:--
+
+
+       "These hands toil-worn, these limbs by fetters galled,
+     These bodies, scarred by many a servile blow,
+     These spirits, wasted by disease and woe,
+     These Christian souls, by miscreant rage enthralled,
+     What band of heroes now recalls to life?--
+     Gives us again to hail our native shores,
+     And to each fond, despairing heart, restores
+     The long-lost parent, the long-widowed wife?
+     O Britain! still to lawless power a foe,
+     'Gainst faithless pirate armed, or blood-stained Gaul!
+     Vain is the taunt which mocks thy lavish cost,
+     Thy thankless toil, thy blood poured out for all,
+     Thy laurels, gained in fight, in treaty lost--
+     HEAVEN STILL SHALL BLESS THE HAND WHICH LAYS THE OPPRESSOR LOW!"
+
+
+A medal, most appropriate in the devices, and of the most exquisite
+workmanship, was executed by command of his late Majesty George IV.,
+then Prince Regent. The medals are of gold. Only four were struck, one
+of which was presented to Lord Exmouth, and remains in the possession of
+his eldest surviving son. The officers of the squadron presented to
+their commander a magnificent piece of plate, of 1,400 guineas value,
+representing the Mole of Algiers, with its fortifications. The
+subscription exceeded the cost; and the surplus was paid to the Naval
+Charitable Society, of which Lord Exmouth was a vice-president.[14]
+
+His venerable and excellent friend, Admiral Schank, under whose command
+he had fought his first action, went to Teignmouth to receive him, when
+he came home from this, the last of his triumphs. The day of his return
+was made a general festival, and the inhabitants went out to meet him
+with all the arrangement and display which could manifest admiration and
+attachment.
+
+The promotion which followed the victory was to have been on the usual
+scale, but Lord Exmouth succeeded in obtaining some extension of it; for
+he considered it inadequate to the merits of the junior officers, who
+had enjoyed unusual opportunities for distinguishing themselves. The
+flotilla of armed boats, which had behaved most gallantly, and afforded
+essential service, was commanded chiefly by mates and midshipmen, and he
+pressed their claims upon the Admiralty with much perseverance. He
+urged that commissions should be given to all who had passed their
+examinations; and submitted a list of the officers whom he thought
+entitled to promotion, drawn up in such a form as to be readily examined
+and referred to, and in which their respective services and claims were
+enforced in a manner which marked at once his discrimination of their
+merits, and the warm interest he took in their welfare.
+
+The victory was prominently noticed in the royal speech, and on the 3rd
+of February received the thanks of Parliament. The First Lord of the
+Admiralty, who introduced the motion to the House of Lords, expatiated
+at length on the circumstances which enhanced the merit of the
+commander:--"When the expedition against Algiers was determined on, it
+became necessary to collect men from different guard-ships, and to call
+for the services of volunteers for this particular enterprise. He
+mentioned this circumstance, because those who knew the value which
+naval officers attach to a crew long accustomed to act together, would
+be the better enabled to appreciate the skill and exertions of Lord
+Exmouth, and the difficulties he had to contend with, in rendering
+crews, collected as he had stated, efficient for his purpose. To that
+object Lord Exmouth devoted his daily, his hourly attention, and
+accomplished it in a manner which reflected the highest credit on his
+judgment and ability. He then proceeded with his squadron on the
+appointed service. He proposed certain terms to the Dey of Algiers,
+according to his instructions, and no satisfactory reply being given,
+the ships took their positions. It was due to Lord Exmouth here to state
+a circumstance not generally known. An opinion had prevailed in many
+quarters that accident and the elements had been very favourable to Lord
+Exmouth in the execution of the enterprise: but the fact was, that when
+Government had determined on the undertaking, many persons, and among
+them several naval officers, were of opinion that the defences were so
+strong that the attack could not succeed. Not so Lord Exmouth, though he
+was perfectly aware of the difficulties with which he had to contend. He
+had himself formed the plan of his operations, and gave it as his
+opinion that the object might be accomplished, not from any idle
+confidence, but founded on the reasons which he stated and the plan
+which he had formed. He had in this plan settled the position which
+every ship was to take, and when the despatches came, he (Lord Melville)
+had noticed that the positions actually taken were exactly those which
+had been before settled. The whole scheme of attack was before prepared
+by him, and exactly followed; and the whole transaction reflected the
+highest credit upon Lord Exmouth as a naval officer, as well as upon his
+perseverance and gallantry." After describing the battle and its result,
+and descanting upon the enthusiasm which animated every officer and man,
+and the gallantry they displayed, Lord Melville alluded to the
+co-operation and effectual assistance afforded by the Dutch squadron, to
+which also he moved the thanks of the House. "The flag of the
+Netherlands had long been distinguished in Europe, and the officers and
+seamen had acquired a high renown for skill and valour. In this
+enterprise that flag had again appeared, and a noble emulation prevailed
+between the two squadrons as to which of them should most strenuously
+exert itself to accomplish the common object."
+
+Similar motions were brought forward in the House of Commons by Lord
+Castlereagh, who dwelt on the splendid character of the transaction,
+upon which, he said, there could be but one opinion either in that House
+or throughout Europe. Alluding to the very conflicting opinions which
+had prevailed on the subject of attacking Algiers, he eulogized the
+great ability and judgment of Lord Exmouth, whose perfect accuracy had
+been so fully proved by the result. "He should not attempt," he said,
+"to add any thing more to an action so glorious both as to the
+principles upon which it was undertaken, and the mode of carrying it
+into execution, but only observe that he intended to extend the thanks
+to the officers and seamen of their brave ally, the King of the
+Netherlands, whose co-operation had been so beneficial. He was sure the
+House would feel a peculiar gratification in seeing the navy of Holland
+united with ours for the general liberties of mankind, and be anxious to
+mark their sense of the services performed by the Dutch Admiral, his
+brave officers, and sailors."
+
+"So great were Lord Exmouth's professional abilities," said Mr. Law, who
+seconded the motion, "that whatever he undertook he was sure to succeed
+in. From the commencement of that series of great operations which arose
+out of the revolutionary war, success had uniformly marked his long
+career. With respect to the late brilliant enterprise, too much could
+not be said of it; and it was gratifying to know that the feelings of
+the House and the country were the same."
+
+"No one," said Lord Cochrane, "was better acquainted than himself with
+the power possessed by batteries over a fleet; and he would say that the
+conduct of Lord Exmouth and the fleet deserved all the praise which that
+House could bestow. The attack was nobly achieved, in a way that a
+British fleet always performed such services; and the vote had his most
+cordial concurrence, for he never knew, or had heard, of anything more
+gallant than the manner in which Lord Exmouth had laid his ships
+alongside the Algerine batteries."
+
+Lord Exmouth had now gained everything he could hope for. He was still
+in the full vigour of life, with the prospect of many years of health.
+His children had all been spared to him; and he was accustomed to dwell
+on their conduct with a father's pride and satisfaction. With a
+liberality not often displayed, he gave them their full portions as they
+successively left him; and he had the gratification of entrusting to
+each of his sons one of the many honourable tributes to his worth and
+services which he had received from different public bodies. His eldest
+son, who had served many years under his orders, was living near
+Teignmouth, at the family mansion of Canonteign. He represented
+Launceston in Parliament, and when he first entered the House had
+exerted himself, though without success, to obtain for seamen serving on
+foreign stations the privilege, since granted, of receiving part of
+their pay abroad. He had been much impressed with the evils of the
+former system, which his liberality had obviated for his own crews. Lord
+Exmouth maintained a most unreserved intercourse with him, and often
+expressed a confidence in the strongest terms, that he would do honour
+to the rank he was to inherit: hopes never to be realized, for he
+survived his father only a few months.
+
+It is a memorable illustration of a truth, which all admit, but none
+entirely feel, till their own experience has taught them the vanity of
+worldly success, that when the attainment of every object had left him
+without a wish ungratified, Lord Exmouth would sometimes confess that he
+had been happier amidst his early difficulties. Indeed, his natural
+character, and all his habits, were very unfavourable to repose. The
+command at Plymouth was given him in 1817, on the death of Sir John
+Duckworth; but this, though it prevented a too abrupt transition to
+complete retirement, was a life of inactivity, when contrasted with his
+general pursuits for almost fifty years.
+
+While he held this command he was required to attend in his place in the
+House of Lords on the trial of the Queen, one of the most lamentable
+events in modern English history. He had received her then Royal
+Highness on board his flag-ship in the Mediterranean with all the
+attentions due to her exalted rank, and his principal officers were
+assembled to pay their respects to her. But when he was desired to
+furnish a royal standard, which, it was said, the vessel was entitled to
+carry, though a foreigner, he replied that the standard of England
+could be carried only by a British man of war. He shared the temporary
+unpopularity of the noblemen who supported the bill, and the mob at
+Plymouth and its neighbourhood expressed their feelings towards him with
+much violence; but this, as far as he was concerned, gave him no
+disquiet. He had not then to learn how little this kind of hostility is
+to be regarded, when it is provoked by the faithful discharge of duty.
+When the storm was at the highest he wrote the following letter:--
+
+
+                    "Admiralty House, Plymouth Dock, Nov. 20, 1820.
+
+     "MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am much obliged by your kind letter, and wish
+     I could give you in return anything good, or worth detailing. The
+     fact is, the people are mad, and the world is mad; and where it
+     will end, the Lord only knows; but as sure as we live, the days of
+     trouble are very fast approaching, when there will be much
+     contention and much bloodshed, and changes out of all measure and
+     human calculation. You and I have no choice. Loyalty is all our
+     duty, and we shall, no doubt, stick to it. As for myself, you may
+     well think me D.D.,[15] for I am burnt, and kicked, and torn in
+     pieces for many nights; but here I am, quite whole, sound, and
+     merry, in spite of them all, poor fools! In a fortnight they will
+     fain know how to make amends. They have a particular dislike to me,
+     and I am glad of it. We shall live to see it changed."
+
+
+With the command at Plymouth, Lord Exmouth's public life may be
+considered to have ended; for though he shrunk from no duty which his
+rank and character imposed upon him, he would not submit to become a
+political partizan. This decision, so happy for his peace, was the
+result of his habitual judgment and feeling. In a letter before alluded
+to, which he wrote for his eldest son before he went to Algiers, he
+observed, that though not rich, he would be independent, and enjoined
+him never to entangle himself with party politics. While none more
+firmly supported the great principles upon which the security and
+welfare of the country rest, he chose always to keep the high position
+of an independent British nobleman. The splendid rewards which his
+services had obtained for him, he received, not as from any particular
+administration, but from his country; and he felt himself entitled to
+assert the same independence in the House of Lords, which he had always
+displayed as a commander. Thus, by a conduct equally prudent and
+honourable, he secured, through periods of great political excitement,
+an exemption almost singular, for a man in his position, from the
+attacks of party.
+
+At the same time, his best services were always at the command of the
+Government, who frequently availed themselves of his judgment and
+experience. Few important questions occurred in connection with his own
+profession, upon which he was not consulted. Most of these were
+necessarily confidential; but the following may with propriety be
+noticed. In 1818, when the extreme difficulties of the country demanded
+the utmost possible retrenchment, it was proposed, among other measures
+of economy, to destroy Pendennis Castle. Two commissioners, sent to
+survey and report upon this step, were instructed to communicate first
+with Lord Exmouth. His opinion decided the preservation of this noble
+fortress; which is at once so important from its position, and so
+interesting for its heroic defence, when, in the great rebellion, it
+obtained the honourable distinction of being the last stronghold of
+loyalty.
+
+On the question of concessions to the Roman Catholics in 1829, his
+opinions and conduct were most decided. His eldest son resigned his seat
+for a borough, which he held unconditionally, under the influence of the
+Duke of Northumberland, as soon as that nobleman declared his intention
+to support the claims. The ground of Lord Exmouth's opposition to the
+measure has been already given in his words.
+
+That moral elevation, not always associated with powerful talent and
+splendid success, which forms the most admirable part of Lord Exmouth's
+character, was derived from religion. Young as he was when he first
+entered the service, and though such principles and feelings could not
+be supposed then to be very strongly fixed, yet he was guarded in his
+conduct, and always prompt to check any irreverent allusion to serious
+subjects. His youth was passed in camps and ships, at a time when a
+coarse and profane conduct too much prevailed, now happily almost
+unknown; but he was never deterred by a false shame from setting a
+proper example. On board his first frigate, the _Winchelsea_, the duties
+of the Sundays were regularly observed. He always dressed in full
+uniform on that day, and, having no chaplain, read the morning service
+to his crew, whenever the weather permitted them to be assembled.
+Advancing in his brilliant career, the same feelings were more and more
+strikingly displayed. It was his practice to have a special and general
+service of thanksgiving after every signal deliverance, or success. Too
+often is it found, that with the accession of worldly honours, the man
+becomes more forgetful of the good Providence from which he received
+them. From this evil, Lord Exmouth was most happily kept; and additional
+distinctions only confirmed the unaffected simplicity and benevolence of
+his character. When he was fitting out his fleet for Algiers, amidst all
+the anxiety of hurried preparations, he took care that every ship should
+be properly supplied with the sacred volume. For this purpose, he
+obtained from the Naval and Military Bible Society, of which he was a
+Vice President, every copy which could be procured at so short a notice.
+Finally, after this, the last and greatest of his services, a battle of
+almost unexampled severity and duration, and fought less for his country
+than for the world, his gratitude to the Giver of victory was expressed
+in a manner the most edifying and delightful.
+
+With such principles, he might well have hoped for happiness when he
+retired from public life. Religion alone can fill and satisfy the most
+active and capacious mind; but that its power may be felt to calm,
+strengthen, and support, under whatever circumstances of endurance, or
+of action, it must govern the character always, and be the supreme
+controlling principle. For this, the position of a naval officer is not
+favourable. War has much, in addition to the miseries and evils it
+directly creates, which only necessity can excuse; and there is too
+little leisure for reflection amidst the anxiety of early struggles, the
+full career of success, or the pressure of exciting and important
+duties.
+
+But when external responsibilities had ceased to divert his attention
+from himself, his religious principles acquired new strength and exerted
+a more powerful influence. They guided him to peace; they added dignity
+to his character: and blessed his declining years with a serenity, at
+once the best evidence of their truth, and the happiest illustration of
+their power.
+
+The quiet of domestic life offers little to be recorded; and except when
+public or private claims might call him for a short time from home, Lord
+Exmouth passed the remainder of his life at Teignmouth. He had nobly
+done his duty; and now enjoyed in honourable repose all that the
+gratitude of his country and the affection of his family could bestow.
+Though he knew himself liable to an attack which might be almost
+suddenly fatal, he dwelt on the prospect without alarm, for he rested
+upon that faith whose privilege it is to rise above present suffering,
+and to regard death itself as the gate of immortal life.
+
+No man was more free from selfish feeling. His honours and success were
+valued for the sake of his family. His services and life were for his
+country. He had a truly English heart, and served her with entire
+devotedness. Nothing, indeed, could be a finer commentary than his own
+career upon her free and equal institutions, which, by the force of
+those qualities they so powerfully tend to create, had enabled him to
+rise from the condition of an unfriended orphan, to the dignity of the
+British peerage. Most painful, therefore, were his feelings, when revolt
+and anarchy in neighbouring countries were held up to be admired and
+imitated at home, until a praiseworthy desire of improvement had become
+a rage for destructive innovation. In a letter written at this time,
+Nov. 12th, 1831, after alluding to his own declining strength, he thus
+proceeds:--"I am fast approaching that end which we must all come to. My
+own term I feel is expiring, and happy is the man who does not live to
+see the destruction of his country, which discontent has brought to the
+verge of ruin. Hitherto thrice happy England, how art thou torn to
+pieces by thine own children! Strangers, who a year ago looked up to you
+as a happy exception in the world, with admiration, at this moment know
+thee not! Fire, riot, and bloodshed, are roving through the land, and
+God in his displeasure visits us also with pestilence; and, in fact, in
+one short year, we seem almost to have reached the climax of misery. One
+cannot sit down to put one's thoughts to paper, without feeling
+oppressed by public events, and with vain thought of how and when will
+the evils terminate. _That_ must be left to God's mercy, for I believe
+man is at this moment unequal to the task."
+
+He then passes to another subject. It was a trait in his character,
+that, through all his success, he never forgot his early friends.
+
+"When I sat down, I intended to commence by letting you know that I have
+heard from ---- of the last week's illness and decease of our early, and
+I believe almost our oldest friend, ----. He states, that he died, by
+God's mercy, free from pain; that his suffering was not much, and he
+bore it patiently, with a calm mind, keeping his senses to the last few
+hours. That you had paid your old friend a last visit, from which, he
+says, he appeared to be quite revivified; that his eyes sparkled with
+inward joy, and that he had asked kindly after me; that he went off at
+last in a kind of sleep, without a struggle, and had felt all the
+comfort which could be given him by a sincere old friend. I was very
+glad to hear that you had given him the comfort of taking leave of him,
+for I readily believe he ever felt for you unabated friendship, and for
+myself also. I think we must have known him above three-score years. I
+am sure you will derive pleasure from having shown him that your
+friendship could only end by his death."
+
+In the last week of December, 1831, after an extraordinary exemption
+from such trials in his own family, he lost his youngest daughter.
+Little more than two months elapsed, when on the 2nd of March the
+warning was repeated in the almost sudden death of a grandchild,
+daughter of his eldest son. He communicated this event with the
+reflection--"We have long been mercifully spared. Death has at length
+entered our family, and it behoves us all to be watchful."[16]
+
+In the spring of this year he was made Vice-Admiral of England, and was
+honoured at the same time with a very flattering letter from his
+Sovereign. This he immediately enclosed to his elder brother, to whom he
+knew it would give pleasure. Of the appointment itself, he remarked, "I
+shall have it only for one year." He held it but for a few months.
+
+In May, Sir Israel Pellew was on his death-bed; and Lord Exmouth, though
+he now travelled with much difficulty and pain, could not refuse himself
+the melancholy satisfaction of a parting visit to one with whom he had
+been so closely and affectionately united. Their brother came up from
+Falmouth on the same errand, and on this painful occasion they all met
+for the last time. He then returned to his home, which he never left
+again.
+
+He cherished a very strong attachment to the Church; and for more than
+thirty years had been a member of the Society for Promoting Christian
+Knowledge, which he joined when the claims of the society were so little
+appreciated, that only principle could have prompted the step. It might
+therefore be expected that he would feel deep anxiety when the safety of
+that Church was threatened. But upon this subject his mind was firm; and
+in one of the last letters he ever wrote, dated August 28th, he declares
+his confidence in the most emphatic language. After some personal
+observations to the friend he was addressing, one of his old officers,
+he alludes to the cholera, then raging in his neighbourhood; "which," he
+says, "I am much inclined to consider an infliction of Providence, to
+show his power to the discontented of the world, who have long been
+striving against the government of man, and are commencing their attacks
+on our Church. But they will fail! God will never suffer his Church to
+fall; and the world will see that his mighty arm is not shortened, nor
+his power diminished. I put my trust in Him, and not in man; and I bless
+Him, that He has enabled me to see the difference between improvement
+and destruction."
+
+Not many days after, he suffered a most violent attack of the illness he
+had long anticipated. The immediate danger was soon averted; but the
+extent of the disease left not the smallest hope of recovery. He
+lingered until the 23rd of January, calmly waiting the event which his
+gradually increasing weakness convinced him was inevitable. Sustained by
+the principle which had guided him so long, his death-bed became the
+scene of his best and noblest triumph. "Every hour of his life is a
+sermon," said an officer who was often with him; "I have seen him great
+in battle, but never so great as on his death-bed." Full of hope and
+peace, he advanced with the confidence of a Christian to his last
+conflict, and when nature was at length exhausted, he closed a life of
+brilliant and important service, with a death more happy, and not less
+glorious, than if he had fallen in the hour of victory.
+
+Lord Exmouth was buried at Christow, the parish in which are the family
+mansion and estate of Canonteign. The flag under which he fought at
+Algiers was used for a pall, and a young oak, to bear his name, was
+planted near the grave; a suitable memorial for a British seaman.
+
+Two noble line-of-battle ships, the _Algiers_ and the _Exmouth_, of
+91-guns each, and fitted with screw propellers, of which one is just now
+commissioned and the other just launched, preserve in the navy the
+memory of his name and victory, and may yet be commanded by officers
+trained by his care, and formed by his example.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] The plate bore the following most flattering inscription:--
+
+
+                     TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+                 EDWARD, VISCOUNT AND BARON EXMOUTH,
+                          And a Baronet,
+  Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath,
+   Of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain,
+       Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand, and of Merit,
+    Knight of the Royal Sardinian Supreme Order of the Annunciation.
+Knt. Gd. Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Lazarus & St. Maurice,
+     and of the Royal Military Order of William of the Netherlands,
+              This Tribute of Admiration and Esteem
+                 Is most respectfully presented by
+            THE REAR-ADMIRAL, CAPTAINS, AND COMMANDERS,
+               Who had the honour to serve under him
+            _At the memorable VICTORY gained at ALGIERS_
+                    On the 27th of August, 1816,
+Where, by the Judgment, Valour, & Decision of their distinguished Chief,
+                   Aided by his brilliant Example,
+                 THE GREAT CAUSE OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM
+                       Was bravely Fought, and
+                        _NOBLY ACCOMPLISHED_.
+
+
+[15] "Discharged, dead." The mark by which a man is reported dead on the
+ship's books.
+
+[16] It is a remarkable fact, that after the death of his daughter,
+seven members of the family died within three years.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by 
+Edward Osler
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17929-8.txt or 17929-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/2/17929/
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+
diff --git a/17929-8.zip b/17929-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5be0958
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929-8.zip
diff --git a/17929-h.zip b/17929-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..befac66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929-h.zip
diff --git a/17929-h/17929-h.htm b/17929-h/17929-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b929dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929-h/17929-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,8240 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html>
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
+    "text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/>
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Life Of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by Edward Osler.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+    .right            {text-align: right;}
+    .left             {text-align: left;}
+    .tbrk	{  margin-top: 2.75em;
+                   text-align: justify;
+                   margin-bottom: .75em;
+                }
+
+    .poem             {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;}
+    .poem br          {display: none;}
+    .poem .stanza     {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+    .poem div        {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+    .poem div.i2     {display: block; margin-left: 2em;}
+
+
+    /* index */
+
+    div.index ul li { padding-top: 1em ;text-align: center; }
+
+    div.index ul ul ul, div.index ul li ul li { padding: 0; text-align: left; }
+
+    div.index ul { list-style: none;  margin: 0; }
+
+    div.index ul, div.index ul ul ul li { display: inline; }
+
+    div.index .subitem { display: block; padding-left: 2em; }
+
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by Edward Osler
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth
+
+Author: Edward Osler
+
+Release Date: March 5, 2006 [EBook #17929]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p class="center"><a name="frontispiece.jpg" id="frontispiece.jpg"></a><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width='274' height='360' alt="ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH" /></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>THE LIFE</h1>
+
+<h3>OF</h3>
+
+<h1>ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH</h1>
+
+<h2>BY EDWARD OSLER, <span class="smcap">Esq</span>.</h2>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class='stanza'><div>For every virtue, every worth renowned,</div>
+<div>Sincere, plain hearted, hospitable, kind;</div>
+<div>Yet like the mustering thunder when provoked,</div>
+<div>The dread of tyrants, and the true resource</div>
+<div>Of those who under grim oppression groaned.</div></div>
+
+<div class='stanza'><div class='right'><span class="smcap">Thomson.</span></div></div>
+</div>
+<hr />
+
+<p class='center'>A New and Revised Edition.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>LONDON:<br />
+GEO. ROUTLEDGE &amp; CO., FARRINGDON-STREET<br />
+AND 18, BEEKMAN-STREET, NEW YORK.<br />
+1854</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>London:<br />
+Printed by <span class="smcap">Stewart</span> and <span class="smcap">Murray</span>,<br />
+Old Bailey.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>TO</h3>
+
+<h2>THE NAVY,</h2>
+
+<h2>The Bulwark of their Country,</h2>
+
+<h3>AND</h3>
+
+<h3>WHOSE TRIUMPHS ARE THE PRIDE OF HER HISTORY,</h3>
+
+<h2>THIS WORK</h2>
+
+<h3>IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.</h3>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<p>At the commencement of hostilities, whose extent and duration none can
+foresee, it is the wisdom of those to whom England will hereafter commit
+the honour of her Flag to study well the example of the great
+sea-officers whose services illustrate the annals of their country.</p>
+
+<p>Among these bright examples, none is more worthy of careful study than
+Admiral Lord Exmouth. Entering the service a friendless orphan, the
+success which he achieved by merit alone is most encouraging to all who
+must rise by their own deserts. In his perfect seamanship, his mastery
+of all that relates to his profession, his zeal and energy, his
+considerate forethought, his care to make his crews thorough seamen, and
+the example by which he spurred and encouraged them, the secret may be
+found, not less available to others, of his many brilliant successes,
+and of the little loss with which he obtained them. His truly parental
+care for his young officers to train them to their duties and to advance
+their interests, as conspicuous when commander-in-chief as in his first
+frigate, is a lesson for all in authority. Nor will his personal
+qualities be less admired: the honourable independence which he
+main<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>tained as an officer and a peer, and the moral excellence which
+marked his life, and was finally proved on his death-bed.</p>
+
+<p>And here I may relate an anecdote, as the praise it gives is only for
+the subject of the biography, and for which I am indebted to
+Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew. Soon after the first appearance of
+this work, one of the first officers in the French navy, Vice-Admiral
+Bergeret, whose name appears more than once in the following pages,
+presented a copy to a young relative he was sending to sea, and bade him
+to learn from the example it afforded to become all that his friends and
+his country could desire.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth's attack on Algiers, the most memorable occasion on which
+men-of-war have attacked fortifications, is peculiarly instructive now.
+The immediate destruction of the enemy's works opposed to the <i>Queen
+Charlotte</i>, and the comparative impunity she thus obtained, shows the
+wisdom of laying the ships as close as possible, where the concentrated
+fire of her batteries may overwhelm the enemy, and destroy the few guns
+which alone can be opposed to her; whereas, by anchoring at a distance,
+the enemy's guns from a great extent of the works may be trained to bear
+on her, while her own shot strike with uncertain aim and diminished
+effect. The results of this latter course may be learnt from the fate of
+the floating batteries at the siege of Gibraltar, and from the
+<i>Impregnable</i> at Algiers; the ships having anchored at too great a
+distance, were exposed to a destructive fire, while their own attack was
+comparatively harmless.</p>
+
+<p>This biography of Lord Exmouth was written at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> desire and under the
+eye of his eldest brother; in youth his second father, and through life
+his confidential friend. Every incident relating to points of service
+was supplied or corrected by officers personally engaged; and the whole
+was finally revised by four officers who were the most constantly and
+intimately acquainted with the Admiral&mdash;Mr. Gaze, master of the fleet in
+the Mediterranean and at Algiers, and who sailed with him in every ship
+from 1793 to the last day of his command; Sir Christopher Cole and
+Captain Crease, his intimate friends; and his only surviving sailor son,
+Captain, now Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></li>
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>FAMILY HISTORY.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Birth and education&mdash;Anecdote of early daring&mdash;Enters the Navy&mdash;Leaves
+his ship, with one of his companions, at Marseilles&mdash;Joins the <i>Blonde</i>,
+Captain Pownoll&mdash;His activity&mdash;Anecdote of General Burgoyne&mdash;Instance of
+extraordinary boldness&mdash;Campaign on the Lakes of Canada&mdash;Distinguishes
+himself in the actions, of October 11th and 13th, 1776&mdash;Complimented by
+Sir C. Douglas, Lord Howe, and Earl Sandwich&mdash;Appointed to command the
+<i>Carleton</i>&mdash;Nearly takes General Arnold&mdash;Narrowly escapes being made
+prisoner&mdash;Commands a brigade of seamen in Burgoyne's campaign&mdash;In danger
+of killing his brother&mdash;Events of the campaign&mdash;Constructs a bridge, by
+which the army crosses to Saratoga&mdash;His brother killed in
+action&mdash;Recaptures a provision vessel from the enemy&mdash;Admitted to the
+Council of War, and pleads that the sailors may be exempted from the
+capitulation&mdash;Sent home with despatches in a transport&mdash;Defends her
+against a privateer&mdash;Promoted to be a Lieutenant.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Influence of the late campaigns on his character&mdash;His extraordinary
+strength and activity&mdash;Narrow escapes from drowning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>&mdash;Appointed to a
+guard-ship&mdash;Presses for active employment, and proposes to resign his
+commission&mdash;Appointed to the <i>Licorne</i>&mdash;Becomes First Lieutenant of the
+<i>Apollo</i>, Captain Pownoll&mdash;Action with the <i>Stanislaus</i>, French frigate;
+Captain Pownoll killed, enemy driven on shore&mdash;His letter on the
+occasion to Earl Sandwich&mdash;Promoted to be a Commander&mdash;Anecdote in
+relation to his promotion&mdash;Appointed to the <i>Hazard</i>&mdash;Appointed to the
+<i>Pelican</i>&mdash;Gallant action&mdash;Promoted to be a Post-Captain&mdash;- Appointed to
+the temporary command of the <i>Artois</i>&mdash;Captures an enemy's
+cruiser&mdash;Anecdote of Captain Macbride&mdash;Marriage&mdash;Appointed to the
+<i>Winchelsea</i> frigate&mdash;Conduct in her&mdash;Appointed to the <i>Salisbury</i>,
+Vice-Admiral Milbanke&mdash;Anecdote of Lord Thurlow.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Becomes a farmer&mdash;Remarks on naval officers' farming&mdash;His ill
+success&mdash;Omen of his future fortune&mdash;Offered a command in the Russian
+Navy&mdash;Remarks on serving foreign states&mdash;War of the French
+Revolution&mdash;Appointed to the <i>Nymphe</i> 36-gun frigate&mdash;Enters a number of
+Cornish miners for her&mdash;Cornish miners&mdash;Equipment and movements of the
+<i>Nymphe</i>&mdash;Captain Israel Pellew joins her as a volunteer&mdash;Sails from
+Falmouth&mdash;Remarkable dream of one of the officers&mdash;Falls in with the
+<i>Cleopatra</i>; her high state of equipment&mdash;Gallantry of both ships&mdash;Cap
+of Liberty&mdash;Action&mdash;Death of the French Captain, Mullon; his
+heroism&mdash;Captain Pellew's letter to his brother.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Presented to the King and knighted&mdash;His liberality to the widow of
+Captain Mullon&mdash;Use of carronades&mdash;He suggests<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> the employment of
+independent squadrons in the western part of the Channel, to check the
+enemy's cruising frigates&mdash;Value of these squadrons&mdash;Appointed to the
+<i>Arethusa</i>, and joins Sir J.B. Warren's squadron&mdash;Action of April 23rd,
+1794&mdash;Engages and captures <i>La Pomone</i>&mdash;Action of August 23rd, 1794 A
+second squadron fitted out, and placed under his orders&mdash;<i>Artois</i> and
+<i>Revolutionaire</i>; chivalrous conduct of Sir Sidney Smith&mdash;Conveys
+important intelligence to the Admiralty&mdash;Appointed to the
+<i>Indefatigable</i>, 44&mdash;His dispute with the Navy board&mdash;Allowed to fit her
+according to his own plans&mdash;Success of them&mdash;Accuracy of his judgment on
+a ship's qualities&mdash;<i>Indefatigable</i> strikes on a rock&mdash;Sir Edward nearly
+lost in attempting to save two of his people&mdash;His success on different
+occasions in saving lives&mdash;Wreck of the <i>Dutton</i> at Plymouth&mdash;He boards
+her, and saves all the people&mdash;His report of the service&mdash;Honours and
+rewards; created a Baronet&mdash;Captain Cole, and <i>L'Unit&eacute;</i> French
+frigate&mdash;Sir Edward's letters on the occasion to Earls Chatham and
+Spencer&mdash;Notice of Captain Cole&mdash;His death, and Sir Edward's
+feeling&mdash;Action of <i>Indefatigable</i> and <i>La Virginie</i>&mdash;Conduct and
+gallantry of her Captain, Bergeret.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">State of parties&mdash;Enemy's preparations for invasion&mdash;Reflections on
+Ireland&mdash;Lord Exmouth's opinion on the Roman Catholic question&mdash;Sir E.
+Pellew watches Brest with his frigates&mdash;His perseverance and
+hardihood&mdash;Sailing of the expedition&mdash;He embarrasses its
+movements&mdash;Arrives in England&mdash;Misfortunes of the British fleet&mdash;Enemy
+arrive at Bantry Bay&mdash;Prevented from landing, and driven off the coast
+by gales&mdash;Reflections on the failure of the expedition&mdash;Sir Edward puts
+to sea with the <i>Indefatigable</i> and <i>Amazon</i>&mdash;Meets and engages the
+<i>Droits de l'Homme</i>, 74&mdash;Finds himself on a lee-shore, hauls off, and
+saves the <i>Indefatigable</i> with difficulty&mdash;<i>Amazon</i> wrecked&mdash;Admirable
+conduct of her officers and crew&mdash;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span><i>Droits de l'Homme</i> wrecked&mdash;Horrible
+circumstance of her fate&mdash;Anecdote of the French Commodore&mdash;Eventual
+fate of the Captain of the <i>Amazon</i>.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>THE MUTINY.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Remarks on Sir Edward's character as a seaman and an officer&mdash;His
+conduct when his ship was on fire&mdash;His consideration for his officers
+and men&mdash;The Duke of Northumberland&mdash;Mutiny at Spithead&mdash;Preparations
+for a second invasion of Ireland&mdash;General Daendels&mdash;Proposed expedition
+baffled&mdash;Sir Edward off Brest&mdash;Proposes to burn the French
+fleet&mdash;Success in capturing the enemy's cruisers&mdash;<i>La
+Vaillante</i>&mdash;Royalist priests and Madame Rov&egrave;re&mdash;His
+liberality&mdash;Appointed to <i>L'Impetueux</i>, 78&mdash;Her mutinous
+state&mdash;Observations on the mutinies in the Navy, from 1797&mdash;Sir Edward's
+opinions on the subject&mdash;His precautions&mdash;Attempted mutiny in the
+<i>Indefatigable</i>&mdash;Conspiracy in the Channel fleet&mdash;Mutiny on board the
+<i>Impetueux</i>&mdash;His firmness and promptitude in suppressing
+it&mdash;Court-martial&mdash;Earl St. Vincent's opinion of his conduct&mdash;His
+conduct at the execution&mdash;His decision on the court-martial on a
+mutineer&mdash;Illustrative anecdote&mdash;He commands an expedition to
+Quiberon&mdash;Proposes to attack Belleisle&mdash;Cruises off Port Louis&mdash;Mr.
+Coghlan cuts out <i>La Cerb&egrave;re</i>&mdash;He directs the landing of the army at
+Ferrol.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>BLOCKADE OF FERROL.&mdash;PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Peace&mdash;Made Colonel of Marines&mdash;His popularity&mdash;Envy in
+consequence&mdash;Anecdote&mdash;Elected M.P. for Barnstaple&mdash;State of
+parties&mdash;Renewal of hostilities&mdash;Appointed to the <i>Tonnant</i>, 80&mdash;Pursues
+a Dutch squadron&mdash;Blockades a French squadron in Ferrol&mdash;His seamanship
+and exertions in maintaining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> the blockade&mdash;Difficulty of supplying the
+ships&mdash;His recall&mdash;Earl St. Vincent's naval reforms&mdash;Mr. Pitt's
+opposition&mdash;Naval inquiry, March 15, 1804&mdash;Sir Edward's speech&mdash;Its
+effect&mdash;Promoted to be a Rear-Admiral, and appointed to be
+Commander-in-chief in India.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Character required for a Commander-in-chief&mdash;Hostility of the new
+Ministry&mdash;Sir T. Troubridge sent to take the more valuable part of the
+command&mdash;Oversight of the Admiralty&mdash;Dispute between the two
+admirals&mdash;Sir Edward confirmed in his command&mdash;Melancholy fate of the
+<i>Blenheim</i>, Sir T. Troubridge&mdash;Sir Edward sends Captain Troubridge in
+search of his father&mdash;Actions in the Indian Seas&mdash;<i>San Fiorenzo</i> and
+<i>Psych&eacute;</i>&mdash;<i>Piedmontaise</i> and <i>Warren Hastings</i>&mdash;Ferocity of the French
+first lieutenant, and Sir Edward's general order in consequence&mdash;<i>San
+Fiorenzo</i> and <i>Piedmontaise</i>&mdash;French privateers&mdash;Murderous contest
+between the <i>Victor</i> and Malay pirates&mdash;Attack on Batavia Roads, and
+destruction of the shipping&mdash;Captain Fleetwood Pellew at
+Samarang&mdash;Attack on Griess&eacute;e, and destruction of the line-of battle
+ships&mdash;Sir Edward's protection of commerce&mdash;Convoy system&mdash;Resolutions
+of the Bombay merchants&mdash;His care of the fleet&mdash;Establishes a naval
+hospital at Madras&mdash;Punishment: Sir Edward's regulations&mdash;Encounters a
+hurricane on his homeward voyage.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMANDS.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Declines an offer to be second in command in the
+Mediterranean&mdash;Commander-in-chief in the North Sea; his activity and
+energy&mdash;Receives the Mediterranean command&mdash;Affair off Toulon&mdash;His
+expectations of a battle&mdash;Disposition of his force&mdash;System of the
+fleet&mdash;His attention to discipline; to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> economy&mdash;Frigate affairs off
+Toulon&mdash;Care of his officers&mdash;Nature of the service in the
+Mediterranean&mdash;Daring of the crews&mdash;Effect of their
+successes&mdash;Diplomatic responsibility&mdash;Sir Edward's anxiety for a
+battle&mdash;Anecdote of Napoleon&mdash;Affair of November 5th, 1813&mdash;of February
+13th, 1814&mdash;Capture of Genoa&mdash;Peace.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Sir Edward created Baron Exmouth&mdash;His letter on the occasion&mdash;Made
+Knight of the Bath&mdash;Renewal of hostilities&mdash;Resumes the command in the
+Mediterranean&mdash;Services at Naples&mdash;Services at Marseilles&mdash;Instructed to
+negotiate with the Barbary Powers&mdash;Anecdote of the Pope&mdash;Causes the city
+and defences of Algiers to be surveyed&mdash;Previous ignorance of the
+place&mdash;General order to the fleet&mdash;Peace made with Algiers&mdash;Abolition of
+slavery at Tunis and Tripoli&mdash;Second visit to Algiers&mdash;Violent
+discussions, negotiation broken off, danger of the party, hostile
+proceedings&mdash;Negotiation renewed&mdash;Arrangement&mdash;Lord Exmouth's anxiety at
+having exceeded his instructions&mdash;Debate in the House of
+Commons&mdash;Massacre at Bona&mdash;Determination of the Government to enforce
+the abolition of Christian slavery.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Description of the defences&mdash;Force demanded by Lord Exmouth&mdash;Surprise of
+the Admiralty at the small force he required&mdash;Lord Exmouth's
+confidence&mdash;His entire satisfaction with the arrangements of the
+Admiralty&mdash;He refuses to allow his relations to accompany him&mdash;His
+promptitude&mdash;Sails&mdash;Preparations for the battle&mdash;A Dutch squadron joins
+at Gibraltar&mdash;Preparations made by the Algerines&mdash;Particulars of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span>
+battle&mdash;Fleet hauls off&mdash;Lord Exmouth's conduct after the battle&mdash;His
+very narrow escapes&mdash;Submission of the enemy&mdash;Lord Exmouth's account of
+the battle, in a private letter&mdash;Closing remarks.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li><p class='center'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></p>
+<ul>
+	<li class="subitem" ><p class='center'>LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.</p></li>
+	<li class="subitem">Honours paid him&mdash;His exertions for his officers&mdash;Thanks of
+Parliament&mdash;Activity of his mind&mdash;Command at Plymouth&mdash;Trial of the
+Queen&mdash;His unpopularity, and remarks on it&mdash;His independence in
+politics&mdash;Catholic question&mdash;His religious principles and conduct&mdash;Peace
+of his declining years&mdash;Anxiety for the safety of the country&mdash;Death of
+his daughter&mdash;Death of his grandchild; his reflection on the
+occasion&mdash;Made Vice-Admiral of England&mdash;Death of Sir Israel Pellew&mdash;Lord
+Exmouth's attachment to the Church, and confidence in God's protection
+of it&mdash;His last illness and death.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE LIFE</h2>
+
+<h3>OF</h3>
+
+<h2>ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH</h2>
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>FAMILY HISTORY.</h3>
+
+<p>The life and services of Lord Exmouth are of no common interest; not
+more because he has advanced the reputation of his country, and
+connected his name with her history, than that he began his career an
+almost unfriended orphan, and rose to the highest honours of his
+profession without having been indebted to fortune or to patronage. One
+of the most interesting spectacles is that of rising merit struggling
+from its difficulties. The most encouraging, is the honour which rewards
+its exertions. The young officer, who, like him, has devoted himself to
+an arduous service, with nothing to rely on but his sword, may derive
+instruction from his example, and encouragement from his success.</p>
+
+<p>Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, descended from a family which was
+settled in the west of Cornwall for many centuries, but came originally
+from Normandy, where the name is still met with. After the close of the
+war he received a letter from a family there, claiming kindred, and
+offering the name and armorial bearings in proof. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> original
+orthography, "Pelleu," was retained until a comparatively recent period.
+They are said to have landed at Pengersick Castle, near St. Michael's
+Mount, and appear to have remained in that part of the county until the
+beginning of the 17th century. They had a family tomb in Breage, a
+parish on the eastern side of the Mount's Bay, in which they had
+acquired property, and they still possess a small estate in that
+neighbourhood. Part of this early history, it will be seen, can rest
+only upon tradition; and indeed, it is of very little importance. The
+weakness of seeking credit from remote ancestors, for one whose personal
+honours require no further illustration, may well be exploded. But there
+is one kind of ancestry where an inquiry will always be
+interesting&mdash;that where the traits which distinguished the founder of a
+family may be traced in the character of his forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest of the family of whom anything is certainly known lived
+during the great rebellion at Plymouth, where his loyalty made him so
+obnoxious to the republicans, that the mob on one occasion assaulted him
+on the Hoe, and plundered his house. A small piece of antique plate,
+still preserved, and bearing the date 1645, was the only article of
+value saved from them. His son, Captain Pellew, Lord Exmouth's
+great-grandfather, served in the navy during the war of the succession.
+A very fine portrait of him remains.</p>
+
+<p>Humphry Pellew, the grandfather, was an extensive merchant. He held a
+large property in shipping, and traded chiefly to America, where he had
+purchased a valuable tobacco plantation of 2,000 acres, in Kent Island,
+Maryland. Of this estate, upon which the town of Annapolis Royal is
+partly built, the writings remain, but the property was lost at the
+revolt of the colonies. No portion of the compensation fund voted by
+Parliament was in this instance ever received; and General Washington
+afterwards declared to a friend of the family, that the fact of three
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> the brothers having borne arms against the States would prevent the
+success of any application to the American Government.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pellew built part of Flushing, a large village on the shores of
+Falmouth harbour, including the present manor-house, in which he
+resided; but this, being leasehold property, has long ago reverted to
+the lord. In 1692, he married Judith Sparnon, of Sparnon and Pengelly,
+in Breage, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. Mr. Pellew
+maintained a high character through life, and his memory was long
+preserved among the older inhabitants of the village. He died in 1721.
+His son Israel married Miss Trefusis, upon whom the estate of Trefusis,
+which includes Flushing, was entailed, in default of more direct heirs
+from the then possessor; Thomas married Miss Whittaker, who was
+grand-daughter of Viscount Fauconberg by a daughter of Cromwell; three
+died unmarried; and the children of the youngest son were at length the
+only male survivors of the family.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel, youngest son of Humphry Pellew, commanded a Post-office packet
+on the Dover station, to which he had been appointed through the
+interest of the Spencer family. He was a man of great determination, and
+became in consequence the subject of a characteristic song, which was
+long remembered by the watermen and others at Calais. The recollections
+of his family, and documents which have been preserved, show him to have
+been most exemplary in the duties of private life. In 1652, he married
+Constance Langford, daughter of Edward Langford, Esq., a gentleman
+descended from a considerable family in Wiltshire. The co-heiress of
+Edward Langford, Esq., of Trowbridge; married Henry Hyde, of Hinton,
+father of the great Earl of Clarendon, and by the marriage of her
+grand-daughter with James II. became the ancestor of Queen Mary and
+Queen Anne. Thus connected by blood, as well as attached by principle to
+the exiled family, Mr. Langford joined the standard of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> the Pretender in
+1715, and distinguished himself at the battle of Preston. After the
+Rebellion was suppressed, he escaped to the west of Cornwall, and
+settled at Penzance. The Pretender took an opportunity to acknowledge
+his services by a present of costly china. His daughter, Mrs. Pellew,
+was a woman of extraordinary spirit. Mr. Pellew's political feelings
+differed widely from those of his father-in-law. It was his practice to
+make his children drink the king's health on their knees every Sunday.
+He died in 1765, leaving six children, four of them boys, of whom the
+eldest was at that time eleven years old, and Lord Exmouth, the second,
+only eight. Three years after, an imprudent marriage of the widow
+deprived the children of their remaining parent, and threw them upon the
+world with scanty resources, and almost without a friend.</p>
+
+<p>It has been well observed, that a general condition of distinguished
+eminence is to be required to force a way to it through difficulties.
+Desertion at an early age indeed subjects the individual to a most
+severe trial; but where there is strength to bear the discipline, it
+exalts the principle which it fails to subdue, and adds force to the
+energies which it cannot tame. The Pellews were probably indebted for
+much of their success, as well as for the fearless independence which
+distinguished them, to the circumstances which thus compelled them from
+childhood to rely only upon themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Humphry, the eldest brother, was intended for the navy, and was
+borne on the books of H.M.S. <i>Seaford</i>, Captain Macbride. But afterwards
+devoting himself to medicine, he became one of the earliest pupils of
+John Hunter, with Home, Pitcairn, and Baillie, for his class-fellows.
+After serving for some time as a surgeon of marines, and assistant
+surgeon to the Dockyard at Plymouth, he relinquished a partnership with
+Dr. Geach, of the Royal Hospital, and settled at Truro, where he
+obtained a considerable and lucrative practice. He finally became
+collector of the customs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> at Falmouth. Gifted with a clear and active
+mind, he did not confine himself to the routine of his official duties,
+and his suggestions on several important subjects were adopted by the
+Government. The Quarantine Law of 1800 was first proposed by him, and
+framed chiefly on his suggestions; as well as a tonnage duty by which
+the charges of the quarantine establishment were covered. The convoy
+duty was also imposed on his recommendation; and he first proposed the
+plan of warehousing goods in bond, and was much consulted during the
+perfecting of the measure, by which so great facilities have been
+afforded to the trade of the country&mdash;to the merchant, relief from the
+necessity of locking up large amounts of capital; to the consumer,
+cheapness, and a security against adulteration. Mr. Pellew served at his
+post till he was fourscore years old, and for years beyond that, he
+retained the freshness of feeling and enthusiasm of youth. He died in
+his 90th year.</p>
+
+<p>Israel, the third brother, born August 25th, 1758, was sent to sea at an
+early age. He served with distinction in the American war, and was one
+of the officers entrusted with the defence of posts, when the Comte
+d'Estaign appeared off New York. Promoted to be a lieutenant, he cut out
+a vessel so well protected by batteries, that his brother officers
+thought it a service too desperate to be attempted. In command of the
+armed cutter <i>Resolution</i>, he engaged and captured in the North Sea, the
+Dutch privateer <i>Flushinger</i>, of fourteen guns, which had proved so
+destructive a cruizer, that the merchants of Hull memorialized the
+Admiralty in his favour; and Keppell, the First Lord, continued him for
+three years in command of the cutter, notwithstanding the signature of
+peace the day before the action, expressly to reward his gallantry and
+success. He was made a commander in 1790. He was passenger in his
+brother's frigate the <i>Nymphe</i>, when she gave the first earnest of the
+naval successes of the war, by the capture of the <i>Cleopatra</i>; and he
+contributed much to the brilliant result<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> of the action, by taking
+charge of the after quarter-deck gun, with which he disabled the enemy's
+wheel. For this service he was at once promoted and appointed to a ship,
+and he continued to be so actively employed, that he never once saw his
+family, till after the peace. In September, 1796, his ship, the
+<i>Amphion</i>, 32-gun frigate, blew up while alongside the hulk in Hamoaze,
+and nearly all on board, about 300, perished. Captain Pellew was at the
+moment at dinner in his cabin, with Captain Swafneld, of the
+<i>Overyssel</i>, 64, and the first lieutenant. At the shock of the
+explosion, which took place in the fore magazine, Captain Pellew, and
+the lieutenant sprang into the quarter gallery, and were thrown into the
+water and saved; Captain Swaffield perished.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the renewal of hostilities, he was appointed by Earl St.
+Vincent to the <i>Conqueror</i>, one of the largest and most powerful
+seventy-four's in the Navy. She carried twenty-four pounders on her
+upper deck, there being only fourteen ships, out of 100 of the same
+nominal force, which were so heavily armed. In her he shared with Nelson
+the chase of the combined fleet to the West Indies and back, and took a
+very distinguished part in the battle of Trafalgar. Following, abreast
+of the <i>Leviathan</i>, the three leading ships of Nelson's column, she
+engaged, captured, and took possession of the <i>Bucentaure</i>, flagship of
+the commander-in-chief of the enemy, Villeneuve; and she afterwards
+assisted in the capture of the <i>Santissima Trinidada</i>, and <i>Intrepide</i>.
+In 1807, still in command of the <i>Conqueror</i>, Captain Pellew joined in
+saving the fleet and royal family of Portugal, when the French, under
+Junot, entered Lisbon; and afterwards in blockading a Russian squadron
+of nine sail of the line in the Tagus, till the victory of Vimiera
+placed them in the hands of the British.</p>
+
+<p>He became rear-admiral in July 1810, and on his brother being appointed
+commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in the following May, he sailed
+with him as captain of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> fleet, to the close of the war. On the
+return of Napoleon from Elba, he rejoined his brother in the same
+capacity, having, on the extension of the Order of the Bath, been
+appointed a knight-commander. His last service was to take a chief part
+in the negotiations with the Barbary Powers, for the abandonment of
+Christian slavery, in 1816. Lord Exmouth would not allow him, or any of
+his family, to accompany him to the attack on Algiers, in the autumn of
+that year. He died at Plymouth, June 19th, 1832, only seven months
+before his brother Lord Exmouth.</p>
+
+<p>John, the youngest brother, entered the army. While still a youth, he
+became aide-de-camp to General Phillips in Burgoyne's campaign, and was
+killed in the battle of Saratoga.</p>
+
+<p>Edward, the second son of Samuel and Constance Pellew, was born at
+Dover, April 19, 1757. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and
+as there appeared at first but little probability that he would live, he
+was baptized on the same day. Before he was quite eight years old, he
+lost his father. The widow then removed with her family to Penzance,
+where he was placed at school with the Rev. James Parkins, the clergyman
+of the parish. Here he gave a remarkable proof of a daring spirit. A
+house, in which was a considerable quantity of gunpowder, took fire; and
+while every one else was afraid to approach, he went alone into the
+burning house and brought out all the powder. He was afterwards sent to
+the grammar school at Truro, of which the Rev. Mr. Conon was head
+master, under whom he made a satisfactory progress, and before he left
+could readily construe Virgil. As it was then the general practice in
+schools to allow the boys to settle their own disputes, the fearlessness
+of his character, and a strength beyond his years, enabled him to
+maintain a very respectable position among his school-fellows. At
+length, having inflicted upon some opponent a more severe punishment
+than was usual in juvenile combats, the fact came under the cognizance
+of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> master, and to escape a threatened flogging, he ran away He told
+his elder brother, who had now to act as head of the family, that he
+would not return to school to be flogged for fighting, but would go to
+sea directly. Happily, his inclinations were indulged, though his
+grandfather, who wished him to be placed in a merchant's office,
+strongly opposed the step. "So, sir," said the old gentleman, when the
+boy came with his brothers to take a farewell dinner with him, "they are
+going to send you to sea. Do you know that you may be answerable for
+every enemy you kill? and, if I can read your character, you will kill a
+great many!" "Well, grandpapa," replied young Pellew, "and if I do not
+kill them, they'll kill me!"</p>
+
+<p>He entered the navy towards the end of 1770, in the <i>Juno</i>, Captain
+Stott, which was sent to the Falkland Islands, in consequence of the
+forcible seizure of them by the Spanish squadron. It is remarkable that
+this paltry dispute, which might be almost forgotten but for the
+virulent invective of "Junius," and the masterly defence of the
+Government by Dr. Johnson, should have given to the navy two such
+officers as Nelson and Pellew; neither of whom might otherwise have
+found an opportunity to join the service until they were too old, in the
+five years of peace which followed. After the <i>Juno</i> had been paid off,
+Captain Stott was appointed to the <i>Alarm</i>, in which Mr. Pellew followed
+him to the Mediterranean, where an unpleasant difference with his
+commander made him leave the ship. Captain Stott, who had been a
+boatswain with Boscawen, was an excellent seaman, but unfortunately
+retained some habits not suited to his present rank. He kept a mistress
+on board. Among the midshipmen was a boy named Frank Cole, who was three
+years younger than Mr. Pellew, but had entered on board the <i>Juno</i> at
+the same time. Mr. Pellew was warmly attached to him. The woman had some
+pet fowls, which were allowed to fly about; and one day, when the ship
+was at Marseilles, and the captain absent, one of them was driven off
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> quarter-deck by young Cole, which led to great abuse from the
+woman, and a sharp reply from the boy. When the captain returned, he
+became so much enraged by her representations, that he not only
+reprimanded the youngster severely for what he termed his insolence, but
+so far forgot himself as to give him a blow. This was not to be borne,
+and having consulted his friend Pellew, he applied for his discharge.
+Captain Stott ordered a boat immediately, for the purpose, as he said,
+of turning him on shore. Pellew instantly went to the captain, and said,
+"If Frank Cole is to be turned out of the ship, I hope, sir, you will
+turn me out too." Their spirited conduct attracted the notice of the two
+lieutenants, Keppel and Lord Hugh Seymour, and laid the foundation of a
+friendship which continued through life: and Lord Hugh Seymour, finding
+that the boys had no money, very kindly gave them an order on his agent
+at Marseilles. Captain Stott afterwards tried to induce them to return,
+but not succeeding, he gave them the highest testimonials of their
+ability and desert, saying that he believed that they would become an
+honour to the service. Mr. Pellew found a master of a merchant vessel on
+shore, who had known his family at Dover, and now offered to take him to
+Lisbon, but declined to accommodate a second passenger. Mr. Pellew
+pleaded so earnestly for his young friend, and so positively refused to
+leave him, that the other at length consented to give them both a
+passage. From Lisbon they reached Falmouth in one of the packets. Little
+could he then suppose that he was next to see Marseilles as a
+commander-in-chief, and one day to save it from destruction. Twelve
+years after, when he had become a post captain, and was in command of
+the <i>Winchelsea</i>, he took under his protection a son of Captain Stott,
+who was then dead, and did every thing in his power to promote the young
+man's interests.</p>
+
+<p>It was now his happiness to sail in the <i>Blonde</i>, with Captain Pownoll,
+an officer who had been trained and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> brought forward by Admiral
+Boscawen, and whose character was among the highest in the service.
+Captain Pownoll soon appreciated the merit and promise of his
+midshipman, who returned his kindness with almost the affection of a
+son. Such mutual confidence and attachment between a captain and his
+midshipman has very rarely been met with; and it was peculiarly
+fortunate for Mr. Pellew, that his quick and determined character,
+which, with a judgment not yet matured by experience, might have carried
+him into mistakes, found a guide so kind and judicious as Captain
+Pownoll.</p>
+
+<p>And here it will not be uninteresting to observe how far the influence
+of a great commander may extend. St. Vincent and Pownoll, who were
+brought up under Boscawen, and received their lieutenant's commissions
+from him, contributed materially to form a Nelson and an Exmouth; each
+the founder of a school of officers, whose model is the character of
+their chief, and their example his successes.</p>
+
+<p>Active beyond his companions, and devoted to his profession, he soon
+became a thorough seaman; while the buoyancy of youth, and his playful,
+fearless spirit, prompted him continually to feats of extraordinary
+daring. In the spring of 1775, General Burgoyne took his passage to
+America in the <i>Blonde</i>, and when he came alongside, the yards were
+manned to receive him. Looking up, he was surprised and alarmed to see a
+midshipman on the yard-arm standing on his head. Captain Pownoll, who
+was at his side, soon quieted his apprehensions, by assuring him that it
+was only one of the frolics of young Pellew, and that the General might
+make himself quite at ease for his safety, for if he should fall, he
+would only go under the ship's bottom, and come up on the other side.
+What on this occasion was probably spoken but in jest, was afterwards
+more than realized; for he actually sprang from the fore-yard of the
+<i>Blonde</i>, while she was going fast through the water, and saved a man
+who had fallen overboard. Captain Pownoll reproached him for his
+rashness, but he shed tears when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> spoke of it to the officers, and
+declared that Pellew was a noble fellow.</p>
+
+<p>The revolt of the American colonies, which rose in this year to the
+importance of a national war, was soon to furnish him with objects
+worthy of his skill and courage. On the 10th of May the Americans
+surprised Ticonderoga, and, having secured the command of Lake Champlain
+by a strong squadron, were enabled to prosecute offensive operations
+against Canada. Sir Guy Carleton, the governor and commander-in-chief of
+that province, had very inadequate means to defend it. The enemy took
+Montreal, and in the beginning of December laid siege to Quebec,
+expecting an easy conquest; but their commander, General Montgomery, who
+had summoned Sir Guy Carleton in the most arrogant and threatening
+style, was killed on the 31st, in attempting to storm the place, and his
+troops were repulsed. The siege, however, was continued by Arnold, till
+Commodore Sir Charles Douglas, in the <i>Isis</i>, with two other ships under
+his Orders, forced his way through the ice, much before the season at
+which the river is usually open. His appearance drove the besiegers to a
+hasty flight, in which they suffered such extreme privations, especially
+their sick and wounded, that General Carleton most humanely issued a
+proclamation, in which he ordered them to be treated as fellow-creatures
+in distress; and encouraged them to claim the offered hospitality, by
+assuring them that they should be unconditionally liberated as soon as
+they were able to return home. At the same time, with energy equal to
+his humanity, he hastened to complete the deliverance of the province.
+Additional reinforcements which reached him in the spring enabled him to
+give the enemy a final defeat at Trois Rivi&egrave;res in June, and then to
+take measures for wresting from them the command of Lake Champlain; an
+object essential to the security of Canada, as well as to prosecuting
+offensive operations against the New England States.</p>
+
+<p>Lake Champlain is a long narrow lake to the N.E. of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Ontario,
+communicating with the St. Lawrence a few miles below Montreal by the
+river Chamblee, or Sorel. It is nowhere more than eighteen miles across,
+and its average breadth does not exceed five. Below Crown Point it is a
+mere channel for ten or twelve miles to its southern extremity at
+Ticonderoga. Here it receives the waters from a small lake to the
+southward, Lake George, but the communication, as well as that with the
+St. Lawrence, is interrupted by shoals and rapids. From Lake George to
+the Hudson is only six or eight miles, the sole interruption to a water
+frontier from the St. Lawrence to New York, navigable for vessels of
+burden for four-fifths of its length, and for bateaux nearly all the
+way. The command of this line would enable the northern and southern
+armies to co-operate effectually; to press on the New England States
+along their whole border; to cut off all communication between them and
+the rest of the Union, and to prevent any hostile attempt on Canada.</p>
+
+<p>Measures were promptly taken to secure this important object.
+Detachments from the King's ships at Quebec, with volunteers from the
+transports, and a corps of artillery, in all, nearly 700 men, were sent
+across to the Lake, there to construct, with timber felled by
+themselves, and in the presence of a superior enemy, the vessels in
+which they were to meet him. A party joined from the <i>Blonde</i>, under
+Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown, one of the midshipmen. Mr. Pellew was
+to have remained with the ship; but he appeared so much disappointed at
+the arrangement, that Captain Pownoll allowed him also to go.</p>
+
+<p>The season was already so far advanced, that it would have been a
+creditable service only to complete the preparations for the next
+campaign; but the zeal and exertions of the officers and men surpassed
+all calculation. They got across to the Lake thirty long-boats, many
+large flat-bottomed boats, a vast number of bateaux, and a gondola of
+thirty tons, carrying them over land, or dragging them up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> rapids.
+The keel and floor-timbers of the <i>Inflexible</i>, a ship of three hundred
+tons, which had been laid at Quebec, were taken to pieces, and carried
+over to St. John's, on the Lake, where a dockyard was established, under
+the superintendence of Lieutenant Schanck, an officer of extraordinary
+mechanical ingenuity. Here, on the morning of the 2nd September, the
+<i>Inflexible</i> was again laid down, and by sunset, all her former parts
+were put together, and a considerable quantity of additional timbers
+prepared. The progress of the work was like magic. Trees growing in the
+forest in the morning, would form part of the ship before night. She was
+launched in twenty-eight days from laying her keel, and sailed next
+evening, armed with eighteen twelve-pounders, and fully equipped for
+service. Two schooners, the <i>Maria</i>, and the <i>Carleton</i>; the <i>Loyal
+Convert</i>, gondola; the <i>Thunder</i>, a kind of flat-bottomed raft, carrying
+twelve heavy guns and two howitzers; and twenty-four boats, armed each
+with a field piece, or carriage-gun, formed, with the <i>Inflexible</i>, a
+force equal to the service, where but a few days before, the British had
+scarcely a boat upon the waters. No time was now lost in seeking the
+enemy, and Sir Guy Carleton himself embarked with the squadron. Captain
+Pringle, as commodore, sailed with Lieutenant Schanck in the
+<i>Inflexible</i>. Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown and Mr. Pellew, were
+appointed to the <i>Carleton</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of October, the enemy was discovered drawn up in a strong
+line across the passage between Valicour, one of the numerous islands on
+the lake, and the Western land; and so well concealed by the island,
+that the squadron had nearly passed without observing them. They had
+fifteen vessels, carrying ninety-six guns, fourteen of which were
+eighteen-pounders, (eight of them traversing), and twenty-three twelves.
+General Arnold commanded. The <i>Carleton</i>, being nearest to the enemy,
+attacked at once, though her force was only twelve six-pounders.
+Unfortunately, from the state of the wind, no other vessel could come to
+her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> assistance, and she was obliged to engage the whole force of the
+enemy single-handed. Sir Guy Carleton saw her desperate position with
+extreme anxiety, but it was impossible to bring up the squadron, and he
+could only send in the artillery-boats to support her. Meantime she was
+suffering most severely. Very early in the action, Mr. Brown lost an
+arm; and soon after, Lieutenant Dacres fell, severely wounded and
+senseless. He would have been thrown overboard as dead, but for the
+interference of Mr. Pellew, who now succeeded to the command. He
+maintained the unequal contest, till Captain Pringle, baffled in all his
+efforts to bring up the squadron, made the signal of recall, which the
+<i>Carleton</i>, with two feet water in her hold, and half her crew killed
+and wounded, was not in a condition to obey. In attempting to go about,
+being at the time near the shore, which was covered with the enemy's
+marksmen, she hung in stays, and Mr. Pellew, not regarding the danger of
+making himself so conspicuous, sprang out on the bowsprit to push the
+jib over. The artillery-boats now towed her out of action, under a very
+heavy fire from the enemy, who were enabled to bear their guns upon her
+with more effect, as she increased her distance. A shot cut the towrope,
+and Mr. Pellew ordered some one to go and secure it; but seeing all
+hesitate, for indeed it appeared a death-service, he ran forward and did
+it himself. The result of the action was far beyond anything that could
+have been expected from the excessive disparity of the force engaged;
+for the <i>Carleton</i>, with the assistance of the artillery-boats, had sunk
+the <i>Boston</i> gondola, carrying an eighteen pounder and two twelves; and
+burnt the <i>Royal Savage</i>, of twelve guns, the largest of the enemy's
+schooners.</p>
+
+<p>Arnold escaped in the night. The squadron pursued, and on the morning of
+the 13th overtook him, within a few leagues of Crown Point. After a
+running fight of two hours the four headmost vessels of the enemy
+succeeded in reaching Crown Point, and sheltering themselves in the
+narrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> part of the lake beyond it. Two others, the <i>Washington</i> and
+<i>Jersey</i>, were taken; and the rest were run on shore and burnt by their
+own crews. The enemy then set fire to their works on Crown Point, and
+abandoned it.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Carleton's</i> action on the 11th, which certainly was never surpassed
+for gallantry and conduct, obtained for her crew the credit they so well
+deserved. Lieutenant Dacres, who recovered sufficiently to go home with
+the despatches, received promotion as soon as he arrived in England, and
+was honoured with a personal interview with the king. He rose to be a
+vice-admiral. How Mr. Pellew's services in this, his first action, were
+appreciated by his superior officers is best told in their own words. In
+a few days, Sir Charles Douglas, the senior officer at Quebec, to whose
+command all the Lake service was subordinate, sent him the following
+letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"Isis, Quebec, Oct. 30th, 1776.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;The account I have received of your behaviour on
+board the <i>Carleton</i>, in the different actions on the Lakes, gives
+me the warmest satisfaction, and I shall not fail to represent it
+in the strongest terms to the Earl of Sandwich and my Lord Howe,
+and recommend you as deserving a commission for your gallantry; and
+as Lieutenant Dacres, your late commander, will no doubt obtain
+rank for his conduct, when he reaches England, I am desired by
+General Sir Guy Carleton to give you the command of the schooner in
+which you have so bravely done your duty.</p>
+
+<p class='right'><span class="smcap">"Charles Douglas."</span></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The report of Sir Charles Douglas, obtained for Mr. Pellew the following
+letter from the Commander-in-Chief:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"Eagle, New York, Dec. 20th, 1776.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;The account I have heard of your gallant behaviour
+from Captain Charles Douglas, of H.M.S. <i>Isis</i>, in the different
+actions on Lake Champlain, gives me much satisfaction,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> and I shall
+receive pleasure in giving you a lieutenant's commission, whenever
+you may reach New York.</p>
+
+<p class='right'><span class="smcap">"Howe."</span></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is, perhaps, a singular occurrence for a midshipman to be honoured
+with a letter of thanks from the First Lord of the Admiralty, but the
+service itself was important, and Captain Pownoll strengthened Sir
+Charles Douglas' report of his young officer's conduct, by a
+communication of his own. Their joint eulogy obtained for Mr. Pellew the
+following letter from Lord Sandwich:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"Admiralty Office, London, Jan. 5th, 1777.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;You have been spoken of to me by Sir Charles
+Douglas and Captain Philemon Pownoll, for your good conduct in the
+various services upon Lake Champlain, in so handsome a manner, that
+I shall receive pleasure in promoting you to the rank of a
+lieutenant, whenever you come to England; but it is impossible to
+send you a commission where you now are, it being out of the
+jurisdiction of the Admiralty.</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Sandwich</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Sir Guy Carleton remained at Crown Point as long as the season would
+permit. He employed Mr. Pellew on the narrow inlet, which extends from
+Crown Point to Ticonderoga, along which his proposed operations were to
+be conducted; and Mr. Pellew attended to his charge with unceasing
+vigilance and activity. On one occasion, the American Commander-in
+Chief, Arnold, most narrowly escaped becoming his prisoner. Having
+ventured upon the Lake in a boat, he was observed, and chased so closely
+by Mr. Pellew, that when he reached the shore and ran off, he left his
+stock and buckle in the boat behind him. This was preserved as long as
+he lived by Mr. Pellew's elder brother, to whom Arnold's son, not many
+years ago, confirmed the particulars of his father's escape. The
+General, seeing that his men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> were panic-struck when they found
+themselves chased, encouraged them to exertion by the assurance that the
+pursuers were not enemies, but only a boat endeavouring to outrow them.
+Pulling off his stock, and seizing an oar, he promised them a bottle of
+rum each, if they gained the shore first. Well had it been for Arnold;
+happy for the gallant young officer, who was the victim of his conduct;
+and perhaps, on so small a contingency may the fate of a campaign
+depend, happy for the British army, to whose misfortunes in the
+following year his skill and courage so materially contributed, had the
+fortune of the chase been different.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pellew had a scarcely less narrow escape. He was invited with a
+party of officers to spend an afternoon with some young ladies in the
+neighbourhood, and they were on the way to keep their engagement, when
+Mr. Pellew stopped, and said to his companions, "We are doing a very
+foolish thing: I shall turn back, and I advise you all to do the same."
+They hesitated, but at length returned with him; and afterwards learnt
+that their Delilahs had posted a party of soldiers to make them
+prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>At length Sir Guy Carleton, having satisfied himself that Ticonderoga
+was too strong to be attacked with his present force at that advanced
+season, re-embarked the troops, and returned to Canada. He there exerted
+himself through the winter, in making preparations for the ensuing
+campaign, and had almost completed them, when the command of the army
+was taken from him, and given to officers who had been serving under his
+orders. Though his success had surpassed the utmost hopes of his
+country, and his great local knowledge and experience claimed the
+confidence of the British Government, he was not even consulted on the
+expedition they had planned, and of which the very details were so far
+settled in the cabinet, that little was left to the unfortunate General
+who was to conduct it. He felt like an officer on the occasion, and
+resigned the government of Canada; but he acted like an Englishman, and
+though he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> disapproved materially of some parts of the plan, he omitted
+no exertion which might contribute to its success.</p>
+
+<p>The army devoted to an expedition thus inauspiciously commenced, was
+composed of 7,000 regular troops, of whom 3,200 were Germans; a corps of
+Artillery, 2,000 Canadians, and 1,000 savages. Sir Guy Carleton knew too
+well the ferocious and uncertain character of the Indians to trust them;
+but the government at home entertained a very different opinion; and it
+was, perhaps, the chief motive for their conduct towards him, that he
+had only amused and kept them quiet, instead of calling them into active
+service. Lieutenant-General Burgoyne was selected for the command,
+assisted by Major-Generals Phillips and Reidesel, and Brigadiers Frazer,
+Powell, Hamilton, and Specht.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pellew was attached to the army, with the command of a party of
+seamen, and during its advance, was again actively employed on the Lake.
+While on this service, he narrowly escaped a calamity, which would have
+clouded all his future life. His youngest brother had come out from
+England to join the army; and being appointed Aide-de-Camp to General
+Phillips, though only seventeen years of age, he was sent down the Lake
+in charge of the General's baggage. He was told that he had nothing to
+fear from the enemy, but that he would probably meet his brother; and,
+with the unthinking sportiveness of youth, as he knew that he was not
+expected, he determined to surprise him. Accordingly, he fell in with
+him in the night, and when hailed, answered, "A friend!" "What friend?"
+exclaimed his brother; "tell who you are, or I'll shoot you." "What! do
+not you know me?" "No!" said the other, presenting a pistol. "Your
+brother John!"</p>
+
+<p>On the 21st of June, the army being encamped on the western side of the
+Lake, and a little to the north of Crown Point, General Burgoyne made a
+war-feast for the savages, and addressed them in a speech which enforced
+every motive calculated to restrain their ferocity. But, unfortunately,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+he hoped to terrify the inhabitants to submission by threatening them
+with all the horrors of Indian warfare; and a proclamation which he
+published to this effect, was remembered to his serious prejudice. After
+a short stay at Crown Point, the troops advanced along both sides of the
+Lake, accompanied by the squadron under Lieutenant Schanck; and on the
+2nd of July, arrived before Ticonderoga, then garrisoned by General St.
+Clair, with nearly 5,000 men. Ticonderoga possessed great natural
+advantages. It was protected on three sides by the water, with very
+rocky shores; and on the fourth, partly by a morass, and where that
+failed, by a strong breast-work. It was, indeed, commanded by a
+neighbouring height, Sugar Hill, which the Americans had neglected to
+secure, presuming upon its almost inaccessible character. Opposite
+Ticonderoga, they had fortified a high conical hill, Mount Independence,
+and connected it with the fort by a very strong bridge, which was itself
+protected by a massy boom. The Americans had been employed for ten
+months, in giving to these works the utmost possible strength and
+solidity.</p>
+
+<p>On the 5th, the British had nearly completed their preparations, and
+General Phillips had carried a road almost to the top of Sugar Hill,
+when General St. Clair determined to evacuate the fort. That night he
+sent away his stores and baggage in more than two hundred bateaux, under
+convoy of five armed gallies, to Skenesborough, a town about eight miles
+distant, at the head of a small inlet, South Bay, which branches off
+from the Lake at Ticonderoga. The troops marched to the same place,
+leaving more than a hundred guns behind.</p>
+
+<p>Daylight showed the flight of the enemy. Reidesel and Frazer immediately
+followed in pursuit, while Burgoyne embarked the rest of the army on
+board the squadron. The boom and bridge, which had cost so many months
+of labour to complete, were presently cut through by the sailors and
+artificers. The squadron were enabled to pass at nine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> o'clock, and at
+three came up with the enemy near Skenesborough Falls. After a short
+resistance, two of the gallies surrendered, and the enemy set fire to
+the others, and to all their bateaux and stores.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning, Reidesel and Frazer overtook a strong body of the
+enemy, and defeated them, with the loss of their Commander, and nearly
+1,000 men killed, wounded, and taken. Another division was encountered
+and routed by Colonel Hill. The fugitives escaped to Fort Edward, on the
+Hudson.</p>
+
+<p>General Burgoyne might now have returned to Ticonderoga, and thence
+crossed to the head of Lake George, from which there was a waggon-road
+to Fort Edward, only eighteen miles distant. But fearing that a
+retrograde movement might check the enthusiasm of the army, now elated
+with their rapid career of victory, underrating the difficulties of the
+country, and too much despising an enemy who had been so easily
+dispersed, he determined to ascend Wood Creek as far as Fort Anne,
+whence the direct distance to the Hudson is shorter. He waited,
+therefore, a few days near Skenesborough for his tents, baggage, and
+provisions; employing himself, in the mean time, in clearing the
+navigation of Wood Creek, while his people at Ticonderoga were
+transporting the stores and artillery over the portages to Lake George.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy offered little resistance in the advance to Fort Edward, but
+the difficulties of the country were almost insurmountable. So broken
+was it by creeks and morasses, that it became necessary to construct
+more than forty bridges and causeways, one of them over a morass two
+miles long. The enemy had created every possible obstruction by felling
+trees across the paths, and destroying the communications. Scarcely
+could the army advance a mile in a day, and it was the end of July
+before it arrived on the Hudson.</p>
+
+<p>On the approach of the British, the enemy quitted Fort Edward, and
+retreated to Saratoga. All kinds of provisions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and stores had already
+reached Fort George; but the means of transport were lamentably
+deficient, and the impossibility of bringing up supplies compelled the
+army to a fatal inaction. On the 15th of August, after a fortnight's
+incessant exertion, there were only four days' provisions in store.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, the enemy was daily becoming stronger. The conduct of the
+savages had roused the whole country; and the British bore the odium of
+excesses which the General could not prevent, and dared not punish. The
+loyalists could not remain near the army, for they were almost equally
+exposed to the cruelties of the savages, who spared neither age nor sex.
+Others, who would have gladly staid at home, found that their only
+safety was to take arms, and join the camp. Thus the British were left
+without a friend in the country, while the American commanders, who took
+every advantage of these atrocities, were soon at the head of an army
+more numerous and formidable than that which had been dispersed.</p>
+
+<p>General Arnold was sent to command the force at Saratoga. He drew it
+back to Stillwater, a township about twelve miles down the Hudson, that
+he might check Colonel St. Leger, who, with 700 or 800 men, was
+besieging Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk, and had given a severe defeat to
+a party sent to relieve it. General Burgoyne, desiring to effect a
+junction with St. Leger, moved down the east bank of the Hudson to
+Saratoga, where he threw a bridge of rafts over the river, and crossed
+an advanced corps. Being almost destitute of supplies, and too weak to
+maintain his communications with Fort George, he detached a force to
+surprise the enemy's magazines at Bennington; but on the 15th of August
+it was overpowered and defeated, with considerable loss. A week after,
+St. Leger was obliged to retire from before Fort Stanwix. General Gates,
+who was now the enemy's Commander-in-chief, detached Arnold against him
+with 2,000 men, and the savages, hearing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> his approach, threatened to
+desert St. Leger if he remained, and even murdered the British
+stragglers on the retreat.</p>
+
+<p>Provisions for thirty days were at length collected; but nearly three
+months had been consumed in forcing a way through almost impassable
+woods and morasses in the worst of weather, and in vexatious inaction
+from deficiency of means to advance; service far more destructive than
+severe fighting. A heavy swell caused by the rains had carried away the
+bridge, but Mr. Pellew constructed another by which the army crossed to
+Saratoga. The General would afterwards rally him as the cause of their
+subsequent misfortunes, by affording the means for their advance in the
+construction of this bridge. General Gates remained in the neighbourhood
+of Stillwater; and the army, advancing through a difficult country,
+found itself on the 19th of September very near the enemy. General
+Burgoyne marched at the head of the right wing, which was covered by the
+light infantry and grenadiers, under Frazer and Breyman, who moved along
+some high ground commanding its flank; while the left wing and
+artillery, under Phillips and Reidesel, kept along the road and meadows
+by the river side. While thus advancing, the enemy marched out of his
+camp, and attempted to turn the right wing, and take the British in
+flank. Foiled in this by the position of General Frazer, they
+countermarched under cover of the woods, and threw all their strength
+upon the left. Arnold led them on to repeated, and most determined
+attacks; nor were they finally repulsed till dusk, after four hours'
+severe fighting. Victory remained with the British; but the fact that
+the enemy could so long withstand regular troops in the open field, was
+decisive of the fate of the campaign.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the army took a position almost within cannon shot of the
+enemy, fortifying the right wing, and covering the bateaux and hospital
+with the left. The position of the enemy was unassailable. The savages,
+whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> atrocities had mainly contributed to create the present
+difficulties of the army, now deserted altogether; and great part of the
+provincials and Canadians followed their example.</p>
+
+<p>Hoping that he might be relieved by a diversion from New York, Burgoyne
+sent advices to Sir Harry Clinton, acquainting him with his present
+situation, and his intention to remain till the 12th of October.
+Meantime, he took every precaution to secure his camp. While his army
+was melting away by sickness, battle, and desertion, the enemy were
+daily becoming stronger. They had even been enabled to detach a force to
+the northward, which, on the 17th of September, surprised the posts on
+Lake George, and took an armed sloop, some gun-boats, and a great number
+of bateaux. They afterwards ventured to attack Ticonderoga and Mount
+Independence, and cannonaded them four days before they were repulsed.</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning of October it became necessary to reduce the allowance
+of provisions. This and every other hardship was submitted to without a
+murmur; and never did an army better maintain its character than did
+this gallant force in its hour of hopeless danger. On the 7th, as there
+had been no intelligence from New York, General Burgoyne, accompanied by
+Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer, made a movement to reconnoitre towards
+the enemy's left, with 1,500 men, and ten guns. They had advanced within
+three quarters of a mile of the enemy, when a sudden and determined
+attack was made upon their left, while a strong body moved to flank
+their right. The light infantry and part of the 24th regiment were
+quickly disposed to prevent the success of this latter movement, and
+cover a retreat; but the enemy, throwing an additional force upon the
+left, already hard pressed, it gave way, and the light infantry and 24th
+were obliged to hasten and support it. In this movement General Frazer
+fell. The troops retreated in good order, but with the loss of six
+guns.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had they regained the camp, when the enemy rushed to storm it;
+Arnold, as usual, distinguishing himself by the impetuous courage with
+which he led on his men. The battle was maintained where he fought with
+the utmost desperation, till he fell, severely wounded, and his
+followers were driven back. In another part, the enemy were more
+successful. Colonel Breyman was killed, and the entrenchments, defended
+by the German reserve which he commanded, were carried. Night ended the
+battle, and left to the army the melancholy task of summing up its loss,
+which included several officers of distinction. The brother of Mr Pellew
+was among the dead.</p>
+
+<p>But there is little grief for the slain when every one feels that he may
+lie with them to-morrow. That night the army moved to a new position,
+and next morning offered battle; but the enemy were securing their
+object by safer means. They pushed forward a strong body to turn the
+right of the British and surround them. To prevent this, the army
+retreated in the night through torrents of rain, to Saratoga. The sick
+and wounded were necessarily left behind.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, a party was seen throwing up entrenchments on the heights
+beyond the army; but a demonstration being made against them, they
+crossed the river, and joined a force on the other side. A retreat to
+Fort George was attempted, and the artificers were sent forward to
+repair the bridges, and open the road; but the appearance of the enemy
+made it necessary to recall them. The opposite bank of the river was
+covered with parties of the enemy, and the bateaux could no longer be
+effectually protected. Some were taken; and among others, the vessel
+which contained the small remaining store of provisions. This loss would
+have deprived the army of its last hope; but Mr. Pellew, with his
+sailors, attacked and recaptured the vessel. To guard against such a
+calamity for the future, the provisions were landed. General Burgoyne
+acknowledged this service in the following letter:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,&mdash;It was with infinite pleasure that General
+Phillips and myself observed the gallantry and address with which
+you conducted your attack upon the provision-vessel in the hands of
+the enemy. The gallantry of your little party was deserving of the
+success which attended it; and I send you my sincere thanks,
+together with those of the army, for the important service you have
+rendered them upon this occasion.</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">John Burgoyne</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"N.B.&mdash;The vessel contained 500 barrels of provisions, of which
+article the army was in great want."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A retreat to Fort Edward by a night march, the troops carrying their
+provisions on their backs, now offered the only hope of safety; but
+while preparations were being made for this, it was found that the enemy
+had effectually provided against it, by throwing up entrenchments
+opposite the fords, and securing the heights between Fort Edward and
+Fort George. Secrecy was impossible, for the parties of the enemy were
+everywhere so numerous, that not a movement could be concealed.</p>
+
+<p>Still hoping to be relieved from New York, the army, now reduced to
+3,500 effective men, of whom not 2,000 were British, lingered in their
+camp, where they lay always under arms, with the grape and rifle shot of
+the enemy falling continually around them. On the 13th they had only
+three days' provision remaining. A council of war was therefore held, to
+which General Burgoyne summoned all the principal officers. Mr. Pellew
+attended, as commander of the brigade of seamen; and a more decisive
+testimony to his merits and services could not be afforded, than the
+unprecedented compliment of calling a midshipman, only twenty years of
+age, to sit in council with generals.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pellew, as the youngest officer present, was required to offer his
+opinion the first. He pleaded earnestly that his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> own little party might
+not be included in the proposed capitulation, but permitted to make the
+best of their way back. He had never heard, he said, of sailors
+capitulating, and was confident he could bring them off. It is very
+possible that they might have escaped. Soldiers are accustomed to act
+only in orderly masses; but sailors combine with discipline the energy
+of individual enterprise. Mr. Pellew's party had acted as pioneers and
+artificers to the army during its advance; and their knowledge, and
+readiness at resources, would have given them great facilities in making
+their way through a hostile country. But their escape would have cast a
+very undeserved discredit upon the army, and the proposal was
+discountenanced. Burgoyne said, what sailors could do, soldiers might
+do; and if the attempt were sanctioned for the one, the others must
+throw away their knapsacks and take their firelocks. As Mr. Pellew still
+clung to his proposal, the General took him aside, and having
+represented the impossibility of drawing off the army, convinced him of
+the impropriety of permitting the attempt by a small part of it.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the council was a communication to General Gates, who,
+knowing the desperate condition of the British army, and his own
+irresistible superiority, must have been surprised at the gallant spirit
+manifested in its hopeless extremity. When he observed that the retreat
+of the British was cut off, he was told that the British could never
+admit that their retreat was cut off while they had arms in their hands;
+and to his proposal that the troops should pile arms within their camp,
+it was replied, that sooner than submit to such an indignity, they would
+rush on the enemy determined to take no quarter. Terms proposed by
+General Burgoyne were finally acquiesced in; and the American commander,
+as far as <i>he</i> was concerned, faithfully observed and enforced them with
+the most considerate delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pellew, after having shared in the hospitality of General Gates, was
+sent to England by General Burgoyne<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> with despatches, a distinction to
+which his services in the campaign were considered to have entitled him.
+At Quebec he met his former commander, Sir Guy Carleton, whose successor
+had not yet arrived, and who charged him with additional despatches, and
+the following letter to Lord Sandwich:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"Quebec, November 2, 1777.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;This will be presented to your lordship by Mr.
+Edward Pellew, a young man to whose gallantry and merit during two
+severe campaigns in this country, I cannot do justice. He is just
+now returned to me from Saratoga, having shared the fate of that
+unfortunate army, and is on his way to England. I beg leave to
+recommend him to your lordship, as worthy of a commission in his
+Majesty's service, for his good conduct.</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Guy Carleton</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He came home in a transport, in which Major Foy was also a passenger. An
+enemy's cruiser chased them, and the Major, as the superior officer, was
+proceeding to assume the command; but Mr. Pellew told him that he was
+the only naval officer on board, and must himself fight the ship. The
+Major acquiesced; and under Mr. Pellew's command, the transport engaged,
+and beat off the privateer.</p>
+
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to state that immediately on his arrival he
+received the promotion which his services had so well deserved.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.</h3>
+
+<p>There are circumstances which in a few weeks or months may give the
+experience of years; and when these occur in early life, they make a
+permanent impression on the character. In the honours and misfortunes of
+the late campaign, its toils, and its anxieties, Mr. Pellew had very
+largely shared; and if rashness would have been the natural fault of a
+mind like his, a more effectual corrective could not have been desired.
+The quick conception, and the forethought, which enabled him in after
+life so well to combine caution with daring, must have greatly depended
+upon natural character, but he certainly owed much of it to the severe
+discipline of his early service.</p>
+
+<p>He had now completed his twenty-first year. Tall, and with a frame of
+strength and symmetry, nerved by the hardships of two severe campaigns,
+his personal activity and power were almost unrivalled. The spot was
+shown for many years at Truro, where he sprang over the high gate of an
+inn-yard at the back of one of the hotels, when, hastening across the
+court to assist on the sudden alarm of a fire, he found the gate fast.
+The consciousness of superior strength, while it made him slow to
+offend, enabled him to inflict suitable punishment on offenders, and
+some incidents of a ludicrous character are still remembered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The water was as a natural element to him, and he often amused himself
+in a manner which, to one less expert, would have been attended with the
+utmost danger. He would sometimes go out in a boat, and overset her by
+carrying a press of sail. Acts of daring like these must find their
+excuse in the spirit of a fearless youth. But he often found the
+advantage of that power and self-possession in the water which he
+derived from his early habits, in saving men who had fallen overboard,
+and especially in the happiest of all his services, his conduct at the
+Dutton. More than once, however, he nearly perished. In Portsmouth
+harbour, where he had upset himself in a boat, he was saved with
+difficulty, after remaining for a considerable time in the water. On
+another occasion, he was going by himself from Falmouth to Plymouth in a
+small punt, fourteen feet long, when his hat was blown overboard, and he
+immediately threw off his clothes and swam after it, having first
+secured the tiller a-lee. As he was returning with his hat, the boat got
+way on her, and sailed some distance before she came up in the wind. He
+had almost reached her when she filled again, and he was thus baffled
+three or four times. At length, by a desperate effort, he caught the
+rudder, but he was so much exhausted that it was a considerable time
+before he had strength to get into the boat.</p>
+
+<p>The gratification felt at receiving his commission was soon forgotten,
+when he found himself appointed to a guard-ship. He repeatedly solicited
+more active employment, and at length took an opportunity to accost Lord
+Sandwich in the street at Portsmouth. The First Lord asked him if he
+were the young man who had been writing him so many letters; and after a
+reproof for accosting him in the street, appointed an audience at the
+hotel. He there told him that he could not be employed as he wished,
+because he was included in the convention of Saratoga; and when Mr.
+Pellew pleaded that the enemy had broken the convention, Lord Sandwich
+replied, that was no reason why England<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> should do so too. At length,
+after every other plea had been urged in vain. Mr. Pellew took out his
+commission, and begged that he might be allowed to return it, declaring
+that he would rather command a privateer, than remain inactive while the
+war was going on. Lord Sandwich, smiling at his ardour, desired him to
+put up his commission, and promised that he should not be forgotten.
+Soon after, he was appointed to the <i>Licorne</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1779, the <i>Licorne</i> sailed for the Newfoundland
+station, under the orders of Captain Cadogan, who had lately superseded
+Captain Bellew, her former commander. On her passage out, she engaged
+two of the enemy's cruisers, and Lieutenant Pellew's conduct in the
+action received the praise of his captain. She returned to England in
+December, when he left her to join the <i>Apollo</i>, commanded by his
+excellent friend and patron Captain Pownoll, who was so delighted to
+obtain once more the services of a follower whom he regarded with equal
+pride and affection, that he removed for his sake an officer of high
+connexions, whose seniority would have prevented Mr. Pellew from being
+the first lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pellew was too soon deprived of this inestimable friend. On the
+morning of the 15th of June 1780, the <i>Apollo</i>, cruising in the North
+Sea, in company with some other ships, was ordered away by the senior
+captain in pursuit of a cutter. She had almost come up with the chase,
+when the <i>Stanislaus</i> French frigate hove in sight, and the <i>Apollo</i>
+left the cutter for a more equal opponent. She overtook and brought her
+to action at half-past twelve, engaging under a press of sail, for the
+enemy made every effort to escape to the neutral port of Ostend, which
+was not far distant. In an hour after the action commenced, Captain
+Pownoll was shot through the body. He said to his young friend, "Pellew,
+I know you won't give his Majesty's ship away;" and immediately died in
+his arms. Mr. Pellew continued the action for more than an hour longer,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> drove the enemy, beaten and dismasted, on shore; but he was
+disappointed of his prize, which claimed protection from the neutral
+port. The <i>Apollo</i> had five killed, besides the captain, and twenty
+wounded. A musket ball, which had struck Captain Pownoll in a former
+action, was found after his death, lodged among the muscles of the
+chest. The <i>Stanislaus</i> was got off, and carried into Ostend, where,
+being brought to sale, she was purchased by the British government, and
+added to the navy.</p>
+
+<p>None despond so readily as talented and sanguine young men, who are too
+apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for
+the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong
+mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates
+facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel
+for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this
+lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and
+disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed
+altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on
+this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial
+proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a
+modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest
+sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with
+earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might
+induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to
+an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his
+officers and men, are blended in this very characteristic letter. It is
+not certain that it was ever sent; for the copy preserved is too
+carefully written for a rough draft, yet contains many corrections and
+erasures. He was, perhaps, dissatisfied with it, and before he had
+determined what to send, his promotion spared him the necessity of an
+application. Still it is an interesting document, affording, as it does,
+a detailed account of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> action, a sketch of his former services, and
+a transcript of his feelings at the time.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;Your Lordship will receive herewith, from
+Admiral Drake, an account of an action fought by H.M.S. <i>Apollo</i>,
+at sea, June 15, which lasted for two hours and twenty minutes. I
+trust your Lordship will excuse my troubling you with a private
+account of the engagement, to inform you of many occurrences during
+the action which my public letter would not admit of. When the
+action began, both ships had all their sails set upon a wind, with
+as much wind as we could bear. The ever-to-be-lamented Captain
+Pownoll received a wound through his body about an hour after the
+action commenced, when standing at the gangway. The enemy had then
+suffered much, having lost the yard-arms of both his lower yards,
+and had no sails drawing but his foresail, main-top-gallant-sail,
+and mizen-topsail, the others flying about. We had engaged her to
+leeward, which, from the heel his ship had, prevented him from
+making our rigging and sails the objects of his fire; though I am
+well convinced he had laid his guns down as much as possible. When
+I assumed the command, we had shot upon his bow. I endeavoured to
+get the courses hauled up, and the top-gallant-sails clewed up,
+neither of which we could do, as we had neither clue-garnets,
+bunt-lines, or leach-lines left. However, we got the
+top-gallant-sails down, with most of the stay-sails, and the
+mizen-topsail aback; but finding we still outsailed him, I had no
+other method left but that of sheering across his hawse, first on
+one bow, then on the other, raking him as we crossed, always having
+in view the retarding his way, by obliging him either to receive us
+athwart his bowsprit, in which case we should have turned his head
+off shore, or to sheer as we did. He, foreseeing our intention, did
+so; but never lost sight of gaining the shore. In this situation we
+had continued for a considerable time. His bowsprit had been at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+two different times over our quarter-deck, but never so far forward
+as to enable us to secure him. All this time we were approaching
+the shore, and we were then, I am certain, within two miles of it.
+I had been cautioned by the master, whose abilities and great
+assistance I must ever gratefully remember, more than once, of the
+shoal water, and I had repeatedly called for and sent after the
+pilot; and I am sorry to inform your Lordship he did not appear.
+Thus situated, in three and a half fathoms water, and steering
+towards danger, there was no time to hesitate; and, with the advice
+of the master, I wore, and brought to under the mizen, with her
+head off shore, until we could get the courses and other sails
+taken in, not having then a brace or bowline left, and being fully
+determined to renew the action in a few minutes. We had scarcely
+wore, when his foremast, main-top-mast, main-yard, and main-top
+fell, leaving his mainmast without rigging; and the ship at the
+same time took a large heel, which made us all conclude she had
+struck the ground. It was then half-ebb, and I firmly believe, had
+we pursued him, in less than ten minutes we must have run aground.
+She had fired a gun to leeward, seemingly to claim the protection
+of the port, which was answered by three from the garrison. I was
+at this time preparing to wear again, to anchor alongside him; but
+Mr. Unwin, the purser, bringing me some orders found in Captain
+Pownoll's pocket, among which was one relative to the observance of
+neutrality, I did not think myself justified in renewing the
+attack. I therefore continued lying to, to repair our damages. Our
+masts are much wounded, the rigging very much torn, and several
+shot under water, by which we made two feet water an hour.</p>
+
+<p>"Your Lordship will, I hope, pardon me, for troubling you with the
+relation of private feelings. The loss of Captain Pownoll will be
+severely felt. The ship's company have lost a father. I have lost
+much more, a father and a friend united; and that friend my only
+one on earth. Never, my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> Lord, was grief more poignant than that we
+all feel for our adored commander. Mine is inexpressible. The
+friend who brought me up, and pushed me through the service, is now
+no more! It was ever my study, and will always be so, to pursue his
+glorious footsteps. How far I may succeed I know not; but while he
+lived, I enjoyed the greatest blessing, that of being patronized by
+him. That happiness I am now deprived of, and unassisted by
+friends, unconnected with the great, and unsupported by the world,
+I must throw myself totally on your Lordship's generosity. If I
+have erred, it was not from the heart; for I will be bold to say,
+the love and honour of his country makes no heart more warm than
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>"And if, after a constant service, never unemployed for thirteen
+years,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and the character I bear with every officer with whom I
+have had the honour to serve; having been three years in America,
+and in every action on Lake Champlain, for one of which, in the
+<i>Carleton</i>, Lieutenant Dacres, our commander, received promotion;
+afterwards in a continued series of hard service, in that
+unfortunate expedition under General Burgoyne, whose thanks for my
+conduct I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> received in the course of the campaign, and whose
+misfortunes I shared at Saratoga, not in common with others, but
+increased by the melancholy sight of a dead brother, fallen in the
+service of his king; having then returned to England in a transport
+to fulfil the convention, with Generals Carleton's and Burgoyne's
+despatches, as well as General Carleton's letter, recommending me
+to your Lordship; and permit me to mention, my Lord, without being
+thought partial to my own story, my having received the thanks of
+Sir Charles Douglas, by letter, for my behaviour in the different
+actions in Canada; and having acquitted myself much to Captain
+Cadogan's satisfaction in action with two ships, when on our voyage
+to Newfoundland; and if on the present occasion, conscious of the
+rectitude of my conduct, I can be entitled to your Lordship's
+approbation, permit me to hope from your Lordship's well-known
+generosity, which I have already experienced, that you will extend
+to me that protection which I have lost in my dear departed
+benefactor. I have now no friend to solicit your Lordship in my
+favour. I stand alone to sue for your protection, in some
+confidence that you will not suffer the dejected and unsupported to
+fall. I presume to hope forgiveness for thus intruding on your
+time, particularly by a memorial that comes unbacked by any other
+name; but believe me, my Lord, there never was an officer with whom
+I have sailed, who would not do much more than back this, were his
+ability equal to his good wishes for my promotion.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot, in justice to the officers, close this without assuring
+your Lordship of the great and unremitting assistance I received
+from Mr. Milburn, the master, on every occasion; and from Mr.
+Mansfield, the marine officer, who was particularly active to
+assist on the quarter-deck. To Mr. Bunce, second lieutenant, I am
+much indebted for his exertions on the main-deck, and his diligence
+was unremitting in distributing men where most wanted. Mr. Ritchie,
+master's mate, was particularly distinguished for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> his gallantry
+and activity; and the behaviour of the whole, my Lord, was such as
+entitles them to my warmest gratitude, and general commendation.
+Most of the wounded are dangerously so, being all by cannon balls.
+We had three guns dismounted.</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Edward Pellew</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Lord Sandwich's communication to him was equally kind and prompt. On the
+18th of June, only three days after the action, he wrote to him:&mdash;"After
+most sincerely condoling with you on the loss of your much-lamented
+patron and friend, Captain Pownoll, whose bravery and services have done
+so much honour to himself and his Country, I will not delay informing
+you that I mean to give you immediate promotion, as a reward for your
+gallant and officer-like conduct."</p>
+
+<p>He was made commander into an old and worn-out sloop, the <i>Hazard</i>, in
+which he was stationed on the eastern coast of Scotland. Having nothing
+but the emoluments of his profession, he found it difficult to meet the
+expenses required by his promotion and appointment. A tradesman in
+London, Mr. Vigurs, equally known and respected by the young men from
+Cornwall, who were generally referred to him for the advice and
+assistance they required on their first coming to town, not only
+supplied him with uniforms, though candidly told that it was uncertain
+when he would be able to pay for them, but offered a pecuniary loan; and
+Captain Pellew accepted a small sum which made the debt 70&pound;. In a few
+weeks he received 160&pound;. prize-money, and immediately sent 100&pound;. to his
+creditor, desiring that the balance might be given in presents to the
+children, or, as he expressed it, "to buy ribbons for the girls." He
+never afterwards employed another tradesman. When he had become a
+commander-in-chief, it was his practice to prevent a deserving, but
+necessitous young officer from suffering similar embarrassments, by
+advancing him a sum equal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> to his immediate wants when he gave him a
+commission.</p>
+
+<p>He took command of the <i>Hazard</i> on the 25th of July, 1780, and paid her
+off in the following January, having been employed between Shields and
+Leith. He held his next ship for a still shorter time. On the 12th of
+March, 1782, he commissioned the <i>Pelican</i>, a French prize, and a mere
+shell of a vessel; so low, that he would say his servant could dress his
+hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin. He sailed from Plymouth,
+on his first cruise, April 20th; and next day took a French privateer,
+with which he returned to port. On the 24th he sailed again, and stood
+over to the French coast. On the 28th, observing several vessels at
+anchor in Bass Roads, he made sail towards them; upon which a brig and a
+lugger, of ten or twelve guns each, laid their broadsides to the
+entrance of the harbour. He attacked them immediately, and compelled
+them to run themselves on shore under a battery, which opened on the
+sloop. The <i>Pelican</i> tacked, and stood out of the harbour, returning the
+fire, and the same night arrived at Plymouth. Her loss was only two men
+wounded. A heavy shot which struck her was begged by a friend, who, in a
+recent letter, makes a jocular allusion to it, and says that it is still
+doing service in the kitchen as a jack-weight. The action was most
+important in its results, for it obtained for him that rank in which he
+would rise by seniority to a flag. Had he remained a commander through
+the peace, which, but for this action, in all probability he would have
+done, he could not have become a flag-officer till near the close of the
+revolutionary war. The country would then have lost his most valuable
+services; and he would have been remembered only as a distinguished
+captain. His promotion was announced to him by the First Lord in the
+following terms:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>Admiralty Office. May 25, 1782.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I am so well pleased with the account I have
+received of your gallant and seaman-like conduct in the sloop you
+command, in your spirited attack on three privateers inside the
+Isle of Bass, and your success in driving them all on shore, that I
+am induced to bestow on you the rank of a post-captain, in the
+service to which your universal good character and conduct do
+credit: and for this purpose, I have named you to the <i>Suffolk</i>,
+and hope soon to find a frigate for you, as she is promised to a
+captain of long standing.</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Keppel</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Captain Pellew thus obtained every step of rank expressly as a reward of
+a brilliant action in which he personally commanded; and in this
+respect, and in the number and extent of his services while he remained
+in the lower grades of his profession, he was singular, not only among
+his contemporaries, but perhaps in the annals of the navy.</p>
+
+<p>On the 4th of June, in the absence of Captain Macbride, of the forty-gun
+frigate <i>Artois</i>, Captain Pellew assumed the temporary command of that
+ship, and sailed two days after to cruize on the coast of Ireland. Her
+master was Mr. James Bowen, so highly distinguished in the battle of the
+1st of June, when he was master of the fleet, and who afterwards became
+a retired commissioner, and rear admiral. On the 1st of July, the
+<i>Artois</i> fell in with a French frigate-built ship, the <i>Prince of
+Robego</i>, of twenty-two guns, and 180 men; and after a four hours'
+pursuit, and a running fight of half an hour with the chase guns, ran
+alongside, and took her. Captain Pellew gladly availed himself of this
+opportunity to show his grateful respect to the memory of his
+benefactor, Captain Pownoll, by giving the agency to his brother-in-law,
+Mr. Justice, one of the officers of Plymouth-yard: and the plea of
+gratitude which he offered to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> his own brother, was felt to be quite
+conclusive. Captain Macbride wished to appoint an agent of his own; but
+Captain Pellew asserted his right, as the actual captor, with so much
+temper and firmness, that the other at length gave way. He had known
+Captain Pellew from early childhood, having been his father's intimate
+friend, and quite understood his character, of which he now expressed an
+opinion in language less refined than emphatic. "Confound the fellow,"
+said he, "if he had been bred a cobbler, he would have been first in the
+village."</p>
+
+
+<p class='tbrk'>Peace left him without employment for the next four years. In 1783, he
+married Susan, daughter of J. Frowd, Esq., of Wiltshire; who survived
+him nearly four years. For a short time after his marriage, he lived at
+Truro; but when his elder brother became collector of the customs at
+Falmouth, he removed to the village of Flushing, which is separated from
+Falmouth only by a narrow creek, and which had peculiar attractions for
+him from family associations.</p>
+
+<p>During this period he went out in command of his brother's armed lugger,
+the <i>Hawk</i>, in search of a notorious outlaw, Wellard, who commanded an
+armed smuggler in the Channel, and who was at length killed in action
+with the <i>Hawk</i>, and her consort, which captured his vessel. Active
+occupation, indeed, was essential to his comfort, and he found a life on
+shore most irksome. At length, in 1786, he commissioned the
+<i>Winchelsea</i>, for the Newfoundland station. Among her midshipmen was the
+late gallant Sir Christopher Cole,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> to whose pen the reader is
+indebted for the following animated sketch of his service in that
+frigate:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"I joined the <i>Winchelsea</i> under Captain Edward Pellew's command in
+1786, recommended to him by my brother. Captain Frank Cole, who
+told me, 'You are going to serve under a gallant and active
+officer, and one of the best seamen in the navy, who, if he live,
+must one day be at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> head of his profession. Make a friend of
+him by your good conduct, and you will do well.' The <i>Winchelsea</i>
+was manned with good seamen, with scarcely a landsman on board; and
+the first lieutenant, senior master's mate, and boatswain, were all
+excellent practical seamen; so that the midshipmen and youngsters,
+to the number of nearly thirty, could not be in a better situation
+for obtaining a knowledge of practical seamanship. We soon found
+that the activity of our captain would not allow us an idle hour,
+and there was so much kindness of heart, and cheerfulness of
+manner, blended with daring exertion in the performance of his
+duties, that we were all happy to imitate his example to the best
+of our abilities. In the course of our passage to Newfoundland we
+encountered much blowing weather, and at all hours of the day or
+night, whenever there was exertion required aloft, to preserve a
+sail, or a mast, the captain was foremost at the work, apparently
+as a mere matter of amusement; and there was not a man in the ship
+who could equal him in personal activity. He appeared to play
+amongst the elements in the hardest storms, and the confidence this
+gave to those under his command, on many occasions, is not to be
+described.</p>
+
+<p>"The reduced peace complement of the crew made it necessary that
+they should work watch-and-watch, and one part of his system was,
+that the watch on deck, assisted by the idlers, should be in the
+habit of making themselves equal to every call of duty, without
+trespassing on the rest of those whose turn it was to be below. I
+remember relieving the deck one night after eight o'clock, when the
+captain was carrying on the duty, and shortening sail upon the
+quick approach of a severe gale, and being an old sailor for my
+age, being then sixteen, he ordered me to the mizentop, to close
+reef and furl the mizen-topsail; and this being done, from the
+increase of the gale, we had before twelve o'clock to take in
+successively every reef, furl most of the sails, and strike the
+topgallant-masts and other spars, to make the ship snug; the
+midshipmen being on the yards as well as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> men, and the captain,
+when the gale became severe, at their elbow. In close reefing the
+main-topsail, there was much difficulty in clewing up the sail for
+the purpose of making it quiet, and the captain issued his orders
+accordingly from the quarter-deck, and sent us aloft. On gaining
+the topsail-yard, the most active and daring of our party hesitated
+to go upon it, as the sail was flapping about violently, making it
+a service of great danger. A voice was heard amidst the roaring of
+the gale from the extreme end of the yard-arm, calling upon us to
+exert ourselves to save the sail, which would otherwise beat to
+pieces. A man said, 'Why, that's the captain&mdash;how the &mdash;&mdash; did he
+get there!' The fact was, that the instant he had given us orders
+to go aloft, he laid down his speaking trumpet, and clambered like
+a cat by the rigging over the backs of the seamen, and before they
+reached the maintop, he was at the topmast-head, and from thence by
+the topsail-lift, a single rope, he reached the situation he was
+in. I could mention numberless instances of this kind, but will
+proceed to relate a few others fresh in my recollection. On our
+arrival at St. John's Newfoundland, we anchored in the narrow
+entrance in the evening; and many officers would have been
+satisfied to have remained there until the morning, as we could
+reach our anchorage only by the tedious and laborious operation of
+laying out anchors, and warping; but we saw that the captain was
+bent upon exertion, and we went heartily to work. In the course of
+our progress against a strong wind, the ship had been warped up to
+the chain rock, and it became necessary to cast off the hawser
+attached to it, but all the boats were employed in laying out an
+anchor and warps elsewhere. The captain called to the men on the
+forecastle, and desired 'some active fellow to go down by the
+hawser, and cast it off,' at the same time saying that a boat would
+soon be there to bring him on board again. The smartest seaman in
+the ship declined the attempt. In an instant the captain was seen
+clinging to the hawser, and proceeding to the rock; the hawser was
+cast off, and to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> astonishment of every one, he swang himself
+to the side of the ship by the same means, mounted the ship's side,
+and was again directing the duty going on. After nine hours
+laborious and incessant exertion, the ship was anchored near the
+<i>Commodore</i> in St. John's harbour, before daylight; and as a salute
+had been prepared in the hope of seeing the <i>Commodore's</i> pennant
+before sunset on the evening before, the captain remained on deck
+with the gunner only to assist him. The rest of the officers and
+men, being excessively fatigued, had been sent below to rest; and I
+was not singular in being unconscious of the firing, although my
+hammock hung close to the open hatchway, and immediately under the
+deck that the guns were fired from.</p>
+
+<p>"The strong mind and fertile genius of our commander kept the young
+mids., in particular, in constant employment. Besides that some of
+the number were stationed on every yard in the ship, the mizen-mast
+from the deck to the truck was entirely managed in the sails and
+rigging by the midshipmen, who were not such dandies as to despise
+the tar-bucket, or even volunteering the laborious task of working
+the oars of one of the boats in harbour. They were all emulous to
+leave nothing undone to make themselves practical seamen, and they
+all found the advantage of such examples as they had then before
+them, many years afterwards, at the breaking out of the
+revolutionary war.</p>
+
+<p>"In the course of this year we visited every harbour, nook, and
+corner, on the east coast of Newfoundland, that the ship could be
+squeezed into; and the seamanship displayed by the captain, in
+working the ship in some most difficult cases, was not lost upon
+the officers and crew. With respect to his personal activity, I
+have often heard the most active seamen, when doubting the
+possibility of doing what he ordered to be done, finish by saying,
+'Well, he never orders us to do what he won't do himself;' and they
+often remarked, 'Blow high, blow low, he knows to an inch what the
+ship can do, and he can almost make her speak.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> On our return from
+Newfoundland, he applied to cruise after smugglers in the winter
+months, instead of being kept idle in harbour until the season
+opened for visiting Newfoundland again; but this did not come
+within the scope of the management of that day. In 1787, we
+returned to our station at Newfoundland. The summers there are very
+hot, and on the birthday of the good old king, George III., the 4th
+of June, the ship's company obtained permission to bathe. The ship
+was at anchor in St. John's harbour, and the captain prepared
+himself for the public dinner at the Governor's by dressing in his
+full uniform, and mounted the deck to step into his barge, which
+was ready to take him ashore. The gambols and antics of the men in
+the water caught his attention, and he stepped on one of the guns
+to look at them; when a lad, a servant to one of the officers, who
+was standing on the ship's side near to him, said, 'I'll have a
+good swim by-and-by, too.' 'The sooner the better,' said the
+captain, and tipped him into the water. He saw in an instant that
+the lad could not swim, and quick as thought he dashed overboard in
+his full dress uniform, with a rope in one hand, which he made fast
+to the lad, who was soon on board again, without injury, though a
+little frightened, but which did not prevent his soon enjoying the
+ludicrous finish of the captain's frolic. The lad's boasting
+expression gave an idea that he was a good swimmer, and I believe
+if ever the captain was frightened, it was when he saw the
+struggles in the water: but his self-possession and activity did
+not forsake him, and no one enjoyed the laugh against himself more
+than he did when the danger was over.</p>
+
+<p>"This season at Newfoundland was passed in the same course of
+active exertion as the former one. We sailed for Cadiz and Lisbon
+in October, for the purpose of receiving any remittances in bullion
+to England, which the British merchants might have ready on our
+arrival. We had light winds and fine weather after making the coast
+of Portugal. On one remarkably fine day, when the ship was
+stealing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> through the water under the influence of a gentle breeze,
+the people were all below at their dinners, and scarcely a person
+left on deck but officers, of whom the captain was one. Two little
+ship-boys had been induced, by the fineness of the weather, to run
+up from below the moment they had dined, and were at play on the
+spare anchor to leeward, which overhangs the side of the ship. One
+of them fell overboard, which was seen from the quarter-deck, and
+the order was given to luff the ship into the wind. In an instant
+the officers were over the side; but it was the captain who,
+grasping a rope firmly with one hand, let himself down to the
+water's edge, and catching hold of the poor boy's jacket as he
+floated past, he saved his life in as little time as I have taken
+to mention it. There was not a rope touched, or a sail altered in
+doing this, and the people below knew not of the accident until
+they came on deck when their dinner was over.</p>
+
+<p>"In every instance when a life was in danger, he was instant to
+peril his own for its preservation; and I could fill pages, if it
+were necessary to notice any but those which I was so fortunate as
+to witness."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>After the <i>Winchelsea</i> had been paid off in 1789, Captain Pellew was
+appointed to the <i>Salisbury</i>, 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral
+Milbanke, on the Newfoundland station; in which he served till 1791. His
+brother Israel became the first lieutenant, and was promoted from her.
+While in this ship, he was one day required to decide on the case of a
+seaman belonging to a merchant vessel in the harbour, who came on board
+to complain that his captain had punished him for a theft. Finding that
+the captain had acted illegally, though the man had really deserved a
+far more severe punishment, he said to the complainant, "You have done
+quite right in coming here: your captain had no business to punish you
+as he has done, and that he may learn to be more cautious in future, we
+order him to be fined&mdash;a shil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>ling!" The man turned to leave the cabin,
+much disappointed at the award; but how was his surprise increased, when
+Captain Pellew said, "Stop, sir; we must now try you for the theft." The
+fact, which had been already admitted, allowed of no defence; and before
+the man left the ship, he was deservedly brought to the gangway.</p>
+
+<p>The admiral's secretary, Mr. Graham, afterwards the well-known police
+magistrate, related this circumstance to Lord Thurlow. The chancellor
+relaxed his iron features, and throwing himself back in his chair in a
+burst of laughter, exclaimed, "Well, if that is not law, it is at least
+justice. Captain Pellew ought to have been a judge."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This seems to require explanation, for Mr. Pellew entered
+the navy in 1770, only ten years before. It was the allowed practice at
+that time, and for many years after, for young men intended for the navy
+to serve by proxy. A ship's boy would be borne on the books in the name
+of the future midshipman, who was allowed the credit of his substitute's
+service, and whose time in the navy was thus running on while he was
+still at school. Not only so, but, by permission of the Admiralty, the
+time served by one boy, personally, or even thus by proxy, might, if he
+left the service, be transferred to the account of another! It has been
+stated that Mr. Pellew's eldest brother was borne on the books of the
+<i>Seaford</i>, till he gave up the profession of the sea for that of
+medicine; and while Mr. Pellew was serving in America, he wrote to his
+brother a letter which still exists, requesting him to procure the
+transfer to himself, of his nominal Service. It would therefore appear
+that Lord Exmouth, when a midshipman, had the three years of his elder
+brother's nominal service added to his own time, though his brother was
+never at sea.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The Coles were through life intimately connected with the
+Pellews, to whom they were neighbours in childhood, when both families
+lived on the shores of the Mount's Bay; and their fortunes were very
+similar. Left when very young, to the care of a widowed mother, and in
+narrow circumstances, they all rose high by their own deserts. Two
+entered the church, and became, one Vice-Chancellor of the University of
+Oxford, the other Chaplain to Greenwich Hospital, and Chaplain-General
+of the Navy. Two entered the Navy, of whom Frank, the eldest, was
+selected to take charge of the late King William IV., when he was sent
+to sea as Prince William Henry. Christopher went to sea at ten years
+old, and became one of the first officers in the service, and not less
+distinguished for business habits and talents, in every post of duty.
+His capture of the strongly fortified island of Banda Neira, garrisoned
+with 1,200 soldiers, with a mere boat party of 180 men, was an exploit,
+perhaps, unequalled. He was in charge of two frigates and a sloop of
+war, and having obtained the Admiral's permission to attempt the
+capture, nor without a strong caution, he proposed to come upon the
+place unexpectedly at day-break, and, like Sir Charles Brisbane at
+Cura&ccedil;oa, lay the ships as close as possible, and storm the works under
+their fire. This plan was baffled by the premature discovery of the
+ships by the enemy. He then resolved upon a night attack with the boats,
+and left the ships soon after midnight with 400 men: but the wind rose
+and dispersed the party, and at day-break he found himself with only 180
+at hand. Undismayed, he pushed ashore with his little handful of heroes,
+rushed up the hill to Fort Belgica, which crowned and commanded the
+island, mounted the walls, swept the ramparts like a whirlwind, followed
+with the panic stricken enemy through the gate of an inner
+fortification, and carried the fortress, and with it the island, without
+the loss of a man, and even without a wound. He was second in command of
+the naval force at the capture of Java, and directed the landing of the
+troops, which, by his promptitude, and wise arrangements, was effected
+without loss. He twice received the thanks of the Supreme Government of
+India for important, political services. From his sovereign he received
+the rank of K.C.B.; from the Admiralty, a naval medal; from Oxford, the
+honorary degree of D.C.L., and from the East India Company, a service of
+plate. He represented Glamorganshire in Parliament for twelve years; was
+captain of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> yacht, and colonel of marines. He died
+suddenly, August 24th, 1836. It may encourage young officers whose
+promotion is slow, to learn that the brilliant successes of Sir
+Christopher Cole were preceded by thirteen years active service as
+midshipman and mate, and seven years as lieutenant.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.</h3>
+
+<p>Rich only in reputation, and with an increasing family, Captain Pellew
+felt the pressure of narrow circumstances; and with the mistake so often
+made by naval officers, he thought to improve them by farming. There was
+a moderately large farm, Treverry, within a few miles of Falmouth, which
+had descended in the family to his elder brother, and he proposed to
+cultivate this upon the principle of sharing the profits. His brother,
+though not very sanguine on the result, readily agreed to the
+experiment; and when in no long time Captain Pellew complained that he
+found it impossible to keep the accounts so as to make a fair division,
+he was allowed to rent it on his own terms. It will not occasion
+surprise that the undertaking was anything but profitable.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, farming is almost always a very losing employment to a
+gentleman, and especially to a sailor. Nothing can be more incorrect
+than the conclusion that education ought to excel, because ignorance
+succeeds; for success depends upon attention to a multiplicity of petty
+details, which inexperience will be likely to overlook, and talent may
+find it irksome to attend to. If the small farmer, who cultivates his
+little ground by the labour of his own family, and the more considerable
+one, who devotes to his estate skill,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> capital, and undivided attention,
+so often fail, what can he hope for, who depends upon labourers whose
+mistakes he cannot correct, and whose indolence, and even dishonesty, he
+is scarcely able to check? The failure of crops which depend for their
+success upon the knowledge and activity of the principal; and the
+necessary and constant outlay, which is great beyond the conception of a
+novice, may ruin even him who farms his own land, when the care of it is
+only a secondary object; and this it will generally be to a professional
+man.</p>
+
+<p>The expected pleasures of fanning will be likely to disappoint, even
+more than its profits. When the fields are waving with abundance,
+nothing appears more delightful than to direct the labours they require;
+but the enjoyments of the harvest month, when all the weary toil of
+preparation is forgotten, will be found a poor compensation for the
+daily annoyances of the year. To be excelled in management by the
+uneducated, and over-reached by the cunning: to study systems of
+agriculture, to be thwarted in carrying them into effect, and when they
+fail, to become an object of contemptuous pity to the ignorant but
+successful followers of the old routine: to find that all around take
+advantage of his ignorance: that servants, the best with other masters,
+become careless and unfaithful with him: to become involved in petty
+disputes with low neighbours, and to be unable to avoid them except by a
+forbearance which encourages aggression: to find, that with all his
+attention and trouble, the income lags far behind the outgoings&mdash;those
+are among the pleasures of a gentleman farmer.</p>
+
+<p>To Captain Pellew, the employment was peculiarly unsuitable. His mind,
+happy only while it was active, could ill accommodate itself to pursuits
+which almost forbade exertion; and a business within the comprehension
+of a peasant was not for a character which could fill, and animate, with
+its own energy an extended sphere of action. Even now, when agriculture
+has become an eminently scientific<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> profession, it requires to make it
+interesting that it shall be thoroughly understood, and conducted upon a
+proper scale; but at that time it was commonly a mere routine of dull
+drudgery, and nowhere more so than in the west of Cornwall. To have an
+object in view, yet be unable to advance it by any exertions of his own,
+was to him a source of constant irritation. He was wearied with the
+imperceptible growth of his crops, and complained that he made his eyes
+ache by watching their daily progress. He was not likely to excel in
+occupations so entirely uncongenial. The old people in the neighbourhood
+of Treverry speak with wonder of the fearlessness he displayed on
+different occasions, but shake their heads at his management as a
+farmer. They have no difficulty in accounting for his fortune. While he
+lived at Treverry, a swarm of bees found an entrance over the porch, of
+the house, and made a comb there for many successive years; and to this
+happy omen they attribute all his after success. The apartment is still
+called the "bee-room."</p>
+
+<p>The offer of a command in the Russian navy gave him an opportunity to
+escape from his difficulties. It was recommended to him by an officer of
+high character, with whom he had served, and who possessed so many
+claims upon his confidence that he thought it right to strengthen his
+own decision by the opinion of his elder brother, before he finally
+refused it. His brother, who had always encouraged his every ambitious,
+and every honourable feeling, and who, even at this time, confidently
+anticipated for him a career of high distinction, of which, indeed, his
+past life afforded ample promise, would not for a moment listen to his
+entering a foreign service. He said, that every man owes his services,
+blood, and life, so exclusively to his own country that he has no right
+to give them to another; and he desired Captain Pellew to reflect how he
+would answer for it to his God, if he lost his life in a cause which had
+no claim upon him. These high considerations of patriotism and religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+are the true ground upon which the question should rest. Deeply is it to
+be regretted that men of high character should have unthinkingly
+sanctioned by their example what their own closer reflection might have
+led them to condemn. Still more is it to be deplored that deserving
+officers, hopeless, in the present state of the navy, (1834) of
+promotion, or employment, should be driven by their necessities to
+sacrifice their proudest and most cherished feelings, and to quit for a
+foreign flag the service of which they might become the strength and
+ornament. War is too dreadful a calamity to be lightly incurred. Only
+patriotism, with all its elevating and endearing associations of
+country, homes, and altars, can throw a veil over its horrors, and a
+glory around its achievements: patriotism, which gives to victory all
+its splendour; sheds lustre even on defeat; and hallows the tomb of the
+hero, fallen amidst the regrets and admiration of his country. But he
+who goes forth to fight the battles of another State, what honour can
+victory itself afford to him? or how shall he be excused, if he attack
+the allies of his own country, whom, as such, he is bound on his
+allegiance to respect?</p>
+
+<p>The decision of Captain Pellew on this occasion proved as fortunate as
+it was honourable. At the beginning of 1793, there was no appearance of
+hostilities; and when the French republicans put to death their king, on
+the 21st of January, and declared war against England twelve days after,
+the Government, which had made no preparation for such an event, was
+taken by surprise almost as much as the country. The navy was on the
+peace establishment, with only sixteen thousand seamen and marines; and
+it became necessary in the course of the year to raise for it sixty
+thousand men. Mr. Pellew, whose situation at Falmouth enabled him to
+obtain the earliest information, hastened to Treverry as soon as he saw
+that war was likely to break out, and advised his brother immediately to
+offer his services to the Admiralty in person. Captain Pellew, too happy
+in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> prospect of exchanging the ploughshare for the sword, returned
+with him to Falmouth; and the same night was on the road to London.</p>
+
+<p>He was immediately appointed to the <i>Nymphe</i>, of thirty-six guns,
+formerly a French frigate, which, by a striking coincidence, had been
+taken by boarding in the former war, after having been disabled by the
+loss of her wheel. He fitted her with extraordinary dispatch; but from
+the number of ships commissioned at the same time, there was great
+difficulty in manning her. Anticipating this, Captain Pellew wrote to
+Falmouth as soon as he had received his appointment, and adverting to
+the importance of getting his ship to sea quickly, he requested his
+brother to assist him in procuring a crew&mdash;of sailors, if possible; but
+if not, then of Cornish miners.</p>
+
+<p>The choice may appear extraordinary, but Cornish miners are better
+calculated to make seamen than any other class of landsmen; not so much
+because they are always accustomed to difficult climbing, and familiar
+with the use of ropes, and gunpowder, as that the Cornish system of
+mining, with an order and discipline scarcely surpassed in a ship of
+war, compels the lowest workman to act continually upon his own
+judgment. Thus it creates that combination of ready obedience, with
+intelligence, and promptitude at resource, which is the perfection of a
+sailor's character. Familiarity with danger gives the miner a cool and
+reflective intrepidity; and the old county sport of wrestling, so
+peculiarly a game of strength and skill, now falling into disuse, but
+then the daily amusement of every boy, was admirably calculated to
+promote the activity and self-possession necessary in personal
+conflicts.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pellew's quick discrimination is remarkably shown in thus
+discovering the capabilities of a class of men, who had never before
+been similarly tried, and with whom he could have had comparatively but
+little acquaintance There were no mines in the immediate neighbourhood
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> anyplace where he had lived; and as his professional habits were not
+likely to give him an interest in the subject, he had probably never
+held much intercourse with miners, except when he might have met them as
+rioters. For at that period, the attention of the west countrymen was
+devoted almost exclusively to their mines and fisheries, to the neglect
+of agriculture; and the county being thus dependent upon importations,
+famine was not uncommon. At such times, the poor tinners would come into
+the towns, or wherever they had reason to believe that corn was stored,
+with their bags, and their money, asking only barley-bread, and offering
+the utmost they could give for it, but insisting that food should be
+found for them at a price they could afford to pay. If the law must
+condemn such risings, humanity would pity them for the cause, and
+justice must admire the forbearance displayed in them. At one of these
+seasons of distress, when there was a great quantity of corn in the
+customhouse cellars at Falmouth, a strong body of miners came in to
+insist that it should be sold. Mr. Pellew, the collector, met them in
+the street, and explained to them the circumstances under which he was
+entrusted with it, and which left him no power to sell. They were
+famishing men, and the corn was in their power; but they had come to
+buy, and famine itself, with the almost certainty of impunity, could not
+tempt them to steal. They received his explanation, and left the town
+peaceably.</p>
+
+<p>About eighty miners entered for the <i>Nymphe</i> and joined her at Spithead.
+She sailed on her passage from Spithead to Falmouth very badly manned,
+having not more than a dozen seamen on board, exclusive of the officers,
+who were obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the sails, the captain
+setting the example wherever anything was to be done, and often steering
+the ship. A corporal of marines was captain of the forecastle. Arriving
+at Falmouth, after a rough passage, she soon picked up a few good men.
+She took a convoy from thence to the Nore, another from the Nore to
+Ham<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>burgh, and a third from Cuxhaven to the Nore again; never letting
+slip an opportunity to press as many men as could be spared from the
+merchant-ships. The captain would remain in a boat all night, and think
+himself amply repaid if he obtained only one good man. From the Nore,
+she returned to Spithead, and thence sailed on a cruize, in company with
+the <i>Venus</i>, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, having now a full proportion of
+good seamen, though she was still short of her complement, and none of
+the crew had ever seen a shot fired. She parted company with the <i>Venus</i>
+in chase, but rejoined her on the 29th of May. On the 27th, the <i>Venus</i>
+had engaged the French frigate <i>Semillante</i>, one of a squadron then
+cruizing in the Channel under the orders of Captain Mullon, of the
+<i>Cleopatra</i>. The action had continued two hours, much to the
+disadvantage of the enemy, when the <i>Cleopatra</i> was seen coming up, and
+the <i>Venus</i> was obliged to fly. On the <i>Nymphe</i> rejoining her, the two
+frigates went in pursuit of the enemy as far as Cherbourg. Thence
+Captain Pellew proceeded to the North Channel, where some French
+cruisers were reported to have gone; but having swept the Channel
+without seeing anything of them, and taken on board his brother Israel,
+then living, a commander on half-pay, at Larne, he returned to Falmouth.
+Here, on the 16th of June, the <i>Nymphe</i> pressed the crew of a
+South-seaman, which full manned the ship.</p>
+
+<p>She sailed from Falmouth on the evening of the 18th. That afternoon,
+Captain Pellew was informed that two French frigates had again been seen
+in the Channel, and he discussed with his brother Israel, at their elder
+brother's table, the course most likely to intercept them. After they
+had talked over the advantages of sailing along the English or the
+French coast, they at length determined to keep mid-channel.</p>
+
+<p>An active and most anxious pursuit of the enemy for the last three weeks
+had made the crew not less eager than their commander; and the subject
+of the expected battle engrossed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> their sleeping and waking thoughts. A
+dream of Captain Israel Pellew had perhaps some influence on the result.
+His brother would not allow him to be called till they were just closing
+the French frigate, and meeting him as he ran on deck half dressed, he
+said to him, with much emotion,&mdash;"Israel, you have no business here! We
+are too many eggs from one nest. I am sorry I brought you from your
+wife." But Israel, whose whole attention was occupied with the enemy,
+exclaimed, "That's the very frigate I've been dreaming of all night! I
+dreamt that we shot away her wheel. We shall have her in a quarter of an
+hour!" His brother, who had already inferred her high state of
+discipline from her manoeuvres, replied, "We shall not take her so
+easily. See how she is handled." He was a perfect artillerist, and,
+prompted by the suggestions of his sleep, he took charge of a gun, made
+the wheel his object, and ultimately shot it away. Not less
+extraordinary was the dream of a master's mate, Mr. Pearse, who had
+served in the <i>Winchelsea</i>. He dreamt that the <i>Nymphe</i> fell in with a
+French frigate the day after leaving port, that they killed her captain,
+and took her; and so vivid was the impression, that he firmly believed
+it to be a supernatural intimation, and spoke of it accordingly to his
+messmates. They rallied him immoderately on his superstition, but his
+confidence remained unshaken; and when his papers were examined after
+his death, for he was killed in the action, it was found that he had
+written the dream in his pocket-book.</p>
+
+<p>At day break on the 19th, as they were proceeding up Channel, being
+still some miles to the westward of the Start, a sail was observed in
+the south-east, winch was soon made out to be a French frigate. Before
+six o'clock they had approached very near, the enemy making no attempt
+to escape; and, indeed, if both nations had wished at this early period
+of the war to try the merit of their respective navies by a battle, no
+ship could have been better calculated than the <i>Cleopatra</i> to maintain
+the honour of her flag. Her com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>mander, Captain Mullon, was deservedly
+considered one of the most able officers of the French marine. As
+Suffren's captain, he had taken a prominent part in the actions with Sir
+Edward Hughes in the East Indies; and the code of signals then used
+along the French coast was his own invention. The <i>Cleopatra</i> had been
+more than a year in commission, and, with such a commander, it may be
+supposed that her crew had been well trained to all their duties.
+Indeed, it was known that the enemy had taken great pains in the
+equipment of their cruizers; and the generally inferior description of
+the English crews, inevitable from the circumstance that a navy was to
+be commissioned at once, had led to great apprehensions for the result
+of the first action. The seaman-like style in which the <i>Cleopatra</i> was
+handled did not escape the eye of Captain Pellew; who, conscious of his
+own disadvantage, from the inexperience of his ship's company,
+determined to avail himself of the power which the enemy's gallantry
+afforded him, to bring the ships at once to close action, and let
+courage alone decide it.</p>
+
+<p>In the courage of his men he placed the firmest reliance; and when he
+addressed a few words to them, before they closed with the enemy, he
+knew how to suggest the most effectual encouragement in a situation so
+new to them all. To the miners, he appealed by their honour and spirit
+as Cornishmen; a motive which the feelings of his own bosom told him
+would, above all things, animate theirs. Probably there is no place
+where local pride prevails so strongly as in the west of Cornwall. The
+lower classes, employed for the most part in pursuits which require the
+constant exercise of observation and judgment, and familiarized to
+danger in their mines and fisheries, are peculiarly thoughtful and
+intrepid; while the distinctness of name and character which they derive
+from the almost insular position of their county, and the general
+ignorance of strangers in the interesting pursuits with which they are
+so familiar, have taught the lower classes to regard it less as an
+integral part of England, than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> a distinct and superior country. They
+have a nobler motive for this feeling, in the successes of their
+forefathers against the arms of the rebel parliament, when their
+loyalty, unwavering amidst prosperous treason, and their victories over
+superior discipline and numbers, obtained for them the grateful eulogy
+of their unfortunate sovereign. His letter remains painted, as he
+directed, in a conspicuous part of their older churches, a most
+honourable monument of their virtues and his gratitude. No man could be
+prouder of his county than Captain Pellew himself; and, as it was an
+object much coveted by the most promising of its young men to serve in
+his ship, and he continued steadily to patronize those who showed
+themselves deserving, there is scarcely a town in it from which he has
+not made officers. Thus his feelings were in perfect unison with theirs;
+and never was an appeal made with greater confidence, or answered with
+higher spirit, than when he reminded them of their home.</p>
+
+<p>At six o'clock the ships were so near, that the captains mutually
+hailed. Not a shot had yet been fired. The crew of the <i>Nymphe</i> now
+shouted "Long live King George!" and gave three hearty cheers. Captain
+Mullon was then seen to address his crew briefly, holding a cap of
+liberty, which he waved before them. They answered with acclamations,
+shouting, "Vive la Republique!" as if in reply to the loyal watchword of
+the British crew, and to mark the opposite principles for which the
+battle was to be fought. The cap of liberty was then given to a sailor,
+who ran up the main rigging, and screwed it on the mast-head.</p>
+
+<p>At a quarter past six, the <i>Nymphe</i> reached the starboard quarter of the
+<i>Cleopatra</i>, when Captain Pellew, whose hat was still in his hand,
+raised it to his head, the preconcerted signal for the <i>Nymphe</i> to open
+her fire. Both frigates immediately commenced a furious cannonade, which
+they maintained without intermission for three quarters of an hour,
+running before the wind under top-gallant-sails, and very near each
+other. At a little before seven, the mizen-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>mast of the <i>Cleopatra</i>
+fell, and presently after her wheel was shot away. Thus rendered
+unmanageable, she came round with her bow to the <i>Nymphe's</i> broadside,
+her jib-boom pressing hard against the mainmast. Captain Pellew,
+supposing that the enemy were going to board, ordered the boarders to be
+called, to repel them; but the disabled state of the <i>Cleopatra</i> was
+soon evident, and he at once gave orders to board her. Immediately the
+boarders rushed on the forecastle, a division of them, headed by Mr.,
+afterwards Capt. George Bell, boarding through the main-deck ports, and
+fought their way along the gangways to the quarter-deck. The
+republicans, though much superior in numbers, could not resist the
+impetuosity of the attack. At ten minutes past seven they had all fled
+below, or submitted, and the pennant of the <i>Cleopatra</i> was hauled down.</p>
+
+<p>While the boarders were pouring in upon the enemy's forecastle, the
+mainmast of the <i>Nymphe</i>, having been much wounded, and with the main
+and spring-stays shot away, was most seriously endangered by the
+pressure of the <i>Cleopatra's</i> jib-boom. Fortunately, the jib-boom broke,
+and the <i>Cleopatra</i> fell alongside the <i>Nymphe</i>, head and stern. The
+mainmast was again in danger, from the <i>Cleopatra's</i> larboard
+maintopmast-studding-sail boom-iron hooking in the larboard leech-rope
+of the main-topsail, and dragging the sail. Captain Pellew ordered some
+active seaman to go out upon the yard, and free the sail, promising ten
+guineas, if he succeeded; and a main-top-man, named Burgess, immediately
+sprang out, and cut the leech-rope. Lieutenant Pellowe had been already
+directed to drop the best bower-anchor, as a means of getting the ships
+apart; and by the time half the prisoners had been removed, the prize
+separated, and fell astern.</p>
+
+<p>The crew fought with a steadiness and gallantry above all praise. A lad,
+who had served in the <i>Winchelsea</i> as barber's boy, was made second
+captain of one of the main-deck guns. The captain being killed, he
+succeeded to command<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the gun; and through the rest of the action,
+Captain Pellew heard him from the gangway give the word for all the
+successive steps of loading and pointing, as if they had been only in
+exercise. In the heat of action, one of the men came from the main deck
+to ask the captain what he must do, for that all the men at his gun were
+killed or wounded but himself, and he had been trying to fight it alone,
+but could not. Another, who had joined but the day before, was found
+seated on a gun-carriage, complaining that he had been very well as long
+as he was fighting, but that his sea sickness returned as soon as the
+battle was over, and that he did not know what was the matter with his
+leg, it smarted so much. It was found that the poor fellow had received
+a musket ball in it.</p>
+
+<p>The loss was severe on both sides, and, in proportion to the respective
+crews, nearly equal. The <i>Nymphe</i>, out of a crew of 240, had 23 killed,
+including her boatswain, a master's mate (Pearse), and three midshipmen;
+and 27 wounded, among whom were her second lieutenant, the lieutenant of
+marines, and two midshipmen. The <i>Cleopatra</i> lost 63 killed and wounded,
+out of a crew of 320. She came out of action, therefore, with 67
+effective men more than her conqueror. It is highly creditable to the
+<i>Nymphe's</i> crew, that they beat a ship like the <i>Cleopatra</i> by gunnery,
+notwithstanding their inexperience; and carried her by a hand-to-hand
+conflict, notwithstanding their inferior numbers.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Mullon was killed. A cannon-shot struck him on the back, and
+carried away great part of his left hip. Even at that dreadful moment he
+felt the importance of destroying the signals which he carried in his
+pocket; but in his dying agony, he took out his commission in mistake,
+and expired in the act of devouring it;&mdash;a trait of devoted heroism
+never surpassed by any officer of any nation. These signals, so valuable
+as long as the enemy did not know them to be in possession of the
+British, thus fell into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> the hands of Captain Pellew, who delivered them
+to the Admiralty.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pellew arrived at Portsmouth with his prize on the following
+day. He sent the flag under which she fought, and the cap of liberty, to
+his brother. This, the first trophy of the kind taken in the
+revolutionary war, is about seven inches long, made of wood, and painted
+red; with a round, tapering spear of brass, about three feet and a half
+long, the lower half being blackened, with a screw at the end to fix it
+on the mast. The following letter accompanied these trophies:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sam</span>,&mdash;Here we are&mdash;thank God! safe&mdash;after a glorious
+action with <i>La Cleop&acirc;tre</i>, the crack ship of France; 40 guns, 28
+on her main-deck, and 12 on her quarter-deck, some of 36 pounds,
+and 320 men. We dished her up in fifty minutes, boarded, and struck
+her colours. We have suffered much, but I was long determined to
+make a short affair of it. We conversed before we fired a shot, and
+then, God knows, hot enough it was, as you will see by the
+enclosed.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> I might have wrote for a month, had I entered on the
+description of every gallant action, but we were all in it, heart
+and soul. I owe much to Israel, who undertook with the after-gun to
+cut off her rudder and wheel. The tiller was shot away, and four
+men were killed at her wheel, which I verily believe was owing to
+him. I will write again in a day or two, and do all I can for
+everybody. We must go into harbour. <i>Cleopatra</i> is fifteen feet
+longer, and three feet wider than <i>Nymphe</i>&mdash;much larger, Poor dear
+Pearse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> is numbered with the slain<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>&mdash;Plane and Norway slightly
+wounded&mdash;old Nicholls safe. God be praised for his mercy to myself,
+and Israel, and all of us!</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"Yours, ever, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;E.P."</p>
+
+<p>"Be kind to Susan&mdash;go over, and comfort her; I cannot write to poor
+Pearse's mother for my life&mdash;do send her a note; I really cannot. I
+loved him, poor fellow, and he deserved it.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>June 20, 1793.</i>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> A list of the killed and wounded.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> After the action, Mr. Norway requested permission to keep
+the body of Mr. Pearse for interment by his friends. Captain Pellew for
+answer desired Mr. N. to read the contents of a paper which he drew from
+his pocket. It was a direction that if he, Capt. P., should foil, his
+body should at once be thrown overboard. Of course Mr. N. immediately
+withdrew his request.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.</h3>
+
+<p>The capture of the first frigate in a war is always an object of much
+interest; and the circumstances of the late action, the merit of which
+was enhanced by the skill and gallantry of the enemy, gave additional
+importance to Captain Pellew's success. "I never doubted," said Lord
+Howe, "that you would take a French frigate; but the manner in which you
+have done it, will establish an example for the war."</p>
+
+<p>The brothers were introduced to the King on the 29th of June, by the
+Earl of Chatham, First Lord of the Admiralty; when Captain Pellew
+received the honour of knighthood, and his brother was made a
+post-captain. Besides the usual promotions, the master, Mr. Thomson,
+received a lieutenant's commission. As Mr. Thomson was a master of
+considerable standing, the captain supposed that he would decline the
+change to be a junior lieutenant; but the master preferred to get into
+the line for promotion, and as the result showed, he decided wisely, for
+he followed Sir Edward to the <i>Arethusa</i> and <i>Indefatigable</i>; and as he
+had the singular fortune to fight four brilliant actions in three years
+and a-half, each of which obtained promotion for his first lieutenant,
+Mr. Thomson thus rose rapidly to seniority, and was made a commander for
+the action with the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Mullon was buried at Portsmouth, with all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> honours due to
+his gallantry. One of Sir Edward's first acts was to write a letter of
+condolence to the widow; and as he learnt that she was left in narrow
+circumstances, he sent, with her husband's property, what assistance his
+then very limited means enabled him to offer. Madame Mullon acknowledged
+his attention and kindness in a most grateful letter. He received also
+the warm acknowledgments of the <i>Cleopatra's</i> surviving officers, the
+senior of whom requested and received from him testimonials of the skill
+and gallantry with which they had defended their ship, without which
+their defeat, in the bloody councils which then prevailed, would
+probably have brought them to the scaffold. What was scarcely to be
+expected at such a time, and after a first defeat, it was admitted in
+the <i>Moniteur</i> that the "superb frigate" the <i>Cleopatra</i> had been taken
+by a frigate of equal force.</p>
+
+<p>The action between the <i>Nymphe</i> and <i>Cleopatra</i> is interesting as the
+first in which a ship had substituted carronades for her quarter-deck
+guns of small calibre, making them a material part of her force. This
+gun had been invented about three years before the close of the former
+war, and the Admiralty had allowed it to be introduced generally into
+the navy; but except in one ship, the <i>Rainbow</i>, 44, which was armed
+entirely with heavy carronades, it was considered as supplementary to
+the regular armament, being mounted only where long guns could not be
+placed, and not affecting the ship's rating. The <i>Flora</i>, when she took
+the <i>Nymphe</i>, in 1780, thus carried six 18-pounder carronades, in
+addition to her proper number of long guns; and the <i>Artois</i>, when Sir
+Edward commanded her, was armed in the same manner. The carronade was at
+first very unpopular with the sailors, generally prejudiced as they are
+against innovations, and who, not understanding how to use it,
+attributed failures which arose from their own mismanagement to defects
+in the invention. Sir Edward, who had no prejudices to contend with in
+training his crew, obtained permission, when he fitted the <i>Nymphe</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> to
+exchange the six-pounders on her quarter-deck for 24-pounder carronades;
+and the result of the battle confirmed his favourable opinion of them.
+His next ship, the <i>Arethusa</i>, was armed precisely as the forty-four gun
+frigates at a later period of the war, with eighteen-pounders on the
+main-deck, and 32-pounder carronades on the quarter-deck and forecastle.
+He joined her in January 1794.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of 1793, the enemy fitted out a number of frigates,
+which cruised at the entrance of the Channel, chiefly in small
+squadrons, and committed the most serious depredations. Sir Edward
+formed the idea of checking them by an independent cruising squadron;
+but, expecting that a measure so unusual as to create a distinct command
+within the limits of an Admiral's station would be very strongly
+opposed, he would not, as an officer without influence, venture to
+recommend it himself; but he explained his views to Sir J. Borlase
+Warren, whose interest was great, and urged him to apply for such a
+command. The Admiralty, whose attention had already been anxiously
+directed to the successes of the enemy, approved of the proposal, and
+gave Sir John a small squadron of frigates, of which the <i>Arethusa</i> was
+one, and which were to rendezvous at Falmouth. Such was the origin of
+the Western squadrons, which, from the number of their successes, and
+their character of dashing enterprise, became the most popular service
+in the navy. As a school for officers and seamen, they were never
+surpassed. Almost all their captains rose to high distinction, and a
+list of well-known flag-officers may be traced in connection with them,
+such as, perhaps, was never formed by any other service of the same
+extent. It may suffice to mention such names as Sir Richard Strachan,
+Sir Israel Pellew, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Sidney Smith, Sir Richard
+Keats, Sir James Saumarez, Sir Philip Durham, Sir Charles V. Penrose,
+Admirals Barlow, and Reynolds. Nothing equals the animating duties of a
+cruizing frigate squadron. The vigilance in hovering on the enemy's
+coast, or sweeping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> over the seas around it; the chase, by a single ship
+detached to observe a suspicious stranger, or by the whole squadron to
+overtake an enemy; the occasional action; the boat-attack;&mdash;service like
+this gives constant life to a sailor. In a line-of-battle ship, with the
+perfection of discipline, there is less demand for individual
+enterprise, and fewer of the opportunities which fit crews for exploits
+where all depends on rapidity and daring. On the other hand, a single
+cruizer wants the stimulus supplied by constant emulation. But in a
+squadron, all the ships vie with one another; and the smartest of them,
+herself always improving, gives an example, and a character to the
+whole.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of April 1794, Sir J.B. Warren sailed from Portsmouth in
+the <i>Flora</i>, with the <i>Arethusa</i>, <i>Concorde</i>, <i>Melampus</i>, and <i>Nymphe</i>.
+At daylight on the 23rd, he fell in with a French squadron off the Isle
+of Bass; the <i>Engageante</i>, <i>Pomone</i>, and <i>Resolue</i>, frigates; and the
+<i>Babet</i>, 22-gun corvette. The enemy, who were standing to the
+north-west, made sail on perceiving the British squadron; the Commodore
+in <i>l'Engageante</i> being a-head, then <i>Resolue</i>, <i>Pomone</i>, and <i>Babet</i>.
+Soon after, the wind shifted two points, from S.S.W. to south, giving
+the British the weather-gage, and preventing the enemy from making their
+escape to the land.</p>
+
+<p>Outsailing her consorts, the <i>Flora</i> came up with the enemy at half-past
+six; and giving the <i>Babet</i> a passing broadside, stood on and attacked
+the <i>Pomone</i>. The <i>Pomone</i> was at that time by much the largest frigate
+ever built, being only one hundred tons smaller than a 64-gun ship, and
+carrying long 24-pounders on her main deck. The <i>Flora</i>, being only a
+36, with 18-pounders, was a very unequal match for this powerful ship,
+which soon cut her sails and rigging to pieces, shot away her
+fore-topmast, and left her astern. The <i>Melampus</i>, which,
+notwithstanding her endeavours to close, was still far to windward on
+the <i>Pomone's</i> quarter; now fired on her, but unavoidably at too great a
+distance to produce any material effect, though the heavy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> guns of the
+enemy inflicted on her a greater loss than was sustained by any other
+ship in the squadron. The <i>Arethusa</i>, which had previously cannonaded
+the <i>Babet</i>, while she was pressing on to overtake the frigates, soon
+came up with the <i>Pomone</i>, closed her to windward, and engaged her
+single-handed, and within pistol-shot, till she struck. The <i>Flora</i>, in
+the mean time, took possession of the corvette. A short time before the
+close of the action, the <i>Pomone</i> took fire, but her crew succeeded in
+extinguishing the flames. At half-past nine, the <i>Arethusa</i> shot away
+her main and mizen masts, and compelled her to surrender.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the enemy struck, the Commodore, in the full warmth of his
+feelings, wrote to Sir Edward a short and expressive note:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Pellew</span>,&mdash;I shall ever hold myself indebted, and
+under infinite obligations to you, for the noble and gallant
+support you gave me to-day.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you and all yours!<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Your most sincere,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"And affectionate friend,</p>
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">J.B. Warren</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He then made signal for a general chase. Both the <i>Flora</i> and <i>Arethusa</i>
+were too much crippled to follow immediately, though the latter in a
+very short time repaired her damages sufficiently to enable her to make
+sail; and the <i>Nymphe</i>, to the great mortification of all on board, was
+so far astern from the first, that she was never able, with all their
+exertions, to take any part in the action. But the <i>Concorde</i>, commanded
+by Sir Richard Strachan, by superior sailing, came up with the
+<i>Resolue</i>; when the French Commodore, in <i>l'Engageante</i>, coming to
+assist his consort, Sir Richard brought his new opponent to close
+action, and took her. The <i>Resolue</i> escaped. It is remarkable that this
+frigate had been attacked and compelled to submit by Sir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> R. Strachan,
+in November, 1791, for resisting the search of some vessels which were
+carrying stores to Tippoo Saib; and that she was afterwards taken by the
+<i>Melampus</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The squadron carried their prizes into Portsmouth. The Commodore was
+honoured with a red ribbon, a most unusual distinction for a service of
+this extent, and which he often said Sir Edward Pellew had mainly
+contributed to place on his shoulder. Sir J. Warren's acknowledgments
+were not the only flattering notice which Sir Edward received. The First
+Lord of the Admiralty sent him a letter, dated on the third day after
+the action.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,&mdash;I have but a moment to acknowledge your
+letter, which I have received this morning with infinite pleasure;
+and to say, that I am extremely happy the same success and honour
+attend you in the <i>Arethusa</i> as in the <i>Nymphe</i>. I shall be very
+glad to see you while you are refitting, as soon as your leg will
+permit it, and which, I am happy to hear, is only a sprain.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>"I am, dear Sir,<br />
+"Your very faithful, humble servant,</p>
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Chatham</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>From Lord Howe, the Commander-in-chief on the station, then just about
+to sail on the cruise which proved so honourable to himself and to his
+country, he received the following letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"The <i>Charlotte</i>, St. Helen's, 28th April, 1794.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I had already desired Sir John Warren, before the
+receipt of your favour of this day's date, to present my
+congratulations on the very distinguished success which has
+attended your late undertaking. The superiority of the <i>Pomone</i>
+adds much to the credit of it; although the event has not surpassed
+the confidence I should have entertained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> of it, if I could have
+been apprized of the opportunity before the action commenced.</p>
+
+<p>"I am much obliged by the communications which have accompanied
+your letter; and remain, with sentiments of particular esteem and
+regard,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>"Sir,<br />
+"Your most obedient, humble servant,</p>
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Howe</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On the 23rd of August following, the squadron, now consisting of six
+frigates, which had sailed from Falmouth on the 7th, chased the French
+frigate <i>Volontaire</i>, and the corvettes <i>Alerte</i> and <i>Espion</i>, into the
+Bay of Audierne, a large bay immediately to the southward of Brest,
+having the promontory at the south entrance of that harbour, the Bec du
+Raz, for its northern, and Penmarck Point for its southern extremity.
+Four of the squadron chased the frigate on shore near the Penmarcks,
+where she was totally wrecked. The corvettes took shelter under the
+batteries, where they were driven on shore and cannonaded by the <i>Flora</i>
+and <i>Arethusa</i>, until their masts fell, and great part of their crews
+escaped to the land. The boats of the <i>Arethusa</i> were now ordered to set
+them on fire; but when it was found, on boarding them, that many of
+their wounded could not be removed with safety, Sir Edward contented
+himself with taking out the rest of the prisoners, leaving the wounded
+to the care of their friends on shore, and the stranded corvettes, which
+were already bilged, to their fate. <i>L'Espion</i> was afterwards got off by
+the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The state of the Channel was at this time very different from what it
+had been a few months before. The enemy's cruisers, which then were
+almost in possession of it, could now scarcely leave their ports without
+being taken. While the frigates swept the Channel, spreading themselves
+to command a very extensive range of view, it was difficult for an enemy
+to elude their vigilance. Chasing in different<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> directions, to take
+advantage of every change of wind, and to circumvent him in every
+man&oelig;uvre, it was impossible for him, once seen, to escape their
+pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>The services of the western squadron led the Admiralty to increase the
+force, and divide the command; and the second squadron was given to Sir
+Edward Pellew. On the 21st of October, at daybreak, the <i>Arethusa</i>, with
+the <i>Artois</i>, Captain Nagle; <i>Diamond</i>, Sir Sidney Smith; and <i>Galatea</i>,
+Captain Keats, fell in with the French frigate <i>Revolutionaire</i>, eight
+or ten miles to the westward of Ushant, the wind being off the land. The
+squadron gave chase, and the Commodore took the most weatherly course,
+observing, that if the French captain were a seaman, the prize would
+fall to himself, for his only chance of escape was to carry a press of
+sail to windward. Instead of this, the enemy kept away; and the <i>Artois</i>
+overtook, and brought her to action. After they had been closely engaged
+for forty minutes, the <i>Diamond</i> came up; but Sir Sidney Smith, with
+that chivalrous feeling which marked his character, would not allow a
+shot to be fired, saying, that Nagle had fought his ship well, and he
+would not diminish the credit of his trophy. But when the enemy did not
+immediately surrender, he said, that she must not be allowed to do
+mischief, and ordered a broadside to be ready. Then, taking out his
+watch, he continued, "We'll allow her five minutes: if she do not then
+strike, we'll fire into her." He stood with the watch in his hand, and
+just before the time expired, the French colours came down.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Nagle was deservedly knighted for his gallantry. The prize,
+which had been launched only six months, was 150 tons larger than any
+British-built frigate, and superior to any captured one, except the
+<i>Pomone</i>. She had a furnace for heating shot, which the enemy had used
+in the action. She was commissioned by the Commodore's early friend.
+Captain Frank Cole, and attached to the squadron. It would have added to
+the interest Sir Edward felt when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> took possession of this very
+beautiful ship, could he have known that she was to close her career in
+the navy under his second son, at that time a child. She was taken to
+pieces in 1822, at Plymouth, after having been paid off by the Hon.
+Captain Fleetwood Pellew, who had commanded her for the preceding four
+years.</p>
+
+<p>On the 22d of December, when Sir Edward's squadron was at anchor in
+Falmouth, the Channel fleet being at Spithead, and a large outward-bound
+convoy waiting for a fair wind at Torbay, an English gentleman, who had
+just escaped from L'Orient, arrived at Falmouth in a neutral vessel, and
+reported to Mr. Pellew, the collector of the Customs, the important fact
+that the Brest fleet had just been ordered to sea. He had received the
+information from the naval commandant at L'Orient, and a line-of-battle
+ship in that port, <i>Le Caton</i>, was to join the force. Sir Edward was
+immediately sent for by his brother, and the very important information
+they received appearing certain, it was deemed necessary that Sir Edward
+should communicate it in person to the Admiralty, and send advices from
+the nearest post towns on the road to the admirals at Plymouth and
+Portsmouth, as well as to the senior officer at Torbay. He went off
+express the same afternoon, accompanied by the marine officer of the
+<i>Arethusa</i>, afterwards Colonel Sir Richard Williams, K.C.B., late
+commandant of the division of marines at Portsmouth; and arrived in
+London on the 24th, at that time an almost unexampled despatch.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The object of the French fleet in putting to sea at so unusual a season
+was most probably to strike a severe blow at British commerce, by
+intercepting the convoy from Torbay; and in this there is every reason
+to believe they would have succeeded, but for the timely information of
+their intended cruise, and the prompt measures which were taken in
+consequence, for the wind became fair that night. It was one of those
+events which so frequently occur in history, and as often in private
+life, where important consequences depend upon some accidental, or, to
+speak more properly, providential circumstance, which yet is unavailing,
+unless improved by judgment and energy.</p>
+
+<p>When Sir Edward made his communication to the Admiralty, Earl Spencer
+observed, that the first step was to send advices without delay to the
+admirals at Plymouth and Portsmouth. "That," replied Sir Edward, "has
+been already attended to. I sent despatches from Exeter and Salisbury."
+"Then, Sir," said a junior Lord, apparently with displeasure, "you have
+left nothing for the Admiralty to do."&mdash;"Except," interposed Lord
+Spencer, "to get the British fleet to sea with as little delay as
+possible."</p>
+
+<p>The Board directed Sir Edward to return to Falmouth, and proceed without
+delay to reconnoitre Brest. During his absence, Sir J.B. Warren had
+arrived with his frigates; and a squadron, consisting of the <i>Pomone</i>,
+<i>Arethusa</i>, <i>Diamond</i>, <i>Galatea</i>, and <i>Concorde</i>, sailed from Falmouth
+on the 2nd of January, and arrived off Ushant on the following morning.
+The <i>Diamond</i>, commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, was sent a-head to
+reconnoitre, and the squadron followed. A line-of-battle ship was seen
+at anchor in Bertheaume Bay on the evening of the 4th. The <i>Diamond</i>
+persevered in working up through the night, and at eight next morning
+was seen returning to the squadron.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Sidney reported that he had completely reconnoitred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> Brest at
+daylight, and ascertained that the enemy's fleet was at sea. On his
+return, he was under the necessity of passing very near the French
+seventy-four, but having disguised his ship with French colours, and a
+<i>bonnet rouge</i> at her head, he went boldly under the enemy's stern, and
+hailed her in French. She was the ship from L'Orient, <i>Le Caton</i>, which
+had been obliged to return to port disabled, and her pumps were going as
+she lay at anchor. Sir Sidney gave the name of his own ship as <i>La
+Surveillante</i>; and having offered assistance, which was declined, he
+took leave, and made sail for the squadron.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy's fleet, thirty-five sail of the line, thirteen frigates, and
+sixteen smaller vessels, had put to sea towards the end of December.
+Some of them were driven back by a gale, but the fleet continued to
+cruise until the end of January, when they were obliged to return to
+port, with the loss of five ships.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>The squadron, having effected their principal object, arrived off
+Falmouth, and landed despatches on the 6th. They afterwards continued
+their cruise until the 22d, when they returned to port.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward now left the <i>Arethusa</i>, and joined the <i>Indefatigable</i>, one
+of three 64-gun ships which had lately been cut down to heavy frigates.
+One part of the plan was to reduce their masts and rigging in proportion
+to the diminished size of their hulls. All of them proved slow and
+unmanageable ships; and Sir Edward, who had satisfied himself of the
+cause of the failure, applied to the Navy Board for permission to alter
+the <i>Indefatigable</i>. The Comptroller of the Navy was much offended at
+the request, denying that the plan of the Navy Board had failed; and
+when Sir Edward alluded to the notorious inefficiency of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> ships, he
+said that it arose entirely from faulty stowage of the ballast and hold.
+They parted, mutually dissatisfied; and Sir Edward appealed immediately
+to Lord Spencer, who, a short time before, had been placed at the head
+of the Admiralty. This nobleman showed every desire to meet Sir Edward's
+wishes, but expressed very great reluctance to involve himself in a
+difference with the Navy Board; and requested him to arrange the affair,
+if possible, himself. He accordingly attempted it; but finding no
+disposition to meet his views, he at length declined the appointment,
+saying that he would not risk his credit by commanding a worthless ship.
+This brought the question to a point; and he was allowed to alter the
+<i>Indefatigable</i> according to his own plans. They were entirely
+successful, for she became an excellent sailer and a most efficient
+ship.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward was remarkably accurate in judging of a ship's qualities. For
+this he was probably indebted in the first place to the practical
+knowledge of ship-building which he acquired, when he assisted to
+construct the squadron on Lake Champlain, and to his very close intimacy
+with Lieutenant (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Schanck, an enthusiast on the
+subject, and who always regarded him with peculiar pride and attachment,
+as a pupil of his own. The general knowledge which he thus obtained,
+could not fail to be improved in the course of his own service. Many
+illustrations may be given of the correctness of his opinion in this
+respect. The <i>Bordelais</i>, a French cruiser taken by the
+<i>Revolutionaire</i>, carrying 24 guns on a flush deck, 149 feet long, was
+bought into the service, and commissioned by Captain Manby. She was one
+of the fastest and most beautiful vessels ever seen, but so dangerous,
+that she was called, in the navy, "the coffin." Sir Edward saw her
+alongside the jetty at Plymouth, and pointing out to her commander the
+cause of her dangerous character, recommended the means of guarding
+against it. His advice was always acted upon, and the <i>Bordelais</i>
+survived; while two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> other captured sloops of war, the <i>Railleur</i> and
+<i>Trompeuse</i>, built after her model, but on a reduced scale, foundered
+with their crews on the same day. When the 10-gun brigs were introduced
+into the service, he condemned them in the strongest terms; and being
+asked what should be done with those already built, he replied, "Put
+them all together, and burn them, for they will drown their crews." His
+prediction has been too correctly fulfilled in the fate of these
+vessels, of which six were lost in the packet-service in six years and a
+half, with two hundred and fifty people. At a much later period, when
+the beautiful <i>Caledonia</i>, the most perfect ship of her class, was about
+to be made the victim of an experiment, he implored, but unfortunately
+in vain, that she might be spared.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Indefatigable</i> sailed from Falmouth on her first cruise on the 2nd
+of March; and in the following week, the squadron captured fifteen out
+of a convoy of twenty-five vessels, which had taken shelter among the
+rocks of the Penmarcks. On the 7th of May, she had a most narrow escape
+from shipwreck. The extraordinary circumstances connected with the
+accident, are related in the words of the late Capt. George Bell, at
+that time one of the officers.</p>
+
+<p>"In the summer of 1795, the <i>Indefatigable</i>, when cruising off Cape
+Finisterre, fell in with Admiral Waldegrave's squadron of line-of-battle
+ships, and the <i>Concorde</i> frigate. The admiral made signal for the
+<i>Indefatigable</i> and <i>Concorde</i> to chase a small strange sail running
+along shore. All sail was soon set, royals, top-gallant studding-sails,
+&amp;c., the wind being northerly, and the water as smooth as glass. At
+noon, Mr. George Bell, acting master, was in the act of crossing from
+the starboard gangway to the quarter-deck, to report twelve o'clock to
+the captain, who was looking over the larboard quarter-deck hammocks at
+the land, and strange sail, when he suddenly heard a rumbling noise, as
+if a top-sail-tie had given way, and the yard was coming down. He looked
+aloft, but saw nothing amiss, and then perceived that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> the ship was
+aground. Mr. Bell instantly sprang into the main-chains, and dropped the
+hand lead over. Only eighteen feet water was on the rock, the ship
+drawing nineteen and a half feet abaft. There were twelve and fourteen
+fathoms under the how and stern, consequently she hung completely in the
+centre. Sir Edward, whose judgment in moments of danger was always so
+correct and decisive as never to have occasion to give a second order,
+immediately directed some of the main-deck guns to be moved, and the
+ship's company to sally her off the rock. This fortunately succeeded.
+The ship fell over heavily, and started into deep water, with five feet
+water in her hold. Signals of distress were now made to the flag-ship,
+and the admiral ordered the <i>Indefatigable</i> to proceed to Lisbon to
+repair, and the <i>Concorde</i> to accompany us to the mouth of the Tagus. We
+arrived on the third day after the accident. So serious was the leak,
+that the men could not quit the pumps for a moment, and only a good
+ship's company, such as we had, could have kept the ship afloat.</p>
+
+<p>"On the evening of our arrival, the English consul sent on board a
+number of Portuguese, to relieve the crew. Early next morning (having
+the morning watch) I observed all these people leave the pumps. It was a
+saint's day, and they would not work. I ran into the Captain's cabin to
+state the circumstance; he in a moment came out in his dressing-gown,
+with a drawn sword, chased the Portuguese round the gangways and
+forecastle, made them to a man lay in at the pumps, and kept them at it
+till the pumps sucked.</p>
+
+<p>"In order to ascertain whether both sides of the ship had been injured.
+Sir Edward resolved to examine the bottom himself; and to the
+astonishment and admiration of everybody who witnessed this heroic act,
+he plunged into the water, thoroughly examined both sides, and satisfied
+himself that the starboard side only had been damaged. This saved much
+time and expense; for had not Sir Edward hazarded the experiment, the
+apparatus for heaving down must have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> been shifted over. The
+<i>Indefatigable</i> was docked on her arrival at Plymouth, early in August,
+and it then appeared how accurately he had described the injury. She had
+twenty-seven of her floors and first futtocks broke, and the Portuguese,
+in repairing her, had put in seventeen feet of main-keel. The frame of a
+regular-built frigate could not have stood the shock.</p>
+
+<p>"A few days after the submarine inspection, the gun-room officers
+invited Sir Edward to dinner, to commemorate the 10th of June, the
+<i>Nymphe's</i> action, on board the <i>Principe Real</i>, a Portuguese 80-gun
+ship, used as a hulk by the <i>Indefatigable's</i> crew, while their ship was
+repairing. In the evening, some of the crew took Sir Edward on their
+shoulders, carried him all over the hulk, and swore they would make him
+an admiral."</p>
+
+<p>In her next cruise, the <i>Indefatigable</i> nearly lost her gallant captain.
+On the 31st of August she had strong gales and squally weather, the wind
+flying round from W. by S. to N.E., S.E., and S.W. In the afternoon the
+weather moderated. The ship had been hove to under a close-reefed
+main-topsail, with the top-gallant yards down, the sea running very
+high, and the ship pitching much. It was Sunday, and the captain was at
+dinner with the officers, when a bustle was heard on deck. He ran
+instantly to the poop, and saw two men in the water, amidst the wreck of
+a six-oared cutter. One of the tackles had unhooked, through a heavy sea
+lifting the boat, and the men had jumped into her to secure it, when
+another sea dashed her to pieces. The captain stepped into the gig,
+which was carried over the stern above the cutter, and ordered it to be
+lowered; and though his officers urgently dissuaded him from so
+dangerous an attempt, he determined to hazard it. At this moment the
+ship made a deep plunge aft, the boat was stove, and the captain left in
+the water. He was much hurt, and bled profusely, for he was dashed
+violently against the rudder, and his nostril was torn up by the hook of
+one of the tackles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> But his coolness and self-possession did not
+forsake him, and calling for a rope, he slung himself with one of the
+many that were thrown to him, and cheerfully ordered those on board to
+haul away. As soon as possible, the jolly-boat, with an officer and
+crew, was hoisted out from the booms, and fortunately saved the men.</p>
+
+<p>This was the third time within the present year that Sir Edward had
+risked his life to save others. While the ship was being fitted out, he
+had been instrumental in saving two lives at Point Beach. Again, a short
+time before she sailed, and while she was lying at Spithead, the
+coxswain of one of the cutters fell overboard. The captain ran aft, and
+was instantly in the water, where he caught the man just as he was
+sinking. Life was apparently extinct, but happily was restored by the
+usual means. Perhaps no man has oftener distinguished himself in this
+manner; but the splendour of one act of heroism and humanity leaves all
+the others in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>On the 26th of January, 1796, when the <i>Indefatigable</i> was lying in
+Hamoaze, after having been docked, the <i>Dutton</i>, a large East Indiaman,
+employed in the transport service, on her way to the West Indies with
+part of the 2nd, or Queen's regiment, was driven into Plymouth by stress
+of weather. She had been out seven weeks, and had many sick on board.
+The gale increasing in the afternoon, it was determined to run for
+greater safety to Catwater; but the buoy at the extremity of the reef
+off Mount Batten having broke adrift, of which the pilots were not
+aware, she touched on the shoal, and carried away her rudder. Thus
+rendered unmanageable, she fell off, and grounded under the citadel,
+where, beating round, she lay rolling heavily with her broadside to the
+waves. At the second roll she threw all her masts over board together.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward and Lady Pellew were on their way to dine with Dr. Hawker,
+vicar of Charles,&mdash;who had become acquainted with Mr. Pellew when they
+were serving together<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> at Plymouth as surgeons to the marines, and
+continued through life the intimate and valued friend of all the
+brothers. Sir Edward noticed the crowds running to the Hoe, and having
+learned the cause, he sprang out of the carriage, and ran off with the
+rest. Arrived at the beach, he saw at once that the loss of nearly all
+on board, between five and six hundred, was almost inevitable. The
+captain had been landed on account of indisposition on the preceding
+day, and his absence could not fail to increase the confusion of a large
+and crowded transport under such appalling circumstances. The officers
+had succeeded in getting a hawser to the shore, by which several of the
+people landed; but this was a slow operation; and none but a bold and
+active person could avail himself of this means of escape, for the
+rolling of the vessel would now jerk him high in the air, and then
+plunge him among the breakers. Every minute was of consequence, for
+night was approaching, and the wreck was fast breaking up.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward was anxious to send a message to the officers, and offered
+rewards to pilots, and others on the beach, to board the wreck; but when
+every one shrank from a service which they deemed too hazardous to be
+attempted, he exclaimed, "Then I will go myself." Availing himself of
+the hawser which communicated with the ship, he was hauled on board
+through the surf. The danger was greatly increased by the wreck of the
+masts, which had fallen towards the shore; and he received an injury on
+the back, which confined him to his bed for a week, in consequence of
+being dragged under the mainmast. But disregarding this at the time, he
+reached the deck, declared himself, and assumed the command. He assured
+the people that every one would be saved, if they attended quietly to
+his directions; that he would himself be the last to quit the wreck, but
+that he would run any one through who disobeyed him. His well-known
+name, with the calmness and energy he displayed, gave confidence to the
+despairing multitude. He was re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>ceived with three hearty cheers, which
+were echoed by the thousands on shore; and his promptitude at resource
+soon enabled him to find and apply the means by which all might be
+safely landed. His officers in the mean time, though not knowing that he
+was on board, were exerting themselves to bring assistance from the
+<i>Indefatigable</i>. Mr. Pellowe, first lieutenant, left the ship in the
+barge, and Mr. Thompson, acting master (son of Mr. Thompson, who had
+been master of the <i>Nymphe</i>), in the launch; but the boats could not be
+brought alongside the wreck, and were obliged to run for the Barbican. A
+small boat belonging to a merchant vessel was more fortunate. Mr.
+Edsell, signal midshipman to the port admiral, and Mr. Coghlan, mate of
+the vessel, succeeded, at the risk of their lives, in bringing her
+alongside. The ends of two additional hawsers were got on shore, and Sir
+Edward contrived cradles to be slung upon them, with travelling ropes to
+pass forward and backward between the ship and the beach. Each hawser
+was held on shore by a number of men, who watched the rolling of the
+wreck, and kept the ropes tight and steady. Meantime, a cutter had with
+great difficulty worked out of Plymouth pool, and two large boats
+arrived from the dockyard, under the directions of Mr. Hemmings, the
+master-attendant, by whose caution and judgment they were enabled to
+approach the wreck, and receive the more helpless of the passengers, who
+were carried to the cutter. Sir Edward, with his sword drawn, directed
+the proceedings, and preserved order&mdash;a task the more difficult, as the
+soldiers had got at the spirits before he came on board, and many were
+drunk. The children, the women, and the sick, were the first landed. One
+of them was only three weeks old; and nothing in the whole transaction
+impressed Sir Edward more strongly than the struggle of the mother's
+feelings before she would entrust her infant to his care, or afforded
+him more pleasure than the success of his attempt to save it. Next the
+soldiers were got on shore; then the ship's company; and finally. Sir
+Edward himself, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> was one of the last to leave her. Every one was
+saved, and presently after the wreck went to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could equal the lustre of such an action, except the modesty of
+him who was the hero of it. Indeed, upon all occasions, forward as he
+was to eulogize the merits of his followers, Sir Edward was reserved
+almost to a fault upon everything connected with his own services. The
+only notice taken of the <i>Dutton</i>, in the journal of the
+<i>Indefatigable</i>, is the short sentence:&mdash;"Sent two boats to the
+assistance of a ship on shore in the Sound;" and in his letter to
+Vice-Admiral Onslow, who had hoisted his flag at Plymouth a day or two
+before, he throws himself almost out of sight, and ascribes the chief
+merit to the officer who directed the boats:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,&mdash;I hope it happened to me this afternoon to be
+serviceable to the unhappy sufferers on board the <i>Dutton;</i> and I
+have much satisfaction in saying, that every soul in her was taken
+out before I left her, except the first mate, boatswain, and third
+mate, who attended the hauling ropes to the shore, and they eased
+me on shore by the hawser. It is not possible to refrain speaking
+in raptures of the handsome conduct of Mr. Hemmings, the
+master-attendant, who, at the imminent risk of his life, saved
+hundreds. If I had not hurt my leg, and been otherwise much
+bruised, I would have waited on you; but hope this will be a
+passable excuse.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>I am, with respect,<br />
+Sir,<br />
+Your most obedient, humble servant,</p>
+<p class='right'><span class="smcap">Ed. Pellew</span>."</p>
+<p>"Thursday evening."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The merit of services performed in the sight of thousands could not thus
+be disclaimed. Praise was lavished upon him from every quarter. The
+corporation of Plymouth voted him the freedom of the town. The merchants
+of Liverpool<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> presented him with a valuable service of plate. On the 5th
+of March following, he was created a baronet, as Sir Edward Pellew, of
+Treverry, and received for an honourable augmentation of his arms, a
+civic wreath, a stranded ship for a crest, and the motto, "Deo adjuvante
+Fortuna sequatur." This motto, so modest, and not less expressive of his
+own habitual feelings, was chosen by himself, in preference to one
+proposed, which was more personally complimentary.</p>
+
+<p>Appreciating Mr. Coghlan's services, and delighted with the judgment and
+gallantry he had displayed, Sir Edward offered to place him on his own
+quarter-deck. It is unnecessary to add that the career of this
+distinguished officer has been worthy his introduction to the navy.</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th of March the <i>Indefatigable</i> sailed from Falmouth, with the
+<i>Revolutionaire</i>, <i>Argo</i>, <i>Amazon</i>, and <i>Concorde</i>. On the 21st, the
+<i>Indefatigable</i> gave chase to three corvettes, one of which she drove on
+shore, and destroyed. On the 13th of April, she fell in with the French
+frigate <i>l'Unit&eacute;</i>, on her way from l'Orient to Rochefort, having on
+board, as passengers, the governor's lady, Madame la Large, and her
+family. The <i>Revolutionaire</i>, which was ordered to chase in shore to cut
+off the enemy from the land, came up with her a little before midnight.
+Captain Cole hailed the French captain, and urged him repeatedly to
+submit to a superior force; but the enemy refusing to strike, he poured
+in two destructive broadsides. He was preparing to board, the frigates
+at the time running ten knots, when the French ship surrendered. She had
+suffered very severely from the fire of the <i>Revolutionaire</i>, without
+having been able to make any effectual return. Sir Edward sent the
+passengers to Brest in a neutral vessel, and finding that one of the
+junior officers of the prize was a son of Mme. la Large, he took the
+young man's parole, and allowed him to accompany his mother.</p>
+
+<p>With his official communication to the Admiralty, which accompanied
+Captain Cole's account of the action, he wrote a private letter to the
+First Lord, and another to the Earl of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> Chatham. It was his practice
+through life thus to strengthen an interest for his officers in every
+possible quarter, and it was one, though not the only, cause of his
+remarkable success in obtaining promotion for so many of them. His
+letters on this occasion, though they display the warmth of private
+friendship, are not stronger than he was accustomed to write for others,
+whose only claim upon him was that which every deserving officer has to
+the patronage of his commander. The following is the letter to Lord
+Spencer:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;I have much pleasure in informing your Lordship
+of the capture of the French frigate, <i>l'Unit&eacute;</i>, of thirty-eight
+guns, and two hundred and fifty-five men; and I have more in
+conveying to your Lordship my sense of Captain Cole's merit upon
+the occasion. Nothing could be more decided than his conduct; and
+his attack was made with so much vigour and judgment, that a ship
+of very superior force to <i>l'Unit&eacute;</i> must have rewarded his
+gallantry. To his extreme vigilance and zeal, the squadron are
+indebted for this prize. It is not improper for me to say, that on
+all occasions I have found much reason to respect Captain Cole as a
+skilful and brave officer, and I rejoice in the opportunity of
+bearing testimony to his merit."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>To the Earl of Chatham, with whom he was intimate, he wrote in a more
+familiar strain:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Lord</span>,&mdash;Much as I dislike breaking in upon your
+time, I cannot resist the pleasure of repeating to you the good
+fortune of my friend, Frank Cole, who was the fortunate man among
+us in taking <i>l'Unit&eacute;</i>, alias <i>la Variante</i>. There are few things,
+my Lord, that could raise my friend either in your opinion or mine;
+but one cannot but rejoice on finding our expectations realized.</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied that nothing could be better conducted than Frank's
+ship upon this occasion, or courage more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> coolly displayed; a proof
+of which was strongly exhibited in his conversation with a vaunting
+Frenchman, boasting of his own strength, and threatening the
+vengeance of his partner. It will not be advancing too much when I
+say, that a ship of far superior force must have shared the same
+fate. The French commander complains bitterly of Cole's taking such
+advantages as his superior skill afforded him. The <i>Revolutionaire</i>
+is much improved since her mainmast was moved, and you will believe
+her, my Lord, always in good order. I have with infinite pleasure
+given my testimony of Frank to Lord Spencer, and I doubt not but
+your Lordship will give him a lift in the same quarter."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Captain Cole, though his career had been less brilliant than that of his
+friend since they parted, had gained most flattering distinction. His
+high character as an officer, and his reputation for peculiar
+correctness of conduct, added perhaps to his more than common advantages
+in person and manners, had obtained for him the honour of being
+selected, conjointly with the late Sir Richard Keats, to have the
+particular charge of his late Majesty, when he first entered the navy,
+being made lieutenants of the watch in which the Prince was placed. He
+was introduced by his royal pupil to the Prince of Wales, who said of
+him, "They may talk of a cockpit education, and cockpit manners; but a
+court could not have produced more finished manners than those of your
+friend Captain Cole." The friendship between Sir Edward and himself had
+continued from their boyhood, and they had cherished for each other the
+affection and confidence of brothers. He died at Plymouth in 1799. A
+little before his death, Sir Edward, who had just returned from a
+cruise, came to see him for the last time. "Now," said the expiring
+officer, "I shall die more happy, since I have been permitted to see
+once again the dearest of my friends:" and when Sir Edward at length
+tore himself from the room, unable to control his feelings any longer, a
+burst of grief, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> returning to the mother and sisters of Captain Cole,
+prevented him for a considerable time from regaining sufficient
+composure to quit the affecting scene.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the 20th of April, the frigates were lying-to off the
+Lizard, when a large ship was seen coming in from seaward, which tacked
+as soon as she perceived them, and stood off without answering the
+private signal. The <i>Revolutionaire</i> and <i>Argo</i> were ordered by signal
+to proceed to port with the prize, and the others to make all sail in
+chase, the wind being off the land. Towards evening the <i>Concorde</i> and
+<i>Amazon</i> had been run out of sight, but the <i>Indefatigable</i> gained upon
+the chase, which made the most strenuous efforts to escape, and was
+manoeuvred with no common ability. She was the 40-gun frigate
+<i>Virginie</i>, one of the finest and fastest vessels in the French marine,
+and commanded by Captain Jaques Bergeret, a young-officer of the highest
+character and promise. The <i>Virginie</i> was one of the fleet of Villaret
+Joyeuse, when, ten months before, Cornwallis, with five sail of the line
+and two frigates, effected his justly celebrated retreat from thirty
+French men-of-war, of which twelve were of the line. On this occasion,
+Bergeret attacked the <i>Mars</i>, with a spirit and judgment which gave full
+earnest of his future conduct.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that the British frigate outsailed her on a wind, the <i>Virginie</i>
+bore away; but the <i>Indefatigable</i> continued to gain on her, and at a
+little before midnight came up within gun-shot, and took in royals and
+studding-sails, having run one hundred and sixty-eight miles in fifteen
+hours. The <i>Virginie</i> fired her stern-chasers, occasionally yawing to
+bring some of her broadside guns to bear, but without material effect;
+and the two ships, still running under a press of canvass, came to
+action. The <i>Indefatigable</i> had only one broadside-gun more than her
+opponent; but her size and very heavy metal gave her an irresistible
+superiority. Seven of the <i>Virginie's</i> people were killed at one of the
+quarter-deck guns, which struck such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> panic in those around them, that
+it was with difficulty they could be induced to return to their
+quarters. Yet Bergeret fought his ship with admirable skill and
+gallantry, and maintained a very protracted action, constantly
+endeavouring to cripple the <i>Indefatigable's</i> rigging. Sir Edward had a
+very narrow escape. The main-top-mast was shot away, and falling
+forward, it disabled the main yard, and came down on the
+splinter-netting directly over his head. Happily, the netting was strong
+enough to bear the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>It was an hour and three-quarters from the commencement of the action,
+when, the <i>Virginie's</i> mizen-mast and main-top-mast being shot away, the
+<i>Indefatigable</i> unavoidably went a-head. In addition to her former
+damage, she had lost her foreyard and gaff, and her rigging was so much
+cut that she was unable immediately to shorten sail. The <i>Virginie</i> was
+completely riddled. Some of the <i>Indefatigable's</i> shot had even gone
+through the sail-room and out at the opposite side of the ship. She had
+four feet water in her hold, and more than forty of her crew were killed
+and wounded. Yet she attempted to rake her opponent as she was shooting
+a-head, and had nearly succeeded in doing so.</p>
+
+<p>While the <i>Indefatigable</i> was reeving fresh braces, the other frigates
+came up, having been enabled to make a shorter distance by the altered
+course of the combatants during the chase. On their approach, the
+<i>Virginie</i> fired a lee-gun, and hauled down her light; and being hailed
+by the <i>Concorde</i>, replied, "We must surrender, there are so many of
+you: we strike to the frigate a-head." A more brave and skilful
+resistance is scarcely afforded by the annals of the war; and the
+officer who thus defends his ship against a very superior force may
+challenge more honour than would be claimed by the victor.</p>
+
+<p>A boat was sent from the <i>Indefatigable</i> for the gallant prisoner, who
+was deeply affected at his misfortune, and wept bitterly. He inquired to
+whom he had struck; and being told Sir Edward Pellew, "Oh!" he
+exclaimed, "that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> is the most fortunate man that ever lived! He takes
+everything, and now he has taken the finest frigate in France."</p>
+
+<p>Bergeret was for some time the honoured guest of Sir Edward and his
+family, and the British Government considered him an officer of
+sufficient character to be offered in exchange for Sir Sidney Smith, who
+had been made prisoner at Havre just before. They sent him to France on
+his parole, to effect this object; but his application not being
+successful, he returned to England. Two years after, Sir Sidney Smith
+escaped, and the British Government, with a feeling most honourable to
+themselves, set Bergeret unconditionally at liberty. Thus do the brave
+and good, in challenging the respect of their enemies, contribute to
+soften the rigours of war, and to create a better feeling between
+hostile nations.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> A trifling incident occurred in this journey, which may,
+perhaps, deserve to be mentioned. In going down a hill, two or three
+miles beyond Axminster, both leaders fell, and the night being very
+cold, for the wind had set in strong from the eastward, a ring, on which
+he set particular value, dropped from Sir Edward's finger, as he was
+getting into the carriage again. He was vexed at the loss; but the road
+being very dirty, and the night dark, it was useless then to seek it. He
+therefore tore a bush from the hedge, and left it where the carriage had
+stopped: and ordering the post-boys to draw up at the next cottage, he
+knocked up the inmates, and promised them a reward if they found it. To
+his great pleasure, the expedient proved successful, and the ring was
+delivered to him on his return.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The <i>Revolutionaire</i>, 110, wrecked Dec. 24, on the Mingan
+rock, near Brest; the <i>Neuf Thermidor</i>, 80. <i>Scipion</i>, 80, and
+<i>Superbe</i>, 74, foundered in a heavy gale on the 28th of January; and the
+<i>Neptune</i>, 74, wrecked in Audierne Bay.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.</h3>
+
+<p>France, having at length obtained internal quiet, and a settled
+Government under the Directory, and secured the alliance of Spain and
+Holland, prepared for a decisive blow against Great Britain. The
+condition of the British empire was at that time peculiarly critical. Of
+her allies, some had joined the enemy, and the others had proved unequal
+to resist him. In the East, the most powerful of the native princes were
+preparing to subvert her authority. At home, Ireland was organized for
+rebellion; and England herself contained a strong revolutionary party,
+checked, indeed, by the energy of the Government, and still more by the
+excellent disposition of the people, but prepared to rise in formidable
+activity, whenever the successes of the enemy should enable them to
+declare themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Well acquainted with all her difficulties, the French Government
+hastened to take advantage of them. Through the summer and autumn of
+1796, a powerful fleet was equipped at Brest, to land an army on the
+shores of Ireland; after accomplishing which, a squadron of eight sail
+of the line was to be detached to India, where its support would
+probably encourage the hostile states to an immediate and general war.
+Its prospects were the more promising, as the armies of two of the
+native princes were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> officered by Frenchmen. As for Ireland, that was
+regarded as a country of which they had only to take possession; and the
+well-known feeling of a considerable part of the inhabitants warranted
+the most sanguine hopes of the invader.</p>
+
+<p>The history of Ireland affords a melancholy, but most instructive
+lesson, pre-eminent as that unhappy country has been, at once for
+natural and political advantages, and for misery, turbulence, and crime.
+A Government, to command the obedience of the people by its firmness,
+and their confidence by a marked consideration for their feelings and
+welfare; a gentry, united with them as their leaders, protectors, and
+friends; and a Church, winning them to a purer faith by the unobtrusive
+display of benefits and excellences: all these blessings might have been
+its own. But by fatal mismanagement, the gentry, those of them who
+remained, were viewed as the garrison of a conquered country by the
+multitude, who were taught to feel themselves a degraded caste. The
+Church became identified in their minds with all that they most
+complained of; and the faith for which they suffered was doubly endeared
+to them. Thus the instruments for their deliverance confirmed their
+thraldom, and what should have won affection aggravated their enmity.</p>
+
+<p>If there were a mistake beyond all this, it was that of expecting peace
+from concessions extorted by violence, and calculated only to give
+increased power to the enemies of existing institutions. Lord Exmouth
+held a very decided opinion upon this point, and foresaw that strong
+coercive measures would become necessary in consequence. He well knew
+how feeble would be the restraint imposed by any conditions contemplated
+by the advocates of change; and in allusion to the remark of the Duke of
+Northumberland, who had expressed a belief that he would think
+differently, when he saw the securities which would accompany the
+concessions&mdash;"Securities!" he said, "it is all nonsense! I never yet
+could see them, and I never shall." He justly antici<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>pated, that as long
+as anything remained to be extorted, new demands would be founded upon
+every new concession. "How would you like," he said to one of his
+officers, "to see Roman Catholic chaplains on board our ships of war?"
+While the question was in progress, he wrote with prophetic truth&mdash;"The
+times are awful, when the choice of two evils only is left, a threatened
+rebellion, or the surrender of our constitution, by the admission of
+Catholics into Parliament and all offices. I think even this will not
+satisfy Ireland. Ascendancy is their object. You may postpone, and by
+loss of character parry the evil for a short space; but not long, depend
+upon it. You and I may not see it, but our children will, and be obliged
+to meet the struggle man to man, which we may now shirk. By God alone
+can we be saved from such consequences; may He shed his power and grace
+upon us as a nation!"</p>
+
+<p>The political being everywhere dependent on the religious creed, a
+country where popish superstitions prevail will always contain two
+parties hostile upon principle to a free and constitutional government.
+The multitude, who have surrendered the right of private judgment upon
+the most engrossing subject, lose the disposition to exercise it upon
+matters of inferior importance; and become dangerous instruments in the
+hands of designing characters. A party will be found among them, whose
+penetration can detect the mummeries of imposture, but not perceive the
+claims of religion; and who, as they throw off allegiance to God, revolt
+at any exercise of human authority. Political privileges, the strength
+of a nation, where the intelligence and morals of the people support the
+law, will in such a country give power to rebellion, and impunity to
+crime. A government paternal in vigour as in kindness; the control of a
+firm authority, supreme over all influence, to maintain order, to leave
+no excuse for party, to protect the peaceable, promptly to suppress all
+resistance to the law, and to give to the demagogue only the alternative
+between obedience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> and rebellion, will be required not more for the
+safety of the state, than for the welfare of the misguided people.</p>
+
+<p>When the progress of the French revolution engaged the attention of
+Europe, there was no country where it was regarded with greater interest
+than in Ireland. The Papists hoped from it the opportunity to overthrow
+Protestant supremacy: the Liberals hailed the triumph of their own
+principles. Emissaries were sent to France, who represented that nothing
+was wanting to secure the independence of Ireland but a regular army for
+a rallying point; and France, hoping to give a fatal blow to her most
+formidable enemy, and to gain a valuable province for herself, readily
+promised the aid required, and as soon as her own distracted condition
+would allow, hastened to fulfil her engagement.</p>
+
+<p>The auxiliary force which the rebel delegates deemed sufficient, was
+fifteen thousand men; but an army of at least eighteen thousand was
+provided, commanded by that determined republican and distinguished
+officer, General Hoche, who had very recently succeeded in suppressing
+the revolt in La Vendee. Vice Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, defeated by Lord
+Howe on the 1st of June, was selected to command the fleet; but, a
+misunderstanding having arisen between him and the General, he was
+superseded by Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles.</p>
+
+<p>The Minister of Marine, M. Truguet, whose able arrangements seemed to
+have anticipated and provided for every difficulty, had intended that
+the descent should be made in October, or at latest by the beginning of
+November; but the General having preferred to embark the whole army at
+once, it was delayed for the arrival of Rear-Admirals Pachery and
+Villeneuve; of whom the first, with seven sail of the line and three
+frigates, was waiting for an opportunity to come up from Rochefort, and
+the other was expected with five sail of the line from Toulon. The
+secret of the enemy's intentions was so well kept, that England had to
+conjecture the destination of the armament, and it was doubted to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+last whether its object was Ireland, Portugal, or Gibraltar. In this
+uncertainty, a principal division of the Channel fleet, under Lord
+Bridport, remained at Spithead: Sir Roger Curtis, with a smaller force,
+cruised to the westward; and Vice-Admiral Sir John Colpoys was stationed
+off Brest, at first with ten, but afterwards with thirteen sail of the
+line. Sir Edward Pellew, with a small force of frigates, latterly
+watched the harbour.</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of November, Sir R. Curtis returned to port, and soon
+after, M. Richery sailed from Rochefort, and entered Brest on the 11th
+of December. Sir E. Pellew, who had necessarily retired on his approach,
+immediately sent off two frigates with despatches, the <i>Amazon</i> to
+England, and the <i>Ph&oelig;be</i> to Sir J. Colpoys. On the 15th, he stood in
+with the <i>Indefatigable</i>, and though chased by a seventy-four and five
+frigates, stationed in Bertheaume Bay, he persisted in watching the port
+as usual. In the afternoon, he saw the French fleet leave the road of
+Brest, and immediately sent back the <i>Ph&oelig;be</i> to report the fact to
+the Admiral. The enemy anchored between Camaret and Bertheaume Bays, in
+front of the goulet, or entrance into Brest road.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing how much depended on his vigilance, Sir Edward had watched Brest
+with the most anxious attention. The wind blew generally from the
+eastward, at times so strong, that the line-of-battle-ships would be
+under a close-reefed maintop-sail and reefed foresail; and the weather
+was intensely cold: yet he went every morning to the mast-head, where he
+would remain making his observations for a considerable part of the day,
+one of the older midshipmen being usually with him. "Well I remember,"
+writes one of his officers, "that on being one day relieved to go down
+to my dinner, I was obliged to have some of the main-top-men to help me
+down the rigging, I was so benumbed with the intense cold: yet the
+captain was there six or seven hours at a time, without complaining, or
+taking any refreshment."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the 16th, the wind being from the eastward, the French fleet,
+forty-four ships, of which seventeen were of the line and thirteen
+frigates, got finally under way, not waiting the arrival of Villeneuve.
+The Admiral purposed leaving Brest by the southern entrance, the Passage
+du Raz, between the Bec du Raz and the Saintes. By taking this course,
+and by so timing his departure as to clear the land just at nightfall,
+he hoped to elude the vigilance of the British fleet off Ushant, whose
+usual cruising ground was not more than six or seven leagues to leeward.
+But through the delays inseparable from getting a large and encumbered
+fleet to sea, it was four o'clock before all the ships were under sail;
+and as night was fast closing in, and the wind becoming variable, the
+Admiral determined not to attempt the narrow and dangerous passage he
+had fixed on, but to steer for the open entrance in front of the
+harbour, the Passage d'Iroise. Accordingly, he altered his own course,
+and made signal for the fleet to follow; but neither was generally
+observed, and the greater part of the ships, as previously directed,
+entered the Passage du Raz. The Admiral, therefore, sent a corvette into
+the midst of them, to call their attention to his own ship, which
+continued to fire guns, and display lights to mark the change in her
+course. By this time, it was quite dark, and many circumstances
+increased the enemy's confusion. The <i>Seduisant</i>, seventy-four, ran on
+the Grand Stevenet, a rock at the entrance of the Passage du Raz, where
+she was totally lost that night, with nearly seven hundred of her
+people. Her guns, and other signals, prevented those of the corvette
+from being attended to; and the <i>Indefatigable</i>, which kept close to the
+French Admiral, made his signals unintelligible to the fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Sir E. Pellew had stood in that morning with the <i>Indefatigable</i> and
+<i>Revolutionaire</i>, and at noon came in sight of the enemy. At a quarter
+before five, when they had all got underway, he sent off Captain Cole to
+the Admiral, and remained with his own ship to observe and embarrass
+their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> movements. With a boldness which must have astonished them,
+accustomed though they had been to the daring manner in which he had
+watched their port; under easy sail, but with studding-sails ready for a
+start, if necessary, he kept as close as possible to the French Admiral,
+often within half-gun-shot; and as that officer made signals to his
+fleet, he falsified them by additional guns, lights, and rockets. At
+half-past eight, when the French ships were observed coming round the
+Saintes, he made sail to the north-west, with a light at each mast-head,
+constantly making signals for Sir J. Colpoys, by firing a gun every
+quarter of an hour, throwing up rockets, and burning blue lights. At
+midnight, having received no answer, he tacked, and stood to the
+southward until six o'clock. Still seeing nothing of the Admiral, though
+he had sailed over all his cruising ground, he sent off the <i>Duke of
+York</i>, hired armed lugger, to England, with despatches, intending to
+remain with the <i>Indefatigable</i>, and take part in the expected battle.
+But reflecting on the importance of conveying the information quickly to
+England, with the uncertainty of its being carried safely by so small a
+vessel; and assured that the <i>Revolutionaire</i>, which he had again spoke
+that morning, would not fail to meet Sir J. Colpoys, he gave up the hope
+of distinction to a sense of duty, and made sail for Falmouth. He
+arrived late in the evening of the 20th.</p>
+
+<p>If Lord Bridport had been waiting at Falmouth, with discretional powers,
+Sir Edward having been instructed to communicate directly with him, he
+might have sailed early on the 21st, and found the enemy in Bantry Bay,
+where, perhaps, not a ship would have escaped him. It is, however, to be
+remembered, that as the destination of the French armament was unknown
+to the last, the Admiralty might very properly determine that he should
+receive his final instructions from themselves, and therefore would keep
+the fleet at Spithead for the convenience of ready communication.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the 25th, Lord Bridport attempted to sail. The enemy had arrived four
+days before, and if the weather had allowed the troops to land, the most
+complete naval victory would have been too late to save the country. The
+fleet was prevented from putting to sea on that day by a succession of
+accidents, by which five of the heaviest ships were disabled before they
+could leave the harbour. The <i>Prime</i> missed stays, and fell on board the
+<i>Sans Pareil</i>. The <i>Formidable</i> ran foul of the <i>Ville de Paris</i>; and
+the <i>Atlas</i> grounded. Four of these were three-deckers, and the other
+was one of the finest 80-gun ships in the service. When at length part
+of the fleet reached St. Helen's, a shift of wind kept the rest at
+Spithead; and the Admiral could not put to sea till January 3rd. The
+baffled enemy was then returning, and seven of his ships had actually
+arrived in Brest two days before the British sailed from Portsmouth to
+pursue them.</p>
+
+<p>How Sir J. Colpoys missed the enemy may appear extraordinary. The
+explanation, which every circumstance tends to confirm, is, that he was
+restrained from attacking them by his instructions, his force being
+intended only for a squadron of observation: for though the enemy's
+fleet, as it actually sailed, would have given him an easy victory,
+there was always reason to believe that it was much too strong for his
+force. Exclusive of the five sail which were hourly expected from
+Toulon, there were twenty-four line-of-battle ships in Brest, and there
+was no reason to conclude but that the greater part, if not the whole of
+them, were to sail with the expedition. As the British would be so much
+outnumbered, Sir E. Pellew offered, in the event of a battle, to take a
+place in the line with the <i>Indefatigable</i>. The Admiral thanked him, but
+declined the offer, believing that the enemy's superiority was too great
+to hope for victory. When the enemy put to sea, the British fleet was
+eight or nine leagues to the westward of their usual cruising ground,
+and thus was missed, not only by the <i>Indefatigable</i>, but also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> by the
+<i>Revolutionaire</i>, which did not join with the information till the 19th.
+Next day, the Toulon ships were seen, and chased into port; and the
+Admiral, having no means of learning the course of the Brest fleet, and
+some of his own ships being obliged to part company, in consequence of
+injuries they had sustained in a gale, bore away with the remainder for
+Spithead.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, almost everything favoured the enemy. The two divisions of his
+fleet, which were separated on the evening of the 16th, by putting to
+sea through different passages, rejoined on the 19th, and reached their
+destination early on the 21st, without having met a single British
+cruiser. When they appeared off the Bay, a number of pilot-boats came
+out, supposing them to be a British fleet; and thus the French Admiral
+obtained pilots for his ships, and gained all the information he wanted
+of the British men-of-war on the coast. A line-of-battle ship and three
+frigates were still missing. Their absence would not have materially
+weakened the enemy, whose force still exceeded what the rebel delegates
+had required; but the two commanders had embarked in one of the missing
+frigates, the <i>Fraternit&eacute;</i>; and Rear-Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy,
+the seconds in command, could scarcely act with decision while their
+chiefs were hourly expected.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Fraternit&eacute;</i>, with the other three ships in company, was very near
+the fleet on the 20th, but it was concealed from her by a fog; and a
+gale which dispersed the fog, separated her from her consorts.
+Proceeding alone to the Bay, she had nearly reached it on the 21st, when
+she fell in with a British frigate, which she mistook for one of her own
+fleet till she was almost within gun-shot. Night saved her from capture,
+but the chase had carried her far to the westward, and it was eight days
+before she obtained a fair wind to return.</p>
+
+<p>The ships continued beating up to Bearhaven against a fresh easterly
+breeze until the evening of the 22nd, when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Rear-Admiral anchored
+off the eastern extremity of Great Bear Island, with eight sail of the
+line, two frigates, and some smaller vessels. Seven sail of the line,
+and eight frigates, kept under sail; and the wind rising in the night
+blew them all off to sea.</p>
+
+<p>It blew hard, with a heavy sea, through the next day and night. On the
+24th, the weather having moderated, it was determined in a council of
+war to land the remaining troops immediately, and General Grouchy made a
+formal requisition for that purpose. A suitable landing-place was found,
+and the necessary preparations were completed; but it was now late in
+the afternoon, and the landing was necessarily deferred until morning.
+That night, the gale rose from the eastward, and increased through the
+next day to a tempest. At length the ships began to drive from their
+anchors. The <i>Indomptable</i>, 80, ran foul of the <i>Resolve</i> frigate, and
+totally dismasted her. The other frigate, the <i>Immortalit&eacute;</i>, in which
+Rear-admiral Bouvet had embarked, though his proper flag-ship was the
+<i>Droits de l'Homme,</i> parted one of her cables in the evening, and was
+obliged to cut the other, and run out to sea. The weather would not
+allow her to return until the 29th, and then the Rear-Admiral, hopeless
+of re-assembling the fleet, decided to proceed to Brest.</p>
+
+<p>Others were less fortunate. The <i>Tortue</i> frigate, two corvettes, and
+four transports, were taken. The <i>Surveillante</i> frigate was wrecked, and
+a transport foundered in the bay; and a third frigate, <i>l'Impatiente</i>,
+was driven on shore near Crookhaven. The sailors determined to secure
+for themselves alone the means of escape, leaving the troops to their
+fate. Where such a feeling could exist, the discipline required for
+their own safety was not likely to be found: and all perished but seven,
+who were saved chiefly by the exertions of the people on shore.</p>
+
+<p>Part of the fleet, after having been blown out of the bay, steered for
+the <i>Shannon</i>, which had been fixed on as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> rendezvous in the event of
+separation; but they were too few to attempt a landing, and after
+waiting for a short time in hope of reinforcements, they found it
+necessary to return.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Fraternit&eacute;</i>, with the two commanders-in-chief, continued to beat
+against an easterly gale till the 29th, when the wind became fair for
+the bay. Standing towards it, she fell in with the <i>Scerola</i>, ras&eacute;, in a
+sinking state, with the <i>Revolution</i>, 74, engaged in taking out the
+people. She assisted to save them, and the two ships continued their
+course towards Ireland, hoping to fall in with so many of the fleet as
+might still enable them to make a descent. But next day, not having seen
+any of them, and their provisions becoming short, they steered for
+France. On the 8th of January, they were very near eleven of their
+ships, which they would presently have joined, but that they altered
+their course to avoid two British frigates, the <i>Unicorn</i> and <i>Doris</i>,
+which at the time were actually being chased by the French. Next day
+they again fell in with the frigates, and on the morning of the 10th
+they were chased by Lord Bridport's fleet, from which they narrowly
+escaped. On the 14th they entered Rochefort, the last of the returning
+ships.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the fate of an expedition, in which nothing was neglected which
+foresight could suggest, and nothing wanting which ability could supply;
+whose fortune attended it until success might be deemed secure, and
+whose defeat was attended with circumstances too extraordinary to be
+referred to common causes. History records no event, not attended by
+direct miracle, in which God's providence is more strikingly displayed.
+The forces of atheism and popery had joined to overthrow a nation, the
+stronghold of Christian truth, and the bulwark of Protestant Europe. In
+this, so emphatically a holy war, no earthly arm was allowed to achieve
+the triumph. Human agency was put aside, and all human defences
+prostrated; and then, when the unresisted invader touched the object of
+his hope, the elements were commissioned against him. That the vigilance
+of a block<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>ading force should be so eluded, and that unusual misfortunes
+should prevent a fleet from sailing till nothing remained for it to do;
+that the enemy's two commanders should be separated from their force
+when it sailed, and afterwards prevented, by so many well-timed
+casualties, from rejoining it; that when the fleet had actually arrived
+in the destined port, half should be blown out to sea again before they
+could anchor, and the rest driven from their anchors before they could
+land the troops; that the returning ships should be prevented from
+meeting their commanders; and that every disappointment should just
+anticipate the moment of success;&mdash;such a combination of circumstances
+it were folly and impiety to ascribe to anything less than the hand of
+God.</p>
+
+<p>A victory would have saved the country, but it would not have afforded
+such ground for assured confidence in her future trials. This
+deliverance was a pledge of protection through the terrible struggle of
+the next twenty years; when, long disappointed in her hopes, and at
+length deserted by her last ally, England still maintained her good
+cause with a firmness more honourable to her character than even the
+unrivalled triumph she achieved. It remains a pledge, that amidst all
+dangers she may perform her duty as a Christian country, in full
+reliance upon God's blessing: or, should the greatness of her trials
+confound all human resources, that she may wait, in quietness and
+confidence, for God's deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>It was Sir Edward Pellew's fortune, as he had been prominent in the
+services connected with the sailing of this armament, to mark the return
+of it by a battle, the only one fought, and equally singular in its
+circumstances, and appalling in its result. He put to sea with the
+<i>Indefatigable</i> and <i>Amazon</i> on the 22nd, and supposing the enemy to
+have gone to the southward, cruised off Capes Ortugal and Finisterre
+until the 11th of January. On the 2nd, the <i>Amazon</i> carried away her
+main-topmast, and on the 11th, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> <i>Indefatigable</i> sprung her
+main-topmast and topsail-yard in a squall, and was obliged to shift
+them. Returning towards the Channel, on the 13th of January, at a little
+past noon, the ships being about fifty leagues south-west of Ushant, and
+the wind blowing hard from the westward, with thick weather, a sail was
+discovered in the north-west. Sail was made in chase, and by four
+o'clock the stranger, at first supposed to be a frigate, as she had no
+poop, was clearly made out to be a French two-decker.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy's ship, the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i>, commanded by Commodore,
+<i>ci-devant</i> Baron Lacrosse, was one of those which had proceeded to the
+Shannon, after having been blown out of Bantry Bay. She was the
+flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bouvet, but this officer, according to a
+frequent practice of French admirals, had embarked in a frigate. General
+Humbert, who commanded one of the expeditions to Ireland in 1798, had
+taken his passage in her. That morning she had arrived within
+twenty-five leagues of Belleisle, and as the weather appeared
+threatening, she stood to the southward, fearing to approach nearer to
+the shore. Early in the afternoon she saw two large ships at a short
+distance to windward, probably the <i>Revolution</i> and <i>Fraternit&eacute;</i>, but
+not waiting to ascertain their character, she made sail from them to the
+south-east. At half-past three she first discovered on her lee-bow the
+two frigates, which had observed her three hours before, and were
+steering a course nearly parallel to her own, to cut her off from the
+land.</p>
+
+<p>The wind had now increased to a gale, and the sea was fast rising. At
+half-past four the enemy carried away her fore and main-topmasts in a
+heavy squall. At three-quarters past five the <i>Indefatigable</i> came up
+with her, and having shortened sail to close-reefed topsails, poured in
+a broadside as she crossed her stern. The enemy returned it from some of
+the upper-deck guns, and by showers of musketry from the troops, of whom
+there were nearly a thousand on board.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> So close were the ships, that
+some of the <i>Indefatigable's</i> people tore away the enemy's ensign, which
+became entangled in the mizen rigging. The <i>Indefatigable</i> then tried to
+pass ahead and gain a position on the enemy's bow, but the
+line-of-battle ship avoided this, and attempted, but without success, to
+lay the frigate on board, actually grazing the <i>Indefatigable's</i>
+spanker-boom.</p>
+
+<p>The British frigate engaged the line-of-battle ship single-handed for
+more than an hour, before her consort, which was several miles astern
+when the action commenced, could get up to assist her. At length,
+reaching the enemy, the <i>Amazon</i> poured a broadside into her quarter,
+and then, with the Commodore, maintained the engagement until about
+half-past seven, when the <i>Indefatigable</i> found it necessary to repair
+her rigging, and both frigates shot ahead.</p>
+
+<p>At a little past eight, the frigates renewed the action, and placing
+themselves one on either bow of the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i>, raked her
+alternately. The seventy-four brought her guns to bear upon one or the
+other of her antagonists as well as she could, and occasionally
+attempted, but without success, to close. At half-past ten, her
+mizenmast was shot away, when the frigates changed their position, and
+attacked her on either quarter. Soon after she began to fire shells. The
+gale continued all night, with a very heavy sea, and the violent motion
+of the ships made the labour of the crews most excessive. On the
+main-deck of the <i>Indefatigable</i>, the men were often to the middle in
+water. Some of her guns broke their breechings four times; others drew
+the ring-bolts, and from some, the charge was obliged to be drawn after
+loading, in consequence of the water beating into them. But under these
+most trying circumstances, the crew did their duty nobly. The <i>Amazon</i>,
+being a smaller ship, experienced still greater difficulties than the
+<i>Indefatigable</i>. She emulated her consort most gallantly, and suffered a
+greater loss. Her masts and rigging were very much damaged; her
+mizen-top-mast, gaff, spanker-boom, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> main-topsail-yard being
+entirely shot away; the main and foremast, and the fore and main yards
+wounded in several places by large shot; many of her shrouds, stays, and
+back-stays shot away, besides those which had been knotted and stoppered
+in the action; all her spare cordage was expended in reeving running
+rigging, and she had three feet water in the hold. The loss of men in
+both ships was remarkably small. The <i>Amazon</i> had three killed, and
+fifteen badly wounded; and the <i>Indefatigable</i>, though she had so long
+fought the seventy-four single-handed, had only her first lieutenant and
+eighteen men wounded; twelve of them slightly, and the two worst cases
+from accidents. The lower-deck guns of the enemy were nearer the water
+than is usual in line of-battle ships, and in consequence of the heavy
+sea, she could use them only occasionally. From this cause, as well as
+from the excellent positions maintained by the frigates, and her
+crippled state through the latter part of the action, she could make but
+a very unequal return to their fire. She suffered very much. More than a
+hundred of her people were killed&mdash;a severe loss, yet small compared to
+what it must have been, from the crowded state of her decks, and the
+unprecedented length of the action, if the darkness, the heavy gale, and
+the consequent motion of the ships, had not made the firing slow, and
+the aim uncertain.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly eleven hours from the commencement of the action, when
+Lieutenant Bell, who was quartered on the forecastle, and who had kept
+the ship's reckoning through the night, satisfied himself that they were
+near the French coast, and ordered one or two sailors to keep a good
+look-out. One of these men thought he saw land, and reported it to his
+officer; who, perceiving it distinctly, went aft, and told the captain.
+Immediately the tacks were hauled on board, and the <i>Indefatigable</i>
+stood to the southward, after making the night-signal of danger to the
+<i>Amazon</i>, which, with equal promptitude, wore to the northward. The
+enemy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> who did not yet see the danger, thought they had beaten off the
+frigates, and poured a broadside into the <i>Indefatigable</i>, the most
+destructive she had yet received. Seven shot struck her hull, the three
+lower-masts were wounded, and the larboard main-topmast shrouds were all
+cut away close to the seizings of the eyes at the mast head. It required
+extraordinary activity and coolness to save the topmast, the loss of
+which, at that time, would have made that of the ship inevitable. Under
+the direction of Mr. Gaze, who immediately sprang aloft, the captain of
+the main-top cut away the top gallant-yard; while Mr. Thompson, acting
+master, got up the end of a hawser, which he clinched around the
+mast-head. Thus they saved the main-topmast, and probably prevented the
+mainmast itself from being sprung. Mr. Gaze, who received a master's
+warrant a few weeks after, continued with Lord Exmouth to the last day
+of his command. He was master of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and it
+was he who carried the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> in such admirable style to her
+position at Algiers.</p>
+
+<p>None at this time knew how desperate was their situation. The ships were
+in the Bay of Audierne, close in with the surf, with the wind blowing a
+heavy gale dead on the shore, and a tremendous sea rolling in. To beat
+off the land would have been a difficult and doubtful undertaking for
+the best and most perfect ship. The <i>Indefatigable</i> had four feet water
+in the hold, and her safety depended on her wounded spars and damaged
+rigging bearing the press of sail she was obliged to carry; while the
+crew, thus summoned to renewed exertion, were already quite worn out
+with fatigue. The fate of the other ships was certain; for the <i>Amazon</i>
+had all her principal sails disabled, and the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i> was
+unmanageable.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Indefatigable</i> continued standing to the southward, until the
+captain of the mizen-top gave the alarm of breakers on the lee-bow. The
+ship was immediately wore in eighteen fathoms, and she stood to the
+northward till half-past six,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> when land was again seen close a-head on
+the weather-bow, with breakers under the lee. Running again to the
+southward, she passed the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i> lying on her broadside in
+the surf, at the distance of about a mile, but without the possibility
+of giving the smallest assistance. Her own situation, indeed, was almost
+hopeless; and Sir Edward Pellew himself was deeply affected, when,
+having done all that seamanship could accomplish, he could only commit
+to a merciful Providence the lives of his gallant crew, all now
+depending upon one of the many accidents to the masts and rigging which
+there was so much reason to apprehend. Happily, the sails stood well;
+the <i>Indefatigable</i> continued to gain by every tack; and at eleven
+o'clock, with six feet water in her hold, she passed about
+three-quarters of a mile to windward of the Penmarcks; enabling her
+officers and men, after a day and night of incessant exertion, at length
+to rest from their toil, and to bless God for their deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>She had scarcely bent new topsails and foresail, the others having been
+shot to pieces, when two large ships were seen at some distance a-head,
+crossing her course, and standing in a direction for L'Orient. One of
+them was at first supposed to be the <i>Amazon</i>, of which nothing had been
+seen since the close of the action, and the extent of whose damages was
+not at all suspected. The other was considered to be a French frigate,
+and Sir Edward gave orders to make sail in chase. But the officers
+represented to him, that the crew, entirely exhausted by the
+unparalleled length of the action, and by their subsequent labours, were
+quite incapable of further exertion; that their ammunition was very
+short, scarcely a cartridge filled, and every wad expended. Had the
+French frigate been alone, this would have been a subject of much
+regret; for she was the <i>Fraternit&eacute;,</i> with the two commanders-in-chief
+and all the treasure of the expedition on board; but her consort was the
+74-gun ship <i>Revolution</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Amazon</i> struck the ground about ten minutes after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> she ceased
+firing. Her crew displayed the admirable discipline which British seamen
+are accustomed to maintain under such circumstances; more creditable to
+them, if possible, than the seamanship which saved the <i>Indefatigable</i>.
+From half past five until nine o'clock, they were employed in making
+rafts, and not a man was lost, or attempted to leave the ship, except
+six, who stole away the cutter from the stern, and were drowned. Captain
+Reynolds and his officers remained by the ship until they had safely
+landed, first the wounded, and afterwards every man of the crew. Of
+course they were made prisoners, but they were treated well, and
+exchanged not many months after.</p>
+
+<p>Conduct like that of the <i>Amazon's</i> people in their hour of extreme
+danger&mdash;and it is nothing more than British seamen commonly display in
+the same situation&mdash;makes an Englishman proud of his country. Nor should
+it be forgotten, for it exalts the feeling of patriotism and honest
+pride, that a man-of-war's crew at that time was made up, in part, of
+the lowest characters in society. What, then, must be the strength and
+excellence of that moral feeling in England, which can display itself
+thus nobly where it would be the least expected! The fact conveys an
+impressive lesson; for if the intelligence, decision, and kindness,
+which, with few exceptions, characterize our sea-officers, can effect
+such happy results where they operate on the most unpromising materials,
+it is clear, that whatever faults the lower classes in England display
+must be attributed, in a great degree, to the neglect or misconduct of
+those, whose station in society, as it gives the power, imposes the duty
+to guide them.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i> presents an awful contrast indeed to
+that of the <i>Amazon</i>. She saw the land soon after the frigates hauled
+off, and after hopeless attempts, first to avoid it, and afterwards to
+anchor, she struck the ground almost at the same moment as the British
+frigate. The main-mast went overboard at the second shock: the fore-mast
+and bowsprit had fallen a few minutes before, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> her attempt to keep
+off the land. When danger was first seen, the crew gave an alarm to the
+English prisoners below, of whom there were fifty-five, the crew and
+passengers of a letter-of-marque, which the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i> had
+taken a few days before: "Poor English, come up quickly; we are all
+lost!" Presently, the ship struck on a bank of sand, nearly opposite the
+town of Plouzenec. Cries of dismay were now heard from every part.
+Signals of distress were fired, and several of the guns hove overboard.
+Many of the people were soon washed away by the waves, which broke
+incessantly over her. At daylight the shore was seen covered with
+spectators, but they could afford no assistance. In the meantime, the
+stern was beaten in by the sea, and no provisions or water could
+afterwards be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>At low water an attempt was made to reach the shore, but two boats which
+were brought alongside drifted away and were dashed to pieces on the
+rocks. A small raft was constructed to carry a hawser to the shore, by
+the aid of which it was hoped that preparations might be completed for
+safely landing the people. A few sailors having embarked on it, the rope
+was gradually slackened to allow it to drift to land; but some of these
+people being washed away, the rest became alarmed, cast off the hawser,
+and saved themselves. After a second unsuccessful attempt with a raft, a
+petty officer attached a cord to his body and tried to swim on shore;
+but he was soon exhausted, and would have perished, but that he was
+hauled back to the ship.</p>
+
+<p>On the second day, at low water, an English captain and eight other
+prisoners launched a small boat, and landed safely. Their success
+restored confidence to the multitude, proving, as it did, how easily all
+might be saved, if proper means were quietly adopted. But discipline and
+order were wanting; and attempts made without judgment, and without
+concert, ended in the loss of all who made them.</p>
+
+<p>Perishing with cold, and thirst, and hunger&mdash;for the ship,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> her stern
+now broken away, no longer afforded shelter from the waves, and they had
+tasted nothing since she struck&mdash;the unhappy crew saw a third day arise
+upon their miseries. Still the gale continued, and there was no prospect
+of relief from the shore. It was now determined to construct a large
+raft, and first to send away the surviving wounded, with the women and
+children, in a boat which remained. But as soon as she was brought
+alongside, there was a general rush, and about a hundred and twenty
+threw themselves into her. Their weight carried down the boat; next
+moment an enormous wave broke upon them, and when the sea became
+smoother, their corpses were seen floating all around. An officer,
+Adjutant General Renier, attempted to swim on shore, hoping that a
+knowledge of their condition might enable the spectators to devise some
+means for their deliverance. He plunged into the sea and was lost.</p>
+
+<p>"Already nearly nine hundred had perished," says Lieutenant Pipon, an
+officer of the 63rd regiment, who was on board a prisoner, and who
+afterwards published the dreadful story.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> "when the fourth night came
+with renewed terrors. Weak, distracted, and wanting everything, we
+envied the fate of those whose lifeless corpses no longer needed
+sustenance. The sense of hunger was already lost, but a parching thirst
+consumed our vitals. Recourse was had to wine and salt water, which only
+increased the want. Half a hogshead of vinegar floated up, and each had
+half a wine-glassful. This gave a momentary relief, yet soon left us
+again in the same state of dreadful thirst. Almost at the last gasp,
+every one was dying with misery: the ship, which was now one third
+shattered away from the stern, scarcely afforded a grasp to hold by, to
+the exhausted and helpless survivors. The fourth day brought with it a
+more serene sky, and the sea seemed to subside; but to behold, from fore
+and aft, the dying in all directions, was a sight too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> shocking for the
+feeling mind to endure. Almost lost to a sense of humanity, we no longer
+looked with pity on those who were the speedy fore-runners of our own
+fate, and a consultation took place to sacrifice some one to be food for
+the remainder. The die was going to be cast, when the welcome sight of a
+man-of-war brig renewed our hopes. A cutter speedily followed, and both
+anchored at a short distance from the wreck. They then sent their boats
+to us, and by means of large rafts, about a hundred and fifty of near
+four hundred who attempted it, were saved by the brig that evening.
+Three hundred and eighty were left to endure another night's misery,
+when, dreadful to relate, above one-half were found dead next morning."</p>
+
+<p>Commodore Lacrosse, General Humbert, and three British infantry
+officers, prisoners, remained in the wreck till the fifth morning; and
+all survived: so great is the influence of moral power to sustain
+through extreme hardships. The prisoners were treated with the utmost
+kindness, and in consideration of their sufferings, and the help they
+had afforded in saving many lives, a cartel was fitted out by order of
+the French Government to send them home, without ransom or exchange.
+They arrived at Plymouth on the 7th of March following.</p>
+
+<p>The Admiralty awarded head-money to the frigates for the destruction of
+the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i>. As there were no means of knowing her
+complement with certainty, Sir Edward wrote to Commodore Lacrosse to
+request the information, telling him it was the practice of his
+Government to award a certain sum for every man belonging to an enemy's
+armed vessel taken, or destroyed. The Commodore answered, that the
+<i>Droits de l'Homme</i> had been neither taken nor destroyed, but that the
+ships had fought like three dogs till they all fell over the cliff
+together. Her crew, with the troops, he said, was sixteen hundred men.</p>
+
+<p>The gallant captain of the <i>Amazon</i>, one of the earliest and closest
+friends of Sir Edward Pellew, perished at length<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> by a not less
+distressing shipwreck. At the end of 1811, being then a rear-admiral, he
+was returning from the Baltic in the <i>St. George</i>, a ship not calculated
+to remain so late on such a station. After having received much damage
+in a former gale, she was wrecked on Christmas-day, as well as the
+<i>Defence</i>, which attended her to afford assistance; and only eighteen
+men were saved from the two line-of-battle ships. Rear-Admiral Reynolds
+and his captain remained at their post till they sunk under the
+inclemency of a northern winter; when, stretched on the quarter-deck,
+and hand in hand, they were frozen to death together.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. p. 467.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MUTINY.</h3>
+
+<p>In less than four years Sir Edward had fought as many severe actions,
+and the number of his successes is even less remarkable than the very
+small loss with which he generally obtained them. Against the
+<i>Cleopatra</i>, indeed, where he engaged a superior and skilful opponent
+with an inexperienced crew, he suffered much; but he lost only three men
+in taking the <i>Pomone</i>, and none in his actions with the <i>Virginie</i> and
+the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i>. The same impunity continued to attend him; for
+not a dozen were killed on board his own ships through all the rest of
+his life.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Results so uniform, and applying to so long a service,
+cannot be ascribed to accidental causes.</p>
+
+<p>By his seamanship, his example, a strictness which suffered no duty to
+be neglected, and a kindness which allowed every safe indulgence, he
+would quickly bring a ship's company to a high state of discipline. In
+the language of an officer who served with him for almost thirty
+years&mdash;"No man ever knew better how to manage seamen. He was very
+attentive to their wants and habits. When he was a captain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> he
+personally directed them, and when the duty was over, he was a great
+promoter of dancing and other sports, such as running aloft, heaving the
+lead, &amp;c., in which he was himself a great proficient. He was steady in
+his discipline, and knew well the proper time to tighten or relax. He
+studied much the character of his men, and could soon ascertain whether
+a man was likely to appreciate forgiveness, or whether he could not be
+reclaimed without punishment. During the whole time he commanded
+frigates, his men had leave in port, one-third at a time, and very
+rarely a desertion took place."</p>
+
+<p>His quick and correct judgment, which at once saw how an object could be
+attained, was seconded in the hour of trial by a decision which secured
+every advantage. Nothing like hesitation was seen in him. "His first
+order," said an officer who long served with him, "was always his last;"
+and he has often declared of himself that he never had a second thought
+worth sixpence. This would be an absurd boast from a common character,
+but it is an important declaration from one whose life was a career of
+enterprise without a failure. Always equal to the occasion, his power
+displayed itself the more, as danger and difficulty increased; when,
+rising with the emergency, his calmness, the animation of his voice and
+look, and the precision of his orders, would impart to the men that cool
+and determined energy which disarms danger, and commands success.</p>
+
+<p>Not less striking was his influence in those more appalling dangers
+which try the firmness of a sailor more severely than the battle. The
+wreck of the <i>Dutton</i> is a memorable example. At a later period, during
+his command in India, the ship twice caught fire, and was saved chiefly
+by his conduct. On one of these occasions, the <i>Culloden</i> was under easy
+sail off the coast of Coromandel, and preparations had been made for
+partially caulking the ship, when a pitch-kettle, which had been heated,
+contrary to orders, on the fore part of the main deck, caught fire, and
+the people, instead of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> damping it out, most imprudently attempted to
+extinguish it with buckets of water. The steam blew the flaming pitch
+all around; the oakum caught fire, and the ship was immediately in a
+blaze. Many of the crew jumped overboard, and others were preparing to
+hurry out of her, when the presence and authority of the Admiral allayed
+the panic. He ordered to beat to quarters; the marines to fire upon any
+one who should attempt to leave the ship; the yard-tackles to be cut, to
+prevent the boats from being hoisted out; and the firemen only to take
+the necessary measures for extinguishing the fire. The captain, who was
+undressed in his cabin at the time of the disaster, received an
+immediate report of it from an officer, and hastened to the
+quarter-deck. The flames were rising in volumes from the main hatchway,
+but the Admiral was calmly giving his orders from the gangway, the
+firemen exerting themselves, and the rest of the crew at their quarters,
+all as quiet and orderly as if nothing had been going on but the common
+ship's duty.</p>
+
+<p>His patronage was exerted to the utmost. The manner in which the navy
+was chiefly manned through the war made this one of the most delicate
+and responsible parts of a captain's care. The impress brought into it
+many whom nothing but the strictest discipline of a man-of-war would
+control; but many also who had entered the merchant service with the
+view and the prospect of rising in it, some of whom were not inferior in
+connections and education to the young gentlemen on the quarter-deck.
+Nothing could be more gratifying to a commander than to promote these,
+as opportunity offered, to higher stations. Some thousands of them
+became petty and warrant officers in the course of the war, and not a
+few were placed on the quarter-deck, and are found among the best
+officers in the service. Sir Edward brought forward many of them, and
+his favour has been more than justified by their conduct.</p>
+
+<p>He was particularly attentive to the junior part of his crew. A steady
+person was employed to teach the ship's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> boys, and he always had the
+best schoolmaster who could be obtained for the young gentlemen. It was
+an object much desired to be placed with him, and could he have stooped
+to make his reputation subservient to his interest in this respect, he
+might have secured many useful political connections; but this
+consideration never seems to have influenced him. Many of his midshipmen
+had no friend but himself, and rank obtained no immunities, but rather a
+more strict control. He once removed from his ship a young nobleman of
+high connections, and who afterwards became a very distinguished
+officer, for indulging in what many would consider the excusable frolics
+of youth; but to which he attached importance, because the rank of the
+party increased the influence of the example; nor could he be induced by
+the young man's friends to reconsider his determination. The Duke of
+Northumberland, who had himself known all the duties and hardships of
+service, could appreciate the impartial strictness of Sir Edward; and
+when he determined to send into the navy, first a young man whom he
+patronized, and afterwards his own son, the present Duke, he was happy
+to avail himself of the services of Captain Schanck, to place them with
+such an officer. Acting upon the same principle, he would allow neither
+of them more than the usual expenses of the other midshipmen. All who
+entered a public service, he said, whatever their rank, should have no
+indulgences beyond their companions. His sense of Sir Edward's conduct
+was shown by a warm friendship, which terminated only with his life.</p>
+
+<p>In a few weeks after the action with the <i>Droits de l'Homme</i>, the mutiny
+broke out at Spithead, which deprived the country for a short time of
+the services of the Channel Fleet. The western squadrons were now of
+peculiar importance, for they became, in fact, the protectors of the
+Channel. The <i>Cleopatra</i>, commanded by the late excellent Sir Charles V.
+Penrose, was at Spithead when the mutiny took place; but the good
+disposition of his crew enabled him with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> admirable address to escape,
+and she joined Sir Edward's squadron at Falmouth. Thence she sailed with
+the <i>Indefatigable</i> and <i>Revolutionaire</i> on a cruise, in which all
+displayed extraordinary exertion, as, under such circumstances, all felt
+the necessity for it. One incident will mark their zeal and activity.
+The <i>Cleopatra</i> carried away her fore-topmast in chase, but replaced it
+so quickly, that she never lost sight of the privateer, which she
+overtook and captured. Several armed vessels were taken; and Sir Edward
+was careful often to run in with the squadron upon different parts of
+the French coast, that he might impress the belief that a considerable
+British force was at sea.</p>
+
+<p>Undismayed by the failure of their attempt on Ireland, the enemy were
+now preparing for a more formidable descent. They equipped a larger
+fleet than before, with a far more numerous army, over which they
+appointed the same able commander: and by an agreement with Holland, the
+Dutch fleet in the Texel, under Admiral de Winter, was to carry over a
+second army. This was to be commanded by General Daendels, an officer of
+great ability and decision. Napoleon thought very highly of him, and it
+was a material part of his own plan of invasion to send him with thirty
+thousand chosen troops to Ireland. He afterwards became Governor of
+Java, where he acted with an independence which awakened the jealousy of
+his master. Discovering this, he wrote to declare that he could hold the
+island against any force which France, or even England, could bring
+against him; but that to mark his devotedness to his emperor, he was
+ready to resign his command, and serve in the French army as a corporal.
+He was Governor of Mons during the invasion of France by the Allied
+armies; and he boasted to Mr. Pellew, who spent a few days with him
+after the peace, that an advancing army made a considerable circuit to
+avoid him, and that he held the fortress unmolested until Napoleon had
+abdicated; when he wrote to the Allied Sovereigns, asking to whom he
+should resign it. An invasion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> of Ireland, directed by generals such as
+Hoche and Daendels, and at a time when the British navy was in a state
+of mutiny, was an event justly to be dreaded; but all these mighty
+preparations were overturned more easily and quietly than the former.
+Everything was ready; and General Hoche had gone to Holland to make the
+final arrangements with his brother commanders, when the Legislative
+Assembly of France quarrelled with the Directory, and gained a temporary
+ascendancy. On the 16th of July, the new government displaced
+Vice-Admiral Truguet, the able Minister of Marine, and appointed M.
+Pl&eacute;ville le Peley his successor. With the usual madness of party, the
+new minister and his employer hastened to overturn all that had been
+done by their predecessors. They discharged the sailors, dismantled the
+fleet, and even sold some of the frigates and corvettes by public
+auction. When the Directory regained their power, September 4th, after
+an interval of only six weeks, they found that the preparations which
+had cost them so much time and treasure to complete, were utterly
+destroyed. In the following month, Admiral Duncan annihilated the Dutch
+fleet, and thus the proposed expedition was baffled at every point. Were
+a history of England written, with due regard to the operations of
+Divine Providence, in deliverances and successes effected not by human
+wisdom, or human strength, what cause would it afford for unbounded
+gratitude, and for unbounded confidence!</p>
+
+<p>While the enemy were fitting out this armament, Sir Edward was again
+employed to watch the harbour of Brest; a service which he performed so
+much to the annoyance of the French commander, that he sent a squadron
+to ride at single anchor in Bertheaume Bay, to prevent the frigates from
+reconnoitring the port. This squadron chased the <i>Indefatigable</i> and her
+consorts repeatedly, but without being able to bring them to action, or
+to drive them from their station. Once, however, a frigate narrowly
+escaped capture. The <i>Cleopatra</i> was becalmed close inshore, with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+<i>Indefatigable</i> about two miles to seaward, and another frigate between
+them, when a light air rose, and freshened off the land. The French
+ships slipped, and bringing the breeze with them, neared the
+<i>Cleopatra</i>; and a frigate actually succeeded in cutting off her
+retreat, while a seventy-four was fast coming up. Just then, when the
+capture of the <i>Cleopatra</i> seemed inevitable, the <i>Indefatigable</i> made
+the well-known signal for a fleet, by letting fly the sheets, and firing
+two guns in quick succession. Ushant being on her weather-bow, the enemy
+naturally supposed, as was intended, that the British fleet was coming
+up from behind the island; and putting about immediately, hastened back
+to their anchorage. A similar deception is understood to have been
+practised successfully by <i>the Pha&euml;ton</i>, during the celebrated retreat
+of Cornwallis; nor is it in either case an imputation upon the enemy,
+that they should readily take alarm, when they knew that a British fleet
+was cruising near them.</p>
+
+<p>Early in August, the <i>Indefatigable</i>, after a short stay in England, was
+again at her station off Brest; and Sir Edward, having carefully
+observed the port, and fully satisfied himself of the state of the
+French fleet, returned to Falmouth on the 14th, and, on the 26th, joined
+Lord Bridport at Torbay. At this time he offered to conduct an attack,
+which, had it been made, and with success, would have transcended the
+most brilliant results of naval enterprise. The weakness of the French
+Government, arising out of the struggle of parties for the ascendancy,
+seemed to offer a favourable opportunity to the royalists, with whose
+chiefs Sir Edward was on terms of confidential intercourse; and to
+assist them in their objects by an exploit which should strike terror
+into the republicans, he proposed to go into Brest with his frigates,
+and destroy the dismantled fleet. He thought it probable that he should
+succeed, and urged that the greatness of the object might warrant an
+attempt in which nothing was to be risked but a few frigates. The
+conception was in the highest degree daring, but there is a faith in
+naval affairs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> which works impossibilities, and it has been generally
+found, that the officer who can plan a bold action, has shown himself
+equal to accomplish it. Relative strength is almost thrown out of
+calculation by a well concerted and unexpected attack, conducted with
+that impetuosity which effects its object before the enemy can avail
+himself of his superior force. Thus, Sir Charles Brisbane, with four
+frigates, at Cura&ccedil;oa, and Sir Christopher Cole, with a few boats' crews
+at Banda, achieved, with little or no loss, what would have been justly
+deemed proud triumphs for a fleet of line-of-battle ships. Sir E. Pellew
+was never a man to commit himself rashly to what he had not well
+considered. "There is always uncertainty," he would say, "in naval
+actions, for a chance shot may place the best managed ship in the power
+of an inferior opponent." Hence he would leave nothing to chance, which
+foresight could possibly provide for. With such a character, and with
+his intimate knowledge of Brest and its defences, which were almost as
+familiar to him as Falmouth harbour, his own confidence affords strong
+presumption that he would have succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>The First Lord took an opportunity to submit this proposal to Lord
+Bridport at Torbay, and Sir Edward was in consequence called on board
+the flag-ship by signal. The Admiral received him on the quarter-deck
+with a very low and formal bow, and referred him to Earl Spencer, in the
+cabin, whom he soon found not to be influenced by any arguments he could
+employ.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Bridport was never pleased that independent frigate squadrons were
+appointed to cruise within his station. It was, indeed, an irregularity
+which nothing but the emergency could have justified, when it was
+desirable to relieve the commander-in-chief from lesser
+responsibilities, and enable him to devote all his attention to the
+fleet which threatened the safety of the country. Their successes had
+made the squadrons so popular, that the system was continued when they
+might, perhaps, have been placed, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> equal advantage, under the
+orders of the Admiral; and it would naturally give pain to that officer
+to find himself denied the privilege of recognizing and rewarding the
+most brilliant services performed within his own command. Lord Bridport
+would occasionally evince such a feeling when speaking of the "Western
+Commodores," and it may have influenced his manner upon this occasion;
+but his approval of Sir Edward's plan was not to be expected, for he
+would scarcely sanction the proposal to effect with a few frigates what
+it would not be thought prudent to attempt with a fleet.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Indefatigable</i> sailed from Torbay with a convoy, from which she
+parted company on the 13th of October, off the Isle of Palma. On the
+25th, near Teneriffe, a large corvette chased her, supposing her to be
+an Indiaman, and approached very near before she discovered the mistake.
+She had formerly been the frigate-built sloop <i>Hy&aelig;na</i>, which the enemy
+had taken very early in the war, and cut down to a flush ship; a change
+which improved her sailing qualities so much, that she might perhaps
+have escaped from the <i>Indefatigable</i>, if she had not lost her
+fore-topmast in carrying a press of sail. It is remarkable, that in this
+war Sir Edward took the first ship from the enemy, and after nearly five
+years, recaptured the first they had taken from the British.</p>
+
+<p>It was a part of Sir Edward's system, while he commanded cruising ships,
+to have the reefs shaken out, the studding sail-booms rigged out, and
+everything ready, before daylight; that if an enemy should be near there
+might be no delay in making sail. In the course of 1798 his squadron
+took fifteen cruisers. The circumstances connected with one of these,
+<i>La Vaillante</i> national corvette, taken on the 8th of August by the
+<i>Indefatigable</i>, after a chase of twenty-four hours, were of much
+interest. She was bound to Cayenne, with prisoners; among whom were
+twenty-five priests, who had been condemned for their principles to
+perish in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> unhealthy colony. It may well be supposed that they were
+at once restored to liberty and comfort; nor would Sir Edward show to
+the commander of his prize the attentions which an officer in his
+situation expects, until he had first satisfied himself that the severe
+and unnecessary restraint to which they had been subjected, for he found
+them chained together, was the consequence of express orders from the
+French Government. His officers and men vied with him in attentions to
+the unfortunate exiles, and when he set them on shore in England he gave
+them a supply for their immediate wants. Among the passengers on board
+<i>La Vaillante</i> were the wife and family of a banished deputy. M. Rov&egrave;re,
+who had obtained permission to join him, and were going out with all
+they possessed, amounting to 3,000<i>l</i>. Sir Edward restored to her the
+whole of it, and paid from his own purse the proportion which was the
+prize of his crew.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the following year the Admiralty determined to limit the period
+of command in frigates. In obedience to this regulation, on the 1st of
+March, Sir Edward, with much regret, left the ship and crew he had so
+long commanded, and exchanged the activity of a cruising frigate for a
+service which offered little prospect of distinction. He was
+complimented with the <i>Imp&eacute;tueux</i>, formerly <i>L'Am&eacute;rique</i>, one of the
+prizes taken by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, a most beautiful ship, and
+so much superior to the largest 74, that she was made a class by
+herself, and rated as a 78. He was allowed to select twenty men to
+follow him from the <i>Indefatigable</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Going on board the <i>Imp&eacute;tueux</i> for the first time, he was accosted at
+the gangway by the boatswain: "I am very glad, sir, that you are come to
+us, for you are just the captain we want. You have the finest ship in
+the navy, and a crew of smart sailors, but a set of the greatest
+scoundrels that ever went to sea." He checked him on the spot, and
+afterwards, sending for him to the cabin, demanded what he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> meant by
+addressing him in that manner. The boatswain, who had served with him in
+the <i>Carleton</i> on Lake Champlain, pleaded former recollections in
+excuse; and after submitting to the reproof with which Sir Edward
+thought it necessary to mark his breach of discipline, informed him that
+the crew were all but in a state of mutiny, and that for months past he
+had slept with pistols under his head.</p>
+
+<p>Mutinies were the natural fruit of the system which had prevailed in the
+navy, and it is only wonderful that obedience had been preserved so
+long. All the stores were supplied by contract, and the check upon the
+contractor being generally inadequate, gross abuses prevailed. Officers
+who recollect the state of the navy during the first American war can
+furnish a history which may now appear incredible. The provisions were
+sometimes unfit for human food. Casks of meat, after having been long on
+board, would be found actually offensive. The biscuit, from inferior
+quality and a bad system of stowage, was devoured by insects,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> until
+it would fall to pieces at the slightest blow; and the provisions of a
+more perishable nature, the cheese, butter, raisins, &amp;c., would be in a
+still worse condition. Among crews thus fed, the scurvy made dreadful
+ravages. The <i>Princessa</i>, when she formed part of Rodney's fleet in the
+West Indies, sent two hundred men to the hospital at one time. The
+purser received certain authorized perquisites instead of pay, and
+one-eighth of the seamen's allowance was his right, so that their pound
+was only fourteen ounces. Prize-money melted away as it passed through
+the courts and offices. Not even public charities could escape; and the
+noble establishment of Greenwich was defrauded by placing in it
+superannuated servants, and other landsmen, as worn-out sailors, and
+conferring the superior appointments, intended for deserving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> naval
+officers, upon political friends. The well-known case of Captain
+Baillie,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> who was removed and prosecuted for resisting some of these
+abuses, is a memorable, illustration.</p>
+
+<p>A gradual improvement in all the departments of the public service
+commenced from the time of Mr. Pitt's accession to power; and the worst
+of these abuses had been corrected long before 1797. Still so much
+remained, that the demands of the seamen, when they mutinied at
+Spithead, were not less due to themselves than desirable for the general
+interests of the service. A moderate increase in their pay, and
+Greenwich pensions; provisions of a better quality; the substitution of
+trader's for purser's weight and measure; and an allowance of
+vegetables, instead of flour, with their fresh meat, when in port, were
+their chief claims. They did not resort to violent measures till
+petitions, irregular ones it is true, had been tried in vain. They urged
+their demands firmly, but most respectfully; and they declared their
+intention to suspend the prosecution of them if their country should
+require their services to meet the enemy at sea. But though their claims
+were most just, and their conduct in many respects was worthy to be much
+commended, <i>that</i> was a mistaken conclusion, and most deeply to be
+regretted, which made any concession to violence. Hard as the principle
+may appear, no grievance can be held to justify a breach of discipline;
+and when the sailors at Spithead had placed themselves in the position
+of offenders, the question of redress ought to have been preceded by
+unconditional, and, if necessary, enforced submission. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> was humbling
+the majesty of the law to negotiate with criminals, and destroying its
+authority to submit to them. If the sailors had first been compelled to
+return to their duty, and their grievances had afterwards been properly
+investigated and redressed, the whole fleet would have respected the
+authority which enforced obedience, and received every favour with
+gratitude. Nor is there reason to believe that it would have been
+difficult to bring men to their duty, whose hearts were still sound. It
+is most honourable to the character of the country, that respect for the
+law, and obedience to the constituted authorities, are so much the habit
+and the principle of Englishmen, that invincible as they are in a good
+cause, they have always shown themselves cowards in crime. A few
+soldiers are sufficient to disperse the largest mob. The timely decision
+of an officer has seldom failed to quell the most formidable mutiny.
+Timorous as the men are from conscious guilt, uncertain in their plans,
+and doubtful of the firmness of their companions, the respect
+involuntarily felt for the noble bearing of a man whom they have always
+been accustomed to obey, and who in a good cause is standing as it were
+alone against a multitude, gives a commander all the power he could
+desire. But if he would take advantage of this feeling, he must be
+prompt to assert his authority. If he waver&mdash;if he allow the men once to
+feel their strength, and to stand committed to one another&mdash;his
+influence is gone. And if Government should stoop to parley with them,
+it sanctions their proceedings, strengthens their hands by the
+confession of its own weakness, and raises them from being offenders
+against the law, to the dignity of injured men, honourably asserting
+their rights. Thus, when the Lords of the Admiralty, and the first
+Admiral of the British navy, received on terms of courtesy criminals
+whose lives were forfeited, and negotiated with them as with
+equals&mdash;when the Government submitted to demands which it evidently
+feared to resist&mdash;and the Parliament hastened to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> legislate at the
+bidding of triumphant mutineers, the navy was taught a fatal lesson. The
+fleet at the Nore mutinied almost immediately after, without the shadow
+of a pretext; and the idea of mutiny once become familiar, the crews of
+the best ordered ships thought little of seeking redress for any real or
+fancied grievance by resisting the authority of their officers. Almost
+every ship on the home station mutinied in the course of the year; and
+considering bow naturally the first fault leads to more guilty excesses,
+and how many worthless characters were swept into the navy, disgracing
+the service by making it the avowed punishment of crime, and corrupting
+it by their example, nothing can appear more natural than that mutiny
+should at length display itself in a darker character, and proceed in
+some unhappy instances to murder and treason.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward Pellew deeply lamented the submission of the Government. He
+was satisfied that a proper firmness would have quelled the present, and
+prevented the future evil; and he was strengthened in his opinion by the
+circumstances of the mutiny on board one of the ships at Spithead, in
+which one of his own officers was a principal actor. Captain Williams,
+of the marines, formerly lieutenant in the <i>Arethusa</i>, applied to his
+captain for authority to act, assuring him of the good disposition of
+his own men, and pledging himself by their means to save the ship. But
+his captain, though one of the bravest and best men in the service,
+shrank from committing the marines to a possible conflict with the
+sailors, and recommended a little delay. In a few minutes the marine
+officer returned: it was not yet too late, but not another moment could
+be spared. The humane feelings of the commander impelled him still to
+temporize, and when the marine officer returned, it was to say that his
+men must now save themselves, and the ship was lost. The more desperate
+mutiny at the Nore was not quelled by submission.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards, when mutinies were continually occurring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> among the ships at
+Plymouth. Sir Edward proposed a very decisive measure to stop the
+mischief. He recommended that a ship, manned with officers, and with
+volunteers who could be fully trusted, should attack the next that
+mutinied, and, if necessary, sink her in the face of the fleet. The
+officer who takes the first step in any measure must feel himself
+committed decisively to all possible consequences; but the mere display
+of such a resolution, with the knowledge that an officer of unflinching
+determination commanded the attacking ship, would most probably spare
+the necessity of firing a shot. Lives are commonly sacrificed only when
+a mistaken humanity shrinks from duty till the proper time for action
+has gone by. The disposition of the crews was not generally bad, but
+they were misled by example, and encouraged by impunity. When the
+<i>Greyhound</i> mutinied, and Captain Israel Pellew demanded if he had ever
+given them cause for dissatisfaction, if he had not always been their
+friend, they admitted that they had nothing to complain of, but said
+they must do like their friends around them. They would have landed him
+with every mark of respect; but he declared that, after such conduct,
+not one of them should ever row him again, and he hailed a waterman to
+put him on shore. Still, though he had reproached them in no measured
+terms, they manned the side, and gave him three cheers when he left the
+ship.</p>
+
+<p>Even Sir Edward Pellew, popular as he was, and though he might well
+expect that a crew which had fought with him two successful actions
+within the past year would be too proud of their ship and commander ever
+to fail in their duty, yet felt it necessary to take precautions, when
+mutinies were occurring around him without the smallest reasonable
+cause. Determined to maintain his authority at all hazards, he prepared
+for the worst, and provided himself with weapons such as he deemed would
+be the most effectual, if he should be compelled to the dreadful
+necessity of a personal conflict with his crew. A pointed and two-edged
+blade, four inches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> long, was fixed in a rough buckhorn handle, with a
+groove for the thumb across the top. A pair of these were carried in
+sheaths, secured in each waistcoat-pocket. With these, a strong and
+active person, in the midst of a crowd where he could not use a sword,
+could strike right and left with terrible effect.</p>
+
+<p>Once a mutiny was planned in the <i>Indefatigable</i>, but he checked it
+before it broke out. She was lying with the <i>Ph&oelig;be</i> in Falmouth
+harbour, and the frigates were to sail next morning, when the crews were
+determined not to proceed to their station until they had received their
+pay. A sailor who had overstayed his leave came in the dead of the night
+to inform his commander of the plot; and assured him, that though all
+the crew were privy to it, more than half of them would support their
+officers. Sir Edward professed to discredit the information, and,
+apparently, took no steps in consequence. But when the ship was to be
+got under weigh, the lieutenant complained to him that the men were
+sulky, and would not go round with the capstan. He then came forward,
+and declaring his knowledge of their intentions, drew his sword, and
+ordered the officers to follow his example. "You can never die so well,"
+he said, "as on your own deck quelling a mutiny; and now, if a man
+hesitate to obey you, cut him down without a word." The crew, accustomed
+to prompt obedience, and attached to their officers, at once returned to
+their duty, and the <i>Indefatigable</i> was soon under sail. The <i>Ph&oelig;be</i>
+was earned by her crew to Cawsand Bay, and in justice to them it should
+be added, that although she anchored in the midst of several ships which
+had lately mutinied, no further irregularity took place: and after
+having been paid, she hastened to join the <i>Indefatigable</i> off Brest.</p>
+
+<p>The crew of the <i>Imp&eacute;tueux</i> supposed, and probably with truth, that Sir
+Edward was selected to command them in consequence of their known
+disaffected state, his frigate having been almost the only ship on the
+home station which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> had not actually mutinied. Under this impression, a
+mistaken pride would not allow them to be controlled, and their secret
+spirit of revolt became more determined. The feeling might have worn
+itself out in a short time if the ship had remained at sea, for the men
+soon learned to respect their new commander. But when, on the 25th of
+April, the French fleet escaped from Brest, and sailed for the
+Mediterranean, the British Admiral, Lord Bridport, supposing it to have
+gone to Ireland, cruised for a few days off Cape Clear, and then
+anchored with twenty-six sail of the line in Bantry Bay. Here the bad
+spirits of the fleet had leisure for mischief, and facilities to
+communicate with one another. A general mutiny was planned, and the
+disgraceful distinction of setting the example was assigned to the
+<i>Impetueux</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On Thursday, the 30th of May, at noon, Sir Edward, being engaged to dine
+with Sir Alan Gardner, had gone to dress in his cabin, leaving orders
+with the officer of the watch to call all hands at the usual time, one
+watch to clear hawse, and the other two to wash decks. When the order
+was given, it was obeyed by all the marines, but by scarce any of the
+sailors. Very shortly after, signal was made to unmoor, upon which a
+noise of "No&mdash;no&mdash;no!" was heard from the main hatchway, and the seamen
+came pressing forward in great numbers; those in the rear crying, "Go
+on&mdash;go on!" The first lieutenant, Ross, and Lieutenant Stokes, the
+officer of the watch, demanded what was the matter; and after some
+murmuring, were told that there was a letter. The officers asked for it,
+that it might be given to the captain, but the cry of "No&mdash;no&mdash;no!" was
+immediately renewed. Lieutenant Ross then desired Lieutenant Stokes to
+inform the captain, upon which the mutineers shouted, "One and all&mdash;one
+and all!" Sir Edward instantly ran out in his dressing-gown, and found
+between two and three hundred on the quarter-deck. On his appearance,
+the clamour was increased, mingled with cries of "A boat&mdash;a boat!" He
+asked what was the matter, and was told they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> had a letter to send to
+Lord Bridport, complaining of tyranny, and hard usage. He demanded the
+letter, declaring that he would immediately carry it himself, or send an
+officer with it, to the Admiral; but all cried out, "No, no,&mdash;a boat of
+our own!" He persisted in his endeavours to pacify them as long as a
+hope remained of bringing them to reason, intreating them not to forfeit
+their character by such shameful conduct. But when some of the
+ringleaders declared with oaths that they <i>would</i> have a boat, and would
+take one, he quietly said, "You will, will you?"&mdash;gave a brief order to
+Captain Boys, of the marines, and sprang to the cabin for his sword. The
+marines, who had previously withstood every attempt of the conspirators
+to seduce them from their duty, now displayed that unwavering loyalty,
+and prompt obedience, for which, in the most trying circumstances, this
+valuable force has always been distinguished. Sir Edward returned
+instantly, determined to put to death one or more of the ringleaders on
+the spot, but the evident irresolution of the mutineers spared him the
+necessity. He immediately ordered the quarter-deck to be cleared, the
+marines to be posted on the after-part of the fore-castle, and the
+fore-part of the quarter-deck and poop, and the sentries to be doubled.
+The carpenter in the mean time ran to Sir Edwards cabin, and brought
+swords for the officers, who, at the first alarm, had hastened to place
+themselves by their captain's side. The mutineers, after a moment's
+hesitation, ran off the quarter-deck, and threw themselves down the
+hatchways, exclaiming to put out all lights, and remove the ladders. The
+officers followed them closely, and soon secured the ringleaders. Sir
+Edward himself seized one of the most violent, and threatening him with
+instant death if he resisted, dragged him up from below to the
+quarter-deck. The letter, an unsigned one, was now given up, and the
+ship's company returned quietly to their duty.</p>
+
+<p>The plot was thus entirely disconcerted; for the crews of the other
+ships, who knew nothing of the attempt and its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> failure, but waited for
+the example of the <i>Impetueux</i>, followed her when she obeyed the
+Admiral's signal. On the 1st of June, Lord Bridport, who had now learned
+the course taken by the French fleet, sent off Sir Alan Gardner with
+sixteen sail, of which the <i>Impetueux</i> was one, as a reinforcement for
+Earl St. Vincent in the Mediterranean. His orders on this occasion were
+promptly attended to; and no other attempt was made by any of the crews
+to resist the authority of their officers.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Impetueux</i> being now for a short time under Earl St. Vincent's
+command, Sir Edward took the earliest opportunity to enforce the
+application for a court-martial, which he had previously made to Sir
+Charles Cotton. The Earl, upon inquiry, was so startled at the magnitude
+of the plot, that he thought it better, as the mutiny had been so
+promptly suppressed, to conceal it altogether. Sir Edward differed from
+him entirely. He considered that the worst effects would follow, if the
+men were allowed to think that their officers feared to punish the
+ringleaders in such a conspiracy; and as the Earl, who was on the point
+of resigning the command from ill-health, appeared still reluctant, he
+decided the question by declaring that if the court-martial were not
+granted, he should immediately go on shore. Accordingly, it was held on
+board the <i>Prince</i>, in Port Mahon, on the 19th and 20th of June, when
+three of the ringleaders received sentence of death. One of them, after
+his condemnation, disclosed all the history and circumstances of the
+plot; and this, added to the consideration of his previous good
+character, to which Sir Edward had borne a strong testimony on the
+court-martial, made his captain think him a proper subject for mercy.
+But upon this point, Earl St. Vincent was inflexible. "I am glad of it,"
+he said, when Sir Edward spoke favourably of the prisoner's former
+conduct; "those who have hitherto suffered had been so worthless before,
+that their fate was of little use as an example. I shall now convince
+the fleet that no character will save the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> man who is guilty of mutiny."
+May there never be a recurrance of such unhappy times as shall make it
+the duty of an officer to act upon this stern principle!</p>
+
+<p>The circumstances were concealed from the country, and the rest of the
+fleet, as effectually as if the court-martial had never been held. The
+distant and retired harbour where the mutiny occurred; the quietness
+with which it was suppressed; the holding of the court-martial abroad;
+the frequency of aggravated mutinies within the preceding two years; the
+magnitude of the political occurrences at that period; and the anxiety
+felt at the movements of the enemy's fleet, probably the largest they
+ever had at sea, for it numbered, with the Spaniards, forty sail of the
+line, all concurred to prevent it from becoming an object of public
+attention. But Earl St. Vincent appreciated Sir Edward's conduct very
+highly. "Your brother," he once said to Mr. Pellew, "is an excellent and
+valuable officer, but the most important service he ever rendered to his
+country was saving the British fleet in Bantry Bay. We know that it was
+the intention to burn the ships, and join the rebels on shore."</p>
+
+<p>When the time arrived for executing the mutineers, it was found that
+preparations had been made to give to their fate the appearance of a
+triumph. For it strongly marks the general feeling in the navy during
+this unhappy period, that the individuals who thus suffered were
+regarded rather as martyrs than criminals. Encouraged to hardihood by
+his mistaken shipmates, generally excited by spirits, and some times
+even decorated with knots of ribbon, the mutineer went boldly to
+execution, leaving the spectators less appalled at his fate, than
+admiring his fearless bearing. Sir Edward quickly changed this feeling
+when the prisoners came up to the forecastle. Addressing a few words,
+first to the men who had followed him from the <i>Indefatigable</i>, and
+afterwards to the rest of the crew, "<i>Indefatigables</i>" he said, "stand
+aside! not one of you shall touch the rope. But <i>you</i>, who have
+encouraged your shipmates to the crime by which they have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> forfeited
+their lives, it shall be your punishment to hang them!" Quailing before
+their commander, their false feeling was destroyed in a moment; and as
+there is no medium between the hardihood and the cowardice of guilt,
+they felt as he intended, and many of them wept aloud. Afterwards, there
+was not in the service a more orderly ship than the <i>Impetueux</i>, or a
+crew more pleasant to command.</p>
+
+<p>Considerate as he was upon all occasions where human life was concerned,
+and unwilling to resort to punishment, he was always anxious to make it
+as impressive as possible, whenever it became necessary to inflict it.
+He assisted to try one of the mutineers of the <i>Hermione</i>, whose crew
+had murdered their officers, and carried the ship into a Spanish port.
+This man's crime was attended with circumstances of peculiar
+aggravation. He was coxswain to Captain Pigott, who, savage tyrant as he
+was in general, and richly deserving of the fate he provoked, had
+brought him up from a boy, and treated him with much kindness and
+confidence. Yet he headed the murderers; and when they broke into the
+captain's cabin, and that officer, perceiving their intention, called
+for his coxswain to protect him, he replied with an opprobrious epithet,
+"Here I am to despatch you!" He had been entrusted with the captain's
+keys; and when the work of blood was over, the officers, even to
+unoffending midshipmen, being slaughtered, and the murderers were
+regaling themselves with wine, he told them that he knew where to get
+them better than what they were drinking. His crime was fully proved;
+and the court being cleared, Sir Edward proposed that sentence should be
+executed immediately. The circumstances of the case demanded, in his
+opinion, unusual severity, which might be expected to have a good effect
+upon the fleet; while there was every reason to conclude, from the
+prisoner's demeanour before them, that if delay were allowed, he would
+meet his fate with a hardihood which would destroy the value of the
+example. The court at first questioned their power to execute without
+the warrant of the Admiralty;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> but this was quickly settled by reference
+to the Act of Parliament. The President then declared that he could not
+make the order. "Look here!" said he, giving to Sir Edward his hand,
+trembling violently, and bathed in a cold perspiration. "I see it, and I
+respect your feelings," replied Sir Edward, "but I am sure that such an
+example is wanted, and I must press the point." "Well," he replied, "if
+it be the <i>unanimous</i> opinion of the court, it shall be done." It was
+agreed to, and the prisoner was called. Though, sure that he must be
+condemned, he entered with a bold front; but when informed that he would
+be executed in one hour, he rolled on the cabin-deck in an agony. "What!
+gentlemen," he exclaimed, "hang me directly? Will you not allow me a few
+days&mdash;a little time, to make my peace with God?" The whole fleet was
+appalled when the close of the court-martial was announced to them by
+the signal for execution; and at the end of the allotted hour, the
+wretched criminal was brought up to undergo his sentence.</p>
+
+<p>A similar stern decision quelled in a few hours the spirit of resistance
+during the special commission for trying the Luddites at York, when the
+county was almost in a state of rebellion; and it was found necessary to
+protect the court with cannon. Six of the ringleaders having been
+convicted on the first day, the intrepid judge, Le Blanc, ordered them
+all to be hung at six o'clock next morning. While the multitudes,
+stunned by this unexpected vigour, waited in trembling anxiety for what
+was next to follow, eight more were convicted on the second day, and as
+promptly executed. The whole county was struck with terror; and the
+judge, having thus effected the great object of punishment, by
+compelling them to respect and fear the law, could now venture to show
+mercy. It is the hardest effort of human resolution for a judge to
+consign to certain and ignominious death the helpless being who stands
+trembling before him, imploring the mercy or the delay which it rests
+but with him to grant; but whenever justice demands life, duty requires
+that so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> great a sacrifice shall be made most useful; and to effort
+this, execution must take place before abhorrence for the crime is lost
+in pity for the offender. <i>His</i> proper time for repentance is the
+interval before conviction. Little dependence can be placed on the
+contrition which never shows itself till every hope of life is gone.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Impetueux</i> formed part of the force which pursued the combined
+fleets from the Mediterranean to Brest, and from which they escaped so
+narrowly. She afterwards remained with the Channel fleet, under Lord
+Bridport and Sir Alan Gardner. On the 1st of June, 1800, Earl St.
+Vincent, who had assumed the command a short time before, detached Sir
+Edward Pellew, with seven sail of the line, and some smaller vessels, to
+Quiberon Bay, whore they were to land five thousand troops under General
+Maitland to assist the royalists. Next day, the squadron arrived and
+anchored; and on the 4th, the forts on the peninsula were attacked and
+silenced by the <i>Thames</i>, 32, with some of the small craft; and
+destroyed by a party of troops. Several vessels, taken at the same time,
+were brought off or scuttled. Very early on the morning of the 6th, the
+armed launches, and a division of small craft, were sent away under
+Lieutenant Pilford, of the <i>Impetueux</i>, which completed the destruction
+of the shipping in the Morbihan, bringing off six prizes, and destroying
+several others, among which was the <i>Insolente</i>, 16-gun brig. They
+landed at the same time about three hundred troops, who carried and
+dismantled a fort. The whole service was effected with the loss of two
+men killed on board the <i>Thames</i>, and one in the boats. By this time, it
+was placed beyond doubt that the invalids were not strong enough to
+warrant a descent. Sir Edward, therefore, proposed an immediate attack
+on Belleisle, which had long been a favourite object with him, from a
+conviction that nothing would enable the British to harass the enemy
+more effectually than the possession of that island. He earnestly
+combated the doubts of the General, and pressed the point<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> with all the
+energy of his character. Filled with the ardour so naturally inspired by
+the opportunity to attempt a long-cherished enterprise, he exclaimed, "I
+will be everywhere at your side, only let us attack the place without
+delay." But the General, who could not feel that confidence founded on a
+knowledge of the place, which Sir Edward had gained from having long
+cruised in the neighbourhood; and who well knew the difficulty and loss
+which a much larger force had formerly experienced in taking it,
+objected to the attempt, and the enemy in a few days decided the
+question by strongly reinforcing the garrison. The troops were then
+landed upon the small island of Houat, about two leagues to the
+south-east of Quiberon Point, where they remained encamped, while Sir
+Edward cruised with his squadron off Port Louis.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of July, Mr. Coghlan, who had assisted Sir Edward in
+saving the people from the <i>Dutton</i>, and was now commanding the <i>Viper</i>
+cutter, tender to the <i>Impetueux</i>, with the rank of acting lieutenant,
+proposed and obtained permission to cut out a brig of war, which lay
+moored within the port. Accordingly, with twelve volunteers from the
+<i>Impetueux</i>, and a midshipman and six men from the <i>Viper</i>, in the
+line-of-battle ship's ten-oared cutter, a boat from the <i>Viper</i>, and
+another from the <i>Amethyst</i> frigate, he went away on the night of the
+26th to attack a national brig of seven guns, three of them long
+twenty-four pounders, and with eighty-seven men on board.</p>
+
+<p>The object of his attack, <i>La Cerb&egrave;re</i>, was moored with springs on her
+cable, within pistol-shot of three batteries, surrounded with armed
+vessels, and not a mile from a seventy-four and a frigate.
+Notwithstanding her formidable position, and though her crew were
+prepared, while the boats of the <i>Amethyst</i> and <i>Viper</i> had not been
+able to keep up with the cutter, he pushed on with the single boat, and
+made a dash at the brig's quarter. In the act of springing on board, he
+became entangled in a trawl-net, and before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> he could disengage himself,
+he was pierced through the thigh with a pike, and knocked back into the
+boat. Still undismayed, they boarded the brig further ahead, and after a
+desperate struggle on her deck, carried her. Of the boat's crew, one man
+was killed, and eight wounded; the brig had six killed, and twenty
+wounded. The other boats now came up, and the prize was towed out under
+a heavy, but ineffectual fire from the batteries.</p>
+
+<p>This very brilliant action was rewarded with peculiar notice. The
+squadron gave up the prize to the captors; Earl St. Vincent presented
+Mr. Coghlan with a sword; and a most unusual distinction, he was
+immediately made a lieutenant by an order in council, though, by the
+regulations of the service, he had still to serve a year and a half
+before he would be entitled to promotion.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after, Sir J.B. Warren arrived, with a small squadron and a
+fleet of transports; and having re-embarked the troops from Houat, and
+taken the <i>Impetueux</i> under his orders, proceeded to attack Ferrol. The
+fleet arrived in the bay of Playa de Dominos on the 25th of August, and
+Sir James Pulteney, the military commander-in-chief, desired that the
+troops might be landed immediately. The direction of this service was
+committed to Sir Edward Pellew, who first silenced a fort of eight
+twenty-four pounders by the fire of the <i>Impetueux</i>, assisted by the
+<i>Brilliant</i>, 28-gun frigate, <i>Cynthia</i>, sloop of war, and <i>St. Vincent</i>
+gun-boat; and landed the whole army the same evening, without losing a
+man. Sixteen field-pieces were landed at the same time, and the sailors
+got them, with the scaling ladders, to the heights above Ferrol.</p>
+
+<p>A slight skirmish took place on the first advance of the troops, and a
+sharper one next morning; but the enemy were effectually driven back,
+and the heights which command the harbour of Ferrol gained, with the
+loss in all of sixteen men killed, and five officers and sixty-three men
+wounded. Six sail of the line, two of them large first-rates,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> were in
+the harbour. Sir James now resolved to abandon the enterprise. Sir
+Edward entreated that he might be allowed to lead on with his sailors,
+for he was confident that the town must yield. But Sir James&mdash;to the
+intense disappointment and indignation of Sir Edward, who refused
+afterwards and in consequence even to meet him at dinner&mdash;declined to
+advance, and the troops and guns were all re-embarked without loss the
+same night. It was afterwards ascertained, that the garrison, despairing
+of effectual resistance, were prepared to surrender the keys.</p>
+
+<p>The squadron escorted the transports to Gibraltar, to join a force
+already assembled there; with which, under the command of Abercromby,
+and protected by the fleet of Lord Keith, they proceeded to Egypt.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Quiberon Bay, one killed in the boats; landing at Ferrol,
+none; Batavia Roads, one killed in the boats; Griessee, none; skirmishes
+off Toulon, one killed by accident; Algiers, eight.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The sailors gave professional names to the various
+specimens of entomology which infested their stores. Thus, a large
+maggot found in the biscuit they called "Boscawen's bargemen."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The case of Captain Baillie is remarkable as the first in
+which Erskine pleaded. When this brilliant advocate, then a junior,
+unknown even to his brethren at the bar, was assailing Lord Sandwich as
+the prosecutor of his client with equal eloquence and courage, and even
+in defiance of a rebuff from the Judge, the latter, Lord Chief Justice
+Mansfield, leant over the bench and inquired in a whisper, "Who is that
+young man?" "His name is Erskine, my lord," replied the clerk. "<i>His</i>
+fortune is made," observed the Judge as he resumed his seat.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BLOCKADE OF FERROL.&mdash;PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.</h3>
+
+<p>The <i>Impetueux</i> remained with the Channel fleet until she was paid off
+at the end of the war, when Sir Edward was allowed a short repose. He
+passed it chiefly in the quiet of domestic retirement at Trefusis, a
+seat belonging to Lord Clinton, which occupies the promontory between
+the two principal branches of Falmouth harbour, and adjoins the little
+town of Flushing, where his grandfather had lived. Here, in the bosom of
+his family, and with many of his companions and friends in the service
+around him, he enjoyed his first period of relaxation from the beginning
+of the revolutionary war.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1801, there was a naval promotion, which left him nearly at the
+head of the post list; and he was shortly after made a Colonel of
+Marines. His popularity was now very great, for the credit gained by his
+first action was increased by every future success, until there was no
+officer of his rank whose name was more known and honoured through the
+country. That this should create jealousy was only to be expected; for
+it is always the hardest trial of liberality to be just to the superior
+fortunes of a competitor. Some, contending that he enjoyed a reputation
+beyond his deserts, would under-rate his services, which, they said, any
+other officer with the same chances could have performed as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> well. But
+chance, though it may afford an occasional instance of unexpected
+fortune, never gives a long and uniform career of distinction. Sir
+Edward displayed the same character through all his grades of rank, and,
+except in the <i>Hazard</i>, which was employed on a station and a service
+which could afford no opportunity for distinction, obtained the same
+success in every ship he commanded. It is encouraging to unassisted
+merit to observe, that he had no influential friends until he had made
+himself independent of their support, and was attached to the fortunes
+of no leading commander. All his promotions, and every honour he
+received, were given expressly to reward some recent and distinguished
+service.</p>
+
+<p>Many years after he had retired from active employment, he made a modest
+allusion to this subject at a naval dinner, at which his late Majesty,
+then Lord High Admiral, presided. In rising to return thanks, when his
+health was drunk with compliments which demanded acknowledgment, he
+referred to his own history as a proof that no officer, however
+unsupported by influence, need despair of receiving his due reward from
+the justice and gratitude of his country. "I have never known," he said,
+"what fortune meant. I never chose my station, and never had a friend
+but the King's pennant; but I have always gone where I was sent, and
+done what I was ordered; and he who will act upon the same principles,
+may do as I have done."</p>
+
+<p>At the general election in 1802, he was solicited to stand for
+Barnstaple; for which, after a severe contest, he was returned on the
+8th of July, by a very large majority. His correspondence at this period
+shows he was very early wearied with his situation. Nor was he better
+satisfied when he had gained an insight into the nature of a
+parliamentary life. Indeed, a naval officer of reputation will seldom
+promote his comfort by going into Parliament; where his inactivity may
+present an unfavourable contrast to his professional character, or his
+prominence expose him to the virulence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> party. Yet the experience
+thus obtained was not without value to a man who was henceforth to be
+employed as a commander-in-chief, with a greater share of political
+responsibility than usually attaches to a naval command. If he had
+wished to estimate the value of political friendships, and the spirit of
+party intrigue, a lesson which professional employment at sea is little
+calculated to teach, he could not have entered Parliament at a better
+season. The high character and truly English politics of Mr. Pitt had
+united very different parties to support him in carrying on a just and
+necessary war; but when the bond which he had afforded to his party was
+removed by his going out of office, and peace had deprived them of their
+common object, former principles of repulsion regained their influence;
+and the uncertainty whether the premier was the rival or the <i>locum
+tenens</i> of Pitt increased the confusion. It was still more embarrassing
+when, at a later period, Mr. Pitt threw himself into avowed opposition
+to a government, of which the premier was his friend and pupil, and the
+other ministers, one of whom was his own brother, might all be regarded
+as his nominees. Indeed, six remained in office when he returned to
+power, and the ex-premier himself joined the administration in a few
+mouths after.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward had not long been in Parliament, before he expressed a
+confident opinion that Mr. Pitt would soon come in. Succeeding events
+strengthened this conviction; and when the peace, or rather armed truce,
+of Amiens was evidently drawing to a close, he said in one of his
+letters, "Pitt <i>must</i> now be the minister." He gave a general support to
+the Government in the very small part which he took in the business of
+the House, but he availed himself of the earliest opportunity to escape
+from it; and on the very day when the King's message was delivered,
+which indicated the renewal of hostilities, he solicited and obtained
+employment.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of March, 1803, he was appointed to the eighty-gun ship
+<i>Tonnant</i>, in which, after some delay, oc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>casioned by the general
+difficulty of procuring men, he joined the Channel fleet. Anxious to
+take part in the important naval operations to be expected, he wished to
+sail with Nelson, whose reputation gave a just presage that the most
+decisive blow would be struck where he commanded; but after he had been
+appointed to a station, his sense of naval obedience forbade any attempt
+to change it. With that care for the improvement of his young officers
+which was always a prominent feature of his conduct, he advertised for a
+superior schoolmaster for the <i>Tonnant</i>, to whom he offered 50<i>l.</i> per
+annum, in addition to his pay, that he might obtain for them better
+instructions than the regulations of the service would afford.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the summer, he was detached from the Channel fleet, with the
+<i>Mars</i> and <i>Spartiate</i> under his orders, to intercept or blockade a
+Dutch squadron, which had put into the neutral port of Ferrol, on their
+passage to India. The enemy had proceeded on their voyage the day before
+he arrived, and he followed under a press of sail as far as Madeira.
+They were the ships which he afterwards destroyed at Griessee. In his
+absence, a French squadron of five sail of the line arrived at Corunna
+from St. Domingo, and took advantage of the first westerly gale to cross
+the bay to Ferrol. Here they were blockaded by Sir Edward, whose force
+was soon increased to six, and afterwards to eight sail of the line.</p>
+
+<p>On the 2nd of September, during a strong easterly gale, with thick
+weather, two other French ships from St. Domingo, the <i>Duguay Tronin</i>
+74, and <i>Guerri&egrave;re</i> frigate, were chased by Sir Robert Calder, who was
+coming out to relieve the Commodore. The <i>Culloden</i> had a running fight
+with the enemy for two hours and a half, but could not prevent them from
+getting into Corunna. In autumn, the <i>Tonnant</i> having been refitted at
+Plymouth, Sir Edward resumed the command, and maintained a very close
+blockade, at considerable risk, by night and day. He constantly expected
+a French force from Brest, and often remarked to his officers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> that
+they would have to fight both squadrons at once. Under such
+circumstances, every precaution was required, and though unwilling to
+interfere with the men's rest, yet, to prevent surprise, he thought it
+necessary to keep them at quarters all night, and pipe down the hammocks
+in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>As the season advanced, the weather became so tempestuous that the
+squadron was often driven off the land for many days together, and only
+occasionally fetched near Ferrol. Sir Edward became anxious therefore to
+find an anchorage in the neighbourhood, where the fleet could ride out a
+gale, and obtain necessary supplies. He first examined a bay near Cape
+Ortugal, but this was too distant. He then went in a cutter into the Bay
+of Bentan&ccedil;os, between Ferrol and Corunna, on the eastern side of which,
+in a bay called Ares, he considered, contrary to the opinion of the
+celebrated Spanish hydrographer Tofino, that the anchorage was safe, and
+the ground good. The correctness of his judgment was proved by the
+number of heavy gales which the squadron rode out through the winter.
+The place much resembles Cawsand Bay, and a windmill stood on the
+adjacent height, from which the harbour of Ferrol could be seen as
+distinctly as Hamoaze from Maker Tower. In this mill, the English and
+French officers on the look-out often met. As long as the wind was
+westerly, the squadron remained here; but when it shifted to the
+eastward, which was fair to leave Ferrol, Sir Edward anchored his ships
+across the entrance of the harbour.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to the prevalence of the westerly gales, the supplies from England
+were totally inadequate to the wants of the squadron: and it became
+indispensable to procure them on the spot. Occasionally a few live
+cattle were received, but the vessels bringing them were driven back, or
+detained, until the beasts were almost dead. Water was soon found: but
+it was not easy to obtain provisions in the depth of winter from so poor
+a country. The Spaniards were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> very lukewarm, and the French Admiral
+naturally created every obstacle in his power. This important charge was
+entrusted to Mr. Fitzgerald, purser of the <i>Tonnant</i>, and acting
+secretary to the Commodore, a gentleman of great resources, and
+unbounded courage and enterprise. By his exertions a small supply of
+fresh meat was obtained, with some wine and biscuit; and as confidence
+became established, cattle and other necessaries were purchased forty
+miles in the interior. In the performance of his arduous service, Mr.
+Fitzgerald was twice attempted to be assassinated; and he escaped only
+by killing the assailant upon one occasion, and by wounding some of the
+party on the other. Sir Edward was thus enabled to maintain an effectual
+blockade all the winter. He always expected an attack from Brest, which
+perhaps might have been attempted if the enemy had known his real
+strength; but his frequent exchanges with the Channel fleet deceived the
+French Admiral into a belief that a force was cruising in the
+neighbourhood, of which the ships he saw were only the in-shore
+division. Early in the year ships arrived from England with supplies,
+and every difficulty had been removed, when political events at home led
+to his recall.</p>
+
+<p>While the general wishes and confidence of the country were directed to
+Mr. Pitt, as the only minister to carry on the war with energy, the
+chief support of the Government was the reputation and decisive
+character of Earl St. Vincent, First Lord of the Admiralty, whose
+ability as a great commander was even surpassed by his consummate skill
+as a politician. But the Earl was now suffering the common fate of a
+practical reformer, to be opposed by the retainers of a former system,
+and distrusted by all who could not appreciate his innovations.
+Thoroughly acquainted with his own service, he had introduced
+everywhere, and especially into the dockyards, a bold and unsparing
+reform, which no ingenuity could evade, and which was felt the more from
+being coincident with the reductions of peace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> All who were thus cut
+off, and others whose emoluments he curtailed, naturally became hostile;
+and the inconvenience always created by a change, and which it was the
+direct interest of so many to aggravate, afforded too favourable
+opportunities for the prejudiced to misrepresent, and the candid to
+misunderstand him. In abolishing the practice of building line-of-battle
+ships in private yards, he took a step of which all subsequent
+experience has proved the wisdom; but it united against him an extensive
+and most powerful interest. It was contended that his measures displayed
+great and unnecessary harshness, and were calculated to break down the
+effectiveness of the navy. Very many persons of the highest integrity,
+too little acquainted with the facts, were thus deceived; and even Mr.
+Pitt, though he had recommended Earl St. Vincent for the Admiralty,
+believed that he was weakening the most important arm of the country.
+Under such circumstances, Sir Edward Pellew was recalled, ostensibly,
+that the Admiralty might confer with him upon these disputed questions.
+Nothing could be more flattering to him, or indeed more honourable to
+both parties, than this confidence; for there had never been much
+cordiality between Earl St. Vincent and Sir Edward, who was both
+politically and personally an admirer of Mr. Pitt; and it was clear to
+every one that the ministry was about to fall. But the Earl was too
+conscious of the wisdom of his measures to fear the judgment of a candid
+opponent; and he too well appreciated Sir Edward's character not to feel
+assured that he would allow no private motive, or political
+predilection, to interfere with the discharge of his duty.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, when Mr. Pitt gave notice of a motion for inquiry into the state
+of the navy, of which the avowed object was to censure the naval
+administration, a mutual friend was employed by the Admiralty to learn
+Sir Edward's opinion of the subjects it embraced, and on finding that
+his judgment condemned them, to induce him to express his sentiments<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> in
+the House. To this proposal he readily assented. They had all engaged
+his attention previously, particularly that relating to the gun-boats,
+which he had frequently discussed with the late Sir Sidney Smith, who
+contended that they might be made effective against a line-of-battle
+ship. Sir Edward would always say, "I should choose to be in the
+line-of-battle ship." On the day he went to the House, he observed in a
+letter to his brother that he now quite understood why he had been
+recalled from Ferrol.</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th of March, Mr. Pitt brought forward his threatened motions.
+He contended, that although the enemy had made the most formidable
+preparations for an invasion, which would probably be attempted within a
+few weeks, the effective force of the navy, from line-of-battle ships
+down to hired armed vessels, was at that moment inferior, and less
+adequate to the exigency of the danger, than at any former period.
+Notwithstanding it was so evidently necessary to oppose to the enemy's
+flotilla a force of a similar description, capable of acting in shallow
+water, the Admiralty had ordered only twenty-three gun-vessels to be
+built, of which five were to be completed in three, and the remainder in
+six months, though the necessity for them was immediate and urgent. He
+condemned the Admiralty for giving up the former approved plan of
+building line-of-battle ships by contract in private yards. Two-thirds
+of the navy, he said, had been thus built; for during a war all the
+strength of the King's yards was required for repairing ships, and
+building was necessarily suspended in them almost entirely. Through the
+last war, of twenty-nine line-of-battle ships, twenty-seven had been
+built in merchants' yards; while in the present only two had been
+contracted for, although fourteen or fifteen slips fit for building them
+were then unoccupied in the river. He contended, finally, that the
+Admiralty had been very remiss and unsuccessful in raising men for the
+navy. In the war of 1793 we began with 16,000 seamen and marines, and
+had 75,000 or 76,000 at the end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> of the year. In the present war we
+began with 50,000 men, and had raised them only to 86,000. Thus, in the
+former war there had been an increase of 60,000 men in the year; but in
+the present only of 36,000, though our mercantile marine was so much
+greater. Upon these arguments he founded motions for an account of all
+ships, from line-of-battle ships down to hired armed vessels inclusive,
+in commission on the 31st of December 1793, 30th of September 1801, and
+31st of December 1803, specifying the service on which they were
+respectively employed; for a copy of the contracts made, and the orders
+given by the Admiralty in 1793, 1797, and 1803, with respect to the
+number of gun-vessels to be built; for a list of ships built in the
+King's yards for 1793 and 1801; but if it should be thought that any
+intelligence on this head might be a channel of improper information to
+the enemy, he would abstain from pressing it, for he was aware that
+there would still be grounds sufficiently strong to convince the House
+that it was the preferable plan to construct vessels in the merchants'
+yards; and, finally, for a similar list of vessels built by contract in
+private yards.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tierney, who led the defence for ministers, would agree only to the
+first and second motions; and he moved, as an amendment to the first,
+that it should include all other armed ships and vessels employed in the
+public service. He denied Mr. Pitt's assertions, and combated his
+arguments. It was an extraordinary proceeding, he said, that an inquiry
+should be proposed, having for its object the censure of the Admiralty,
+when every port of the enemy was sealed up, our commerce protected in
+every direction, and our trade prosperous in an unexampled degree. Our
+naval force was immense, and admirably calculated for a great variety of
+service. We had 1,530 vessels employed, of which 511 included the force
+from line-of-battle ships to hired armed vessels; and 624 were a
+flotilla completely equipped and ready for immediate service; besides 9
+block-ships sup<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>plied by the Trinity-house, 19 ships furnished by the
+East India Company, and 373 lighters, and small craft, fitted in the
+King's yards. Of 100,000 seamen and marines voted by Parliament, 98,174
+had been raised, besides 25,000 sea-fencibles; and this, although the
+volunteer force of the country was 450,000. He strongly condemned the
+practice of building ships in merchants' yards. He alluded to the
+<i>Ajax</i>, which had been thus built. She had cost 41,000<i>l</i>., and the
+bargain was thought a good one, yet in three years she required a
+further sum of 17,000<i>l.</i> to fit her for service.</p>
+
+<p>Two parties in the House supported the motions; Admiral Berkeley, Mr.
+Wilberforce, and others, because they agreed with Mr. Pitt in condemning
+the measures of the Admiralty; Mr. Fox and his friends, because they
+considered that an inquiry would redound most highly to the credit of
+Earl St. Vincent. They contended that ministers opposed it only to
+screen their notorious incapacity under the shelter of his great name.
+On the other hand, Admiral Sir Charles Pole, Mr. Sheridan, Mr.
+Addington, Captain Markham, and others, supported Mr. Tierney, and
+confirmed all his statements. Nothing, it was said, could afford a
+stronger proof how enormous were the abuses which Earl St. Vincent had
+corrected, than the argument of Mr. Pitt and his friends, that
+men-of-war could not be built in the King's yards, although 3,200 men
+were employed in them; and it was known that forty-five shipwrights
+could build a seventy-four in a year. Four hundred of the men discharged
+had been receiving six shillings a day for doing nothing. Blockmakers'
+and coopers' work, for which 2,000<i>l.</i> had been paid, was proved upon a
+survey to be worth only 200<i>l.</i> As to the gun-boats alluded to, which
+were built by contract in the last war, they were so bad, that
+eighty-seven out of a hundred-and-twenty had been sold by public
+advertisement for almost nothing. The men-of-war launched from private
+yards had been the ruin of the navy. Three of them went to Portugal, and
+were found so defective that it was necessary to send them home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>, with a
+frigate for convoy. The arrangements for the naval defence of the
+country were most admirable and complete, and if there were any delay in
+building the twenty-three gun-vessels ordered by the Admiralty, it was
+because no dependence was placed upon that description of force. It
+would be folly to meet the enemy with the inferior weapons which
+necessity obliged him to employ, when we possessed a more powerful arm
+in our heavy men-of-war and frigates. The depth of water would allow
+these to act close to our very shores; and if the enemy's flotilla
+should venture out, Captain Markham, Sir Edward Pellew, Sir Thomas
+Troubridge, or any officer known in our naval records, would, with a
+single seventy-four, shoot through and sink a crowd of their
+contemptible craft.</p>
+
+<p>Ministers obtained a majority of 201 against 130; a most triumphant
+result for Earl St. Vincent, considering the character of his accuser,
+and the grounds upon which Mr. Fox and his friends voted for the
+motions.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward Pellew met the charges against the Admiralty with the plain
+and straightforward declarations of a seaman. Nothing could be more
+disinterested than his conduct upon this occasion; for there was little
+to hope from the gratitude of a ministry just tottering to their
+overthrow, and everything to fear from the resentment of their
+successors. But he justly considered that upon a vital question, and at
+such a crisis, no personal or party feeling should intrude; and he felt
+himself called upon to support the Admiralty with more than a silent
+vote, because he quite approved their measures, which no man could
+better understand. He rose fifth in the debate, and spoke as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;As I very seldom trouble the House, I hope I may be
+permitted to make a few observations on a subject of which, from
+the professional experience I have had, I may be presumed to have
+some knowledge. From the debate of this night, there is one piece
+of information I have acquired, that the French have got upwards of
+a thousand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> vessels in Boulogne. I am glad to find they are shut up
+there; we have one advantage in it&mdash;we know where they are. I wish
+we had any means of knowing when they intend to come out. I know
+this much, however, that they cannot all get out in one day, or in
+one night either; and when they do come out, I trust that our
+cockleshells alone, as an honourable admiral has called a very
+manageable and very active part of our force, will be able to give
+a good account of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I do not really see in the arrangement of our naval defence
+anything to excite the apprehensions of even the most timid among
+us. On the contrary, I see everything that may be expected from
+activity and perseverance to inspire us with confidence. I see a
+triple naval bulwark, composed of one fleet acting on the enemy's
+coast; of another, consisting of heavier ships, stationed in the
+Downs, and ready to act at a moment's notice; and a third, close to
+the beach, capable of destroying any part of the enemy's flotilla
+that should escape the vigilance of the other two branches of our
+defence.</p>
+
+<p>"In respect to what has been said of building ships by contract, I
+must confess that I do not much admire that mode of keeping up our
+navy. I have seen some of them&mdash;I particularly allude to the <i>Ajax</i>
+and <i>Achilles</i>&mdash;that I took for Frenchmen.</p>
+
+<p>"As to these gun-boats, which have been so strongly recommended,
+this musquito fleet, they are the most contemptible force that can
+be employed. Gun-brigs, indeed, are of some use; but between a
+gun-brig and a gun-boat there is almost as much difference as
+between a line-of-battle ship and a frigate. I have lately seen
+half a dozen of them lying wrecked on the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the probability of the enemy being able, in a narrow sea, to
+pass through our blockading and protecting squadrons, with all that
+secresy and dexterity, and by those hidden means that some worthy
+people expect, I really, from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> anything that I have seen in the
+course of my professional career, am not disposed to concur in it.</p>
+
+<p>"I know, sir, and can assert with confidence, that our navy was
+never better found; that it was never better supplied; and that the
+men were never better fed and better clothed. Have we not all the
+enemy's ports blockaded from Toulon to Flushing? Are we not able to
+cope anywhere with any force the enemy dares to send out against
+us? And do we not even outnumber them at every one of the ports we
+have blockaded? It would smack a little of egotism, I fear, were I
+to speak of myself; but as a person lately having the command of
+six ships, I hope I may be allowed to state to the House how I have
+been supported in that command. Sir, during the time that I was
+stationed off Ferrol, I had ships passing from the fleet to me
+every three weeks or a month; and so much was the French commander
+in that port deceived by these appearances, that he was persuaded,
+and I believe is to this very hour, that I had twelve ships under
+my command, and that I had two squadrons to relieve each other, one
+of six inside, and the other of six outside."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He was highly complimented by several who followed him in the debate,
+particularly by Mr. Addington, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Courtenay, as well
+as by other members out of the House. Twenty, who had come down
+intending to vote for Mr. Pitt's motions, were induced to support the
+Admiralty, confessedly by Sir Edward's statements. But it is, perhaps,
+the most decisive proof of the effect of his speech, that Mr. Pitt
+himself referred to it in a debate on the defence of the country six
+weeks after. At the same time he disavowed the gun-boats, and contended
+for "good stout gun-brigs," declaring that he had observed with much
+satisfaction the efforts which had lately been made to increase that
+description of force.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Addington resigned on the 12th of May, with Earl St. Vincent; Mr.
+Yorke, the Home Secretary; and Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> Hobart, Secretary at War. They were
+succeeded by Mr. Pitt, and Lords Melville, Harrowby, and Camden.</p>
+
+<p>On the 23rd of April, there was a naval promotion, in which some of the
+senior captains, including Sir Edward Pellew, were advanced to be
+Rear-Admirals of the White, passing over the intermediate step. This
+favour was probably considered due to them, for they had served
+considerably beyond the time which had hitherto given an officer his
+flag, the former promotion having been a small one, and the interval
+much longer than usual.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward received with his promotion the appointment to be
+commander-in-chief in India. He hoisted his flag in the <i>Culloden</i>, and
+gratified Captain Christopher Cole, the youngest brother of his deceased
+friend, and who had served with him as a midshipman in the <i>Winchelsea</i>,
+by naming him for his captain.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.</h3>
+
+<p>The arduous charge of a commander-in-chief requires more than great
+decision, and a judgment matured by experience. It claims also a mind
+naturally comprehensive, that it may be equal to great and complicated
+responsibilities. He has other, and not less important duties than to
+harass the enemy. He is to protect the commerce of his country; to make
+his influence so felt over every part of his station, that merit may be
+encouraged, and negligence effectually controlled; to provide in all
+respects for the efficiency of his fleet; and to act with the full
+powers of an ambassador, whenever there is no accredited minister. In
+addition to these more obvious duties, occasions will continually arise
+which demand the utmost temper and discretion. If the secret history of
+the greatest, and most popular commanders were fully made known&mdash;what
+difficulties they encountered, and what anxieties they endured&mdash;not many
+would be found to envy them their distinctions.</p>
+
+<p>The change in the ministry, which took place within three weeks after
+Sir Edward's promotion and appointment, subjected him, in its
+consequences, to many and great inconveniences; for the new Board of
+Admiralty manifested a decidedly hostile feeling. Such was the temper
+displayed, that he thought it necessary to caution his brother Israel to
+observe the utmost circumspection in all his conduct,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> and never even to
+sleep out of his ship. The evident desire to deprive him of his command
+left him very little expectation that he would be allowed to keep it,
+and in his first letter from India he observed, "Probably my successor
+is already on his way to supersede me." He was not far mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable, indeed the only valuable part of his command was that
+to the eastward of Ceylon, which included the two chief presidencies,
+and all the rich colonies of the enemy. It was resolved to deprive him
+of this, by creating it a separate station, leaving to him only the
+western seas. The more desirable portion was conferred upon Rear-Admiral
+Sir Thomas Troubridge, an officer whose reputation must endure as long
+as the name and services of Nelson are remembered; and whose
+unquestioned merit affords every cause to regret that he was innocently
+made the instrument of such a proceeding. He hoisted his flag in the
+<i>Blenheim</i>, an old three-decker which had been cut down to a
+seventy-four, and sailed from England in the spring of 1805, with a
+fleet of Indiamen under his convoy; and after beating off Rear-Admiral
+Linois, who attacked him with the <i>Marengo</i> and <i>Belle Poule</i>, reached
+India in August.</p>
+
+<p>When Sir Thomas went on board the <i>Culloden</i>, on his unwelcome, but not
+unexpected errand, Sir Edward inquired if he had brought his own letters
+of recall. Finding that the Admiralty had overlooked the essential step
+of sending them, he declared, that until they arrived he could not
+resign any part of his command. He was charged with it by the King, and
+was required by the regulations of the service to hold it until recalled
+by the same authority. Sir Thomas thought that a commission was
+cancelled by a posterior one, without a direct recall; but Sir Edward,
+who was equalled by very few in his knowledge of naval law, found it
+easy to convince him to the contrary, or at least to refute his
+arguments. He told Sir Thomas that if he remained in India, it must be
+under his own orders, for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> commission comprehended all the station,
+and it was impossible for a junior to command in the presence of his
+superior officer. When Sir Thomas, indignant at the proposal, refused to
+act under the other's authority, Sir Edward brought the question very
+promptly to an issue, by writing, and handing to Sir Thomas, an order on
+service.</p>
+
+<p>Both officers were naturally warm, and Sir Thomas, disappointed as well
+as irritated, and who was taken so entirely by surprise, had by this
+time quite lost his temper. Indeed, the altercation had gone so far,
+that nothing but a sense of their public responsibility prevented a more
+unpleasant meeting. Sir Edward had hitherto maintained his self-command;
+but as Sir Thomas continued warm, and he was conscious of the infirmity
+of his own temper, he went himself to the cabin-door, and calling for
+Captain Cole, desired him to remain as a witness of all that passed. The
+two Admirals quickly came, not perhaps to a more friendly feeling, but
+at least to a better understanding. Sir Thomas could not but see that
+the other was acting in strict conformity to his duty, and he had the
+assurance that the Admiralty would correct their oversight as soon as a
+reference could be made to them. Sir Edward must have felt it most
+painful thus to meet an officer whose character stood deservedly among
+the highest in the service; the trusted friend, and almost the other
+self of Nelson. Acting with the utmost disinterestedness, though he
+could only expect to be superseded, for a public board will seldom
+confess itself to have been in error, he did not hesitate, as soon as
+his own authority had been properly admitted, to give Sir Thomas a
+separate squadron in the best part of the station. It proved a most
+lucrative command, for in addition to its general advantages, some
+prizes of immense value were taken. On the 20th of July, 1806, the
+<i>Greyhound</i> frigate and <i>Harrier</i> sloop of war fell in with two large
+armed Indiamen, richly laden with spices, and protected by a frigate and
+a corvette. The British gallantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> attacked them, and captured, with
+little loss, the frigate, and both the Indiamen. To add to the
+gratification of the Admiral, it was his son, Captain Troubridge, who
+commanded the <i>Harrier</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward, as far as he was himself concerned, had eventually little
+reason for regret. The position of true dignity, to be always ready to
+sacrifice to public duty personal feelings, and to surrender, when
+necessary, personal interests, but never to compromise any point of
+principle or character, is generally the course not less of prudence
+than of honour. He obtained on this occasion all he could desire, and
+more than he had hoped for, a candid inquiry. Before his letter reached
+England, there had been a change in the ministry, and Mr. Grey was at
+the head of the Admiralty. Nothing could be more honourable than all his
+conduct. It was at first believed that Sir Edward had committed an
+illegal and unprecedented act of resistance to that authority which, as
+an officer, he was bound implicitly to obey. Yet, believing that he had
+acted hastily, Mr. Grey himself went to the Duke of Northumberland, as
+Sir Edward's friend, to say, that the board would allow him to write a
+letter on service, recalling his ill-advised communication. The Duke
+sent to Sir Edward's brother, who was then in town, that he might write
+to India without delay; but Mr. Pellew at first thought the step
+unnecessary. His brother, he said, was not in the habit of acting
+without due consideration, and he did not think it would be found that
+he had done so now. But next day. Earl St. Vincent called upon the Duke,
+and insisted more strongly on the necessity for the step. Sir Edward's
+letter, he said, was not a question of this or the other administration,
+but an act of insubordination which no ministry could overlook: that his
+professional prospects would be entirely destroyed if the board took
+cognizance of it; and that extraordinary lenity was shown in allowing
+him to recall it. A letter was accordingly written; but before a ship
+sailed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Mr. Grey came a second time to the Duke, and told him he had
+found, upon inquiry, that Sir Edward was right. He did more; for he
+wrote to Sir Edward himself a very kind and handsome letter; and though
+opposed to him in political opinions, while Sir Thomas Troubridge was
+connected with his own friends, he recalled this officer, whom he
+appointed to the Cape, and continued to Sir Edward, as at first, the
+entire command in India.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas had with great reason assured himself of a different result.
+He prepared immediately to cross the Indian Ocean to the Cape in the
+<i>Blenheim</i>, though she was utterly unseaworthy, and required constant
+pumping even in harbour. She had grounded on a shoal in the Straits of
+Malacca, and was obliged to throw her guns overboard, and cut away her
+masts, before she could be got off. Her back was broken, her frame
+shaken to pieces, and she hogged excessively. In fact, her head and
+stern fell so much, that she rose like a hill amidships, and a person at
+the door of the poop-cabin could not see the sentry on the forecastle
+below his middle. Sir Edward Pellew entreated the Admiral to select any
+other ship on the station for his flag. The Captain of the <i>Blenheim</i>
+formally reported her condition, but was told, that if he were afraid,
+he might go on shore, a taunt that compelled the unfortunate officer to
+sacrifice himself with the ship's company. The Admiral thought to force
+back the broken keel to its place by putting in a very heavy mainmast,
+and could not be convinced that he thus increased the danger. The
+distinguished officer who supplied these particulars went on board the
+<i>Blenheim</i> the day she sailed, to take leave of the Captain, and found
+that he had just written a last farewell to his wife, from a conviction
+that the ship must inevitably founder. On the 12th of January, 1807, she
+sailed from Madras, in company with the <i>Java</i> frigate, and the
+<i>Harrier</i> sloop of war. On the 5th of February, the <i>Harrier</i> parted
+company off the island of Rodrigues, in a very heavy gale, in which the
+unfortunate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> <i>Blenheim</i> and <i>Java</i> were seen to make repeated signals of
+distress. They were never again heard of!</p>
+
+<p>The possibility that the ships might have run on shore induced Sir
+Edward to send the Admiral's son with the <i>Greyhound</i> frigate in search
+of his lamented parent. Captain Troubridge explored the coasts with all
+the anxiety that filial affection could inspire, receiving every
+assistance from the French authorities at the isles of France and
+Bourbon; but he could discover no certain traces of the ships, and no
+doubt remained that they had both foundered.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward had been in India but a very short time, when his friend and
+former opponent, Bergeret, was brought to him a prisoner. This gallant
+officer had employed himself through the peace in the merchant service,
+with the <i>Psych&eacute;</i>, formerly a small national frigate. When hostilities
+were renewed, he armed her with thirty-six guns, and sent her out in
+charge of another officer, Captain Trogoff, not choosing to command a
+privateer. In her first cruise, on the 11th of April, 1804, she
+attacked, and was beaten off by the <i>Wilhelmina</i> store-ship, Captain
+Henry Lambert, and returning to the Isle of France, disabled, General
+Decaen, the governor, bought her into the national marine, and appointed
+Bergeret to command her. He cruised in the Bay of Bengal for a short
+time with much success, while his very liberal conduct obtained for him
+the highest respect of the British residents. Fortune was again unjust
+to him. On the 14th of February, 1805, the <i>San Fiorenzo</i>, commanded by
+Captain Lambert, late of the <i>Wilhelmina</i>, and which had been sent
+expressly in pursuit of him, fell in with the <i>Psych&eacute;</i> off Vizagapatam,
+and after a chase of two days brought her to action. Bergeret defended
+his ship against a very superior force for three hours and a half, when
+the <i>San Fiorenzo</i> hauled off to repair her rigging, leaving him with
+his ship entirely disabled, and more than half his crew killed and
+wounded. On the approach of the British frigate to renew the action, he
+surrendered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward was a warm admirer of the brave prisoner, whose character so
+much resembled his own, and who returned his friendship with equal
+warmth and sincerity. There is not often such a scene on board a
+man-of-war as occurred when the two officers first met on the
+quarter-deck of the <i>Culloden</i>. Both were deeply affected, and the
+struggle of their feelings, from meeting under such circumstances, drew
+tears from many who witnessed the interview.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward was not always so happy as to meet with enemies thus
+deserving of his sympathy. A French frigate, the <i>Piedmontaise</i>, was
+guilty of conduct which would have-disgraced a pirate. Cruising off the
+Cape, on the 17th of February, 1805, she fell in with the <i>Warren
+Hastings</i>, one of the China fleet which on a former voyage so gallantly
+bent off the squadron of Admiral Linois; and after a very long and
+severe action, in which the Indiaman was dismasted, and otherwise
+completely disabled, took her. Her brave defence appears to have excited
+the fury of the enemy, probably because her very crippled state
+increased the probability of recapture. Before taking possession of the
+prize, the frigate, by her own mismanagement, fell on board.
+Immediately, the first lieutenant, with a party of ruffians, many of
+whom, like their leader, were intoxicated, rushed on the deck of the
+Indiaman with horrid imprecations and drawn daggers, accusing the
+prisoners of having run foul of the frigate intentionally. The
+lieutenant himself wounded Captain Larkins dangerously, and stabbed a
+young midshipman in several places; and the second officer, the surgeon,
+and a boatswain's mate, were wounded by his followers. Sir Edward did
+not become acquainted with these facts for two years, as Captain Larkins
+and his crew could not depose to them until they reached St. Helena,
+after they had been liberated from the Isle of France. The
+<i>Piedmontaise</i> was then cruising in the Indian seas, and Sir Edward
+transmit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>ted copies of the depositions to every ship on the station,
+with a general order, in which "the attention of the respective captains
+and commanders of H.M.'s squadron is especially called to the statement,
+in order that the ferocious conduct of the first lieutenant, and part of
+the crew of the <i>Piedmontaise</i>, may receive the general reprobation of
+H.M.'s service."</p>
+
+<p>The <i>San Fiorenzo</i> was again the fortunate frigate which stopped the
+career of the enemy. Commanded by Captain George Nicholas Hardinge,
+brother of Lord Hardinge, the present Commander-in-Chief&mdash;a young
+officer of great promise and distinguished courage&mdash;she fell in with the
+<i>Piedmontaise</i> on the evening of the 6th of March, 1808; and after an
+exchange of broadsides that night, and a severe but still undecided
+engagement next morning, brought her to close action on the afternoon of
+the third day, and took her. The <i>San Fiorenzo</i> commenced action with
+only 186 effective men; the <i>Piedmontaise</i>, a larger and heavier
+frigate, had more than 500, including 200 Lascars. Captain Hardinge was
+unfortunately killed on the third day. For some time before the enemy
+struck, the first lieutenant was seen exposing himself to the hottest of
+the fire; till, disappointed of the death he sought, and dreading to
+fall into the hands of the British, he discharged his pistols into his
+own body. It is said, that as he did not die immediately, he ordered
+some of his people to throw him overboard alive.</p>
+
+<p>The French naval force in the Indian seas was at no time considerable,
+for whenever a cruiser was known to be committing depredations, her
+career was generally cut short by some of the squadron. It consisted
+chiefly of privateers, for which the Isle of France afforded a
+convenient rendezvous; and of which some were large enough to capture a
+regular Indiaman. The <i>Emiline</i>, taken after a two days' chase by the
+<i>Culloden</i>, had been a British sloop of war: and the <i>Bellone</i>, taken by
+the <i>Powerful</i> and <i>Rattlesnake</i>, was added to the navy as a small-class
+frigate, and actually maintained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> a running fight with the seventy-four.
+The resemblance between ships of war and the larger Indiamen more than
+once deceived the enemy. The <i>Union</i>, a small privateer, mounting only
+eight guns, thus ventured to chase, and was taken by the <i>Culloden</i>; and
+the <i>Jena</i>, national corvette, was taken in the same manner by the
+<i>Modeste</i> frigate. The <i>Jena</i> was a remarkably fine and fast vessel,
+and, as the <i>Revenant</i> privateer, had formerly cruised long and very
+successfully. She was commissioned as the <i>Victor</i>, to replace a sloop
+of war of that name, which in the preceding year had been the scene of
+one of the most extraordinary and tragical events on record.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Victor</i>, commanded by Captain George Bell, whose name has been
+already mentioned in connection with the <i>Nymphe</i> and <i>Indefatigable</i>,
+had taken four brigs in Batavia Road, and was returning to Prince of
+Wales' Island. On the 15th of April 1807, off Cheribon, she met three
+Malay prows under Dutch colours, which, on its falling calm, she
+detained with the armed boats, and brought alongside. The crews of two
+of them, a hundred and twenty men, were taken on board the <i>Victor</i>, and
+placed under a guard, while the prows were being examined; but the
+people in the third being refractory, a carronade was fired into her,
+and some small arms, which they returned by throwing spears and firing
+pistols. A second gun was therefore fired, some sparks from which
+reached a quantity of powder which had been taken out of the prows, and
+blew up the after-part of the ship. The guard ran to extinguish the
+flames, leaving the prisoners, who instantly seized their arms, with the
+spears and knives which had been thrown on board, and attacked the crew
+with all the desperation of their character. The prows were immediately
+cut adrift, and the crew, under the direction of their officers,
+proceeded with admirable order and coolness, one part to extinguish the
+fire, and the rest to defend themselves against the murderous attack.
+After half an hour's dreadful struggle for life, for the Malays would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+take no quarter, eighty of them lay dead on the deck, and the rest were
+driven overboard. The <i>Victor</i> had her first lieutenant and five men
+killed, and her captain and twenty-five wounded; nine of whom died
+shortly after.</p>
+
+<p>Holland, which in reality, though not yet in name, was now a French
+province, had a moderately strong squadron in India. Two frigates had
+been taken since Sir Edward's arrival, the <i>Maria Riggersbergen</i>, by the
+<i>Caroline</i>; and the <i>Pallas</i>, by the <i>Greyhound</i> and <i>Harrier</i>. The
+first was the unfortunate ship which, under the name of the <i>Java</i>,
+shared the fate of the <i>Blenheim</i>; the other was the convoy of the spice
+ships. Two line-of-battle ships, the <i>Pluto</i> and <i>Revoluti&eacute;</i> with a
+frigate and several corvettes and gun-boats, were at anchor in Batavia
+Road; and information had been received by the <i>Powerful</i>, 74, Captain
+Plamplin, that Rear-Admiral Willaumez, with six sail of the line, one of
+them commanded by Jerome Bonaparte, might be expected in the Indian
+seas. To destroy the ships already at Batavia, and to intercept the
+French squadron, Sir Edward sailed on the 22nd of October 1806, from
+Madras to Trincomalee. Here a fleet of Indiamen under his convoy was
+joined by other ships, and went on to Europe in charge of the <i>Woolwich</i>
+and <i>Duncan</i>; while the Admiral, with the <i>Culloden</i>, <i>Powerful</i>,
+<i>Russell</i>, and <i>Belliqueux</i> line-of-battle ships, and <i>Terpsichore</i>
+frigate, proceeded to the Straits of Sunda, where the <i>Albion</i> and
+others were to join him. Lieutenant Owen, commanding the <i>Seaflower</i>
+brig, was instructed to disguise her as one of the expected French
+squadron, and to hasten on before. On the 23rd of November, they were
+joined by the frigate <i>Sir Francis Drake</i>, Captain Pownoll Pellew; and
+on the same day they learnt that Willaumez had gone to America. On the
+26th they arrived in the Straits of Sunda, where they found the
+<i>Seaflower</i>, which had already communicated with the Dutch authorities
+at Bantam as one of the expected French force, and information was sent
+accordingly to the Governor at Batavia. So completely were the enemy
+de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>ceived by this step, that the squadron sailed along the coast of
+Java, and anchored on the 27th in Batavia Road, before its character was
+suspected.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as it was known to be British, the <i>Ph&oelig;nix</i>, 40-gun frigate;
+the <i>Aventure</i> and <i>Zee-ploeg</i>, national corvettes; the <i>Patriot</i>, and
+another ship of 20 guns, and three brigs of 14, Company's cruisers; with
+more than twenty merchant vessels, ran themselves on shore under the
+extensive batteries of Batavia. Another corvette, the <i>William</i>, struck
+to the <i>Terpsichore</i> as she was entering the road; but the
+line-of-battle ships had sailed a few days before to Griessee, a
+fortified harbour on the Sourabaya river, at the eastern extremity of
+the island. The boats of the whole squadron, with five hundred picked
+men, commanded by the Admiral's second son, Captain Fleetwood Pellew, of
+the <i>Terpsichore</i>, and covered by the fire from the frigates, were sent
+without delay to destroy the enemy's ships. The decision of Captain
+Pellew, which scarcely allowed them time to man their guns, made their
+fire almost harmless. He boarded the <i>Ph&oelig;nix</i>, whose crew quitted her
+on his approach; turned her guns on the other armed vessels; burnt all
+the shipping except three merchant vessels, which were brought away; and
+in less than two hours returned with the boats, having effected the
+whole service with no greater loss than one man killed and four wounded.</p>
+
+<p>One of the ships lay at the little island of Onroost, which is piled and
+jettied all around, and contained a small and compact repairing yard for
+merchant vessels of all nations. Two boats were sent to destroy her,
+with strict orders to injure nothing on shore; but unfortunately she
+drove alongside the jetty, and, to the great regret of the Admiral, the
+flames communicated to the buildings, and occasioned much damage. The
+squadron sailed on the 1st of December, the <i>Culloden</i> and <i>Belliqueux</i>
+to return to India, the others for their respective stations. Thus
+easily was completed an enterprise, as admirably planned as it was
+gallantly exe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>cuted. General Daendels, when he became Captain-General of
+Java and the Moluccas, some time after, sent a message to Sir Edward,
+that he hoped he would not pay him a visit without an invitation.</p>
+
+<p>In the following June, the Admiral sent Captain Fleetwood Pellew in the
+<i>Psych&eacute;</i>, with the <i>Caroline</i> under his orders, to ascertain the
+condition of the Dutch line-of-battle ships at Griessee. Captain Pellew
+displayed on this occasion the same spirit which had marked his former
+service. The frigates reached their destination August 29th, and on the
+following day learned that the men-of-war were lying in the port
+dismantled, and very much out of repair. They now proceeded to Samarang,
+where the <i>Psych&eacute;</i> arrived, and anchored off the port at midnight, the
+<i>Caroline</i> having parted company in chase. At daylight she weighed, and
+stood into the road, where an armed schooner and a merchant brig were
+anchored near the batteries. These were brought out by the boats, under
+a heavy but ineffectual fire. Two large ships and a brig had been seen
+early in the morning at anchor outside, afterwards found to be the
+<i>Resoluti&eacute;</i>, armed merchant vessel, of 700 tons, with a valuable cargo,
+and having the colours and staff of a Dutch European regiment on board;
+the <i>Scipio</i>, national corvette, of 24 guns and 150 men; and the
+<i>Ceres</i>, Company's brig of war. That he might be ready to take advantage
+of the sea-breeze, Captain Pellew destroyed the prizes, and before noon
+the <i>Psych&eacute;</i> was clear of the harbour in chase, the enemy having weighed
+and stood to sea. The frigate gaining fast upon them, they all ran
+themselves on shore at half-past three, and opened their fire. The
+<i>Psych&eacute;</i> anchored as near as the depth of water would allow, and
+presently compelled the merchant ship to surrender. At half-past four,
+just as the frigate was lowering her boats to board, the <i>Scipio</i>
+struck: and the brig soon after fired a broadside, and hauled down her
+colours. They were all got off safely the same night, and Captain
+Pellew, after arranging with the Governor of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> Samarang for sending on
+shore the prisoners, who far outnumbered his own crew, returned to port
+with his prizes.</p>
+
+<p>On the arrival of the <i>Psych&eacute;</i>, Sir Edward sailed from Madras, with the
+<i>Culloden</i> and <i>Powerful</i>, seventy-fours; <i>Caroline</i> and <i>Fox</i>,
+frigates; <i>Victor</i>, <i>Samarang</i>, <i>Seaflower</i>, and <i>Jaseur</i>, sloops of
+war; and <i>Wexford</i>, a large Indiaman, fitted as a troop-ship: with five
+companies of the 34th regiment, and a company of artillery, under
+Lieutenant-Colonel Lockhart. The squadron proceeded first to Prince of
+Wales' Island, where it embarked the Royals, and the 34th; and on the
+20th of November sailed finally for its destination. On the morning of
+the 5th of December it arrived off Point Panka, the eastern extremity of
+Java; and Sir Edward sent a summons to M. Cowell, commander of the
+Gallo-Batavian force, to surrender the ships of war under his orders.
+"The British," he wrote, "are the natural friends of the Dutch. We are
+impressed with correspondent sentiments. It is become our duty to
+prevent the Dutch ships of war from acting under the control of France
+in hostility to the British." He then proposed that the ships of war,
+and all vessels under French colours, be given up, promising in that
+case security for the inhabitants and garrison; and threatening, in the
+event of a refusal, those hostile operations which the naval and
+military forces were jointly prepared to accomplish. Captain Fleetwood
+Pellew, with a military officer, and the Admiral's secretary, delivered
+this proposal to the French commodore; but that officer, in violation of
+the flag of truce, detained them all as prisoners, and returned an
+answer of defiance.</p>
+
+<p>The force assembled for the attack was such as might deter the enemy
+from attempting resistance, with a sufficient force of small vessels to
+be equal to the service, if the line-of-battle ships should be unable to
+get up. At the entrance of the river, about ten miles up the harbour,
+the <i>Culloden</i> and <i>Powerful</i>, though they had been previously
+lightened, and trimmed to an even keel, to equalize their draught of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+water fore-and-aft, grounded on what was called the bar, and which
+proved to be a flat, several miles in extent. Part of their water was
+started, and their guns, shot, provisions, and whatever would materially
+lighten them, were removed into three coasting-vessels detained for that
+purpose; but still they remained fast. The rest of the squadron, except
+the troop-ship, which was also aground, crossed the bar, and passing a
+stockade of large trees, anchored in deep water below the island of
+Madura. On the evening of the 6th, Sir Edward, seeing no probability of
+carrying up the large ships, determined to force the passage, and attack
+the place without them, and accordingly shifted his flag to the
+<i>Caroline</i>. Fortunately, at nine o'clock that night the water began to
+rise; and by ten, the <i>Culloden</i> was afloat and under sail. Following a
+boat with a light, which was directed by Mr. Gaze, the master, she
+passed the stockade, and by eleven o'clock was anchored above the bar in
+deep water. Before daylight, the Admiral returned to her, and all the
+squadron, except the <i>Powerful</i> and the troop-ship, which had not yet
+floated, weighed with the sea-breeze, and stood for the narrow passage
+between Madura and Java. At half-past eleven, they were engaged with the
+batteries on the island; but they passed them by half-past twelve,
+without having received material damage. At a little past four, the
+squadron anchored abreast of the Fort of Griessee, but no farther
+resistance was offered, except a few ineffectual shots fired from that
+fort at the <i>Culloden</i>; M. Cowell having previously determined to defend
+the place to the last against the frigates and sloops, but to surrender
+if the line-of-battle ships got up. The <i>Powerful</i> joined next day. In
+coming up, she was struck from the batteries on Madura with hot shot,
+but her people extinguished the fire. The troops took possession of the
+fort, leaving the town in the hands of the civil authorities: and on the
+9th, the Governor and Council of Somabaya, having thankfully acquiesced
+in the liberal terms dictated by Sir Edward, all hostilities ceased.
+They had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> promptly released the gentlemen whom the commodore had so
+unjustifiably detained; and a deputation of three members of their own
+body accompanied them to the Admiral, to disavow the act of M. Cowell,
+and to treat for a capitulation.</p>
+
+<p>Having burnt the <i>Pluto</i>, <i>Revoluti&eacute;</i>, and <i>Kortenaar</i>, line-of-battle
+ships, and a large Indiaman, fitted as a frigate, and destroyed the
+military stores and batteries at Griessee and Madura, the squadron
+weighed on the 13th, and stood down the river in charge of the Dutch
+pilots. On the 15th, they crossed the bar, and two days after, having
+completed their provisions and water, left the coast. Not a man was lost
+in all the service. When Java was taken, in 1811, a squadron was sent to
+Sourabaya; but none of the large ships could get over the bar; and their
+officers would scarcely credit the fact that the <i>Culloden</i> and
+<i>Powerful</i> had reached Griessee.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Culloden</i> arrived at Madras on the 10th of February, and found
+there the <i>Russell</i> and <i>Duncan</i>, with troops embarked to attack
+Tranquebar. They sailed next day, and the place surrendered on being
+summoned.</p>
+
+<p>But all these operations, complete as they were in their success, were
+of far less importance than the effectual protection which Sir Edward
+afforded to commerce. His position, with reference to this point, had
+been peculiarly fortunate: for the confidential intercourse which
+existed between him and his brothers, and the warm interest which they
+took in one another's pursuits, had induced him to give much attention
+to the commercial system of the country. Particularly, he had become
+familiar with the important subject of insurance and convoys, upon which
+his brother had been much in communication with the government. At an
+early period of his command in India, he submitted to the merchants and
+underwriters a proposal to establish a regular system of convoys; and
+invited them to suggest from their own local experience the regulations
+likely to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> the most convenient and effectual. The merchants entered
+readily into his plans and the results were satisfactory. Some loss was,
+indeed, still experienced through a frequent practice of masters of
+vessels to sail without convoy, or to separate from it on the passage.
+The commanders of the enemy's cruisers generally treated their prisoners
+well, and released them at the earliest opportunity; so that sailing
+without protection became a mere commercial calculation between a higher
+premium of insurance, and the profits from an early arrival, for little
+personal inconvenience was to be apprehended from capture. To check this
+practice, the Bengal Government, in December, 1806, issued a
+proclamation, declaring that all masters of vessels who separated from
+their convoy without sufficient cause, should be removed from India; and
+in 1808, the Court of Directors ordered, that the master of every
+country ship should enter into a bond of 5,000 rupees, at the
+custom-house from which he cleared, as a penalty for any separation. Not
+that the danger was often great, for the vigilance of the squadron
+seldom allowed an enemy's cruiser a long career; but it sometimes
+happened, as was particularly the case while the force was assembled for
+the expedition to Sourabaya, that an enemy would unexpectedly show
+himself, and commit serious depredations.</p>
+
+<p>During the debate in the House of Commons, on the vote of thanks for the
+victory at Algiers, Mr. Money, an East India Director, who had been in
+India during Sir Edward's command, bore a strong testimony to the merit
+and success of his system. "Such," he said, "was the vigilance with
+which Sir Edward had chased the enemy from our extensive shores, and so
+powerful the protection which he gave to our commerce in those seas,
+that property to the amount of millions had been saved, which otherwise
+would have fallen into the hands of the enemy." Making all the allowance
+which a loose and general estimate usually requires, the assertion at
+least shows the estimation in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> Sir Edward's services were held. A
+series of resolutions entered into by the merchants and underwriters of
+Bombay, in December, 1808, when he was on the point of returning to
+Europe, affords more precise evidence. From the data furnished by the
+trade of this port, may be inferred the greatness of the benefits which
+the commerce of India received from his protection.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Resolved&mdash;That it appears to this meeting of merchants,
+shipowners, and underwriters, of Bombay, to be an indispensable act
+of justice, more especially under existing circumstances, publicly
+to declare, on the approaching departure of his Excellency
+Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew for Europe, the extent of the
+protection which the commerce of Bombay has received, since the
+assumption by his Excellency of the command-in-chief of his
+Majesty's ships in the Indian seas.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That it appears by a document framed in the insurance-office of
+Bombay, that the rate of premium from Bombay to China, and from
+China to Bombay, from the year 1708 to 1805, fluctuated between
+twelve, ten, nine, and eight per cent.; while, during the period of
+Sir Edward Pellew's command, from 1805 to 1808 inclusive, it has
+stood at eight per cent., with a return of three per cent., if
+sailing with convoy, and at five per cent., if warranted with
+convoy: the rate of insurance has, therefore, been fifty per cent,
+lower on the commerce of the port of Bombay during Sir Edward
+Pellew's command than at any former period.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That since the arrival of Sir Edward Pellew, a period of only
+three years, one hundred and ten ships have exported and imported,
+to and from China, under convoy during the whole voyage; while only
+twenty-eight have run the passage unprotected, in consequence of
+their sailing out of the seasons fixed for the regular convoys; at
+the same time that those which have departed unprotected on the eve
+of appointed convoys, or have separated in the course of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> the
+voyage, have not failed to attract the notice and remonstrance of
+his Excellency.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That the operation of the system of convoys had afforded
+complete security to the trading capital of Bombay, of which the
+amount insured at this settlement, from May 1st, 1806, to October
+31st, 1808, has been 6,700,000<i>l.</i>; that the premium paid by the
+trade on that sum amounts to 445,000<i>l.</i>; that the losses by
+captures amount to 61,000<i>l.</i>; that the losses by sea risks
+extended to 69,000<i>l.</i>; and that the profits to the underwriters
+amount to the sum of 314,000<i>l.</i>; the losses by captures being
+under one per cent, on the principal insured, and exceeded by those
+arising from sea-risks; while the former have occurred beyond the
+influence, or have been a consequence of a departure from that
+regular system of convoy, by which the commerce of the western
+division of the peninsula of India has been so extensively
+benefited.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That the advantage resulting from protection by convoys, which
+the trade of this port has thus experienced, has originated in that
+system which was established, and has prevailed, since the
+succession to the command of H.M.'s ships in India by Sir Edward
+Pellew; a system proposed at his express invitation, in the letter
+addressed to his Excellency by the three leading firms in behalf of
+the merchants of Bombay, on the 12th of February, 1806, and adopted
+in the reply of his Excellency's secretary of the following day.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That at a time when the enemy has sacrificed his maritime
+reputation, and every feeling of naval ambition, to a degrading
+system of privateering, in the prosecution of which national ships
+of superior force and construction are employed, for the purpose of
+committing depredations on our trade, it is indispensable to the
+successful prosecution of our commercial interests, essential to
+our national credit, and justly due to the character of those to
+whom the protection of these valuable and important trusts is
+committed, that a steady adherence to that system should be
+observed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> of the solid advantages of which, the experience of
+three years has afforded so decided a proof.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That independently of the ample protection afforded to the
+commerce of the port, his Excellency Sir Edward Pellew has
+manifested a degree of personal anxiety for the security of its
+trade, characteristic of that zeal and vigilance which have ever
+distinguished his professional career; that the interference of his
+Excellency led to the advertisements issued at his suggestion by
+the insurance society of Bombay in the year 1806, promotive of
+encouragement to sail and continue under convoy; and subsequently,
+to the salutary provisions contained in the proclamations published
+by the governments of Bengal and Bombay in the year 1807,
+restrictive of the practice of ships separating from convoy; and,
+moreover, that his Excellency's solicitude in this respect has
+succeeded in establishing a degree of control over our shipping,
+hitherto unknown in the Indian seas.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That these important facts, as established by the most minute
+investigation, do eminently entitle his Excellency Sir Edward
+Pellew, to a more formal declaration of those grateful
+acknowledgments which he has already received from a great and
+decided majority of the merchants, shipowners, and underwriters of
+Bombay.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;That these resolutions be communicated to his Excellency Sir
+Edward Pellew, with a suitable address, and published in the
+<i>Bombay Courier</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">Charles Forbes</span>, Chairman."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The great extent of the Indian command, and the comparatively small
+force with which it was held, called forth the utmost exertions of every
+officer; and the attention of the commander-in-chief was unceasingly
+directed to everything which was calculated to maintain his squadron in
+the highest state of efficiency. Lord Torrington, who was at that time
+serving under his orders, bore testimony in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> House of Lords to the
+care and judgment by which, while he prevented any waste of naval
+stores, he kept the ships always well supplied, and in a state always
+ready for action. Overlooking nothing connected with the interest of his
+crews, he established a naval hospital at Madras, a measure fraught with
+economy to the country, and advantage to the service.</p>
+
+<p>As an Admiral, not less than as a Captain, Sir Edward interested himself
+in the welfare and comfort of every man under his command; but the
+clamour of that false humanity which is one of the most prominent vices
+of the present day would never influence him. He knew that, even in the
+best ordered ships, punishment may be sometimes necessary as an extreme
+alternative, though the exercise of it demands great discretion. Too
+many will be found, especially during a war, when it is impossible to
+inquire into the character of those who come into the service, who are
+callous to every better motive; and with reference to such, we must
+respect the humanity more than the judgment of those who would
+substitute privations injurious to health, for the pain of the lash, and
+studied indignities for the shame of it. Little consideration can be
+claimed for that pretended sense of honour, which is sensitive to the
+shame of punishment, but callous to the degradation of crime. The
+experience of every good officer will bear out the assertions, that a
+strict commander is always the most popular; that the orderly system of
+a well regulated ship, in which every man knows his duty, and performs
+it without being teasingly interfered with, affords the best security
+against offences; and that when an offence has been committed, the
+ship's company, and even the culprit himself, will respect the captain
+who patiently investigates the fault, and dispassionately orders the
+deserved punishment.</p>
+
+<p>But on the other hand, except in particular cases, as where a ship has
+been manned by drafts from the fleet; in other words, by receiving the
+skulkers and incorrigibles, whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> every captain desires to get rid of,
+frequency of punishment is the most certain proof of unsatisfactory
+discipline. Either there will be a laxity which encourages by the
+prospect of impunity, or else a want of system, in which the caprice of
+the officer is the rule for the moment, and the men can never fall into
+regular habits. Sir Edward's observation had taught him, that while the
+power to punish can be entrusted only to the discretion of the
+commander, it is right, on every ground, that it should be exercised
+under some check. Accordingly, soon after he went to India, he required
+a monthly return of punishment from every ship in his fleet; and the
+Admiralty, struck with the simplicity of the plan, and not less with the
+excellent effects, adopted it for all the navy. This was the first step
+in the milder and more effectual system of discipline which has since
+prevailed; and if he had no other claim than to have originated this, it
+would be sufficient to entitle him to the gratitude of every officer and
+man in the service.</p>
+
+<p>He sailed from India in February, 1809, with a fleet of Indiamen under
+his convoy. Off the Isle of France they encountered a violent hurricane,
+in which the <i>Culloden</i> was in the greatest danger. For three days no
+provisions could be cooked, and the crew subsisted chiefly on dry rice,
+with a dram every four hours. So violent was the motion of the ship, as
+she rolled from broadside to broadside, that the chain-pumps were almost
+useless. All the quarter-boats were lost, the quarter-galleries washed
+away, and three of the dead lights stove. Fortunately her bottom was
+sound, but she broke much in the upper works; the bolts working
+themselves loose, and many of the knees giving way. Even the cabin
+bulkheads were thrown down. It was suggested to the Admiral, who was
+almost constantly on deck, encouraging the men at the pumps, that the
+ship would be materially eased if the upper deck guns were thrown
+overboard. He replied, "I do not think it necessary; she will do very
+well, and what would become of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> convoy if we meet an enemy?" It was
+his intention, if the gale had continued, to cut away the mainmast,
+which, being very heavy&mdash;for it weighed twenty-one tons&mdash;strained the
+ship exceedingly. The mizen-mast had given way in the top. Four of the
+convoy foundered, and the rest were scattered; but all which escaped the
+gale re-assembled at St. Helena, and, with the <i>Culloden</i>, arrived
+safely in England.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Bergeret rose to be an Admiral, and was not long since
+Commander-in-Chief at Brest.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.</h3>
+
+<p>The expedition to the Scheldt was being fitted out when Sir Edward
+arrived from India; and had he reached England but a few days sooner, it
+was understood that he would have received the naval command. The
+military commander-in-chief, whose friendship he had long enjoyed,
+wished him to be appointed; but the final arrangements of the Admiralty
+had been already completed.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Mulgrave afterwards proposed to him to be second in command in the
+Mediterranean; and suggested that Lord Collingwood would probably be
+glad to surrender his charge to an officer who possessed the confidence
+of the Admiralty; for that of late he had repeatedly expressed a desire
+to be relieved from it on account of his declining health. But Sir
+Edward, who was not aware of the actual condition of that distinguished
+Admiral, declined the offer, for he could not be persuaded that Lord
+Collingwood would resign a command which he filled so usefully and
+honourably, as long as he could possibly hold it with advantage to his
+country.</p>
+
+<p>He did not remain long unemployed, though he never attempted to create
+an interest in his favour by any indirect means. Political intrigue, he
+has said, does not sit well on a sea-officer; and he would not attach
+himself to the fortunes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> of any administration, or party. This, as it is
+the most honourable, is also in the end the most successful path; but
+the man who travels thus alone and unsupported, must be prepared for the
+many attacks to which such a position will expose him. Some such
+annoyance or interference may have prompted the following blunt avowal
+of independence in a letter, of the 28th of July, 1810.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no right to the favour of Mr. Percival, or any minister.&mdash;I have
+never intrigued, nor ever will&mdash;and as to sneaking after such people, I
+will not&mdash;and as to the command of the Channel fleet, be it Pole, or be
+it Calder, I care not one straw&mdash;and whether I am on the shelf by any
+new set, is equally indifferent&mdash;and for me, who am fifty-three, except
+the heart-felt satisfaction of serving my country in such times, I will
+never be at the trouble to write a letter to ask a favour of any
+minister alive. I care not who comes in, or who goes out, and if they
+send me on shore, well; and if not, it is the same."</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1810 he hoisted his flag on board the <i>Christian VII</i>.
+as commander in-chief in the North Sea. He rode at anchor with his fleet
+all the summer, off the mouth of the Scheldt, just in sight of land;
+while his smaller vessels were actively employed along the whole line of
+coast. He frequently stood into the Scheldt in a cutter, that he might
+reconnoitre the enemy's fleet in person. A gale from the eastward having
+blown the fleet off the coast, it was at anchor in the Downs, when a
+gun-brig arrived with intelligence that the enemy had dropped down to
+the Western Scheldt, apparently ready to sail. He ordered the fleet to
+sea immediately; but many of them having made signal of inability, for
+the pilots refused to get them under weigh, he sent for the chief pilot
+of the flag ship, and questioned him if it were practicable to take out
+a ship in such weather. The pilot having reported that it was quite
+safe, even for the <i>Christian VII.</i>, which from her great length was the
+least manageable ship in the fleet, much more so for the others,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> some
+of which worked like cutters, the Admiral made signal for all captains
+and pilots to come on board. He then repeated his order to sail, and
+enforced obedience. The fleet sailed, and beat across the North Sea to
+their station, without an accident; and the enemy returned to their
+former anchorage as soon as the blockading force appeared. As the autumn
+advanced, the pilots gave up the charge of the fleet; but Sir Edward
+kept his station, until the increasing severity of the gales compelled
+him to take shelter in the Downs.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1811, he succeeded Sir Charles Cotton as
+commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. He proceeded to his station in
+the <i>Caledonia</i>, with his brother Israel, lately promoted to be a Rear
+Admiral, as captain of the fleet; and arrived off Toulon on the 18th of
+July. Next morning, two French frigates returning from Genoa with
+conscripts for the fleet were chased by the <i>Conqueror</i> and <i>Sultan</i>,
+the inshore squadron; and the French commander, Vice-Admiral Comte
+Emeriau, sailed out with thirteen line-of-battle ships and a frigate, to
+protect them. The <i>Conqueror</i> approached near enough to fire upon the
+frigates, and afterwards, with her consort, exchanged a few distant
+broadsides with the advanced ships of the enemy: but these, whose only
+object was to secure the frigates, did not wait for the main body of the
+British force, now fast coming up, but hastened back to their anchorage.
+This affair, with the evident high state of equipment of the French
+fleet, led all to expect that there would soon be a general action; a
+hope in which the Admiral fully participated. He writes thus on the 28th
+of December, 1811, when the fleet was on its way to Mahon:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Brother</span>,&mdash;I would not permit a ship to sail
+direct for England without carrying you a few lines to say we are
+all well, on our way to replenish our provisions and water for the
+winter's cruise: when this is done, we return to our old ground; or
+it is possible we may attempt to lay in Hy&egrave;res Bay, should we find
+the ground good for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> winter gales, of which at present we are not
+quite assured. We lay there a month in full expectation it would
+force the enemy to give us battle, and it will probably at last
+compel them to do so next spring. They are actively fortifying the
+islands and bay all around, in order to guard against attack, and
+have at least ten thousand men at work: they suspect our army will
+move this way. As far as we can judge from appearances, I have
+never yet seen a French fleet in half the order the Toulon one is.
+They have, I am sorry to say, adopted but too many of our
+arrangements, and in point of clothing, they exceed us. They also
+keep everybody on board, so that the French officers are now of
+necessity obliged to find amusement in their duty; and become
+acquainted with their people. The ships are magnificent; four of
+120 guns, larger than <i>Caledonia</i>, and twelve fine two-deckers, are
+all ready and manned. Two of 120, and two of 80 are building, and
+may launch by March or April; so that I think we shall have twenty
+to fight, without any from Genoa, Naples, or Venice; and I trust a
+glorious day we shall have. Keats is a host of strength to me; and
+we are all well together, eager for the day, which I trust will
+help to put an end to the miseries of war, and the irksome eighteen
+years' confinement between wooden walls we have all experienced.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>"God be with you ever,<br />
+"My dear Sam,<br />
+"Your truly affectionate brother,</p>
+<p class='right'>"<span class="smcap">E. Pellew</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The hopes of the fleet were disappointed: for the enemy came out only
+when the wind was fair to return; and thus, though they often allowed
+the advanced ships to approach nearly within gunshot, nothing was, or
+could be done, on those occasions.</p>
+
+<p>In the following week, prompted perhaps by the recollections of the new
+year, he again writes:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"I never expect to live the war through, and am not at all anxious
+about it. If I can only have the happiness of doing service to the
+country, I would give a great deal to be ten years younger; but as
+that cannot be, I must content myself with the reflection that my
+children are good, and provided for; and that I leave them attached
+to their mother, and to each other. We have all reason to be
+thankful, and to praise God for his great and manifold mercies. We
+are ready to start at a moment's notice, and have a strict
+look-out. The enemy are also ready, sixteen sail, a three-decker of
+140 guns launched Christmas Day.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you, and yours; and may He enable me to do honour to my
+country and my family&mdash;for myself, I care not."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The number of points which required to be constantly watched (for more
+than two thousand miles of coast, from the Ionian Islands to Gibraltar,
+was in the hands of the enemy), made a considerable force necessary; and
+the Mediterranean fleet was at this time one of the largest ever
+entrusted to an Admiral. The commander-in-chief, with a principal part
+of the line-of-battle ships, blockaded the French fleet in Toulon,
+cruising off that port from the beginning of March to the end of
+November, and sheltering in Mahon through the three winter months. A
+Rear-Admiral was kept at Malta, with a sufficient force under his
+direction to guard the different points of the station at the upper part
+of the Mediterranean. Another Rear-Admiral was stationed on the south
+coast of Spain, to watch the movements of the enemy, and to assist the
+Spaniards whenever they could assemble in numbers to make a stand. A
+third remained at Gibraltar; and a Commodore, with a ship of the line,
+and frigates, watched the Gulf of Genoa, and the western coast of Italy.
+Frigates and small vessels were detached wherever their services became
+necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing from his own experience what could be done by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> the flag-officers
+and captains of his fleet, he was enabled to assign to all of them their
+respective duties in the full confidence that they would not disappoint
+him. He associated much with them, and was in the habit of freely
+communicating his ideas, as well on general subjects connected with the
+movements of the fleet, as on their own personal charge. By his prompt
+measures, and personal attention to the repairs, victualling, and
+storing of the fleet, and his care to obtain ample supplies of stores
+and provisions from England in such good time as never to be deficient
+in any necessary article, he kept all the ships in a high state of
+equipment, and afforded at the same time an example of activity and
+forethought which was not lost upon his officers. He was attentive to
+everything which affected the discipline of the crews, and was
+particularly strict in enforcing regulations for constant exercise at
+the great guns and small arms.</p>
+
+<p>How perfect was the discipline of the fleet may be inferred from the
+fact, that with so many ships, and on a station where the enemy had the
+chief part of his naval force, he lost, in three years that he held the
+command, not a single vessel by capture: and only one, a small gun-brig,
+by shipwreck. It may be added, that through almost twenty years of
+command in war, as Commodore and Admiral, no vessel under his orders was
+ever taken. Something of this may be ascribed to fortune; but more must
+be referred to the excellence of the officers and crews; which, when the
+results are so uniform, is in fact also the praise of the commander.
+Indeed, the superiority of the Mediterranean fleet under his command was
+well known, and James, in his Naval History, complaining of the dearth
+of good seamen on other stations, laments that "so many thousands of the
+very best of seamen, who, under the wise regulations of Sir Edward
+Pellew, were daily improving themselves in the neglected art of gunnery,
+should be denied the power of showing their proficiency where it was the
+most wanted."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He was particularly anxious to keep down the expense of the fleet, and
+indefatigable in his exertions to economize stores of every description,
+which at this time were procured from home with much difficulty. When it
+was found that fresh water could be obtained at the mouths of the Rhone,
+the fleet went there, and usually completed in forty-eight hours. He was
+thus enabled to discharge several transports. From the size and force of
+that river, the fresh water floats for a considerable distance over the
+sea; and at first, some of the cruisers completed their water by dipping
+it carefully from the surface. But on the fleet anchoring in the bay,
+the launches, with the armed boats to protect them, were sent up the
+river, where the water was not at all brackish. An arrangement was
+eventually made with the French General, who agreed not to molest the
+boats, the Admiral on his part promising that none of his people should
+be suffered to land on the marshes, or in any way to disturb the cattle
+grazing there, of which there were many thousands. In the strong
+north-west gales, so common in the Gulf of Lyons, the ships were in the
+practice of furling sails every night, and driving off from Toulon,
+standing in-shore again under easy sail when the gale moderated. During
+the winter months, when he sheltered in Mahon harbour, the ships had
+their repairs made good, and their stores and provisions completed; the
+Admiral being as active in the dockyard, where he would often be found
+at the earliest dawn of the morning, as he showed himself when afloat.
+Care was taken that while the fleet thus lay in harbour, it should
+always be ready for an immediate start if the enemy should put to sea;
+and two frigates, occasionally with a line-of-battle ship, were kept off
+Toulon to make a daily observation of the state and movements of their
+force. On two occasions, the in-shore frigates particularly
+distinguished themselves. On the 22nd of September, 1811, the
+<i>Volontaire</i> and <i>Perlen</i> retreated from a division of three
+line-of-battle ships, and two frigates, with which they were repeatedly
+engaged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> during six hours; and saved themselves through their admirable
+seamanship without loss: and in the following May, the <i>Menelaus</i> alone,
+when close in-shore, was chased by several line-of-battle ships; and
+though her fore-topmast was nearly cut in two by a shot from the
+batteries, she secured it, and escaped.</p>
+
+<p>Competent masters were provided for the young gentlemen of the
+<i>Caledonia</i>, who were assembled every day in the Admiral's fore-cabin,
+and kept closely at their studies; the Admiral himself often visiting
+them, and interesting himself in their progress. The French and Spanish
+interpreters instructed them in these languages: the flag-lieutenant
+superintended their navigation, and that they might perfect themselves
+in seamanship, a frigate-built yacht of eight or ten tons was provided,
+upon which they were exercised in sailing, rigging and unrigging, and
+every part of a practical seaman's duty. All the arrangements of the
+ship, with regard both to officers and men, displayed consideration for
+their comfort and advantage. When the Admiral thoroughly knew his
+officers, he confided in them in their respective situations, never
+teasing them with interference, or disturbing himself by unnecessary
+watching or anxiety, after his orders had been given. The influence
+which he exerted on their behalf, and his great success in obtaining
+promotion for them, gave every one the strongest inducement to excel. He
+had known the anxieties of a young man forcing his way through the
+service without friends; and his own recollections taught him how best
+to assist and encourage others.</p>
+
+<p>No man could be more careful of the reputation and feelings of his
+officers, or more ready to suggest a plea in excuse for their errors. He
+had an extreme dislike to bring any of them to a court-martial, and
+would never resort to this painful extremity where it could with any
+propriety be avoided. Very few cases occurred under his command; so few,
+indeed, that it has even been asserted that not one took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> place. This it
+would be too much to affirm. It may be quite true that he was in no case
+the accuser: it certainly was his practice to prevent extreme measures
+wherever he could support the authority of the superior without
+subjecting the accused to the consequences of a public trial; and the
+recommendation of the commander-in chief would generally be conclusive.
+Still, a serious case would sometimes occur, in which it was impossible
+to prevent the law from taking its course. At a particular period of his
+command, and on a very important and critical occasion, one of his
+captains placed him in a position of much embarrassment, by entering
+without authority into a treaty with the Queen and Court of Murat. The
+commander-in-chief arrived very soon after, and annulled the treaty; but
+he spared the officer the pain of his position by charging him with the
+most prominent and honourable service connected with his own
+arrangements. In his despatches to the Admiralty on the occasion, he
+touches very lightly on the error, but enforces every exculpatory plea.
+Of the unauthorized arrangement with the enemy, he merely writes, "which
+I should have been glad he had never entered upon;" yet he adds, "from
+my conviction that he had been actuated by the purest motives, and
+placed in a peculiar situation. I thought it right, in acknowledging his
+letter, to express my approbation of his general proceedings; and in
+consideration of all the circumstances connected with his engagements. I
+gave him my sanction to," &amp;c. He then proceeds to describe the
+flattering trust he had committed to this officer.</p>
+
+<p>But kind as he was, he endured no relaxation of discipline, and never
+forgot what was due to his rank and station. His manners were formed by
+his character; and whenever an individual with commanding talents
+directs them to worthy objects, combining a proper sense of what he owes
+to himself with a just consideration for others, he will always, and
+without an effort, appear dignified and amiable: far more so in his
+unaffected simplicity, than the man who only assumes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> the character of
+the chief and patron, because his position requires it.</p>
+
+<p>His temper was warm, the common failing of quick and active minds. No
+one was more conscious of it than himself; and where he feared it had
+given pain, he would labour to remove the impression by marked and
+continued attentions. In the multiplicity of cares and duties which
+surround a commander-in-chief, there are so many sources of irritation
+and disappointment, that it is no wonder the mind should sometimes be
+brought to that extreme point of endurance, when a small additional
+annoyance destroys its equanimity.</p>
+
+<p>The service in the Mediterranean was one of multiplied details,
+individually too unimportant for history, yet calculated to influence
+materially the progress and result of the war. Along the eastern coast
+of Spain, the support and co-operation of the ships afforded that
+encouragement to the inhabitants which in the western provinces they
+derived from the presence of the British army. Even when the fortresses
+had fallen, and Spain had no longer a force for a rallying point in that
+part of the country, the guerillas, acting in concert with the fleet,
+were enabled to perform exploits which alarmed and distressed the
+invader, and kept alive the spirit of hope and resolution. Along the
+shores of Italy and France, the most daring and brilliant enterprises
+were continually achieved. Batteries and forts were stormed in open day,
+and prizes, sometimes in whole convoys, carried off from anchorages
+where they seemed to be unassailable. Looking at the evident danger of
+such attempts, one is astonished at the constant success which attended
+them, and at the generally inconsiderable loss sustained. It would be
+unjust to the courage of the enemy, and still more to that of the
+gallant officers and men who performed such services, not to state the
+cause of this impunity and success. It was not that the defences on
+shore were feebly maintained, or that their defenders were surprised and
+overpowered by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> reckless desperation of the assailants; but that the
+different boat attacks were planned with a judgment, and supported by a
+force, which prevented effectual resistance. Officers such as Hoste,
+Gordon, Rowley, Maxwell, Duncan, Ussher, and indeed all, for no
+commander ever placed more general and deserved confidence in his
+officers than Sir Edward Pellew, were not men to send away their people
+on doubtful and desperate services. The Admiral himself, much as he
+admired enterprise, strongly discouraged all acts of useless daring. He
+was always most unwilling to risk men's lives in boat attacks, when they
+could not be supported by the fire from the ships; and when his own
+boats were necessarily detached on service, his anxiety for their safety
+was very great. But the men, who saw in these successes only the daring
+courage which obtained, but not the considerate judgment which planned
+them, learned to fancy themselves invincible, and would go to what might
+appear a death service, as if it were an excursion of pleasure. The crew
+of the <i>Imperieuse</i>, who had often distinguished themselves in these
+attacks, petitioned their captain to remain with them, when he had been
+appointed to a finer ship, and offered to prove their attachment to him
+by taking any two French frigates they could meet. It is right to add,
+that their captain, a son of the great and good Lord Duncan, submitted
+their petition to Sir Edward Pellew, who continued him with his faithful
+followers. "You are a brave nation," said Napoleon at Elba to an English
+captain, one of Sir Edward's officers, "so are the French; but the
+English are individually brave." Services like these create the
+individual bravery which Napoleon admired.</p>
+
+<p>Still more important was the moral influence which these attacks
+impressed on the enemy. When the inhabitants along the southern coasts
+of Europe could scarcely look upon the waters without seeing an English
+cruiser; when they saw the apparent ease with which their strongest
+defences were carried; when they felt themselves at the mercy of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+assailants, yet always experienced their forbearance and protection; the
+respect felt for an enemy so powerful and generous, taught them to
+desire the more earnestly their own day of deliverance from the common
+tyrant. And when the tremendous judgment which visited him in the
+Russian campaign offered the prospect of his speedy and final overthrow,
+every facility existed for acquainting them with the full extent of his
+reverses, and preparing them to avail themselves of the earliest
+opportunity to assert their freedom. "Affairs in these countries," says
+Sir Edward, in one of his letters, "look well, and promise much next
+summer, all over the East. Detestation, amounting to horror, is the
+general expression against this tyrant of the earth."</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary cares and duties of his command, and his very extensive
+correspondence, for the number of letters he was in the habit of writing
+on service was almost incredible, were by no means Sir Edward's heaviest
+charge. Perhaps there was no ambassador on whom a greater diplomatic
+responsibility was imposed than on the commander in the Mediterranean.
+It formed by much the largest and most anxious portion of Collingwood's
+duties, and the greatness of the trust, the impossibility of confiding
+it to another than the commander on the station, and the uncommon
+ability with which Collingwood sustained it, gave the British Government
+much uneasiness when the state of that officer's health threatened to
+deprive them of his services. It increased materially in extent and
+importance after Sir Edward had succeeded to the command, when the
+reverses of the French in Russia opened a prospect of deliverance to all
+the states along the shores of the Mediterranean, including the southern
+provinces of France itself. Sir Edward exerted himself unceasingly to
+prepare them for this consummation, and to encourage them to seize the
+first opportunity to effect it; and the judgment he displayed in these
+services obtained from a British Cabinet minister the decla<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>ration, that
+"great as he may be as a sea-officer, he is still greater as a
+statesman."</p>
+
+<p>One professional distinction was yet wanting, and this he anxiously
+desired, as a means of hastening an honourable peace, and on personal
+grounds, perhaps, to connect his name with the history of his
+country&mdash;to command in a general action. Though the enemy had shrunk
+from meeting him, as he expected when he first assumed the command, yet,
+while they continued to build ships of the largest class, and to keep
+their fleet always ready for sea, he could not but hope that they only
+waited for a favourable opportunity to try the fortune of their flag. At
+the end of 1811 there were sixteen sail of the line in Toulon. Two
+others were launched next year, and by the close of 1813 there were
+twenty-two, of which six were three-deckers of the largest size. Sir
+Edward gave them every opportunity, and every prudent advantage, but he
+never could induce them to attack him. They had been forbidden to
+engage, and the Emperor had hitherto seen nothing to induce him to
+recall the order. Thus, though they were kept in a state of high
+equipment through the whole period of Sir Edward's command, they never
+ventured far beyond the protection of the batteries; and came out only
+when they had a leading wind to return.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration of his fleet was a favourite ulterior object with
+Napoleon; and if a different result of the Russian campaign had placed
+the resources of Europe at his command, there is no doubt but that the
+days of St. Vincent and Trafalgar would have been renewed. There was an
+English officer who was much in his presence and confidence at Elba, and
+to whom he proposed the most flattering inducements to enter his
+service. "I am honoured by your Majesty's offer," was the reply, "but I
+was born an Englishman." Conversing with him on naval affairs, he one
+day said, "I would have had two hundred sail of the line, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> when I
+brought against you such a force, you must have been crushed." But the
+officer soon convinced him that the tactics which he had made so
+effectual on land, by concentrating an overwhelming force upon his
+enemy, were not applicable to naval operations. Sailors are made but
+slowly. It requires an able commander to direct twenty ships, and the
+most skilful could scarcely man&oelig;uvre forty. Dark nights and gales
+would disperse the unwieldy armada, and a small, but well managed force,
+would hang upon it and destroy it in detail. The Emperor saw the force
+of the objections, and closed the conversation with the compliment
+already related.</p>
+
+<p>Once, towards the end of the war, an opportunity seemed to be offered by
+which the enemy might be compelled to sacrifice part of his fleet, or to
+risk a general battle. On the morning of November 5th. 1813, the French
+fleet had sailed out of Toulon with the wind at E.S.E., and advanced to
+a greater distance than usual, when the wind suddenly shifted to
+south-west. Immediately the enemy made every exertion to work back to
+their harbour. The main body of the British fleet was just in sight to
+the southward, and an advanced squadron of four sail, with a fifth at no
+great distance, was about half-way between the two fleets. This squadron
+lay up for the enemy under all sail, with every appearance of being able
+to cut off the rear ships, the <i>Wagram</i> of 130 guns, with four
+two-deckers and four frigates. On the approach of the British, the enemy
+tacked, and stood in so close, that many thought they intended to run
+themselves on shore; but they again tacked off to the southward, and the
+advanced squadrons stood on with every prospect of passing to windward
+of them. Unfortunately, as the British ships approached, the wind headed
+them, and threw them off so much, that they only fetched just within
+gun-shot of the <i>Wagram</i>, the enemy's rear ship. The fleet was at this
+time bringing up the original wind, and the <i>Caledonia, San Josef</i>, and
+<i>Boyne</i>, actually fetched within gun-shot of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> the French Admiral, before
+the wind headed them. The <i>Wagram</i>, which had reserved her fire for the
+<i>Caledonia</i>, exchanged broadsides with her, but at too great a distance
+to produce material effect; and the enemy being so far to windward,
+succeeded in reaching Toulon. Eleven shots from the <i>Wagram</i> and the
+batteries struck the <i>Caledonia</i>, wounding the mainmast, cutting some of
+the shrouds, and destroying a small boat upon the booms. Much
+disappointment was felt by all the fleet, and the conduct of the
+advanced squadron was strongly censured by many in the ships astern, who
+supposed that they had intentionally bore away, when in fact they had
+come up within influence of the head wind.</p>
+
+<p>A more serious, though very partial affair occurred in the following
+February. On the evening of the 12th, Rear-Admiral Kosmao Kerjulien
+sailed from Toulon, with three sail of the line, and three frigates, to
+escort a seventy-four which was expected from Genoa. On the following
+morning, the fleet returning from Mahon, discovered the enemy to the
+eastward of Hy&egrave;res Islands. They were at first supposed to be British
+ships, but the Admiral himself going aloft, clearly made out their
+character. The <i>Boyne</i>, Captain Burlton, a small three-decker, sister
+ship to the <i>Victory</i>, was considerably in advance of the fleet. It was
+on Sunday, and the ships were preparing for the morning service, which
+had already commenced on board the <i>Boyne</i>, when the signal for a
+general chase was thrown out. The wind blew strong from E.S.E., and the
+<i>Boyne</i>, perceiving the enemy's intention to come through the little
+pass of Hy&egrave;res Bay, stood for that pass to intercept them. Sir Edward,
+who was leaning on the foreyard, watched her with admiration, but
+extreme anxiety. "Hold on, my brave Burlton!" he exclaimed, as the
+<i>Boyne</i> dashed at their whole force. Then, as he feared they would all
+close, and overpower her before he could arrive to her assistance, he
+turned to an officer at his side, and declared with energy, "If they
+take her they sha'nt keep her, for I'll go in with the fleet!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Passing through the enemy immediately astern of a frigate, to which she
+gave a broadside, the <i>Boyne</i> separated the rear-ship from the others,
+and brought her to action. This ship, the <i>Romulus</i>, a two-decker,
+immediately hauled in for the north shore, and kept so close, going
+round all the bays, that the <i>Boyne</i> could neither run her on board, nor
+get inside her. They ran side by side with studding sails set, and at
+the rate of ten knots, before the wind, which blew directly into Toulon.
+Once it was thought that the <i>Romulus</i> was aground, as she luffed up to
+the wind, which brought all her sails aback, and her starboard lower
+studding-sail in upon the gangway. The <i>Boyne</i> also backed her sails,
+and continued close to the enemy; but the <i>Romulus</i> paying off, and
+filling again, continued to run alongshore, and when she reached Cape
+Brun, at the entrance of the harbour, had gained on the <i>Boyne</i>. The
+<i>Caledonia</i> had by this time come up, and the Admiral waved to Captain
+Burlton to haul his wind to the southward. The <i>Boyne</i> tacked
+accordingly, being then within pistol shot of Cape Brun battery; and the
+<i>Caledonia</i> fired a broadside at the <i>Romulus</i>, as she ran in to join
+her consorts in the harbour. The <i>Caledonia</i> then gave the <i>Boyne</i> three
+hearty cheers, and Captain Burlton received the thanks of the
+commander-in-chief by signal.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon was now contending for existence on the soil of France, and the
+remains of his former conquests were rapidly melting from him. In the
+course of January and February, every place in the Adriatic had
+surrendered. In the following month, Lord William Bentinck left Palermo
+with an army, supported by a squadron under Commodore J. Rowley, to
+reduce Genoa. The advanced guard was landed considerably to the
+eastward, and moved forward, supported by the squadron, carrying and
+dismantling the batteries as they advanced. On the 30th, the defences
+round the Gulf of Spezzia capitulated. On the 13th of April, the army
+was landed at Recce, in the Gulf of Genoa; and at day-break on the 17th,
+a joint attack was made by the land<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> and sea forces on the defences
+around the place. These were carried in the course of the day; and
+preparations were in progress to attack the town, when Sir Edward Pellew
+arrived with several line-of battle ships. The governor, already alarmed
+at the rapid progress of the assailants, capitulated, and the town was
+taken possession of next morning. Four gun-brigs, and a number of
+merchant vessels were found in the mole; and the <i>Brilliant</i>, a fine
+seventy-four on the stocks, was launched, and still remains in the navy
+under the appropriate name of the <i>Genoa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Paris had already capitulated; and on the 28th of this month, Napoleon
+left France in a British frigate for Elba. He landed on the 3rd of May
+on the little island which had been assigned to him for a sovereignty,
+and a prison: and thus ended a war, one of the longest, the most
+dreadful, but in all respects the most glorious, which England had ever
+waged.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.</h3>
+
+<p>The contest for naval supremacy was so entirely decided by the battle of
+Trafalgar, that no opportunity was afterwards afforded for great
+successes. But at the end of the war, when the leading Peninsular
+generals were raised to the peerage, it was thought due to the service
+to confer a similar distinction upon a naval officer. Sir Edward Pellew
+received this mark of his sovereign's favour. He was created Baron
+Exmouth, of Canonteign, a mansion and estate in the South of Devon which
+he had purchased for a family property; and the pension was settled on
+him which is usually granted when a peerage is conferred for eminent
+public services.</p>
+
+<p>He was still in the Mediterranean when the news of his elevation reached
+him, and he received the first account of it from a newspaper. In
+allusion to it, he writes:&mdash;"I was never more surprised than at this
+event. Never was man more ignorant of its being thought of; much less
+reason had I to expect it; and it has happened only by a combination of
+events quite unconnected with influence or power. I had some reason to
+believe a red ribbon was intended, and &mdash;&mdash; wrote that it had been
+granted; but if so, it was changed next day to what it is, which, for
+the sake of our family, I hope will be useful and respectable. For
+myself I am indifferent, and know it will only tend to multiply my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+enemies, and increase my difficulties." ... In the course of this year,
+he received a handsome compliment from the officers of the Mediterranean
+fleet. It is a beautiful model of the Warwick vase, executed by Messrs.
+Rundel and Bridge, at a cost of 580 guineas, and bears the following
+inscription:&mdash;"Presented to the Right Honourable Admiral Lord Exmouth,
+&amp;c., &amp;c., &amp;c., as a mark of their respect and esteem, by the officers
+who served under his Lordship's command in the Mediterranean."</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning of the next year, when the order of the Bath was
+extended, he was included among the knights commanders; and was
+afterwards advanced on an early vacancy to be a grand cross. The former
+was entirely unexpected, as he knew nothing of the intention to extend
+the order. He thus begins a letter to his brother on the 5th of
+January:&mdash;"I seize this moment, when the arrival of the post has brought
+me the enclosed without one single line from any friend I have on earth:
+possibly, it was owing to the lateness of the nomination. I had not the
+most distant idea of this event, and I can only account for its coming
+to me by the squabbling of parties ... to end which, it was probably
+decided on giving it to the commander-in-chief. On this ground only can
+I account for it, as it was by no means necessary to add this, which was
+once considered due to me as a reward of sufficient magnitude, without
+any other.</p>
+
+<p>"6th January, 1815.&mdash;I had written the above before any gazette reached
+me, which explains the whole. But as it shows my heart and mind to you
+without reserve, and as I can call God to witness, that I never in my
+life kept anything from you. I send it.&mdash;May God bless you."</p>
+
+<p>He had remained but a few months in England, when, on the renewal of
+hostilities consequent on the return of Napoleon from Elba, he was sent
+back to the Mediterranean. Hoisting his flag in the <i>Boyne</i>, and again
+with his brother, Sir Israel, as captain of the fleet, he hastened to
+his station.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> His services were first required at Naples, which he was
+so happy as to save from all the horrors of anarchy. Murat, that he
+might create a diversion in favour of Napoleon, had rashly attacked
+Austria, and thus violated the compact by which he was allowed to hold
+his usurped throne. What followed scarcely deserves the name of war. His
+army, not waiting for the enemy to approach, fled like sheep, and left
+the Austrian commander an unresisted march to Naples. Lord Exmouth,
+after having arranged with Lord W. Bentinek for the co-operation of the
+forces from Sicily with the allies, had arrived on the evening of the
+18th of May, at Civita Vecchia, whence, on learning the rapid advance of
+the Austrians, he proceeded without delay for Naples, where he anchored
+on the evening of the 20th. Madame Murat embarked the same night on
+board a British seventy-four, and immediately wrote to Lord Exmouth,
+requesting that he would take measures for the security and peace of the
+city. No capital in Europe contains within itself more formidable
+elements for popular tumult; and upon this occasion, the mob, excited by
+the general confusion, and not restrained by any adequate authority,
+were proceeding to the last excesses of rapine and violence. Lord
+Exmouth was not slow to take the steps which such an emergency required.
+On the morning after his arrival, he landed the marines, who took
+possession of the forts, and the castle of St. Elmo, and conjointly with
+the civic guard, restored, and maintained order. On the 23rd, the
+Austrian army entered the city, and next day the forts were delivered
+up, and the marines embarked. The king, Ferdinand, was unbounded in his
+expressions of gratitude, and invested him on the spot with his highest
+order.</p>
+
+<p>After having concluded some very difficult and delicate negociations
+respecting the queen and court of Murat, who were eventually sent to
+Trieste, Lord Exmouth proposed to General Bianci, to embark a few
+thousand men, and make a dash at Toulon. Unfortunately, the instructions
+of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> Austrian commander would not allow him to join in such an
+expedition. The squadron therefore sailed for Leghorn, where it landed
+the first division of the Austrian army, and thence proceeded to Genoa.
+Accounts received on the 3rd of July of the situation of affairs on the
+coast of Provence determined Lord Exmouth, in concert with Sir Hudson
+Lowe, to embark 3,000 men, part of the garrison of Genoa, consisting of
+the 14th, and two Italian regiments, and including 200 artillery and
+cavalry, with which he sailed direct for Marseilles. Here the troops
+were landed, with a body of seamen, and the marines of the squadron, and
+stopped the advance of the rebel Marshal Brune, who was marching from
+Toulon upon Marseilles avowedly to destroy it. The inhabitants, grateful
+to their preservers, were unceasing in their attentions, both to the
+fleet and army, as long as they remained in the place. Their sense of
+the important services which the two commanders had rendered, as well to
+their city, as to the cause of their rightful sovereign, was marked by
+the present to each of a large and beautiful piece of plate, which was
+executed at Paris. On the base of that presented to Lord Exmouth is a
+medallion of the noble Admiral; and a view of the port of Marseilles,
+with the <i>Boyne</i>, his flagship, entering in full sail. It bears the
+simple and expressive inscription,&mdash;"<i>A l'Amiral mi Lord Exmouth, la
+ville de Marseilles reconnoissante</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The squadron wintered in Leghorn roads, being detained in the
+Mediterranean for instructions, which were delayed for some time,
+through the magnitude of the negotiations then in progress. At the
+beginning of 1816, Lord Exmouth was ordered to proceed to the different
+Barbary powers, to claim the release of all the Ionian slaves, who, by
+the late political arrangements, had become British subjects: and to
+make peace for Sardinia. These were to be matters of compulsion; but he
+was also to make peace for any of the other states in the Mediterranean
+who would authorize him to do so. Naples readily availed herself of his
+offer. Unable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> to protect herself, it was to her an inestimable blessing
+to gain security from such a dreadful scourge on the easiest terms which
+the influence of the first maritime power could obtain for her. Nothing
+can be conceived more horrible than the condition of the Christian
+slaves, subjected as they were, in countries where no law gave
+protection, to all the caprice and cruelty of masters, who hated and
+despised them for their faith. Nor was it a small aggravation of their
+misery, that as Roman Catholics, they were cut off from the observance
+of rites which they deemed essential. To the fear and danger of being
+reduced to this miserable condition was the maritime population of the
+states around the Mediterranean continually exposed: while the great
+naval powers, deterred from exterminating these pirates, either by more
+pressing concerns, or by the failure of the different expeditions which
+had attempted it, purchased a discreditable security by presents.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth afterwards visited Rome; but the Pope declined the offer of
+his services, perhaps from difficulties arising out of religious
+scruples at confiding a formal trust to a Protestant. He received the
+Admiral, however, with the utmost courtesy, and even attended to his
+request upon a subject where it was scarcely to have been expected that
+the interference of a Protestant would be allowed. A young Spanish lady,
+who was confined in a convent at Minorca, under circumstances of an
+oppressive and distressing nature, had contrived to bring her case to
+the knowledge of Lord Exmouth, and to place in his hands a memorial,
+which he took an opportunity to deliver personally to the Pope. A
+British admiral interceding with the Pope for a Spanish nun was a novel
+occurrence; but Pius VII. received the memorial very graciously, and
+placed it in the hands of Gonsalvi that proper inquiries might be made.
+It is satisfactory to add, that Lord Exmouth received a letter a few
+months after, informing him that the poor girl's prayer to be set at
+liberty had been complied with.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before he took any steps in fulfilment of his instructions he made the
+arrangements necessary for an attack, which was to be the alternative if
+negotiations failed; a result much to be expected at Algiers, which had
+hitherto withstood so many formidable armaments. He ordered Captain
+Warde, of the <i>Banterer</i>, to proceed to Algiers, where he was carefully
+to observe the town and the nature of its defences. Lord Exmouth's
+instructions on this occasion, and which were written with his own hand,
+afford an admirable illustration of the forethought with which he
+provided for every contingency, and which was the chief secret of his
+constant success.</p>
+
+<p>It were injustice to Captain Warde to state how he performed this
+difficult and important service in any language but that of the Admiral.
+In his despatch which accompanied the treaty made with Tripoli, and
+which he sent to the Admiralty when proceeding on his second visit to
+Algiers, he writes:&mdash;"Previous to my leaving Leghorn, I despatched
+Captain Warde in the <i>Banterer</i> to Algiers, to make his observations on
+the anchorage and sea-defences, which service he performed with entire
+secresy and judgment, and highly to my satisfaction. The accompanying
+plan of the works, with his remarks after visiting all the forts and
+arsenal, I found correct in every respect; and when it is considered
+that he had not the means of taking angles, but was compelled to pace
+the distances, and trust much to his recollection, to avoid being
+suspected, I think him deserving of the highest commendation. The
+soundings round the mole, and the bay to the N.W. of the lighthouse,
+were all made by him personally in the night without discovery; nor did
+even the consul suspect the purport of his visit."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, Captain Warde played the careless idler to perfection. He
+escorted the ladies of the consul's family everywhere by day, and danced
+with them in the evenings, covering a keen and constant observation with
+the appearance of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> frivolity; while at night he was silently moving
+outside the port in a boat, taking the soundings with a pole.</p>
+
+<p>It adds to the merit of this officer, that all the previous plans of
+Algiers were so incorrect, that he was obliged to begin his own from the
+outlines, as if the place were a new discovery. Lord Exmouth afterwards
+declared that if he had proceeded to hostilities at his first visit,
+without having been furnished with Captain Warde's plan and
+observations, he should have assigned to the ships stations which they
+could not have occupied. The plan in the Admiralty book of charts, among
+other inaccuracies, laid down the sea-face of the city as four miles
+long, instead of one; omitted the bay to the north-west of the
+lighthouse; represented the pier on which the strong fortifications are
+built as quite straight from the lighthouse in a southerly direction,
+whereas it forms a quarter of the compass, bending round to the
+south-west, or towards the city; and laid the distance between the piers
+at the entrance of the mole, a mile, instead of sixty, or sixty-five
+fathoms. Notwithstanding this, and his great disadvantages arising out
+of the secresy he was compelled to observe, Captain Warde's observations
+were so accurate and complete, that Lord Exmouth afterwards sent to the
+Admiralty his original plan, to illustrate the despatches of the battle.</p>
+
+<p>Thus prepared for every alternative, Lord Exmouth, on the 21st of March,
+made known to the squadron the service upon which they were proceeding
+in the following General Order:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"The Commander-in-Chief embraces the earliest moment in which he
+could inform the fleet of his destination, without inconvenience to
+the public service.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been instructed and directed by his Royal Highness the
+Prince Regent, to proceed with the fleet to Algiers, and there make
+certain arrangements for diminishing at least the piratical
+excursions of the Barbary states by which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> thousands of our
+fellow-creatures, innocently following their commercial pursuits,
+have been dragged into the most wretched and revolting state of
+slavery.</p>
+
+<p>"The Commander-in-Chief is confident that this outrageous system of
+piracy and slavery rouses in common the same spirit of indignation
+which he himself feels; and should the government of Algiers refuse
+the reasonable demands he bears from the Prince Regent, he doubts
+not but the flag will be honourably and zealously supported by
+every officer and man under his command, in his endeavours to
+procure the acceptation of them by force; and if force must be
+resorted to, we have the consolation of knowing that we fight in
+the sacred cause of humanity, and cannot fail of success.</p>
+
+<p>"These arrangements being made at Algiers and Tunis, the
+Commander-in-Chief announces with pleasure that he is ordered to
+proceed with all the ships not on the peace establishment to
+Spithead without delay, except the <i>Bombay</i>, bearing the flag of
+Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Penrose, which ship is to be relieved by
+the <i>Albion</i>, daily expected.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>(Signed)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+"<span class="smcap">Exmouth</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"N.B. This General Memorandum to be entered in the public
+order-book, and communicated to the respective officers, seamen,
+and marines of the fleet."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The squadron went in the first place to Algiers, where Lord Exmouth
+obtained the objects of his mission without difficulty. The Ionian
+slaves were freely released as British subjects; and peace was made for
+Naples and Sardinia, the former paying a ransom of five hundred, the
+latter of three hundred dollars a head. The fleet then sailed for Tunis,
+where accident gave an entirely new character to the subsequent
+proceedings. Lord Exmouth had directed the interpreter to tell the Bey,
+that it would be very agreeable to the Prince Regent if slavery were
+abolished; but the interpreter, by mistake, said that the Prince Regent
+had deter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>minded to abolish it. Upon this the negotiation was suspended,
+and the Divan assembled. Lord Exmouth soon became aware of the mistake,
+and availing himself of the important advantage which it gave him, he
+allowed them two hours for deliberation, and retired to the consul's
+house to await the result. Before the time expired he was sent for, and
+informed that the Divan had deliberated on his proposal, and would
+comply with it. Proceeding to Tripoli, he made a similar demand, and it
+was there submitted to without hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean time, he had received instructions to claim from Algiers the
+privilege of selling prizes, and refitting privateers in that port,
+which had lately been granted by treaty to America. Returning on this
+errand, he took the opportunity to press, as at the other Regencies, the
+abolition of Christian slavery; but here he had a more formidable power
+to deal with. His demand was refused; and when he hinted at the
+alternative of force, the Dey answered as a man confident in his
+strength to resist it. Lord Exmouth assured him that he formed a very
+inadequate idea of a British man of-war, and declared, that if
+hostilities should become necessary, he would engage with five
+line-of-battle ships to destroy the place. A very sharp altercation
+ensued; and Lord Exmouth left the Divan, giving them two hours to
+consider his proposal. When the time expired, he took Mr. M'Donell, the
+consul, and walked with him towards the boat; but they were stopped at
+the gate. After a communication had been made to the Dey, Lord Exmouth
+was allowed to pass on, but the consul was detained, on the pretext that
+money was due from Portugal, for which, as well as for England, Mr.
+M'Donell was accredited. The whole party had been in the greatest
+danger. The crowd who surrounded them discussed aloud the question of
+putting them all to death; and the conduct of the captain of the port
+was extremely suspicious. He was observed to cock his pistol, and Sir
+Israel Pellew exclaiming, "At least<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> we'll die with arms in our hands!"
+attempted to draw his sword. Happily, the pressure of the throng
+prevented him; for in the temper which then prevailed, the appearance of
+a hostile movement would probably have been fatal. Lord Exmouth was much
+irritated at this outrage; and when one of the principal officers of
+state followed, and asked him, as he was just stepping into the boat, to
+allow them two days to consider his proposal, he replied with warmth
+"No, not two hours!" Hastening on board, he got the fleet under weigh to
+attack the place immediately; but the wind was too strong to allow the
+ships to take their stations, and they were obliged to anchor again.</p>
+
+<p>Two British officers, Captains Pechell and Warde, had gone on shore, not
+anticipating a hostile movement. They were seized by the people, who
+dragged them off their horses, rifled their pockets, tied their hands
+behind them, and in this state marched them through the town to the Dey.
+But when they reached the palace they were immediately released; and
+except some trifling articles, which could not be found, all their
+property was restored. After two or three interviews with the Dey, the
+object of which appeared to be to investigate the cause of a cut which
+Captain Pechell had received in the hand, when he was taken off the
+horse, they were allowed to go to their ships. Such conduct, at a moment
+when Lord Exmouth was evidently preparing to attack the place, indicated
+an irresolution which might enable him to gain his object without a
+battle; and next morning, as a calm, with a heavy swell, prevented the
+fleet from moving, he sent Captain Dundas, of the <i>Tagus</i>, with renewed
+proposals. The result was, that Sir Israel Pellew, with Captains
+Brisbane, Pechell, Dundas, Warde, and others, went on shore; and the Dey
+agreed to appoint an ambassador, who should proceed first to
+Constantinople for the sanction of the Porte, and thence to England to
+treat on Lord Exmouth's proposal. It may be supposed that the Admiral
+would not have endured this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> evasion, had he been authorised to act; but
+he had pressed the demand without instructions, and felt that he would
+not be justified in resorting to force, if it could be creditably
+avoided. He was not even certain that his conduct in thus pressing the
+abolition of slavery would be favourably received; for it was a common
+remark, that the obstructions to the navigation of the Mediterranean,
+created by the Barbary corsairs, were advantageous to British commerce.
+He expressed this doubt in a letter which he sent on shore on the 23rd
+of June, when the fleet had arrived in the channel:&mdash;"It is with great
+delight I again bring myself nearer to you and the rest of my family,
+after a longer absence than I had any reason to expect when I left
+England, and which has at last ended without realizing that for which it
+was said we were kept so long abroad after peace was signed. I had
+anxiously hoped I should have been directed to enforce the abandonment
+of their cruel system of retaining Christians who fell into their hands
+(in what they term war) in slavery. I hope I have made the path easy for
+the Government, having obtained by my own exertions the relinquishment
+from two States, and a promise to treat on that point from the most
+violent, Algiers, after discussions which did not promise sometimes
+amicable terminations. But I intreat you to observe the utmost silence
+on this point, as it may lead me into an awkward situation; for I have
+acted solely on my own responsibility, and without orders; the causes
+and reasoning on which, upon general principles, may be defensible, but
+as applying to our own country, may not be borne out, the old mercantile
+interest being against it."</p>
+
+<p>Four days previous to the date of this letter, Mr. Brougham had moved in
+the House of Commons for copies of Lord Exmouth's treaties with Algiers
+for Naples and Sardinia, and for all the correspondence connected with
+them. He condemned the principle upon which the treaties had been
+conducted, because, by ransoming the slaves, we had virtually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+acknowledged the right of these parties to commit their depredations. He
+understood that the Algerines, dissatisfied with the Dey for having
+limited their sphere of plunder, had been pacified only by the
+assurance, that though restrained from cruising against Neapolitan
+subjects, there still remained a wide field for their enterprise. The
+Roman States had already felt the effect of the new direction given to
+their piracies. He then described the wretched condition of the slaves.
+In one case, out of three hundred prisoners, fifty had died of
+ill-treatment on the first day of their arrival, and seventy during the
+first fortnight. The rest were kept in the most miserable condition,
+being allowed only a pound of bread a day, and subject to the lash from
+morning to night. No age, no sex was spared. A Neapolitan lady of
+distinction, carried off with eight children, six of whom survived, had
+lately been seen by a British officer in the thirteenth year of her
+captivity. That it might be seen we did not countenance such
+proceedings, it was necessary to ascertain what use we had made of our
+influence in the late negotiations.</p>
+
+<p>The minister objected to the motion, only however on the ground that all
+the documents necessary to afford complete information had not yet
+arrived; and he assured the House, that the cause of humanity had been
+very materially served by the proceedings of the squadron. An animated
+debate followed, in which every one expressed the utmost anxiety that
+the barbarians should be compelled, and by force, if necessary, to
+relinquish their piracies. This unanimous display of feeling in the
+House of Commons, ensured to Lord Exmouth full approval of all that he
+had done, and enabled the Government to take the decisive step which
+immediately after became necessary. It is, indeed, a subject for just
+pride, that upon every national question, the feelings of the people
+have never hesitated to throw themselves upon the side of humanity and
+justice, however seemingly opposed to their own interest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth had not yet reached England, when accounts arrived which
+determined the Government not to await the issue of the proposed
+negotiations with Algiers, but at once to exact the most ample
+satisfaction and security. On the 23rd of May, the crews of the coral
+fishing-vessels at Bona had landed to attend mass, it being
+Ascension-day, when they were attacked by a large body of Turkish
+troops, and most barbarously massacred. Lord Exmouth was at Algiers when
+this took place; but as Bona is two hundred miles to the eastward, and
+he sailed as soon as he had agreed with the Dey, he did not hear of it
+until he arrived in England; and thus it devolved upon the British
+Government to direct the measures which such an atrocity demanded.
+Justly concluding that these barbarians, so long the common enemies of
+the civilized world, and whose very existence was a reproach to it, had
+filled the measure of their crimes by this last bloody outrage, they
+determined to exact complete submission, or to inflict the most signal
+vengeance. They appointed Lord Exmouth to complete his work, and placed
+at his disposal whatever force he thought necessary to effect it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.</h3>
+
+<p>The town of Algiers is built on the declivity of a hill fronting to the
+eastward. It is of a triangular form, having for its base the sea-front,
+which is about a mile in length, and rises directly from the water. It
+is strongly fortified on the land side, and the sea defences are most
+formidable, as well from the great thickness of the walls, as the number
+of heavy guns.</p>
+
+<p>The harbour is artificial. A broad straight pier, three hundred yards in
+length, and upon which the storehouses were built, projects from a point
+about a quarter of a mile from the north extremity of the town. A mole
+is carried from the end of this pier, which bends in a south-westerly
+direction towards the town, forming nearly a quarter of a circle.
+Opposite the mole-head is a small insulated pier, which leaves the
+entrance to the harbour about a hundred and twenty yards wide. The rock
+upon which the mole is built extends about two hundred yards to the N.E.
+beyond the angle at which the pier joins it. The shores recede
+considerably from the base of the pier, forming a small bay on either
+side of it.</p>
+
+<p>All the works around the harbour were covered with the strongest
+fortifications. Immediately beyond the pier-head stood the Lighthouse
+battery, a large circular fort, mounting between sixty and seventy guns,
+in three tiers. At the extremity of the point of rock beyond the
+lighthouse was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> very heavy battery, of two tiers, mounting thirty guns
+and seven mortars in the upper. The mole itself was filled with cannon,
+like the side of a line-of-battle ship, mostly disposed in a double
+tier, with ports below, and embrasures above; but the eastern batteries,
+next the light-house, had an inner fortification, with a third tier of
+guns, making sixty-six in these batteries alone. All these batteries had
+together above two hundred and twenty guns&mdash;eighteen, twenty-four, and
+thirty-two pounders; besides two, at least sixty-eight pounders, and
+upwards of twenty feet long. On the sea wall of the town were nine
+batteries; two at the southern extremity; then the Fish-market battery
+in three tiers, bearing three hundred yards west of the molehead; three
+between the Fish-market and the gate leading to the mole; one over this
+gate; and two on the wall beyond it. Along the shore, within twelve
+hundred yards south of the town, were three batteries, and a very heavy
+fort. Another large fort, and six batteries, commanded the bay to the
+N.W. Many guns in other parts of the fortifications of the town, and in
+forts and batteries on the hills around it, were in situations which
+enabled them to fire upon ships. Altogether, the approaches by sea were
+defended by scarcely less than five hundred guns.</p>
+
+<p>The Admiralty were greatly surprised when Lord Exmouth proposed to
+attack these works with five sail of the line. Many naval officers who
+were consulted by the Board considered them unassailable. Nelson, in a
+conversation with Captain Brisbane, had named twenty-five line-of-battle
+ships as the force which would be required to attack them. The opinion
+was not founded upon his own observation, and he was evidently misled by
+the errors in the received plans; for that number of ships could not
+have been placed before the town; but it marks his sense of the great
+danger in attacking powerful batteries with ships, and of the tremendous
+strength of Algiers. Lord Exmouth was offered any force he required, but
+he adhered to his first demand;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> for he had satisfied himself that five
+ships could destroy the fortifications on the Mole as effectually as a
+greater number, and with far more safety to themselves. After he had
+fully explained his plans, and marked the position which every ship was
+to occupy, the Admiralty allowed him to act upon his own judgment;
+though they found it not easy to believe that the force was equal to the
+service; nor were persons wanting to remark that he had at length
+involved himself in a difficulty, from which he would not escape with
+credit. His own confidence never wavered. "All will go well," he wrote,
+"as far at least as it depends on me." As he was going down Channel, he
+said to his brother, who accompanied him as far as Falmouth, "If they
+open their fire when the ships are coming up, and cripple them in the
+masts, the difficulty and loss will be greater; but if they allow us to
+take our stations, I am sure of them; for I know that nothing can resist
+a line-of-battle ship's fire." He wrote to the Admiralty before he left
+England, declaring himself fully satisfied with all the arrangements,
+and taking on himself the responsibility of the result.</p>
+
+<p>He was scarcely appointed, when officers came forward in crowds to offer
+their services. On the 29th of June, only six days after he arrived in
+the Channel, he writes&mdash;"Government has taken a very proper view of the
+subject, and has determined to send out a proper force. I immediately
+said, it was my duty to finish that which I had begun, and that I should
+cheerfully go. My offer is accepted, and I embark in the <i>Queen
+Charlotte</i>, with <i>Impregnable</i>, and others. The only delay will be want
+of men; but I hope they will be induced by the offers made, to volunteer
+for the service, to be rewarded after it." On the 4th of July, he says,
+"I have refused Israel, Pownoll, Fleetwood, Harward, and both Admiral
+and Captain Halsted,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> volunteers. Even Lord Spencer brought his son,
+and a hundred others."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With very few exceptions, the officers were selected by the Admiralty.
+It was understood that Sir Charles Penrose would be the second in
+command, his appointment at that time as commander-in-chief in the
+Mediterranean entitling him to the preference. He was very highly valued
+by Lord Exmouth, under whom he had served with the <i>Cleopatra</i> in the
+western squadron. It was intended that despatches should be sent in time
+to enable him to join the expedition; but greatly to the disappointment
+of both officers, the information was received too late.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth persisted in refusing all his relations. The motive of
+duty, which was imperative on himself, applied to none of them; and all
+were anxious to go. For himself, he might well trust that the Providence
+which had shielded him forty years, for so long was it since he had
+fought the <i>Carleton</i> on Lake Champlain, would guard him in the
+approaching battle; or, if he were doomed to fall in what might truly be
+deemed a holy war, he had a better confidence than the pride of a hero,
+or even the self-devotedness of a patriot. Before he sailed, he made
+every arrangement which his death would render necessary; and among
+others, wrote a letter for his eldest son, chiefly on the subject of the
+duties which would devolve upon him as a British nobleman, and which he
+designed for his last injunctions. The existence of this letter was not
+known until some time after his death, when it was found among his
+papers.</p>
+
+<p>The Admiralty would not send back the squadron which had just returned
+from the Mediterranean, probably thinking it right that ships going
+expressly to fight a severe battle should be manned with volunteers.
+This decision greatly increased his difficulties. Naval officers seldom
+think a ship effective until she has been some time in commission.
+Within two months, Lord Exmouth commissioned, fitted, and manned a
+fleet, and fought the battle.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had completed his first arrangements at the Admiralty, he
+hastened to Portsmouth, where the <i>Boyne</i>, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> flag-ship, was lying
+with her consorts. He went on board as soon as he arrived, and there was
+not a little excitement when the Admiral was seen coming alongside at a
+very early hour in the morning. He mustered the ship's company on deck,
+and having read to them the Admiralty letter, invited them to join him;
+but at that time scarcely a man came forward. They were unwilling to
+enter for a new service until they had enjoyed some liberty on shore;
+but after they had been paid off, and spent their money, numbers of them
+volunteered, and many more would probably have done so, but for the very
+short time in which the crews were completed. No difficulty was
+experienced in manning the fleet. The whole ship's company of the
+<i>Leander</i>, then on the point of sailing as the flag-ship on the North
+American station, volunteered to go, and accordingly her destination was
+changed for the time. Rear-Admiral Milne, for whom she had been fitted,
+obtained permission to go out with her; and as Sir Charles Penrose did
+not join at Gibraltar, he hoisted his flag in the <i>Impregnable</i>, as
+second in command. Among other volunteers were a number of smugglers,
+who had been taken on the western coast, and sentenced to five years'
+service in the navy. They were sent to the eastward as prisoners in a
+cutter in which Mr. Pellew had taken a passage to make a parting visit
+to his brother, and they implored his intercession on their behalf. He
+advised them to enter for the <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, and gain a title to the
+indulgence they sought by their good conduct in the battle. They all did
+so: no serious casualty occurred among them, and they behaved so well
+that Lord Exmouth applied to the Admiralty, and obtained their
+discharge.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth's marine officer in the <i>Arethusa</i>, the late Sir Richard
+Williams, then commanded the marine artillery, and Lord Exmouth wrote to
+request that he would aid him to the best of his abilities, by selecting
+officers and men from his corps. Sir Richard displayed on this occasion
+all the activity and judgment to be expected from his character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> and
+Lord Exmouth acknowledged his services after the glorious result of the
+expedition, in the following words:&mdash;"I should be very ungrateful, my
+dear friend, if I neglected to thank you for the care and pains you took
+in selecting, for the service I was ordered upon, the best officers and
+men I ever saw during my service. I assure you that all the officers did
+you full justice: they not only knew their duty well, but they performed
+it well."</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the five line-of-battle ships, two of which were
+three-deckers, the force included three heavy frigates, and two smaller
+ones; four bomb vessels, and five gun-brigs. Four of the line-of-battle
+ships were to destroy the fortifications on the Mole; while the fifth
+covered them from the batteries south of the town, and the heavy
+frigates, from those on the town wall. The bomb-vessels were to fire on
+the arsenal and town, assisted by a flotilla of the ships' launches,
+&amp;c., fitted as gun, rocket, and mortar-boats. The smaller frigates and
+the brigs were to assist as circumstances might require.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet left Portsmouth on the 25th of July. On the 28th it sailed
+from Plymouth Sound, and the same afternoon was off Falmouth. Twenty
+three years before, Lord Exmouth had gone from the house of his brother,
+who now took leave of him, and sailed to fight the first battle of the
+war from the port whence he was proceeding on the service which was to
+close and crown it. From this place the <i>Minded</i>, 74, was sent on to
+Gibraltar, that the necessary supplies might be ready when the fleet
+arrived. Through all the passage the utmost care was taken to train the
+crews. Every day, Sunday excepted, they were exercised at the guns; and
+on Tuesdays and Fridays the fleet cleared for action, when each ship
+fired six broadsides. On board the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> a twelve-pounder
+was secured at the after part of the quarter-deck, with which the first
+and second captains of the guns practised daily at a small target, hung
+at the fore topmast studding-sail boom. The target was a frame of laths,
+three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> feet square, crossed with rope-yarns so close that a twelve-pound
+shot could not go through without cutting one, and with a piece of wood,
+the size and shape of a bottle, for a bull's-eye. After a few days'
+practice, the target was never missed, and on an average ten or twelve
+bottles were hit every day. Thus kept in constant preparation for the
+battle, and daily gaining new confidence in themselves, the crews were
+in the highest degree elated. Officers and men felt they were going to
+an assured victory, and that to obtain complete success the plans of
+their chief required only the exertions which every one resolved to
+make. As a consequence of this enthusiasm, which never had a check, for
+the excitement of preparation was followed by the flush of victory,
+their health and vigour were beyond all parallel. Scarcely a man came on
+the sick-list; and when the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> was paid off on her
+return, only one had died, except from the casualties of battle, out of
+nearly a thousand who had joined her more than three months before.</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th of August, the fleet reached Gibraltar, where the <i>Minden</i>
+had arrived only the preceding night. Here they found a Dutch squadron
+of five frigates and a corvette, commanded by Vice-Admiral the Baron Von
+de Capellan, who, on learning the object of the expedition, solicited
+and obtained leave to co-operate. The ships, having completed their
+ordnance stores and provisions, were ready to sail on the 12th; but the
+strong easterly wind prevented them from moving for two days. On the
+13th, every ship received a plan of the fortifications, with full
+instructions respecting the position she was to occupy. A general order
+to this effect had been issued on the 6th, but the co-operation of the
+Dutch squadron had made some change in the arrangements necessary. To
+this squadron was assigned the duty of attacking the fort and batteries
+south of the town, a service previously intended for the <i>Minden</i> and
+<i>Hebrus</i>, which were now to take a position among their consorts in
+front of the Mole.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The fleet sailed next day, and on the 16th was within two hundred miles
+of its destination, when the wind again shifted to the eastward. That
+evening the ship-sloop <i>Prometheus</i>, Captain Dashwood, joined direct
+from Algiers, with information that the Algerines were making every
+preparation to meet the attack. All the former defences had been made
+completely effective, and new works had been added; forty thousand
+troops had been assembled; all the Janizaries called in from distant
+garrisons; and the whole naval force of the regency, four frigates, five
+large corvettes, and thirty-seven gun-boats, were collected in the
+harbour. The <i>Prometheus</i> brought the wife, daughter, and infant child
+of Mr. M'Donell, the British consul. The two former had succeeded in
+getting off, disguised as midshipmen; but the infant, which had been
+carefully concealed in a basket, after a composing medicine had been
+given to it by the surgeon of the <i>Prometheus</i>, awoke, and cried as it
+was passing the gateway, and thus led to the arrest of all the party
+then on shore. The child was sent off next morning by the Dey, and, "as
+a solitary instance of his humanity," said Lord Exmouth, "it ought to be
+recorded by me;" but the consul was confined in irons at his house, and
+the surgeon, three midshipmen, and fourteen seamen of the <i>Prometheus</i>,
+were detained as prisoners; nor could the most urgent remonstrances of
+Captain Dashwood induce the Dey to release them.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet continued beating against a head wind until midnight on the
+24th, when the wind shifted to south-west. On Monday the 20th, at noon,
+they made Cape Cazzina, the northern point of the Bay of Algiers, and
+about twenty miles from the town. Next morning at daybreak, Algiers
+itself was in sight As the ships lay nearly becalmed, Lord Exmouth sent
+away Lieutenant Burgess in one of the <i>Queen Charlotte's</i> boats, under a
+flag of truce, with the terms dictated by the Prince Regent, and a
+demand for the immediate liberation of the consul, and the people of the
+<i>Prometheus</i>. The <i>Severn</i> was directed to tow the boat, but as she
+made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> very little way, the boat was ordered by signal to cast off, and
+proceed alone to the shore. At eleven o'clock, she was met outside the
+mole by the captain of the port, who received the communication, and
+promised an answer in two hours. In the mean time, a breeze springing up
+from the sea, the fleet stood into the bay, and lay to about a mile from
+the town.</p>
+
+<p>At two o'clock the boat was seen returning, with the signal that no
+answer had been given. The <i>Queen Charlotte</i> immediately telegraphed to
+the fleet, "Are you ready?" Immediately the affirmative was displayed
+from every ship, and all bore up to their appointed stations.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Queen Charlotte</i> led to the attack. It was Lord Exmouth's intention
+not to reply to the enemy's fire in bearing down, unless it should
+become galling. In that case, the middle and main-deck guns, thirty long
+24-pounders, were to have opened; keeping the upper deck for shortening
+sail, and the lower for working the cables. The guns on these decks were
+not primed until the ship had anchored. But the Algerines reserved their
+fire, confident in the strength of their defences, and expecting to
+carry the flagship by boarding her from the gun-boats, which were all
+filled with men. Steered by the master of the fleet, Mr. Gaze, who had
+sailed with Lord Exmouth in every ship he commanded from the beginning
+of the war, the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> proceeded silently to her position. At
+half-past two, she anchored by the stern, just half a cable's length
+from the Mole-head, and was lashed by a hawser to the mainmast of an
+Algerine brig, which lay at the entrance of the harbour. Her starboard
+broadside flanked all the batteries from the Mole-head to the
+Light-house. The Mole was crowded with troops, many of whom got upon the
+parapet to look at the ship; and Lord Exmouth, observing them as he
+stood upon the poop, waved to them to move away. As soon as the ship was
+fairly placed, and her cables stoppered, the crew gave three hearty
+cheers, such as Englishmen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> only can give. Scarcely had the sound of the
+last died away, when a gun was fired from the upper tier of the eastern
+battery; and a second, and a third followed in quick succession. One of
+the shots struck the <i>Superb</i>. At the first flash, Lord Exmouth gave the
+order, "Stand by!" at the second. "Fire!" The report of the third gun
+was drowned in the thunder of <i>Queen Charlotte's</i> broadside.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy now opened from all their batteries, the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> and
+<i>Leander</i> being the only ships which had yet reached their stations.
+Preparations had been previously made in all, to avoid the necessity of
+exposing the men aloft when shortening sail. Following the flag-ship,
+the <i>Superb</i> anchored about two hundred and fifty yards astern of her,
+and the <i>Minden</i> at about her own length from the <i>Superb</i>. The <i>Albion</i>
+came to astern of the <i>Minded</i>, which passed her stream cable out of the
+larboard gun-room port to the <i>Albion's</i> bow, and brought the two ships
+together. The <i>Impregnable</i> was anchored astern of the <i>Albion</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The large frigates, and the Dutch squadron, particularly the <i>Melampus</i>,
+their flag-ship, went into action under a very heavy fire, and with a
+gallantry that never was surpassed. The <i>Leander</i> had placed herself on
+the <i>Queen Charlotte's</i> larboard bow, at the entrance of the harbour;
+her starboard broadside bearing upon the Algerine gun-boats with the
+after guns, and upon the Fishmarket battery with the others. The
+<i>Severn</i> lay ahead of the <i>Leander</i>, with all her starboard broadside
+bearing upon the Fishmarket battery. Beyond her the <i>Glasgow</i> fired upon
+the town batteries with her larboard guns. The Dutch squadron took the
+assigned position, before the works to the southward of the town. It was
+their Admiral's intention to place the <i>Melampus</i> in the centre; but his
+second ahead, the <i>Diana</i>, having anchored too far to the southward to
+allow this, he pushed the <i>Melampus</i> past her, and anchored close astern
+of the <i>Glasgow</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The two smaller frigates, the <i>Hebrus</i> and <i>Granicus</i>, were left to take
+part in the battle wherever they might find an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> opening. Eager to gain a
+position, in the line, the <i>Hebrus</i> pressed forward to place herself
+next the flag-ship, till, becalmed by the cannonade, she was obliged to
+anchor on the <i>Queen Charlotte's</i> larboard quarter. Captain Wise, of the
+<i>Granicus</i>, waited until all the ships had taken their stations. Then,
+setting topgallant-sails and courses, he steered for where Lord
+Exmouth's flag was seen towering above the smoke; and with a seamanship
+equalled only by his intrepidity, anchored in the open space between the
+<i>Queen Charlotte</i> and <i>Superb</i>; thus, with a small-class frigate, taking
+a position, of which, said Lord Exmouth, a three-decker might be justly
+proud.</p>
+
+<p>Eastward of the Lighthouse, at the distance of two thousand yards, were
+placed the bomb-vessels; whose shells were thrown with admirable
+precision by the Marine Artillery. The smaller vessels, except the
+<i>Mutine</i>, which anchored, continued under sail, firing occasionally
+wherever they saw opportunity. The flotilla of gun, rocket, and mortar
+boats, directed, by Captain Michell, were distributed at the openings
+between the line-of-battle ships, and at the entrance to the Mole.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the ships commanded the strongest of the enemy's defences, while
+they were exposed to the weakest part of his fire. The officers and men
+felt new confidence when they saw the power derived from the admirable
+disposition of their force. All behaved most nobly; and it was not long
+before the state of the Algerine batteries gave proof that their courage
+was fully equalled by their skill.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes, indeed before the battle had become general, the
+<i>Queen Charlotte</i> had ruined the fortifications on the Mole-head. She
+then sprang her broadside towards the northward, to bear upon the
+batteries over the gate which leads to the Mole, and upon the upper
+works of the Lighthouse. Her shot struck with the most fatal accuracy,
+crumbling the tower of the Lighthouse to ruins, and bringing down gun
+after gun from the batteries. The last of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> these guns was dismounted
+just as the artillerymen were in the act of discharging it; when an
+Algerine chief was seen to spring upon the ruins of the parapet, and
+with impotent rage, to shake his scimitar against the ship. Her men
+proved themselves as expert amidst the realities of war, as they had
+before shown themselves in exercise; and some of them were detected
+amusing themselves, in the wantonness of their skill, by firing at the
+Algerine flag-staffs.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the battle began, the enemy's flotilla of gun-boats advanced,
+with a daring which deserved a better fate, to board the <i>Queen
+Charlotte</i> and <i>Leander</i>. The smoke covered them at first, but as soon
+as they were seen, a few guns, chiefly from the <i>Leander</i>, sent
+thirty-three out of thirty-seven to the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock, when a general and heavy fire had been maintained for
+more than an hour without producing any appearance of submission, Lord
+Exmouth determined to destroy the Algerine ships. Accordingly, the
+<i>Leander</i> having first been ordered to cease firing, the flag-ship's
+barge, directed by Lieutenant Peter Richards, with Major Gossett, of the
+Miners, Lieutenant Wolrige, of the Marines, and Mr. M'Clintock, a
+midshipman, boarded the nearest frigate, and fired her so effectually
+with the laboratory torches, and a carcass-shell placed on the main
+deck, that she was completely in flames almost before the barge's crew
+were over her side. The crew of a rocket-boat belonging to the <i>Hebrus</i>
+were prompted by a natural, but unfortunate ardour, to follow the barge,
+though forbidden; but the boat pulling heavily, she became exposed to a
+fire of musketry, which killed an officer and three men, and wounded
+several others. Lord Exmouth stood watching the barge from the gangway,
+delighted with the gallantry and promptitude with which his orders were
+executed. When the frigate burst into a flame, he telegraphed to the
+fleet the animating signal, "Infallible!" and as the barge was
+returning, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> ordered those around him to welcome her alongside with
+three cheers.</p>
+
+<p>It was hoped that the flames would communicate from this frigate to the
+rest of the Algerine shipping; but she burnt from her moorings, and
+passing clear of her consorts, drifted along the broadsides of the
+<i>Queen Charlotte</i> and <i>Leander</i>, and grounded a-head of the latter,
+under the wall of the town. The gun-boats, and the <i>Queen Charlotte's</i>
+launch, then opened with carcass-shells upon the largest frigate, which
+was moored in the centre of the other ships, too far within the Mole to
+be attempted safely by boarding. They soon set her on fire, and
+notwithstanding the exertions of the Algerines, she was completely in
+flames by six o'clock. From her the fire communicated, first to all the
+other vessels in the port, except a brig and a schooner, moored in the
+upper part of it, and afterwards to the storehouses and arsenal. At a
+little past seven, she came drifting out of the harbour, and passed so
+close to the flag-ship as nearly to involve her in the same destruction.</p>
+
+<p>About sunset, a message was received from Rear-Admiral Milne, requesting
+that a frigate might be sent to divert from the <i>Impregnable</i> some of
+the fire under which she was suffering. She had anchored more to the
+northward than was intended, and consequently became exposed to the
+heavy battery on the point of rock beyond the lighthouse, and which was
+covered from the fire of the rest of the fleet. The <i>Glasgow</i> weighed
+immediately, but the wind had been driven away by the cannonade, and she
+was only able, after three-quarters of an hour's exertion, to reach a
+new position between the <i>Severn</i> and <i>Leander</i>; a better for annoying
+the enemy, but where she was herself more exposed, and suffered in
+proportion. As it was found impossible to assist the <i>Impregnable</i>, Lord
+Exmouth sent on board Mr. Triscott, one of his aides-de-camp, with
+permission to haul off. The <i>Impregnable</i> was then dreadfully cut up;
+150 men had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> already killed and wounded, a full third of them by an
+explosion, and the shot were still coming in fast; but her brave crew,
+guided and encouraged by the Rear-Admiral and Captain Brace, two of the
+most distinguished and successful officers in the service, would not
+allow her to go thus out of battle; and she kept her station,
+maintaining an animated fire to the last. To relieve her in some degree,
+an ordnance sloop, which had been fitted at Gibraltar as an
+explosion-vessel, with 143 barrels of powder, was placed at the disposal
+of the Rear-Admiral. She had been intended for the destruction of the
+Algerine fleet, but this service had already been effected by other
+means. Conducted by Lieutenant Fleming, who had been commanding a
+gun-boat near the <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, with Major Reed, of the Engineers,
+and Captain Herbert Powell, a volunteer on board the <i>Impregnable</i>, the
+explosion-vessel was run on shore under the battery which had annoyed
+her, where, at nine o'clock, she blew up.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet slackened their fire towards night, as the guns of the enemy
+became silenced, and the ships began to feel the necessity for
+husbanding their ammunition. Their expenditure had been beyond all
+parallel. They fired nearly 118 tons of powder, and 50,000 shot,
+weighing more than 500 tons of iron; besides 960 thirteen and ten-inch
+shells thrown by the bomb-vessels, and the shells and rockets from the
+flotilla. Such a fire, close, concentrated, and well-directed as it was,
+nothing could resist; and the sea-defences of Algiers, with great part
+of the town itself, were shattered and crumbled to ruins.</p>
+
+<p>At a little before ten, the objects of the attack having been effected,
+the <i>Queen Charlotte's</i> bower-cable was cut, and her head hauled round
+to seaward. She continued, however, to engage with all the guns abaft
+the mainmast, sometimes on both sides. Warps were run out to gain an
+offing, but many of them were cut by shot from the batteries southward
+of the town, which had been very partially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> engaged, and also from forts
+on the hills out of reach of the ships' guns. A very light air was felt
+about half-past ten, and sail was made; but the ship, after cutting from
+her remaining warps and anchors, was manageable only by the aid of her
+boats towing, and then the only point gained was keeping her head from
+the land. At eleven she began to draw out from the batteries, and at
+twenty-five minutes past she ceased to fire. The breeze freshened, and a
+tremendous storm of thunder and lightning came on, with torrents of
+rain; while the flaming ships and storehouses illuminated all the ruins,
+and increased the grandeur of the scene. In about three hours the storm
+subsided, and as soon as the ship was made snug, Lord Exmouth assembled
+in his cabin all the wounded who could be moved with safety, that they
+might unite with him and his officers in offering thanksgiving to God
+for their victory and preservation.</p>
+
+<p>The two Admirals came on board the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> as soon as they
+could leave their ships, and spoke their feelings of admiration and
+gratitude to Lord Exmouth with all the warmth of language and
+expression. The Dutch Admiral, who, with his squadron, had most nobly
+emulated the conduct of his British allies, declared himself in terms of
+the highest eulogy of the <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, which, he said, by her
+commanding position and the effect of her fire, had saved five hundred
+men to the fleet. Perhaps there was no exaggeration in the praise; for
+the destruction occasioned by her first broadside, as she lay flanking
+the Mole, must have contributed much to protect the ships which had not
+yet reached their stations; and the havoc she inflicted by a cannonade
+of nine hours must have been great indeed, since her fire could destroy
+the fortifications on the Mole-head in a few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>In no former general action had the casualties been so great in
+proportion to the force employed. One hundred and twenty-eight were
+killed, and six hundred and ninety wounded, in the British ships, and
+thirteen killed and fifty-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>two wounded in the Dutch squadron. Yet,
+except the <i>Impregnable</i>, which had fifty men killed, no ship suffered
+so much as is usual in a severe engagement. Generally, in fleet actions,
+the brunt of the battle, and the chief amount of losses, fall upon a
+few; but here every ship had her allotted duty, and was closely engaged
+throughout. After the <i>Impregnable</i>, the frigates suffered the most,
+particularly the <i>Granicus</i>, which took a line-of-battle ship's station;
+and the <i>Leander</i>, which was much cut up by the Fish-market and other
+batteries, and as late as seven o'clock was obliged to carry out a
+hawser to <i>the Severn</i>, to enable her to bear her broadside upon one
+which annoyed her. The loss in the other line-of-battle ships was
+remarkably small. They had together but twenty-six killed, including the
+casualties in their respective boats.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth escaped most narrowly. He was struck in three places; and a
+cannon-shot tore away the skirts of his coat. A button was afterwards
+found in the signal locker; and the shot broke one of the glasses and
+bulged the rim of the spectacles in his pocket. He gave the spectacles
+to his valued friend, the late gallant Sir Richard Keats, who caused
+their history to be engraven on them, and directed, that when he died,
+they should be restored to Lord Exmouth's family, to be kept as a
+memorial of his extraordinary preservation.</p>
+
+<p>On the 28th, at daylight, Lieutenant Burgess was sent on shore with a
+flag of truce, and the demands of the preceding morning; the
+bomb-vessels at the same time resuming their positions. The captain of
+one of the destroyed frigates met the boat, and declared that an answer
+had been sent on the day before, but that no boat was at hand to receive
+it. Shortly after, the captain of the port came off, accompanied by the
+Swedish consul, and informed Lord Exmouth that all his demands would be
+submitted to. On the morning of the 29th, the captain of the port came
+off again, being now accompanied by the British consul; upon which
+Captain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> Brisbane, of the flag-ship, went on shore, and had a conference
+with the Dey. Sir Charles Penrose, whom the Admiral had expected to the
+last, arrived this day in the <i>Ister</i> frigate, from Malta, where he had
+waited for his expected orders, until he heard that Lord Exmouth was in
+the Mediterranean. Lord Exmouth committed to him the management of the
+negotiations, the only compliment he could now offer. Where nothing
+remained but submission for the vanquished, the arrangements were soon
+concluded, and next day the final result was officially communicated to
+the fleet.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"<i>Queen Charlotte</i>, Algiers Bay, August 30, 1816.</p>
+<p class='center'>"General Memorandum.</p>
+
+<p>"The Commander-in-Chief is happy to inform the fleet of the final
+termination of their strenuous exertions, by the signature of
+peace, confirmed under a salute of twenty-one guns, on the
+following conditions, dictated by His Royal Highness the Prince
+Regent of England.</p>
+
+<p>"I. The abolition of Christian slavery for ever.</p>
+
+<p>"II. The delivery to my flag of all slaves in the dominions of the
+Dey, to whatever nation they may belong, at noon to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>"III. To deliver also to my flag all money received by him for the
+redemption of slaves since the commencement of this year&mdash;at noon
+also to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>"IV. Reparation has been made to the British consul for all losses
+he has sustained in consequence of his confinement.</p>
+
+<p>"V. The Dey has made a public apology, in presence of his ministers
+and officers, and begged pardon of the consul in terms dictated by
+the captain of the <i>Queen Charlotte</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The Commander-in-Chief takes this opportunity of again returning
+his public thanks to the Admirals, Captains, Officers, Seamen,
+Marines, Royal Sappers and Miners, Royal Marine Artillery, and the
+Royal Rocket Corps, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> the noble support he has received from
+them throughout the whole of this arduous service; and he is
+pleased to direct that on Sunday next a public thanksgiving shall
+be offered up to Almighty God, for the signal interposition of his
+Divine Providence during the conflict which took place on the 27th,
+between his Majesty's fleet and the ferocious enemies of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>It is requested that this memorandum may be read to the ship's
+company.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"To the Admirals, Captains, Officers, Seamen, Marines, Royal
+Sappers and Miners, Royal Marine Artillery, and the Royal Rocket
+Corps."</p></blockquote></blockquote>
+
+<p>Above twelve hundred slaves were embarked on the 31st, making, with
+those liberated a few weeks before, more than three thousand, whom, by
+address or force, Lord Exmouth had delivered from slavery.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Having
+sent them to their respective countries, and leaving a ship to receive a
+few who had yet to come up from the interior, he sailed on the 3rd of
+September for England. On the 8th, when on his way to Gibraltar, he
+wrote an account of the battle to his brother, to whom he had previously
+sent a very laconic communication, stating merely the result.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>"It has pleased God to give me again the opportunity of writing
+you, and it has also pleased Him to give success to our efforts
+against these hordes of barbarians. I never, however, saw any set
+of men more obstinate at their guns, and it was superior fire only
+that could keep them back. To be sure, nothing could stand before
+the <i>Queen Charlotte's</i> broadside. Everything fell before it; and
+the Swedish consul assures me we killed above five hundred at the
+very first fire, from the crowded way in which troops were drawn
+up, four deep above the gun boats, which were also full of men. I
+had myself beckoned to many around the guns close to us to move
+away, previous to giving the order to fire; and I believe they are
+within bounds, when they state their loss at seven thousand men.
+Our old friend John Gaze was as steady as a rock; and it was a
+glorious sight to see the <i>Charlotte</i> take her anchorage, and to
+see her flag towering on high, when she appeared to be in the
+flames of the Mole itself; and never was a ship nearer burnt; it
+almost scorched me off the poop; we were obliged to haul in the
+ensign, or it would have caught fire. Everybody behaved uncommonly
+well. Admiral Milne came on board at two o'clock in the morning,
+and kissed my hand fifty times before the people, as did the Dutch
+Admiral, Von Capellan. I was but slightly touched in the thigh,
+face, and fingers&mdash;my glass cut in my hand, and the skirts of my
+coat torn off by a large shot; but as I bled a good deal, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+looked as if I was badly hurt, and it was gratifying to see and
+hear how it was received even in the cockpit, which was then pretty
+full. My thigh is not quite skinned over, but I am perfectly well,
+and hope to reach Portsmouth by the 10th of October. Ferdinand has
+sent me a diamond star. Wise behaved most nobly, and took up a
+line-of-battle ship's station; but all behaved nobly. I never saw
+such enthusiasm in all my service. Not a wretch shrunk any where;
+and I assure you it was a very arduous task, but I had formed a
+very correct judgment of all I saw, and was confident, if
+supported, I should succeed. I could not wait for an offshore wind
+to attack; the season was too far advanced, and the land-winds
+become light and calmy. I was forced to attack at once with a
+lee-shore, or perhaps wait a week for a precarious wind along
+shore; and I was quite sure I should have a breeze off the land
+about one or two in the morning, and equally sure we could hold out
+to that time. Blessed be God! it came, and a dreadful night with
+it, of thunder, lightning, and rain, as heavy as I ever saw.
+Several ships had expended all their powder, and been supplied from
+the brigs. I had latterly husbanded, and only fired when they fired
+on us; and we expended 350 barrels, and 5,420 shot, weighing above
+65 tons of iron. Such a state of ruin of fortifications and houses
+was never seen, and it is the opinion of all the consuls, that two
+hours more fire would have levelled the town; the walls are all so
+cracked. Even the aqueducts were broken up, and the people
+famishing for water. The sea-defences, to be made effective, must
+be rebuilt from the foundation. The fire all round the Mole looked
+like Pandemonium. I never saw anything so grand and so terrific,
+for I was not on velvet, for fear they would drive on board us. The
+copper-bottoms floated full of fiery hot charcoal, and were red hot
+above the surface, so that we could not hook on our fire-grapnels
+to put the boats on, and could do nothing but push fire-booms, and
+spring the ship off by our warps, as occasion required."</p></blockquote><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The battle of Algiers forms a class by itself among naval victories. It
+was a new thing to place a fleet in a position surrounded by such
+formidable batteries. Bold and original in the conception, it was most
+brilliant and complete in execution. Nor was it more splendid for the
+honour, than happy in the fruits. It broke the chains of thousands; it
+gave security to millions;&mdash;it delivered Christendom from a scourge and
+a disgrace. To complete the happiness of the achievement, a nation
+co-operated, the natural ally of England, and the truest of her friends;
+bound to her by the proudest recollections of patriotism, and the
+dearest ties of religion; and which, if it should be required once more
+to strike down the power of whatever evil principle may desolate Europe,
+will again be found at her side, strong in virtue as in courage, to
+emulate her prowess, and to share the triumph.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Sir Israel, his brother; Captains Pownoll and Fleetwood,
+his sons; Captain Harward, and Sir Lawrence Halsted, his sons-in-law.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Slaves liberated by Admiral Lord Exmouth:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class='center'><span class="smcap">At Algiers</span>.</p>
+
+<table border='0' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='5' summary='Slaves liberated at Algiers'>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Neapolitans and Sicilians&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class='right'>1,110&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Sardinians and Genoese</td>
+    <td class='right'>62&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Piedmontaise</td>
+    <td class='right'>6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Romans</td>
+    <td class='right'>174&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Tuscans</td>
+    <td class='right'>6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Spaniards</td>
+    <td class='right'>226&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Portuguese</td>
+    <td class='right'>1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Greeks</td>
+    <td class='right'>7&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Dutch</td>
+    <td class='right'>28&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>English</td>
+    <td class='right'>18&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>French</td>
+    <td class='right'>2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Austrians</td>
+    <td class='right'>2&mdash;1,642</td>
+  </tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p class='center'><span class="smcap">At Tunis</span>.</p>
+
+<table border='0' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='5' summary='Slaves liberated at Tunis'>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Neapolitans and Sicilians&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;524&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Sardinians and Genoese</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;257&mdash;&mdash;781</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class='center'><span class="smcap">At Tripoli</span>.</p>
+
+<table border='0' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='5' summary='Slaves liberated at Tripoli'>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Neapolitans and Sicilians&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;422&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Sardinians and Genoese</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;144&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Romans</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;10&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Hamburghers</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4&mdash;&mdash;580</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class='right'>&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class='right'>3003</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.</h3>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth's services were acknowledged as became such a victory. He
+was advanced to the dignity of a Viscount, and received an honourable
+augmentation of his arms. In the centre of the shield a triumphal crown
+was placed by the civic wreath; below was a lion rampant, and above them
+a ship, lying at the Mole-head of Algiers, and surmounted with the star
+of victory. The former supporters were exchanged for a lion on the one
+side, and a Christian slave, holding aloft the cross, and dropping his
+broken fetters, on the other. The name "Algiers" was given for an
+additional motto. The kings of Holland, Spain, and Sardinia, conferred
+upon him orders of knighthood. The Pope sent him a valuable cameo. The
+city of London voted him its freedom, and a sword, ornamented with
+diamonds, which was presented by the Lord Mayor at a banquet,
+appropriately given by the Ironmongers' Company, as trustees of a
+considerable estate left for ransoming Christian slaves in Barbary by
+Mr. Betton, a member of the company, who had himself endured the
+miseries of slavery. He received the freedom of the city of Oxford, and
+the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University. A society for
+promoting the liberation of Christian slaves, lately formed at Paris,
+chiefly by the exertions of Sir Sidney Smith, caused a medal to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+struck to commemorate the victory. It presents a well-executed profile
+of the Admiral, with a suitable inscription on the reverse.</p>
+
+<p>In general, every disposition was shown in France to do justice to Lord
+Exmouth's merit on this occasion. Yet it was to be expected that the
+feelings so natural under the circumstances of their recent defeat, and
+the present occupation of their territory, would lead many to detract
+from the honours of the nation which had so severely humbled them. Some
+illiberal reflections which appeared in the French journals, prompted
+the following lines by the late Lord Grenville:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class='stanza'><div class='i2'>"These hands toil-worn, these limbs by fetters galled,</div>
+<div>These bodies, scarred by many a servile blow,</div>
+<div>These spirits, wasted by disease and woe,</div>
+<div>These Christian souls, by miscreant rage enthralled,</div>
+<div>What band of heroes now recalls to life?&mdash;</div>
+<div>Gives us again to hail our native shores,</div>
+<div>And to each fond, despairing heart, restores</div>
+<div>The long-lost parent, the long-widowed wife?</div>
+<div>O Britain! still to lawless power a foe,</div>
+<div>'Gainst faithless pirate armed, or blood-stained Gaul!</div>
+<div>Vain is the taunt which mocks thy lavish cost,</div>
+<div>Thy thankless toil, thy blood poured out for all,</div>
+<div>Thy laurels, gained in fight, in treaty lost&mdash;</div>
+<div><span class="smcap">Heaven still shall bless the hand which lays the oppressor low</span>!"</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>A medal, most appropriate in the devices, and of the most exquisite
+workmanship, was executed by command of his late Majesty George IV.,
+then Prince Regent. The medals are of gold. Only four were struck, one
+of which was presented to Lord Exmouth, and remains in the possession of
+his eldest surviving son. The officers of the squadron presented to
+their commander a magnificent piece of plate, of 1,400 guineas value,
+representing the Mole of Algiers, with its fortifications. The
+subscription exceeded the cost; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> the surplus was paid to the Naval
+Charitable Society, of which Lord Exmouth was a vice-president.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>His venerable and excellent friend, Admiral Schank, under whose command
+he had fought his first action, went to Teignmouth to receive him, when
+he came home from this, the last of his triumphs. The day of his return
+was made a general festival, and the inhabitants went out to meet him
+with all the arrangement and display which could manifest admiration and
+attachment.</p>
+
+<p>The promotion which followed the victory was to have been on the usual
+scale, but Lord Exmouth succeeded in obtaining some extension of it; for
+he considered it inadequate to the merits of the junior officers, who
+had enjoyed unusual opportunities for distinguishing themselves. The
+flotilla of armed boats, which had behaved most gallantly, and afforded
+essential service, was commanded chiefly by mates and midshipmen, and he
+pressed their claims upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> Admiralty with much perseverance. He
+urged that commissions should be given to all who had passed their
+examinations; and submitted a list of the officers whom he thought
+entitled to promotion, drawn up in such a form as to be readily examined
+and referred to, and in which their respective services and claims were
+enforced in a manner which marked at once his discrimination of their
+merits, and the warm interest he took in their welfare.</p>
+
+<p>The victory was prominently noticed in the royal speech, and on the 3rd
+of February received the thanks of Parliament. The First Lord of the
+Admiralty, who introduced the motion to the House of Lords, expatiated
+at length on the circumstances which enhanced the merit of the
+commander:&mdash;"When the expedition against Algiers was determined on, it
+became necessary to collect men from different guard-ships, and to call
+for the services of volunteers for this particular enterprise. He
+mentioned this circumstance, because those who knew the value which
+naval officers attach to a crew long accustomed to act together, would
+be the better enabled to appreciate the skill and exertions of Lord
+Exmouth, and the difficulties he had to contend with, in rendering
+crews, collected as he had stated, efficient for his purpose. To that
+object Lord Exmouth devoted his daily, his hourly attention, and
+accomplished it in a manner which reflected the highest credit on his
+judgment and ability. He then proceeded with his squadron on the
+appointed service. He proposed certain terms to the Dey of Algiers,
+according to his instructions, and no satisfactory reply being given,
+the ships took their positions. It was due to Lord Exmouth here to state
+a circumstance not generally known. An opinion had prevailed in many
+quarters that accident and the elements had been very favourable to Lord
+Exmouth in the execution of the enterprise: but the fact was, that when
+Government had determined on the undertaking, many persons, and among
+them several naval officers, were of opinion that the defences were so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+strong that the attack could not succeed. Not so Lord Exmouth, though he
+was perfectly aware of the difficulties with which he had to contend. He
+had himself formed the plan of his operations, and gave it as his
+opinion that the object might be accomplished, not from any idle
+confidence, but founded on the reasons which he stated and the plan
+which he had formed. He had in this plan settled the position which
+every ship was to take, and when the despatches came, he (Lord Melville)
+had noticed that the positions actually taken were exactly those which
+had been before settled. The whole scheme of attack was before prepared
+by him, and exactly followed; and the whole transaction reflected the
+highest credit upon Lord Exmouth as a naval officer, as well as upon his
+perseverance and gallantry." After describing the battle and its result,
+and descanting upon the enthusiasm which animated every officer and man,
+and the gallantry they displayed, Lord Melville alluded to the
+co-operation and effectual assistance afforded by the Dutch squadron, to
+which also he moved the thanks of the House. "The flag of the
+Netherlands had long been distinguished in Europe, and the officers and
+seamen had acquired a high renown for skill and valour. In this
+enterprise that flag had again appeared, and a noble emulation prevailed
+between the two squadrons as to which of them should most strenuously
+exert itself to accomplish the common object."</p>
+
+<p>Similar motions were brought forward in the House of Commons by Lord
+Castlereagh, who dwelt on the splendid character of the transaction,
+upon which, he said, there could be but one opinion either in that House
+or throughout Europe. Alluding to the very conflicting opinions which
+had prevailed on the subject of attacking Algiers, he eulogized the
+great ability and judgment of Lord Exmouth, whose perfect accuracy had
+been so fully proved by the result. "He should not attempt," he said,
+"to add any thing more to an action so glorious both as to the
+principles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> upon which it was undertaken, and the mode of carrying it
+into execution, but only observe that he intended to extend the thanks
+to the officers and seamen of their brave ally, the King of the
+Netherlands, whose co-operation had been so beneficial. He was sure the
+House would feel a peculiar gratification in seeing the navy of Holland
+united with ours for the general liberties of mankind, and be anxious to
+mark their sense of the services performed by the Dutch Admiral, his
+brave officers, and sailors."</p>
+
+<p>"So great were Lord Exmouth's professional abilities," said Mr. Law, who
+seconded the motion, "that whatever he undertook he was sure to succeed
+in. From the commencement of that series of great operations which arose
+out of the revolutionary war, success had uniformly marked his long
+career. With respect to the late brilliant enterprise, too much could
+not be said of it; and it was gratifying to know that the feelings of
+the House and the country were the same."</p>
+
+<p>"No one," said Lord Cochrane, "was better acquainted than himself with
+the power possessed by batteries over a fleet; and he would say that the
+conduct of Lord Exmouth and the fleet deserved all the praise which that
+House could bestow. The attack was nobly achieved, in a way that a
+British fleet always performed such services; and the vote had his most
+cordial concurrence, for he never knew, or had heard, of anything more
+gallant than the manner in which Lord Exmouth had laid his ships
+alongside the Algerine batteries."</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth had now gained everything he could hope for. He was still
+in the full vigour of life, with the prospect of many years of health.
+His children had all been spared to him; and he was accustomed to dwell
+on their conduct with a father's pride and satisfaction. With a
+liberality not often displayed, he gave them their full portions as they
+successively left him; and he had the gratification of entrusting to
+each of his sons one of the many honourable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> tributes to his worth and
+services which he had received from different public bodies. His eldest
+son, who had served many years under his orders, was living near
+Teignmouth, at the family mansion of Canonteign. He represented
+Launceston in Parliament, and when he first entered the House had
+exerted himself, though without success, to obtain for seamen serving on
+foreign stations the privilege, since granted, of receiving part of
+their pay abroad. He had been much impressed with the evils of the
+former system, which his liberality had obviated for his own crews. Lord
+Exmouth maintained a most unreserved intercourse with him, and often
+expressed a confidence in the strongest terms, that he would do honour
+to the rank he was to inherit: hopes never to be realized, for he
+survived his father only a few months.</p>
+
+<p>It is a memorable illustration of a truth, which all admit, but none
+entirely feel, till their own experience has taught them the vanity of
+worldly success, that when the attainment of every object had left him
+without a wish ungratified, Lord Exmouth would sometimes confess that he
+had been happier amidst his early difficulties. Indeed, his natural
+character, and all his habits, were very unfavourable to repose. The
+command at Plymouth was given him in 1817, on the death of Sir John
+Duckworth; but this, though it prevented a too abrupt transition to
+complete retirement, was a life of inactivity, when contrasted with his
+general pursuits for almost fifty years.</p>
+
+<p>While he held this command he was required to attend in his place in the
+House of Lords on the trial of the Queen, one of the most lamentable
+events in modern English history. He had received her then Royal
+Highness on board his flag-ship in the Mediterranean with all the
+attentions due to her exalted rank, and his principal officers were
+assembled to pay their respects to her. But when he was desired to
+furnish a royal standard, which, it was said, the vessel was entitled to
+carry, though a foreigner, he replied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> that the standard of England
+could be carried only by a British man of war. He shared the temporary
+unpopularity of the noblemen who supported the bill, and the mob at
+Plymouth and its neighbourhood expressed their feelings towards him with
+much violence; but this, as far as he was concerned, gave him no
+disquiet. He had not then to learn how little this kind of hostility is
+to be regarded, when it is provoked by the faithful discharge of duty.
+When the storm was at the highest he wrote the following letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class='right'>"Admiralty House, Plymouth Dock, Nov. 20, 1820.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Brother</span>,&mdash;I am much obliged by your kind letter,
+and wish I could give you in return anything good, or worth
+detailing. The fact is, the people are mad, and the world is mad;
+and where it will end, the Lord only knows; but as sure as we live,
+the days of trouble are very fast approaching, when there will be
+much contention and much bloodshed, and changes out of all measure
+and human calculation. You and I have no choice. Loyalty is all our
+duty, and we shall, no doubt, stick to it. As for myself, you may
+well think me D.D.,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> for I am burnt, and kicked, and torn in
+pieces for many nights; but here I am, quite whole, sound, and
+merry, in spite of them all, poor fools! In a fortnight they will
+fain know how to make amends. They have a particular dislike to me,
+and I am glad of it. We shall live to see it changed."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>With the command at Plymouth, Lord Exmouth's public life may be
+considered to have ended; for though he shrunk from no duty which his
+rank and character imposed upon him, he would not submit to become a
+political partizan. This decision, so happy for his peace, was the
+result of his habitual judgment and feeling. In a letter before alluded
+to, which he wrote for his eldest son before he went to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> Algiers, he
+observed, that though not rich, he would be independent, and enjoined
+him never to entangle himself with party politics. While none more
+firmly supported the great principles upon which the security and
+welfare of the country rest, he chose always to keep the high position
+of an independent British nobleman. The splendid rewards which his
+services had obtained for him, he received, not as from any particular
+administration, but from his country; and he felt himself entitled to
+assert the same independence in the House of Lords, which he had always
+displayed as a commander. Thus, by a conduct equally prudent and
+honourable, he secured, through periods of great political excitement,
+an exemption almost singular, for a man in his position, from the
+attacks of party.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, his best services were always at the command of the
+Government, who frequently availed themselves of his judgment and
+experience. Few important questions occurred in connection with his own
+profession, upon which he was not consulted. Most of these were
+necessarily confidential; but the following may with propriety be
+noticed. In 1818, when the extreme difficulties of the country demanded
+the utmost possible retrenchment, it was proposed, among other measures
+of economy, to destroy Pendennis Castle. Two commissioners, sent to
+survey and report upon this step, were instructed to communicate first
+with Lord Exmouth. His opinion decided the preservation of this noble
+fortress; which is at once so important from its position, and so
+interesting for its heroic defence, when, in the great rebellion, it
+obtained the honourable distinction of being the last stronghold of
+loyalty.</p>
+
+<p>On the question of concessions to the Roman Catholics in 1829, his
+opinions and conduct were most decided. His eldest son resigned his seat
+for a borough, which he held unconditionally, under the influence of the
+Duke of Northumberland, as soon as that nobleman declared his intention
+to support the claims. The ground of Lord Exmouth's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> opposition to the
+measure has been already given in his words.</p>
+
+<p>That moral elevation, not always associated with powerful talent and
+splendid success, which forms the most admirable part of Lord Exmouth's
+character, was derived from religion. Young as he was when he first
+entered the service, and though such principles and feelings could not
+be supposed then to be very strongly fixed, yet he was guarded in his
+conduct, and always prompt to check any irreverent allusion to serious
+subjects. His youth was passed in camps and ships, at a time when a
+coarse and profane conduct too much prevailed, now happily almost
+unknown; but he was never deterred by a false shame from setting a
+proper example. On board his first frigate, the <i>Winchelsea</i>, the duties
+of the Sundays were regularly observed. He always dressed in full
+uniform on that day, and, having no chaplain, read the morning service
+to his crew, whenever the weather permitted them to be assembled.
+Advancing in his brilliant career, the same feelings were more and more
+strikingly displayed. It was his practice to have a special and general
+service of thanksgiving after every signal deliverance, or success. Too
+often is it found, that with the accession of worldly honours, the man
+becomes more forgetful of the good Providence from which he received
+them. From this evil, Lord Exmouth was most happily kept; and additional
+distinctions only confirmed the unaffected simplicity and benevolence of
+his character. When he was fitting out his fleet for Algiers, amidst all
+the anxiety of hurried preparations, he took care that every ship should
+be properly supplied with the sacred volume. For this purpose, he
+obtained from the Naval and Military Bible Society, of which he was a
+Vice President, every copy which could be procured at so short a notice.
+Finally, after this, the last and greatest of his services, a battle of
+almost unexampled severity and duration, and fought less for his country
+than for the world,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> his gratitude to the Giver of victory was expressed
+in a manner the most edifying and delightful.</p>
+
+<p>With such principles, he might well have hoped for happiness when he
+retired from public life. Religion alone can fill and satisfy the most
+active and capacious mind; but that its power may be felt to calm,
+strengthen, and support, under whatever circumstances of endurance, or
+of action, it must govern the character always, and be the supreme
+controlling principle. For this, the position of a naval officer is not
+favourable. War has much, in addition to the miseries and evils it
+directly creates, which only necessity can excuse; and there is too
+little leisure for reflection amidst the anxiety of early struggles, the
+full career of success, or the pressure of exciting and important
+duties.</p>
+
+<p>But when external responsibilities had ceased to divert his attention
+from himself, his religious principles acquired new strength and exerted
+a more powerful influence. They guided him to peace; they added dignity
+to his character: and blessed his declining years with a serenity, at
+once the best evidence of their truth, and the happiest illustration of
+their power.</p>
+
+<p>The quiet of domestic life offers little to be recorded; and except when
+public or private claims might call him for a short time from home, Lord
+Exmouth passed the remainder of his life at Teignmouth. He had nobly
+done his duty; and now enjoyed in honourable repose all that the
+gratitude of his country and the affection of his family could bestow.
+Though he knew himself liable to an attack which might be almost
+suddenly fatal, he dwelt on the prospect without alarm, for he rested
+upon that faith whose privilege it is to rise above present suffering,
+and to regard death itself as the gate of immortal life.</p>
+
+<p>No man was more free from selfish feeling. His honours and success were
+valued for the sake of his family. His services and life were for his
+country. He had a truly English heart, and served her with entire
+devotedness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> Nothing, indeed, could be a finer commentary than his own
+career upon her free and equal institutions, which, by the force of
+those qualities they so powerfully tend to create, had enabled him to
+rise from the condition of an unfriended orphan, to the dignity of the
+British peerage. Most painful, therefore, were his feelings, when revolt
+and anarchy in neighbouring countries were held up to be admired and
+imitated at home, until a praiseworthy desire of improvement had become
+a rage for destructive innovation. In a letter written at this time,
+Nov. 12th, 1831, after alluding to his own declining strength, he thus
+proceeds:&mdash;"I am fast approaching that end which we must all come to. My
+own term I feel is expiring, and happy is the man who does not live to
+see the destruction of his country, which discontent has brought to the
+verge of ruin. Hitherto thrice happy England, how art thou torn to
+pieces by thine own children! Strangers, who a year ago looked up to you
+as a happy exception in the world, with admiration, at this moment know
+thee not! Fire, riot, and bloodshed, are roving through the land, and
+God in his displeasure visits us also with pestilence; and, in fact, in
+one short year, we seem almost to have reached the climax of misery. One
+cannot sit down to put one's thoughts to paper, without feeling
+oppressed by public events, and with vain thought of how and when will
+the evils terminate. <i>That</i> must be left to God's mercy, for I believe
+man is at this moment unequal to the task."</p>
+
+<p>He then passes to another subject. It was a trait in his character,
+that, through all his success, he never forgot his early friends.</p>
+
+<p>"When I sat down, I intended to commence by letting you know that I have
+heard from &mdash;&mdash; of the last week's illness and decease of our early, and
+I believe almost our oldest friend, &mdash;&mdash;. He states, that he died, by
+God's mercy, free from pain; that his suffering was not much, and he
+bore it patiently, with a calm mind, keeping his senses to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> the last few
+hours. That you had paid your old friend a last visit, from which, he
+says, he appeared to be quite revivified; that his eyes sparkled with
+inward joy, and that he had asked kindly after me; that he went off at
+last in a kind of sleep, without a struggle, and had felt all the
+comfort which could be given him by a sincere old friend. I was very
+glad to hear that you had given him the comfort of taking leave of him,
+for I readily believe he ever felt for you unabated friendship, and for
+myself also. I think we must have known him above three-score years. I
+am sure you will derive pleasure from having shown him that your
+friendship could only end by his death."</p>
+
+<p>In the last week of December, 1831, after an extraordinary exemption
+from such trials in his own family, he lost his youngest daughter.
+Little more than two months elapsed, when on the 2nd of March the
+warning was repeated in the almost sudden death of a grandchild,
+daughter of his eldest son. He communicated this event with the
+reflection&mdash;"We have long been mercifully spared. Death has at length
+entered our family, and it behoves us all to be watchful."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the spring of this year he was made Vice-Admiral of England, and was
+honoured at the same time with a very flattering letter from his
+Sovereign. This he immediately enclosed to his elder brother, to whom he
+knew it would give pleasure. Of the appointment itself, he remarked, "I
+shall have it only for one year." He held it but for a few months.</p>
+
+<p>In May, Sir Israel Pellew was on his death-bed; and Lord Exmouth, though
+he now travelled with much difficulty and pain, could not refuse himself
+the melancholy satisfaction of a parting visit to one with whom he had
+been so closely and affectionately united. Their brother came up from
+Falmouth on the same errand, and on this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> painful occasion they all met
+for the last time. He then returned to his home, which he never left
+again.</p>
+
+<p>He cherished a very strong attachment to the Church; and for more than
+thirty years had been a member of the Society for Promoting Christian
+Knowledge, which he joined when the claims of the society were so little
+appreciated, that only principle could have prompted the step. It might
+therefore be expected that he would feel deep anxiety when the safety of
+that Church was threatened. But upon this subject his mind was firm; and
+in one of the last letters he ever wrote, dated August 28th, he declares
+his confidence in the most emphatic language. After some personal
+observations to the friend he was addressing, one of his old officers,
+he alludes to the cholera, then raging in his neighbourhood; "which," he
+says, "I am much inclined to consider an infliction of Providence, to
+show his power to the discontented of the world, who have long been
+striving against the government of man, and are commencing their attacks
+on our Church. But they will fail! God will never suffer his Church to
+fall; and the world will see that his mighty arm is not shortened, nor
+his power diminished. I put my trust in Him, and not in man; and I bless
+Him, that He has enabled me to see the difference between improvement
+and destruction."</p>
+
+<p>Not many days after, he suffered a most violent attack of the illness he
+had long anticipated. The immediate danger was soon averted; but the
+extent of the disease left not the smallest hope of recovery. He
+lingered until the 23rd of January, calmly waiting the event which his
+gradually increasing weakness convinced him was inevitable. Sustained by
+the principle which had guided him so long, his death-bed became the
+scene of his best and noblest triumph. "Every hour of his life is a
+sermon," said an officer who was often with him; "I have seen him great
+in battle, but never so great as on his death-bed." Full of hope and
+peace, he advanced with the confidence of a Christian to his last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+conflict, and when nature was at length exhausted, he closed a life of
+brilliant and important service, with a death more happy, and not less
+glorious, than if he had fallen in the hour of victory.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Exmouth was buried at Christow, the parish in which are the family
+mansion and estate of Canonteign. The flag under which he fought at
+Algiers was used for a pall, and a young oak, to bear his name, was
+planted near the grave; a suitable memorial for a British seaman.</p>
+
+<p>Two noble line-of-battle ships, the <i>Algiers</i> and the <i>Exmouth</i>, of
+91-guns each, and fitted with screw propellers, of which one is just now
+commissioned and the other just launched, preserve in the navy the
+memory of his name and victory, and may yet be commanded by officers
+trained by his care, and formed by his example.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The plate bore the following most flattering
+inscription:&mdash;</p>
+<blockquote><p class='center'><span class="smcap">to the right honourable</span><br />
+EDWARD, VISCOUNT AND BARON EXMOUTH,<br />
+And a Baronet,<br />
+Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the
+Bath,<br /> Of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of
+Spain,<br /> Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand, and of Merit,<br />
+Knight of the Royal Sardinian Supreme Order of the Annunciation.<br />
+Knt. Gd. Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Lazarus &amp; St.
+Maurice,<br /> and of the Royal Military Order of William of the
+Netherlands,<br />
+This Tribute of Admiration and Esteem<br />
+Is most respectfully presented by<br />
+<span class="smcap">The Rear-Admiral, Captains, and Commanders,</span><br />
+Who had the honour to serve under him<br />
+<i>At the memorable VICTORY gained at ALGIERS</i><br />
+On the 27th of August, 1816,<br />
+Where, by the Judgment, Valour, &amp; Decision of their distinguished Chief,<br />
+Aided by his brilliant Example,<br />
+<span class="smcap">The Great Cause of Christian Freedom</span><br />
+Was bravely Fought, and<br />
+<i>NOBLY ACCOMPLISHED</i>.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> "Discharged, dead." The mark by which a man is reported
+dead on the ship's books.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> It is a remarkable fact, that after the death of his
+daughter, seven members of the family died within three years.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class='center'>THE END.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by 
+Edward Osler
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17929-h.htm or 17929-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/2/17929/
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+
+</html>
+
diff --git a/17929-h/images/frontispiece.jpg b/17929-h/images/frontispiece.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..875ce49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929-h/images/frontispiece.jpg
diff --git a/17929.txt b/17929.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b8485a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8145 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by Edward Osler
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth
+
+Author: Edward Osler
+
+Release Date: March 5, 2006 [EBook #17929]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE
+
+OF
+
+ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH
+
+BY EDWARD OSLER, ESQ.
+
+     For every virtue, every worth renowned,
+     Sincere, plain hearted, hospitable, kind;
+     Yet like the mustering thunder when provoked,
+     The dread of tyrants, and the true resource
+     Of those who under grim oppression groaned.
+
+                                              THOMSON.
+
+A New and Revised Edition.
+
+LONDON:
+GEO. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON-STREET
+AND 18, BEEKMAN-STREET, NEW YORK.
+1854
+
+London:
+Printed by STEWART and MURRAY,
+Old Bailey.
+
+
+TO
+
+THE NAVY,
+
+The Bulwark of their Country,
+
+AND
+
+WHOSE TRIUMPHS ARE THE PRIDE OF HER HISTORY,
+
+THIS WORK
+
+IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+At the commencement of hostilities, whose extent and duration none can
+foresee, it is the wisdom of those to whom England will hereafter commit
+the honour of her Flag to study well the example of the great
+sea-officers whose services illustrate the annals of their country.
+
+Among these bright examples, none is more worthy of careful study than
+Admiral Lord Exmouth. Entering the service a friendless orphan, the
+success which he achieved by merit alone is most encouraging to all who
+must rise by their own deserts. In his perfect seamanship, his mastery
+of all that relates to his profession, his zeal and energy, his
+considerate forethought, his care to make his crews thorough seamen, and
+the example by which he spurred and encouraged them, the secret may be
+found, not less available to others, of his many brilliant successes,
+and of the little loss with which he obtained them. His truly parental
+care for his young officers to train them to their duties and to advance
+their interests, as conspicuous when commander-in-chief as in his first
+frigate, is a lesson for all in authority. Nor will his personal
+qualities be less admired: the honourable independence which he
+maintained as an officer and a peer, and the moral excellence which
+marked his life, and was finally proved on his death-bed.
+
+And here I may relate an anecdote, as the praise it gives is only for
+the subject of the biography, and for which I am indebted to
+Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew. Soon after the first appearance of
+this work, one of the first officers in the French navy, Vice-Admiral
+Bergeret, whose name appears more than once in the following pages,
+presented a copy to a young relative he was sending to sea, and bade him
+to learn from the example it afforded to become all that his friends and
+his country could desire.
+
+Lord Exmouth's attack on Algiers, the most memorable occasion on which
+men-of-war have attacked fortifications, is peculiarly instructive now.
+The immediate destruction of the enemy's works opposed to the _Queen
+Charlotte_, and the comparative impunity she thus obtained, shows the
+wisdom of laying the ships as close as possible, where the concentrated
+fire of her batteries may overwhelm the enemy, and destroy the few guns
+which alone can be opposed to her; whereas, by anchoring at a distance,
+the enemy's guns from a great extent of the works may be trained to bear
+on her, while her own shot strike with uncertain aim and diminished
+effect. The results of this latter course may be learnt from the fate of
+the floating batteries at the siege of Gibraltar, and from the
+_Impregnable_ at Algiers; the ships having anchored at too great a
+distance, were exposed to a destructive fire, while their own attack was
+comparatively harmless.
+
+This biography of Lord Exmouth was written at the desire and under the
+eye of his eldest brother; in youth his second father, and through life
+his confidential friend. Every incident relating to points of service
+was supplied or corrected by officers personally engaged; and the whole
+was finally revised by four officers who were the most constantly and
+intimately acquainted with the Admiral--Mr. Gaze, master of the fleet in
+the Mediterranean and at Algiers, and who sailed with him in every ship
+from 1793 to the last day of his command; Sir Christopher Cole and
+Captain Crease, his intimate friends; and his only surviving sailor son,
+Captain, now Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FAMILY HISTORY.
+
+     Birth and education--Anecdote of early daring--Enters the
+     Navy--Leaves his ship, with one of his companions, at
+     Marseilles--Joins the _Blonde_, Captain Pownoll--His
+     activity--Anecdote of General Burgoyne--Instance of extraordinary
+     boldness--Campaign on the Lakes of Canada--Distinguishes himself in
+     the actions, of October 11th and 13th, 1776--Complimented by Sir C.
+     Douglas, Lord Howe, and Earl Sandwich--Appointed to command the
+     _Carleton_--Nearly takes General Arnold--Narrowly escapes being
+     made prisoner--Commands a brigade of seamen in Burgoyne's
+     campaign--In danger of killing his brother--Events of the
+     campaign--Constructs a bridge, by which the army crosses to
+     Saratoga--His brother killed in action--Recaptures a provision
+     vessel from the enemy--Admitted to the Council of War, and pleads
+     that the sailors may be exempted from the capitulation--Sent home
+     with despatches in a transport--Defends her against a
+     privateer--Promoted to be a Lieutenant.                      page 1
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.
+
+     Influence of the late campaigns on his character--His extraordinary
+     strength and activity--Narrow escapes from drowning--Appointed to
+     a guard-ship--Presses for active employment, and proposes to resign
+     his commission--Appointed to the _Licorne_--Becomes First
+     Lieutenant of the _Apollo_, Captain Pownoll--Action with the
+     _Stanislaus_, French frigate; Captain Pownoll killed, enemy driven
+     on shore--His letter on the occasion to Earl Sandwich--Promoted to
+     be a Commander--Anecdote in relation to his promotion--Appointed to
+     the _Hazard_--Appointed to the _Pelican_--Gallant action--Promoted
+     to be a Post-Captain--Appointed to the temporary command of the
+     _Artois_--Captures an enemy's cruiser--Anecdote of Captain
+     Macbride--Marriage--Appointed to the _Winchelsea_ frigate--Conduct
+     in her--Appointed to the _Salisbury_, Vice-Admiral
+     Milbanke--Anecdote of Lord Thurlow.                         page 28
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.
+
+     Becomes a farmer--Remarks on naval officers' farming--His ill
+     success--Omen of his future fortune--Offered a command in the
+     Russian Navy--Remarks on serving foreign states--War of the French
+     Revolution--Appointed to the _Nymphe_ 36-gun frigate--Enters a
+     number of Cornish miners for her--Cornish miners--Equipment and
+     movements of the _Nymphe_--Captain Israel Pellew joins her as a
+     volunteer--Sails from Falmouth--Remarkable dream of one of the
+     officers--Falls in with the _Cleopatra_; her high state of
+     equipment--Gallantry of both ships--Cap of Liberty--Action--Death
+     of the French Captain, Mullon; his heroism--Captain Pellew's letter
+     to his brother.                                             page 47
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.
+
+     Presented to the King and knighted--His liberality to the widow of
+     Captain Mullon--Use of carronades--He suggests the employment of
+     independent squadrons in the western part of the Channel, to check
+     the enemy's cruising frigates--Value of these squadrons--Appointed
+     to the _Arethusa_, and joins Sir J.B. Warren's squadron--Action of
+     April 23rd, 1794--Engages and captures _La Pomone_--Action of
+     August 23rd, 1794 A second squadron fitted out, and placed under
+     his orders--_Artois_ and _Revolutionaire_; chivalrous conduct of
+     Sir Sidney Smith--Conveys important intelligence to the
+     Admiralty--Appointed to the _Indefatigable_, 44--His dispute with
+     the Navy board--Allowed to fit her according to his own
+     plans--Success of them--Accuracy of his judgment on a ship's
+     qualities--_Indefatigable_ strikes on a rock--Sir Edward nearly
+     lost in attempting to save two of his people--His success on
+     different occasions in saving lives--Wreck of the _Dutton_ at
+     Plymouth--He boards her, and saves all the people--His report of
+     the service--Honours and rewards; created a Baronet--Captain Cole,
+     and _L'Unite_ French frigate--Sir Edward's letters on the occasion
+     to Earls Chatham and Spencer--Notice of Captain Cole--His death,
+     and Sir Edward's feeling--Action of _Indefatigable_ and _La
+     Virginie_--Conduct and gallantry of her Captain, Bergeret.  page 61
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.
+
+     State of parties--Enemy's preparations for invasion--Reflections on
+     Ireland--Lord Exmouth's opinion on the Roman Catholic question--Sir
+     E. Pellew watches Brest with his frigates--His perseverance and
+     hardihood--Sailing of the expedition--He embarrasses its
+     movements--Arrives in England--Misfortunes of the British
+     fleet--Enemy arrive at Bantry Bay--Prevented from landing, and
+     driven off the coast by gales--Reflections on the failure of the
+     expedition--Sir Edward puts to sea with the _Indefatigable_ and
+     _Amazon_--Meets and engages the _Droits de l'Homme_, 74--Finds
+     himself on a lee-shore, hauls off, and saves the _Indefatigable_
+     with difficulty--_Amazon_ wrecked--Admirable conduct of her
+     officers and crew--_Droits de l'Homme_ wrecked--Horrible
+     circumstance of her fate--Anecdote of the French
+     Commodore--Eventual fate of the Captain of the _Amazon_.    page 86
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE MUTINY.
+
+     Remarks on Sir Edward's character as a seaman and an officer--His
+     conduct when his ship was on fire--His consideration for his
+     officers and men--The Duke of Northumberland--Mutiny at
+     Spithead--Preparations for a second invasion of Ireland--General
+     Daendels--Proposed expedition baffled--Sir Edward off
+     Brest--Proposes to burn the French fleet--Success in capturing the
+     enemy's cruisers--_La Vaillante_--Royalist priests and Madame
+     Rovere--His liberality--Appointed to _L'Impetueux_, 78--Her
+     mutinous state--Observations on the mutinies in the Navy, from
+     1797--Sir Edward's opinions on the subject--His
+     precautions--Attempted mutiny in the _Indefatigable_--Conspiracy in
+     the Channel fleet--Mutiny on board the _Impetueux_--His firmness
+     and promptitude in suppressing it--Court-martial--Earl St.
+     Vincent's opinion of his conduct--His conduct at the execution--His
+     decision on the court-martial on a mutineer--Illustrative
+     anecdote--He commands an expedition to Quiberon--Proposes to attack
+     Belleisle--Cruises off Port Louis--Mr. Coghlan cuts out _La
+     Cerbere_--He directs the landing of the army at Ferrol.    page 108
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BLOCKADE OF FERROL.--PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.
+
+     Peace--Made Colonel of Marines--His popularity--Envy in
+     consequence--Anecdote--Elected M.P. for Barnstaple--State of
+     parties--Renewal of hostilities--Appointed to the _Tonnant_,
+     80--Pursues a Dutch squadron--Blockades a French squadron in
+     Ferrol--His seamanship and exertions in maintaining the
+     blockade--Difficulty of supplying the ships--His recall--Earl St.
+     Vincent's naval reforms--Mr. Pitt's opposition--Naval inquiry,
+     March 15, 1804--Sir Edward's speech--Its effect--Promoted to be a
+     Rear-Admiral, and appointed to be Commander-in-chief in India.
+                                                                page 134
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.
+
+     Character required for a Commander-in-chief--Hostility of the new
+     Ministry--Sir T. Troubridge sent to take the more valuable part of
+     the command--Oversight of the Admiralty--Dispute between the two
+     admirals--Sir Edward confirmed in his command--Melancholy fate of
+     the _Blenheim_, Sir T. Troubridge--Sir Edward sends Captain
+     Troubridge in search of his father--Actions in the Indian
+     Seas--_San Fiorenzo_ and _Psyche_--_Piedmontaise_ and _Warren
+     Hastings_--Ferocity of the French first lieutenant, and Sir
+     Edward's general order in consequence--_San Fiorenzo_ and
+     _Piedmontaise_--French privateers--Murderous contest between the
+     _Victor_ and Malay pirates--Attack on Batavia Roads, and
+     destruction of the shipping--Captain Fleetwood Pellew at
+     Samarang--Attack on Griessee, and destruction of the line-of battle
+     ships--Sir Edward's protection of commerce--Convoy
+     system--Resolutions of the Bombay merchants--His care of the
+     fleet--Establishes a naval hospital at Madras--Punishment: Sir
+     Edward's regulations--Encounters a hurricane on his homeward
+     voyage.                                                    page 148
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMANDS.
+
+     Declines an offer to be second in command in the
+     Mediterranean--Commander-in-chief in the North Sea; his activity
+     and energy--Receives the Mediterranean command--Affair off
+     Toulon--His expectations of a battle--Disposition of his
+     force--System of the fleet--His attention to discipline; to
+     economy--Frigate affairs off Toulon--Care of his officers--Nature
+     of the service in the Mediterranean--Daring of the crews--Effect of
+     their successes--Diplomatic responsibility--Sir Edward's anxiety
+     for a battle--Anecdote of Napoleon--Affair of November 5th,
+     1813--of February 13th, 1814--Capture of Genoa--Peace.     page 170
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
+
+     Sir Edward created Baron Exmouth--His letter on the occasion--Made
+     Knight of the Bath--Renewal of hostilities--Resumes the command in
+     the Mediterranean--Services at Naples--Services at
+     Marseilles--Instructed to negotiate with the Barbary
+     Powers--Anecdote of the Pope--Causes the city and defences of
+     Algiers to be surveyed--Previous ignorance of the place--General
+     order to the fleet--Peace made with Algiers--Abolition of slavery
+     at Tunis and Tripoli--Second visit to Algiers--Violent discussions,
+     negotiation broken off, danger of the party, hostile
+     proceedings--Negotiation renewed--Arrangement--Lord Exmouth's
+     anxiety at having exceeded his instructions--Debate in the House of
+     Commons--Massacre at Bona--Determination of the Government to
+     enforce the abolition of Christian slavery.                page 187
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
+
+     Description of the defences--Force demanded by Lord
+     Exmouth--Surprise of the Admiralty at the small force he
+     required--Lord Exmouth's confidence--His entire satisfaction with
+     the arrangements of the Admiralty--He refuses to allow his
+     relations to accompany him--His promptitude--Sails--Preparations
+     for the battle--A Dutch squadron joins at Gibraltar--Preparations
+     made by the Algerines--Particulars of the battle--Fleet hauls
+     off--Lord Exmouth's conduct after the battle--His very narrow
+     escapes--Submission of the enemy--Lord Exmouth's account of the
+     battle, in a private letter--Closing remarks.              page 200
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.
+
+     Honours paid him--His exertions for his officers--Thanks of
+     Parliament--Activity of his mind--Command at Plymouth--Trial of the
+     Queen--His unpopularity, and remarks on it--His independence in
+     politics--Catholic question--His religious principles and
+     conduct--Peace of his declining years--Anxiety for the safety of
+     the country--Death of his daughter--Death of his grandchild; his
+     reflection on the occasion--Made Vice-Admiral of England--Death of
+     Sir Israel Pellew--Lord Exmouth's attachment to the Church, and
+     confidence in God's protection of it--His last illness and death.
+                                                                page 221
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE
+
+OF
+
+ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+FAMILY HISTORY.
+
+
+The life and services of Lord Exmouth are of no common interest; not
+more because he has advanced the reputation of his country, and
+connected his name with her history, than that he began his career an
+almost unfriended orphan, and rose to the highest honours of his
+profession without having been indebted to fortune or to patronage. One
+of the most interesting spectacles is that of rising merit struggling
+from its difficulties. The most encouraging, is the honour which rewards
+its exertions. The young officer, who, like him, has devoted himself to
+an arduous service, with nothing to rely on but his sword, may derive
+instruction from his example, and encouragement from his success.
+
+Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, descended from a family which was
+settled in the west of Cornwall for many centuries, but came originally
+from Normandy, where the name is still met with. After the close of the
+war he received a letter from a family there, claiming kindred, and
+offering the name and armorial bearings in proof. The original
+orthography, "Pelleu," was retained until a comparatively recent period.
+They are said to have landed at Pengersick Castle, near St. Michael's
+Mount, and appear to have remained in that part of the county until the
+beginning of the 17th century. They had a family tomb in Breage, a
+parish on the eastern side of the Mount's Bay, in which they had
+acquired property, and they still possess a small estate in that
+neighbourhood. Part of this early history, it will be seen, can rest
+only upon tradition; and indeed, it is of very little importance. The
+weakness of seeking credit from remote ancestors, for one whose personal
+honours require no further illustration, may well be exploded. But there
+is one kind of ancestry where an inquiry will always be
+interesting--that where the traits which distinguished the founder of a
+family may be traced in the character of his forefathers.
+
+The earliest of the family of whom anything is certainly known lived
+during the great rebellion at Plymouth, where his loyalty made him so
+obnoxious to the republicans, that the mob on one occasion assaulted him
+on the Hoe, and plundered his house. A small piece of antique plate,
+still preserved, and bearing the date 1645, was the only article of
+value saved from them. His son, Captain Pellew, Lord Exmouth's
+great-grandfather, served in the navy during the war of the succession.
+A very fine portrait of him remains.
+
+Humphry Pellew, the grandfather, was an extensive merchant. He held a
+large property in shipping, and traded chiefly to America, where he had
+purchased a valuable tobacco plantation of 2,000 acres, in Kent Island,
+Maryland. Of this estate, upon which the town of Annapolis Royal is
+partly built, the writings remain, but the property was lost at the
+revolt of the colonies. No portion of the compensation fund voted by
+Parliament was in this instance ever received; and General Washington
+afterwards declared to a friend of the family, that the fact of three
+of the brothers having borne arms against the States would prevent the
+success of any application to the American Government.
+
+Mr. Pellew built part of Flushing, a large village on the shores of
+Falmouth harbour, including the present manor-house, in which he
+resided; but this, being leasehold property, has long ago reverted to
+the lord. In 1692, he married Judith Sparnon, of Sparnon and Pengelly,
+in Breage, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. Mr. Pellew
+maintained a high character through life, and his memory was long
+preserved among the older inhabitants of the village. He died in 1721.
+His son Israel married Miss Trefusis, upon whom the estate of Trefusis,
+which includes Flushing, was entailed, in default of more direct heirs
+from the then possessor; Thomas married Miss Whittaker, who was
+grand-daughter of Viscount Fauconberg by a daughter of Cromwell; three
+died unmarried; and the children of the youngest son were at length the
+only male survivors of the family.
+
+Samuel, youngest son of Humphry Pellew, commanded a Post-office packet
+on the Dover station, to which he had been appointed through the
+interest of the Spencer family. He was a man of great determination, and
+became in consequence the subject of a characteristic song, which was
+long remembered by the watermen and others at Calais. The recollections
+of his family, and documents which have been preserved, show him to have
+been most exemplary in the duties of private life. In 1652, he married
+Constance Langford, daughter of Edward Langford, Esq., a gentleman
+descended from a considerable family in Wiltshire. The co-heiress of
+Edward Langford, Esq., of Trowbridge; married Henry Hyde, of Hinton,
+father of the great Earl of Clarendon, and by the marriage of her
+grand-daughter with James II. became the ancestor of Queen Mary and
+Queen Anne. Thus connected by blood, as well as attached by principle to
+the exiled family, Mr. Langford joined the standard of the Pretender in
+1715, and distinguished himself at the battle of Preston. After the
+Rebellion was suppressed, he escaped to the west of Cornwall, and
+settled at Penzance. The Pretender took an opportunity to acknowledge
+his services by a present of costly china. His daughter, Mrs. Pellew,
+was a woman of extraordinary spirit. Mr. Pellew's political feelings
+differed widely from those of his father-in-law. It was his practice to
+make his children drink the king's health on their knees every Sunday.
+He died in 1765, leaving six children, four of them boys, of whom the
+eldest was at that time eleven years old, and Lord Exmouth, the second,
+only eight. Three years after, an imprudent marriage of the widow
+deprived the children of their remaining parent, and threw them upon the
+world with scanty resources, and almost without a friend.
+
+It has been well observed, that a general condition of distinguished
+eminence is to be required to force a way to it through difficulties.
+Desertion at an early age indeed subjects the individual to a most
+severe trial; but where there is strength to bear the discipline, it
+exalts the principle which it fails to subdue, and adds force to the
+energies which it cannot tame. The Pellews were probably indebted for
+much of their success, as well as for the fearless independence which
+distinguished them, to the circumstances which thus compelled them from
+childhood to rely only upon themselves.
+
+Samuel Humphry, the eldest brother, was intended for the navy, and was
+borne on the books of H.M.S. _Seaford_, Captain Macbride. But afterwards
+devoting himself to medicine, he became one of the earliest pupils of
+John Hunter, with Home, Pitcairn, and Baillie, for his class-fellows.
+After serving for some time as a surgeon of marines, and assistant
+surgeon to the Dockyard at Plymouth, he relinquished a partnership with
+Dr. Geach, of the Royal Hospital, and settled at Truro, where he
+obtained a considerable and lucrative practice. He finally became
+collector of the customs at Falmouth. Gifted with a clear and active
+mind, he did not confine himself to the routine of his official duties,
+and his suggestions on several important subjects were adopted by the
+Government. The Quarantine Law of 1800 was first proposed by him, and
+framed chiefly on his suggestions; as well as a tonnage duty by which
+the charges of the quarantine establishment were covered. The convoy
+duty was also imposed on his recommendation; and he first proposed the
+plan of warehousing goods in bond, and was much consulted during the
+perfecting of the measure, by which so great facilities have been
+afforded to the trade of the country--to the merchant, relief from the
+necessity of locking up large amounts of capital; to the consumer,
+cheapness, and a security against adulteration. Mr. Pellew served at his
+post till he was fourscore years old, and for years beyond that, he
+retained the freshness of feeling and enthusiasm of youth. He died in
+his 90th year.
+
+Israel, the third brother, born August 25th, 1758, was sent to sea at an
+early age. He served with distinction in the American war, and was one
+of the officers entrusted with the defence of posts, when the Comte
+d'Estaign appeared off New York. Promoted to be a lieutenant, he cut out
+a vessel so well protected by batteries, that his brother officers
+thought it a service too desperate to be attempted. In command of the
+armed cutter _Resolution_, he engaged and captured in the North Sea, the
+Dutch privateer _Flushinger_, of fourteen guns, which had proved so
+destructive a cruizer, that the merchants of Hull memorialized the
+Admiralty in his favour; and Keppell, the First Lord, continued him for
+three years in command of the cutter, notwithstanding the signature of
+peace the day before the action, expressly to reward his gallantry and
+success. He was made a commander in 1790. He was passenger in his
+brother's frigate the _Nymphe_, when she gave the first earnest of the
+naval successes of the war, by the capture of the _Cleopatra_; and he
+contributed much to the brilliant result of the action, by taking
+charge of the after quarter-deck gun, with which he disabled the enemy's
+wheel. For this service he was at once promoted and appointed to a ship,
+and he continued to be so actively employed, that he never once saw his
+family, till after the peace. In September, 1796, his ship, the
+_Amphion_, 32-gun frigate, blew up while alongside the hulk in Hamoaze,
+and nearly all on board, about 300, perished. Captain Pellew was at the
+moment at dinner in his cabin, with Captain Swafneld, of the
+_Overyssel_, 64, and the first lieutenant. At the shock of the
+explosion, which took place in the fore magazine, Captain Pellew, and
+the lieutenant sprang into the quarter gallery, and were thrown into the
+water and saved; Captain Swaffield perished.
+
+Soon after the renewal of hostilities, he was appointed by Earl St.
+Vincent to the _Conqueror_, one of the largest and most powerful
+seventy-four's in the Navy. She carried twenty-four pounders on her
+upper deck, there being only fourteen ships, out of 100 of the same
+nominal force, which were so heavily armed. In her he shared with Nelson
+the chase of the combined fleet to the West Indies and back, and took a
+very distinguished part in the battle of Trafalgar. Following, abreast
+of the _Leviathan_, the three leading ships of Nelson's column, she
+engaged, captured, and took possession of the _Bucentaure_, flagship of
+the commander-in-chief of the enemy, Villeneuve; and she afterwards
+assisted in the capture of the _Santissima Trinidada_, and _Intrepide_.
+In 1807, still in command of the _Conqueror_, Captain Pellew joined in
+saving the fleet and royal family of Portugal, when the French, under
+Junot, entered Lisbon; and afterwards in blockading a Russian squadron
+of nine sail of the line in the Tagus, till the victory of Vimiera
+placed them in the hands of the British.
+
+He became rear-admiral in July 1810, and on his brother being appointed
+commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in the following May, he sailed
+with him as captain of the fleet, to the close of the war. On the
+return of Napoleon from Elba, he rejoined his brother in the same
+capacity, having, on the extension of the Order of the Bath, been
+appointed a knight-commander. His last service was to take a chief part
+in the negotiations with the Barbary Powers, for the abandonment of
+Christian slavery, in 1816. Lord Exmouth would not allow him, or any of
+his family, to accompany him to the attack on Algiers, in the autumn of
+that year. He died at Plymouth, June 19th, 1832, only seven months
+before his brother Lord Exmouth.
+
+John, the youngest brother, entered the army. While still a youth, he
+became aide-de-camp to General Phillips in Burgoyne's campaign, and was
+killed in the battle of Saratoga.
+
+Edward, the second son of Samuel and Constance Pellew, was born at
+Dover, April 19, 1757. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and
+as there appeared at first but little probability that he would live, he
+was baptized on the same day. Before he was quite eight years old, he
+lost his father. The widow then removed with her family to Penzance,
+where he was placed at school with the Rev. James Parkins, the clergyman
+of the parish. Here he gave a remarkable proof of a daring spirit. A
+house, in which was a considerable quantity of gunpowder, took fire; and
+while every one else was afraid to approach, he went alone into the
+burning house and brought out all the powder. He was afterwards sent to
+the grammar school at Truro, of which the Rev. Mr. Conon was head
+master, under whom he made a satisfactory progress, and before he left
+could readily construe Virgil. As it was then the general practice in
+schools to allow the boys to settle their own disputes, the fearlessness
+of his character, and a strength beyond his years, enabled him to
+maintain a very respectable position among his school-fellows. At
+length, having inflicted upon some opponent a more severe punishment
+than was usual in juvenile combats, the fact came under the cognizance
+of the master, and to escape a threatened flogging, he ran away He told
+his elder brother, who had now to act as head of the family, that he
+would not return to school to be flogged for fighting, but would go to
+sea directly. Happily, his inclinations were indulged, though his
+grandfather, who wished him to be placed in a merchant's office,
+strongly opposed the step. "So, sir," said the old gentleman, when the
+boy came with his brothers to take a farewell dinner with him, "they are
+going to send you to sea. Do you know that you may be answerable for
+every enemy you kill? and, if I can read your character, you will kill a
+great many!" "Well, grandpapa," replied young Pellew, "and if I do not
+kill them, they'll kill me!"
+
+He entered the navy towards the end of 1770, in the _Juno_, Captain
+Stott, which was sent to the Falkland Islands, in consequence of the
+forcible seizure of them by the Spanish squadron. It is remarkable that
+this paltry dispute, which might be almost forgotten but for the
+virulent invective of "Junius," and the masterly defence of the
+Government by Dr. Johnson, should have given to the navy two such
+officers as Nelson and Pellew; neither of whom might otherwise have
+found an opportunity to join the service until they were too old, in the
+five years of peace which followed. After the _Juno_ had been paid off,
+Captain Stott was appointed to the _Alarm_, in which Mr. Pellew followed
+him to the Mediterranean, where an unpleasant difference with his
+commander made him leave the ship. Captain Stott, who had been a
+boatswain with Boscawen, was an excellent seaman, but unfortunately
+retained some habits not suited to his present rank. He kept a mistress
+on board. Among the midshipmen was a boy named Frank Cole, who was three
+years younger than Mr. Pellew, but had entered on board the _Juno_ at
+the same time. Mr. Pellew was warmly attached to him. The woman had some
+pet fowls, which were allowed to fly about; and one day, when the ship
+was at Marseilles, and the captain absent, one of them was driven off
+the quarter-deck by young Cole, which led to great abuse from the
+woman, and a sharp reply from the boy. When the captain returned, he
+became so much enraged by her representations, that he not only
+reprimanded the youngster severely for what he termed his insolence, but
+so far forgot himself as to give him a blow. This was not to be borne,
+and having consulted his friend Pellew, he applied for his discharge.
+Captain Stott ordered a boat immediately, for the purpose, as he said,
+of turning him on shore. Pellew instantly went to the captain, and said,
+"If Frank Cole is to be turned out of the ship, I hope, sir, you will
+turn me out too." Their spirited conduct attracted the notice of the two
+lieutenants, Keppel and Lord Hugh Seymour, and laid the foundation of a
+friendship which continued through life: and Lord Hugh Seymour, finding
+that the boys had no money, very kindly gave them an order on his agent
+at Marseilles. Captain Stott afterwards tried to induce them to return,
+but not succeeding, he gave them the highest testimonials of their
+ability and desert, saying that he believed that they would become an
+honour to the service. Mr. Pellew found a master of a merchant vessel on
+shore, who had known his family at Dover, and now offered to take him to
+Lisbon, but declined to accommodate a second passenger. Mr. Pellew
+pleaded so earnestly for his young friend, and so positively refused to
+leave him, that the other at length consented to give them both a
+passage. From Lisbon they reached Falmouth in one of the packets. Little
+could he then suppose that he was next to see Marseilles as a
+commander-in-chief, and one day to save it from destruction. Twelve
+years after, when he had become a post captain, and was in command of
+the _Winchelsea_, he took under his protection a son of Captain Stott,
+who was then dead, and did every thing in his power to promote the young
+man's interests.
+
+It was now his happiness to sail in the _Blonde_, with Captain Pownoll,
+an officer who had been trained and brought forward by Admiral
+Boscawen, and whose character was among the highest in the service.
+Captain Pownoll soon appreciated the merit and promise of his
+midshipman, who returned his kindness with almost the affection of a
+son. Such mutual confidence and attachment between a captain and his
+midshipman has very rarely been met with; and it was peculiarly
+fortunate for Mr. Pellew, that his quick and determined character,
+which, with a judgment not yet matured by experience, might have carried
+him into mistakes, found a guide so kind and judicious as Captain
+Pownoll.
+
+And here it will not be uninteresting to observe how far the influence
+of a great commander may extend. St. Vincent and Pownoll, who were
+brought up under Boscawen, and received their lieutenant's commissions
+from him, contributed materially to form a Nelson and an Exmouth; each
+the founder of a school of officers, whose model is the character of
+their chief, and their example his successes.
+
+Active beyond his companions, and devoted to his profession, he soon
+became a thorough seaman; while the buoyancy of youth, and his playful,
+fearless spirit, prompted him continually to feats of extraordinary
+daring. In the spring of 1775, General Burgoyne took his passage to
+America in the _Blonde_, and when he came alongside, the yards were
+manned to receive him. Looking up, he was surprised and alarmed to see a
+midshipman on the yard-arm standing on his head. Captain Pownoll, who
+was at his side, soon quieted his apprehensions, by assuring him that it
+was only one of the frolics of young Pellew, and that the General might
+make himself quite at ease for his safety, for if he should fall, he
+would only go under the ship's bottom, and come up on the other side.
+What on this occasion was probably spoken but in jest, was afterwards
+more than realized; for he actually sprang from the fore-yard of the
+_Blonde_, while she was going fast through the water, and saved a man
+who had fallen overboard. Captain Pownoll reproached him for his
+rashness, but he shed tears when he spoke of it to the officers, and
+declared that Pellew was a noble fellow.
+
+The revolt of the American colonies, which rose in this year to the
+importance of a national war, was soon to furnish him with objects
+worthy of his skill and courage. On the 10th of May the Americans
+surprised Ticonderoga, and, having secured the command of Lake Champlain
+by a strong squadron, were enabled to prosecute offensive operations
+against Canada. Sir Guy Carleton, the governor and commander-in-chief of
+that province, had very inadequate means to defend it. The enemy took
+Montreal, and in the beginning of December laid siege to Quebec,
+expecting an easy conquest; but their commander, General Montgomery, who
+had summoned Sir Guy Carleton in the most arrogant and threatening
+style, was killed on the 31st, in attempting to storm the place, and his
+troops were repulsed. The siege, however, was continued by Arnold, till
+Commodore Sir Charles Douglas, in the _Isis_, with two other ships under
+his Orders, forced his way through the ice, much before the season at
+which the river is usually open. His appearance drove the besiegers to a
+hasty flight, in which they suffered such extreme privations, especially
+their sick and wounded, that General Carleton most humanely issued a
+proclamation, in which he ordered them to be treated as fellow-creatures
+in distress; and encouraged them to claim the offered hospitality, by
+assuring them that they should be unconditionally liberated as soon as
+they were able to return home. At the same time, with energy equal to
+his humanity, he hastened to complete the deliverance of the province.
+Additional reinforcements which reached him in the spring enabled him to
+give the enemy a final defeat at Trois Rivieres in June, and then to
+take measures for wresting from them the command of Lake Champlain; an
+object essential to the security of Canada, as well as to prosecuting
+offensive operations against the New England States.
+
+Lake Champlain is a long narrow lake to the N.E. of Ontario,
+communicating with the St. Lawrence a few miles below Montreal by the
+river Chamblee, or Sorel. It is nowhere more than eighteen miles across,
+and its average breadth does not exceed five. Below Crown Point it is a
+mere channel for ten or twelve miles to its southern extremity at
+Ticonderoga. Here it receives the waters from a small lake to the
+southward, Lake George, but the communication, as well as that with the
+St. Lawrence, is interrupted by shoals and rapids. From Lake George to
+the Hudson is only six or eight miles, the sole interruption to a water
+frontier from the St. Lawrence to New York, navigable for vessels of
+burden for four-fifths of its length, and for bateaux nearly all the
+way. The command of this line would enable the northern and southern
+armies to co-operate effectually; to press on the New England States
+along their whole border; to cut off all communication between them and
+the rest of the Union, and to prevent any hostile attempt on Canada.
+
+Measures were promptly taken to secure this important object.
+Detachments from the King's ships at Quebec, with volunteers from the
+transports, and a corps of artillery, in all, nearly 700 men, were sent
+across to the Lake, there to construct, with timber felled by
+themselves, and in the presence of a superior enemy, the vessels in
+which they were to meet him. A party joined from the _Blonde_, under
+Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown, one of the midshipmen. Mr. Pellew was
+to have remained with the ship; but he appeared so much disappointed at
+the arrangement, that Captain Pownoll allowed him also to go.
+
+The season was already so far advanced, that it would have been a
+creditable service only to complete the preparations for the next
+campaign; but the zeal and exertions of the officers and men surpassed
+all calculation. They got across to the Lake thirty long-boats, many
+large flat-bottomed boats, a vast number of bateaux, and a gondola of
+thirty tons, carrying them over land, or dragging them up the rapids.
+The keel and floor-timbers of the _Inflexible_, a ship of three hundred
+tons, which had been laid at Quebec, were taken to pieces, and carried
+over to St. John's, on the Lake, where a dockyard was established, under
+the superintendence of Lieutenant Schanck, an officer of extraordinary
+mechanical ingenuity. Here, on the morning of the 2nd September, the
+_Inflexible_ was again laid down, and by sunset, all her former parts
+were put together, and a considerable quantity of additional timbers
+prepared. The progress of the work was like magic. Trees growing in the
+forest in the morning, would form part of the ship before night. She was
+launched in twenty-eight days from laying her keel, and sailed next
+evening, armed with eighteen twelve-pounders, and fully equipped for
+service. Two schooners, the _Maria_, and the _Carleton_; the _Loyal
+Convert_, gondola; the _Thunder_, a kind of flat-bottomed raft, carrying
+twelve heavy guns and two howitzers; and twenty-four boats, armed each
+with a field piece, or carriage-gun, formed, with the _Inflexible_, a
+force equal to the service, where but a few days before, the British had
+scarcely a boat upon the waters. No time was now lost in seeking the
+enemy, and Sir Guy Carleton himself embarked with the squadron. Captain
+Pringle, as commodore, sailed with Lieutenant Schanck in the
+_Inflexible_. Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown and Mr. Pellew, were
+appointed to the _Carleton_.
+
+On the 11th of October, the enemy was discovered drawn up in a strong
+line across the passage between Valicour, one of the numerous islands on
+the lake, and the Western land; and so well concealed by the island,
+that the squadron had nearly passed without observing them. They had
+fifteen vessels, carrying ninety-six guns, fourteen of which were
+eighteen-pounders, (eight of them traversing), and twenty-three twelves.
+General Arnold commanded. The _Carleton_, being nearest to the enemy,
+attacked at once, though her force was only twelve six-pounders.
+Unfortunately, from the state of the wind, no other vessel could come to
+her assistance, and she was obliged to engage the whole force of the
+enemy single-handed. Sir Guy Carleton saw her desperate position with
+extreme anxiety, but it was impossible to bring up the squadron, and he
+could only send in the artillery-boats to support her. Meantime she was
+suffering most severely. Very early in the action, Mr. Brown lost an
+arm; and soon after, Lieutenant Dacres fell, severely wounded and
+senseless. He would have been thrown overboard as dead, but for the
+interference of Mr. Pellew, who now succeeded to the command. He
+maintained the unequal contest, till Captain Pringle, baffled in all his
+efforts to bring up the squadron, made the signal of recall, which the
+_Carleton_, with two feet water in her hold, and half her crew killed
+and wounded, was not in a condition to obey. In attempting to go about,
+being at the time near the shore, which was covered with the enemy's
+marksmen, she hung in stays, and Mr. Pellew, not regarding the danger of
+making himself so conspicuous, sprang out on the bowsprit to push the
+jib over. The artillery-boats now towed her out of action, under a very
+heavy fire from the enemy, who were enabled to bear their guns upon her
+with more effect, as she increased her distance. A shot cut the towrope,
+and Mr. Pellew ordered some one to go and secure it; but seeing all
+hesitate, for indeed it appeared a death-service, he ran forward and did
+it himself. The result of the action was far beyond anything that could
+have been expected from the excessive disparity of the force engaged;
+for the _Carleton_, with the assistance of the artillery-boats, had sunk
+the _Boston_ gondola, carrying an eighteen pounder and two twelves; and
+burnt the _Royal Savage_, of twelve guns, the largest of the enemy's
+schooners.
+
+Arnold escaped in the night. The squadron pursued, and on the morning of
+the 13th overtook him, within a few leagues of Crown Point. After a
+running fight of two hours the four headmost vessels of the enemy
+succeeded in reaching Crown Point, and sheltering themselves in the
+narrow part of the lake beyond it. Two others, the _Washington_ and
+_Jersey_, were taken; and the rest were run on shore and burnt by their
+own crews. The enemy then set fire to their works on Crown Point, and
+abandoned it.
+
+The _Carleton's_ action on the 11th, which certainly was never surpassed
+for gallantry and conduct, obtained for her crew the credit they so well
+deserved. Lieutenant Dacres, who recovered sufficiently to go home with
+the despatches, received promotion as soon as he arrived in England, and
+was honoured with a personal interview with the king. He rose to be a
+vice-admiral. How Mr. Pellew's services in this, his first action, were
+appreciated by his superior officers is best told in their own words. In
+a few days, Sir Charles Douglas, the senior officer at Quebec, to whose
+command all the Lake service was subordinate, sent him the following
+letter:--
+
+
+                                    "Isis, Quebec, Oct. 30th, 1776.
+
+     "SIR,--The account I have received of your behaviour on board the
+     _Carleton_, in the different actions on the Lakes, gives me the
+     warmest satisfaction, and I shall not fail to represent it in the
+     strongest terms to the Earl of Sandwich and my Lord Howe, and
+     recommend you as deserving a commission for your gallantry; and as
+     Lieutenant Dacres, your late commander, will no doubt obtain rank
+     for his conduct, when he reaches England, I am desired by General
+     Sir Guy Carleton to give you the command of the schooner in which
+     you have so bravely done your duty.
+
+                                                 "CHARLES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+The report of Sir Charles Douglas, obtained for Mr. Pellew the following
+letter from the Commander-in-Chief:--
+
+
+                                 "Eagle, New York, Dec. 20th, 1776.
+
+     "SIR,--The account I have heard of your gallant behaviour from
+     Captain Charles Douglas, of H.M.S. _Isis_, in the different actions
+     on Lake Champlain, gives me much satisfaction, and I shall receive
+     pleasure in giving you a lieutenant's commission, whenever you may
+     reach New York.
+
+                                                            "HOWE."
+
+
+It is, perhaps, a singular occurrence for a midshipman to be honoured
+with a letter of thanks from the First Lord of the Admiralty, but the
+service itself was important, and Captain Pownoll strengthened Sir
+Charles Douglas' report of his young officer's conduct, by a
+communication of his own. Their joint eulogy obtained for Mr. Pellew the
+following letter from Lord Sandwich:--
+
+
+                         "Admiralty Office, London, Jan. 5th, 1777.
+
+     "SIR,--You have been spoken of to me by Sir Charles Douglas and
+     Captain Philemon Pownoll, for your good conduct in the various
+     services upon Lake Champlain, in so handsome a manner, that I shall
+     receive pleasure in promoting you to the rank of a lieutenant,
+     whenever you come to England; but it is impossible to send you a
+     commission where you now are, it being out of the jurisdiction of
+     the Admiralty.
+
+                                                        "SANDWICH."
+
+
+Sir Guy Carleton remained at Crown Point as long as the season would
+permit. He employed Mr. Pellew on the narrow inlet, which extends from
+Crown Point to Ticonderoga, along which his proposed operations were to
+be conducted; and Mr. Pellew attended to his charge with unceasing
+vigilance and activity. On one occasion, the American Commander-in
+Chief, Arnold, most narrowly escaped becoming his prisoner. Having
+ventured upon the Lake in a boat, he was observed, and chased so closely
+by Mr. Pellew, that when he reached the shore and ran off, he left his
+stock and buckle in the boat behind him. This was preserved as long as
+he lived by Mr. Pellew's elder brother, to whom Arnold's son, not many
+years ago, confirmed the particulars of his father's escape. The
+General, seeing that his men were panic-struck when they found
+themselves chased, encouraged them to exertion by the assurance that the
+pursuers were not enemies, but only a boat endeavouring to outrow them.
+Pulling off his stock, and seizing an oar, he promised them a bottle of
+rum each, if they gained the shore first. Well had it been for Arnold;
+happy for the gallant young officer, who was the victim of his conduct;
+and perhaps, on so small a contingency may the fate of a campaign
+depend, happy for the British army, to whose misfortunes in the
+following year his skill and courage so materially contributed, had the
+fortune of the chase been different.
+
+Mr. Pellew had a scarcely less narrow escape. He was invited with a
+party of officers to spend an afternoon with some young ladies in the
+neighbourhood, and they were on the way to keep their engagement, when
+Mr. Pellew stopped, and said to his companions, "We are doing a very
+foolish thing: I shall turn back, and I advise you all to do the same."
+They hesitated, but at length returned with him; and afterwards learnt
+that their Delilahs had posted a party of soldiers to make them
+prisoners.
+
+At length Sir Guy Carleton, having satisfied himself that Ticonderoga
+was too strong to be attacked with his present force at that advanced
+season, re-embarked the troops, and returned to Canada. He there exerted
+himself through the winter, in making preparations for the ensuing
+campaign, and had almost completed them, when the command of the army
+was taken from him, and given to officers who had been serving under his
+orders. Though his success had surpassed the utmost hopes of his
+country, and his great local knowledge and experience claimed the
+confidence of the British Government, he was not even consulted on the
+expedition they had planned, and of which the very details were so far
+settled in the cabinet, that little was left to the unfortunate General
+who was to conduct it. He felt like an officer on the occasion, and
+resigned the government of Canada; but he acted like an Englishman, and
+though he disapproved materially of some parts of the plan, he omitted
+no exertion which might contribute to its success.
+
+The army devoted to an expedition thus inauspiciously commenced, was
+composed of 7,000 regular troops, of whom 3,200 were Germans; a corps of
+Artillery, 2,000 Canadians, and 1,000 savages. Sir Guy Carleton knew too
+well the ferocious and uncertain character of the Indians to trust them;
+but the government at home entertained a very different opinion; and it
+was, perhaps, the chief motive for their conduct towards him, that he
+had only amused and kept them quiet, instead of calling them into active
+service. Lieutenant-General Burgoyne was selected for the command,
+assisted by Major-Generals Phillips and Reidesel, and Brigadiers Frazer,
+Powell, Hamilton, and Specht.
+
+Mr. Pellew was attached to the army, with the command of a party of
+seamen, and during its advance, was again actively employed on the Lake.
+While on this service, he narrowly escaped a calamity, which would have
+clouded all his future life. His youngest brother had come out from
+England to join the army; and being appointed Aide-de-Camp to General
+Phillips, though only seventeen years of age, he was sent down the Lake
+in charge of the General's baggage. He was told that he had nothing to
+fear from the enemy, but that he would probably meet his brother; and,
+with the unthinking sportiveness of youth, as he knew that he was not
+expected, he determined to surprise him. Accordingly, he fell in with
+him in the night, and when hailed, answered, "A friend!" "What friend?"
+exclaimed his brother; "tell who you are, or I'll shoot you." "What! do
+not you know me?" "No!" said the other, presenting a pistol. "Your
+brother John!"
+
+On the 21st of June, the army being encamped on the western side of the
+Lake, and a little to the north of Crown Point, General Burgoyne made a
+war-feast for the savages, and addressed them in a speech which enforced
+every motive calculated to restrain their ferocity. But, unfortunately,
+he hoped to terrify the inhabitants to submission by threatening them
+with all the horrors of Indian warfare; and a proclamation which he
+published to this effect, was remembered to his serious prejudice. After
+a short stay at Crown Point, the troops advanced along both sides of the
+Lake, accompanied by the squadron under Lieutenant Schanck; and on the
+2nd of July, arrived before Ticonderoga, then garrisoned by General St.
+Clair, with nearly 5,000 men. Ticonderoga possessed great natural
+advantages. It was protected on three sides by the water, with very
+rocky shores; and on the fourth, partly by a morass, and where that
+failed, by a strong breast-work. It was, indeed, commanded by a
+neighbouring height, Sugar Hill, which the Americans had neglected to
+secure, presuming upon its almost inaccessible character. Opposite
+Ticonderoga, they had fortified a high conical hill, Mount Independence,
+and connected it with the fort by a very strong bridge, which was itself
+protected by a massy boom. The Americans had been employed for ten
+months, in giving to these works the utmost possible strength and
+solidity.
+
+On the 5th, the British had nearly completed their preparations, and
+General Phillips had carried a road almost to the top of Sugar Hill,
+when General St. Clair determined to evacuate the fort. That night he
+sent away his stores and baggage in more than two hundred bateaux, under
+convoy of five armed gallies, to Skenesborough, a town about eight miles
+distant, at the head of a small inlet, South Bay, which branches off
+from the Lake at Ticonderoga. The troops marched to the same place,
+leaving more than a hundred guns behind.
+
+Daylight showed the flight of the enemy. Reidesel and Frazer immediately
+followed in pursuit, while Burgoyne embarked the rest of the army on
+board the squadron. The boom and bridge, which had cost so many months
+of labour to complete, were presently cut through by the sailors and
+artificers. The squadron were enabled to pass at nine o'clock, and at
+three came up with the enemy near Skenesborough Falls. After a short
+resistance, two of the gallies surrendered, and the enemy set fire to
+the others, and to all their bateaux and stores.
+
+Early next morning, Reidesel and Frazer overtook a strong body of the
+enemy, and defeated them, with the loss of their Commander, and nearly
+1,000 men killed, wounded, and taken. Another division was encountered
+and routed by Colonel Hill. The fugitives escaped to Fort Edward, on the
+Hudson.
+
+General Burgoyne might now have returned to Ticonderoga, and thence
+crossed to the head of Lake George, from which there was a waggon-road
+to Fort Edward, only eighteen miles distant. But fearing that a
+retrograde movement might check the enthusiasm of the army, now elated
+with their rapid career of victory, underrating the difficulties of the
+country, and too much despising an enemy who had been so easily
+dispersed, he determined to ascend Wood Creek as far as Fort Anne,
+whence the direct distance to the Hudson is shorter. He waited,
+therefore, a few days near Skenesborough for his tents, baggage, and
+provisions; employing himself, in the mean time, in clearing the
+navigation of Wood Creek, while his people at Ticonderoga were
+transporting the stores and artillery over the portages to Lake George.
+
+The enemy offered little resistance in the advance to Fort Edward, but
+the difficulties of the country were almost insurmountable. So broken
+was it by creeks and morasses, that it became necessary to construct
+more than forty bridges and causeways, one of them over a morass two
+miles long. The enemy had created every possible obstruction by felling
+trees across the paths, and destroying the communications. Scarcely
+could the army advance a mile in a day, and it was the end of July
+before it arrived on the Hudson.
+
+On the approach of the British, the enemy quitted Fort Edward, and
+retreated to Saratoga. All kinds of provisions and stores had already
+reached Fort George; but the means of transport were lamentably
+deficient, and the impossibility of bringing up supplies compelled the
+army to a fatal inaction. On the 15th of August, after a fortnight's
+incessant exertion, there were only four days' provisions in store.
+
+Meantime, the enemy was daily becoming stronger. The conduct of the
+savages had roused the whole country; and the British bore the odium of
+excesses which the General could not prevent, and dared not punish. The
+loyalists could not remain near the army, for they were almost equally
+exposed to the cruelties of the savages, who spared neither age nor sex.
+Others, who would have gladly staid at home, found that their only
+safety was to take arms, and join the camp. Thus the British were left
+without a friend in the country, while the American commanders, who took
+every advantage of these atrocities, were soon at the head of an army
+more numerous and formidable than that which had been dispersed.
+
+General Arnold was sent to command the force at Saratoga. He drew it
+back to Stillwater, a township about twelve miles down the Hudson, that
+he might check Colonel St. Leger, who, with 700 or 800 men, was
+besieging Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk, and had given a severe defeat to
+a party sent to relieve it. General Burgoyne, desiring to effect a
+junction with St. Leger, moved down the east bank of the Hudson to
+Saratoga, where he threw a bridge of rafts over the river, and crossed
+an advanced corps. Being almost destitute of supplies, and too weak to
+maintain his communications with Fort George, he detached a force to
+surprise the enemy's magazines at Bennington; but on the 15th of August
+it was overpowered and defeated, with considerable loss. A week after,
+St. Leger was obliged to retire from before Fort Stanwix. General Gates,
+who was now the enemy's Commander-in-chief, detached Arnold against him
+with 2,000 men, and the savages, hearing of his approach, threatened to
+desert St. Leger if he remained, and even murdered the British
+stragglers on the retreat.
+
+Provisions for thirty days were at length collected; but nearly three
+months had been consumed in forcing a way through almost impassable
+woods and morasses in the worst of weather, and in vexatious inaction
+from deficiency of means to advance; service far more destructive than
+severe fighting. A heavy swell caused by the rains had carried away the
+bridge, but Mr. Pellew constructed another by which the army crossed to
+Saratoga. The General would afterwards rally him as the cause of their
+subsequent misfortunes, by affording the means for their advance in the
+construction of this bridge. General Gates remained in the neighbourhood
+of Stillwater; and the army, advancing through a difficult country,
+found itself on the 19th of September very near the enemy. General
+Burgoyne marched at the head of the right wing, which was covered by the
+light infantry and grenadiers, under Frazer and Breyman, who moved along
+some high ground commanding its flank; while the left wing and
+artillery, under Phillips and Reidesel, kept along the road and meadows
+by the river side. While thus advancing, the enemy marched out of his
+camp, and attempted to turn the right wing, and take the British in
+flank. Foiled in this by the position of General Frazer, they
+countermarched under cover of the woods, and threw all their strength
+upon the left. Arnold led them on to repeated, and most determined
+attacks; nor were they finally repulsed till dusk, after four hours'
+severe fighting. Victory remained with the British; but the fact that
+the enemy could so long withstand regular troops in the open field, was
+decisive of the fate of the campaign.
+
+Next morning the army took a position almost within cannon shot of the
+enemy, fortifying the right wing, and covering the bateaux and hospital
+with the left. The position of the enemy was unassailable. The savages,
+whose atrocities had mainly contributed to create the present
+difficulties of the army, now deserted altogether; and great part of the
+provincials and Canadians followed their example.
+
+Hoping that he might be relieved by a diversion from New York, Burgoyne
+sent advices to Sir Harry Clinton, acquainting him with his present
+situation, and his intention to remain till the 12th of October.
+Meantime, he took every precaution to secure his camp. While his army
+was melting away by sickness, battle, and desertion, the enemy were
+daily becoming stronger. They had even been enabled to detach a force to
+the northward, which, on the 17th of September, surprised the posts on
+Lake George, and took an armed sloop, some gun-boats, and a great number
+of bateaux. They afterwards ventured to attack Ticonderoga and Mount
+Independence, and cannonaded them four days before they were repulsed.
+
+At the beginning of October it became necessary to reduce the allowance
+of provisions. This and every other hardship was submitted to without a
+murmur; and never did an army better maintain its character than did
+this gallant force in its hour of hopeless danger. On the 7th, as there
+had been no intelligence from New York, General Burgoyne, accompanied by
+Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer, made a movement to reconnoitre towards
+the enemy's left, with 1,500 men, and ten guns. They had advanced within
+three quarters of a mile of the enemy, when a sudden and determined
+attack was made upon their left, while a strong body moved to flank
+their right. The light infantry and part of the 24th regiment were
+quickly disposed to prevent the success of this latter movement, and
+cover a retreat; but the enemy, throwing an additional force upon the
+left, already hard pressed, it gave way, and the light infantry and 24th
+were obliged to hasten and support it. In this movement General Frazer
+fell. The troops retreated in good order, but with the loss of six
+guns.
+
+Scarcely had they regained the camp, when the enemy rushed to storm it;
+Arnold, as usual, distinguishing himself by the impetuous courage with
+which he led on his men. The battle was maintained where he fought with
+the utmost desperation, till he fell, severely wounded, and his
+followers were driven back. In another part, the enemy were more
+successful. Colonel Breyman was killed, and the entrenchments, defended
+by the German reserve which he commanded, were carried. Night ended the
+battle, and left to the army the melancholy task of summing up its loss,
+which included several officers of distinction. The brother of Mr Pellew
+was among the dead.
+
+But there is little grief for the slain when every one feels that he may
+lie with them to-morrow. That night the army moved to a new position,
+and next morning offered battle; but the enemy were securing their
+object by safer means. They pushed forward a strong body to turn the
+right of the British and surround them. To prevent this, the army
+retreated in the night through torrents of rain, to Saratoga. The sick
+and wounded were necessarily left behind.
+
+Next morning, a party was seen throwing up entrenchments on the heights
+beyond the army; but a demonstration being made against them, they
+crossed the river, and joined a force on the other side. A retreat to
+Fort George was attempted, and the artificers were sent forward to
+repair the bridges, and open the road; but the appearance of the enemy
+made it necessary to recall them. The opposite bank of the river was
+covered with parties of the enemy, and the bateaux could no longer be
+effectually protected. Some were taken; and among others, the vessel
+which contained the small remaining store of provisions. This loss would
+have deprived the army of its last hope; but Mr. Pellew, with his
+sailors, attacked and recaptured the vessel. To guard against such a
+calamity for the future, the provisions were landed. General Burgoyne
+acknowledged this service in the following letter:--
+
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--It was with infinite pleasure that General Phillips and
+     myself observed the gallantry and address with which you conducted
+     your attack upon the provision-vessel in the hands of the enemy.
+     The gallantry of your little party was deserving of the success
+     which attended it; and I send you my sincere thanks, together with
+     those of the army, for the important service you have rendered them
+     upon this occasion.
+
+                                                    "JOHN BURGOYNE.
+
+     "N.B.--The vessel contained 500 barrels of provisions, of which
+     article the army was in great want."
+
+
+A retreat to Fort Edward by a night march, the troops carrying their
+provisions on their backs, now offered the only hope of safety; but
+while preparations were being made for this, it was found that the enemy
+had effectually provided against it, by throwing up entrenchments
+opposite the fords, and securing the heights between Fort Edward and
+Fort George. Secrecy was impossible, for the parties of the enemy were
+everywhere so numerous, that not a movement could be concealed.
+
+Still hoping to be relieved from New York, the army, now reduced to
+3,500 effective men, of whom not 2,000 were British, lingered in their
+camp, where they lay always under arms, with the grape and rifle shot of
+the enemy falling continually around them. On the 13th they had only
+three days' provision remaining. A council of war was therefore held, to
+which General Burgoyne summoned all the principal officers. Mr. Pellew
+attended, as commander of the brigade of seamen; and a more decisive
+testimony to his merits and services could not be afforded, than the
+unprecedented compliment of calling a midshipman, only twenty years of
+age, to sit in council with generals.
+
+Mr. Pellew, as the youngest officer present, was required to offer his
+opinion the first. He pleaded earnestly that his own little party might
+not be included in the proposed capitulation, but permitted to make the
+best of their way back. He had never heard, he said, of sailors
+capitulating, and was confident he could bring them off. It is very
+possible that they might have escaped. Soldiers are accustomed to act
+only in orderly masses; but sailors combine with discipline the energy
+of individual enterprise. Mr. Pellew's party had acted as pioneers and
+artificers to the army during its advance; and their knowledge, and
+readiness at resources, would have given them great facilities in making
+their way through a hostile country. But their escape would have cast a
+very undeserved discredit upon the army, and the proposal was
+discountenanced. Burgoyne said, what sailors could do, soldiers might
+do; and if the attempt were sanctioned for the one, the others must
+throw away their knapsacks and take their firelocks. As Mr. Pellew still
+clung to his proposal, the General took him aside, and having
+represented the impossibility of drawing off the army, convinced him of
+the impropriety of permitting the attempt by a small part of it.
+
+The result of the council was a communication to General Gates, who,
+knowing the desperate condition of the British army, and his own
+irresistible superiority, must have been surprised at the gallant spirit
+manifested in its hopeless extremity. When he observed that the retreat
+of the British was cut off, he was told that the British could never
+admit that their retreat was cut off while they had arms in their hands;
+and to his proposal that the troops should pile arms within their camp,
+it was replied, that sooner than submit to such an indignity, they would
+rush on the enemy determined to take no quarter. Terms proposed by
+General Burgoyne were finally acquiesced in; and the American commander,
+as far as _he_ was concerned, faithfully observed and enforced them with
+the most considerate delicacy.
+
+Mr. Pellew, after having shared in the hospitality of General Gates, was
+sent to England by General Burgoyne with despatches, a distinction to
+which his services in the campaign were considered to have entitled him.
+At Quebec he met his former commander, Sir Guy Carleton, whose successor
+had not yet arrived, and who charged him with additional despatches, and
+the following letter to Lord Sandwich:--
+
+
+                                         "Quebec, November 2, 1777.
+
+     "MY LORD,--This will be presented to your lordship by Mr. Edward
+     Pellew, a young man to whose gallantry and merit during two severe
+     campaigns in this country, I cannot do justice. He is just now
+     returned to me from Saratoga, having shared the fate of that
+     unfortunate army, and is on his way to England. I beg leave to
+     recommend him to your lordship, as worthy of a commission in his
+     Majesty's service, for his good conduct.
+
+                                                    "GUY CARLETON."
+
+
+He came home in a transport, in which Major Foy was also a passenger. An
+enemy's cruiser chased them, and the Major, as the superior officer, was
+proceeding to assume the command; but Mr. Pellew told him that he was
+the only naval officer on board, and must himself fight the ship. The
+Major acquiesced; and under Mr. Pellew's command, the transport engaged,
+and beat off the privateer.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to state that immediately on his arrival he
+received the promotion which his services had so well deserved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.
+
+
+There are circumstances which in a few weeks or months may give the
+experience of years; and when these occur in early life, they make a
+permanent impression on the character. In the honours and misfortunes of
+the late campaign, its toils, and its anxieties, Mr. Pellew had very
+largely shared; and if rashness would have been the natural fault of a
+mind like his, a more effectual corrective could not have been desired.
+The quick conception, and the forethought, which enabled him in after
+life so well to combine caution with daring, must have greatly depended
+upon natural character, but he certainly owed much of it to the severe
+discipline of his early service.
+
+He had now completed his twenty-first year. Tall, and with a frame of
+strength and symmetry, nerved by the hardships of two severe campaigns,
+his personal activity and power were almost unrivalled. The spot was
+shown for many years at Truro, where he sprang over the high gate of an
+inn-yard at the back of one of the hotels, when, hastening across the
+court to assist on the sudden alarm of a fire, he found the gate fast.
+The consciousness of superior strength, while it made him slow to
+offend, enabled him to inflict suitable punishment on offenders, and
+some incidents of a ludicrous character are still remembered.
+
+The water was as a natural element to him, and he often amused himself
+in a manner which, to one less expert, would have been attended with the
+utmost danger. He would sometimes go out in a boat, and overset her by
+carrying a press of sail. Acts of daring like these must find their
+excuse in the spirit of a fearless youth. But he often found the
+advantage of that power and self-possession in the water which he
+derived from his early habits, in saving men who had fallen overboard,
+and especially in the happiest of all his services, his conduct at the
+Dutton. More than once, however, he nearly perished. In Portsmouth
+harbour, where he had upset himself in a boat, he was saved with
+difficulty, after remaining for a considerable time in the water. On
+another occasion, he was going by himself from Falmouth to Plymouth in a
+small punt, fourteen feet long, when his hat was blown overboard, and he
+immediately threw off his clothes and swam after it, having first
+secured the tiller a-lee. As he was returning with his hat, the boat got
+way on her, and sailed some distance before she came up in the wind. He
+had almost reached her when she filled again, and he was thus baffled
+three or four times. At length, by a desperate effort, he caught the
+rudder, but he was so much exhausted that it was a considerable time
+before he had strength to get into the boat.
+
+The gratification felt at receiving his commission was soon forgotten,
+when he found himself appointed to a guard-ship. He repeatedly solicited
+more active employment, and at length took an opportunity to accost Lord
+Sandwich in the street at Portsmouth. The First Lord asked him if he
+were the young man who had been writing him so many letters; and after a
+reproof for accosting him in the street, appointed an audience at the
+hotel. He there told him that he could not be employed as he wished,
+because he was included in the convention of Saratoga; and when Mr.
+Pellew pleaded that the enemy had broken the convention, Lord Sandwich
+replied, that was no reason why England should do so too. At length,
+after every other plea had been urged in vain. Mr. Pellew took out his
+commission, and begged that he might be allowed to return it, declaring
+that he would rather command a privateer, than remain inactive while the
+war was going on. Lord Sandwich, smiling at his ardour, desired him to
+put up his commission, and promised that he should not be forgotten.
+Soon after, he was appointed to the _Licorne_.
+
+In the spring of 1779, the _Licorne_ sailed for the Newfoundland
+station, under the orders of Captain Cadogan, who had lately superseded
+Captain Bellew, her former commander. On her passage out, she engaged
+two of the enemy's cruisers, and Lieutenant Pellew's conduct in the
+action received the praise of his captain. She returned to England in
+December, when he left her to join the _Apollo_, commanded by his
+excellent friend and patron Captain Pownoll, who was so delighted to
+obtain once more the services of a follower whom he regarded with equal
+pride and affection, that he removed for his sake an officer of high
+connexions, whose seniority would have prevented Mr. Pellew from being
+the first lieutenant.
+
+Mr. Pellew was too soon deprived of this inestimable friend. On the
+morning of the 15th of June 1780, the _Apollo_, cruising in the North
+Sea, in company with some other ships, was ordered away by the senior
+captain in pursuit of a cutter. She had almost come up with the chase,
+when the _Stanislaus_ French frigate hove in sight, and the _Apollo_
+left the cutter for a more equal opponent. She overtook and brought her
+to action at half-past twelve, engaging under a press of sail, for the
+enemy made every effort to escape to the neutral port of Ostend, which
+was not far distant. In an hour after the action commenced, Captain
+Pownoll was shot through the body. He said to his young friend, "Pellew,
+I know you won't give his Majesty's ship away;" and immediately died in
+his arms. Mr. Pellew continued the action for more than an hour longer,
+and drove the enemy, beaten and dismasted, on shore; but he was
+disappointed of his prize, which claimed protection from the neutral
+port. The _Apollo_ had five killed, besides the captain, and twenty
+wounded. A musket ball, which had struck Captain Pownoll in a former
+action, was found after his death, lodged among the muscles of the
+chest. The _Stanislaus_ was got off, and carried into Ostend, where,
+being brought to sale, she was purchased by the British government, and
+added to the navy.
+
+None despond so readily as talented and sanguine young men, who are too
+apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for
+the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong
+mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates
+facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel
+for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this
+lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and
+disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed
+altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on
+this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial
+proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a
+modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest
+sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with
+earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might
+induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to
+an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his
+officers and men, are blended in this very characteristic letter. It is
+not certain that it was ever sent; for the copy preserved is too
+carefully written for a rough draft, yet contains many corrections and
+erasures. He was, perhaps, dissatisfied with it, and before he had
+determined what to send, his promotion spared him the necessity of an
+application. Still it is an interesting document, affording, as it does,
+a detailed account of the action, a sketch of his former services, and
+a transcript of his feelings at the time.
+
+
+     "MY LORD,--Your Lordship will receive herewith, from Admiral Drake,
+     an account of an action fought by H.M.S. _Apollo_, at sea, June 15,
+     which lasted for two hours and twenty minutes. I trust your
+     Lordship will excuse my troubling you with a private account of the
+     engagement, to inform you of many occurrences during the action
+     which my public letter would not admit of. When the action began,
+     both ships had all their sails set upon a wind, with as much wind
+     as we could bear. The ever-to-be-lamented Captain Pownoll received
+     a wound through his body about an hour after the action commenced,
+     when standing at the gangway. The enemy had then suffered much,
+     having lost the yard-arms of both his lower yards, and had no sails
+     drawing but his foresail, main-top-gallant-sail, and mizen-topsail,
+     the others flying about. We had engaged her to leeward, which, from
+     the heel his ship had, prevented him from making our rigging and
+     sails the objects of his fire; though I am well convinced he had
+     laid his guns down as much as possible. When I assumed the command,
+     we had shot upon his bow. I endeavoured to get the courses hauled
+     up, and the top-gallant-sails clewed up, neither of which we could
+     do, as we had neither clue-garnets, bunt-lines, or leach-lines
+     left. However, we got the top-gallant-sails down, with most of the
+     stay-sails, and the mizen-topsail aback; but finding we still
+     outsailed him, I had no other method left but that of sheering
+     across his hawse, first on one bow, then on the other, raking him
+     as we crossed, always having in view the retarding his way, by
+     obliging him either to receive us athwart his bowsprit, in which
+     case we should have turned his head off shore, or to sheer as we
+     did. He, foreseeing our intention, did so; but never lost sight of
+     gaining the shore. In this situation we had continued for a
+     considerable time. His bowsprit had been at two different times
+     over our quarter-deck, but never so far forward as to enable us to
+     secure him. All this time we were approaching the shore, and we
+     were then, I am certain, within two miles of it. I had been
+     cautioned by the master, whose abilities and great assistance I
+     must ever gratefully remember, more than once, of the shoal water,
+     and I had repeatedly called for and sent after the pilot; and I am
+     sorry to inform your Lordship he did not appear. Thus situated, in
+     three and a half fathoms water, and steering towards danger, there
+     was no time to hesitate; and, with the advice of the master, I
+     wore, and brought to under the mizen, with her head off shore,
+     until we could get the courses and other sails taken in, not having
+     then a brace or bowline left, and being fully determined to renew
+     the action in a few minutes. We had scarcely wore, when his
+     foremast, main-top-mast, main-yard, and main-top fell, leaving his
+     mainmast without rigging; and the ship at the same time took a
+     large heel, which made us all conclude she had struck the ground.
+     It was then half-ebb, and I firmly believe, had we pursued him, in
+     less than ten minutes we must have run aground. She had fired a gun
+     to leeward, seemingly to claim the protection of the port, which
+     was answered by three from the garrison. I was at this time
+     preparing to wear again, to anchor alongside him; but Mr. Unwin,
+     the purser, bringing me some orders found in Captain Pownoll's
+     pocket, among which was one relative to the observance of
+     neutrality, I did not think myself justified in renewing the
+     attack. I therefore continued lying to, to repair our damages. Our
+     masts are much wounded, the rigging very much torn, and several
+     shot under water, by which we made two feet water an hour.
+
+     "Your Lordship will, I hope, pardon me, for troubling you with the
+     relation of private feelings. The loss of Captain Pownoll will be
+     severely felt. The ship's company have lost a father. I have lost
+     much more, a father and a friend united; and that friend my only
+     one on earth. Never, my Lord, was grief more poignant than that we
+     all feel for our adored commander. Mine is inexpressible. The
+     friend who brought me up, and pushed me through the service, is now
+     no more! It was ever my study, and will always be so, to pursue his
+     glorious footsteps. How far I may succeed I know not; but while he
+     lived, I enjoyed the greatest blessing, that of being patronized by
+     him. That happiness I am now deprived of, and unassisted by
+     friends, unconnected with the great, and unsupported by the world,
+     I must throw myself totally on your Lordship's generosity. If I
+     have erred, it was not from the heart; for I will be bold to say,
+     the love and honour of his country makes no heart more warm than
+     mine.
+
+     "And if, after a constant service, never unemployed for thirteen
+     years,[1] and the character I bear with every officer with whom I
+     have had the honour to serve; having been three years in America,
+     and in every action on Lake Champlain, for one of which, in the
+     _Carleton_, Lieutenant Dacres, our commander, received promotion;
+     afterwards in a continued series of hard service, in that
+     unfortunate expedition under General Burgoyne, whose thanks for my
+     conduct I received in the course of the campaign, and whose
+     misfortunes I shared at Saratoga, not in common with others, but
+     increased by the melancholy sight of a dead brother, fallen in the
+     service of his king; having then returned to England in a transport
+     to fulfil the convention, with Generals Carleton's and Burgoyne's
+     despatches, as well as General Carleton's letter, recommending me
+     to your Lordship; and permit me to mention, my Lord, without being
+     thought partial to my own story, my having received the thanks of
+     Sir Charles Douglas, by letter, for my behaviour in the different
+     actions in Canada; and having acquitted myself much to Captain
+     Cadogan's satisfaction in action with two ships, when on our voyage
+     to Newfoundland; and if on the present occasion, conscious of the
+     rectitude of my conduct, I can be entitled to your Lordship's
+     approbation, permit me to hope from your Lordship's well-known
+     generosity, which I have already experienced, that you will extend
+     to me that protection which I have lost in my dear departed
+     benefactor. I have now no friend to solicit your Lordship in my
+     favour. I stand alone to sue for your protection, in some
+     confidence that you will not suffer the dejected and unsupported to
+     fall. I presume to hope forgiveness for thus intruding on your
+     time, particularly by a memorial that comes unbacked by any other
+     name; but believe me, my Lord, there never was an officer with whom
+     I have sailed, who would not do much more than back this, were his
+     ability equal to his good wishes for my promotion.
+
+     "I cannot, in justice to the officers, close this without assuring
+     your Lordship of the great and unremitting assistance I received
+     from Mr. Milburn, the master, on every occasion; and from Mr.
+     Mansfield, the marine officer, who was particularly active to
+     assist on the quarter-deck. To Mr. Bunce, second lieutenant, I am
+     much indebted for his exertions on the main-deck, and his diligence
+     was unremitting in distributing men where most wanted. Mr. Ritchie,
+     master's mate, was particularly distinguished for his gallantry
+     and activity; and the behaviour of the whole, my Lord, was such as
+     entitles them to my warmest gratitude, and general commendation.
+     Most of the wounded are dangerously so, being all by cannon balls.
+     We had three guns dismounted.
+
+                                                   "EDWARD PELLEW."
+
+
+Lord Sandwich's communication to him was equally kind and prompt. On the
+18th of June, only three days after the action, he wrote to him:--"After
+most sincerely condoling with you on the loss of your much-lamented
+patron and friend, Captain Pownoll, whose bravery and services have done
+so much honour to himself and his Country, I will not delay informing
+you that I mean to give you immediate promotion, as a reward for your
+gallant and officer-like conduct."
+
+He was made commander into an old and worn-out sloop, the _Hazard_, in
+which he was stationed on the eastern coast of Scotland. Having nothing
+but the emoluments of his profession, he found it difficult to meet the
+expenses required by his promotion and appointment. A tradesman in
+London, Mr. Vigurs, equally known and respected by the young men from
+Cornwall, who were generally referred to him for the advice and
+assistance they required on their first coming to town, not only
+supplied him with uniforms, though candidly told that it was uncertain
+when he would be able to pay for them, but offered a pecuniary loan; and
+Captain Pellew accepted a small sum which made the debt 70L. In a few
+weeks he received 160L. prize-money, and immediately sent 100L. to his
+creditor, desiring that the balance might be given in presents to the
+children, or, as he expressed it, "to buy ribbons for the girls." He
+never afterwards employed another tradesman. When he had become a
+commander-in-chief, it was his practice to prevent a deserving, but
+necessitous young officer from suffering similar embarrassments, by
+advancing him a sum equal to his immediate wants when he gave him a
+commission.
+
+He took command of the _Hazard_ on the 25th of July, 1780, and paid her
+off in the following January, having been employed between Shields and
+Leith. He held his next ship for a still shorter time. On the 12th of
+March, 1782, he commissioned the _Pelican_, a French prize, and a mere
+shell of a vessel; so low, that he would say his servant could dress his
+hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin. He sailed from Plymouth,
+on his first cruise, April 20th; and next day took a French privateer,
+with which he returned to port. On the 24th he sailed again, and stood
+over to the French coast. On the 28th, observing several vessels at
+anchor in Bass Roads, he made sail towards them; upon which a brig and a
+lugger, of ten or twelve guns each, laid their broadsides to the
+entrance of the harbour. He attacked them immediately, and compelled
+them to run themselves on shore under a battery, which opened on the
+sloop. The _Pelican_ tacked, and stood out of the harbour, returning the
+fire, and the same night arrived at Plymouth. Her loss was only two men
+wounded. A heavy shot which struck her was begged by a friend, who, in a
+recent letter, makes a jocular allusion to it, and says that it is still
+doing service in the kitchen as a jack-weight. The action was most
+important in its results, for it obtained for him that rank in which he
+would rise by seniority to a flag. Had he remained a commander through
+the peace, which, but for this action, in all probability he would have
+done, he could not have become a flag-officer till near the close of the
+revolutionary war. The country would then have lost his most valuable
+services; and he would have been remembered only as a distinguished
+captain. His promotion was announced to him by the First Lord in the
+following terms:--
+
+
+                                    Admiralty Office. May 25, 1782.
+
+     "SIR,--I am so well pleased with the account I have received of
+     your gallant and seaman-like conduct in the sloop you command, in
+     your spirited attack on three privateers inside the Isle of Bass,
+     and your success in driving them all on shore, that I am induced to
+     bestow on you the rank of a post-captain, in the service to which
+     your universal good character and conduct do credit: and for this
+     purpose, I have named you to the _Suffolk_, and hope soon to find a
+     frigate for you, as she is promised to a captain of long standing.
+
+                                                          "KEPPEL."
+
+
+Captain Pellew thus obtained every step of rank expressly as a reward of
+a brilliant action in which he personally commanded; and in this
+respect, and in the number and extent of his services while he remained
+in the lower grades of his profession, he was singular, not only among
+his contemporaries, but perhaps in the annals of the navy.
+
+On the 4th of June, in the absence of Captain Macbride, of the forty-gun
+frigate _Artois_, Captain Pellew assumed the temporary command of that
+ship, and sailed two days after to cruize on the coast of Ireland. Her
+master was Mr. James Bowen, so highly distinguished in the battle of the
+1st of June, when he was master of the fleet, and who afterwards became
+a retired commissioner, and rear admiral. On the 1st of July, the
+_Artois_ fell in with a French frigate-built ship, the _Prince of
+Robego_, of twenty-two guns, and 180 men; and after a four hours'
+pursuit, and a running fight of half an hour with the chase guns, ran
+alongside, and took her. Captain Pellew gladly availed himself of this
+opportunity to show his grateful respect to the memory of his
+benefactor, Captain Pownoll, by giving the agency to his brother-in-law,
+Mr. Justice, one of the officers of Plymouth-yard: and the plea of
+gratitude which he offered to his own brother, was felt to be quite
+conclusive. Captain Macbride wished to appoint an agent of his own; but
+Captain Pellew asserted his right, as the actual captor, with so much
+temper and firmness, that the other at length gave way. He had known
+Captain Pellew from early childhood, having been his father's intimate
+friend, and quite understood his character, of which he now expressed an
+opinion in language less refined than emphatic. "Confound the fellow,"
+said he, "if he had been bred a cobbler, he would have been first in the
+village."
+
+
+Peace left him without employment for the next four years. In 1783, he
+married Susan, daughter of J. Frowd, Esq., of Wiltshire; who survived
+him nearly four years. For a short time after his marriage, he lived at
+Truro; but when his elder brother became collector of the customs at
+Falmouth, he removed to the village of Flushing, which is separated from
+Falmouth only by a narrow creek, and which had peculiar attractions for
+him from family associations.
+
+During this period he went out in command of his brother's armed lugger,
+the _Hawk_, in search of a notorious outlaw, Wellard, who commanded an
+armed smuggler in the Channel, and who was at length killed in action
+with the _Hawk_, and her consort, which captured his vessel. Active
+occupation, indeed, was essential to his comfort, and he found a life on
+shore most irksome. At length, in 1786, he commissioned the
+_Winchelsea_, for the Newfoundland station. Among her midshipmen was the
+late gallant Sir Christopher Cole,[2] to whose pen the reader is
+indebted for the following animated sketch of his service in that
+frigate:--
+
+
+     "I joined the _Winchelsea_ under Captain Edward Pellew's command in
+     1786, recommended to him by my brother. Captain Frank Cole, who
+     told me, 'You are going to serve under a gallant and active
+     officer, and one of the best seamen in the navy, who, if he live,
+     must one day be at the head of his profession. Make a friend of
+     him by your good conduct, and you will do well.' The _Winchelsea_
+     was manned with good seamen, with scarcely a landsman on board; and
+     the first lieutenant, senior master's mate, and boatswain, were all
+     excellent practical seamen; so that the midshipmen and youngsters,
+     to the number of nearly thirty, could not be in a better situation
+     for obtaining a knowledge of practical seamanship. We soon found
+     that the activity of our captain would not allow us an idle hour,
+     and there was so much kindness of heart, and cheerfulness of
+     manner, blended with daring exertion in the performance of his
+     duties, that we were all happy to imitate his example to the best
+     of our abilities. In the course of our passage to Newfoundland we
+     encountered much blowing weather, and at all hours of the day or
+     night, whenever there was exertion required aloft, to preserve a
+     sail, or a mast, the captain was foremost at the work, apparently
+     as a mere matter of amusement; and there was not a man in the ship
+     who could equal him in personal activity. He appeared to play
+     amongst the elements in the hardest storms, and the confidence this
+     gave to those under his command, on many occasions, is not to be
+     described.
+
+     "The reduced peace complement of the crew made it necessary that
+     they should work watch-and-watch, and one part of his system was,
+     that the watch on deck, assisted by the idlers, should be in the
+     habit of making themselves equal to every call of duty, without
+     trespassing on the rest of those whose turn it was to be below. I
+     remember relieving the deck one night after eight o'clock, when the
+     captain was carrying on the duty, and shortening sail upon the
+     quick approach of a severe gale, and being an old sailor for my
+     age, being then sixteen, he ordered me to the mizentop, to close
+     reef and furl the mizen-topsail; and this being done, from the
+     increase of the gale, we had before twelve o'clock to take in
+     successively every reef, furl most of the sails, and strike the
+     topgallant-masts and other spars, to make the ship snug; the
+     midshipmen being on the yards as well as the men, and the captain,
+     when the gale became severe, at their elbow. In close reefing the
+     main-topsail, there was much difficulty in clewing up the sail for
+     the purpose of making it quiet, and the captain issued his orders
+     accordingly from the quarter-deck, and sent us aloft. On gaining
+     the topsail-yard, the most active and daring of our party hesitated
+     to go upon it, as the sail was flapping about violently, making it
+     a service of great danger. A voice was heard amidst the roaring of
+     the gale from the extreme end of the yard-arm, calling upon us to
+     exert ourselves to save the sail, which would otherwise beat to
+     pieces. A man said, 'Why, that's the captain--how the ---- did he
+     get there!' The fact was, that the instant he had given us orders
+     to go aloft, he laid down his speaking trumpet, and clambered like
+     a cat by the rigging over the backs of the seamen, and before they
+     reached the maintop, he was at the topmast-head, and from thence by
+     the topsail-lift, a single rope, he reached the situation he was
+     in. I could mention numberless instances of this kind, but will
+     proceed to relate a few others fresh in my recollection. On our
+     arrival at St. John's Newfoundland, we anchored in the narrow
+     entrance in the evening; and many officers would have been
+     satisfied to have remained there until the morning, as we could
+     reach our anchorage only by the tedious and laborious operation of
+     laying out anchors, and warping; but we saw that the captain was
+     bent upon exertion, and we went heartily to work. In the course of
+     our progress against a strong wind, the ship had been warped up to
+     the chain rock, and it became necessary to cast off the hawser
+     attached to it, but all the boats were employed in laying out an
+     anchor and warps elsewhere. The captain called to the men on the
+     forecastle, and desired 'some active fellow to go down by the
+     hawser, and cast it off,' at the same time saying that a boat would
+     soon be there to bring him on board again. The smartest seaman in
+     the ship declined the attempt. In an instant the captain was seen
+     clinging to the hawser, and proceeding to the rock; the hawser was
+     cast off, and to the astonishment of every one, he swang himself
+     to the side of the ship by the same means, mounted the ship's side,
+     and was again directing the duty going on. After nine hours
+     laborious and incessant exertion, the ship was anchored near the
+     _Commodore_ in St. John's harbour, before daylight; and as a salute
+     had been prepared in the hope of seeing the _Commodore's_ pennant
+     before sunset on the evening before, the captain remained on deck
+     with the gunner only to assist him. The rest of the officers and
+     men, being excessively fatigued, had been sent below to rest; and I
+     was not singular in being unconscious of the firing, although my
+     hammock hung close to the open hatchway, and immediately under the
+     deck that the guns were fired from.
+
+     "The strong mind and fertile genius of our commander kept the young
+     mids., in particular, in constant employment. Besides that some of
+     the number were stationed on every yard in the ship, the mizen-mast
+     from the deck to the truck was entirely managed in the sails and
+     rigging by the midshipmen, who were not such dandies as to despise
+     the tar-bucket, or even volunteering the laborious task of working
+     the oars of one of the boats in harbour. They were all emulous to
+     leave nothing undone to make themselves practical seamen, and they
+     all found the advantage of such examples as they had then before
+     them, many years afterwards, at the breaking out of the
+     revolutionary war.
+
+     "In the course of this year we visited every harbour, nook, and
+     corner, on the east coast of Newfoundland, that the ship could be
+     squeezed into; and the seamanship displayed by the captain, in
+     working the ship in some most difficult cases, was not lost upon
+     the officers and crew. With respect to his personal activity, I
+     have often heard the most active seamen, when doubting the
+     possibility of doing what he ordered to be done, finish by saying,
+     'Well, he never orders us to do what he won't do himself;' and they
+     often remarked, 'Blow high, blow low, he knows to an inch what the
+     ship can do, and he can almost make her speak. On our return from
+     Newfoundland, he applied to cruise after smugglers in the winter
+     months, instead of being kept idle in harbour until the season
+     opened for visiting Newfoundland again; but this did not come
+     within the scope of the management of that day. In 1787, we
+     returned to our station at Newfoundland. The summers there are very
+     hot, and on the birthday of the good old king, George III., the 4th
+     of June, the ship's company obtained permission to bathe. The ship
+     was at anchor in St. John's harbour, and the captain prepared
+     himself for the public dinner at the Governor's by dressing in his
+     full uniform, and mounted the deck to step into his barge, which
+     was ready to take him ashore. The gambols and antics of the men in
+     the water caught his attention, and he stepped on one of the guns
+     to look at them; when a lad, a servant to one of the officers, who
+     was standing on the ship's side near to him, said, 'I'll have a
+     good swim by-and-by, too.' 'The sooner the better,' said the
+     captain, and tipped him into the water. He saw in an instant that
+     the lad could not swim, and quick as thought he dashed overboard in
+     his full dress uniform, with a rope in one hand, which he made fast
+     to the lad, who was soon on board again, without injury, though a
+     little frightened, but which did not prevent his soon enjoying the
+     ludicrous finish of the captain's frolic. The lad's boasting
+     expression gave an idea that he was a good swimmer, and I believe
+     if ever the captain was frightened, it was when he saw the
+     struggles in the water: but his self-possession and activity did
+     not forsake him, and no one enjoyed the laugh against himself more
+     than he did when the danger was over.
+
+     "This season at Newfoundland was passed in the same course of
+     active exertion as the former one. We sailed for Cadiz and Lisbon
+     in October, for the purpose of receiving any remittances in bullion
+     to England, which the British merchants might have ready on our
+     arrival. We had light winds and fine weather after making the coast
+     of Portugal. On one remarkably fine day, when the ship was
+     stealing through the water under the influence of a gentle breeze,
+     the people were all below at their dinners, and scarcely a person
+     left on deck but officers, of whom the captain was one. Two little
+     ship-boys had been induced, by the fineness of the weather, to run
+     up from below the moment they had dined, and were at play on the
+     spare anchor to leeward, which overhangs the side of the ship. One
+     of them fell overboard, which was seen from the quarter-deck, and
+     the order was given to luff the ship into the wind. In an instant
+     the officers were over the side; but it was the captain who,
+     grasping a rope firmly with one hand, let himself down to the
+     water's edge, and catching hold of the poor boy's jacket as he
+     floated past, he saved his life in as little time as I have taken
+     to mention it. There was not a rope touched, or a sail altered in
+     doing this, and the people below knew not of the accident until
+     they came on deck when their dinner was over.
+
+     "In every instance when a life was in danger, he was instant to
+     peril his own for its preservation; and I could fill pages, if it
+     were necessary to notice any but those which I was so fortunate as
+     to witness."
+
+
+After the _Winchelsea_ had been paid off in 1789, Captain Pellew was
+appointed to the _Salisbury_, 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral
+Milbanke, on the Newfoundland station; in which he served till 1791. His
+brother Israel became the first lieutenant, and was promoted from her.
+While in this ship, he was one day required to decide on the case of a
+seaman belonging to a merchant vessel in the harbour, who came on board
+to complain that his captain had punished him for a theft. Finding that
+the captain had acted illegally, though the man had really deserved a
+far more severe punishment, he said to the complainant, "You have done
+quite right in coming here: your captain had no business to punish you
+as he has done, and that he may learn to be more cautious in future, we
+order him to be fined--a shilling!" The man turned to leave the cabin,
+much disappointed at the award; but how was his surprise increased, when
+Captain Pellew said, "Stop, sir; we must now try you for the theft." The
+fact, which had been already admitted, allowed of no defence; and before
+the man left the ship, he was deservedly brought to the gangway.
+
+The admiral's secretary, Mr. Graham, afterwards the well-known police
+magistrate, related this circumstance to Lord Thurlow. The chancellor
+relaxed his iron features, and throwing himself back in his chair in a
+burst of laughter, exclaimed, "Well, if that is not law, it is at least
+justice. Captain Pellew ought to have been a judge."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] This seems to require explanation, for Mr. Pellew entered the navy
+in 1770, only ten years before. It was the allowed practice at that
+time, and for many years after, for young men intended for the navy to
+serve by proxy. A ship's boy would be borne on the books in the name of
+the future midshipman, who was allowed the credit of his substitute's
+service, and whose time in the navy was thus running on while he was
+still at school. Not only so, but, by permission of the Admiralty, the
+time served by one boy, personally, or even thus by proxy, might, if he
+left the service, be transferred to the account of another! It has been
+stated that Mr. Pellew's eldest brother was borne on the books of the
+_Seaford_, till he gave up the profession of the sea for that of
+medicine; and while Mr. Pellew was serving in America, he wrote to his
+brother a letter which still exists, requesting him to procure the
+transfer to himself, of his nominal Service. It would therefore appear
+that Lord Exmouth, when a midshipman, had the three years of his elder
+brother's nominal service added to his own time, though his brother was
+never at sea.
+
+[2] The Coles were through life intimately connected with the Pellews,
+to whom they were neighbours in childhood, when both families lived on
+the shores of the Mount's Bay; and their fortunes were very similar.
+Left when very young, to the care of a widowed mother, and in narrow
+circumstances, they all rose high by their own deserts. Two entered the
+church, and became, one Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the
+other Chaplain to Greenwich Hospital, and Chaplain-General of the Navy.
+Two entered the Navy, of whom Frank, the eldest, was selected to take
+charge of the late King William IV., when he was sent to sea as Prince
+William Henry. Christopher went to sea at ten years old, and became one
+of the first officers in the service, and not less distinguished for
+business habits and talents, in every post of duty. His capture of the
+strongly fortified island of Banda Neira, garrisoned with 1,200
+soldiers, with a mere boat party of 180 men, was an exploit, perhaps,
+unequalled. He was in charge of two frigates and a sloop of war, and
+having obtained the Admiral's permission to attempt the capture, nor
+without a strong caution, he proposed to come upon the place
+unexpectedly at day-break, and, like Sir Charles Brisbane at Curacoa,
+lay the ships as close as possible, and storm the works under their
+fire. This plan was baffled by the premature discovery of the ships by
+the enemy. He then resolved upon a night attack with the boats, and left
+the ships soon after midnight with 400 men: but the wind rose and
+dispersed the party, and at day-break he found himself with only 180 at
+hand. Undismayed, he pushed ashore with his little handful of heroes,
+rushed up the hill to Fort Belgica, which crowned and commanded the
+island, mounted the walls, swept the ramparts like a whirlwind, followed
+with the panic stricken enemy through the gate of an inner
+fortification, and carried the fortress, and with it the island, without
+the loss of a man, and even without a wound. He was second in command of
+the naval force at the capture of Java, and directed the landing of the
+troops, which, by his promptitude, and wise arrangements, was effected
+without loss. He twice received the thanks of the Supreme Government of
+India for important, political services. From his sovereign he received
+the rank of K.C.B.; from the Admiralty, a naval medal; from Oxford, the
+honorary degree of D.C.L., and from the East India Company, a service of
+plate. He represented Glamorganshire in Parliament for twelve years; was
+captain of the _Royal Sovereign_ yacht, and colonel of marines. He died
+suddenly, August 24th, 1836. It may encourage young officers whose
+promotion is slow, to learn that the brilliant successes of Sir
+Christopher Cole were preceded by thirteen years active service as
+midshipman and mate, and seven years as lieutenant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.
+
+
+Rich only in reputation, and with an increasing family, Captain Pellew
+felt the pressure of narrow circumstances; and with the mistake so often
+made by naval officers, he thought to improve them by farming. There was
+a moderately large farm, Treverry, within a few miles of Falmouth, which
+had descended in the family to his elder brother, and he proposed to
+cultivate this upon the principle of sharing the profits. His brother,
+though not very sanguine on the result, readily agreed to the
+experiment; and when in no long time Captain Pellew complained that he
+found it impossible to keep the accounts so as to make a fair division,
+he was allowed to rent it on his own terms. It will not occasion
+surprise that the undertaking was anything but profitable.
+
+Indeed, farming is almost always a very losing employment to a
+gentleman, and especially to a sailor. Nothing can be more incorrect
+than the conclusion that education ought to excel, because ignorance
+succeeds; for success depends upon attention to a multiplicity of petty
+details, which inexperience will be likely to overlook, and talent may
+find it irksome to attend to. If the small farmer, who cultivates his
+little ground by the labour of his own family, and the more considerable
+one, who devotes to his estate skill, capital, and undivided attention,
+so often fail, what can he hope for, who depends upon labourers whose
+mistakes he cannot correct, and whose indolence, and even dishonesty, he
+is scarcely able to check? The failure of crops which depend for their
+success upon the knowledge and activity of the principal; and the
+necessary and constant outlay, which is great beyond the conception of a
+novice, may ruin even him who farms his own land, when the care of it is
+only a secondary object; and this it will generally be to a professional
+man.
+
+The expected pleasures of fanning will be likely to disappoint, even
+more than its profits. When the fields are waving with abundance,
+nothing appears more delightful than to direct the labours they require;
+but the enjoyments of the harvest month, when all the weary toil of
+preparation is forgotten, will be found a poor compensation for the
+daily annoyances of the year. To be excelled in management by the
+uneducated, and over-reached by the cunning: to study systems of
+agriculture, to be thwarted in carrying them into effect, and when they
+fail, to become an object of contemptuous pity to the ignorant but
+successful followers of the old routine: to find that all around take
+advantage of his ignorance: that servants, the best with other masters,
+become careless and unfaithful with him: to become involved in petty
+disputes with low neighbours, and to be unable to avoid them except by a
+forbearance which encourages aggression: to find, that with all his
+attention and trouble, the income lags far behind the outgoings--those
+are among the pleasures of a gentleman farmer.
+
+To Captain Pellew, the employment was peculiarly unsuitable. His mind,
+happy only while it was active, could ill accommodate itself to pursuits
+which almost forbade exertion; and a business within the comprehension
+of a peasant was not for a character which could fill, and animate, with
+its own energy an extended sphere of action. Even now, when agriculture
+has become an eminently scientific profession, it requires to make it
+interesting that it shall be thoroughly understood, and conducted upon a
+proper scale; but at that time it was commonly a mere routine of dull
+drudgery, and nowhere more so than in the west of Cornwall. To have an
+object in view, yet be unable to advance it by any exertions of his own,
+was to him a source of constant irritation. He was wearied with the
+imperceptible growth of his crops, and complained that he made his eyes
+ache by watching their daily progress. He was not likely to excel in
+occupations so entirely uncongenial. The old people in the neighbourhood
+of Treverry speak with wonder of the fearlessness he displayed on
+different occasions, but shake their heads at his management as a
+farmer. They have no difficulty in accounting for his fortune. While he
+lived at Treverry, a swarm of bees found an entrance over the porch, of
+the house, and made a comb there for many successive years; and to this
+happy omen they attribute all his after success. The apartment is still
+called the "bee-room."
+
+The offer of a command in the Russian navy gave him an opportunity to
+escape from his difficulties. It was recommended to him by an officer of
+high character, with whom he had served, and who possessed so many
+claims upon his confidence that he thought it right to strengthen his
+own decision by the opinion of his elder brother, before he finally
+refused it. His brother, who had always encouraged his every ambitious,
+and every honourable feeling, and who, even at this time, confidently
+anticipated for him a career of high distinction, of which, indeed, his
+past life afforded ample promise, would not for a moment listen to his
+entering a foreign service. He said, that every man owes his services,
+blood, and life, so exclusively to his own country that he has no right
+to give them to another; and he desired Captain Pellew to reflect how he
+would answer for it to his God, if he lost his life in a cause which had
+no claim upon him. These high considerations of patriotism and religion
+are the true ground upon which the question should rest. Deeply is it to
+be regretted that men of high character should have unthinkingly
+sanctioned by their example what their own closer reflection might have
+led them to condemn. Still more is it to be deplored that deserving
+officers, hopeless, in the present state of the navy, (1834) of
+promotion, or employment, should be driven by their necessities to
+sacrifice their proudest and most cherished feelings, and to quit for a
+foreign flag the service of which they might become the strength and
+ornament. War is too dreadful a calamity to be lightly incurred. Only
+patriotism, with all its elevating and endearing associations of
+country, homes, and altars, can throw a veil over its horrors, and a
+glory around its achievements: patriotism, which gives to victory all
+its splendour; sheds lustre even on defeat; and hallows the tomb of the
+hero, fallen amidst the regrets and admiration of his country. But he
+who goes forth to fight the battles of another State, what honour can
+victory itself afford to him? or how shall he be excused, if he attack
+the allies of his own country, whom, as such, he is bound on his
+allegiance to respect?
+
+The decision of Captain Pellew on this occasion proved as fortunate as
+it was honourable. At the beginning of 1793, there was no appearance of
+hostilities; and when the French republicans put to death their king, on
+the 21st of January, and declared war against England twelve days after,
+the Government, which had made no preparation for such an event, was
+taken by surprise almost as much as the country. The navy was on the
+peace establishment, with only sixteen thousand seamen and marines; and
+it became necessary in the course of the year to raise for it sixty
+thousand men. Mr. Pellew, whose situation at Falmouth enabled him to
+obtain the earliest information, hastened to Treverry as soon as he saw
+that war was likely to break out, and advised his brother immediately to
+offer his services to the Admiralty in person. Captain Pellew, too happy
+in the prospect of exchanging the ploughshare for the sword, returned
+with him to Falmouth; and the same night was on the road to London.
+
+He was immediately appointed to the _Nymphe_, of thirty-six guns,
+formerly a French frigate, which, by a striking coincidence, had been
+taken by boarding in the former war, after having been disabled by the
+loss of her wheel. He fitted her with extraordinary dispatch; but from
+the number of ships commissioned at the same time, there was great
+difficulty in manning her. Anticipating this, Captain Pellew wrote to
+Falmouth as soon as he had received his appointment, and adverting to
+the importance of getting his ship to sea quickly, he requested his
+brother to assist him in procuring a crew--of sailors, if possible; but
+if not, then of Cornish miners.
+
+The choice may appear extraordinary, but Cornish miners are better
+calculated to make seamen than any other class of landsmen; not so much
+because they are always accustomed to difficult climbing, and familiar
+with the use of ropes, and gunpowder, as that the Cornish system of
+mining, with an order and discipline scarcely surpassed in a ship of
+war, compels the lowest workman to act continually upon his own
+judgment. Thus it creates that combination of ready obedience, with
+intelligence, and promptitude at resource, which is the perfection of a
+sailor's character. Familiarity with danger gives the miner a cool and
+reflective intrepidity; and the old county sport of wrestling, so
+peculiarly a game of strength and skill, now falling into disuse, but
+then the daily amusement of every boy, was admirably calculated to
+promote the activity and self-possession necessary in personal
+conflicts.
+
+Captain Pellew's quick discrimination is remarkably shown in thus
+discovering the capabilities of a class of men, who had never before
+been similarly tried, and with whom he could have had comparatively but
+little acquaintance There were no mines in the immediate neighbourhood
+of anyplace where he had lived; and as his professional habits were not
+likely to give him an interest in the subject, he had probably never
+held much intercourse with miners, except when he might have met them as
+rioters. For at that period, the attention of the west countrymen was
+devoted almost exclusively to their mines and fisheries, to the neglect
+of agriculture; and the county being thus dependent upon importations,
+famine was not uncommon. At such times, the poor tinners would come into
+the towns, or wherever they had reason to believe that corn was stored,
+with their bags, and their money, asking only barley-bread, and offering
+the utmost they could give for it, but insisting that food should be
+found for them at a price they could afford to pay. If the law must
+condemn such risings, humanity would pity them for the cause, and
+justice must admire the forbearance displayed in them. At one of these
+seasons of distress, when there was a great quantity of corn in the
+customhouse cellars at Falmouth, a strong body of miners came in to
+insist that it should be sold. Mr. Pellew, the collector, met them in
+the street, and explained to them the circumstances under which he was
+entrusted with it, and which left him no power to sell. They were
+famishing men, and the corn was in their power; but they had come to
+buy, and famine itself, with the almost certainty of impunity, could not
+tempt them to steal. They received his explanation, and left the town
+peaceably.
+
+About eighty miners entered for the _Nymphe_ and joined her at Spithead.
+She sailed on her passage from Spithead to Falmouth very badly manned,
+having not more than a dozen seamen on board, exclusive of the officers,
+who were obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the sails, the captain
+setting the example wherever anything was to be done, and often steering
+the ship. A corporal of marines was captain of the forecastle. Arriving
+at Falmouth, after a rough passage, she soon picked up a few good men.
+She took a convoy from thence to the Nore, another from the Nore to
+Hamburgh, and a third from Cuxhaven to the Nore again; never letting
+slip an opportunity to press as many men as could be spared from the
+merchant-ships. The captain would remain in a boat all night, and think
+himself amply repaid if he obtained only one good man. From the Nore,
+she returned to Spithead, and thence sailed on a cruize, in company with
+the _Venus_, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, having now a full proportion of
+good seamen, though she was still short of her complement, and none of
+the crew had ever seen a shot fired. She parted company with the _Venus_
+in chase, but rejoined her on the 29th of May. On the 27th, the _Venus_
+had engaged the French frigate _Semillante_, one of a squadron then
+cruizing in the Channel under the orders of Captain Mullon, of the
+_Cleopatra_. The action had continued two hours, much to the
+disadvantage of the enemy, when the _Cleopatra_ was seen coming up, and
+the _Venus_ was obliged to fly. On the _Nymphe_ rejoining her, the two
+frigates went in pursuit of the enemy as far as Cherbourg. Thence
+Captain Pellew proceeded to the North Channel, where some French
+cruisers were reported to have gone; but having swept the Channel
+without seeing anything of them, and taken on board his brother Israel,
+then living, a commander on half-pay, at Larne, he returned to Falmouth.
+Here, on the 16th of June, the _Nymphe_ pressed the crew of a
+South-seaman, which full manned the ship.
+
+She sailed from Falmouth on the evening of the 18th. That afternoon,
+Captain Pellew was informed that two French frigates had again been seen
+in the Channel, and he discussed with his brother Israel, at their elder
+brother's table, the course most likely to intercept them. After they
+had talked over the advantages of sailing along the English or the
+French coast, they at length determined to keep mid-channel.
+
+An active and most anxious pursuit of the enemy for the last three weeks
+had made the crew not less eager than their commander; and the subject
+of the expected battle engrossed their sleeping and waking thoughts. A
+dream of Captain Israel Pellew had perhaps some influence on the result.
+His brother would not allow him to be called till they were just closing
+the French frigate, and meeting him as he ran on deck half dressed, he
+said to him, with much emotion,--"Israel, you have no business here! We
+are too many eggs from one nest. I am sorry I brought you from your
+wife." But Israel, whose whole attention was occupied with the enemy,
+exclaimed, "That's the very frigate I've been dreaming of all night! I
+dreamt that we shot away her wheel. We shall have her in a quarter of an
+hour!" His brother, who had already inferred her high state of
+discipline from her manoeuvres, replied, "We shall not take her so
+easily. See how she is handled." He was a perfect artillerist, and,
+prompted by the suggestions of his sleep, he took charge of a gun, made
+the wheel his object, and ultimately shot it away. Not less
+extraordinary was the dream of a master's mate, Mr. Pearse, who had
+served in the _Winchelsea_. He dreamt that the _Nymphe_ fell in with a
+French frigate the day after leaving port, that they killed her captain,
+and took her; and so vivid was the impression, that he firmly believed
+it to be a supernatural intimation, and spoke of it accordingly to his
+messmates. They rallied him immoderately on his superstition, but his
+confidence remained unshaken; and when his papers were examined after
+his death, for he was killed in the action, it was found that he had
+written the dream in his pocket-book.
+
+At day break on the 19th, as they were proceeding up Channel, being
+still some miles to the westward of the Start, a sail was observed in
+the south-east, winch was soon made out to be a French frigate. Before
+six o'clock they had approached very near, the enemy making no attempt
+to escape; and, indeed, if both nations had wished at this early period
+of the war to try the merit of their respective navies by a battle, no
+ship could have been better calculated than the _Cleopatra_ to maintain
+the honour of her flag. Her commander, Captain Mullon, was deservedly
+considered one of the most able officers of the French marine. As
+Suffren's captain, he had taken a prominent part in the actions with Sir
+Edward Hughes in the East Indies; and the code of signals then used
+along the French coast was his own invention. The _Cleopatra_ had been
+more than a year in commission, and, with such a commander, it may be
+supposed that her crew had been well trained to all their duties.
+Indeed, it was known that the enemy had taken great pains in the
+equipment of their cruizers; and the generally inferior description of
+the English crews, inevitable from the circumstance that a navy was to
+be commissioned at once, had led to great apprehensions for the result
+of the first action. The seaman-like style in which the _Cleopatra_ was
+handled did not escape the eye of Captain Pellew; who, conscious of his
+own disadvantage, from the inexperience of his ship's company,
+determined to avail himself of the power which the enemy's gallantry
+afforded him, to bring the ships at once to close action, and let
+courage alone decide it.
+
+In the courage of his men he placed the firmest reliance; and when he
+addressed a few words to them, before they closed with the enemy, he
+knew how to suggest the most effectual encouragement in a situation so
+new to them all. To the miners, he appealed by their honour and spirit
+as Cornishmen; a motive which the feelings of his own bosom told him
+would, above all things, animate theirs. Probably there is no place
+where local pride prevails so strongly as in the west of Cornwall. The
+lower classes, employed for the most part in pursuits which require the
+constant exercise of observation and judgment, and familiarized to
+danger in their mines and fisheries, are peculiarly thoughtful and
+intrepid; while the distinctness of name and character which they derive
+from the almost insular position of their county, and the general
+ignorance of strangers in the interesting pursuits with which they are
+so familiar, have taught the lower classes to regard it less as an
+integral part of England, than a distinct and superior country. They
+have a nobler motive for this feeling, in the successes of their
+forefathers against the arms of the rebel parliament, when their
+loyalty, unwavering amidst prosperous treason, and their victories over
+superior discipline and numbers, obtained for them the grateful eulogy
+of their unfortunate sovereign. His letter remains painted, as he
+directed, in a conspicuous part of their older churches, a most
+honourable monument of their virtues and his gratitude. No man could be
+prouder of his county than Captain Pellew himself; and, as it was an
+object much coveted by the most promising of its young men to serve in
+his ship, and he continued steadily to patronize those who showed
+themselves deserving, there is scarcely a town in it from which he has
+not made officers. Thus his feelings were in perfect unison with theirs;
+and never was an appeal made with greater confidence, or answered with
+higher spirit, than when he reminded them of their home.
+
+At six o'clock the ships were so near, that the captains mutually
+hailed. Not a shot had yet been fired. The crew of the _Nymphe_ now
+shouted "Long live King George!" and gave three hearty cheers. Captain
+Mullon was then seen to address his crew briefly, holding a cap of
+liberty, which he waved before them. They answered with acclamations,
+shouting, "Vive la Republique!" as if in reply to the loyal watchword of
+the British crew, and to mark the opposite principles for which the
+battle was to be fought. The cap of liberty was then given to a sailor,
+who ran up the main rigging, and screwed it on the mast-head.
+
+At a quarter past six, the _Nymphe_ reached the starboard quarter of the
+_Cleopatra_, when Captain Pellew, whose hat was still in his hand,
+raised it to his head, the preconcerted signal for the _Nymphe_ to open
+her fire. Both frigates immediately commenced a furious cannonade, which
+they maintained without intermission for three quarters of an hour,
+running before the wind under top-gallant-sails, and very near each
+other. At a little before seven, the mizen-mast of the _Cleopatra_
+fell, and presently after her wheel was shot away. Thus rendered
+unmanageable, she came round with her bow to the _Nymphe's_ broadside,
+her jib-boom pressing hard against the mainmast. Captain Pellew,
+supposing that the enemy were going to board, ordered the boarders to be
+called, to repel them; but the disabled state of the _Cleopatra_ was
+soon evident, and he at once gave orders to board her. Immediately the
+boarders rushed on the forecastle, a division of them, headed by Mr.,
+afterwards Capt. George Bell, boarding through the main-deck ports, and
+fought their way along the gangways to the quarter-deck. The
+republicans, though much superior in numbers, could not resist the
+impetuosity of the attack. At ten minutes past seven they had all fled
+below, or submitted, and the pennant of the _Cleopatra_ was hauled down.
+
+While the boarders were pouring in upon the enemy's forecastle, the
+mainmast of the _Nymphe_, having been much wounded, and with the main
+and spring-stays shot away, was most seriously endangered by the
+pressure of the _Cleopatra's_ jib-boom. Fortunately, the jib-boom broke,
+and the _Cleopatra_ fell alongside the _Nymphe_, head and stern. The
+mainmast was again in danger, from the _Cleopatra's_ larboard
+maintopmast-studding-sail boom-iron hooking in the larboard leech-rope
+of the main-topsail, and dragging the sail. Captain Pellew ordered some
+active seaman to go out upon the yard, and free the sail, promising ten
+guineas, if he succeeded; and a main-top-man, named Burgess, immediately
+sprang out, and cut the leech-rope. Lieutenant Pellowe had been already
+directed to drop the best bower-anchor, as a means of getting the ships
+apart; and by the time half the prisoners had been removed, the prize
+separated, and fell astern.
+
+The crew fought with a steadiness and gallantry above all praise. A lad,
+who had served in the _Winchelsea_ as barber's boy, was made second
+captain of one of the main-deck guns. The captain being killed, he
+succeeded to command the gun; and through the rest of the action,
+Captain Pellew heard him from the gangway give the word for all the
+successive steps of loading and pointing, as if they had been only in
+exercise. In the heat of action, one of the men came from the main deck
+to ask the captain what he must do, for that all the men at his gun were
+killed or wounded but himself, and he had been trying to fight it alone,
+but could not. Another, who had joined but the day before, was found
+seated on a gun-carriage, complaining that he had been very well as long
+as he was fighting, but that his sea sickness returned as soon as the
+battle was over, and that he did not know what was the matter with his
+leg, it smarted so much. It was found that the poor fellow had received
+a musket ball in it.
+
+The loss was severe on both sides, and, in proportion to the respective
+crews, nearly equal. The _Nymphe_, out of a crew of 240, had 23 killed,
+including her boatswain, a master's mate (Pearse), and three midshipmen;
+and 27 wounded, among whom were her second lieutenant, the lieutenant of
+marines, and two midshipmen. The _Cleopatra_ lost 63 killed and wounded,
+out of a crew of 320. She came out of action, therefore, with 67
+effective men more than her conqueror. It is highly creditable to the
+_Nymphe's_ crew, that they beat a ship like the _Cleopatra_ by gunnery,
+notwithstanding their inexperience; and carried her by a hand-to-hand
+conflict, notwithstanding their inferior numbers.
+
+Captain Mullon was killed. A cannon-shot struck him on the back, and
+carried away great part of his left hip. Even at that dreadful moment he
+felt the importance of destroying the signals which he carried in his
+pocket; but in his dying agony, he took out his commission in mistake,
+and expired in the act of devouring it;--a trait of devoted heroism
+never surpassed by any officer of any nation. These signals, so valuable
+as long as the enemy did not know them to be in possession of the
+British, thus fell into the hands of Captain Pellew, who delivered them
+to the Admiralty.
+
+Captain Pellew arrived at Portsmouth with his prize on the following
+day. He sent the flag under which she fought, and the cap of liberty, to
+his brother. This, the first trophy of the kind taken in the
+revolutionary war, is about seven inches long, made of wood, and painted
+red; with a round, tapering spear of brass, about three feet and a half
+long, the lower half being blackened, with a screw at the end to fix it
+on the mast. The following letter accompanied these trophies:--
+
+
+     "DEAR SAM,--Here we are--thank God! safe--after a glorious action
+     with _La Cleopatre_, the crack ship of France; 40 guns, 28 on her
+     main-deck, and 12 on her quarter-deck, some of 36 pounds, and 320
+     men. We dished her up in fifty minutes, boarded, and struck her
+     colours. We have suffered much, but I was long determined to make a
+     short affair of it. We conversed before we fired a shot, and then,
+     God knows, hot enough it was, as you will see by the enclosed.[3] I
+     might have wrote for a month, had I entered on the description of
+     every gallant action, but we were all in it, heart and soul. I owe
+     much to Israel, who undertook with the after-gun to cut off her
+     rudder and wheel. The tiller was shot away, and four men were
+     killed at her wheel, which I verily believe was owing to him. I
+     will write again in a day or two, and do all I can for everybody.
+     We must go into harbour. _Cleopatra_ is fifteen feet longer, and
+     three feet wider than _Nymphe_--much larger, Poor dear Pearse is
+     numbered with the slain[4]--Plane and Norway slightly wounded--old
+     Nicholls safe. God be praised for his mercy to myself, and Israel,
+     and all of us!
+                                              "Yours, ever,   E.P."
+
+     "Be kind to Susan--go over, and comfort her; I cannot write to poor
+     Pearse's mother for my life--do send her a note; I really cannot. I
+     loved him, poor fellow, and he deserved it.
+
+     "_June 20, 1793._"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] A list of the killed and wounded.
+
+[4] After the action, Mr. Norway requested permission to keep the body
+of Mr. Pearse for interment by his friends. Captain Pellew for answer
+desired Mr. N. to read the contents of a paper which he drew from his
+pocket. It was a direction that if he, Capt. P., should foil, his body
+should at once be thrown overboard. Of course Mr. N. immediately
+withdrew his request.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.
+
+
+The capture of the first frigate in a war is always an object of much
+interest; and the circumstances of the late action, the merit of which
+was enhanced by the skill and gallantry of the enemy, gave additional
+importance to Captain Pellew's success. "I never doubted," said Lord
+Howe, "that you would take a French frigate; but the manner in which you
+have done it, will establish an example for the war."
+
+The brothers were introduced to the King on the 29th of June, by the
+Earl of Chatham, First Lord of the Admiralty; when Captain Pellew
+received the honour of knighthood, and his brother was made a
+post-captain. Besides the usual promotions, the master, Mr. Thomson,
+received a lieutenant's commission. As Mr. Thomson was a master of
+considerable standing, the captain supposed that he would decline the
+change to be a junior lieutenant; but the master preferred to get into
+the line for promotion, and as the result showed, he decided wisely, for
+he followed Sir Edward to the _Arethusa_ and _Indefatigable_; and as he
+had the singular fortune to fight four brilliant actions in three years
+and a-half, each of which obtained promotion for his first lieutenant,
+Mr. Thomson thus rose rapidly to seniority, and was made a commander for
+the action with the _Droits de l'Homme_.
+
+Captain Mullon was buried at Portsmouth, with all the honours due to
+his gallantry. One of Sir Edward's first acts was to write a letter of
+condolence to the widow; and as he learnt that she was left in narrow
+circumstances, he sent, with her husband's property, what assistance his
+then very limited means enabled him to offer. Madame Mullon acknowledged
+his attention and kindness in a most grateful letter. He received also
+the warm acknowledgments of the _Cleopatra's_ surviving officers, the
+senior of whom requested and received from him testimonials of the skill
+and gallantry with which they had defended their ship, without which
+their defeat, in the bloody councils which then prevailed, would
+probably have brought them to the scaffold. What was scarcely to be
+expected at such a time, and after a first defeat, it was admitted in
+the _Moniteur_ that the "superb frigate" the _Cleopatra_ had been taken
+by a frigate of equal force.
+
+The action between the _Nymphe_ and _Cleopatra_ is interesting as the
+first in which a ship had substituted carronades for her quarter-deck
+guns of small calibre, making them a material part of her force. This
+gun had been invented about three years before the close of the former
+war, and the Admiralty had allowed it to be introduced generally into
+the navy; but except in one ship, the _Rainbow_, 44, which was armed
+entirely with heavy carronades, it was considered as supplementary to
+the regular armament, being mounted only where long guns could not be
+placed, and not affecting the ship's rating. The _Flora_, when she took
+the _Nymphe_, in 1780, thus carried six 18-pounder carronades, in
+addition to her proper number of long guns; and the _Artois_, when Sir
+Edward commanded her, was armed in the same manner. The carronade was at
+first very unpopular with the sailors, generally prejudiced as they are
+against innovations, and who, not understanding how to use it,
+attributed failures which arose from their own mismanagement to defects
+in the invention. Sir Edward, who had no prejudices to contend with in
+training his crew, obtained permission, when he fitted the _Nymphe_, to
+exchange the six-pounders on her quarter-deck for 24-pounder carronades;
+and the result of the battle confirmed his favourable opinion of them.
+His next ship, the _Arethusa_, was armed precisely as the forty-four gun
+frigates at a later period of the war, with eighteen-pounders on the
+main-deck, and 32-pounder carronades on the quarter-deck and forecastle.
+He joined her in January 1794.
+
+Towards the end of 1793, the enemy fitted out a number of frigates,
+which cruised at the entrance of the Channel, chiefly in small
+squadrons, and committed the most serious depredations. Sir Edward
+formed the idea of checking them by an independent cruising squadron;
+but, expecting that a measure so unusual as to create a distinct command
+within the limits of an Admiral's station would be very strongly
+opposed, he would not, as an officer without influence, venture to
+recommend it himself; but he explained his views to Sir J. Borlase
+Warren, whose interest was great, and urged him to apply for such a
+command. The Admiralty, whose attention had already been anxiously
+directed to the successes of the enemy, approved of the proposal, and
+gave Sir John a small squadron of frigates, of which the _Arethusa_ was
+one, and which were to rendezvous at Falmouth. Such was the origin of
+the Western squadrons, which, from the number of their successes, and
+their character of dashing enterprise, became the most popular service
+in the navy. As a school for officers and seamen, they were never
+surpassed. Almost all their captains rose to high distinction, and a
+list of well-known flag-officers may be traced in connection with them,
+such as, perhaps, was never formed by any other service of the same
+extent. It may suffice to mention such names as Sir Richard Strachan,
+Sir Israel Pellew, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Sidney Smith, Sir Richard
+Keats, Sir James Saumarez, Sir Philip Durham, Sir Charles V. Penrose,
+Admirals Barlow, and Reynolds. Nothing equals the animating duties of a
+cruizing frigate squadron. The vigilance in hovering on the enemy's
+coast, or sweeping over the seas around it; the chase, by a single ship
+detached to observe a suspicious stranger, or by the whole squadron to
+overtake an enemy; the occasional action; the boat-attack;--service like
+this gives constant life to a sailor. In a line-of-battle ship, with the
+perfection of discipline, there is less demand for individual
+enterprise, and fewer of the opportunities which fit crews for exploits
+where all depends on rapidity and daring. On the other hand, a single
+cruizer wants the stimulus supplied by constant emulation. But in a
+squadron, all the ships vie with one another; and the smartest of them,
+herself always improving, gives an example, and a character to the
+whole.
+
+In the middle of April 1794, Sir J.B. Warren sailed from Portsmouth in
+the _Flora_, with the _Arethusa_, _Concorde_, _Melampus_, and _Nymphe_.
+At daylight on the 23rd, he fell in with a French squadron off the Isle
+of Bass; the _Engageante_, _Pomone_, and _Resolue_, frigates; and the
+_Babet_, 22-gun corvette. The enemy, who were standing to the
+north-west, made sail on perceiving the British squadron; the Commodore
+in _l'Engageante_ being a-head, then _Resolue_, _Pomone_, and _Babet_.
+Soon after, the wind shifted two points, from S.S.W. to south, giving
+the British the weather-gage, and preventing the enemy from making their
+escape to the land.
+
+Outsailing her consorts, the _Flora_ came up with the enemy at half-past
+six; and giving the _Babet_ a passing broadside, stood on and attacked
+the _Pomone_. The _Pomone_ was at that time by much the largest frigate
+ever built, being only one hundred tons smaller than a 64-gun ship, and
+carrying long 24-pounders on her main deck. The _Flora_, being only a
+36, with 18-pounders, was a very unequal match for this powerful ship,
+which soon cut her sails and rigging to pieces, shot away her
+fore-topmast, and left her astern. The _Melampus_, which,
+notwithstanding her endeavours to close, was still far to windward on
+the _Pomone's_ quarter; now fired on her, but unavoidably at too great a
+distance to produce any material effect, though the heavy guns of the
+enemy inflicted on her a greater loss than was sustained by any other
+ship in the squadron. The _Arethusa_, which had previously cannonaded
+the _Babet_, while she was pressing on to overtake the frigates, soon
+came up with the _Pomone_, closed her to windward, and engaged her
+single-handed, and within pistol-shot, till she struck. The _Flora_, in
+the mean time, took possession of the corvette. A short time before the
+close of the action, the _Pomone_ took fire, but her crew succeeded in
+extinguishing the flames. At half-past nine, the _Arethusa_ shot away
+her main and mizen masts, and compelled her to surrender.
+
+As soon as the enemy struck, the Commodore, in the full warmth of his
+feelings, wrote to Sir Edward a short and expressive note:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAR PELLEW,--I shall ever hold myself indebted, and under
+     infinite obligations to you, for the noble and gallant support you
+     gave me to-day.
+
+       "God bless you and all yours!
+                        "Your most sincere,
+                              "And affectionate friend,
+                                          "J.B. WARREN."
+
+
+He then made signal for a general chase. Both the _Flora_ and _Arethusa_
+were too much crippled to follow immediately, though the latter in a
+very short time repaired her damages sufficiently to enable her to make
+sail; and the _Nymphe_, to the great mortification of all on board, was
+so far astern from the first, that she was never able, with all their
+exertions, to take any part in the action. But the _Concorde_, commanded
+by Sir Richard Strachan, by superior sailing, came up with the
+_Resolue_; when the French Commodore, in _l'Engageante_, coming to
+assist his consort, Sir Richard brought his new opponent to close
+action, and took her. The _Resolue_ escaped. It is remarkable that this
+frigate had been attacked and compelled to submit by Sir R. Strachan,
+in November, 1791, for resisting the search of some vessels which were
+carrying stores to Tippoo Saib; and that she was afterwards taken by the
+_Melampus_.
+
+The squadron carried their prizes into Portsmouth. The Commodore was
+honoured with a red ribbon, a most unusual distinction for a service of
+this extent, and which he often said Sir Edward Pellew had mainly
+contributed to place on his shoulder. Sir J. Warren's acknowledgments
+were not the only flattering notice which Sir Edward received. The First
+Lord of the Admiralty sent him a letter, dated on the third day after
+the action.
+
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I have but a moment to acknowledge your letter, which I
+     have received this morning with infinite pleasure; and to say, that
+     I am extremely happy the same success and honour attend you in the
+     _Arethusa_ as in the _Nymphe_. I shall be very glad to see you
+     while you are refitting, as soon as your leg will permit it, and
+     which, I am happy to hear, is only a sprain.
+
+                             "I am, dear Sir,
+                     "Your very faithful, humble servant,
+                                                    "CHATHAM."
+
+
+From Lord Howe, the Commander-in-chief on the station, then just about
+to sail on the cruise which proved so honourable to himself and to his
+country, he received the following letter:--
+
+
+                   "The _Charlotte_, St. Helen's, 28th April, 1794.
+
+     "SIR,--I had already desired Sir John Warren, before the receipt of
+     your favour of this day's date, to present my congratulations on
+     the very distinguished success which has attended your late
+     undertaking. The superiority of the _Pomone_ adds much to the
+     credit of it; although the event has not surpassed the confidence I
+     should have entertained of it, if I could have been apprized of
+     the opportunity before the action commenced.
+
+     "I am much obliged by the communications which have accompanied
+     your letter; and remain, with sentiments of particular esteem and
+     regard,
+
+                               "Sir,
+                  "Your most obedient, humble servant,
+                                                  "HOWE."
+
+
+On the 23rd of August following, the squadron, now consisting of six
+frigates, which had sailed from Falmouth on the 7th, chased the French
+frigate _Volontaire_, and the corvettes _Alerte_ and _Espion_, into the
+Bay of Audierne, a large bay immediately to the southward of Brest,
+having the promontory at the south entrance of that harbour, the Bec du
+Raz, for its northern, and Penmarck Point for its southern extremity.
+Four of the squadron chased the frigate on shore near the Penmarcks,
+where she was totally wrecked. The corvettes took shelter under the
+batteries, where they were driven on shore and cannonaded by the _Flora_
+and _Arethusa_, until their masts fell, and great part of their crews
+escaped to the land. The boats of the _Arethusa_ were now ordered to set
+them on fire; but when it was found, on boarding them, that many of
+their wounded could not be removed with safety, Sir Edward contented
+himself with taking out the rest of the prisoners, leaving the wounded
+to the care of their friends on shore, and the stranded corvettes, which
+were already bilged, to their fate. _L'Espion_ was afterwards got off by
+the enemy.
+
+The state of the Channel was at this time very different from what it
+had been a few months before. The enemy's cruisers, which then were
+almost in possession of it, could now scarcely leave their ports without
+being taken. While the frigates swept the Channel, spreading themselves
+to command a very extensive range of view, it was difficult for an enemy
+to elude their vigilance. Chasing in different directions, to take
+advantage of every change of wind, and to circumvent him in every
+manoeuvre, it was impossible for him, once seen, to escape their
+pursuit.
+
+The services of the western squadron led the Admiralty to increase the
+force, and divide the command; and the second squadron was given to Sir
+Edward Pellew. On the 21st of October, at daybreak, the _Arethusa_, with
+the _Artois_, Captain Nagle; _Diamond_, Sir Sidney Smith; and _Galatea_,
+Captain Keats, fell in with the French frigate _Revolutionaire_, eight
+or ten miles to the westward of Ushant, the wind being off the land. The
+squadron gave chase, and the Commodore took the most weatherly course,
+observing, that if the French captain were a seaman, the prize would
+fall to himself, for his only chance of escape was to carry a press of
+sail to windward. Instead of this, the enemy kept away; and the _Artois_
+overtook, and brought her to action. After they had been closely engaged
+for forty minutes, the _Diamond_ came up; but Sir Sidney Smith, with
+that chivalrous feeling which marked his character, would not allow a
+shot to be fired, saying, that Nagle had fought his ship well, and he
+would not diminish the credit of his trophy. But when the enemy did not
+immediately surrender, he said, that she must not be allowed to do
+mischief, and ordered a broadside to be ready. Then, taking out his
+watch, he continued, "We'll allow her five minutes: if she do not then
+strike, we'll fire into her." He stood with the watch in his hand, and
+just before the time expired, the French colours came down.
+
+Captain Nagle was deservedly knighted for his gallantry. The prize,
+which had been launched only six months, was 150 tons larger than any
+British-built frigate, and superior to any captured one, except the
+_Pomone_. She had a furnace for heating shot, which the enemy had used
+in the action. She was commissioned by the Commodore's early friend.
+Captain Frank Cole, and attached to the squadron. It would have added to
+the interest Sir Edward felt when he took possession of this very
+beautiful ship, could he have known that she was to close her career in
+the navy under his second son, at that time a child. She was taken to
+pieces in 1822, at Plymouth, after having been paid off by the Hon.
+Captain Fleetwood Pellew, who had commanded her for the preceding four
+years.
+
+On the 22d of December, when Sir Edward's squadron was at anchor in
+Falmouth, the Channel fleet being at Spithead, and a large outward-bound
+convoy waiting for a fair wind at Torbay, an English gentleman, who had
+just escaped from L'Orient, arrived at Falmouth in a neutral vessel, and
+reported to Mr. Pellew, the collector of the Customs, the important fact
+that the Brest fleet had just been ordered to sea. He had received the
+information from the naval commandant at L'Orient, and a line-of-battle
+ship in that port, _Le Caton_, was to join the force. Sir Edward was
+immediately sent for by his brother, and the very important information
+they received appearing certain, it was deemed necessary that Sir Edward
+should communicate it in person to the Admiralty, and send advices from
+the nearest post towns on the road to the admirals at Plymouth and
+Portsmouth, as well as to the senior officer at Torbay. He went off
+express the same afternoon, accompanied by the marine officer of the
+_Arethusa_, afterwards Colonel Sir Richard Williams, K.C.B., late
+commandant of the division of marines at Portsmouth; and arrived in
+London on the 24th, at that time an almost unexampled despatch.[5]
+
+The object of the French fleet in putting to sea at so unusual a season
+was most probably to strike a severe blow at British commerce, by
+intercepting the convoy from Torbay; and in this there is every reason
+to believe they would have succeeded, but for the timely information of
+their intended cruise, and the prompt measures which were taken in
+consequence, for the wind became fair that night. It was one of those
+events which so frequently occur in history, and as often in private
+life, where important consequences depend upon some accidental, or, to
+speak more properly, providential circumstance, which yet is unavailing,
+unless improved by judgment and energy.
+
+When Sir Edward made his communication to the Admiralty, Earl Spencer
+observed, that the first step was to send advices without delay to the
+admirals at Plymouth and Portsmouth. "That," replied Sir Edward, "has
+been already attended to. I sent despatches from Exeter and Salisbury."
+"Then, Sir," said a junior Lord, apparently with displeasure, "you have
+left nothing for the Admiralty to do."--"Except," interposed Lord
+Spencer, "to get the British fleet to sea with as little delay as
+possible."
+
+The Board directed Sir Edward to return to Falmouth, and proceed without
+delay to reconnoitre Brest. During his absence, Sir J.B. Warren had
+arrived with his frigates; and a squadron, consisting of the _Pomone_,
+_Arethusa_, _Diamond_, _Galatea_, and _Concorde_, sailed from Falmouth
+on the 2nd of January, and arrived off Ushant on the following morning.
+The _Diamond_, commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, was sent a-head to
+reconnoitre, and the squadron followed. A line-of-battle ship was seen
+at anchor in Bertheaume Bay on the evening of the 4th. The _Diamond_
+persevered in working up through the night, and at eight next morning
+was seen returning to the squadron.
+
+Sir Sidney reported that he had completely reconnoitred Brest at
+daylight, and ascertained that the enemy's fleet was at sea. On his
+return, he was under the necessity of passing very near the French
+seventy-four, but having disguised his ship with French colours, and a
+_bonnet rouge_ at her head, he went boldly under the enemy's stern, and
+hailed her in French. She was the ship from L'Orient, _Le Caton_, which
+had been obliged to return to port disabled, and her pumps were going as
+she lay at anchor. Sir Sidney gave the name of his own ship as _La
+Surveillante_; and having offered assistance, which was declined, he
+took leave, and made sail for the squadron.
+
+The enemy's fleet, thirty-five sail of the line, thirteen frigates, and
+sixteen smaller vessels, had put to sea towards the end of December.
+Some of them were driven back by a gale, but the fleet continued to
+cruise until the end of January, when they were obliged to return to
+port, with the loss of five ships.[6]
+
+The squadron, having effected their principal object, arrived off
+Falmouth, and landed despatches on the 6th. They afterwards continued
+their cruise until the 22d, when they returned to port.
+
+Sir Edward now left the _Arethusa_, and joined the _Indefatigable_, one
+of three 64-gun ships which had lately been cut down to heavy frigates.
+One part of the plan was to reduce their masts and rigging in proportion
+to the diminished size of their hulls. All of them proved slow and
+unmanageable ships; and Sir Edward, who had satisfied himself of the
+cause of the failure, applied to the Navy Board for permission to alter
+the _Indefatigable_. The Comptroller of the Navy was much offended at
+the request, denying that the plan of the Navy Board had failed; and
+when Sir Edward alluded to the notorious inefficiency of the ships, he
+said that it arose entirely from faulty stowage of the ballast and hold.
+They parted, mutually dissatisfied; and Sir Edward appealed immediately
+to Lord Spencer, who, a short time before, had been placed at the head
+of the Admiralty. This nobleman showed every desire to meet Sir Edward's
+wishes, but expressed very great reluctance to involve himself in a
+difference with the Navy Board; and requested him to arrange the affair,
+if possible, himself. He accordingly attempted it; but finding no
+disposition to meet his views, he at length declined the appointment,
+saying that he would not risk his credit by commanding a worthless ship.
+This brought the question to a point; and he was allowed to alter the
+_Indefatigable_ according to his own plans. They were entirely
+successful, for she became an excellent sailer and a most efficient
+ship.
+
+Sir Edward was remarkably accurate in judging of a ship's qualities. For
+this he was probably indebted in the first place to the practical
+knowledge of ship-building which he acquired, when he assisted to
+construct the squadron on Lake Champlain, and to his very close intimacy
+with Lieutenant (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Schanck, an enthusiast on the
+subject, and who always regarded him with peculiar pride and attachment,
+as a pupil of his own. The general knowledge which he thus obtained,
+could not fail to be improved in the course of his own service. Many
+illustrations may be given of the correctness of his opinion in this
+respect. The _Bordelais_, a French cruiser taken by the
+_Revolutionaire_, carrying 24 guns on a flush deck, 149 feet long, was
+bought into the service, and commissioned by Captain Manby. She was one
+of the fastest and most beautiful vessels ever seen, but so dangerous,
+that she was called, in the navy, "the coffin." Sir Edward saw her
+alongside the jetty at Plymouth, and pointing out to her commander the
+cause of her dangerous character, recommended the means of guarding
+against it. His advice was always acted upon, and the _Bordelais_
+survived; while two other captured sloops of war, the _Railleur_ and
+_Trompeuse_, built after her model, but on a reduced scale, foundered
+with their crews on the same day. When the 10-gun brigs were introduced
+into the service, he condemned them in the strongest terms; and being
+asked what should be done with those already built, he replied, "Put
+them all together, and burn them, for they will drown their crews." His
+prediction has been too correctly fulfilled in the fate of these
+vessels, of which six were lost in the packet-service in six years and a
+half, with two hundred and fifty people. At a much later period, when
+the beautiful _Caledonia_, the most perfect ship of her class, was about
+to be made the victim of an experiment, he implored, but unfortunately
+in vain, that she might be spared.
+
+The _Indefatigable_ sailed from Falmouth on her first cruise on the 2nd
+of March; and in the following week, the squadron captured fifteen out
+of a convoy of twenty-five vessels, which had taken shelter among the
+rocks of the Penmarcks. On the 7th of May, she had a most narrow escape
+from shipwreck. The extraordinary circumstances connected with the
+accident, are related in the words of the late Capt. George Bell, at
+that time one of the officers.
+
+"In the summer of 1795, the _Indefatigable_, when cruising off Cape
+Finisterre, fell in with Admiral Waldegrave's squadron of line-of-battle
+ships, and the _Concorde_ frigate. The admiral made signal for the
+_Indefatigable_ and _Concorde_ to chase a small strange sail running
+along shore. All sail was soon set, royals, top-gallant studding-sails,
+&c., the wind being northerly, and the water as smooth as glass. At
+noon, Mr. George Bell, acting master, was in the act of crossing from
+the starboard gangway to the quarter-deck, to report twelve o'clock to
+the captain, who was looking over the larboard quarter-deck hammocks at
+the land, and strange sail, when he suddenly heard a rumbling noise, as
+if a top-sail-tie had given way, and the yard was coming down. He looked
+aloft, but saw nothing amiss, and then perceived that the ship was
+aground. Mr. Bell instantly sprang into the main-chains, and dropped the
+hand lead over. Only eighteen feet water was on the rock, the ship
+drawing nineteen and a half feet abaft. There were twelve and fourteen
+fathoms under the how and stern, consequently she hung completely in the
+centre. Sir Edward, whose judgment in moments of danger was always so
+correct and decisive as never to have occasion to give a second order,
+immediately directed some of the main-deck guns to be moved, and the
+ship's company to sally her off the rock. This fortunately succeeded.
+The ship fell over heavily, and started into deep water, with five feet
+water in her hold. Signals of distress were now made to the flag-ship,
+and the admiral ordered the _Indefatigable_ to proceed to Lisbon to
+repair, and the _Concorde_ to accompany us to the mouth of the Tagus. We
+arrived on the third day after the accident. So serious was the leak,
+that the men could not quit the pumps for a moment, and only a good
+ship's company, such as we had, could have kept the ship afloat.
+
+"On the evening of our arrival, the English consul sent on board a
+number of Portuguese, to relieve the crew. Early next morning (having
+the morning watch) I observed all these people leave the pumps. It was a
+saint's day, and they would not work. I ran into the Captain's cabin to
+state the circumstance; he in a moment came out in his dressing-gown,
+with a drawn sword, chased the Portuguese round the gangways and
+forecastle, made them to a man lay in at the pumps, and kept them at it
+till the pumps sucked.
+
+"In order to ascertain whether both sides of the ship had been injured.
+Sir Edward resolved to examine the bottom himself; and to the
+astonishment and admiration of everybody who witnessed this heroic act,
+he plunged into the water, thoroughly examined both sides, and satisfied
+himself that the starboard side only had been damaged. This saved much
+time and expense; for had not Sir Edward hazarded the experiment, the
+apparatus for heaving down must have been shifted over. The
+_Indefatigable_ was docked on her arrival at Plymouth, early in August,
+and it then appeared how accurately he had described the injury. She had
+twenty-seven of her floors and first futtocks broke, and the Portuguese,
+in repairing her, had put in seventeen feet of main-keel. The frame of a
+regular-built frigate could not have stood the shock.
+
+"A few days after the submarine inspection, the gun-room officers
+invited Sir Edward to dinner, to commemorate the 10th of June, the
+_Nymphe's_ action, on board the _Principe Real_, a Portuguese 80-gun
+ship, used as a hulk by the _Indefatigable's_ crew, while their ship was
+repairing. In the evening, some of the crew took Sir Edward on their
+shoulders, carried him all over the hulk, and swore they would make him
+an admiral."
+
+In her next cruise, the _Indefatigable_ nearly lost her gallant captain.
+On the 31st of August she had strong gales and squally weather, the wind
+flying round from W. by S. to N.E., S.E., and S.W. In the afternoon the
+weather moderated. The ship had been hove to under a close-reefed
+main-topsail, with the top-gallant yards down, the sea running very
+high, and the ship pitching much. It was Sunday, and the captain was at
+dinner with the officers, when a bustle was heard on deck. He ran
+instantly to the poop, and saw two men in the water, amidst the wreck of
+a six-oared cutter. One of the tackles had unhooked, through a heavy sea
+lifting the boat, and the men had jumped into her to secure it, when
+another sea dashed her to pieces. The captain stepped into the gig,
+which was carried over the stern above the cutter, and ordered it to be
+lowered; and though his officers urgently dissuaded him from so
+dangerous an attempt, he determined to hazard it. At this moment the
+ship made a deep plunge aft, the boat was stove, and the captain left in
+the water. He was much hurt, and bled profusely, for he was dashed
+violently against the rudder, and his nostril was torn up by the hook of
+one of the tackles. But his coolness and self-possession did not
+forsake him, and calling for a rope, he slung himself with one of the
+many that were thrown to him, and cheerfully ordered those on board to
+haul away. As soon as possible, the jolly-boat, with an officer and
+crew, was hoisted out from the booms, and fortunately saved the men.
+
+This was the third time within the present year that Sir Edward had
+risked his life to save others. While the ship was being fitted out, he
+had been instrumental in saving two lives at Point Beach. Again, a short
+time before she sailed, and while she was lying at Spithead, the
+coxswain of one of the cutters fell overboard. The captain ran aft, and
+was instantly in the water, where he caught the man just as he was
+sinking. Life was apparently extinct, but happily was restored by the
+usual means. Perhaps no man has oftener distinguished himself in this
+manner; but the splendour of one act of heroism and humanity leaves all
+the others in the shade.
+
+On the 26th of January, 1796, when the _Indefatigable_ was lying in
+Hamoaze, after having been docked, the _Dutton_, a large East Indiaman,
+employed in the transport service, on her way to the West Indies with
+part of the 2nd, or Queen's regiment, was driven into Plymouth by stress
+of weather. She had been out seven weeks, and had many sick on board.
+The gale increasing in the afternoon, it was determined to run for
+greater safety to Catwater; but the buoy at the extremity of the reef
+off Mount Batten having broke adrift, of which the pilots were not
+aware, she touched on the shoal, and carried away her rudder. Thus
+rendered unmanageable, she fell off, and grounded under the citadel,
+where, beating round, she lay rolling heavily with her broadside to the
+waves. At the second roll she threw all her masts over board together.
+
+Sir Edward and Lady Pellew were on their way to dine with Dr. Hawker,
+vicar of Charles,--who had become acquainted with Mr. Pellew when they
+were serving together at Plymouth as surgeons to the marines, and
+continued through life the intimate and valued friend of all the
+brothers. Sir Edward noticed the crowds running to the Hoe, and having
+learned the cause, he sprang out of the carriage, and ran off with the
+rest. Arrived at the beach, he saw at once that the loss of nearly all
+on board, between five and six hundred, was almost inevitable. The
+captain had been landed on account of indisposition on the preceding
+day, and his absence could not fail to increase the confusion of a large
+and crowded transport under such appalling circumstances. The officers
+had succeeded in getting a hawser to the shore, by which several of the
+people landed; but this was a slow operation; and none but a bold and
+active person could avail himself of this means of escape, for the
+rolling of the vessel would now jerk him high in the air, and then
+plunge him among the breakers. Every minute was of consequence, for
+night was approaching, and the wreck was fast breaking up.
+
+Sir Edward was anxious to send a message to the officers, and offered
+rewards to pilots, and others on the beach, to board the wreck; but when
+every one shrank from a service which they deemed too hazardous to be
+attempted, he exclaimed, "Then I will go myself." Availing himself of
+the hawser which communicated with the ship, he was hauled on board
+through the surf. The danger was greatly increased by the wreck of the
+masts, which had fallen towards the shore; and he received an injury on
+the back, which confined him to his bed for a week, in consequence of
+being dragged under the mainmast. But disregarding this at the time, he
+reached the deck, declared himself, and assumed the command. He assured
+the people that every one would be saved, if they attended quietly to
+his directions; that he would himself be the last to quit the wreck, but
+that he would run any one through who disobeyed him. His well-known
+name, with the calmness and energy he displayed, gave confidence to the
+despairing multitude. He was received with three hearty cheers, which
+were echoed by the thousands on shore; and his promptitude at resource
+soon enabled him to find and apply the means by which all might be
+safely landed. His officers in the mean time, though not knowing that he
+was on board, were exerting themselves to bring assistance from the
+_Indefatigable_. Mr. Pellowe, first lieutenant, left the ship in the
+barge, and Mr. Thompson, acting master (son of Mr. Thompson, who had
+been master of the _Nymphe_), in the launch; but the boats could not be
+brought alongside the wreck, and were obliged to run for the Barbican. A
+small boat belonging to a merchant vessel was more fortunate. Mr.
+Edsell, signal midshipman to the port admiral, and Mr. Coghlan, mate of
+the vessel, succeeded, at the risk of their lives, in bringing her
+alongside. The ends of two additional hawsers were got on shore, and Sir
+Edward contrived cradles to be slung upon them, with travelling ropes to
+pass forward and backward between the ship and the beach. Each hawser
+was held on shore by a number of men, who watched the rolling of the
+wreck, and kept the ropes tight and steady. Meantime, a cutter had with
+great difficulty worked out of Plymouth pool, and two large boats
+arrived from the dockyard, under the directions of Mr. Hemmings, the
+master-attendant, by whose caution and judgment they were enabled to
+approach the wreck, and receive the more helpless of the passengers, who
+were carried to the cutter. Sir Edward, with his sword drawn, directed
+the proceedings, and preserved order--a task the more difficult, as the
+soldiers had got at the spirits before he came on board, and many were
+drunk. The children, the women, and the sick, were the first landed. One
+of them was only three weeks old; and nothing in the whole transaction
+impressed Sir Edward more strongly than the struggle of the mother's
+feelings before she would entrust her infant to his care, or afforded
+him more pleasure than the success of his attempt to save it. Next the
+soldiers were got on shore; then the ship's company; and finally. Sir
+Edward himself, who was one of the last to leave her. Every one was
+saved, and presently after the wreck went to pieces.
+
+Nothing could equal the lustre of such an action, except the modesty of
+him who was the hero of it. Indeed, upon all occasions, forward as he
+was to eulogize the merits of his followers, Sir Edward was reserved
+almost to a fault upon everything connected with his own services. The
+only notice taken of the _Dutton_, in the journal of the
+_Indefatigable_, is the short sentence:--"Sent two boats to the
+assistance of a ship on shore in the Sound;" and in his letter to
+Vice-Admiral Onslow, who had hoisted his flag at Plymouth a day or two
+before, he throws himself almost out of sight, and ascribes the chief
+merit to the officer who directed the boats:--
+
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I hope it happened to me this afternoon to be
+     serviceable to the unhappy sufferers on board the _Dutton;_ and I
+     have much satisfaction in saying, that every soul in her was taken
+     out before I left her, except the first mate, boatswain, and third
+     mate, who attended the hauling ropes to the shore, and they eased
+     me on shore by the hawser. It is not possible to refrain speaking
+     in raptures of the handsome conduct of Mr. Hemmings, the
+     master-attendant, who, at the imminent risk of his life, saved
+     hundreds. If I had not hurt my leg, and been otherwise much
+     bruised, I would have waited on you; but hope this will be a
+     passable excuse.
+
+              I am, with respect,
+                         Sir,
+        Your most obedient, humble servant,
+                                       ED. PELLEW."
+
+     "Thursday evening."
+
+
+The merit of services performed in the sight of thousands could not thus
+be disclaimed. Praise was lavished upon him from every quarter. The
+corporation of Plymouth voted him the freedom of the town. The merchants
+of Liverpool presented him with a valuable service of plate. On the 5th
+of March following, he was created a baronet, as Sir Edward Pellew, of
+Treverry, and received for an honourable augmentation of his arms, a
+civic wreath, a stranded ship for a crest, and the motto, "Deo adjuvante
+Fortuna sequatur." This motto, so modest, and not less expressive of his
+own habitual feelings, was chosen by himself, in preference to one
+proposed, which was more personally complimentary.
+
+Appreciating Mr. Coghlan's services, and delighted with the judgment and
+gallantry he had displayed, Sir Edward offered to place him on his own
+quarter-deck. It is unnecessary to add that the career of this
+distinguished officer has been worthy his introduction to the navy.
+
+On the 9th of March the _Indefatigable_ sailed from Falmouth, with the
+_Revolutionaire_, _Argo_, _Amazon_, and _Concorde_. On the 21st, the
+_Indefatigable_ gave chase to three corvettes, one of which she drove on
+shore, and destroyed. On the 13th of April, she fell in with the French
+frigate _l'Unite_, on her way from l'Orient to Rochefort, having on
+board, as passengers, the governor's lady, Madame la Large, and her
+family. The _Revolutionaire_, which was ordered to chase in shore to cut
+off the enemy from the land, came up with her a little before midnight.
+Captain Cole hailed the French captain, and urged him repeatedly to
+submit to a superior force; but the enemy refusing to strike, he poured
+in two destructive broadsides. He was preparing to board, the frigates
+at the time running ten knots, when the French ship surrendered. She had
+suffered very severely from the fire of the _Revolutionaire_, without
+having been able to make any effectual return. Sir Edward sent the
+passengers to Brest in a neutral vessel, and finding that one of the
+junior officers of the prize was a son of Mme. la Large, he took the
+young man's parole, and allowed him to accompany his mother.
+
+With his official communication to the Admiralty, which accompanied
+Captain Cole's account of the action, he wrote a private letter to the
+First Lord, and another to the Earl of Chatham. It was his practice
+through life thus to strengthen an interest for his officers in every
+possible quarter, and it was one, though not the only, cause of his
+remarkable success in obtaining promotion for so many of them. His
+letters on this occasion, though they display the warmth of private
+friendship, are not stronger than he was accustomed to write for others,
+whose only claim upon him was that which every deserving officer has to
+the patronage of his commander. The following is the letter to Lord
+Spencer:--
+
+
+     "MY LORD,--I have much pleasure in informing your Lordship of the
+     capture of the French frigate, _l'Unite_, of thirty-eight guns, and
+     two hundred and fifty-five men; and I have more in conveying to
+     your Lordship my sense of Captain Cole's merit upon the occasion.
+     Nothing could be more decided than his conduct; and his attack was
+     made with so much vigour and judgment, that a ship of very superior
+     force to _l'Unite_ must have rewarded his gallantry. To his extreme
+     vigilance and zeal, the squadron are indebted for this prize. It is
+     not improper for me to say, that on all occasions I have found much
+     reason to respect Captain Cole as a skilful and brave officer, and
+     I rejoice in the opportunity of bearing testimony to his merit."
+
+
+To the Earl of Chatham, with whom he was intimate, he wrote in a more
+familiar strain:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAR LORD,--Much as I dislike breaking in upon your time, I
+     cannot resist the pleasure of repeating to you the good fortune of
+     my friend, Frank Cole, who was the fortunate man among us in taking
+     _l'Unite_, alias _la Variante_. There are few things, my Lord, that
+     could raise my friend either in your opinion or mine; but one
+     cannot but rejoice on finding our expectations realized.
+
+     "I am satisfied that nothing could be better conducted than Frank's
+     ship upon this occasion, or courage more coolly displayed; a proof
+     of which was strongly exhibited in his conversation with a vaunting
+     Frenchman, boasting of his own strength, and threatening the
+     vengeance of his partner. It will not be advancing too much when I
+     say, that a ship of far superior force must have shared the same
+     fate. The French commander complains bitterly of Cole's taking such
+     advantages as his superior skill afforded him. The _Revolutionaire_
+     is much improved since her mainmast was moved, and you will believe
+     her, my Lord, always in good order. I have with infinite pleasure
+     given my testimony of Frank to Lord Spencer, and I doubt not but
+     your Lordship will give him a lift in the same quarter."
+
+
+Captain Cole, though his career had been less brilliant than that of his
+friend since they parted, had gained most flattering distinction. His
+high character as an officer, and his reputation for peculiar
+correctness of conduct, added perhaps to his more than common advantages
+in person and manners, had obtained for him the honour of being
+selected, conjointly with the late Sir Richard Keats, to have the
+particular charge of his late Majesty, when he first entered the navy,
+being made lieutenants of the watch in which the Prince was placed. He
+was introduced by his royal pupil to the Prince of Wales, who said of
+him, "They may talk of a cockpit education, and cockpit manners; but a
+court could not have produced more finished manners than those of your
+friend Captain Cole." The friendship between Sir Edward and himself had
+continued from their boyhood, and they had cherished for each other the
+affection and confidence of brothers. He died at Plymouth in 1799. A
+little before his death, Sir Edward, who had just returned from a
+cruise, came to see him for the last time. "Now," said the expiring
+officer, "I shall die more happy, since I have been permitted to see
+once again the dearest of my friends:" and when Sir Edward at length
+tore himself from the room, unable to control his feelings any longer, a
+burst of grief, on returning to the mother and sisters of Captain Cole,
+prevented him for a considerable time from regaining sufficient
+composure to quit the affecting scene.
+
+On the morning of the 20th of April, the frigates were lying-to off the
+Lizard, when a large ship was seen coming in from seaward, which tacked
+as soon as she perceived them, and stood off without answering the
+private signal. The _Revolutionaire_ and _Argo_ were ordered by signal
+to proceed to port with the prize, and the others to make all sail in
+chase, the wind being off the land. Towards evening the _Concorde_ and
+_Amazon_ had been run out of sight, but the _Indefatigable_ gained upon
+the chase, which made the most strenuous efforts to escape, and was
+manoeuvred with no common ability. She was the 40-gun frigate
+_Virginie_, one of the finest and fastest vessels in the French marine,
+and commanded by Captain Jaques Bergeret, a young-officer of the highest
+character and promise. The _Virginie_ was one of the fleet of Villaret
+Joyeuse, when, ten months before, Cornwallis, with five sail of the line
+and two frigates, effected his justly celebrated retreat from thirty
+French men-of-war, of which twelve were of the line. On this occasion,
+Bergeret attacked the _Mars_, with a spirit and judgment which gave full
+earnest of his future conduct.
+
+Finding that the British frigate outsailed her on a wind, the _Virginie_
+bore away; but the _Indefatigable_ continued to gain on her, and at a
+little before midnight came up within gun-shot, and took in royals and
+studding-sails, having run one hundred and sixty-eight miles in fifteen
+hours. The _Virginie_ fired her stern-chasers, occasionally yawing to
+bring some of her broadside guns to bear, but without material effect;
+and the two ships, still running under a press of canvass, came to
+action. The _Indefatigable_ had only one broadside-gun more than her
+opponent; but her size and very heavy metal gave her an irresistible
+superiority. Seven of the _Virginie's_ people were killed at one of the
+quarter-deck guns, which struck such a panic in those around them, that
+it was with difficulty they could be induced to return to their
+quarters. Yet Bergeret fought his ship with admirable skill and
+gallantry, and maintained a very protracted action, constantly
+endeavouring to cripple the _Indefatigable's_ rigging. Sir Edward had a
+very narrow escape. The main-top-mast was shot away, and falling
+forward, it disabled the main yard, and came down on the
+splinter-netting directly over his head. Happily, the netting was strong
+enough to bear the wreck.
+
+It was an hour and three-quarters from the commencement of the action,
+when, the _Virginie's_ mizen-mast and main-top-mast being shot away, the
+_Indefatigable_ unavoidably went a-head. In addition to her former
+damage, she had lost her foreyard and gaff, and her rigging was so much
+cut that she was unable immediately to shorten sail. The _Virginie_ was
+completely riddled. Some of the _Indefatigable's_ shot had even gone
+through the sail-room and out at the opposite side of the ship. She had
+four feet water in her hold, and more than forty of her crew were killed
+and wounded. Yet she attempted to rake her opponent as she was shooting
+a-head, and had nearly succeeded in doing so.
+
+While the _Indefatigable_ was reeving fresh braces, the other frigates
+came up, having been enabled to make a shorter distance by the altered
+course of the combatants during the chase. On their approach, the
+_Virginie_ fired a lee-gun, and hauled down her light; and being hailed
+by the _Concorde_, replied, "We must surrender, there are so many of
+you: we strike to the frigate a-head." A more brave and skilful
+resistance is scarcely afforded by the annals of the war; and the
+officer who thus defends his ship against a very superior force may
+challenge more honour than would be claimed by the victor.
+
+A boat was sent from the _Indefatigable_ for the gallant prisoner, who
+was deeply affected at his misfortune, and wept bitterly. He inquired to
+whom he had struck; and being told Sir Edward Pellew, "Oh!" he
+exclaimed, "that is the most fortunate man that ever lived! He takes
+everything, and now he has taken the finest frigate in France."
+
+Bergeret was for some time the honoured guest of Sir Edward and his
+family, and the British Government considered him an officer of
+sufficient character to be offered in exchange for Sir Sidney Smith, who
+had been made prisoner at Havre just before. They sent him to France on
+his parole, to effect this object; but his application not being
+successful, he returned to England. Two years after, Sir Sidney Smith
+escaped, and the British Government, with a feeling most honourable to
+themselves, set Bergeret unconditionally at liberty. Thus do the brave
+and good, in challenging the respect of their enemies, contribute to
+soften the rigours of war, and to create a better feeling between
+hostile nations.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] A trifling incident occurred in this journey, which may, perhaps,
+deserve to be mentioned. In going down a hill, two or three miles beyond
+Axminster, both leaders fell, and the night being very cold, for the
+wind had set in strong from the eastward, a ring, on which he set
+particular value, dropped from Sir Edward's finger, as he was getting
+into the carriage again. He was vexed at the loss; but the road being
+very dirty, and the night dark, it was useless then to seek it. He
+therefore tore a bush from the hedge, and left it where the carriage had
+stopped: and ordering the post-boys to draw up at the next cottage, he
+knocked up the inmates, and promised them a reward if they found it. To
+his great pleasure, the expedient proved successful, and the ring was
+delivered to him on his return.
+
+[6] The _Revolutionaire_, 110, wrecked Dec. 24, on the Mingan rock, near
+Brest; the _Neuf Thermidor_, 80. _Scipion_, 80, and _Superbe_, 74,
+foundered in a heavy gale on the 28th of January; and the _Neptune_, 74,
+wrecked in Audierne Bay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.
+
+
+France, having at length obtained internal quiet, and a settled
+Government under the Directory, and secured the alliance of Spain and
+Holland, prepared for a decisive blow against Great Britain. The
+condition of the British empire was at that time peculiarly critical. Of
+her allies, some had joined the enemy, and the others had proved unequal
+to resist him. In the East, the most powerful of the native princes were
+preparing to subvert her authority. At home, Ireland was organized for
+rebellion; and England herself contained a strong revolutionary party,
+checked, indeed, by the energy of the Government, and still more by the
+excellent disposition of the people, but prepared to rise in formidable
+activity, whenever the successes of the enemy should enable them to
+declare themselves.
+
+Well acquainted with all her difficulties, the French Government
+hastened to take advantage of them. Through the summer and autumn of
+1796, a powerful fleet was equipped at Brest, to land an army on the
+shores of Ireland; after accomplishing which, a squadron of eight sail
+of the line was to be detached to India, where its support would
+probably encourage the hostile states to an immediate and general war.
+Its prospects were the more promising, as the armies of two of the
+native princes were officered by Frenchmen. As for Ireland, that was
+regarded as a country of which they had only to take possession; and the
+well-known feeling of a considerable part of the inhabitants warranted
+the most sanguine hopes of the invader.
+
+The history of Ireland affords a melancholy, but most instructive
+lesson, pre-eminent as that unhappy country has been, at once for
+natural and political advantages, and for misery, turbulence, and crime.
+A Government, to command the obedience of the people by its firmness,
+and their confidence by a marked consideration for their feelings and
+welfare; a gentry, united with them as their leaders, protectors, and
+friends; and a Church, winning them to a purer faith by the unobtrusive
+display of benefits and excellences: all these blessings might have been
+its own. But by fatal mismanagement, the gentry, those of them who
+remained, were viewed as the garrison of a conquered country by the
+multitude, who were taught to feel themselves a degraded caste. The
+Church became identified in their minds with all that they most
+complained of; and the faith for which they suffered was doubly endeared
+to them. Thus the instruments for their deliverance confirmed their
+thraldom, and what should have won affection aggravated their enmity.
+
+If there were a mistake beyond all this, it was that of expecting peace
+from concessions extorted by violence, and calculated only to give
+increased power to the enemies of existing institutions. Lord Exmouth
+held a very decided opinion upon this point, and foresaw that strong
+coercive measures would become necessary in consequence. He well knew
+how feeble would be the restraint imposed by any conditions contemplated
+by the advocates of change; and in allusion to the remark of the Duke of
+Northumberland, who had expressed a belief that he would think
+differently, when he saw the securities which would accompany the
+concessions--"Securities!" he said, "it is all nonsense! I never yet
+could see them, and I never shall." He justly anticipated, that as long
+as anything remained to be extorted, new demands would be founded upon
+every new concession. "How would you like," he said to one of his
+officers, "to see Roman Catholic chaplains on board our ships of war?"
+While the question was in progress, he wrote with prophetic truth--"The
+times are awful, when the choice of two evils only is left, a threatened
+rebellion, or the surrender of our constitution, by the admission of
+Catholics into Parliament and all offices. I think even this will not
+satisfy Ireland. Ascendancy is their object. You may postpone, and by
+loss of character parry the evil for a short space; but not long, depend
+upon it. You and I may not see it, but our children will, and be obliged
+to meet the struggle man to man, which we may now shirk. By God alone
+can we be saved from such consequences; may He shed his power and grace
+upon us as a nation!"
+
+The political being everywhere dependent on the religious creed, a
+country where popish superstitions prevail will always contain two
+parties hostile upon principle to a free and constitutional government.
+The multitude, who have surrendered the right of private judgment upon
+the most engrossing subject, lose the disposition to exercise it upon
+matters of inferior importance; and become dangerous instruments in the
+hands of designing characters. A party will be found among them, whose
+penetration can detect the mummeries of imposture, but not perceive the
+claims of religion; and who, as they throw off allegiance to God, revolt
+at any exercise of human authority. Political privileges, the strength
+of a nation, where the intelligence and morals of the people support the
+law, will in such a country give power to rebellion, and impunity to
+crime. A government paternal in vigour as in kindness; the control of a
+firm authority, supreme over all influence, to maintain order, to leave
+no excuse for party, to protect the peaceable, promptly to suppress all
+resistance to the law, and to give to the demagogue only the alternative
+between obedience and rebellion, will be required not more for the
+safety of the state, than for the welfare of the misguided people.
+
+When the progress of the French revolution engaged the attention of
+Europe, there was no country where it was regarded with greater interest
+than in Ireland. The Papists hoped from it the opportunity to overthrow
+Protestant supremacy: the Liberals hailed the triumph of their own
+principles. Emissaries were sent to France, who represented that nothing
+was wanting to secure the independence of Ireland but a regular army for
+a rallying point; and France, hoping to give a fatal blow to her most
+formidable enemy, and to gain a valuable province for herself, readily
+promised the aid required, and as soon as her own distracted condition
+would allow, hastened to fulfil her engagement.
+
+The auxiliary force which the rebel delegates deemed sufficient, was
+fifteen thousand men; but an army of at least eighteen thousand was
+provided, commanded by that determined republican and distinguished
+officer, General Hoche, who had very recently succeeded in suppressing
+the revolt in La Vendee. Vice Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, defeated by Lord
+Howe on the 1st of June, was selected to command the fleet; but, a
+misunderstanding having arisen between him and the General, he was
+superseded by Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles.
+
+The Minister of Marine, M. Truguet, whose able arrangements seemed to
+have anticipated and provided for every difficulty, had intended that
+the descent should be made in October, or at latest by the beginning of
+November; but the General having preferred to embark the whole army at
+once, it was delayed for the arrival of Rear-Admirals Pachery and
+Villeneuve; of whom the first, with seven sail of the line and three
+frigates, was waiting for an opportunity to come up from Rochefort, and
+the other was expected with five sail of the line from Toulon. The
+secret of the enemy's intentions was so well kept, that England had to
+conjecture the destination of the armament, and it was doubted to the
+last whether its object was Ireland, Portugal, or Gibraltar. In this
+uncertainty, a principal division of the Channel fleet, under Lord
+Bridport, remained at Spithead: Sir Roger Curtis, with a smaller force,
+cruised to the westward; and Vice-Admiral Sir John Colpoys was stationed
+off Brest, at first with ten, but afterwards with thirteen sail of the
+line. Sir Edward Pellew, with a small force of frigates, latterly
+watched the harbour.
+
+About the middle of November, Sir R. Curtis returned to port, and soon
+after, M. Richery sailed from Rochefort, and entered Brest on the 11th
+of December. Sir E. Pellew, who had necessarily retired on his approach,
+immediately sent off two frigates with despatches, the _Amazon_ to
+England, and the _Phoebe_ to Sir J. Colpoys. On the 15th, he stood in
+with the _Indefatigable_, and though chased by a seventy-four and five
+frigates, stationed in Bertheaume Bay, he persisted in watching the port
+as usual. In the afternoon, he saw the French fleet leave the road of
+Brest, and immediately sent back the _Phoebe_ to report the fact to the
+Admiral. The enemy anchored between Camaret and Bertheaume Bays, in
+front of the goulet, or entrance into Brest road.
+
+Knowing how much depended on his vigilance, Sir Edward had watched Brest
+with the most anxious attention. The wind blew generally from the
+eastward, at times so strong, that the line-of-battle-ships would be
+under a close-reefed maintop-sail and reefed foresail; and the weather
+was intensely cold: yet he went every morning to the mast-head, where he
+would remain making his observations for a considerable part of the day,
+one of the older midshipmen being usually with him. "Well I remember,"
+writes one of his officers, "that on being one day relieved to go down
+to my dinner, I was obliged to have some of the main-top-men to help me
+down the rigging, I was so benumbed with the intense cold: yet the
+captain was there six or seven hours at a time, without complaining, or
+taking any refreshment."
+
+On the 16th, the wind being from the eastward, the French fleet,
+forty-four ships, of which seventeen were of the line and thirteen
+frigates, got finally under way, not waiting the arrival of Villeneuve.
+The Admiral purposed leaving Brest by the southern entrance, the Passage
+du Raz, between the Bec du Raz and the Saintes. By taking this course,
+and by so timing his departure as to clear the land just at nightfall,
+he hoped to elude the vigilance of the British fleet off Ushant, whose
+usual cruising ground was not more than six or seven leagues to leeward.
+But through the delays inseparable from getting a large and encumbered
+fleet to sea, it was four o'clock before all the ships were under sail;
+and as night was fast closing in, and the wind becoming variable, the
+Admiral determined not to attempt the narrow and dangerous passage he
+had fixed on, but to steer for the open entrance in front of the
+harbour, the Passage d'Iroise. Accordingly, he altered his own course,
+and made signal for the fleet to follow; but neither was generally
+observed, and the greater part of the ships, as previously directed,
+entered the Passage du Raz. The Admiral, therefore, sent a corvette into
+the midst of them, to call their attention to his own ship, which
+continued to fire guns, and display lights to mark the change in her
+course. By this time, it was quite dark, and many circumstances
+increased the enemy's confusion. The _Seduisant_, seventy-four, ran on
+the Grand Stevenet, a rock at the entrance of the Passage du Raz, where
+she was totally lost that night, with nearly seven hundred of her
+people. Her guns, and other signals, prevented those of the corvette
+from being attended to; and the _Indefatigable_, which kept close to the
+French Admiral, made his signals unintelligible to the fleet.
+
+Sir E. Pellew had stood in that morning with the _Indefatigable_ and
+_Revolutionaire_, and at noon came in sight of the enemy. At a quarter
+before five, when they had all got underway, he sent off Captain Cole to
+the Admiral, and remained with his own ship to observe and embarrass
+their movements. With a boldness which must have astonished them,
+accustomed though they had been to the daring manner in which he had
+watched their port; under easy sail, but with studding-sails ready for a
+start, if necessary, he kept as close as possible to the French Admiral,
+often within half-gun-shot; and as that officer made signals to his
+fleet, he falsified them by additional guns, lights, and rockets. At
+half-past eight, when the French ships were observed coming round the
+Saintes, he made sail to the north-west, with a light at each mast-head,
+constantly making signals for Sir J. Colpoys, by firing a gun every
+quarter of an hour, throwing up rockets, and burning blue lights. At
+midnight, having received no answer, he tacked, and stood to the
+southward until six o'clock. Still seeing nothing of the Admiral, though
+he had sailed over all his cruising ground, he sent off the _Duke of
+York_, hired armed lugger, to England, with despatches, intending to
+remain with the _Indefatigable_, and take part in the expected battle.
+But reflecting on the importance of conveying the information quickly to
+England, with the uncertainty of its being carried safely by so small a
+vessel; and assured that the _Revolutionaire_, which he had again spoke
+that morning, would not fail to meet Sir J. Colpoys, he gave up the hope
+of distinction to a sense of duty, and made sail for Falmouth. He
+arrived late in the evening of the 20th.
+
+If Lord Bridport had been waiting at Falmouth, with discretional powers,
+Sir Edward having been instructed to communicate directly with him, he
+might have sailed early on the 21st, and found the enemy in Bantry Bay,
+where, perhaps, not a ship would have escaped him. It is, however, to be
+remembered, that as the destination of the French armament was unknown
+to the last, the Admiralty might very properly determine that he should
+receive his final instructions from themselves, and therefore would keep
+the fleet at Spithead for the convenience of ready communication.
+
+On the 25th, Lord Bridport attempted to sail. The enemy had arrived four
+days before, and if the weather had allowed the troops to land, the most
+complete naval victory would have been too late to save the country. The
+fleet was prevented from putting to sea on that day by a succession of
+accidents, by which five of the heaviest ships were disabled before they
+could leave the harbour. The _Prime_ missed stays, and fell on board the
+_Sans Pareil_. The _Formidable_ ran foul of the _Ville de Paris_; and
+the _Atlas_ grounded. Four of these were three-deckers, and the other
+was one of the finest 80-gun ships in the service. When at length part
+of the fleet reached St. Helen's, a shift of wind kept the rest at
+Spithead; and the Admiral could not put to sea till January 3rd. The
+baffled enemy was then returning, and seven of his ships had actually
+arrived in Brest two days before the British sailed from Portsmouth to
+pursue them.
+
+How Sir J. Colpoys missed the enemy may appear extraordinary. The
+explanation, which every circumstance tends to confirm, is, that he was
+restrained from attacking them by his instructions, his force being
+intended only for a squadron of observation: for though the enemy's
+fleet, as it actually sailed, would have given him an easy victory,
+there was always reason to believe that it was much too strong for his
+force. Exclusive of the five sail which were hourly expected from
+Toulon, there were twenty-four line-of-battle ships in Brest, and there
+was no reason to conclude but that the greater part, if not the whole of
+them, were to sail with the expedition. As the British would be so much
+outnumbered, Sir E. Pellew offered, in the event of a battle, to take a
+place in the line with the _Indefatigable_. The Admiral thanked him, but
+declined the offer, believing that the enemy's superiority was too great
+to hope for victory. When the enemy put to sea, the British fleet was
+eight or nine leagues to the westward of their usual cruising ground,
+and thus was missed, not only by the _Indefatigable_, but also by the
+_Revolutionaire_, which did not join with the information till the 19th.
+Next day, the Toulon ships were seen, and chased into port; and the
+Admiral, having no means of learning the course of the Brest fleet, and
+some of his own ships being obliged to part company, in consequence of
+injuries they had sustained in a gale, bore away with the remainder for
+Spithead.
+
+Meantime, almost everything favoured the enemy. The two divisions of his
+fleet, which were separated on the evening of the 16th, by putting to
+sea through different passages, rejoined on the 19th, and reached their
+destination early on the 21st, without having met a single British
+cruiser. When they appeared off the Bay, a number of pilot-boats came
+out, supposing them to be a British fleet; and thus the French Admiral
+obtained pilots for his ships, and gained all the information he wanted
+of the British men-of-war on the coast. A line-of-battle ship and three
+frigates were still missing. Their absence would not have materially
+weakened the enemy, whose force still exceeded what the rebel delegates
+had required; but the two commanders had embarked in one of the missing
+frigates, the _Fraternite_; and Rear-Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy,
+the seconds in command, could scarcely act with decision while their
+chiefs were hourly expected.
+
+The _Fraternite_, with the other three ships in company, was very near
+the fleet on the 20th, but it was concealed from her by a fog; and a
+gale which dispersed the fog, separated her from her consorts.
+Proceeding alone to the Bay, she had nearly reached it on the 21st, when
+she fell in with a British frigate, which she mistook for one of her own
+fleet till she was almost within gun-shot. Night saved her from capture,
+but the chase had carried her far to the westward, and it was eight days
+before she obtained a fair wind to return.
+
+The ships continued beating up to Bearhaven against a fresh easterly
+breeze until the evening of the 22nd, when the Rear-Admiral anchored
+off the eastern extremity of Great Bear Island, with eight sail of the
+line, two frigates, and some smaller vessels. Seven sail of the line,
+and eight frigates, kept under sail; and the wind rising in the night
+blew them all off to sea.
+
+It blew hard, with a heavy sea, through the next day and night. On the
+24th, the weather having moderated, it was determined in a council of
+war to land the remaining troops immediately, and General Grouchy made a
+formal requisition for that purpose. A suitable landing-place was found,
+and the necessary preparations were completed; but it was now late in
+the afternoon, and the landing was necessarily deferred until morning.
+That night, the gale rose from the eastward, and increased through the
+next day to a tempest. At length the ships began to drive from their
+anchors. The _Indomptable_, 80, ran foul of the _Resolve_ frigate, and
+totally dismasted her. The other frigate, the _Immortalite_, in which
+Rear-admiral Bouvet had embarked, though his proper flag-ship was the
+_Droits de l'Homme,_ parted one of her cables in the evening, and was
+obliged to cut the other, and run out to sea. The weather would not
+allow her to return until the 29th, and then the Rear-Admiral, hopeless
+of re-assembling the fleet, decided to proceed to Brest.
+
+Others were less fortunate. The _Tortue_ frigate, two corvettes, and
+four transports, were taken. The _Surveillante_ frigate was wrecked, and
+a transport foundered in the bay; and a third frigate, _l'Impatiente_,
+was driven on shore near Crookhaven. The sailors determined to secure
+for themselves alone the means of escape, leaving the troops to their
+fate. Where such a feeling could exist, the discipline required for
+their own safety was not likely to be found: and all perished but seven,
+who were saved chiefly by the exertions of the people on shore.
+
+Part of the fleet, after having been blown out of the bay, steered for
+the _Shannon_, which had been fixed on as a rendezvous in the event of
+separation; but they were too few to attempt a landing, and after
+waiting for a short time in hope of reinforcements, they found it
+necessary to return.
+
+The _Fraternite_, with the two commanders-in-chief, continued to beat
+against an easterly gale till the 29th, when the wind became fair for
+the bay. Standing towards it, she fell in with the _Scerola_, rase, in a
+sinking state, with the _Revolution_, 74, engaged in taking out the
+people. She assisted to save them, and the two ships continued their
+course towards Ireland, hoping to fall in with so many of the fleet as
+might still enable them to make a descent. But next day, not having seen
+any of them, and their provisions becoming short, they steered for
+France. On the 8th of January, they were very near eleven of their
+ships, which they would presently have joined, but that they altered
+their course to avoid two British frigates, the _Unicorn_ and _Doris_,
+which at the time were actually being chased by the French. Next day
+they again fell in with the frigates, and on the morning of the 10th
+they were chased by Lord Bridport's fleet, from which they narrowly
+escaped. On the 14th they entered Rochefort, the last of the returning
+ships.
+
+Such was the fate of an expedition, in which nothing was neglected which
+foresight could suggest, and nothing wanting which ability could supply;
+whose fortune attended it until success might be deemed secure, and
+whose defeat was attended with circumstances too extraordinary to be
+referred to common causes. History records no event, not attended by
+direct miracle, in which God's providence is more strikingly displayed.
+The forces of atheism and popery had joined to overthrow a nation, the
+stronghold of Christian truth, and the bulwark of Protestant Europe. In
+this, so emphatically a holy war, no earthly arm was allowed to achieve
+the triumph. Human agency was put aside, and all human defences
+prostrated; and then, when the unresisted invader touched the object of
+his hope, the elements were commissioned against him. That the vigilance
+of a blockading force should be so eluded, and that unusual misfortunes
+should prevent a fleet from sailing till nothing remained for it to do;
+that the enemy's two commanders should be separated from their force
+when it sailed, and afterwards prevented, by so many well-timed
+casualties, from rejoining it; that when the fleet had actually arrived
+in the destined port, half should be blown out to sea again before they
+could anchor, and the rest driven from their anchors before they could
+land the troops; that the returning ships should be prevented from
+meeting their commanders; and that every disappointment should just
+anticipate the moment of success;--such a combination of circumstances
+it were folly and impiety to ascribe to anything less than the hand of
+God.
+
+A victory would have saved the country, but it would not have afforded
+such ground for assured confidence in her future trials. This
+deliverance was a pledge of protection through the terrible struggle of
+the next twenty years; when, long disappointed in her hopes, and at
+length deserted by her last ally, England still maintained her good
+cause with a firmness more honourable to her character than even the
+unrivalled triumph she achieved. It remains a pledge, that amidst all
+dangers she may perform her duty as a Christian country, in full
+reliance upon God's blessing: or, should the greatness of her trials
+confound all human resources, that she may wait, in quietness and
+confidence, for God's deliverance.
+
+It was Sir Edward Pellew's fortune, as he had been prominent in the
+services connected with the sailing of this armament, to mark the return
+of it by a battle, the only one fought, and equally singular in its
+circumstances, and appalling in its result. He put to sea with the
+_Indefatigable_ and _Amazon_ on the 22nd, and supposing the enemy to
+have gone to the southward, cruised off Capes Ortugal and Finisterre
+until the 11th of January. On the 2nd, the _Amazon_ carried away her
+main-topmast, and on the 11th, the _Indefatigable_ sprung her
+main-topmast and topsail-yard in a squall, and was obliged to shift
+them. Returning towards the Channel, on the 13th of January, at a little
+past noon, the ships being about fifty leagues south-west of Ushant, and
+the wind blowing hard from the westward, with thick weather, a sail was
+discovered in the north-west. Sail was made in chase, and by four
+o'clock the stranger, at first supposed to be a frigate, as she had no
+poop, was clearly made out to be a French two-decker.
+
+The enemy's ship, the _Droits de l'Homme_, commanded by Commodore,
+_ci-devant_ Baron Lacrosse, was one of those which had proceeded to the
+Shannon, after having been blown out of Bantry Bay. She was the
+flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bouvet, but this officer, according to a
+frequent practice of French admirals, had embarked in a frigate. General
+Humbert, who commanded one of the expeditions to Ireland in 1798, had
+taken his passage in her. That morning she had arrived within
+twenty-five leagues of Belleisle, and as the weather appeared
+threatening, she stood to the southward, fearing to approach nearer to
+the shore. Early in the afternoon she saw two large ships at a short
+distance to windward, probably the _Revolution_ and _Fraternite_, but
+not waiting to ascertain their character, she made sail from them to the
+south-east. At half-past three she first discovered on her lee-bow the
+two frigates, which had observed her three hours before, and were
+steering a course nearly parallel to her own, to cut her off from the
+land.
+
+The wind had now increased to a gale, and the sea was fast rising. At
+half-past four the enemy carried away her fore and main-topmasts in a
+heavy squall. At three-quarters past five the _Indefatigable_ came up
+with her, and having shortened sail to close-reefed topsails, poured in
+a broadside as she crossed her stern. The enemy returned it from some of
+the upper-deck guns, and by showers of musketry from the troops, of whom
+there were nearly a thousand on board. So close were the ships, that
+some of the _Indefatigable's_ people tore away the enemy's ensign, which
+became entangled in the mizen rigging. The _Indefatigable_ then tried to
+pass ahead and gain a position on the enemy's bow, but the
+line-of-battle ship avoided this, and attempted, but without success, to
+lay the frigate on board, actually grazing the _Indefatigable's_
+spanker-boom.
+
+The British frigate engaged the line-of-battle ship single-handed for
+more than an hour, before her consort, which was several miles astern
+when the action commenced, could get up to assist her. At length,
+reaching the enemy, the _Amazon_ poured a broadside into her quarter,
+and then, with the Commodore, maintained the engagement until about
+half-past seven, when the _Indefatigable_ found it necessary to repair
+her rigging, and both frigates shot ahead.
+
+At a little past eight, the frigates renewed the action, and placing
+themselves one on either bow of the _Droits de l'Homme_, raked her
+alternately. The seventy-four brought her guns to bear upon one or the
+other of her antagonists as well as she could, and occasionally
+attempted, but without success, to close. At half-past ten, her
+mizenmast was shot away, when the frigates changed their position, and
+attacked her on either quarter. Soon after she began to fire shells. The
+gale continued all night, with a very heavy sea, and the violent motion
+of the ships made the labour of the crews most excessive. On the
+main-deck of the _Indefatigable_, the men were often to the middle in
+water. Some of her guns broke their breechings four times; others drew
+the ring-bolts, and from some, the charge was obliged to be drawn after
+loading, in consequence of the water beating into them. But under these
+most trying circumstances, the crew did their duty nobly. The _Amazon_,
+being a smaller ship, experienced still greater difficulties than the
+_Indefatigable_. She emulated her consort most gallantly, and suffered a
+greater loss. Her masts and rigging were very much damaged; her
+mizen-top-mast, gaff, spanker-boom, and main-topsail-yard being
+entirely shot away; the main and foremast, and the fore and main yards
+wounded in several places by large shot; many of her shrouds, stays, and
+back-stays shot away, besides those which had been knotted and stoppered
+in the action; all her spare cordage was expended in reeving running
+rigging, and she had three feet water in the hold. The loss of men in
+both ships was remarkably small. The _Amazon_ had three killed, and
+fifteen badly wounded; and the _Indefatigable_, though she had so long
+fought the seventy-four single-handed, had only her first lieutenant and
+eighteen men wounded; twelve of them slightly, and the two worst cases
+from accidents. The lower-deck guns of the enemy were nearer the water
+than is usual in line of-battle ships, and in consequence of the heavy
+sea, she could use them only occasionally. From this cause, as well as
+from the excellent positions maintained by the frigates, and her
+crippled state through the latter part of the action, she could make but
+a very unequal return to their fire. She suffered very much. More than a
+hundred of her people were killed--a severe loss, yet small compared to
+what it must have been, from the crowded state of her decks, and the
+unprecedented length of the action, if the darkness, the heavy gale, and
+the consequent motion of the ships, had not made the firing slow, and
+the aim uncertain.
+
+It was nearly eleven hours from the commencement of the action, when
+Lieutenant Bell, who was quartered on the forecastle, and who had kept
+the ship's reckoning through the night, satisfied himself that they were
+near the French coast, and ordered one or two sailors to keep a good
+look-out. One of these men thought he saw land, and reported it to his
+officer; who, perceiving it distinctly, went aft, and told the captain.
+Immediately the tacks were hauled on board, and the _Indefatigable_
+stood to the southward, after making the night-signal of danger to the
+_Amazon_, which, with equal promptitude, wore to the northward. The
+enemy, who did not yet see the danger, thought they had beaten off the
+frigates, and poured a broadside into the _Indefatigable_, the most
+destructive she had yet received. Seven shot struck her hull, the three
+lower-masts were wounded, and the larboard main-topmast shrouds were all
+cut away close to the seizings of the eyes at the mast head. It required
+extraordinary activity and coolness to save the topmast, the loss of
+which, at that time, would have made that of the ship inevitable. Under
+the direction of Mr. Gaze, who immediately sprang aloft, the captain of
+the main-top cut away the top gallant-yard; while Mr. Thompson, acting
+master, got up the end of a hawser, which he clinched around the
+mast-head. Thus they saved the main-topmast, and probably prevented the
+mainmast itself from being sprung. Mr. Gaze, who received a master's
+warrant a few weeks after, continued with Lord Exmouth to the last day
+of his command. He was master of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and it
+was he who carried the _Queen Charlotte_ in such admirable style to her
+position at Algiers.
+
+None at this time knew how desperate was their situation. The ships were
+in the Bay of Audierne, close in with the surf, with the wind blowing a
+heavy gale dead on the shore, and a tremendous sea rolling in. To beat
+off the land would have been a difficult and doubtful undertaking for
+the best and most perfect ship. The _Indefatigable_ had four feet water
+in the hold, and her safety depended on her wounded spars and damaged
+rigging bearing the press of sail she was obliged to carry; while the
+crew, thus summoned to renewed exertion, were already quite worn out
+with fatigue. The fate of the other ships was certain; for the _Amazon_
+had all her principal sails disabled, and the _Droits de l'Homme_ was
+unmanageable.
+
+The _Indefatigable_ continued standing to the southward, until the
+captain of the mizen-top gave the alarm of breakers on the lee-bow. The
+ship was immediately wore in eighteen fathoms, and she stood to the
+northward till half-past six, when land was again seen close a-head on
+the weather-bow, with breakers under the lee. Running again to the
+southward, she passed the _Droits de l'Homme_ lying on her broadside in
+the surf, at the distance of about a mile, but without the possibility
+of giving the smallest assistance. Her own situation, indeed, was almost
+hopeless; and Sir Edward Pellew himself was deeply affected, when,
+having done all that seamanship could accomplish, he could only commit
+to a merciful Providence the lives of his gallant crew, all now
+depending upon one of the many accidents to the masts and rigging which
+there was so much reason to apprehend. Happily, the sails stood well;
+the _Indefatigable_ continued to gain by every tack; and at eleven
+o'clock, with six feet water in her hold, she passed about
+three-quarters of a mile to windward of the Penmarcks; enabling her
+officers and men, after a day and night of incessant exertion, at length
+to rest from their toil, and to bless God for their deliverance.
+
+She had scarcely bent new topsails and foresail, the others having been
+shot to pieces, when two large ships were seen at some distance a-head,
+crossing her course, and standing in a direction for L'Orient. One of
+them was at first supposed to be the _Amazon_, of which nothing had been
+seen since the close of the action, and the extent of whose damages was
+not at all suspected. The other was considered to be a French frigate,
+and Sir Edward gave orders to make sail in chase. But the officers
+represented to him, that the crew, entirely exhausted by the
+unparalleled length of the action, and by their subsequent labours, were
+quite incapable of further exertion; that their ammunition was very
+short, scarcely a cartridge filled, and every wad expended. Had the
+French frigate been alone, this would have been a subject of much
+regret; for she was the _Fraternite,_ with the two commanders-in-chief
+and all the treasure of the expedition on board; but her consort was the
+74-gun ship _Revolution_.
+
+The _Amazon_ struck the ground about ten minutes after she ceased
+firing. Her crew displayed the admirable discipline which British seamen
+are accustomed to maintain under such circumstances; more creditable to
+them, if possible, than the seamanship which saved the _Indefatigable_.
+From half past five until nine o'clock, they were employed in making
+rafts, and not a man was lost, or attempted to leave the ship, except
+six, who stole away the cutter from the stern, and were drowned. Captain
+Reynolds and his officers remained by the ship until they had safely
+landed, first the wounded, and afterwards every man of the crew. Of
+course they were made prisoners, but they were treated well, and
+exchanged not many months after.
+
+Conduct like that of the _Amazon's_ people in their hour of extreme
+danger--and it is nothing more than British seamen commonly display in
+the same situation--makes an Englishman proud of his country. Nor should
+it be forgotten, for it exalts the feeling of patriotism and honest
+pride, that a man-of-war's crew at that time was made up, in part, of
+the lowest characters in society. What, then, must be the strength and
+excellence of that moral feeling in England, which can display itself
+thus nobly where it would be the least expected! The fact conveys an
+impressive lesson; for if the intelligence, decision, and kindness,
+which, with few exceptions, characterize our sea-officers, can effect
+such happy results where they operate on the most unpromising materials,
+it is clear, that whatever faults the lower classes in England display
+must be attributed, in a great degree, to the neglect or misconduct of
+those, whose station in society, as it gives the power, imposes the duty
+to guide them.
+
+The fate of the _Droits de l'Homme_ presents an awful contrast indeed to
+that of the _Amazon_. She saw the land soon after the frigates hauled
+off, and after hopeless attempts, first to avoid it, and afterwards to
+anchor, she struck the ground almost at the same moment as the British
+frigate. The main-mast went overboard at the second shock: the fore-mast
+and bowsprit had fallen a few minutes before, in her attempt to keep
+off the land. When danger was first seen, the crew gave an alarm to the
+English prisoners below, of whom there were fifty-five, the crew and
+passengers of a letter-of-marque, which the _Droits de l'Homme_ had
+taken a few days before: "Poor English, come up quickly; we are all
+lost!" Presently, the ship struck on a bank of sand, nearly opposite the
+town of Plouzenec. Cries of dismay were now heard from every part.
+Signals of distress were fired, and several of the guns hove overboard.
+Many of the people were soon washed away by the waves, which broke
+incessantly over her. At daylight the shore was seen covered with
+spectators, but they could afford no assistance. In the meantime, the
+stern was beaten in by the sea, and no provisions or water could
+afterwards be obtained.
+
+At low water an attempt was made to reach the shore, but two boats which
+were brought alongside drifted away and were dashed to pieces on the
+rocks. A small raft was constructed to carry a hawser to the shore, by
+the aid of which it was hoped that preparations might be completed for
+safely landing the people. A few sailors having embarked on it, the rope
+was gradually slackened to allow it to drift to land; but some of these
+people being washed away, the rest became alarmed, cast off the hawser,
+and saved themselves. After a second unsuccessful attempt with a raft, a
+petty officer attached a cord to his body and tried to swim on shore;
+but he was soon exhausted, and would have perished, but that he was
+hauled back to the ship.
+
+On the second day, at low water, an English captain and eight other
+prisoners launched a small boat, and landed safely. Their success
+restored confidence to the multitude, proving, as it did, how easily all
+might be saved, if proper means were quietly adopted. But discipline and
+order were wanting; and attempts made without judgment, and without
+concert, ended in the loss of all who made them.
+
+Perishing with cold, and thirst, and hunger--for the ship, her stern
+now broken away, no longer afforded shelter from the waves, and they had
+tasted nothing since she struck--the unhappy crew saw a third day arise
+upon their miseries. Still the gale continued, and there was no prospect
+of relief from the shore. It was now determined to construct a large
+raft, and first to send away the surviving wounded, with the women and
+children, in a boat which remained. But as soon as she was brought
+alongside, there was a general rush, and about a hundred and twenty
+threw themselves into her. Their weight carried down the boat; next
+moment an enormous wave broke upon them, and when the sea became
+smoother, their corpses were seen floating all around. An officer,
+Adjutant General Renier, attempted to swim on shore, hoping that a
+knowledge of their condition might enable the spectators to devise some
+means for their deliverance. He plunged into the sea and was lost.
+
+"Already nearly nine hundred had perished," says Lieutenant Pipon, an
+officer of the 63rd regiment, who was on board a prisoner, and who
+afterwards published the dreadful story.[7] "when the fourth night came
+with renewed terrors. Weak, distracted, and wanting everything, we
+envied the fate of those whose lifeless corpses no longer needed
+sustenance. The sense of hunger was already lost, but a parching thirst
+consumed our vitals. Recourse was had to wine and salt water, which only
+increased the want. Half a hogshead of vinegar floated up, and each had
+half a wine-glassful. This gave a momentary relief, yet soon left us
+again in the same state of dreadful thirst. Almost at the last gasp,
+every one was dying with misery: the ship, which was now one third
+shattered away from the stern, scarcely afforded a grasp to hold by, to
+the exhausted and helpless survivors. The fourth day brought with it a
+more serene sky, and the sea seemed to subside; but to behold, from fore
+and aft, the dying in all directions, was a sight too shocking for the
+feeling mind to endure. Almost lost to a sense of humanity, we no longer
+looked with pity on those who were the speedy fore-runners of our own
+fate, and a consultation took place to sacrifice some one to be food for
+the remainder. The die was going to be cast, when the welcome sight of a
+man-of-war brig renewed our hopes. A cutter speedily followed, and both
+anchored at a short distance from the wreck. They then sent their boats
+to us, and by means of large rafts, about a hundred and fifty of near
+four hundred who attempted it, were saved by the brig that evening.
+Three hundred and eighty were left to endure another night's misery,
+when, dreadful to relate, above one-half were found dead next morning."
+
+Commodore Lacrosse, General Humbert, and three British infantry
+officers, prisoners, remained in the wreck till the fifth morning; and
+all survived: so great is the influence of moral power to sustain
+through extreme hardships. The prisoners were treated with the utmost
+kindness, and in consideration of their sufferings, and the help they
+had afforded in saving many lives, a cartel was fitted out by order of
+the French Government to send them home, without ransom or exchange.
+They arrived at Plymouth on the 7th of March following.
+
+The Admiralty awarded head-money to the frigates for the destruction of
+the _Droits de l'Homme_. As there were no means of knowing her
+complement with certainty, Sir Edward wrote to Commodore Lacrosse to
+request the information, telling him it was the practice of his
+Government to award a certain sum for every man belonging to an enemy's
+armed vessel taken, or destroyed. The Commodore answered, that the
+_Droits de l'Homme_ had been neither taken nor destroyed, but that the
+ships had fought like three dogs till they all fell over the cliff
+together. Her crew, with the troops, he said, was sixteen hundred men.
+
+The gallant captain of the _Amazon_, one of the earliest and closest
+friends of Sir Edward Pellew, perished at length by a not less
+distressing shipwreck. At the end of 1811, being then a rear-admiral, he
+was returning from the Baltic in the _St. George_, a ship not calculated
+to remain so late on such a station. After having received much damage
+in a former gale, she was wrecked on Christmas-day, as well as the
+_Defence_, which attended her to afford assistance; and only eighteen
+men were saved from the two line-of-battle ships. Rear-Admiral Reynolds
+and his captain remained at their post till they sunk under the
+inclemency of a northern winter; when, stretched on the quarter-deck,
+and hand in hand, they were frozen to death together.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[7] Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. p. 467.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE MUTINY.
+
+
+In less than four years Sir Edward had fought as many severe actions,
+and the number of his successes is even less remarkable than the very
+small loss with which he generally obtained them. Against the
+_Cleopatra_, indeed, where he engaged a superior and skilful opponent
+with an inexperienced crew, he suffered much; but he lost only three men
+in taking the _Pomone_, and none in his actions with the _Virginie_ and
+the _Droits de l'Homme_. The same impunity continued to attend him; for
+not a dozen were killed on board his own ships through all the rest of
+his life.[8] Results so uniform, and applying to so long a service,
+cannot be ascribed to accidental causes.
+
+By his seamanship, his example, a strictness which suffered no duty to
+be neglected, and a kindness which allowed every safe indulgence, he
+would quickly bring a ship's company to a high state of discipline. In
+the language of an officer who served with him for almost thirty
+years--"No man ever knew better how to manage seamen. He was very
+attentive to their wants and habits. When he was a captain he
+personally directed them, and when the duty was over, he was a great
+promoter of dancing and other sports, such as running aloft, heaving the
+lead, &c., in which he was himself a great proficient. He was steady in
+his discipline, and knew well the proper time to tighten or relax. He
+studied much the character of his men, and could soon ascertain whether
+a man was likely to appreciate forgiveness, or whether he could not be
+reclaimed without punishment. During the whole time he commanded
+frigates, his men had leave in port, one-third at a time, and very
+rarely a desertion took place."
+
+His quick and correct judgment, which at once saw how an object could be
+attained, was seconded in the hour of trial by a decision which secured
+every advantage. Nothing like hesitation was seen in him. "His first
+order," said an officer who long served with him, "was always his last;"
+and he has often declared of himself that he never had a second thought
+worth sixpence. This would be an absurd boast from a common character,
+but it is an important declaration from one whose life was a career of
+enterprise without a failure. Always equal to the occasion, his power
+displayed itself the more, as danger and difficulty increased; when,
+rising with the emergency, his calmness, the animation of his voice and
+look, and the precision of his orders, would impart to the men that cool
+and determined energy which disarms danger, and commands success.
+
+Not less striking was his influence in those more appalling dangers
+which try the firmness of a sailor more severely than the battle. The
+wreck of the _Dutton_ is a memorable example. At a later period, during
+his command in India, the ship twice caught fire, and was saved chiefly
+by his conduct. On one of these occasions, the _Culloden_ was under easy
+sail off the coast of Coromandel, and preparations had been made for
+partially caulking the ship, when a pitch-kettle, which had been heated,
+contrary to orders, on the fore part of the main deck, caught fire, and
+the people, instead of damping it out, most imprudently attempted to
+extinguish it with buckets of water. The steam blew the flaming pitch
+all around; the oakum caught fire, and the ship was immediately in a
+blaze. Many of the crew jumped overboard, and others were preparing to
+hurry out of her, when the presence and authority of the Admiral allayed
+the panic. He ordered to beat to quarters; the marines to fire upon any
+one who should attempt to leave the ship; the yard-tackles to be cut, to
+prevent the boats from being hoisted out; and the firemen only to take
+the necessary measures for extinguishing the fire. The captain, who was
+undressed in his cabin at the time of the disaster, received an
+immediate report of it from an officer, and hastened to the
+quarter-deck. The flames were rising in volumes from the main hatchway,
+but the Admiral was calmly giving his orders from the gangway, the
+firemen exerting themselves, and the rest of the crew at their quarters,
+all as quiet and orderly as if nothing had been going on but the common
+ship's duty.
+
+His patronage was exerted to the utmost. The manner in which the navy
+was chiefly manned through the war made this one of the most delicate
+and responsible parts of a captain's care. The impress brought into it
+many whom nothing but the strictest discipline of a man-of-war would
+control; but many also who had entered the merchant service with the
+view and the prospect of rising in it, some of whom were not inferior in
+connections and education to the young gentlemen on the quarter-deck.
+Nothing could be more gratifying to a commander than to promote these,
+as opportunity offered, to higher stations. Some thousands of them
+became petty and warrant officers in the course of the war, and not a
+few were placed on the quarter-deck, and are found among the best
+officers in the service. Sir Edward brought forward many of them, and
+his favour has been more than justified by their conduct.
+
+He was particularly attentive to the junior part of his crew. A steady
+person was employed to teach the ship's boys, and he always had the
+best schoolmaster who could be obtained for the young gentlemen. It was
+an object much desired to be placed with him, and could he have stooped
+to make his reputation subservient to his interest in this respect, he
+might have secured many useful political connections; but this
+consideration never seems to have influenced him. Many of his midshipmen
+had no friend but himself, and rank obtained no immunities, but rather a
+more strict control. He once removed from his ship a young nobleman of
+high connections, and who afterwards became a very distinguished
+officer, for indulging in what many would consider the excusable frolics
+of youth; but to which he attached importance, because the rank of the
+party increased the influence of the example; nor could he be induced by
+the young man's friends to reconsider his determination. The Duke of
+Northumberland, who had himself known all the duties and hardships of
+service, could appreciate the impartial strictness of Sir Edward; and
+when he determined to send into the navy, first a young man whom he
+patronized, and afterwards his own son, the present Duke, he was happy
+to avail himself of the services of Captain Schanck, to place them with
+such an officer. Acting upon the same principle, he would allow neither
+of them more than the usual expenses of the other midshipmen. All who
+entered a public service, he said, whatever their rank, should have no
+indulgences beyond their companions. His sense of Sir Edward's conduct
+was shown by a warm friendship, which terminated only with his life.
+
+In a few weeks after the action with the _Droits de l'Homme_, the mutiny
+broke out at Spithead, which deprived the country for a short time of
+the services of the Channel Fleet. The western squadrons were now of
+peculiar importance, for they became, in fact, the protectors of the
+Channel. The _Cleopatra_, commanded by the late excellent Sir Charles V.
+Penrose, was at Spithead when the mutiny took place; but the good
+disposition of his crew enabled him with admirable address to escape,
+and she joined Sir Edward's squadron at Falmouth. Thence she sailed with
+the _Indefatigable_ and _Revolutionaire_ on a cruise, in which all
+displayed extraordinary exertion, as, under such circumstances, all felt
+the necessity for it. One incident will mark their zeal and activity.
+The _Cleopatra_ carried away her fore-topmast in chase, but replaced it
+so quickly, that she never lost sight of the privateer, which she
+overtook and captured. Several armed vessels were taken; and Sir Edward
+was careful often to run in with the squadron upon different parts of
+the French coast, that he might impress the belief that a considerable
+British force was at sea.
+
+Undismayed by the failure of their attempt on Ireland, the enemy were
+now preparing for a more formidable descent. They equipped a larger
+fleet than before, with a far more numerous army, over which they
+appointed the same able commander: and by an agreement with Holland, the
+Dutch fleet in the Texel, under Admiral de Winter, was to carry over a
+second army. This was to be commanded by General Daendels, an officer of
+great ability and decision. Napoleon thought very highly of him, and it
+was a material part of his own plan of invasion to send him with thirty
+thousand chosen troops to Ireland. He afterwards became Governor of
+Java, where he acted with an independence which awakened the jealousy of
+his master. Discovering this, he wrote to declare that he could hold the
+island against any force which France, or even England, could bring
+against him; but that to mark his devotedness to his emperor, he was
+ready to resign his command, and serve in the French army as a corporal.
+He was Governor of Mons during the invasion of France by the Allied
+armies; and he boasted to Mr. Pellew, who spent a few days with him
+after the peace, that an advancing army made a considerable circuit to
+avoid him, and that he held the fortress unmolested until Napoleon had
+abdicated; when he wrote to the Allied Sovereigns, asking to whom he
+should resign it. An invasion of Ireland, directed by generals such as
+Hoche and Daendels, and at a time when the British navy was in a state
+of mutiny, was an event justly to be dreaded; but all these mighty
+preparations were overturned more easily and quietly than the former.
+Everything was ready; and General Hoche had gone to Holland to make the
+final arrangements with his brother commanders, when the Legislative
+Assembly of France quarrelled with the Directory, and gained a temporary
+ascendancy. On the 16th of July, the new government displaced
+Vice-Admiral Truguet, the able Minister of Marine, and appointed M.
+Pleville le Peley his successor. With the usual madness of party, the
+new minister and his employer hastened to overturn all that had been
+done by their predecessors. They discharged the sailors, dismantled the
+fleet, and even sold some of the frigates and corvettes by public
+auction. When the Directory regained their power, September 4th, after
+an interval of only six weeks, they found that the preparations which
+had cost them so much time and treasure to complete, were utterly
+destroyed. In the following month, Admiral Duncan annihilated the Dutch
+fleet, and thus the proposed expedition was baffled at every point. Were
+a history of England written, with due regard to the operations of
+Divine Providence, in deliverances and successes effected not by human
+wisdom, or human strength, what cause would it afford for unbounded
+gratitude, and for unbounded confidence!
+
+While the enemy were fitting out this armament, Sir Edward was again
+employed to watch the harbour of Brest; a service which he performed so
+much to the annoyance of the French commander, that he sent a squadron
+to ride at single anchor in Bertheaume Bay, to prevent the frigates from
+reconnoitring the port. This squadron chased the _Indefatigable_ and her
+consorts repeatedly, but without being able to bring them to action, or
+to drive them from their station. Once, however, a frigate narrowly
+escaped capture. The _Cleopatra_ was becalmed close inshore, with the
+_Indefatigable_ about two miles to seaward, and another frigate between
+them, when a light air rose, and freshened off the land. The French
+ships slipped, and bringing the breeze with them, neared the
+_Cleopatra_; and a frigate actually succeeded in cutting off her
+retreat, while a seventy-four was fast coming up. Just then, when the
+capture of the _Cleopatra_ seemed inevitable, the _Indefatigable_ made
+the well-known signal for a fleet, by letting fly the sheets, and firing
+two guns in quick succession. Ushant being on her weather-bow, the enemy
+naturally supposed, as was intended, that the British fleet was coming
+up from behind the island; and putting about immediately, hastened back
+to their anchorage. A similar deception is understood to have been
+practised successfully by _the Phaeton_, during the celebrated retreat
+of Cornwallis; nor is it in either case an imputation upon the enemy,
+that they should readily take alarm, when they knew that a British fleet
+was cruising near them.
+
+Early in August, the _Indefatigable_, after a short stay in England, was
+again at her station off Brest; and Sir Edward, having carefully
+observed the port, and fully satisfied himself of the state of the
+French fleet, returned to Falmouth on the 14th, and, on the 26th, joined
+Lord Bridport at Torbay. At this time he offered to conduct an attack,
+which, had it been made, and with success, would have transcended the
+most brilliant results of naval enterprise. The weakness of the French
+Government, arising out of the struggle of parties for the ascendancy,
+seemed to offer a favourable opportunity to the royalists, with whose
+chiefs Sir Edward was on terms of confidential intercourse; and to
+assist them in their objects by an exploit which should strike terror
+into the republicans, he proposed to go into Brest with his frigates,
+and destroy the dismantled fleet. He thought it probable that he should
+succeed, and urged that the greatness of the object might warrant an
+attempt in which nothing was to be risked but a few frigates. The
+conception was in the highest degree daring, but there is a faith in
+naval affairs which works impossibilities, and it has been generally
+found, that the officer who can plan a bold action, has shown himself
+equal to accomplish it. Relative strength is almost thrown out of
+calculation by a well concerted and unexpected attack, conducted with
+that impetuosity which effects its object before the enemy can avail
+himself of his superior force. Thus, Sir Charles Brisbane, with four
+frigates, at Curacoa, and Sir Christopher Cole, with a few boats' crews
+at Banda, achieved, with little or no loss, what would have been justly
+deemed proud triumphs for a fleet of line-of-battle ships. Sir E. Pellew
+was never a man to commit himself rashly to what he had not well
+considered. "There is always uncertainty," he would say, "in naval
+actions, for a chance shot may place the best managed ship in the power
+of an inferior opponent." Hence he would leave nothing to chance, which
+foresight could possibly provide for. With such a character, and with
+his intimate knowledge of Brest and its defences, which were almost as
+familiar to him as Falmouth harbour, his own confidence affords strong
+presumption that he would have succeeded.
+
+The First Lord took an opportunity to submit this proposal to Lord
+Bridport at Torbay, and Sir Edward was in consequence called on board
+the flag-ship by signal. The Admiral received him on the quarter-deck
+with a very low and formal bow, and referred him to Earl Spencer, in the
+cabin, whom he soon found not to be influenced by any arguments he could
+employ.
+
+Lord Bridport was never pleased that independent frigate squadrons were
+appointed to cruise within his station. It was, indeed, an irregularity
+which nothing but the emergency could have justified, when it was
+desirable to relieve the commander-in-chief from lesser
+responsibilities, and enable him to devote all his attention to the
+fleet which threatened the safety of the country. Their successes had
+made the squadrons so popular, that the system was continued when they
+might, perhaps, have been placed, with equal advantage, under the
+orders of the Admiral; and it would naturally give pain to that officer
+to find himself denied the privilege of recognizing and rewarding the
+most brilliant services performed within his own command. Lord Bridport
+would occasionally evince such a feeling when speaking of the "Western
+Commodores," and it may have influenced his manner upon this occasion;
+but his approval of Sir Edward's plan was not to be expected, for he
+would scarcely sanction the proposal to effect with a few frigates what
+it would not be thought prudent to attempt with a fleet.
+
+The _Indefatigable_ sailed from Torbay with a convoy, from which she
+parted company on the 13th of October, off the Isle of Palma. On the
+25th, near Teneriffe, a large corvette chased her, supposing her to be
+an Indiaman, and approached very near before she discovered the mistake.
+She had formerly been the frigate-built sloop _Hyaena_, which the enemy
+had taken very early in the war, and cut down to a flush ship; a change
+which improved her sailing qualities so much, that she might perhaps
+have escaped from the _Indefatigable_, if she had not lost her
+fore-topmast in carrying a press of sail. It is remarkable, that in this
+war Sir Edward took the first ship from the enemy, and after nearly five
+years, recaptured the first they had taken from the British.
+
+It was a part of Sir Edward's system, while he commanded cruising ships,
+to have the reefs shaken out, the studding sail-booms rigged out, and
+everything ready, before daylight; that if an enemy should be near there
+might be no delay in making sail. In the course of 1798 his squadron
+took fifteen cruisers. The circumstances connected with one of these,
+_La Vaillante_ national corvette, taken on the 8th of August by the
+_Indefatigable_, after a chase of twenty-four hours, were of much
+interest. She was bound to Cayenne, with prisoners; among whom were
+twenty-five priests, who had been condemned for their principles to
+perish in that unhealthy colony. It may well be supposed that they were
+at once restored to liberty and comfort; nor would Sir Edward show to
+the commander of his prize the attentions which an officer in his
+situation expects, until he had first satisfied himself that the severe
+and unnecessary restraint to which they had been subjected, for he found
+them chained together, was the consequence of express orders from the
+French Government. His officers and men vied with him in attentions to
+the unfortunate exiles, and when he set them on shore in England he gave
+them a supply for their immediate wants. Among the passengers on board
+_La Vaillante_ were the wife and family of a banished deputy. M. Rovere,
+who had obtained permission to join him, and were going out with all
+they possessed, amounting to 3,000_l_. Sir Edward restored to her the
+whole of it, and paid from his own purse the proportion which was the
+prize of his crew.
+
+Early in the following year the Admiralty determined to limit the period
+of command in frigates. In obedience to this regulation, on the 1st of
+March, Sir Edward, with much regret, left the ship and crew he had so
+long commanded, and exchanged the activity of a cruising frigate for a
+service which offered little prospect of distinction. He was
+complimented with the _Impetueux_, formerly _L'Amerique_, one of the
+prizes taken by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, a most beautiful ship, and
+so much superior to the largest 74, that she was made a class by
+herself, and rated as a 78. He was allowed to select twenty men to
+follow him from the _Indefatigable_.
+
+Going on board the _Impetueux_ for the first time, he was accosted at
+the gangway by the boatswain: "I am very glad, sir, that you are come to
+us, for you are just the captain we want. You have the finest ship in
+the navy, and a crew of smart sailors, but a set of the greatest
+scoundrels that ever went to sea." He checked him on the spot, and
+afterwards, sending for him to the cabin, demanded what he meant by
+addressing him in that manner. The boatswain, who had served with him in
+the _Carleton_ on Lake Champlain, pleaded former recollections in
+excuse; and after submitting to the reproof with which Sir Edward
+thought it necessary to mark his breach of discipline, informed him that
+the crew were all but in a state of mutiny, and that for months past he
+had slept with pistols under his head.
+
+Mutinies were the natural fruit of the system which had prevailed in the
+navy, and it is only wonderful that obedience had been preserved so
+long. All the stores were supplied by contract, and the check upon the
+contractor being generally inadequate, gross abuses prevailed. Officers
+who recollect the state of the navy during the first American war can
+furnish a history which may now appear incredible. The provisions were
+sometimes unfit for human food. Casks of meat, after having been long on
+board, would be found actually offensive. The biscuit, from inferior
+quality and a bad system of stowage, was devoured by insects,[9] until
+it would fall to pieces at the slightest blow; and the provisions of a
+more perishable nature, the cheese, butter, raisins, &c., would be in a
+still worse condition. Among crews thus fed, the scurvy made dreadful
+ravages. The _Princessa_, when she formed part of Rodney's fleet in the
+West Indies, sent two hundred men to the hospital at one time. The
+purser received certain authorized perquisites instead of pay, and
+one-eighth of the seamen's allowance was his right, so that their pound
+was only fourteen ounces. Prize-money melted away as it passed through
+the courts and offices. Not even public charities could escape; and the
+noble establishment of Greenwich was defrauded by placing in it
+superannuated servants, and other landsmen, as worn-out sailors, and
+conferring the superior appointments, intended for deserving naval
+officers, upon political friends. The well-known case of Captain
+Baillie,[10] who was removed and prosecuted for resisting some of these
+abuses, is a memorable, illustration.
+
+A gradual improvement in all the departments of the public service
+commenced from the time of Mr. Pitt's accession to power; and the worst
+of these abuses had been corrected long before 1797. Still so much
+remained, that the demands of the seamen, when they mutinied at
+Spithead, were not less due to themselves than desirable for the general
+interests of the service. A moderate increase in their pay, and
+Greenwich pensions; provisions of a better quality; the substitution of
+trader's for purser's weight and measure; and an allowance of
+vegetables, instead of flour, with their fresh meat, when in port, were
+their chief claims. They did not resort to violent measures till
+petitions, irregular ones it is true, had been tried in vain. They urged
+their demands firmly, but most respectfully; and they declared their
+intention to suspend the prosecution of them if their country should
+require their services to meet the enemy at sea. But though their claims
+were most just, and their conduct in many respects was worthy to be much
+commended, _that_ was a mistaken conclusion, and most deeply to be
+regretted, which made any concession to violence. Hard as the principle
+may appear, no grievance can be held to justify a breach of discipline;
+and when the sailors at Spithead had placed themselves in the position
+of offenders, the question of redress ought to have been preceded by
+unconditional, and, if necessary, enforced submission. It was humbling
+the majesty of the law to negotiate with criminals, and destroying its
+authority to submit to them. If the sailors had first been compelled to
+return to their duty, and their grievances had afterwards been properly
+investigated and redressed, the whole fleet would have respected the
+authority which enforced obedience, and received every favour with
+gratitude. Nor is there reason to believe that it would have been
+difficult to bring men to their duty, whose hearts were still sound. It
+is most honourable to the character of the country, that respect for the
+law, and obedience to the constituted authorities, are so much the habit
+and the principle of Englishmen, that invincible as they are in a good
+cause, they have always shown themselves cowards in crime. A few
+soldiers are sufficient to disperse the largest mob. The timely decision
+of an officer has seldom failed to quell the most formidable mutiny.
+Timorous as the men are from conscious guilt, uncertain in their plans,
+and doubtful of the firmness of their companions, the respect
+involuntarily felt for the noble bearing of a man whom they have always
+been accustomed to obey, and who in a good cause is standing as it were
+alone against a multitude, gives a commander all the power he could
+desire. But if he would take advantage of this feeling, he must be
+prompt to assert his authority. If he waver--if he allow the men once to
+feel their strength, and to stand committed to one another--his
+influence is gone. And if Government should stoop to parley with them,
+it sanctions their proceedings, strengthens their hands by the
+confession of its own weakness, and raises them from being offenders
+against the law, to the dignity of injured men, honourably asserting
+their rights. Thus, when the Lords of the Admiralty, and the first
+Admiral of the British navy, received on terms of courtesy criminals
+whose lives were forfeited, and negotiated with them as with
+equals--when the Government submitted to demands which it evidently
+feared to resist--and the Parliament hastened to legislate at the
+bidding of triumphant mutineers, the navy was taught a fatal lesson. The
+fleet at the Nore mutinied almost immediately after, without the shadow
+of a pretext; and the idea of mutiny once become familiar, the crews of
+the best ordered ships thought little of seeking redress for any real or
+fancied grievance by resisting the authority of their officers. Almost
+every ship on the home station mutinied in the course of the year; and
+considering bow naturally the first fault leads to more guilty excesses,
+and how many worthless characters were swept into the navy, disgracing
+the service by making it the avowed punishment of crime, and corrupting
+it by their example, nothing can appear more natural than that mutiny
+should at length display itself in a darker character, and proceed in
+some unhappy instances to murder and treason.
+
+Sir Edward Pellew deeply lamented the submission of the Government. He
+was satisfied that a proper firmness would have quelled the present, and
+prevented the future evil; and he was strengthened in his opinion by the
+circumstances of the mutiny on board one of the ships at Spithead, in
+which one of his own officers was a principal actor. Captain Williams,
+of the marines, formerly lieutenant in the _Arethusa_, applied to his
+captain for authority to act, assuring him of the good disposition of
+his own men, and pledging himself by their means to save the ship. But
+his captain, though one of the bravest and best men in the service,
+shrank from committing the marines to a possible conflict with the
+sailors, and recommended a little delay. In a few minutes the marine
+officer returned: it was not yet too late, but not another moment could
+be spared. The humane feelings of the commander impelled him still to
+temporize, and when the marine officer returned, it was to say that his
+men must now save themselves, and the ship was lost. The more desperate
+mutiny at the Nore was not quelled by submission.
+
+Afterwards, when mutinies were continually occurring among the ships at
+Plymouth. Sir Edward proposed a very decisive measure to stop the
+mischief. He recommended that a ship, manned with officers, and with
+volunteers who could be fully trusted, should attack the next that
+mutinied, and, if necessary, sink her in the face of the fleet. The
+officer who takes the first step in any measure must feel himself
+committed decisively to all possible consequences; but the mere display
+of such a resolution, with the knowledge that an officer of unflinching
+determination commanded the attacking ship, would most probably spare
+the necessity of firing a shot. Lives are commonly sacrificed only when
+a mistaken humanity shrinks from duty till the proper time for action
+has gone by. The disposition of the crews was not generally bad, but
+they were misled by example, and encouraged by impunity. When the
+_Greyhound_ mutinied, and Captain Israel Pellew demanded if he had ever
+given them cause for dissatisfaction, if he had not always been their
+friend, they admitted that they had nothing to complain of, but said
+they must do like their friends around them. They would have landed him
+with every mark of respect; but he declared that, after such conduct,
+not one of them should ever row him again, and he hailed a waterman to
+put him on shore. Still, though he had reproached them in no measured
+terms, they manned the side, and gave him three cheers when he left the
+ship.
+
+Even Sir Edward Pellew, popular as he was, and though he might well
+expect that a crew which had fought with him two successful actions
+within the past year would be too proud of their ship and commander ever
+to fail in their duty, yet felt it necessary to take precautions, when
+mutinies were occurring around him without the smallest reasonable
+cause. Determined to maintain his authority at all hazards, he prepared
+for the worst, and provided himself with weapons such as he deemed would
+be the most effectual, if he should be compelled to the dreadful
+necessity of a personal conflict with his crew. A pointed and two-edged
+blade, four inches long, was fixed in a rough buckhorn handle, with a
+groove for the thumb across the top. A pair of these were carried in
+sheaths, secured in each waistcoat-pocket. With these, a strong and
+active person, in the midst of a crowd where he could not use a sword,
+could strike right and left with terrible effect.
+
+Once a mutiny was planned in the _Indefatigable_, but he checked it
+before it broke out. She was lying with the _Phoebe_ in Falmouth
+harbour, and the frigates were to sail next morning, when the crews were
+determined not to proceed to their station until they had received their
+pay. A sailor who had overstayed his leave came in the dead of the night
+to inform his commander of the plot; and assured him, that though all
+the crew were privy to it, more than half of them would support their
+officers. Sir Edward professed to discredit the information, and,
+apparently, took no steps in consequence. But when the ship was to be
+got under weigh, the lieutenant complained to him that the men were
+sulky, and would not go round with the capstan. He then came forward,
+and declaring his knowledge of their intentions, drew his sword, and
+ordered the officers to follow his example. "You can never die so well,"
+he said, "as on your own deck quelling a mutiny; and now, if a man
+hesitate to obey you, cut him down without a word." The crew, accustomed
+to prompt obedience, and attached to their officers, at once returned to
+their duty, and the _Indefatigable_ was soon under sail. The _Phoebe_
+was earned by her crew to Cawsand Bay, and in justice to them it should
+be added, that although she anchored in the midst of several ships which
+had lately mutinied, no further irregularity took place: and after
+having been paid, she hastened to join the _Indefatigable_ off Brest.
+
+The crew of the _Impetueux_ supposed, and probably with truth, that Sir
+Edward was selected to command them in consequence of their known
+disaffected state, his frigate having been almost the only ship on the
+home station which had not actually mutinied. Under this impression, a
+mistaken pride would not allow them to be controlled, and their secret
+spirit of revolt became more determined. The feeling might have worn
+itself out in a short time if the ship had remained at sea, for the men
+soon learned to respect their new commander. But when, on the 25th of
+April, the French fleet escaped from Brest, and sailed for the
+Mediterranean, the British Admiral, Lord Bridport, supposing it to have
+gone to Ireland, cruised for a few days off Cape Clear, and then
+anchored with twenty-six sail of the line in Bantry Bay. Here the bad
+spirits of the fleet had leisure for mischief, and facilities to
+communicate with one another. A general mutiny was planned, and the
+disgraceful distinction of setting the example was assigned to the
+_Impetueux_.
+
+On Thursday, the 30th of May, at noon, Sir Edward, being engaged to dine
+with Sir Alan Gardner, had gone to dress in his cabin, leaving orders
+with the officer of the watch to call all hands at the usual time, one
+watch to clear hawse, and the other two to wash decks. When the order
+was given, it was obeyed by all the marines, but by scarce any of the
+sailors. Very shortly after, signal was made to unmoor, upon which a
+noise of "No--no--no!" was heard from the main hatchway, and the seamen
+came pressing forward in great numbers; those in the rear crying, "Go
+on--go on!" The first lieutenant, Ross, and Lieutenant Stokes, the
+officer of the watch, demanded what was the matter; and after some
+murmuring, were told that there was a letter. The officers asked for it,
+that it might be given to the captain, but the cry of "No--no--no!" was
+immediately renewed. Lieutenant Ross then desired Lieutenant Stokes to
+inform the captain, upon which the mutineers shouted, "One and all--one
+and all!" Sir Edward instantly ran out in his dressing-gown, and found
+between two and three hundred on the quarter-deck. On his appearance,
+the clamour was increased, mingled with cries of "A boat--a boat!" He
+asked what was the matter, and was told they had a letter to send to
+Lord Bridport, complaining of tyranny, and hard usage. He demanded the
+letter, declaring that he would immediately carry it himself, or send an
+officer with it, to the Admiral; but all cried out, "No, no,--a boat of
+our own!" He persisted in his endeavours to pacify them as long as a
+hope remained of bringing them to reason, intreating them not to forfeit
+their character by such shameful conduct. But when some of the
+ringleaders declared with oaths that they _would_ have a boat, and would
+take one, he quietly said, "You will, will you?"--gave a brief order to
+Captain Boys, of the marines, and sprang to the cabin for his sword. The
+marines, who had previously withstood every attempt of the conspirators
+to seduce them from their duty, now displayed that unwavering loyalty,
+and prompt obedience, for which, in the most trying circumstances, this
+valuable force has always been distinguished. Sir Edward returned
+instantly, determined to put to death one or more of the ringleaders on
+the spot, but the evident irresolution of the mutineers spared him the
+necessity. He immediately ordered the quarter-deck to be cleared, the
+marines to be posted on the after-part of the fore-castle, and the
+fore-part of the quarter-deck and poop, and the sentries to be doubled.
+The carpenter in the mean time ran to Sir Edwards cabin, and brought
+swords for the officers, who, at the first alarm, had hastened to place
+themselves by their captain's side. The mutineers, after a moment's
+hesitation, ran off the quarter-deck, and threw themselves down the
+hatchways, exclaiming to put out all lights, and remove the ladders. The
+officers followed them closely, and soon secured the ringleaders. Sir
+Edward himself seized one of the most violent, and threatening him with
+instant death if he resisted, dragged him up from below to the
+quarter-deck. The letter, an unsigned one, was now given up, and the
+ship's company returned quietly to their duty.
+
+The plot was thus entirely disconcerted; for the crews of the other
+ships, who knew nothing of the attempt and its failure, but waited for
+the example of the _Impetueux_, followed her when she obeyed the
+Admiral's signal. On the 1st of June, Lord Bridport, who had now learned
+the course taken by the French fleet, sent off Sir Alan Gardner with
+sixteen sail, of which the _Impetueux_ was one, as a reinforcement for
+Earl St. Vincent in the Mediterranean. His orders on this occasion were
+promptly attended to; and no other attempt was made by any of the crews
+to resist the authority of their officers.
+
+The _Impetueux_ being now for a short time under Earl St. Vincent's
+command, Sir Edward took the earliest opportunity to enforce the
+application for a court-martial, which he had previously made to Sir
+Charles Cotton. The Earl, upon inquiry, was so startled at the magnitude
+of the plot, that he thought it better, as the mutiny had been so
+promptly suppressed, to conceal it altogether. Sir Edward differed from
+him entirely. He considered that the worst effects would follow, if the
+men were allowed to think that their officers feared to punish the
+ringleaders in such a conspiracy; and as the Earl, who was on the point
+of resigning the command from ill-health, appeared still reluctant, he
+decided the question by declaring that if the court-martial were not
+granted, he should immediately go on shore. Accordingly, it was held on
+board the _Prince_, in Port Mahon, on the 19th and 20th of June, when
+three of the ringleaders received sentence of death. One of them, after
+his condemnation, disclosed all the history and circumstances of the
+plot; and this, added to the consideration of his previous good
+character, to which Sir Edward had borne a strong testimony on the
+court-martial, made his captain think him a proper subject for mercy.
+But upon this point, Earl St. Vincent was inflexible. "I am glad of it,"
+he said, when Sir Edward spoke favourably of the prisoner's former
+conduct; "those who have hitherto suffered had been so worthless before,
+that their fate was of little use as an example. I shall now convince
+the fleet that no character will save the man who is guilty of mutiny."
+May there never be a recurrance of such unhappy times as shall make it
+the duty of an officer to act upon this stern principle!
+
+The circumstances were concealed from the country, and the rest of the
+fleet, as effectually as if the court-martial had never been held. The
+distant and retired harbour where the mutiny occurred; the quietness
+with which it was suppressed; the holding of the court-martial abroad;
+the frequency of aggravated mutinies within the preceding two years; the
+magnitude of the political occurrences at that period; and the anxiety
+felt at the movements of the enemy's fleet, probably the largest they
+ever had at sea, for it numbered, with the Spaniards, forty sail of the
+line, all concurred to prevent it from becoming an object of public
+attention. But Earl St. Vincent appreciated Sir Edward's conduct very
+highly. "Your brother," he once said to Mr. Pellew, "is an excellent and
+valuable officer, but the most important service he ever rendered to his
+country was saving the British fleet in Bantry Bay. We know that it was
+the intention to burn the ships, and join the rebels on shore."
+
+When the time arrived for executing the mutineers, it was found that
+preparations had been made to give to their fate the appearance of a
+triumph. For it strongly marks the general feeling in the navy during
+this unhappy period, that the individuals who thus suffered were
+regarded rather as martyrs than criminals. Encouraged to hardihood by
+his mistaken shipmates, generally excited by spirits, and some times
+even decorated with knots of ribbon, the mutineer went boldly to
+execution, leaving the spectators less appalled at his fate, than
+admiring his fearless bearing. Sir Edward quickly changed this feeling
+when the prisoners came up to the forecastle. Addressing a few words,
+first to the men who had followed him from the _Indefatigable_, and
+afterwards to the rest of the crew, "_Indefatigables_" he said, "stand
+aside! not one of you shall touch the rope. But _you_, who have
+encouraged your shipmates to the crime by which they have forfeited
+their lives, it shall be your punishment to hang them!" Quailing before
+their commander, their false feeling was destroyed in a moment; and as
+there is no medium between the hardihood and the cowardice of guilt,
+they felt as he intended, and many of them wept aloud. Afterwards, there
+was not in the service a more orderly ship than the _Impetueux_, or a
+crew more pleasant to command.
+
+Considerate as he was upon all occasions where human life was concerned,
+and unwilling to resort to punishment, he was always anxious to make it
+as impressive as possible, whenever it became necessary to inflict it.
+He assisted to try one of the mutineers of the _Hermione_, whose crew
+had murdered their officers, and carried the ship into a Spanish port.
+This man's crime was attended with circumstances of peculiar
+aggravation. He was coxswain to Captain Pigott, who, savage tyrant as he
+was in general, and richly deserving of the fate he provoked, had
+brought him up from a boy, and treated him with much kindness and
+confidence. Yet he headed the murderers; and when they broke into the
+captain's cabin, and that officer, perceiving their intention, called
+for his coxswain to protect him, he replied with an opprobrious epithet,
+"Here I am to despatch you!" He had been entrusted with the captain's
+keys; and when the work of blood was over, the officers, even to
+unoffending midshipmen, being slaughtered, and the murderers were
+regaling themselves with wine, he told them that he knew where to get
+them better than what they were drinking. His crime was fully proved;
+and the court being cleared, Sir Edward proposed that sentence should be
+executed immediately. The circumstances of the case demanded, in his
+opinion, unusual severity, which might be expected to have a good effect
+upon the fleet; while there was every reason to conclude, from the
+prisoner's demeanour before them, that if delay were allowed, he would
+meet his fate with a hardihood which would destroy the value of the
+example. The court at first questioned their power to execute without
+the warrant of the Admiralty; but this was quickly settled by reference
+to the Act of Parliament. The President then declared that he could not
+make the order. "Look here!" said he, giving to Sir Edward his hand,
+trembling violently, and bathed in a cold perspiration. "I see it, and I
+respect your feelings," replied Sir Edward, "but I am sure that such an
+example is wanted, and I must press the point." "Well," he replied, "if
+it be the _unanimous_ opinion of the court, it shall be done." It was
+agreed to, and the prisoner was called. Though, sure that he must be
+condemned, he entered with a bold front; but when informed that he would
+be executed in one hour, he rolled on the cabin-deck in an agony. "What!
+gentlemen," he exclaimed, "hang me directly? Will you not allow me a few
+days--a little time, to make my peace with God?" The whole fleet was
+appalled when the close of the court-martial was announced to them by
+the signal for execution; and at the end of the allotted hour, the
+wretched criminal was brought up to undergo his sentence.
+
+A similar stern decision quelled in a few hours the spirit of resistance
+during the special commission for trying the Luddites at York, when the
+county was almost in a state of rebellion; and it was found necessary to
+protect the court with cannon. Six of the ringleaders having been
+convicted on the first day, the intrepid judge, Le Blanc, ordered them
+all to be hung at six o'clock next morning. While the multitudes,
+stunned by this unexpected vigour, waited in trembling anxiety for what
+was next to follow, eight more were convicted on the second day, and as
+promptly executed. The whole county was struck with terror; and the
+judge, having thus effected the great object of punishment, by
+compelling them to respect and fear the law, could now venture to show
+mercy. It is the hardest effort of human resolution for a judge to
+consign to certain and ignominious death the helpless being who stands
+trembling before him, imploring the mercy or the delay which it rests
+but with him to grant; but whenever justice demands life, duty requires
+that so great a sacrifice shall be made most useful; and to effort
+this, execution must take place before abhorrence for the crime is lost
+in pity for the offender. _His_ proper time for repentance is the
+interval before conviction. Little dependence can be placed on the
+contrition which never shows itself till every hope of life is gone.
+
+The _Impetueux_ formed part of the force which pursued the combined
+fleets from the Mediterranean to Brest, and from which they escaped so
+narrowly. She afterwards remained with the Channel fleet, under Lord
+Bridport and Sir Alan Gardner. On the 1st of June, 1800, Earl St.
+Vincent, who had assumed the command a short time before, detached Sir
+Edward Pellew, with seven sail of the line, and some smaller vessels, to
+Quiberon Bay, whore they were to land five thousand troops under General
+Maitland to assist the royalists. Next day, the squadron arrived and
+anchored; and on the 4th, the forts on the peninsula were attacked and
+silenced by the _Thames_, 32, with some of the small craft; and
+destroyed by a party of troops. Several vessels, taken at the same time,
+were brought off or scuttled. Very early on the morning of the 6th, the
+armed launches, and a division of small craft, were sent away under
+Lieutenant Pilford, of the _Impetueux_, which completed the destruction
+of the shipping in the Morbihan, bringing off six prizes, and destroying
+several others, among which was the _Insolente_, 16-gun brig. They
+landed at the same time about three hundred troops, who carried and
+dismantled a fort. The whole service was effected with the loss of two
+men killed on board the _Thames_, and one in the boats. By this time, it
+was placed beyond doubt that the invalids were not strong enough to
+warrant a descent. Sir Edward, therefore, proposed an immediate attack
+on Belleisle, which had long been a favourite object with him, from a
+conviction that nothing would enable the British to harass the enemy
+more effectually than the possession of that island. He earnestly
+combated the doubts of the General, and pressed the point with all the
+energy of his character. Filled with the ardour so naturally inspired by
+the opportunity to attempt a long-cherished enterprise, he exclaimed, "I
+will be everywhere at your side, only let us attack the place without
+delay." But the General, who could not feel that confidence founded on a
+knowledge of the place, which Sir Edward had gained from having long
+cruised in the neighbourhood; and who well knew the difficulty and loss
+which a much larger force had formerly experienced in taking it,
+objected to the attempt, and the enemy in a few days decided the
+question by strongly reinforcing the garrison. The troops were then
+landed upon the small island of Houat, about two leagues to the
+south-east of Quiberon Point, where they remained encamped, while Sir
+Edward cruised with his squadron off Port Louis.
+
+Towards the end of July, Mr. Coghlan, who had assisted Sir Edward in
+saving the people from the _Dutton_, and was now commanding the _Viper_
+cutter, tender to the _Impetueux_, with the rank of acting lieutenant,
+proposed and obtained permission to cut out a brig of war, which lay
+moored within the port. Accordingly, with twelve volunteers from the
+_Impetueux_, and a midshipman and six men from the _Viper_, in the
+line-of-battle ship's ten-oared cutter, a boat from the _Viper_, and
+another from the _Amethyst_ frigate, he went away on the night of the
+26th to attack a national brig of seven guns, three of them long
+twenty-four pounders, and with eighty-seven men on board.
+
+The object of his attack, _La Cerbere_, was moored with springs on her
+cable, within pistol-shot of three batteries, surrounded with armed
+vessels, and not a mile from a seventy-four and a frigate.
+Notwithstanding her formidable position, and though her crew were
+prepared, while the boats of the _Amethyst_ and _Viper_ had not been
+able to keep up with the cutter, he pushed on with the single boat, and
+made a dash at the brig's quarter. In the act of springing on board, he
+became entangled in a trawl-net, and before he could disengage himself,
+he was pierced through the thigh with a pike, and knocked back into the
+boat. Still undismayed, they boarded the brig further ahead, and after a
+desperate struggle on her deck, carried her. Of the boat's crew, one man
+was killed, and eight wounded; the brig had six killed, and twenty
+wounded. The other boats now came up, and the prize was towed out under
+a heavy, but ineffectual fire from the batteries.
+
+This very brilliant action was rewarded with peculiar notice. The
+squadron gave up the prize to the captors; Earl St. Vincent presented
+Mr. Coghlan with a sword; and a most unusual distinction, he was
+immediately made a lieutenant by an order in council, though, by the
+regulations of the service, he had still to serve a year and a half
+before he would be entitled to promotion.
+
+A few days after, Sir J.B. Warren arrived, with a small squadron and a
+fleet of transports; and having re-embarked the troops from Houat, and
+taken the _Impetueux_ under his orders, proceeded to attack Ferrol. The
+fleet arrived in the bay of Playa de Dominos on the 25th of August, and
+Sir James Pulteney, the military commander-in-chief, desired that the
+troops might be landed immediately. The direction of this service was
+committed to Sir Edward Pellew, who first silenced a fort of eight
+twenty-four pounders by the fire of the _Impetueux_, assisted by the
+_Brilliant_, 28-gun frigate, _Cynthia_, sloop of war, and _St. Vincent_
+gun-boat; and landed the whole army the same evening, without losing a
+man. Sixteen field-pieces were landed at the same time, and the sailors
+got them, with the scaling ladders, to the heights above Ferrol.
+
+A slight skirmish took place on the first advance of the troops, and a
+sharper one next morning; but the enemy were effectually driven back,
+and the heights which command the harbour of Ferrol gained, with the
+loss in all of sixteen men killed, and five officers and sixty-three men
+wounded. Six sail of the line, two of them large first-rates, were in
+the harbour. Sir James now resolved to abandon the enterprise. Sir
+Edward entreated that he might be allowed to lead on with his sailors,
+for he was confident that the town must yield. But Sir James--to the
+intense disappointment and indignation of Sir Edward, who refused
+afterwards and in consequence even to meet him at dinner--declined to
+advance, and the troops and guns were all re-embarked without loss the
+same night. It was afterwards ascertained, that the garrison, despairing
+of effectual resistance, were prepared to surrender the keys.
+
+The squadron escorted the transports to Gibraltar, to join a force
+already assembled there; with which, under the command of Abercromby,
+and protected by the fleet of Lord Keith, they proceeded to Egypt.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Quiberon Bay, one killed in the boats; landing at Ferrol, none;
+Batavia Roads, one killed in the boats; Griessee, none; skirmishes off
+Toulon, one killed by accident; Algiers, eight.
+
+[9] The sailors gave professional names to the various specimens of
+entomology which infested their stores. Thus, a large maggot found in
+the biscuit they called "Boscawen's bargemen."
+
+[10] The case of Captain Baillie is remarkable as the first in which
+Erskine pleaded. When this brilliant advocate, then a junior, unknown
+even to his brethren at the bar, was assailing Lord Sandwich as the
+prosecutor of his client with equal eloquence and courage, and even in
+defiance of a rebuff from the Judge, the latter, Lord Chief Justice
+Mansfield, leant over the bench and inquired in a whisper, "Who is that
+young man?" "His name is Erskine, my lord," replied the clerk. "_His_
+fortune is made," observed the Judge as he resumed his seat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BLOCKADE OF FERROL.--PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.
+
+
+The _Impetueux_ remained with the Channel fleet until she was paid off
+at the end of the war, when Sir Edward was allowed a short repose. He
+passed it chiefly in the quiet of domestic retirement at Trefusis, a
+seat belonging to Lord Clinton, which occupies the promontory between
+the two principal branches of Falmouth harbour, and adjoins the little
+town of Flushing, where his grandfather had lived. Here, in the bosom of
+his family, and with many of his companions and friends in the service
+around him, he enjoyed his first period of relaxation from the beginning
+of the revolutionary war.
+
+Early in 1801, there was a naval promotion, which left him nearly at the
+head of the post list; and he was shortly after made a Colonel of
+Marines. His popularity was now very great, for the credit gained by his
+first action was increased by every future success, until there was no
+officer of his rank whose name was more known and honoured through the
+country. That this should create jealousy was only to be expected; for
+it is always the hardest trial of liberality to be just to the superior
+fortunes of a competitor. Some, contending that he enjoyed a reputation
+beyond his deserts, would under-rate his services, which, they said, any
+other officer with the same chances could have performed as well. But
+chance, though it may afford an occasional instance of unexpected
+fortune, never gives a long and uniform career of distinction. Sir
+Edward displayed the same character through all his grades of rank, and,
+except in the _Hazard_, which was employed on a station and a service
+which could afford no opportunity for distinction, obtained the same
+success in every ship he commanded. It is encouraging to unassisted
+merit to observe, that he had no influential friends until he had made
+himself independent of their support, and was attached to the fortunes
+of no leading commander. All his promotions, and every honour he
+received, were given expressly to reward some recent and distinguished
+service.
+
+Many years after he had retired from active employment, he made a modest
+allusion to this subject at a naval dinner, at which his late Majesty,
+then Lord High Admiral, presided. In rising to return thanks, when his
+health was drunk with compliments which demanded acknowledgment, he
+referred to his own history as a proof that no officer, however
+unsupported by influence, need despair of receiving his due reward from
+the justice and gratitude of his country. "I have never known," he said,
+"what fortune meant. I never chose my station, and never had a friend
+but the King's pennant; but I have always gone where I was sent, and
+done what I was ordered; and he who will act upon the same principles,
+may do as I have done."
+
+At the general election in 1802, he was solicited to stand for
+Barnstaple; for which, after a severe contest, he was returned on the
+8th of July, by a very large majority. His correspondence at this period
+shows he was very early wearied with his situation. Nor was he better
+satisfied when he had gained an insight into the nature of a
+parliamentary life. Indeed, a naval officer of reputation will seldom
+promote his comfort by going into Parliament; where his inactivity may
+present an unfavourable contrast to his professional character, or his
+prominence expose him to the virulence of party. Yet the experience
+thus obtained was not without value to a man who was henceforth to be
+employed as a commander-in-chief, with a greater share of political
+responsibility than usually attaches to a naval command. If he had
+wished to estimate the value of political friendships, and the spirit of
+party intrigue, a lesson which professional employment at sea is little
+calculated to teach, he could not have entered Parliament at a better
+season. The high character and truly English politics of Mr. Pitt had
+united very different parties to support him in carrying on a just and
+necessary war; but when the bond which he had afforded to his party was
+removed by his going out of office, and peace had deprived them of their
+common object, former principles of repulsion regained their influence;
+and the uncertainty whether the premier was the rival or the _locum
+tenens_ of Pitt increased the confusion. It was still more embarrassing
+when, at a later period, Mr. Pitt threw himself into avowed opposition
+to a government, of which the premier was his friend and pupil, and the
+other ministers, one of whom was his own brother, might all be regarded
+as his nominees. Indeed, six remained in office when he returned to
+power, and the ex-premier himself joined the administration in a few
+mouths after.
+
+Sir Edward had not long been in Parliament, before he expressed a
+confident opinion that Mr. Pitt would soon come in. Succeeding events
+strengthened this conviction; and when the peace, or rather armed truce,
+of Amiens was evidently drawing to a close, he said in one of his
+letters, "Pitt _must_ now be the minister." He gave a general support to
+the Government in the very small part which he took in the business of
+the House, but he availed himself of the earliest opportunity to escape
+from it; and on the very day when the King's message was delivered,
+which indicated the renewal of hostilities, he solicited and obtained
+employment.
+
+On the 11th of March, 1803, he was appointed to the eighty-gun ship
+_Tonnant_, in which, after some delay, occasioned by the general
+difficulty of procuring men, he joined the Channel fleet. Anxious to
+take part in the important naval operations to be expected, he wished to
+sail with Nelson, whose reputation gave a just presage that the most
+decisive blow would be struck where he commanded; but after he had been
+appointed to a station, his sense of naval obedience forbade any attempt
+to change it. With that care for the improvement of his young officers
+which was always a prominent feature of his conduct, he advertised for a
+superior schoolmaster for the _Tonnant_, to whom he offered 50_l._ per
+annum, in addition to his pay, that he might obtain for them better
+instructions than the regulations of the service would afford.
+
+Early in the summer, he was detached from the Channel fleet, with the
+_Mars_ and _Spartiate_ under his orders, to intercept or blockade a
+Dutch squadron, which had put into the neutral port of Ferrol, on their
+passage to India. The enemy had proceeded on their voyage the day before
+he arrived, and he followed under a press of sail as far as Madeira.
+They were the ships which he afterwards destroyed at Griessee. In his
+absence, a French squadron of five sail of the line arrived at Corunna
+from St. Domingo, and took advantage of the first westerly gale to cross
+the bay to Ferrol. Here they were blockaded by Sir Edward, whose force
+was soon increased to six, and afterwards to eight sail of the line.
+
+On the 2nd of September, during a strong easterly gale, with thick
+weather, two other French ships from St. Domingo, the _Duguay Tronin_
+74, and _Guerriere_ frigate, were chased by Sir Robert Calder, who was
+coming out to relieve the Commodore. The _Culloden_ had a running fight
+with the enemy for two hours and a half, but could not prevent them from
+getting into Corunna. In autumn, the _Tonnant_ having been refitted at
+Plymouth, Sir Edward resumed the command, and maintained a very close
+blockade, at considerable risk, by night and day. He constantly expected
+a French force from Brest, and often remarked to his officers, that
+they would have to fight both squadrons at once. Under such
+circumstances, every precaution was required, and though unwilling to
+interfere with the men's rest, yet, to prevent surprise, he thought it
+necessary to keep them at quarters all night, and pipe down the hammocks
+in the morning.
+
+As the season advanced, the weather became so tempestuous that the
+squadron was often driven off the land for many days together, and only
+occasionally fetched near Ferrol. Sir Edward became anxious therefore to
+find an anchorage in the neighbourhood, where the fleet could ride out a
+gale, and obtain necessary supplies. He first examined a bay near Cape
+Ortugal, but this was too distant. He then went in a cutter into the Bay
+of Bentancos, between Ferrol and Corunna, on the eastern side of which,
+in a bay called Ares, he considered, contrary to the opinion of the
+celebrated Spanish hydrographer Tofino, that the anchorage was safe, and
+the ground good. The correctness of his judgment was proved by the
+number of heavy gales which the squadron rode out through the winter.
+The place much resembles Cawsand Bay, and a windmill stood on the
+adjacent height, from which the harbour of Ferrol could be seen as
+distinctly as Hamoaze from Maker Tower. In this mill, the English and
+French officers on the look-out often met. As long as the wind was
+westerly, the squadron remained here; but when it shifted to the
+eastward, which was fair to leave Ferrol, Sir Edward anchored his ships
+across the entrance of the harbour.
+
+Owing to the prevalence of the westerly gales, the supplies from England
+were totally inadequate to the wants of the squadron: and it became
+indispensable to procure them on the spot. Occasionally a few live
+cattle were received, but the vessels bringing them were driven back, or
+detained, until the beasts were almost dead. Water was soon found: but
+it was not easy to obtain provisions in the depth of winter from so poor
+a country. The Spaniards were very lukewarm, and the French Admiral
+naturally created every obstacle in his power. This important charge was
+entrusted to Mr. Fitzgerald, purser of the _Tonnant_, and acting
+secretary to the Commodore, a gentleman of great resources, and
+unbounded courage and enterprise. By his exertions a small supply of
+fresh meat was obtained, with some wine and biscuit; and as confidence
+became established, cattle and other necessaries were purchased forty
+miles in the interior. In the performance of his arduous service, Mr.
+Fitzgerald was twice attempted to be assassinated; and he escaped only
+by killing the assailant upon one occasion, and by wounding some of the
+party on the other. Sir Edward was thus enabled to maintain an effectual
+blockade all the winter. He always expected an attack from Brest, which
+perhaps might have been attempted if the enemy had known his real
+strength; but his frequent exchanges with the Channel fleet deceived the
+French Admiral into a belief that a force was cruising in the
+neighbourhood, of which the ships he saw were only the in-shore
+division. Early in the year ships arrived from England with supplies,
+and every difficulty had been removed, when political events at home led
+to his recall.
+
+While the general wishes and confidence of the country were directed to
+Mr. Pitt, as the only minister to carry on the war with energy, the
+chief support of the Government was the reputation and decisive
+character of Earl St. Vincent, First Lord of the Admiralty, whose
+ability as a great commander was even surpassed by his consummate skill
+as a politician. But the Earl was now suffering the common fate of a
+practical reformer, to be opposed by the retainers of a former system,
+and distrusted by all who could not appreciate his innovations.
+Thoroughly acquainted with his own service, he had introduced
+everywhere, and especially into the dockyards, a bold and unsparing
+reform, which no ingenuity could evade, and which was felt the more from
+being coincident with the reductions of peace. All who were thus cut
+off, and others whose emoluments he curtailed, naturally became hostile;
+and the inconvenience always created by a change, and which it was the
+direct interest of so many to aggravate, afforded too favourable
+opportunities for the prejudiced to misrepresent, and the candid to
+misunderstand him. In abolishing the practice of building line-of-battle
+ships in private yards, he took a step of which all subsequent
+experience has proved the wisdom; but it united against him an extensive
+and most powerful interest. It was contended that his measures displayed
+great and unnecessary harshness, and were calculated to break down the
+effectiveness of the navy. Very many persons of the highest integrity,
+too little acquainted with the facts, were thus deceived; and even Mr.
+Pitt, though he had recommended Earl St. Vincent for the Admiralty,
+believed that he was weakening the most important arm of the country.
+Under such circumstances, Sir Edward Pellew was recalled, ostensibly,
+that the Admiralty might confer with him upon these disputed questions.
+Nothing could be more flattering to him, or indeed more honourable to
+both parties, than this confidence; for there had never been much
+cordiality between Earl St. Vincent and Sir Edward, who was both
+politically and personally an admirer of Mr. Pitt; and it was clear to
+every one that the ministry was about to fall. But the Earl was too
+conscious of the wisdom of his measures to fear the judgment of a candid
+opponent; and he too well appreciated Sir Edward's character not to feel
+assured that he would allow no private motive, or political
+predilection, to interfere with the discharge of his duty.
+
+Thus, when Mr. Pitt gave notice of a motion for inquiry into the state
+of the navy, of which the avowed object was to censure the naval
+administration, a mutual friend was employed by the Admiralty to learn
+Sir Edward's opinion of the subjects it embraced, and on finding that
+his judgment condemned them, to induce him to express his sentiments in
+the House. To this proposal he readily assented. They had all engaged
+his attention previously, particularly that relating to the gun-boats,
+which he had frequently discussed with the late Sir Sidney Smith, who
+contended that they might be made effective against a line-of-battle
+ship. Sir Edward would always say, "I should choose to be in the
+line-of-battle ship." On the day he went to the House, he observed in a
+letter to his brother that he now quite understood why he had been
+recalled from Ferrol.
+
+On the 15th of March, Mr. Pitt brought forward his threatened motions.
+He contended, that although the enemy had made the most formidable
+preparations for an invasion, which would probably be attempted within a
+few weeks, the effective force of the navy, from line-of-battle ships
+down to hired armed vessels, was at that moment inferior, and less
+adequate to the exigency of the danger, than at any former period.
+Notwithstanding it was so evidently necessary to oppose to the enemy's
+flotilla a force of a similar description, capable of acting in shallow
+water, the Admiralty had ordered only twenty-three gun-vessels to be
+built, of which five were to be completed in three, and the remainder in
+six months, though the necessity for them was immediate and urgent. He
+condemned the Admiralty for giving up the former approved plan of
+building line-of-battle ships by contract in private yards. Two-thirds
+of the navy, he said, had been thus built; for during a war all the
+strength of the King's yards was required for repairing ships, and
+building was necessarily suspended in them almost entirely. Through the
+last war, of twenty-nine line-of-battle ships, twenty-seven had been
+built in merchants' yards; while in the present only two had been
+contracted for, although fourteen or fifteen slips fit for building them
+were then unoccupied in the river. He contended, finally, that the
+Admiralty had been very remiss and unsuccessful in raising men for the
+navy. In the war of 1793 we began with 16,000 seamen and marines, and
+had 75,000 or 76,000 at the end of the year. In the present war we
+began with 50,000 men, and had raised them only to 86,000. Thus, in the
+former war there had been an increase of 60,000 men in the year; but in
+the present only of 36,000, though our mercantile marine was so much
+greater. Upon these arguments he founded motions for an account of all
+ships, from line-of-battle ships down to hired armed vessels inclusive,
+in commission on the 31st of December 1793, 30th of September 1801, and
+31st of December 1803, specifying the service on which they were
+respectively employed; for a copy of the contracts made, and the orders
+given by the Admiralty in 1793, 1797, and 1803, with respect to the
+number of gun-vessels to be built; for a list of ships built in the
+King's yards for 1793 and 1801; but if it should be thought that any
+intelligence on this head might be a channel of improper information to
+the enemy, he would abstain from pressing it, for he was aware that
+there would still be grounds sufficiently strong to convince the House
+that it was the preferable plan to construct vessels in the merchants'
+yards; and, finally, for a similar list of vessels built by contract in
+private yards.
+
+Mr. Tierney, who led the defence for ministers, would agree only to the
+first and second motions; and he moved, as an amendment to the first,
+that it should include all other armed ships and vessels employed in the
+public service. He denied Mr. Pitt's assertions, and combated his
+arguments. It was an extraordinary proceeding, he said, that an inquiry
+should be proposed, having for its object the censure of the Admiralty,
+when every port of the enemy was sealed up, our commerce protected in
+every direction, and our trade prosperous in an unexampled degree. Our
+naval force was immense, and admirably calculated for a great variety of
+service. We had 1,530 vessels employed, of which 511 included the force
+from line-of-battle ships to hired armed vessels; and 624 were a
+flotilla completely equipped and ready for immediate service; besides 9
+block-ships supplied by the Trinity-house, 19 ships furnished by the
+East India Company, and 373 lighters, and small craft, fitted in the
+King's yards. Of 100,000 seamen and marines voted by Parliament, 98,174
+had been raised, besides 25,000 sea-fencibles; and this, although the
+volunteer force of the country was 450,000. He strongly condemned the
+practice of building ships in merchants' yards. He alluded to the
+_Ajax_, which had been thus built. She had cost 41,000_l_., and the
+bargain was thought a good one, yet in three years she required a
+further sum of 17,000_l._ to fit her for service.
+
+Two parties in the House supported the motions; Admiral Berkeley, Mr.
+Wilberforce, and others, because they agreed with Mr. Pitt in condemning
+the measures of the Admiralty; Mr. Fox and his friends, because they
+considered that an inquiry would redound most highly to the credit of
+Earl St. Vincent. They contended that ministers opposed it only to
+screen their notorious incapacity under the shelter of his great name.
+On the other hand, Admiral Sir Charles Pole, Mr. Sheridan, Mr.
+Addington, Captain Markham, and others, supported Mr. Tierney, and
+confirmed all his statements. Nothing, it was said, could afford a
+stronger proof how enormous were the abuses which Earl St. Vincent had
+corrected, than the argument of Mr. Pitt and his friends, that
+men-of-war could not be built in the King's yards, although 3,200 men
+were employed in them; and it was known that forty-five shipwrights
+could build a seventy-four in a year. Four hundred of the men discharged
+had been receiving six shillings a day for doing nothing. Blockmakers'
+and coopers' work, for which 2,000_l._ had been paid, was proved upon a
+survey to be worth only 200_l._ As to the gun-boats alluded to, which
+were built by contract in the last war, they were so bad, that
+eighty-seven out of a hundred-and-twenty had been sold by public
+advertisement for almost nothing. The men-of-war launched from private
+yards had been the ruin of the navy. Three of them went to Portugal, and
+were found so defective that it was necessary to send them home, with a
+frigate for convoy. The arrangements for the naval defence of the
+country were most admirable and complete, and if there were any delay in
+building the twenty-three gun-vessels ordered by the Admiralty, it was
+because no dependence was placed upon that description of force. It
+would be folly to meet the enemy with the inferior weapons which
+necessity obliged him to employ, when we possessed a more powerful arm
+in our heavy men-of-war and frigates. The depth of water would allow
+these to act close to our very shores; and if the enemy's flotilla
+should venture out, Captain Markham, Sir Edward Pellew, Sir Thomas
+Troubridge, or any officer known in our naval records, would, with a
+single seventy-four, shoot through and sink a crowd of their
+contemptible craft.
+
+Ministers obtained a majority of 201 against 130; a most triumphant
+result for Earl St. Vincent, considering the character of his accuser,
+and the grounds upon which Mr. Fox and his friends voted for the
+motions.
+
+Sir Edward Pellew met the charges against the Admiralty with the plain
+and straightforward declarations of a seaman. Nothing could be more
+disinterested than his conduct upon this occasion; for there was little
+to hope from the gratitude of a ministry just tottering to their
+overthrow, and everything to fear from the resentment of their
+successors. But he justly considered that upon a vital question, and at
+such a crisis, no personal or party feeling should intrude; and he felt
+himself called upon to support the Admiralty with more than a silent
+vote, because he quite approved their measures, which no man could
+better understand. He rose fifth in the debate, and spoke as follows:--
+
+
+     "SIR,--As I very seldom trouble the House, I hope I may be
+     permitted to make a few observations on a subject of which, from
+     the professional experience I have had, I may be presumed to have
+     some knowledge. From the debate of this night, there is one piece
+     of information I have acquired, that the French have got upwards of
+     a thousand vessels in Boulogne. I am glad to find they are shut up
+     there; we have one advantage in it--we know where they are. I wish
+     we had any means of knowing when they intend to come out. I know
+     this much, however, that they cannot all get out in one day, or in
+     one night either; and when they do come out, I trust that our
+     cockleshells alone, as an honourable admiral has called a very
+     manageable and very active part of our force, will be able to give
+     a good account of them.
+
+     "Sir, I do not really see in the arrangement of our naval defence
+     anything to excite the apprehensions of even the most timid among
+     us. On the contrary, I see everything that may be expected from
+     activity and perseverance to inspire us with confidence. I see a
+     triple naval bulwark, composed of one fleet acting on the enemy's
+     coast; of another, consisting of heavier ships, stationed in the
+     Downs, and ready to act at a moment's notice; and a third, close to
+     the beach, capable of destroying any part of the enemy's flotilla
+     that should escape the vigilance of the other two branches of our
+     defence.
+
+     "In respect to what has been said of building ships by contract, I
+     must confess that I do not much admire that mode of keeping up our
+     navy. I have seen some of them--I particularly allude to the _Ajax_
+     and _Achilles_--that I took for Frenchmen.
+
+     "As to these gun-boats, which have been so strongly recommended,
+     this musquito fleet, they are the most contemptible force that can
+     be employed. Gun-brigs, indeed, are of some use; but between a
+     gun-brig and a gun-boat there is almost as much difference as
+     between a line-of-battle ship and a frigate. I have lately seen
+     half a dozen of them lying wrecked on the rocks.
+
+     "As to the probability of the enemy being able, in a narrow sea, to
+     pass through our blockading and protecting squadrons, with all that
+     secresy and dexterity, and by those hidden means that some worthy
+     people expect, I really, from anything that I have seen in the
+     course of my professional career, am not disposed to concur in it.
+
+     "I know, sir, and can assert with confidence, that our navy was
+     never better found; that it was never better supplied; and that the
+     men were never better fed and better clothed. Have we not all the
+     enemy's ports blockaded from Toulon to Flushing? Are we not able to
+     cope anywhere with any force the enemy dares to send out against
+     us? And do we not even outnumber them at every one of the ports we
+     have blockaded? It would smack a little of egotism, I fear, were I
+     to speak of myself; but as a person lately having the command of
+     six ships, I hope I may be allowed to state to the House how I have
+     been supported in that command. Sir, during the time that I was
+     stationed off Ferrol, I had ships passing from the fleet to me
+     every three weeks or a month; and so much was the French commander
+     in that port deceived by these appearances, that he was persuaded,
+     and I believe is to this very hour, that I had twelve ships under
+     my command, and that I had two squadrons to relieve each other, one
+     of six inside, and the other of six outside."
+
+
+He was highly complimented by several who followed him in the debate,
+particularly by Mr. Addington, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Courtenay, as well
+as by other members out of the House. Twenty, who had come down
+intending to vote for Mr. Pitt's motions, were induced to support the
+Admiralty, confessedly by Sir Edward's statements. But it is, perhaps,
+the most decisive proof of the effect of his speech, that Mr. Pitt
+himself referred to it in a debate on the defence of the country six
+weeks after. At the same time he disavowed the gun-boats, and contended
+for "good stout gun-brigs," declaring that he had observed with much
+satisfaction the efforts which had lately been made to increase that
+description of force.
+
+Mr. Addington resigned on the 12th of May, with Earl St. Vincent; Mr.
+Yorke, the Home Secretary; and Lord Hobart, Secretary at War. They were
+succeeded by Mr. Pitt, and Lords Melville, Harrowby, and Camden.
+
+On the 23rd of April, there was a naval promotion, in which some of the
+senior captains, including Sir Edward Pellew, were advanced to be
+Rear-Admirals of the White, passing over the intermediate step. This
+favour was probably considered due to them, for they had served
+considerably beyond the time which had hitherto given an officer his
+flag, the former promotion having been a small one, and the interval
+much longer than usual.
+
+Sir Edward received with his promotion the appointment to be
+commander-in-chief in India. He hoisted his flag in the _Culloden_, and
+gratified Captain Christopher Cole, the youngest brother of his deceased
+friend, and who had served with him as a midshipman in the _Winchelsea_,
+by naming him for his captain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.
+
+
+The arduous charge of a commander-in-chief requires more than great
+decision, and a judgment matured by experience. It claims also a mind
+naturally comprehensive, that it may be equal to great and complicated
+responsibilities. He has other, and not less important duties than to
+harass the enemy. He is to protect the commerce of his country; to make
+his influence so felt over every part of his station, that merit may be
+encouraged, and negligence effectually controlled; to provide in all
+respects for the efficiency of his fleet; and to act with the full
+powers of an ambassador, whenever there is no accredited minister. In
+addition to these more obvious duties, occasions will continually arise
+which demand the utmost temper and discretion. If the secret history of
+the greatest, and most popular commanders were fully made known--what
+difficulties they encountered, and what anxieties they endured--not many
+would be found to envy them their distinctions.
+
+The change in the ministry, which took place within three weeks after
+Sir Edward's promotion and appointment, subjected him, in its
+consequences, to many and great inconveniences; for the new Board of
+Admiralty manifested a decidedly hostile feeling. Such was the temper
+displayed, that he thought it necessary to caution his brother Israel to
+observe the utmost circumspection in all his conduct, and never even to
+sleep out of his ship. The evident desire to deprive him of his command
+left him very little expectation that he would be allowed to keep it,
+and in his first letter from India he observed, "Probably my successor
+is already on his way to supersede me." He was not far mistaken.
+
+The most valuable, indeed the only valuable part of his command was that
+to the eastward of Ceylon, which included the two chief presidencies,
+and all the rich colonies of the enemy. It was resolved to deprive him
+of this, by creating it a separate station, leaving to him only the
+western seas. The more desirable portion was conferred upon Rear-Admiral
+Sir Thomas Troubridge, an officer whose reputation must endure as long
+as the name and services of Nelson are remembered; and whose
+unquestioned merit affords every cause to regret that he was innocently
+made the instrument of such a proceeding. He hoisted his flag in the
+_Blenheim_, an old three-decker which had been cut down to a
+seventy-four, and sailed from England in the spring of 1805, with a
+fleet of Indiamen under his convoy; and after beating off Rear-Admiral
+Linois, who attacked him with the _Marengo_ and _Belle Poule_, reached
+India in August.
+
+When Sir Thomas went on board the _Culloden_, on his unwelcome, but not
+unexpected errand, Sir Edward inquired if he had brought his own letters
+of recall. Finding that the Admiralty had overlooked the essential step
+of sending them, he declared, that until they arrived he could not
+resign any part of his command. He was charged with it by the King, and
+was required by the regulations of the service to hold it until recalled
+by the same authority. Sir Thomas thought that a commission was
+cancelled by a posterior one, without a direct recall; but Sir Edward,
+who was equalled by very few in his knowledge of naval law, found it
+easy to convince him to the contrary, or at least to refute his
+arguments. He told Sir Thomas that if he remained in India, it must be
+under his own orders, for his commission comprehended all the station,
+and it was impossible for a junior to command in the presence of his
+superior officer. When Sir Thomas, indignant at the proposal, refused to
+act under the other's authority, Sir Edward brought the question very
+promptly to an issue, by writing, and handing to Sir Thomas, an order on
+service.
+
+Both officers were naturally warm, and Sir Thomas, disappointed as well
+as irritated, and who was taken so entirely by surprise, had by this
+time quite lost his temper. Indeed, the altercation had gone so far,
+that nothing but a sense of their public responsibility prevented a more
+unpleasant meeting. Sir Edward had hitherto maintained his self-command;
+but as Sir Thomas continued warm, and he was conscious of the infirmity
+of his own temper, he went himself to the cabin-door, and calling for
+Captain Cole, desired him to remain as a witness of all that passed. The
+two Admirals quickly came, not perhaps to a more friendly feeling, but
+at least to a better understanding. Sir Thomas could not but see that
+the other was acting in strict conformity to his duty, and he had the
+assurance that the Admiralty would correct their oversight as soon as a
+reference could be made to them. Sir Edward must have felt it most
+painful thus to meet an officer whose character stood deservedly among
+the highest in the service; the trusted friend, and almost the other
+self of Nelson. Acting with the utmost disinterestedness, though he
+could only expect to be superseded, for a public board will seldom
+confess itself to have been in error, he did not hesitate, as soon as
+his own authority had been properly admitted, to give Sir Thomas a
+separate squadron in the best part of the station. It proved a most
+lucrative command, for in addition to its general advantages, some
+prizes of immense value were taken. On the 20th of July, 1806, the
+_Greyhound_ frigate and _Harrier_ sloop of war fell in with two large
+armed Indiamen, richly laden with spices, and protected by a frigate and
+a corvette. The British gallantly attacked them, and captured, with
+little loss, the frigate, and both the Indiamen. To add to the
+gratification of the Admiral, it was his son, Captain Troubridge, who
+commanded the _Harrier_.
+
+Sir Edward, as far as he was himself concerned, had eventually little
+reason for regret. The position of true dignity, to be always ready to
+sacrifice to public duty personal feelings, and to surrender, when
+necessary, personal interests, but never to compromise any point of
+principle or character, is generally the course not less of prudence
+than of honour. He obtained on this occasion all he could desire, and
+more than he had hoped for, a candid inquiry. Before his letter reached
+England, there had been a change in the ministry, and Mr. Grey was at
+the head of the Admiralty. Nothing could be more honourable than all his
+conduct. It was at first believed that Sir Edward had committed an
+illegal and unprecedented act of resistance to that authority which, as
+an officer, he was bound implicitly to obey. Yet, believing that he had
+acted hastily, Mr. Grey himself went to the Duke of Northumberland, as
+Sir Edward's friend, to say, that the board would allow him to write a
+letter on service, recalling his ill-advised communication. The Duke
+sent to Sir Edward's brother, who was then in town, that he might write
+to India without delay; but Mr. Pellew at first thought the step
+unnecessary. His brother, he said, was not in the habit of acting
+without due consideration, and he did not think it would be found that
+he had done so now. But next day. Earl St. Vincent called upon the Duke,
+and insisted more strongly on the necessity for the step. Sir Edward's
+letter, he said, was not a question of this or the other administration,
+but an act of insubordination which no ministry could overlook: that his
+professional prospects would be entirely destroyed if the board took
+cognizance of it; and that extraordinary lenity was shown in allowing
+him to recall it. A letter was accordingly written; but before a ship
+sailed, Mr. Grey came a second time to the Duke, and told him he had
+found, upon inquiry, that Sir Edward was right. He did more; for he
+wrote to Sir Edward himself a very kind and handsome letter; and though
+opposed to him in political opinions, while Sir Thomas Troubridge was
+connected with his own friends, he recalled this officer, whom he
+appointed to the Cape, and continued to Sir Edward, as at first, the
+entire command in India.
+
+Sir Thomas had with great reason assured himself of a different result.
+He prepared immediately to cross the Indian Ocean to the Cape in the
+_Blenheim_, though she was utterly unseaworthy, and required constant
+pumping even in harbour. She had grounded on a shoal in the Straits of
+Malacca, and was obliged to throw her guns overboard, and cut away her
+masts, before she could be got off. Her back was broken, her frame
+shaken to pieces, and she hogged excessively. In fact, her head and
+stern fell so much, that she rose like a hill amidships, and a person at
+the door of the poop-cabin could not see the sentry on the forecastle
+below his middle. Sir Edward Pellew entreated the Admiral to select any
+other ship on the station for his flag. The Captain of the _Blenheim_
+formally reported her condition, but was told, that if he were afraid,
+he might go on shore, a taunt that compelled the unfortunate officer to
+sacrifice himself with the ship's company. The Admiral thought to force
+back the broken keel to its place by putting in a very heavy mainmast,
+and could not be convinced that he thus increased the danger. The
+distinguished officer who supplied these particulars went on board the
+_Blenheim_ the day she sailed, to take leave of the Captain, and found
+that he had just written a last farewell to his wife, from a conviction
+that the ship must inevitably founder. On the 12th of January, 1807, she
+sailed from Madras, in company with the _Java_ frigate, and the
+_Harrier_ sloop of war. On the 5th of February, the _Harrier_ parted
+company off the island of Rodrigues, in a very heavy gale, in which the
+unfortunate _Blenheim_ and _Java_ were seen to make repeated signals of
+distress. They were never again heard of!
+
+The possibility that the ships might have run on shore induced Sir
+Edward to send the Admiral's son with the _Greyhound_ frigate in search
+of his lamented parent. Captain Troubridge explored the coasts with all
+the anxiety that filial affection could inspire, receiving every
+assistance from the French authorities at the isles of France and
+Bourbon; but he could discover no certain traces of the ships, and no
+doubt remained that they had both foundered.
+
+Sir Edward had been in India but a very short time, when his friend and
+former opponent, Bergeret, was brought to him a prisoner. This gallant
+officer had employed himself through the peace in the merchant service,
+with the _Psyche_, formerly a small national frigate. When hostilities
+were renewed, he armed her with thirty-six guns, and sent her out in
+charge of another officer, Captain Trogoff, not choosing to command a
+privateer. In her first cruise, on the 11th of April, 1804, she
+attacked, and was beaten off by the _Wilhelmina_ store-ship, Captain
+Henry Lambert, and returning to the Isle of France, disabled, General
+Decaen, the governor, bought her into the national marine, and appointed
+Bergeret to command her. He cruised in the Bay of Bengal for a short
+time with much success, while his very liberal conduct obtained for him
+the highest respect of the British residents. Fortune was again unjust
+to him. On the 14th of February, 1805, the _San Fiorenzo_, commanded by
+Captain Lambert, late of the _Wilhelmina_, and which had been sent
+expressly in pursuit of him, fell in with the _Psyche_ off Vizagapatam,
+and after a chase of two days brought her to action. Bergeret defended
+his ship against a very superior force for three hours and a half, when
+the _San Fiorenzo_ hauled off to repair her rigging, leaving him with
+his ship entirely disabled, and more than half his crew killed and
+wounded. On the approach of the British frigate to renew the action, he
+surrendered.
+
+Sir Edward was a warm admirer of the brave prisoner, whose character so
+much resembled his own, and who returned his friendship with equal
+warmth and sincerity. There is not often such a scene on board a
+man-of-war as occurred when the two officers first met on the
+quarter-deck of the _Culloden_. Both were deeply affected, and the
+struggle of their feelings, from meeting under such circumstances, drew
+tears from many who witnessed the interview.[11]
+
+Sir Edward was not always so happy as to meet with enemies thus
+deserving of his sympathy. A French frigate, the _Piedmontaise_, was
+guilty of conduct which would have-disgraced a pirate. Cruising off the
+Cape, on the 17th of February, 1805, she fell in with the _Warren
+Hastings_, one of the China fleet which on a former voyage so gallantly
+bent off the squadron of Admiral Linois; and after a very long and
+severe action, in which the Indiaman was dismasted, and otherwise
+completely disabled, took her. Her brave defence appears to have excited
+the fury of the enemy, probably because her very crippled state
+increased the probability of recapture. Before taking possession of the
+prize, the frigate, by her own mismanagement, fell on board.
+Immediately, the first lieutenant, with a party of ruffians, many of
+whom, like their leader, were intoxicated, rushed on the deck of the
+Indiaman with horrid imprecations and drawn daggers, accusing the
+prisoners of having run foul of the frigate intentionally. The
+lieutenant himself wounded Captain Larkins dangerously, and stabbed a
+young midshipman in several places; and the second officer, the surgeon,
+and a boatswain's mate, were wounded by his followers. Sir Edward did
+not become acquainted with these facts for two years, as Captain Larkins
+and his crew could not depose to them until they reached St. Helena,
+after they had been liberated from the Isle of France. The
+_Piedmontaise_ was then cruising in the Indian seas, and Sir Edward
+transmitted copies of the depositions to every ship on the station,
+with a general order, in which "the attention of the respective captains
+and commanders of H.M.'s squadron is especially called to the statement,
+in order that the ferocious conduct of the first lieutenant, and part of
+the crew of the _Piedmontaise_, may receive the general reprobation of
+H.M.'s service."
+
+The _San Fiorenzo_ was again the fortunate frigate which stopped the
+career of the enemy. Commanded by Captain George Nicholas Hardinge,
+brother of Lord Hardinge, the present Commander-in-Chief--a young
+officer of great promise and distinguished courage--she fell in with the
+_Piedmontaise_ on the evening of the 6th of March, 1808; and after an
+exchange of broadsides that night, and a severe but still undecided
+engagement next morning, brought her to close action on the afternoon of
+the third day, and took her. The _San Fiorenzo_ commenced action with
+only 186 effective men; the _Piedmontaise_, a larger and heavier
+frigate, had more than 500, including 200 Lascars. Captain Hardinge was
+unfortunately killed on the third day. For some time before the enemy
+struck, the first lieutenant was seen exposing himself to the hottest of
+the fire; till, disappointed of the death he sought, and dreading to
+fall into the hands of the British, he discharged his pistols into his
+own body. It is said, that as he did not die immediately, he ordered
+some of his people to throw him overboard alive.
+
+The French naval force in the Indian seas was at no time considerable,
+for whenever a cruiser was known to be committing depredations, her
+career was generally cut short by some of the squadron. It consisted
+chiefly of privateers, for which the Isle of France afforded a
+convenient rendezvous; and of which some were large enough to capture a
+regular Indiaman. The _Emiline_, taken after a two days' chase by the
+_Culloden_, had been a British sloop of war: and the _Bellone_, taken by
+the _Powerful_ and _Rattlesnake_, was added to the navy as a small-class
+frigate, and actually maintained a running fight with the seventy-four.
+The resemblance between ships of war and the larger Indiamen more than
+once deceived the enemy. The _Union_, a small privateer, mounting only
+eight guns, thus ventured to chase, and was taken by the _Culloden_; and
+the _Jena_, national corvette, was taken in the same manner by the
+_Modeste_ frigate. The _Jena_ was a remarkably fine and fast vessel,
+and, as the _Revenant_ privateer, had formerly cruised long and very
+successfully. She was commissioned as the _Victor_, to replace a sloop
+of war of that name, which in the preceding year had been the scene of
+one of the most extraordinary and tragical events on record.
+
+The _Victor_, commanded by Captain George Bell, whose name has been
+already mentioned in connection with the _Nymphe_ and _Indefatigable_,
+had taken four brigs in Batavia Road, and was returning to Prince of
+Wales' Island. On the 15th of April 1807, off Cheribon, she met three
+Malay prows under Dutch colours, which, on its falling calm, she
+detained with the armed boats, and brought alongside. The crews of two
+of them, a hundred and twenty men, were taken on board the _Victor_, and
+placed under a guard, while the prows were being examined; but the
+people in the third being refractory, a carronade was fired into her,
+and some small arms, which they returned by throwing spears and firing
+pistols. A second gun was therefore fired, some sparks from which
+reached a quantity of powder which had been taken out of the prows, and
+blew up the after-part of the ship. The guard ran to extinguish the
+flames, leaving the prisoners, who instantly seized their arms, with the
+spears and knives which had been thrown on board, and attacked the crew
+with all the desperation of their character. The prows were immediately
+cut adrift, and the crew, under the direction of their officers,
+proceeded with admirable order and coolness, one part to extinguish the
+fire, and the rest to defend themselves against the murderous attack.
+After half an hour's dreadful struggle for life, for the Malays would
+take no quarter, eighty of them lay dead on the deck, and the rest were
+driven overboard. The _Victor_ had her first lieutenant and five men
+killed, and her captain and twenty-five wounded; nine of whom died
+shortly after.
+
+Holland, which in reality, though not yet in name, was now a French
+province, had a moderately strong squadron in India. Two frigates had
+been taken since Sir Edward's arrival, the _Maria Riggersbergen_, by the
+_Caroline_; and the _Pallas_, by the _Greyhound_ and _Harrier_. The
+first was the unfortunate ship which, under the name of the _Java_,
+shared the fate of the _Blenheim_; the other was the convoy of the spice
+ships. Two line-of-battle ships, the _Pluto_ and _Revolutie_ with a
+frigate and several corvettes and gun-boats, were at anchor in Batavia
+Road; and information had been received by the _Powerful_, 74, Captain
+Plamplin, that Rear-Admiral Willaumez, with six sail of the line, one of
+them commanded by Jerome Bonaparte, might be expected in the Indian
+seas. To destroy the ships already at Batavia, and to intercept the
+French squadron, Sir Edward sailed on the 22nd of October 1806, from
+Madras to Trincomalee. Here a fleet of Indiamen under his convoy was
+joined by other ships, and went on to Europe in charge of the _Woolwich_
+and _Duncan_; while the Admiral, with the _Culloden_, _Powerful_,
+_Russell_, and _Belliqueux_ line-of-battle ships, and _Terpsichore_
+frigate, proceeded to the Straits of Sunda, where the _Albion_ and
+others were to join him. Lieutenant Owen, commanding the _Seaflower_
+brig, was instructed to disguise her as one of the expected French
+squadron, and to hasten on before. On the 23rd of November, they were
+joined by the frigate _Sir Francis Drake_, Captain Pownoll Pellew; and
+on the same day they learnt that Willaumez had gone to America. On the
+26th they arrived in the Straits of Sunda, where they found the
+_Seaflower_, which had already communicated with the Dutch authorities
+at Bantam as one of the expected French force, and information was sent
+accordingly to the Governor at Batavia. So completely were the enemy
+deceived by this step, that the squadron sailed along the coast of
+Java, and anchored on the 27th in Batavia Road, before its character was
+suspected.
+
+As soon as it was known to be British, the _Phoenix_, 40-gun frigate;
+the _Aventure_ and _Zee-ploeg_, national corvettes; the _Patriot_, and
+another ship of 20 guns, and three brigs of 14, Company's cruisers; with
+more than twenty merchant vessels, ran themselves on shore under the
+extensive batteries of Batavia. Another corvette, the _William_, struck
+to the _Terpsichore_ as she was entering the road; but the
+line-of-battle ships had sailed a few days before to Griessee, a
+fortified harbour on the Sourabaya river, at the eastern extremity of
+the island. The boats of the whole squadron, with five hundred picked
+men, commanded by the Admiral's second son, Captain Fleetwood Pellew, of
+the _Terpsichore_, and covered by the fire from the frigates, were sent
+without delay to destroy the enemy's ships. The decision of Captain
+Pellew, which scarcely allowed them time to man their guns, made their
+fire almost harmless. He boarded the _Phoenix_, whose crew quitted her
+on his approach; turned her guns on the other armed vessels; burnt all
+the shipping except three merchant vessels, which were brought away; and
+in less than two hours returned with the boats, having effected the
+whole service with no greater loss than one man killed and four wounded.
+
+One of the ships lay at the little island of Onroost, which is piled and
+jettied all around, and contained a small and compact repairing yard for
+merchant vessels of all nations. Two boats were sent to destroy her,
+with strict orders to injure nothing on shore; but unfortunately she
+drove alongside the jetty, and, to the great regret of the Admiral, the
+flames communicated to the buildings, and occasioned much damage. The
+squadron sailed on the 1st of December, the _Culloden_ and _Belliqueux_
+to return to India, the others for their respective stations. Thus
+easily was completed an enterprise, as admirably planned as it was
+gallantly executed. General Daendels, when he became Captain-General of
+Java and the Moluccas, some time after, sent a message to Sir Edward,
+that he hoped he would not pay him a visit without an invitation.
+
+In the following June, the Admiral sent Captain Fleetwood Pellew in the
+_Psyche_, with the _Caroline_ under his orders, to ascertain the
+condition of the Dutch line-of-battle ships at Griessee. Captain Pellew
+displayed on this occasion the same spirit which had marked his former
+service. The frigates reached their destination August 29th, and on the
+following day learned that the men-of-war were lying in the port
+dismantled, and very much out of repair. They now proceeded to Samarang,
+where the _Psyche_ arrived, and anchored off the port at midnight, the
+_Caroline_ having parted company in chase. At daylight she weighed, and
+stood into the road, where an armed schooner and a merchant brig were
+anchored near the batteries. These were brought out by the boats, under
+a heavy but ineffectual fire. Two large ships and a brig had been seen
+early in the morning at anchor outside, afterwards found to be the
+_Resolutie_, armed merchant vessel, of 700 tons, with a valuable cargo,
+and having the colours and staff of a Dutch European regiment on board;
+the _Scipio_, national corvette, of 24 guns and 150 men; and the
+_Ceres_, Company's brig of war. That he might be ready to take advantage
+of the sea-breeze, Captain Pellew destroyed the prizes, and before noon
+the _Psyche_ was clear of the harbour in chase, the enemy having weighed
+and stood to sea. The frigate gaining fast upon them, they all ran
+themselves on shore at half-past three, and opened their fire. The
+_Psyche_ anchored as near as the depth of water would allow, and
+presently compelled the merchant ship to surrender. At half-past four,
+just as the frigate was lowering her boats to board, the _Scipio_
+struck: and the brig soon after fired a broadside, and hauled down her
+colours. They were all got off safely the same night, and Captain
+Pellew, after arranging with the Governor of Samarang for sending on
+shore the prisoners, who far outnumbered his own crew, returned to port
+with his prizes.
+
+On the arrival of the _Psyche_, Sir Edward sailed from Madras, with the
+_Culloden_ and _Powerful_, seventy-fours; _Caroline_ and _Fox_,
+frigates; _Victor_, _Samarang_, _Seaflower_, and _Jaseur_, sloops of
+war; and _Wexford_, a large Indiaman, fitted as a troop-ship: with five
+companies of the 34th regiment, and a company of artillery, under
+Lieutenant-Colonel Lockhart. The squadron proceeded first to Prince of
+Wales' Island, where it embarked the Royals, and the 34th; and on the
+20th of November sailed finally for its destination. On the morning of
+the 5th of December it arrived off Point Panka, the eastern extremity of
+Java; and Sir Edward sent a summons to M. Cowell, commander of the
+Gallo-Batavian force, to surrender the ships of war under his orders.
+"The British," he wrote, "are the natural friends of the Dutch. We are
+impressed with correspondent sentiments. It is become our duty to
+prevent the Dutch ships of war from acting under the control of France
+in hostility to the British." He then proposed that the ships of war,
+and all vessels under French colours, be given up, promising in that
+case security for the inhabitants and garrison; and threatening, in the
+event of a refusal, those hostile operations which the naval and
+military forces were jointly prepared to accomplish. Captain Fleetwood
+Pellew, with a military officer, and the Admiral's secretary, delivered
+this proposal to the French commodore; but that officer, in violation of
+the flag of truce, detained them all as prisoners, and returned an
+answer of defiance.
+
+The force assembled for the attack was such as might deter the enemy
+from attempting resistance, with a sufficient force of small vessels to
+be equal to the service, if the line-of-battle ships should be unable to
+get up. At the entrance of the river, about ten miles up the harbour,
+the _Culloden_ and _Powerful_, though they had been previously
+lightened, and trimmed to an even keel, to equalize their draught of
+water fore-and-aft, grounded on what was called the bar, and which
+proved to be a flat, several miles in extent. Part of their water was
+started, and their guns, shot, provisions, and whatever would materially
+lighten them, were removed into three coasting-vessels detained for that
+purpose; but still they remained fast. The rest of the squadron, except
+the troop-ship, which was also aground, crossed the bar, and passing a
+stockade of large trees, anchored in deep water below the island of
+Madura. On the evening of the 6th, Sir Edward, seeing no probability of
+carrying up the large ships, determined to force the passage, and attack
+the place without them, and accordingly shifted his flag to the
+_Caroline_. Fortunately, at nine o'clock that night the water began to
+rise; and by ten, the _Culloden_ was afloat and under sail. Following a
+boat with a light, which was directed by Mr. Gaze, the master, she
+passed the stockade, and by eleven o'clock was anchored above the bar in
+deep water. Before daylight, the Admiral returned to her, and all the
+squadron, except the _Powerful_ and the troop-ship, which had not yet
+floated, weighed with the sea-breeze, and stood for the narrow passage
+between Madura and Java. At half-past eleven, they were engaged with the
+batteries on the island; but they passed them by half-past twelve,
+without having received material damage. At a little past four, the
+squadron anchored abreast of the Fort of Griessee, but no farther
+resistance was offered, except a few ineffectual shots fired from that
+fort at the _Culloden_; M. Cowell having previously determined to defend
+the place to the last against the frigates and sloops, but to surrender
+if the line-of-battle ships got up. The _Powerful_ joined next day. In
+coming up, she was struck from the batteries on Madura with hot shot,
+but her people extinguished the fire. The troops took possession of the
+fort, leaving the town in the hands of the civil authorities: and on the
+9th, the Governor and Council of Somabaya, having thankfully acquiesced
+in the liberal terms dictated by Sir Edward, all hostilities ceased.
+They had promptly released the gentlemen whom the commodore had so
+unjustifiably detained; and a deputation of three members of their own
+body accompanied them to the Admiral, to disavow the act of M. Cowell,
+and to treat for a capitulation.
+
+Having burnt the _Pluto_, _Revolutie_, and _Kortenaar_, line-of-battle
+ships, and a large Indiaman, fitted as a frigate, and destroyed the
+military stores and batteries at Griessee and Madura, the squadron
+weighed on the 13th, and stood down the river in charge of the Dutch
+pilots. On the 15th, they crossed the bar, and two days after, having
+completed their provisions and water, left the coast. Not a man was lost
+in all the service. When Java was taken, in 1811, a squadron was sent to
+Sourabaya; but none of the large ships could get over the bar; and their
+officers would scarcely credit the fact that the _Culloden_ and
+_Powerful_ had reached Griessee.
+
+The _Culloden_ arrived at Madras on the 10th of February, and found
+there the _Russell_ and _Duncan_, with troops embarked to attack
+Tranquebar. They sailed next day, and the place surrendered on being
+summoned.
+
+But all these operations, complete as they were in their success, were
+of far less importance than the effectual protection which Sir Edward
+afforded to commerce. His position, with reference to this point, had
+been peculiarly fortunate: for the confidential intercourse which
+existed between him and his brothers, and the warm interest which they
+took in one another's pursuits, had induced him to give much attention
+to the commercial system of the country. Particularly, he had become
+familiar with the important subject of insurance and convoys, upon which
+his brother had been much in communication with the government. At an
+early period of his command in India, he submitted to the merchants and
+underwriters a proposal to establish a regular system of convoys; and
+invited them to suggest from their own local experience the regulations
+likely to be the most convenient and effectual. The merchants entered
+readily into his plans and the results were satisfactory. Some loss was,
+indeed, still experienced through a frequent practice of masters of
+vessels to sail without convoy, or to separate from it on the passage.
+The commanders of the enemy's cruisers generally treated their prisoners
+well, and released them at the earliest opportunity; so that sailing
+without protection became a mere commercial calculation between a higher
+premium of insurance, and the profits from an early arrival, for little
+personal inconvenience was to be apprehended from capture. To check this
+practice, the Bengal Government, in December, 1806, issued a
+proclamation, declaring that all masters of vessels who separated from
+their convoy without sufficient cause, should be removed from India; and
+in 1808, the Court of Directors ordered, that the master of every
+country ship should enter into a bond of 5,000 rupees, at the
+custom-house from which he cleared, as a penalty for any separation. Not
+that the danger was often great, for the vigilance of the squadron
+seldom allowed an enemy's cruiser a long career; but it sometimes
+happened, as was particularly the case while the force was assembled for
+the expedition to Sourabaya, that an enemy would unexpectedly show
+himself, and commit serious depredations.
+
+During the debate in the House of Commons, on the vote of thanks for the
+victory at Algiers, Mr. Money, an East India Director, who had been in
+India during Sir Edward's command, bore a strong testimony to the merit
+and success of his system. "Such," he said, "was the vigilance with
+which Sir Edward had chased the enemy from our extensive shores, and so
+powerful the protection which he gave to our commerce in those seas,
+that property to the amount of millions had been saved, which otherwise
+would have fallen into the hands of the enemy." Making all the allowance
+which a loose and general estimate usually requires, the assertion at
+least shows the estimation in which Sir Edward's services were held. A
+series of resolutions entered into by the merchants and underwriters of
+Bombay, in December, 1808, when he was on the point of returning to
+Europe, affords more precise evidence. From the data furnished by the
+trade of this port, may be inferred the greatness of the benefits which
+the commerce of India received from his protection.
+
+
+     "Resolved--That it appears to this meeting of merchants,
+     shipowners, and underwriters, of Bombay, to be an indispensable act
+     of justice, more especially under existing circumstances, publicly
+     to declare, on the approaching departure of his Excellency
+     Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew for Europe, the extent of the
+     protection which the commerce of Bombay has received, since the
+     assumption by his Excellency of the command-in-chief of his
+     Majesty's ships in the Indian seas.
+
+     "--That it appears by a document framed in the insurance-office of
+     Bombay, that the rate of premium from Bombay to China, and from
+     China to Bombay, from the year 1708 to 1805, fluctuated between
+     twelve, ten, nine, and eight per cent.; while, during the period of
+     Sir Edward Pellew's command, from 1805 to 1808 inclusive, it has
+     stood at eight per cent., with a return of three per cent., if
+     sailing with convoy, and at five per cent., if warranted with
+     convoy: the rate of insurance has, therefore, been fifty per cent,
+     lower on the commerce of the port of Bombay during Sir Edward
+     Pellew's command than at any former period.
+
+     "--That since the arrival of Sir Edward Pellew, a period of only
+     three years, one hundred and ten ships have exported and imported,
+     to and from China, under convoy during the whole voyage; while only
+     twenty-eight have run the passage unprotected, in consequence of
+     their sailing out of the seasons fixed for the regular convoys; at
+     the same time that those which have departed unprotected on the eve
+     of appointed convoys, or have separated in the course of the
+     voyage, have not failed to attract the notice and remonstrance of
+     his Excellency.
+
+     "--That the operation of the system of convoys had afforded
+     complete security to the trading capital of Bombay, of which the
+     amount insured at this settlement, from May 1st, 1806, to October
+     31st, 1808, has been 6,700,000_l._; that the premium paid by the
+     trade on that sum amounts to 445,000_l._; that the losses by
+     captures amount to 61,000_l._; that the losses by sea risks
+     extended to 69,000_l._; and that the profits to the underwriters
+     amount to the sum of 314,000_l._; the losses by captures being
+     under one per cent, on the principal insured, and exceeded by those
+     arising from sea-risks; while the former have occurred beyond the
+     influence, or have been a consequence of a departure from that
+     regular system of convoy, by which the commerce of the western
+     division of the peninsula of India has been so extensively
+     benefited.
+
+     "--That the advantage resulting from protection by convoys, which
+     the trade of this port has thus experienced, has originated in that
+     system which was established, and has prevailed, since the
+     succession to the command of H.M.'s ships in India by Sir Edward
+     Pellew; a system proposed at his express invitation, in the letter
+     addressed to his Excellency by the three leading firms in behalf of
+     the merchants of Bombay, on the 12th of February, 1806, and adopted
+     in the reply of his Excellency's secretary of the following day.
+
+     "--That at a time when the enemy has sacrificed his maritime
+     reputation, and every feeling of naval ambition, to a degrading
+     system of privateering, in the prosecution of which national ships
+     of superior force and construction are employed, for the purpose of
+     committing depredations on our trade, it is indispensable to the
+     successful prosecution of our commercial interests, essential to
+     our national credit, and justly due to the character of those to
+     whom the protection of these valuable and important trusts is
+     committed, that a steady adherence to that system should be
+     observed, of the solid advantages of which, the experience of
+     three years has afforded so decided a proof.
+
+     "--That independently of the ample protection afforded to the
+     commerce of the port, his Excellency Sir Edward Pellew has
+     manifested a degree of personal anxiety for the security of its
+     trade, characteristic of that zeal and vigilance which have ever
+     distinguished his professional career; that the interference of his
+     Excellency led to the advertisements issued at his suggestion by
+     the insurance society of Bombay in the year 1806, promotive of
+     encouragement to sail and continue under convoy; and subsequently,
+     to the salutary provisions contained in the proclamations published
+     by the governments of Bengal and Bombay in the year 1807,
+     restrictive of the practice of ships separating from convoy; and,
+     moreover, that his Excellency's solicitude in this respect has
+     succeeded in establishing a degree of control over our shipping,
+     hitherto unknown in the Indian seas.
+
+     "--That these important facts, as established by the most minute
+     investigation, do eminently entitle his Excellency Sir Edward
+     Pellew, to a more formal declaration of those grateful
+     acknowledgments which he has already received from a great and
+     decided majority of the merchants, shipowners, and underwriters of
+     Bombay.
+
+     "--That these resolutions be communicated to his Excellency Sir
+     Edward Pellew, with a suitable address, and published in the
+     _Bombay Courier_.
+
+                                        "CHARLES FORBES, Chairman."
+
+
+The great extent of the Indian command, and the comparatively small
+force with which it was held, called forth the utmost exertions of every
+officer; and the attention of the commander-in-chief was unceasingly
+directed to everything which was calculated to maintain his squadron in
+the highest state of efficiency. Lord Torrington, who was at that time
+serving under his orders, bore testimony in the House of Lords to the
+care and judgment by which, while he prevented any waste of naval
+stores, he kept the ships always well supplied, and in a state always
+ready for action. Overlooking nothing connected with the interest of his
+crews, he established a naval hospital at Madras, a measure fraught with
+economy to the country, and advantage to the service.
+
+As an Admiral, not less than as a Captain, Sir Edward interested himself
+in the welfare and comfort of every man under his command; but the
+clamour of that false humanity which is one of the most prominent vices
+of the present day would never influence him. He knew that, even in the
+best ordered ships, punishment may be sometimes necessary as an extreme
+alternative, though the exercise of it demands great discretion. Too
+many will be found, especially during a war, when it is impossible to
+inquire into the character of those who come into the service, who are
+callous to every better motive; and with reference to such, we must
+respect the humanity more than the judgment of those who would
+substitute privations injurious to health, for the pain of the lash, and
+studied indignities for the shame of it. Little consideration can be
+claimed for that pretended sense of honour, which is sensitive to the
+shame of punishment, but callous to the degradation of crime. The
+experience of every good officer will bear out the assertions, that a
+strict commander is always the most popular; that the orderly system of
+a well regulated ship, in which every man knows his duty, and performs
+it without being teasingly interfered with, affords the best security
+against offences; and that when an offence has been committed, the
+ship's company, and even the culprit himself, will respect the captain
+who patiently investigates the fault, and dispassionately orders the
+deserved punishment.
+
+But on the other hand, except in particular cases, as where a ship has
+been manned by drafts from the fleet; in other words, by receiving the
+skulkers and incorrigibles, whom every captain desires to get rid of,
+frequency of punishment is the most certain proof of unsatisfactory
+discipline. Either there will be a laxity which encourages by the
+prospect of impunity, or else a want of system, in which the caprice of
+the officer is the rule for the moment, and the men can never fall into
+regular habits. Sir Edward's observation had taught him, that while the
+power to punish can be entrusted only to the discretion of the
+commander, it is right, on every ground, that it should be exercised
+under some check. Accordingly, soon after he went to India, he required
+a monthly return of punishment from every ship in his fleet; and the
+Admiralty, struck with the simplicity of the plan, and not less with the
+excellent effects, adopted it for all the navy. This was the first step
+in the milder and more effectual system of discipline which has since
+prevailed; and if he had no other claim than to have originated this, it
+would be sufficient to entitle him to the gratitude of every officer and
+man in the service.
+
+He sailed from India in February, 1809, with a fleet of Indiamen under
+his convoy. Off the Isle of France they encountered a violent hurricane,
+in which the _Culloden_ was in the greatest danger. For three days no
+provisions could be cooked, and the crew subsisted chiefly on dry rice,
+with a dram every four hours. So violent was the motion of the ship, as
+she rolled from broadside to broadside, that the chain-pumps were almost
+useless. All the quarter-boats were lost, the quarter-galleries washed
+away, and three of the dead lights stove. Fortunately her bottom was
+sound, but she broke much in the upper works; the bolts working
+themselves loose, and many of the knees giving way. Even the cabin
+bulkheads were thrown down. It was suggested to the Admiral, who was
+almost constantly on deck, encouraging the men at the pumps, that the
+ship would be materially eased if the upper deck guns were thrown
+overboard. He replied, "I do not think it necessary; she will do very
+well, and what would become of the convoy if we meet an enemy?" It was
+his intention, if the gale had continued, to cut away the mainmast,
+which, being very heavy--for it weighed twenty-one tons--strained the
+ship exceedingly. The mizen-mast had given way in the top. Four of the
+convoy foundered, and the rest were scattered; but all which escaped the
+gale re-assembled at St. Helena, and, with the _Culloden_, arrived
+safely in England.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] Bergeret rose to be an Admiral, and was not long since
+Commander-in-Chief at Brest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
+
+
+The expedition to the Scheldt was being fitted out when Sir Edward
+arrived from India; and had he reached England but a few days sooner, it
+was understood that he would have received the naval command. The
+military commander-in-chief, whose friendship he had long enjoyed,
+wished him to be appointed; but the final arrangements of the Admiralty
+had been already completed.
+
+Lord Mulgrave afterwards proposed to him to be second in command in the
+Mediterranean; and suggested that Lord Collingwood would probably be
+glad to surrender his charge to an officer who possessed the confidence
+of the Admiralty; for that of late he had repeatedly expressed a desire
+to be relieved from it on account of his declining health. But Sir
+Edward, who was not aware of the actual condition of that distinguished
+Admiral, declined the offer, for he could not be persuaded that Lord
+Collingwood would resign a command which he filled so usefully and
+honourably, as long as he could possibly hold it with advantage to his
+country.
+
+He did not remain long unemployed, though he never attempted to create
+an interest in his favour by any indirect means. Political intrigue, he
+has said, does not sit well on a sea-officer; and he would not attach
+himself to the fortunes of any administration, or party. This, as it is
+the most honourable, is also in the end the most successful path; but
+the man who travels thus alone and unsupported, must be prepared for the
+many attacks to which such a position will expose him. Some such
+annoyance or interference may have prompted the following blunt avowal
+of independence in a letter, of the 28th of July, 1810.
+
+"I have no right to the favour of Mr. Percival, or any minister.--I have
+never intrigued, nor ever will--and as to sneaking after such people, I
+will not--and as to the command of the Channel fleet, be it Pole, or be
+it Calder, I care not one straw--and whether I am on the shelf by any
+new set, is equally indifferent--and for me, who am fifty-three, except
+the heart-felt satisfaction of serving my country in such times, I will
+never be at the trouble to write a letter to ask a favour of any
+minister alive. I care not who comes in, or who goes out, and if they
+send me on shore, well; and if not, it is the same."
+
+In the spring of 1810 he hoisted his flag on board the _Christian VII_.
+as commander in-chief in the North Sea. He rode at anchor with his fleet
+all the summer, off the mouth of the Scheldt, just in sight of land;
+while his smaller vessels were actively employed along the whole line of
+coast. He frequently stood into the Scheldt in a cutter, that he might
+reconnoitre the enemy's fleet in person. A gale from the eastward having
+blown the fleet off the coast, it was at anchor in the Downs, when a
+gun-brig arrived with intelligence that the enemy had dropped down to
+the Western Scheldt, apparently ready to sail. He ordered the fleet to
+sea immediately; but many of them having made signal of inability, for
+the pilots refused to get them under weigh, he sent for the chief pilot
+of the flag ship, and questioned him if it were practicable to take out
+a ship in such weather. The pilot having reported that it was quite
+safe, even for the _Christian VII._, which from her great length was the
+least manageable ship in the fleet, much more so for the others, some
+of which worked like cutters, the Admiral made signal for all captains
+and pilots to come on board. He then repeated his order to sail, and
+enforced obedience. The fleet sailed, and beat across the North Sea to
+their station, without an accident; and the enemy returned to their
+former anchorage as soon as the blockading force appeared. As the autumn
+advanced, the pilots gave up the charge of the fleet; but Sir Edward
+kept his station, until the increasing severity of the gales compelled
+him to take shelter in the Downs.
+
+In the spring of 1811, he succeeded Sir Charles Cotton as
+commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. He proceeded to his station in
+the _Caledonia_, with his brother Israel, lately promoted to be a Rear
+Admiral, as captain of the fleet; and arrived off Toulon on the 18th of
+July. Next morning, two French frigates returning from Genoa with
+conscripts for the fleet were chased by the _Conqueror_ and _Sultan_,
+the inshore squadron; and the French commander, Vice-Admiral Comte
+Emeriau, sailed out with thirteen line-of-battle ships and a frigate, to
+protect them. The _Conqueror_ approached near enough to fire upon the
+frigates, and afterwards, with her consort, exchanged a few distant
+broadsides with the advanced ships of the enemy: but these, whose only
+object was to secure the frigates, did not wait for the main body of the
+British force, now fast coming up, but hastened back to their anchorage.
+This affair, with the evident high state of equipment of the French
+fleet, led all to expect that there would soon be a general action; a
+hope in which the Admiral fully participated. He writes thus on the 28th
+of December, 1811, when the fleet was on its way to Mahon:--
+
+
+     "MY DEAR BROTHER,--I would not permit a ship to sail direct for
+     England without carrying you a few lines to say we are all well, on
+     our way to replenish our provisions and water for the winter's
+     cruise: when this is done, we return to our old ground; or it is
+     possible we may attempt to lay in Hyeres Bay, should we find the
+     ground good for winter gales, of which at present we are not quite
+     assured. We lay there a month in full expectation it would force
+     the enemy to give us battle, and it will probably at last compel
+     them to do so next spring. They are actively fortifying the islands
+     and bay all around, in order to guard against attack, and have at
+     least ten thousand men at work: they suspect our army will move
+     this way. As far as we can judge from appearances, I have never yet
+     seen a French fleet in half the order the Toulon one is. They have,
+     I am sorry to say, adopted but too many of our arrangements, and in
+     point of clothing, they exceed us. They also keep everybody on
+     board, so that the French officers are now of necessity obliged to
+     find amusement in their duty; and become acquainted with their
+     people. The ships are magnificent; four of 120 guns, larger than
+     _Caledonia_, and twelve fine two-deckers, are all ready and manned.
+     Two of 120, and two of 80 are building, and may launch by March or
+     April; so that I think we shall have twenty to fight, without any
+     from Genoa, Naples, or Venice; and I trust a glorious day we shall
+     have. Keats is a host of strength to me; and we are all well
+     together, eager for the day, which I trust will help to put an end
+     to the miseries of war, and the irksome eighteen years' confinement
+     between wooden walls we have all experienced.
+
+                      "God be with you ever,
+                           "My dear Sam,
+                      "Your truly affectionate brother,
+                                                 "E. PELLEW."
+
+
+The hopes of the fleet were disappointed: for the enemy came out only
+when the wind was fair to return; and thus, though they often allowed
+the advanced ships to approach nearly within gunshot, nothing was, or
+could be done, on those occasions.
+
+In the following week, prompted perhaps by the recollections of the new
+year, he again writes:--
+
+
+     "I never expect to live the war through, and am not at all anxious
+     about it. If I can only have the happiness of doing service to the
+     country, I would give a great deal to be ten years younger; but as
+     that cannot be, I must content myself with the reflection that my
+     children are good, and provided for; and that I leave them attached
+     to their mother, and to each other. We have all reason to be
+     thankful, and to praise God for his great and manifold mercies. We
+     are ready to start at a moment's notice, and have a strict
+     look-out. The enemy are also ready, sixteen sail, a three-decker of
+     140 guns launched Christmas Day.
+
+     "God bless you, and yours; and may He enable me to do honour to my
+     country and my family--for myself, I care not."
+
+
+The number of points which required to be constantly watched (for more
+than two thousand miles of coast, from the Ionian Islands to Gibraltar,
+was in the hands of the enemy), made a considerable force necessary; and
+the Mediterranean fleet was at this time one of the largest ever
+entrusted to an Admiral. The commander-in-chief, with a principal part
+of the line-of-battle ships, blockaded the French fleet in Toulon,
+cruising off that port from the beginning of March to the end of
+November, and sheltering in Mahon through the three winter months. A
+Rear-Admiral was kept at Malta, with a sufficient force under his
+direction to guard the different points of the station at the upper part
+of the Mediterranean. Another Rear-Admiral was stationed on the south
+coast of Spain, to watch the movements of the enemy, and to assist the
+Spaniards whenever they could assemble in numbers to make a stand. A
+third remained at Gibraltar; and a Commodore, with a ship of the line,
+and frigates, watched the Gulf of Genoa, and the western coast of Italy.
+Frigates and small vessels were detached wherever their services became
+necessary.
+
+Knowing from his own experience what could be done by the flag-officers
+and captains of his fleet, he was enabled to assign to all of them their
+respective duties in the full confidence that they would not disappoint
+him. He associated much with them, and was in the habit of freely
+communicating his ideas, as well on general subjects connected with the
+movements of the fleet, as on their own personal charge. By his prompt
+measures, and personal attention to the repairs, victualling, and
+storing of the fleet, and his care to obtain ample supplies of stores
+and provisions from England in such good time as never to be deficient
+in any necessary article, he kept all the ships in a high state of
+equipment, and afforded at the same time an example of activity and
+forethought which was not lost upon his officers. He was attentive to
+everything which affected the discipline of the crews, and was
+particularly strict in enforcing regulations for constant exercise at
+the great guns and small arms.
+
+How perfect was the discipline of the fleet may be inferred from the
+fact, that with so many ships, and on a station where the enemy had the
+chief part of his naval force, he lost, in three years that he held the
+command, not a single vessel by capture: and only one, a small gun-brig,
+by shipwreck. It may be added, that through almost twenty years of
+command in war, as Commodore and Admiral, no vessel under his orders was
+ever taken. Something of this may be ascribed to fortune; but more must
+be referred to the excellence of the officers and crews; which, when the
+results are so uniform, is in fact also the praise of the commander.
+Indeed, the superiority of the Mediterranean fleet under his command was
+well known, and James, in his Naval History, complaining of the dearth
+of good seamen on other stations, laments that "so many thousands of the
+very best of seamen, who, under the wise regulations of Sir Edward
+Pellew, were daily improving themselves in the neglected art of gunnery,
+should be denied the power of showing their proficiency where it was the
+most wanted."
+
+He was particularly anxious to keep down the expense of the fleet, and
+indefatigable in his exertions to economize stores of every description,
+which at this time were procured from home with much difficulty. When it
+was found that fresh water could be obtained at the mouths of the Rhone,
+the fleet went there, and usually completed in forty-eight hours. He was
+thus enabled to discharge several transports. From the size and force of
+that river, the fresh water floats for a considerable distance over the
+sea; and at first, some of the cruisers completed their water by dipping
+it carefully from the surface. But on the fleet anchoring in the bay,
+the launches, with the armed boats to protect them, were sent up the
+river, where the water was not at all brackish. An arrangement was
+eventually made with the French General, who agreed not to molest the
+boats, the Admiral on his part promising that none of his people should
+be suffered to land on the marshes, or in any way to disturb the cattle
+grazing there, of which there were many thousands. In the strong
+north-west gales, so common in the Gulf of Lyons, the ships were in the
+practice of furling sails every night, and driving off from Toulon,
+standing in-shore again under easy sail when the gale moderated. During
+the winter months, when he sheltered in Mahon harbour, the ships had
+their repairs made good, and their stores and provisions completed; the
+Admiral being as active in the dockyard, where he would often be found
+at the earliest dawn of the morning, as he showed himself when afloat.
+Care was taken that while the fleet thus lay in harbour, it should
+always be ready for an immediate start if the enemy should put to sea;
+and two frigates, occasionally with a line-of-battle ship, were kept off
+Toulon to make a daily observation of the state and movements of their
+force. On two occasions, the in-shore frigates particularly
+distinguished themselves. On the 22nd of September, 1811, the
+_Volontaire_ and _Perlen_ retreated from a division of three
+line-of-battle ships, and two frigates, with which they were repeatedly
+engaged during six hours; and saved themselves through their admirable
+seamanship without loss: and in the following May, the _Menelaus_ alone,
+when close in-shore, was chased by several line-of-battle ships; and
+though her fore-topmast was nearly cut in two by a shot from the
+batteries, she secured it, and escaped.
+
+Competent masters were provided for the young gentlemen of the
+_Caledonia_, who were assembled every day in the Admiral's fore-cabin,
+and kept closely at their studies; the Admiral himself often visiting
+them, and interesting himself in their progress. The French and Spanish
+interpreters instructed them in these languages: the flag-lieutenant
+superintended their navigation, and that they might perfect themselves
+in seamanship, a frigate-built yacht of eight or ten tons was provided,
+upon which they were exercised in sailing, rigging and unrigging, and
+every part of a practical seaman's duty. All the arrangements of the
+ship, with regard both to officers and men, displayed consideration for
+their comfort and advantage. When the Admiral thoroughly knew his
+officers, he confided in them in their respective situations, never
+teasing them with interference, or disturbing himself by unnecessary
+watching or anxiety, after his orders had been given. The influence
+which he exerted on their behalf, and his great success in obtaining
+promotion for them, gave every one the strongest inducement to excel. He
+had known the anxieties of a young man forcing his way through the
+service without friends; and his own recollections taught him how best
+to assist and encourage others.
+
+No man could be more careful of the reputation and feelings of his
+officers, or more ready to suggest a plea in excuse for their errors. He
+had an extreme dislike to bring any of them to a court-martial, and
+would never resort to this painful extremity where it could with any
+propriety be avoided. Very few cases occurred under his command; so few,
+indeed, that it has even been asserted that not one took place. This it
+would be too much to affirm. It may be quite true that he was in no case
+the accuser: it certainly was his practice to prevent extreme measures
+wherever he could support the authority of the superior without
+subjecting the accused to the consequences of a public trial; and the
+recommendation of the commander-in chief would generally be conclusive.
+Still, a serious case would sometimes occur, in which it was impossible
+to prevent the law from taking its course. At a particular period of his
+command, and on a very important and critical occasion, one of his
+captains placed him in a position of much embarrassment, by entering
+without authority into a treaty with the Queen and Court of Murat. The
+commander-in-chief arrived very soon after, and annulled the treaty; but
+he spared the officer the pain of his position by charging him with the
+most prominent and honourable service connected with his own
+arrangements. In his despatches to the Admiralty on the occasion, he
+touches very lightly on the error, but enforces every exculpatory plea.
+Of the unauthorized arrangement with the enemy, he merely writes, "which
+I should have been glad he had never entered upon;" yet he adds, "from
+my conviction that he had been actuated by the purest motives, and
+placed in a peculiar situation. I thought it right, in acknowledging his
+letter, to express my approbation of his general proceedings; and in
+consideration of all the circumstances connected with his engagements. I
+gave him my sanction to," &c. He then proceeds to describe the
+flattering trust he had committed to this officer.
+
+But kind as he was, he endured no relaxation of discipline, and never
+forgot what was due to his rank and station. His manners were formed by
+his character; and whenever an individual with commanding talents
+directs them to worthy objects, combining a proper sense of what he owes
+to himself with a just consideration for others, he will always, and
+without an effort, appear dignified and amiable: far more so in his
+unaffected simplicity, than the man who only assumes the character of
+the chief and patron, because his position requires it.
+
+His temper was warm, the common failing of quick and active minds. No
+one was more conscious of it than himself; and where he feared it had
+given pain, he would labour to remove the impression by marked and
+continued attentions. In the multiplicity of cares and duties which
+surround a commander-in-chief, there are so many sources of irritation
+and disappointment, that it is no wonder the mind should sometimes be
+brought to that extreme point of endurance, when a small additional
+annoyance destroys its equanimity.
+
+The service in the Mediterranean was one of multiplied details,
+individually too unimportant for history, yet calculated to influence
+materially the progress and result of the war. Along the eastern coast
+of Spain, the support and co-operation of the ships afforded that
+encouragement to the inhabitants which in the western provinces they
+derived from the presence of the British army. Even when the fortresses
+had fallen, and Spain had no longer a force for a rallying point in that
+part of the country, the guerillas, acting in concert with the fleet,
+were enabled to perform exploits which alarmed and distressed the
+invader, and kept alive the spirit of hope and resolution. Along the
+shores of Italy and France, the most daring and brilliant enterprises
+were continually achieved. Batteries and forts were stormed in open day,
+and prizes, sometimes in whole convoys, carried off from anchorages
+where they seemed to be unassailable. Looking at the evident danger of
+such attempts, one is astonished at the constant success which attended
+them, and at the generally inconsiderable loss sustained. It would be
+unjust to the courage of the enemy, and still more to that of the
+gallant officers and men who performed such services, not to state the
+cause of this impunity and success. It was not that the defences on
+shore were feebly maintained, or that their defenders were surprised and
+overpowered by the reckless desperation of the assailants; but that the
+different boat attacks were planned with a judgment, and supported by a
+force, which prevented effectual resistance. Officers such as Hoste,
+Gordon, Rowley, Maxwell, Duncan, Ussher, and indeed all, for no
+commander ever placed more general and deserved confidence in his
+officers than Sir Edward Pellew, were not men to send away their people
+on doubtful and desperate services. The Admiral himself, much as he
+admired enterprise, strongly discouraged all acts of useless daring. He
+was always most unwilling to risk men's lives in boat attacks, when they
+could not be supported by the fire from the ships; and when his own
+boats were necessarily detached on service, his anxiety for their safety
+was very great. But the men, who saw in these successes only the daring
+courage which obtained, but not the considerate judgment which planned
+them, learned to fancy themselves invincible, and would go to what might
+appear a death service, as if it were an excursion of pleasure. The crew
+of the _Imperieuse_, who had often distinguished themselves in these
+attacks, petitioned their captain to remain with them, when he had been
+appointed to a finer ship, and offered to prove their attachment to him
+by taking any two French frigates they could meet. It is right to add,
+that their captain, a son of the great and good Lord Duncan, submitted
+their petition to Sir Edward Pellew, who continued him with his faithful
+followers. "You are a brave nation," said Napoleon at Elba to an English
+captain, one of Sir Edward's officers, "so are the French; but the
+English are individually brave." Services like these create the
+individual bravery which Napoleon admired.
+
+Still more important was the moral influence which these attacks
+impressed on the enemy. When the inhabitants along the southern coasts
+of Europe could scarcely look upon the waters without seeing an English
+cruiser; when they saw the apparent ease with which their strongest
+defences were carried; when they felt themselves at the mercy of the
+assailants, yet always experienced their forbearance and protection; the
+respect felt for an enemy so powerful and generous, taught them to
+desire the more earnestly their own day of deliverance from the common
+tyrant. And when the tremendous judgment which visited him in the
+Russian campaign offered the prospect of his speedy and final overthrow,
+every facility existed for acquainting them with the full extent of his
+reverses, and preparing them to avail themselves of the earliest
+opportunity to assert their freedom. "Affairs in these countries," says
+Sir Edward, in one of his letters, "look well, and promise much next
+summer, all over the East. Detestation, amounting to horror, is the
+general expression against this tyrant of the earth."
+
+The ordinary cares and duties of his command, and his very extensive
+correspondence, for the number of letters he was in the habit of writing
+on service was almost incredible, were by no means Sir Edward's heaviest
+charge. Perhaps there was no ambassador on whom a greater diplomatic
+responsibility was imposed than on the commander in the Mediterranean.
+It formed by much the largest and most anxious portion of Collingwood's
+duties, and the greatness of the trust, the impossibility of confiding
+it to another than the commander on the station, and the uncommon
+ability with which Collingwood sustained it, gave the British Government
+much uneasiness when the state of that officer's health threatened to
+deprive them of his services. It increased materially in extent and
+importance after Sir Edward had succeeded to the command, when the
+reverses of the French in Russia opened a prospect of deliverance to all
+the states along the shores of the Mediterranean, including the southern
+provinces of France itself. Sir Edward exerted himself unceasingly to
+prepare them for this consummation, and to encourage them to seize the
+first opportunity to effect it; and the judgment he displayed in these
+services obtained from a British Cabinet minister the declaration, that
+"great as he may be as a sea-officer, he is still greater as a
+statesman."
+
+One professional distinction was yet wanting, and this he anxiously
+desired, as a means of hastening an honourable peace, and on personal
+grounds, perhaps, to connect his name with the history of his
+country--to command in a general action. Though the enemy had shrunk
+from meeting him, as he expected when he first assumed the command, yet,
+while they continued to build ships of the largest class, and to keep
+their fleet always ready for sea, he could not but hope that they only
+waited for a favourable opportunity to try the fortune of their flag. At
+the end of 1811 there were sixteen sail of the line in Toulon. Two
+others were launched next year, and by the close of 1813 there were
+twenty-two, of which six were three-deckers of the largest size. Sir
+Edward gave them every opportunity, and every prudent advantage, but he
+never could induce them to attack him. They had been forbidden to
+engage, and the Emperor had hitherto seen nothing to induce him to
+recall the order. Thus, though they were kept in a state of high
+equipment through the whole period of Sir Edward's command, they never
+ventured far beyond the protection of the batteries; and came out only
+when they had a leading wind to return.
+
+The restoration of his fleet was a favourite ulterior object with
+Napoleon; and if a different result of the Russian campaign had placed
+the resources of Europe at his command, there is no doubt but that the
+days of St. Vincent and Trafalgar would have been renewed. There was an
+English officer who was much in his presence and confidence at Elba, and
+to whom he proposed the most flattering inducements to enter his
+service. "I am honoured by your Majesty's offer," was the reply, "but I
+was born an Englishman." Conversing with him on naval affairs, he one
+day said, "I would have had two hundred sail of the line, and when I
+brought against you such a force, you must have been crushed." But the
+officer soon convinced him that the tactics which he had made so
+effectual on land, by concentrating an overwhelming force upon his
+enemy, were not applicable to naval operations. Sailors are made but
+slowly. It requires an able commander to direct twenty ships, and the
+most skilful could scarcely manoeuvre forty. Dark nights and gales would
+disperse the unwieldy armada, and a small, but well managed force, would
+hang upon it and destroy it in detail. The Emperor saw the force of the
+objections, and closed the conversation with the compliment already
+related.
+
+Once, towards the end of the war, an opportunity seemed to be offered by
+which the enemy might be compelled to sacrifice part of his fleet, or to
+risk a general battle. On the morning of November 5th. 1813, the French
+fleet had sailed out of Toulon with the wind at E.S.E., and advanced to
+a greater distance than usual, when the wind suddenly shifted to
+south-west. Immediately the enemy made every exertion to work back to
+their harbour. The main body of the British fleet was just in sight to
+the southward, and an advanced squadron of four sail, with a fifth at no
+great distance, was about half-way between the two fleets. This squadron
+lay up for the enemy under all sail, with every appearance of being able
+to cut off the rear ships, the _Wagram_ of 130 guns, with four
+two-deckers and four frigates. On the approach of the British, the enemy
+tacked, and stood in so close, that many thought they intended to run
+themselves on shore; but they again tacked off to the southward, and the
+advanced squadrons stood on with every prospect of passing to windward
+of them. Unfortunately, as the British ships approached, the wind headed
+them, and threw them off so much, that they only fetched just within
+gun-shot of the _Wagram_, the enemy's rear ship. The fleet was at this
+time bringing up the original wind, and the _Caledonia, San Josef_, and
+_Boyne_, actually fetched within gun-shot of the French Admiral, before
+the wind headed them. The _Wagram_, which had reserved her fire for the
+_Caledonia_, exchanged broadsides with her, but at too great a distance
+to produce material effect; and the enemy being so far to windward,
+succeeded in reaching Toulon. Eleven shots from the _Wagram_ and the
+batteries struck the _Caledonia_, wounding the mainmast, cutting some of
+the shrouds, and destroying a small boat upon the booms. Much
+disappointment was felt by all the fleet, and the conduct of the
+advanced squadron was strongly censured by many in the ships astern, who
+supposed that they had intentionally bore away, when in fact they had
+come up within influence of the head wind.
+
+A more serious, though very partial affair occurred in the following
+February. On the evening of the 12th, Rear-Admiral Kosmao Kerjulien
+sailed from Toulon, with three sail of the line, and three frigates, to
+escort a seventy-four which was expected from Genoa. On the following
+morning, the fleet returning from Mahon, discovered the enemy to the
+eastward of Hyeres Islands. They were at first supposed to be British
+ships, but the Admiral himself going aloft, clearly made out their
+character. The _Boyne_, Captain Burlton, a small three-decker, sister
+ship to the _Victory_, was considerably in advance of the fleet. It was
+on Sunday, and the ships were preparing for the morning service, which
+had already commenced on board the _Boyne_, when the signal for a
+general chase was thrown out. The wind blew strong from E.S.E., and the
+_Boyne_, perceiving the enemy's intention to come through the little
+pass of Hyeres Bay, stood for that pass to intercept them. Sir Edward,
+who was leaning on the foreyard, watched her with admiration, but
+extreme anxiety. "Hold on, my brave Burlton!" he exclaimed, as the
+_Boyne_ dashed at their whole force. Then, as he feared they would all
+close, and overpower her before he could arrive to her assistance, he
+turned to an officer at his side, and declared with energy, "If they
+take her they sha'nt keep her, for I'll go in with the fleet!"
+
+Passing through the enemy immediately astern of a frigate, to which she
+gave a broadside, the _Boyne_ separated the rear-ship from the others,
+and brought her to action. This ship, the _Romulus_, a two-decker,
+immediately hauled in for the north shore, and kept so close, going
+round all the bays, that the _Boyne_ could neither run her on board, nor
+get inside her. They ran side by side with studding sails set, and at
+the rate of ten knots, before the wind, which blew directly into Toulon.
+Once it was thought that the _Romulus_ was aground, as she luffed up to
+the wind, which brought all her sails aback, and her starboard lower
+studding-sail in upon the gangway. The _Boyne_ also backed her sails,
+and continued close to the enemy; but the _Romulus_ paying off, and
+filling again, continued to run alongshore, and when she reached Cape
+Brun, at the entrance of the harbour, had gained on the _Boyne_. The
+_Caledonia_ had by this time come up, and the Admiral waved to Captain
+Burlton to haul his wind to the southward. The _Boyne_ tacked
+accordingly, being then within pistol shot of Cape Brun battery; and the
+_Caledonia_ fired a broadside at the _Romulus_, as she ran in to join
+her consorts in the harbour. The _Caledonia_ then gave the _Boyne_ three
+hearty cheers, and Captain Burlton received the thanks of the
+commander-in-chief by signal.
+
+Napoleon was now contending for existence on the soil of France, and the
+remains of his former conquests were rapidly melting from him. In the
+course of January and February, every place in the Adriatic had
+surrendered. In the following month, Lord William Bentinck left Palermo
+with an army, supported by a squadron under Commodore J. Rowley, to
+reduce Genoa. The advanced guard was landed considerably to the
+eastward, and moved forward, supported by the squadron, carrying and
+dismantling the batteries as they advanced. On the 30th, the defences
+round the Gulf of Spezzia capitulated. On the 13th of April, the army
+was landed at Recce, in the Gulf of Genoa; and at day-break on the 17th,
+a joint attack was made by the land and sea forces on the defences
+around the place. These were carried in the course of the day; and
+preparations were in progress to attack the town, when Sir Edward Pellew
+arrived with several line-of battle ships. The governor, already alarmed
+at the rapid progress of the assailants, capitulated, and the town was
+taken possession of next morning. Four gun-brigs, and a number of
+merchant vessels were found in the mole; and the _Brilliant_, a fine
+seventy-four on the stocks, was launched, and still remains in the navy
+under the appropriate name of the _Genoa_.
+
+Paris had already capitulated; and on the 28th of this month, Napoleon
+left France in a British frigate for Elba. He landed on the 3rd of May
+on the little island which had been assigned to him for a sovereignty,
+and a prison: and thus ended a war, one of the longest, the most
+dreadful, but in all respects the most glorious, which England had ever
+waged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
+
+
+The contest for naval supremacy was so entirely decided by the battle of
+Trafalgar, that no opportunity was afterwards afforded for great
+successes. But at the end of the war, when the leading Peninsular
+generals were raised to the peerage, it was thought due to the service
+to confer a similar distinction upon a naval officer. Sir Edward Pellew
+received this mark of his sovereign's favour. He was created Baron
+Exmouth, of Canonteign, a mansion and estate in the South of Devon which
+he had purchased for a family property; and the pension was settled on
+him which is usually granted when a peerage is conferred for eminent
+public services.
+
+He was still in the Mediterranean when the news of his elevation reached
+him, and he received the first account of it from a newspaper. In
+allusion to it, he writes:--"I was never more surprised than at this
+event. Never was man more ignorant of its being thought of; much less
+reason had I to expect it; and it has happened only by a combination of
+events quite unconnected with influence or power. I had some reason to
+believe a red ribbon was intended, and ---- wrote that it had been
+granted; but if so, it was changed next day to what it is, which, for
+the sake of our family, I hope will be useful and respectable. For
+myself I am indifferent, and know it will only tend to multiply my
+enemies, and increase my difficulties." ... In the course of this year,
+he received a handsome compliment from the officers of the Mediterranean
+fleet. It is a beautiful model of the Warwick vase, executed by Messrs.
+Rundel and Bridge, at a cost of 580 guineas, and bears the following
+inscription:--"Presented to the Right Honourable Admiral Lord Exmouth,
+&c., &c., &c., as a mark of their respect and esteem, by the officers
+who served under his Lordship's command in the Mediterranean."
+
+At the beginning of the next year, when the order of the Bath was
+extended, he was included among the knights commanders; and was
+afterwards advanced on an early vacancy to be a grand cross. The former
+was entirely unexpected, as he knew nothing of the intention to extend
+the order. He thus begins a letter to his brother on the 5th of
+January:--"I seize this moment, when the arrival of the post has brought
+me the enclosed without one single line from any friend I have on earth:
+possibly, it was owing to the lateness of the nomination. I had not the
+most distant idea of this event, and I can only account for its coming
+to me by the squabbling of parties ... to end which, it was probably
+decided on giving it to the commander-in-chief. On this ground only can
+I account for it, as it was by no means necessary to add this, which was
+once considered due to me as a reward of sufficient magnitude, without
+any other.
+
+"6th January, 1815.--I had written the above before any gazette reached
+me, which explains the whole. But as it shows my heart and mind to you
+without reserve, and as I can call God to witness, that I never in my
+life kept anything from you. I send it.--May God bless you."
+
+He had remained but a few months in England, when, on the renewal of
+hostilities consequent on the return of Napoleon from Elba, he was sent
+back to the Mediterranean. Hoisting his flag in the _Boyne_, and again
+with his brother, Sir Israel, as captain of the fleet, he hastened to
+his station. His services were first required at Naples, which he was
+so happy as to save from all the horrors of anarchy. Murat, that he
+might create a diversion in favour of Napoleon, had rashly attacked
+Austria, and thus violated the compact by which he was allowed to hold
+his usurped throne. What followed scarcely deserves the name of war. His
+army, not waiting for the enemy to approach, fled like sheep, and left
+the Austrian commander an unresisted march to Naples. Lord Exmouth,
+after having arranged with Lord W. Bentinek for the co-operation of the
+forces from Sicily with the allies, had arrived on the evening of the
+18th of May, at Civita Vecchia, whence, on learning the rapid advance of
+the Austrians, he proceeded without delay for Naples, where he anchored
+on the evening of the 20th. Madame Murat embarked the same night on
+board a British seventy-four, and immediately wrote to Lord Exmouth,
+requesting that he would take measures for the security and peace of the
+city. No capital in Europe contains within itself more formidable
+elements for popular tumult; and upon this occasion, the mob, excited by
+the general confusion, and not restrained by any adequate authority,
+were proceeding to the last excesses of rapine and violence. Lord
+Exmouth was not slow to take the steps which such an emergency required.
+On the morning after his arrival, he landed the marines, who took
+possession of the forts, and the castle of St. Elmo, and conjointly with
+the civic guard, restored, and maintained order. On the 23rd, the
+Austrian army entered the city, and next day the forts were delivered
+up, and the marines embarked. The king, Ferdinand, was unbounded in his
+expressions of gratitude, and invested him on the spot with his highest
+order.
+
+After having concluded some very difficult and delicate negociations
+respecting the queen and court of Murat, who were eventually sent to
+Trieste, Lord Exmouth proposed to General Bianci, to embark a few
+thousand men, and make a dash at Toulon. Unfortunately, the instructions
+of the Austrian commander would not allow him to join in such an
+expedition. The squadron therefore sailed for Leghorn, where it landed
+the first division of the Austrian army, and thence proceeded to Genoa.
+Accounts received on the 3rd of July of the situation of affairs on the
+coast of Provence determined Lord Exmouth, in concert with Sir Hudson
+Lowe, to embark 3,000 men, part of the garrison of Genoa, consisting of
+the 14th, and two Italian regiments, and including 200 artillery and
+cavalry, with which he sailed direct for Marseilles. Here the troops
+were landed, with a body of seamen, and the marines of the squadron, and
+stopped the advance of the rebel Marshal Brune, who was marching from
+Toulon upon Marseilles avowedly to destroy it. The inhabitants, grateful
+to their preservers, were unceasing in their attentions, both to the
+fleet and army, as long as they remained in the place. Their sense of
+the important services which the two commanders had rendered, as well to
+their city, as to the cause of their rightful sovereign, was marked by
+the present to each of a large and beautiful piece of plate, which was
+executed at Paris. On the base of that presented to Lord Exmouth is a
+medallion of the noble Admiral; and a view of the port of Marseilles,
+with the _Boyne_, his flagship, entering in full sail. It bears the
+simple and expressive inscription,--"_A l'Amiral mi Lord Exmouth, la
+ville de Marseilles reconnoissante_."
+
+The squadron wintered in Leghorn roads, being detained in the
+Mediterranean for instructions, which were delayed for some time,
+through the magnitude of the negotiations then in progress. At the
+beginning of 1816, Lord Exmouth was ordered to proceed to the different
+Barbary powers, to claim the release of all the Ionian slaves, who, by
+the late political arrangements, had become British subjects: and to
+make peace for Sardinia. These were to be matters of compulsion; but he
+was also to make peace for any of the other states in the Mediterranean
+who would authorize him to do so. Naples readily availed herself of his
+offer. Unable to protect herself, it was to her an inestimable blessing
+to gain security from such a dreadful scourge on the easiest terms which
+the influence of the first maritime power could obtain for her. Nothing
+can be conceived more horrible than the condition of the Christian
+slaves, subjected as they were, in countries where no law gave
+protection, to all the caprice and cruelty of masters, who hated and
+despised them for their faith. Nor was it a small aggravation of their
+misery, that as Roman Catholics, they were cut off from the observance
+of rites which they deemed essential. To the fear and danger of being
+reduced to this miserable condition was the maritime population of the
+states around the Mediterranean continually exposed: while the great
+naval powers, deterred from exterminating these pirates, either by more
+pressing concerns, or by the failure of the different expeditions which
+had attempted it, purchased a discreditable security by presents.
+
+Lord Exmouth afterwards visited Rome; but the Pope declined the offer of
+his services, perhaps from difficulties arising out of religious
+scruples at confiding a formal trust to a Protestant. He received the
+Admiral, however, with the utmost courtesy, and even attended to his
+request upon a subject where it was scarcely to have been expected that
+the interference of a Protestant would be allowed. A young Spanish lady,
+who was confined in a convent at Minorca, under circumstances of an
+oppressive and distressing nature, had contrived to bring her case to
+the knowledge of Lord Exmouth, and to place in his hands a memorial,
+which he took an opportunity to deliver personally to the Pope. A
+British admiral interceding with the Pope for a Spanish nun was a novel
+occurrence; but Pius VII. received the memorial very graciously, and
+placed it in the hands of Gonsalvi that proper inquiries might be made.
+It is satisfactory to add, that Lord Exmouth received a letter a few
+months after, informing him that the poor girl's prayer to be set at
+liberty had been complied with.
+
+Before he took any steps in fulfilment of his instructions he made the
+arrangements necessary for an attack, which was to be the alternative if
+negotiations failed; a result much to be expected at Algiers, which had
+hitherto withstood so many formidable armaments. He ordered Captain
+Warde, of the _Banterer_, to proceed to Algiers, where he was carefully
+to observe the town and the nature of its defences. Lord Exmouth's
+instructions on this occasion, and which were written with his own hand,
+afford an admirable illustration of the forethought with which he
+provided for every contingency, and which was the chief secret of his
+constant success.
+
+It were injustice to Captain Warde to state how he performed this
+difficult and important service in any language but that of the Admiral.
+In his despatch which accompanied the treaty made with Tripoli, and
+which he sent to the Admiralty when proceeding on his second visit to
+Algiers, he writes:--"Previous to my leaving Leghorn, I despatched
+Captain Warde in the _Banterer_ to Algiers, to make his observations on
+the anchorage and sea-defences, which service he performed with entire
+secresy and judgment, and highly to my satisfaction. The accompanying
+plan of the works, with his remarks after visiting all the forts and
+arsenal, I found correct in every respect; and when it is considered
+that he had not the means of taking angles, but was compelled to pace
+the distances, and trust much to his recollection, to avoid being
+suspected, I think him deserving of the highest commendation. The
+soundings round the mole, and the bay to the N.W. of the lighthouse,
+were all made by him personally in the night without discovery; nor did
+even the consul suspect the purport of his visit."
+
+Indeed, Captain Warde played the careless idler to perfection. He
+escorted the ladies of the consul's family everywhere by day, and danced
+with them in the evenings, covering a keen and constant observation with
+the appearance of frivolity; while at night he was silently moving
+outside the port in a boat, taking the soundings with a pole.
+
+It adds to the merit of this officer, that all the previous plans of
+Algiers were so incorrect, that he was obliged to begin his own from the
+outlines, as if the place were a new discovery. Lord Exmouth afterwards
+declared that if he had proceeded to hostilities at his first visit,
+without having been furnished with Captain Warde's plan and
+observations, he should have assigned to the ships stations which they
+could not have occupied. The plan in the Admiralty book of charts, among
+other inaccuracies, laid down the sea-face of the city as four miles
+long, instead of one; omitted the bay to the north-west of the
+lighthouse; represented the pier on which the strong fortifications are
+built as quite straight from the lighthouse in a southerly direction,
+whereas it forms a quarter of the compass, bending round to the
+south-west, or towards the city; and laid the distance between the piers
+at the entrance of the mole, a mile, instead of sixty, or sixty-five
+fathoms. Notwithstanding this, and his great disadvantages arising out
+of the secresy he was compelled to observe, Captain Warde's observations
+were so accurate and complete, that Lord Exmouth afterwards sent to the
+Admiralty his original plan, to illustrate the despatches of the battle.
+
+Thus prepared for every alternative, Lord Exmouth, on the 21st of March,
+made known to the squadron the service upon which they were proceeding
+in the following General Order:--
+
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief embraces the earliest moment in which he
+     could inform the fleet of his destination, without inconvenience to
+     the public service.
+
+     "He has been instructed and directed by his Royal Highness the
+     Prince Regent, to proceed with the fleet to Algiers, and there make
+     certain arrangements for diminishing at least the piratical
+     excursions of the Barbary states by which thousands of our
+     fellow-creatures, innocently following their commercial pursuits,
+     have been dragged into the most wretched and revolting state of
+     slavery.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief is confident that this outrageous system of
+     piracy and slavery rouses in common the same spirit of indignation
+     which he himself feels; and should the government of Algiers refuse
+     the reasonable demands he bears from the Prince Regent, he doubts
+     not but the flag will be honourably and zealously supported by
+     every officer and man under his command, in his endeavours to
+     procure the acceptation of them by force; and if force must be
+     resorted to, we have the consolation of knowing that we fight in
+     the sacred cause of humanity, and cannot fail of success.
+
+     "These arrangements being made at Algiers and Tunis, the
+     Commander-in-Chief announces with pleasure that he is ordered to
+     proceed with all the ships not on the peace establishment to
+     Spithead without delay, except the _Bombay_, bearing the flag of
+     Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Penrose, which ship is to be relieved by
+     the _Albion_, daily expected.
+
+                                       (Signed)           "EXMOUTH.
+
+     "N.B. This General Memorandum to be entered in the public
+     order-book, and communicated to the respective officers, seamen,
+     and marines of the fleet."
+
+
+The squadron went in the first place to Algiers, where Lord Exmouth
+obtained the objects of his mission without difficulty. The Ionian
+slaves were freely released as British subjects; and peace was made for
+Naples and Sardinia, the former paying a ransom of five hundred, the
+latter of three hundred dollars a head. The fleet then sailed for Tunis,
+where accident gave an entirely new character to the subsequent
+proceedings. Lord Exmouth had directed the interpreter to tell the Bey,
+that it would be very agreeable to the Prince Regent if slavery were
+abolished; but the interpreter, by mistake, said that the Prince Regent
+had determinded to abolish it. Upon this the negotiation was suspended,
+and the Divan assembled. Lord Exmouth soon became aware of the mistake,
+and availing himself of the important advantage which it gave him, he
+allowed them two hours for deliberation, and retired to the consul's
+house to await the result. Before the time expired he was sent for, and
+informed that the Divan had deliberated on his proposal, and would
+comply with it. Proceeding to Tripoli, he made a similar demand, and it
+was there submitted to without hesitation.
+
+In the mean time, he had received instructions to claim from Algiers the
+privilege of selling prizes, and refitting privateers in that port,
+which had lately been granted by treaty to America. Returning on this
+errand, he took the opportunity to press, as at the other Regencies, the
+abolition of Christian slavery; but here he had a more formidable power
+to deal with. His demand was refused; and when he hinted at the
+alternative of force, the Dey answered as a man confident in his
+strength to resist it. Lord Exmouth assured him that he formed a very
+inadequate idea of a British man of-war, and declared, that if
+hostilities should become necessary, he would engage with five
+line-of-battle ships to destroy the place. A very sharp altercation
+ensued; and Lord Exmouth left the Divan, giving them two hours to
+consider his proposal. When the time expired, he took Mr. M'Donell, the
+consul, and walked with him towards the boat; but they were stopped at
+the gate. After a communication had been made to the Dey, Lord Exmouth
+was allowed to pass on, but the consul was detained, on the pretext that
+money was due from Portugal, for which, as well as for England, Mr.
+M'Donell was accredited. The whole party had been in the greatest
+danger. The crowd who surrounded them discussed aloud the question of
+putting them all to death; and the conduct of the captain of the port
+was extremely suspicious. He was observed to cock his pistol, and Sir
+Israel Pellew exclaiming, "At least we'll die with arms in our hands!"
+attempted to draw his sword. Happily, the pressure of the throng
+prevented him; for in the temper which then prevailed, the appearance of
+a hostile movement would probably have been fatal. Lord Exmouth was much
+irritated at this outrage; and when one of the principal officers of
+state followed, and asked him, as he was just stepping into the boat, to
+allow them two days to consider his proposal, he replied with warmth
+"No, not two hours!" Hastening on board, he got the fleet under weigh to
+attack the place immediately; but the wind was too strong to allow the
+ships to take their stations, and they were obliged to anchor again.
+
+Two British officers, Captains Pechell and Warde, had gone on shore, not
+anticipating a hostile movement. They were seized by the people, who
+dragged them off their horses, rifled their pockets, tied their hands
+behind them, and in this state marched them through the town to the Dey.
+But when they reached the palace they were immediately released; and
+except some trifling articles, which could not be found, all their
+property was restored. After two or three interviews with the Dey, the
+object of which appeared to be to investigate the cause of a cut which
+Captain Pechell had received in the hand, when he was taken off the
+horse, they were allowed to go to their ships. Such conduct, at a moment
+when Lord Exmouth was evidently preparing to attack the place, indicated
+an irresolution which might enable him to gain his object without a
+battle; and next morning, as a calm, with a heavy swell, prevented the
+fleet from moving, he sent Captain Dundas, of the _Tagus_, with renewed
+proposals. The result was, that Sir Israel Pellew, with Captains
+Brisbane, Pechell, Dundas, Warde, and others, went on shore; and the Dey
+agreed to appoint an ambassador, who should proceed first to
+Constantinople for the sanction of the Porte, and thence to England to
+treat on Lord Exmouth's proposal. It may be supposed that the Admiral
+would not have endured this evasion, had he been authorised to act; but
+he had pressed the demand without instructions, and felt that he would
+not be justified in resorting to force, if it could be creditably
+avoided. He was not even certain that his conduct in thus pressing the
+abolition of slavery would be favourably received; for it was a common
+remark, that the obstructions to the navigation of the Mediterranean,
+created by the Barbary corsairs, were advantageous to British commerce.
+He expressed this doubt in a letter which he sent on shore on the 23rd
+of June, when the fleet had arrived in the channel:--"It is with great
+delight I again bring myself nearer to you and the rest of my family,
+after a longer absence than I had any reason to expect when I left
+England, and which has at last ended without realizing that for which it
+was said we were kept so long abroad after peace was signed. I had
+anxiously hoped I should have been directed to enforce the abandonment
+of their cruel system of retaining Christians who fell into their hands
+(in what they term war) in slavery. I hope I have made the path easy for
+the Government, having obtained by my own exertions the relinquishment
+from two States, and a promise to treat on that point from the most
+violent, Algiers, after discussions which did not promise sometimes
+amicable terminations. But I intreat you to observe the utmost silence
+on this point, as it may lead me into an awkward situation; for I have
+acted solely on my own responsibility, and without orders; the causes
+and reasoning on which, upon general principles, may be defensible, but
+as applying to our own country, may not be borne out, the old mercantile
+interest being against it."
+
+Four days previous to the date of this letter, Mr. Brougham had moved in
+the House of Commons for copies of Lord Exmouth's treaties with Algiers
+for Naples and Sardinia, and for all the correspondence connected with
+them. He condemned the principle upon which the treaties had been
+conducted, because, by ransoming the slaves, we had virtually
+acknowledged the right of these parties to commit their depredations. He
+understood that the Algerines, dissatisfied with the Dey for having
+limited their sphere of plunder, had been pacified only by the
+assurance, that though restrained from cruising against Neapolitan
+subjects, there still remained a wide field for their enterprise. The
+Roman States had already felt the effect of the new direction given to
+their piracies. He then described the wretched condition of the slaves.
+In one case, out of three hundred prisoners, fifty had died of
+ill-treatment on the first day of their arrival, and seventy during the
+first fortnight. The rest were kept in the most miserable condition,
+being allowed only a pound of bread a day, and subject to the lash from
+morning to night. No age, no sex was spared. A Neapolitan lady of
+distinction, carried off with eight children, six of whom survived, had
+lately been seen by a British officer in the thirteenth year of her
+captivity. That it might be seen we did not countenance such
+proceedings, it was necessary to ascertain what use we had made of our
+influence in the late negotiations.
+
+The minister objected to the motion, only however on the ground that all
+the documents necessary to afford complete information had not yet
+arrived; and he assured the House, that the cause of humanity had been
+very materially served by the proceedings of the squadron. An animated
+debate followed, in which every one expressed the utmost anxiety that
+the barbarians should be compelled, and by force, if necessary, to
+relinquish their piracies. This unanimous display of feeling in the
+House of Commons, ensured to Lord Exmouth full approval of all that he
+had done, and enabled the Government to take the decisive step which
+immediately after became necessary. It is, indeed, a subject for just
+pride, that upon every national question, the feelings of the people
+have never hesitated to throw themselves upon the side of humanity and
+justice, however seemingly opposed to their own interest.
+
+Lord Exmouth had not yet reached England, when accounts arrived which
+determined the Government not to await the issue of the proposed
+negotiations with Algiers, but at once to exact the most ample
+satisfaction and security. On the 23rd of May, the crews of the coral
+fishing-vessels at Bona had landed to attend mass, it being
+Ascension-day, when they were attacked by a large body of Turkish
+troops, and most barbarously massacred. Lord Exmouth was at Algiers when
+this took place; but as Bona is two hundred miles to the eastward, and
+he sailed as soon as he had agreed with the Dey, he did not hear of it
+until he arrived in England; and thus it devolved upon the British
+Government to direct the measures which such an atrocity demanded.
+Justly concluding that these barbarians, so long the common enemies of
+the civilized world, and whose very existence was a reproach to it, had
+filled the measure of their crimes by this last bloody outrage, they
+determined to exact complete submission, or to inflict the most signal
+vengeance. They appointed Lord Exmouth to complete his work, and placed
+at his disposal whatever force he thought necessary to effect it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
+
+
+The town of Algiers is built on the declivity of a hill fronting to the
+eastward. It is of a triangular form, having for its base the sea-front,
+which is about a mile in length, and rises directly from the water. It
+is strongly fortified on the land side, and the sea defences are most
+formidable, as well from the great thickness of the walls, as the number
+of heavy guns.
+
+The harbour is artificial. A broad straight pier, three hundred yards in
+length, and upon which the storehouses were built, projects from a point
+about a quarter of a mile from the north extremity of the town. A mole
+is carried from the end of this pier, which bends in a south-westerly
+direction towards the town, forming nearly a quarter of a circle.
+Opposite the mole-head is a small insulated pier, which leaves the
+entrance to the harbour about a hundred and twenty yards wide. The rock
+upon which the mole is built extends about two hundred yards to the N.E.
+beyond the angle at which the pier joins it. The shores recede
+considerably from the base of the pier, forming a small bay on either
+side of it.
+
+All the works around the harbour were covered with the strongest
+fortifications. Immediately beyond the pier-head stood the Lighthouse
+battery, a large circular fort, mounting between sixty and seventy guns,
+in three tiers. At the extremity of the point of rock beyond the
+lighthouse was a very heavy battery, of two tiers, mounting thirty guns
+and seven mortars in the upper. The mole itself was filled with cannon,
+like the side of a line-of-battle ship, mostly disposed in a double
+tier, with ports below, and embrasures above; but the eastern batteries,
+next the light-house, had an inner fortification, with a third tier of
+guns, making sixty-six in these batteries alone. All these batteries had
+together above two hundred and twenty guns--eighteen, twenty-four, and
+thirty-two pounders; besides two, at least sixty-eight pounders, and
+upwards of twenty feet long. On the sea wall of the town were nine
+batteries; two at the southern extremity; then the Fish-market battery
+in three tiers, bearing three hundred yards west of the molehead; three
+between the Fish-market and the gate leading to the mole; one over this
+gate; and two on the wall beyond it. Along the shore, within twelve
+hundred yards south of the town, were three batteries, and a very heavy
+fort. Another large fort, and six batteries, commanded the bay to the
+N.W. Many guns in other parts of the fortifications of the town, and in
+forts and batteries on the hills around it, were in situations which
+enabled them to fire upon ships. Altogether, the approaches by sea were
+defended by scarcely less than five hundred guns.
+
+The Admiralty were greatly surprised when Lord Exmouth proposed to
+attack these works with five sail of the line. Many naval officers who
+were consulted by the Board considered them unassailable. Nelson, in a
+conversation with Captain Brisbane, had named twenty-five line-of-battle
+ships as the force which would be required to attack them. The opinion
+was not founded upon his own observation, and he was evidently misled by
+the errors in the received plans; for that number of ships could not
+have been placed before the town; but it marks his sense of the great
+danger in attacking powerful batteries with ships, and of the tremendous
+strength of Algiers. Lord Exmouth was offered any force he required, but
+he adhered to his first demand; for he had satisfied himself that five
+ships could destroy the fortifications on the Mole as effectually as a
+greater number, and with far more safety to themselves. After he had
+fully explained his plans, and marked the position which every ship was
+to occupy, the Admiralty allowed him to act upon his own judgment;
+though they found it not easy to believe that the force was equal to the
+service; nor were persons wanting to remark that he had at length
+involved himself in a difficulty, from which he would not escape with
+credit. His own confidence never wavered. "All will go well," he wrote,
+"as far at least as it depends on me." As he was going down Channel, he
+said to his brother, who accompanied him as far as Falmouth, "If they
+open their fire when the ships are coming up, and cripple them in the
+masts, the difficulty and loss will be greater; but if they allow us to
+take our stations, I am sure of them; for I know that nothing can resist
+a line-of-battle ship's fire." He wrote to the Admiralty before he left
+England, declaring himself fully satisfied with all the arrangements,
+and taking on himself the responsibility of the result.
+
+He was scarcely appointed, when officers came forward in crowds to offer
+their services. On the 29th of June, only six days after he arrived in
+the Channel, he writes--"Government has taken a very proper view of the
+subject, and has determined to send out a proper force. I immediately
+said, it was my duty to finish that which I had begun, and that I should
+cheerfully go. My offer is accepted, and I embark in the _Queen
+Charlotte_, with _Impregnable_, and others. The only delay will be want
+of men; but I hope they will be induced by the offers made, to volunteer
+for the service, to be rewarded after it." On the 4th of July, he says,
+"I have refused Israel, Pownoll, Fleetwood, Harward, and both Admiral
+and Captain Halsted,[12] volunteers. Even Lord Spencer brought his son,
+and a hundred others."
+
+With very few exceptions, the officers were selected by the Admiralty.
+It was understood that Sir Charles Penrose would be the second in
+command, his appointment at that time as commander-in-chief in the
+Mediterranean entitling him to the preference. He was very highly valued
+by Lord Exmouth, under whom he had served with the _Cleopatra_ in the
+western squadron. It was intended that despatches should be sent in time
+to enable him to join the expedition; but greatly to the disappointment
+of both officers, the information was received too late.
+
+Lord Exmouth persisted in refusing all his relations. The motive of
+duty, which was imperative on himself, applied to none of them; and all
+were anxious to go. For himself, he might well trust that the Providence
+which had shielded him forty years, for so long was it since he had
+fought the _Carleton_ on Lake Champlain, would guard him in the
+approaching battle; or, if he were doomed to fall in what might truly be
+deemed a holy war, he had a better confidence than the pride of a hero,
+or even the self-devotedness of a patriot. Before he sailed, he made
+every arrangement which his death would render necessary; and among
+others, wrote a letter for his eldest son, chiefly on the subject of the
+duties which would devolve upon him as a British nobleman, and which he
+designed for his last injunctions. The existence of this letter was not
+known until some time after his death, when it was found among his
+papers.
+
+The Admiralty would not send back the squadron which had just returned
+from the Mediterranean, probably thinking it right that ships going
+expressly to fight a severe battle should be manned with volunteers.
+This decision greatly increased his difficulties. Naval officers seldom
+think a ship effective until she has been some time in commission.
+Within two months, Lord Exmouth commissioned, fitted, and manned a
+fleet, and fought the battle.
+
+As soon as he had completed his first arrangements at the Admiralty, he
+hastened to Portsmouth, where the _Boyne_, his flag-ship, was lying
+with her consorts. He went on board as soon as he arrived, and there was
+not a little excitement when the Admiral was seen coming alongside at a
+very early hour in the morning. He mustered the ship's company on deck,
+and having read to them the Admiralty letter, invited them to join him;
+but at that time scarcely a man came forward. They were unwilling to
+enter for a new service until they had enjoyed some liberty on shore;
+but after they had been paid off, and spent their money, numbers of them
+volunteered, and many more would probably have done so, but for the very
+short time in which the crews were completed. No difficulty was
+experienced in manning the fleet. The whole ship's company of the
+_Leander_, then on the point of sailing as the flag-ship on the North
+American station, volunteered to go, and accordingly her destination was
+changed for the time. Rear-Admiral Milne, for whom she had been fitted,
+obtained permission to go out with her; and as Sir Charles Penrose did
+not join at Gibraltar, he hoisted his flag in the _Impregnable_, as
+second in command. Among other volunteers were a number of smugglers,
+who had been taken on the western coast, and sentenced to five years'
+service in the navy. They were sent to the eastward as prisoners in a
+cutter in which Mr. Pellew had taken a passage to make a parting visit
+to his brother, and they implored his intercession on their behalf. He
+advised them to enter for the _Queen Charlotte_, and gain a title to the
+indulgence they sought by their good conduct in the battle. They all did
+so: no serious casualty occurred among them, and they behaved so well
+that Lord Exmouth applied to the Admiralty, and obtained their
+discharge.
+
+Lord Exmouth's marine officer in the _Arethusa_, the late Sir Richard
+Williams, then commanded the marine artillery, and Lord Exmouth wrote to
+request that he would aid him to the best of his abilities, by selecting
+officers and men from his corps. Sir Richard displayed on this occasion
+all the activity and judgment to be expected from his character, and
+Lord Exmouth acknowledged his services after the glorious result of the
+expedition, in the following words:--"I should be very ungrateful, my
+dear friend, if I neglected to thank you for the care and pains you took
+in selecting, for the service I was ordered upon, the best officers and
+men I ever saw during my service. I assure you that all the officers did
+you full justice: they not only knew their duty well, but they performed
+it well."
+
+In addition to the five line-of-battle ships, two of which were
+three-deckers, the force included three heavy frigates, and two smaller
+ones; four bomb vessels, and five gun-brigs. Four of the line-of-battle
+ships were to destroy the fortifications on the Mole; while the fifth
+covered them from the batteries south of the town, and the heavy
+frigates, from those on the town wall. The bomb-vessels were to fire on
+the arsenal and town, assisted by a flotilla of the ships' launches,
+&c., fitted as gun, rocket, and mortar-boats. The smaller frigates and
+the brigs were to assist as circumstances might require.
+
+The fleet left Portsmouth on the 25th of July. On the 28th it sailed
+from Plymouth Sound, and the same afternoon was off Falmouth. Twenty
+three years before, Lord Exmouth had gone from the house of his brother,
+who now took leave of him, and sailed to fight the first battle of the
+war from the port whence he was proceeding on the service which was to
+close and crown it. From this place the _Minded_, 74, was sent on to
+Gibraltar, that the necessary supplies might be ready when the fleet
+arrived. Through all the passage the utmost care was taken to train the
+crews. Every day, Sunday excepted, they were exercised at the guns; and
+on Tuesdays and Fridays the fleet cleared for action, when each ship
+fired six broadsides. On board the _Queen Charlotte_ a twelve-pounder
+was secured at the after part of the quarter-deck, with which the first
+and second captains of the guns practised daily at a small target, hung
+at the fore topmast studding-sail boom. The target was a frame of laths,
+three feet square, crossed with rope-yarns so close that a twelve-pound
+shot could not go through without cutting one, and with a piece of wood,
+the size and shape of a bottle, for a bull's-eye. After a few days'
+practice, the target was never missed, and on an average ten or twelve
+bottles were hit every day. Thus kept in constant preparation for the
+battle, and daily gaining new confidence in themselves, the crews were
+in the highest degree elated. Officers and men felt they were going to
+an assured victory, and that to obtain complete success the plans of
+their chief required only the exertions which every one resolved to
+make. As a consequence of this enthusiasm, which never had a check, for
+the excitement of preparation was followed by the flush of victory,
+their health and vigour were beyond all parallel. Scarcely a man came on
+the sick-list; and when the _Queen Charlotte_ was paid off on her
+return, only one had died, except from the casualties of battle, out of
+nearly a thousand who had joined her more than three months before.
+
+On the 9th of August, the fleet reached Gibraltar, where the _Minden_
+had arrived only the preceding night. Here they found a Dutch squadron
+of five frigates and a corvette, commanded by Vice-Admiral the Baron Von
+de Capellan, who, on learning the object of the expedition, solicited
+and obtained leave to co-operate. The ships, having completed their
+ordnance stores and provisions, were ready to sail on the 12th; but the
+strong easterly wind prevented them from moving for two days. On the
+13th, every ship received a plan of the fortifications, with full
+instructions respecting the position she was to occupy. A general order
+to this effect had been issued on the 6th, but the co-operation of the
+Dutch squadron had made some change in the arrangements necessary. To
+this squadron was assigned the duty of attacking the fort and batteries
+south of the town, a service previously intended for the _Minden_ and
+_Hebrus_, which were now to take a position among their consorts in
+front of the Mole.
+
+The fleet sailed next day, and on the 16th was within two hundred miles
+of its destination, when the wind again shifted to the eastward. That
+evening the ship-sloop _Prometheus_, Captain Dashwood, joined direct
+from Algiers, with information that the Algerines were making every
+preparation to meet the attack. All the former defences had been made
+completely effective, and new works had been added; forty thousand
+troops had been assembled; all the Janizaries called in from distant
+garrisons; and the whole naval force of the regency, four frigates, five
+large corvettes, and thirty-seven gun-boats, were collected in the
+harbour. The _Prometheus_ brought the wife, daughter, and infant child
+of Mr. M'Donell, the British consul. The two former had succeeded in
+getting off, disguised as midshipmen; but the infant, which had been
+carefully concealed in a basket, after a composing medicine had been
+given to it by the surgeon of the _Prometheus_, awoke, and cried as it
+was passing the gateway, and thus led to the arrest of all the party
+then on shore. The child was sent off next morning by the Dey, and, "as
+a solitary instance of his humanity," said Lord Exmouth, "it ought to be
+recorded by me;" but the consul was confined in irons at his house, and
+the surgeon, three midshipmen, and fourteen seamen of the _Prometheus_,
+were detained as prisoners; nor could the most urgent remonstrances of
+Captain Dashwood induce the Dey to release them.
+
+The fleet continued beating against a head wind until midnight on the
+24th, when the wind shifted to south-west. On Monday the 20th, at noon,
+they made Cape Cazzina, the northern point of the Bay of Algiers, and
+about twenty miles from the town. Next morning at daybreak, Algiers
+itself was in sight As the ships lay nearly becalmed, Lord Exmouth sent
+away Lieutenant Burgess in one of the _Queen Charlotte's_ boats, under a
+flag of truce, with the terms dictated by the Prince Regent, and a
+demand for the immediate liberation of the consul, and the people of the
+_Prometheus_. The _Severn_ was directed to tow the boat, but as she
+made very little way, the boat was ordered by signal to cast off, and
+proceed alone to the shore. At eleven o'clock, she was met outside the
+mole by the captain of the port, who received the communication, and
+promised an answer in two hours. In the mean time, a breeze springing up
+from the sea, the fleet stood into the bay, and lay to about a mile from
+the town.
+
+At two o'clock the boat was seen returning, with the signal that no
+answer had been given. The _Queen Charlotte_ immediately telegraphed to
+the fleet, "Are you ready?" Immediately the affirmative was displayed
+from every ship, and all bore up to their appointed stations.
+
+The _Queen Charlotte_ led to the attack. It was Lord Exmouth's intention
+not to reply to the enemy's fire in bearing down, unless it should
+become galling. In that case, the middle and main-deck guns, thirty long
+24-pounders, were to have opened; keeping the upper deck for shortening
+sail, and the lower for working the cables. The guns on these decks were
+not primed until the ship had anchored. But the Algerines reserved their
+fire, confident in the strength of their defences, and expecting to
+carry the flagship by boarding her from the gun-boats, which were all
+filled with men. Steered by the master of the fleet, Mr. Gaze, who had
+sailed with Lord Exmouth in every ship he commanded from the beginning
+of the war, the _Queen Charlotte_ proceeded silently to her position. At
+half-past two, she anchored by the stern, just half a cable's length
+from the Mole-head, and was lashed by a hawser to the mainmast of an
+Algerine brig, which lay at the entrance of the harbour. Her starboard
+broadside flanked all the batteries from the Mole-head to the
+Light-house. The Mole was crowded with troops, many of whom got upon the
+parapet to look at the ship; and Lord Exmouth, observing them as he
+stood upon the poop, waved to them to move away. As soon as the ship was
+fairly placed, and her cables stoppered, the crew gave three hearty
+cheers, such as Englishmen only can give. Scarcely had the sound of the
+last died away, when a gun was fired from the upper tier of the eastern
+battery; and a second, and a third followed in quick succession. One of
+the shots struck the _Superb_. At the first flash, Lord Exmouth gave the
+order, "Stand by!" at the second. "Fire!" The report of the third gun
+was drowned in the thunder of _Queen Charlotte's_ broadside.
+
+The enemy now opened from all their batteries, the _Queen Charlotte_ and
+_Leander_ being the only ships which had yet reached their stations.
+Preparations had been previously made in all, to avoid the necessity of
+exposing the men aloft when shortening sail. Following the flag-ship,
+the _Superb_ anchored about two hundred and fifty yards astern of her,
+and the _Minden_ at about her own length from the _Superb_. The _Albion_
+came to astern of the _Minded_, which passed her stream cable out of the
+larboard gun-room port to the _Albion's_ bow, and brought the two ships
+together. The _Impregnable_ was anchored astern of the _Albion_.
+
+The large frigates, and the Dutch squadron, particularly the _Melampus_,
+their flag-ship, went into action under a very heavy fire, and with a
+gallantry that never was surpassed. The _Leander_ had placed herself on
+the _Queen Charlotte's_ larboard bow, at the entrance of the harbour;
+her starboard broadside bearing upon the Algerine gun-boats with the
+after guns, and upon the Fishmarket battery with the others. The
+_Severn_ lay ahead of the _Leander_, with all her starboard broadside
+bearing upon the Fishmarket battery. Beyond her the _Glasgow_ fired upon
+the town batteries with her larboard guns. The Dutch squadron took the
+assigned position, before the works to the southward of the town. It was
+their Admiral's intention to place the _Melampus_ in the centre; but his
+second ahead, the _Diana_, having anchored too far to the southward to
+allow this, he pushed the _Melampus_ past her, and anchored close astern
+of the _Glasgow_.
+
+The two smaller frigates, the _Hebrus_ and _Granicus_, were left to take
+part in the battle wherever they might find an opening. Eager to gain a
+position, in the line, the _Hebrus_ pressed forward to place herself
+next the flag-ship, till, becalmed by the cannonade, she was obliged to
+anchor on the _Queen Charlotte's_ larboard quarter. Captain Wise, of the
+_Granicus_, waited until all the ships had taken their stations. Then,
+setting topgallant-sails and courses, he steered for where Lord
+Exmouth's flag was seen towering above the smoke; and with a seamanship
+equalled only by his intrepidity, anchored in the open space between the
+_Queen Charlotte_ and _Superb_; thus, with a small-class frigate, taking
+a position, of which, said Lord Exmouth, a three-decker might be justly
+proud.
+
+Eastward of the Lighthouse, at the distance of two thousand yards, were
+placed the bomb-vessels; whose shells were thrown with admirable
+precision by the Marine Artillery. The smaller vessels, except the
+_Mutine_, which anchored, continued under sail, firing occasionally
+wherever they saw opportunity. The flotilla of gun, rocket, and mortar
+boats, directed, by Captain Michell, were distributed at the openings
+between the line-of-battle ships, and at the entrance to the Mole.
+
+Thus the ships commanded the strongest of the enemy's defences, while
+they were exposed to the weakest part of his fire. The officers and men
+felt new confidence when they saw the power derived from the admirable
+disposition of their force. All behaved most nobly; and it was not long
+before the state of the Algerine batteries gave proof that their courage
+was fully equalled by their skill.
+
+In a few minutes, indeed before the battle had become general, the
+_Queen Charlotte_ had ruined the fortifications on the Mole-head. She
+then sprang her broadside towards the northward, to bear upon the
+batteries over the gate which leads to the Mole, and upon the upper
+works of the Lighthouse. Her shot struck with the most fatal accuracy,
+crumbling the tower of the Lighthouse to ruins, and bringing down gun
+after gun from the batteries. The last of these guns was dismounted
+just as the artillerymen were in the act of discharging it; when an
+Algerine chief was seen to spring upon the ruins of the parapet, and
+with impotent rage, to shake his scimitar against the ship. Her men
+proved themselves as expert amidst the realities of war, as they had
+before shown themselves in exercise; and some of them were detected
+amusing themselves, in the wantonness of their skill, by firing at the
+Algerine flag-staffs.
+
+Soon after the battle began, the enemy's flotilla of gun-boats advanced,
+with a daring which deserved a better fate, to board the _Queen
+Charlotte_ and _Leander_. The smoke covered them at first, but as soon
+as they were seen, a few guns, chiefly from the _Leander_, sent
+thirty-three out of thirty-seven to the bottom.
+
+At four o'clock, when a general and heavy fire had been maintained for
+more than an hour without producing any appearance of submission, Lord
+Exmouth determined to destroy the Algerine ships. Accordingly, the
+_Leander_ having first been ordered to cease firing, the flag-ship's
+barge, directed by Lieutenant Peter Richards, with Major Gossett, of the
+Miners, Lieutenant Wolrige, of the Marines, and Mr. M'Clintock, a
+midshipman, boarded the nearest frigate, and fired her so effectually
+with the laboratory torches, and a carcass-shell placed on the main
+deck, that she was completely in flames almost before the barge's crew
+were over her side. The crew of a rocket-boat belonging to the _Hebrus_
+were prompted by a natural, but unfortunate ardour, to follow the barge,
+though forbidden; but the boat pulling heavily, she became exposed to a
+fire of musketry, which killed an officer and three men, and wounded
+several others. Lord Exmouth stood watching the barge from the gangway,
+delighted with the gallantry and promptitude with which his orders were
+executed. When the frigate burst into a flame, he telegraphed to the
+fleet the animating signal, "Infallible!" and as the barge was
+returning, he ordered those around him to welcome her alongside with
+three cheers.
+
+It was hoped that the flames would communicate from this frigate to the
+rest of the Algerine shipping; but she burnt from her moorings, and
+passing clear of her consorts, drifted along the broadsides of the
+_Queen Charlotte_ and _Leander_, and grounded a-head of the latter,
+under the wall of the town. The gun-boats, and the _Queen Charlotte's_
+launch, then opened with carcass-shells upon the largest frigate, which
+was moored in the centre of the other ships, too far within the Mole to
+be attempted safely by boarding. They soon set her on fire, and
+notwithstanding the exertions of the Algerines, she was completely in
+flames by six o'clock. From her the fire communicated, first to all the
+other vessels in the port, except a brig and a schooner, moored in the
+upper part of it, and afterwards to the storehouses and arsenal. At a
+little past seven, she came drifting out of the harbour, and passed so
+close to the flag-ship as nearly to involve her in the same destruction.
+
+About sunset, a message was received from Rear-Admiral Milne, requesting
+that a frigate might be sent to divert from the _Impregnable_ some of
+the fire under which she was suffering. She had anchored more to the
+northward than was intended, and consequently became exposed to the
+heavy battery on the point of rock beyond the lighthouse, and which was
+covered from the fire of the rest of the fleet. The _Glasgow_ weighed
+immediately, but the wind had been driven away by the cannonade, and she
+was only able, after three-quarters of an hour's exertion, to reach a
+new position between the _Severn_ and _Leander_; a better for annoying
+the enemy, but where she was herself more exposed, and suffered in
+proportion. As it was found impossible to assist the _Impregnable_, Lord
+Exmouth sent on board Mr. Triscott, one of his aides-de-camp, with
+permission to haul off. The _Impregnable_ was then dreadfully cut up;
+150 men had been already killed and wounded, a full third of them by an
+explosion, and the shot were still coming in fast; but her brave crew,
+guided and encouraged by the Rear-Admiral and Captain Brace, two of the
+most distinguished and successful officers in the service, would not
+allow her to go thus out of battle; and she kept her station,
+maintaining an animated fire to the last. To relieve her in some degree,
+an ordnance sloop, which had been fitted at Gibraltar as an
+explosion-vessel, with 143 barrels of powder, was placed at the disposal
+of the Rear-Admiral. She had been intended for the destruction of the
+Algerine fleet, but this service had already been effected by other
+means. Conducted by Lieutenant Fleming, who had been commanding a
+gun-boat near the _Queen Charlotte_, with Major Reed, of the Engineers,
+and Captain Herbert Powell, a volunteer on board the _Impregnable_, the
+explosion-vessel was run on shore under the battery which had annoyed
+her, where, at nine o'clock, she blew up.
+
+The fleet slackened their fire towards night, as the guns of the enemy
+became silenced, and the ships began to feel the necessity for
+husbanding their ammunition. Their expenditure had been beyond all
+parallel. They fired nearly 118 tons of powder, and 50,000 shot,
+weighing more than 500 tons of iron; besides 960 thirteen and ten-inch
+shells thrown by the bomb-vessels, and the shells and rockets from the
+flotilla. Such a fire, close, concentrated, and well-directed as it was,
+nothing could resist; and the sea-defences of Algiers, with great part
+of the town itself, were shattered and crumbled to ruins.
+
+At a little before ten, the objects of the attack having been effected,
+the _Queen Charlotte's_ bower-cable was cut, and her head hauled round
+to seaward. She continued, however, to engage with all the guns abaft
+the mainmast, sometimes on both sides. Warps were run out to gain an
+offing, but many of them were cut by shot from the batteries southward
+of the town, which had been very partially engaged, and also from forts
+on the hills out of reach of the ships' guns. A very light air was felt
+about half-past ten, and sail was made; but the ship, after cutting from
+her remaining warps and anchors, was manageable only by the aid of her
+boats towing, and then the only point gained was keeping her head from
+the land. At eleven she began to draw out from the batteries, and at
+twenty-five minutes past she ceased to fire. The breeze freshened, and a
+tremendous storm of thunder and lightning came on, with torrents of
+rain; while the flaming ships and storehouses illuminated all the ruins,
+and increased the grandeur of the scene. In about three hours the storm
+subsided, and as soon as the ship was made snug, Lord Exmouth assembled
+in his cabin all the wounded who could be moved with safety, that they
+might unite with him and his officers in offering thanksgiving to God
+for their victory and preservation.
+
+The two Admirals came on board the _Queen Charlotte_ as soon as they
+could leave their ships, and spoke their feelings of admiration and
+gratitude to Lord Exmouth with all the warmth of language and
+expression. The Dutch Admiral, who, with his squadron, had most nobly
+emulated the conduct of his British allies, declared himself in terms of
+the highest eulogy of the _Queen Charlotte_, which, he said, by her
+commanding position and the effect of her fire, had saved five hundred
+men to the fleet. Perhaps there was no exaggeration in the praise; for
+the destruction occasioned by her first broadside, as she lay flanking
+the Mole, must have contributed much to protect the ships which had not
+yet reached their stations; and the havoc she inflicted by a cannonade
+of nine hours must have been great indeed, since her fire could destroy
+the fortifications on the Mole-head in a few minutes.
+
+In no former general action had the casualties been so great in
+proportion to the force employed. One hundred and twenty-eight were
+killed, and six hundred and ninety wounded, in the British ships, and
+thirteen killed and fifty-two wounded in the Dutch squadron. Yet,
+except the _Impregnable_, which had fifty men killed, no ship suffered
+so much as is usual in a severe engagement. Generally, in fleet actions,
+the brunt of the battle, and the chief amount of losses, fall upon a
+few; but here every ship had her allotted duty, and was closely engaged
+throughout. After the _Impregnable_, the frigates suffered the most,
+particularly the _Granicus_, which took a line-of-battle ship's station;
+and the _Leander_, which was much cut up by the Fish-market and other
+batteries, and as late as seven o'clock was obliged to carry out a
+hawser to _the Severn_, to enable her to bear her broadside upon one
+which annoyed her. The loss in the other line-of-battle ships was
+remarkably small. They had together but twenty-six killed, including the
+casualties in their respective boats.
+
+Lord Exmouth escaped most narrowly. He was struck in three places; and a
+cannon-shot tore away the skirts of his coat. A button was afterwards
+found in the signal locker; and the shot broke one of the glasses and
+bulged the rim of the spectacles in his pocket. He gave the spectacles
+to his valued friend, the late gallant Sir Richard Keats, who caused
+their history to be engraven on them, and directed, that when he died,
+they should be restored to Lord Exmouth's family, to be kept as a
+memorial of his extraordinary preservation.
+
+On the 28th, at daylight, Lieutenant Burgess was sent on shore with a
+flag of truce, and the demands of the preceding morning; the
+bomb-vessels at the same time resuming their positions. The captain of
+one of the destroyed frigates met the boat, and declared that an answer
+had been sent on the day before, but that no boat was at hand to receive
+it. Shortly after, the captain of the port came off, accompanied by the
+Swedish consul, and informed Lord Exmouth that all his demands would be
+submitted to. On the morning of the 29th, the captain of the port came
+off again, being now accompanied by the British consul; upon which
+Captain Brisbane, of the flag-ship, went on shore, and had a conference
+with the Dey. Sir Charles Penrose, whom the Admiral had expected to the
+last, arrived this day in the _Ister_ frigate, from Malta, where he had
+waited for his expected orders, until he heard that Lord Exmouth was in
+the Mediterranean. Lord Exmouth committed to him the management of the
+negotiations, the only compliment he could now offer. Where nothing
+remained but submission for the vanquished, the arrangements were soon
+concluded, and next day the final result was officially communicated to
+the fleet.
+
+
+                  "_Queen Charlotte_, Algiers Bay, August 30, 1816.
+
+                  "General Memorandum.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief is happy to inform the fleet of the final
+     termination of their strenuous exertions, by the signature of
+     peace, confirmed under a salute of twenty-one guns, on the
+     following conditions, dictated by His Royal Highness the Prince
+     Regent of England.
+
+     "I. The abolition of Christian slavery for ever.
+
+     "II. The delivery to my flag of all slaves in the dominions of the
+     Dey, to whatever nation they may belong, at noon to-morrow.
+
+     "III. To deliver also to my flag all money received by him for the
+     redemption of slaves since the commencement of this year--at noon
+     also to-morrow.
+
+     "IV. Reparation has been made to the British consul for all losses
+     he has sustained in consequence of his confinement.
+
+     "V. The Dey has made a public apology, in presence of his ministers
+     and officers, and begged pardon of the consul in terms dictated by
+     the captain of the _Queen Charlotte_.
+
+     "The Commander-in-Chief takes this opportunity of again returning
+     his public thanks to the Admirals, Captains, Officers, Seamen,
+     Marines, Royal Sappers and Miners, Royal Marine Artillery, and the
+     Royal Rocket Corps, for the noble support he has received from
+     them throughout the whole of this arduous service; and he is
+     pleased to direct that on Sunday next a public thanksgiving shall
+     be offered up to Almighty God, for the signal interposition of his
+     Divine Providence during the conflict which took place on the 27th,
+     between his Majesty's fleet and the ferocious enemies of mankind.
+
+     It is requested that this memorandum may be read to the ship's
+     company.
+
+     "To the Admirals, Captains, Officers, Seamen, Marines, Royal
+     Sappers and Miners, Royal Marine Artillery, and the Royal Rocket
+     Corps."
+
+
+Above twelve hundred slaves were embarked on the 31st, making, with
+those liberated a few weeks before, more than three thousand, whom, by
+address or force, Lord Exmouth had delivered from slavery.[13] Having
+sent them to their respective countries, and leaving a ship to receive a
+few who had yet to come up from the interior, he sailed on the 3rd of
+September for England. On the 8th, when on his way to Gibraltar, he
+wrote an account of the battle to his brother, to whom he had previously
+sent a very laconic communication, stating merely the result.
+
+
+     "It has pleased God to give me again the opportunity of writing
+     you, and it has also pleased Him to give success to our efforts
+     against these hordes of barbarians. I never, however, saw any set
+     of men more obstinate at their guns, and it was superior fire only
+     that could keep them back. To be sure, nothing could stand before
+     the _Queen Charlotte's_ broadside. Everything fell before it; and
+     the Swedish consul assures me we killed above five hundred at the
+     very first fire, from the crowded way in which troops were drawn
+     up, four deep above the gun boats, which were also full of men. I
+     had myself beckoned to many around the guns close to us to move
+     away, previous to giving the order to fire; and I believe they are
+     within bounds, when they state their loss at seven thousand men.
+     Our old friend John Gaze was as steady as a rock; and it was a
+     glorious sight to see the _Charlotte_ take her anchorage, and to
+     see her flag towering on high, when she appeared to be in the
+     flames of the Mole itself; and never was a ship nearer burnt; it
+     almost scorched me off the poop; we were obliged to haul in the
+     ensign, or it would have caught fire. Everybody behaved uncommonly
+     well. Admiral Milne came on board at two o'clock in the morning,
+     and kissed my hand fifty times before the people, as did the Dutch
+     Admiral, Von Capellan. I was but slightly touched in the thigh,
+     face, and fingers--my glass cut in my hand, and the skirts of my
+     coat torn off by a large shot; but as I bled a good deal, it
+     looked as if I was badly hurt, and it was gratifying to see and
+     hear how it was received even in the cockpit, which was then pretty
+     full. My thigh is not quite skinned over, but I am perfectly well,
+     and hope to reach Portsmouth by the 10th of October. Ferdinand has
+     sent me a diamond star. Wise behaved most nobly, and took up a
+     line-of-battle ship's station; but all behaved nobly. I never saw
+     such enthusiasm in all my service. Not a wretch shrunk any where;
+     and I assure you it was a very arduous task, but I had formed a
+     very correct judgment of all I saw, and was confident, if
+     supported, I should succeed. I could not wait for an offshore wind
+     to attack; the season was too far advanced, and the land-winds
+     become light and calmy. I was forced to attack at once with a
+     lee-shore, or perhaps wait a week for a precarious wind along
+     shore; and I was quite sure I should have a breeze off the land
+     about one or two in the morning, and equally sure we could hold out
+     to that time. Blessed be God! it came, and a dreadful night with
+     it, of thunder, lightning, and rain, as heavy as I ever saw.
+     Several ships had expended all their powder, and been supplied from
+     the brigs. I had latterly husbanded, and only fired when they fired
+     on us; and we expended 350 barrels, and 5,420 shot, weighing above
+     65 tons of iron. Such a state of ruin of fortifications and houses
+     was never seen, and it is the opinion of all the consuls, that two
+     hours more fire would have levelled the town; the walls are all so
+     cracked. Even the aqueducts were broken up, and the people
+     famishing for water. The sea-defences, to be made effective, must
+     be rebuilt from the foundation. The fire all round the Mole looked
+     like Pandemonium. I never saw anything so grand and so terrific,
+     for I was not on velvet, for fear they would drive on board us. The
+     copper-bottoms floated full of fiery hot charcoal, and were red hot
+     above the surface, so that we could not hook on our fire-grapnels
+     to put the boats on, and could do nothing but push fire-booms, and
+     spring the ship off by our warps, as occasion required."
+
+
+The battle of Algiers forms a class by itself among naval victories. It
+was a new thing to place a fleet in a position surrounded by such
+formidable batteries. Bold and original in the conception, it was most
+brilliant and complete in execution. Nor was it more splendid for the
+honour, than happy in the fruits. It broke the chains of thousands; it
+gave security to millions;--it delivered Christendom from a scourge and
+a disgrace. To complete the happiness of the achievement, a nation
+co-operated, the natural ally of England, and the truest of her friends;
+bound to her by the proudest recollections of patriotism, and the
+dearest ties of religion; and which, if it should be required once more
+to strike down the power of whatever evil principle may desolate Europe,
+will again be found at her side, strong in virtue as in courage, to
+emulate her prowess, and to share the triumph.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Sir Israel, his brother; Captains Pownoll and Fleetwood, his sons;
+Captain Harward, and Sir Lawrence Halsted, his sons-in-law.
+
+[13] Slaves liberated by Admiral Lord Exmouth:--
+
+                       AT ALGIERS.
+
+     Neapolitans and Sicilians                1,110
+     Sardinians and Genoese                      62
+     Piedmontaise                                 6
+     Romans                                     174
+     Tuscans                                      6
+     Spaniards                                  226
+     Portuguese                                   1
+     Greeks                                       7
+     Dutch                                       28
+     English                                     18
+     French                                       2
+     Austrians                                    2--1,642
+
+                       AT TUNIS.
+
+     Neapolitans and Sicilians                  524
+     Sardinians and Genoese                     257----781
+
+                      AT TRIPOLI.
+
+     Neapolitans and Sicilians                  422
+     Sardinians and Genoese                     144
+     Romans                                      10
+     Hamburghers                                  4----580
+
+                                                   _______
+                                                     3,003
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.
+
+
+Lord Exmouth's services were acknowledged as became such a victory. He
+was advanced to the dignity of a Viscount, and received an honourable
+augmentation of his arms. In the centre of the shield a triumphal crown
+was placed by the civic wreath; below was a lion rampant, and above them
+a ship, lying at the Mole-head of Algiers, and surmounted with the star
+of victory. The former supporters were exchanged for a lion on the one
+side, and a Christian slave, holding aloft the cross, and dropping his
+broken fetters, on the other. The name "Algiers" was given for an
+additional motto. The kings of Holland, Spain, and Sardinia, conferred
+upon him orders of knighthood. The Pope sent him a valuable cameo. The
+city of London voted him its freedom, and a sword, ornamented with
+diamonds, which was presented by the Lord Mayor at a banquet,
+appropriately given by the Ironmongers' Company, as trustees of a
+considerable estate left for ransoming Christian slaves in Barbary by
+Mr. Betton, a member of the company, who had himself endured the
+miseries of slavery. He received the freedom of the city of Oxford, and
+the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University. A society for
+promoting the liberation of Christian slaves, lately formed at Paris,
+chiefly by the exertions of Sir Sidney Smith, caused a medal to be
+struck to commemorate the victory. It presents a well-executed profile
+of the Admiral, with a suitable inscription on the reverse.
+
+In general, every disposition was shown in France to do justice to Lord
+Exmouth's merit on this occasion. Yet it was to be expected that the
+feelings so natural under the circumstances of their recent defeat, and
+the present occupation of their territory, would lead many to detract
+from the honours of the nation which had so severely humbled them. Some
+illiberal reflections which appeared in the French journals, prompted
+the following lines by the late Lord Grenville:--
+
+
+       "These hands toil-worn, these limbs by fetters galled,
+     These bodies, scarred by many a servile blow,
+     These spirits, wasted by disease and woe,
+     These Christian souls, by miscreant rage enthralled,
+     What band of heroes now recalls to life?--
+     Gives us again to hail our native shores,
+     And to each fond, despairing heart, restores
+     The long-lost parent, the long-widowed wife?
+     O Britain! still to lawless power a foe,
+     'Gainst faithless pirate armed, or blood-stained Gaul!
+     Vain is the taunt which mocks thy lavish cost,
+     Thy thankless toil, thy blood poured out for all,
+     Thy laurels, gained in fight, in treaty lost--
+     HEAVEN STILL SHALL BLESS THE HAND WHICH LAYS THE OPPRESSOR LOW!"
+
+
+A medal, most appropriate in the devices, and of the most exquisite
+workmanship, was executed by command of his late Majesty George IV.,
+then Prince Regent. The medals are of gold. Only four were struck, one
+of which was presented to Lord Exmouth, and remains in the possession of
+his eldest surviving son. The officers of the squadron presented to
+their commander a magnificent piece of plate, of 1,400 guineas value,
+representing the Mole of Algiers, with its fortifications. The
+subscription exceeded the cost; and the surplus was paid to the Naval
+Charitable Society, of which Lord Exmouth was a vice-president.[14]
+
+His venerable and excellent friend, Admiral Schank, under whose command
+he had fought his first action, went to Teignmouth to receive him, when
+he came home from this, the last of his triumphs. The day of his return
+was made a general festival, and the inhabitants went out to meet him
+with all the arrangement and display which could manifest admiration and
+attachment.
+
+The promotion which followed the victory was to have been on the usual
+scale, but Lord Exmouth succeeded in obtaining some extension of it; for
+he considered it inadequate to the merits of the junior officers, who
+had enjoyed unusual opportunities for distinguishing themselves. The
+flotilla of armed boats, which had behaved most gallantly, and afforded
+essential service, was commanded chiefly by mates and midshipmen, and he
+pressed their claims upon the Admiralty with much perseverance. He
+urged that commissions should be given to all who had passed their
+examinations; and submitted a list of the officers whom he thought
+entitled to promotion, drawn up in such a form as to be readily examined
+and referred to, and in which their respective services and claims were
+enforced in a manner which marked at once his discrimination of their
+merits, and the warm interest he took in their welfare.
+
+The victory was prominently noticed in the royal speech, and on the 3rd
+of February received the thanks of Parliament. The First Lord of the
+Admiralty, who introduced the motion to the House of Lords, expatiated
+at length on the circumstances which enhanced the merit of the
+commander:--"When the expedition against Algiers was determined on, it
+became necessary to collect men from different guard-ships, and to call
+for the services of volunteers for this particular enterprise. He
+mentioned this circumstance, because those who knew the value which
+naval officers attach to a crew long accustomed to act together, would
+be the better enabled to appreciate the skill and exertions of Lord
+Exmouth, and the difficulties he had to contend with, in rendering
+crews, collected as he had stated, efficient for his purpose. To that
+object Lord Exmouth devoted his daily, his hourly attention, and
+accomplished it in a manner which reflected the highest credit on his
+judgment and ability. He then proceeded with his squadron on the
+appointed service. He proposed certain terms to the Dey of Algiers,
+according to his instructions, and no satisfactory reply being given,
+the ships took their positions. It was due to Lord Exmouth here to state
+a circumstance not generally known. An opinion had prevailed in many
+quarters that accident and the elements had been very favourable to Lord
+Exmouth in the execution of the enterprise: but the fact was, that when
+Government had determined on the undertaking, many persons, and among
+them several naval officers, were of opinion that the defences were so
+strong that the attack could not succeed. Not so Lord Exmouth, though he
+was perfectly aware of the difficulties with which he had to contend. He
+had himself formed the plan of his operations, and gave it as his
+opinion that the object might be accomplished, not from any idle
+confidence, but founded on the reasons which he stated and the plan
+which he had formed. He had in this plan settled the position which
+every ship was to take, and when the despatches came, he (Lord Melville)
+had noticed that the positions actually taken were exactly those which
+had been before settled. The whole scheme of attack was before prepared
+by him, and exactly followed; and the whole transaction reflected the
+highest credit upon Lord Exmouth as a naval officer, as well as upon his
+perseverance and gallantry." After describing the battle and its result,
+and descanting upon the enthusiasm which animated every officer and man,
+and the gallantry they displayed, Lord Melville alluded to the
+co-operation and effectual assistance afforded by the Dutch squadron, to
+which also he moved the thanks of the House. "The flag of the
+Netherlands had long been distinguished in Europe, and the officers and
+seamen had acquired a high renown for skill and valour. In this
+enterprise that flag had again appeared, and a noble emulation prevailed
+between the two squadrons as to which of them should most strenuously
+exert itself to accomplish the common object."
+
+Similar motions were brought forward in the House of Commons by Lord
+Castlereagh, who dwelt on the splendid character of the transaction,
+upon which, he said, there could be but one opinion either in that House
+or throughout Europe. Alluding to the very conflicting opinions which
+had prevailed on the subject of attacking Algiers, he eulogized the
+great ability and judgment of Lord Exmouth, whose perfect accuracy had
+been so fully proved by the result. "He should not attempt," he said,
+"to add any thing more to an action so glorious both as to the
+principles upon which it was undertaken, and the mode of carrying it
+into execution, but only observe that he intended to extend the thanks
+to the officers and seamen of their brave ally, the King of the
+Netherlands, whose co-operation had been so beneficial. He was sure the
+House would feel a peculiar gratification in seeing the navy of Holland
+united with ours for the general liberties of mankind, and be anxious to
+mark their sense of the services performed by the Dutch Admiral, his
+brave officers, and sailors."
+
+"So great were Lord Exmouth's professional abilities," said Mr. Law, who
+seconded the motion, "that whatever he undertook he was sure to succeed
+in. From the commencement of that series of great operations which arose
+out of the revolutionary war, success had uniformly marked his long
+career. With respect to the late brilliant enterprise, too much could
+not be said of it; and it was gratifying to know that the feelings of
+the House and the country were the same."
+
+"No one," said Lord Cochrane, "was better acquainted than himself with
+the power possessed by batteries over a fleet; and he would say that the
+conduct of Lord Exmouth and the fleet deserved all the praise which that
+House could bestow. The attack was nobly achieved, in a way that a
+British fleet always performed such services; and the vote had his most
+cordial concurrence, for he never knew, or had heard, of anything more
+gallant than the manner in which Lord Exmouth had laid his ships
+alongside the Algerine batteries."
+
+Lord Exmouth had now gained everything he could hope for. He was still
+in the full vigour of life, with the prospect of many years of health.
+His children had all been spared to him; and he was accustomed to dwell
+on their conduct with a father's pride and satisfaction. With a
+liberality not often displayed, he gave them their full portions as they
+successively left him; and he had the gratification of entrusting to
+each of his sons one of the many honourable tributes to his worth and
+services which he had received from different public bodies. His eldest
+son, who had served many years under his orders, was living near
+Teignmouth, at the family mansion of Canonteign. He represented
+Launceston in Parliament, and when he first entered the House had
+exerted himself, though without success, to obtain for seamen serving on
+foreign stations the privilege, since granted, of receiving part of
+their pay abroad. He had been much impressed with the evils of the
+former system, which his liberality had obviated for his own crews. Lord
+Exmouth maintained a most unreserved intercourse with him, and often
+expressed a confidence in the strongest terms, that he would do honour
+to the rank he was to inherit: hopes never to be realized, for he
+survived his father only a few months.
+
+It is a memorable illustration of a truth, which all admit, but none
+entirely feel, till their own experience has taught them the vanity of
+worldly success, that when the attainment of every object had left him
+without a wish ungratified, Lord Exmouth would sometimes confess that he
+had been happier amidst his early difficulties. Indeed, his natural
+character, and all his habits, were very unfavourable to repose. The
+command at Plymouth was given him in 1817, on the death of Sir John
+Duckworth; but this, though it prevented a too abrupt transition to
+complete retirement, was a life of inactivity, when contrasted with his
+general pursuits for almost fifty years.
+
+While he held this command he was required to attend in his place in the
+House of Lords on the trial of the Queen, one of the most lamentable
+events in modern English history. He had received her then Royal
+Highness on board his flag-ship in the Mediterranean with all the
+attentions due to her exalted rank, and his principal officers were
+assembled to pay their respects to her. But when he was desired to
+furnish a royal standard, which, it was said, the vessel was entitled to
+carry, though a foreigner, he replied that the standard of England
+could be carried only by a British man of war. He shared the temporary
+unpopularity of the noblemen who supported the bill, and the mob at
+Plymouth and its neighbourhood expressed their feelings towards him with
+much violence; but this, as far as he was concerned, gave him no
+disquiet. He had not then to learn how little this kind of hostility is
+to be regarded, when it is provoked by the faithful discharge of duty.
+When the storm was at the highest he wrote the following letter:--
+
+
+                    "Admiralty House, Plymouth Dock, Nov. 20, 1820.
+
+     "MY DEAR BROTHER,--I am much obliged by your kind letter, and wish
+     I could give you in return anything good, or worth detailing. The
+     fact is, the people are mad, and the world is mad; and where it
+     will end, the Lord only knows; but as sure as we live, the days of
+     trouble are very fast approaching, when there will be much
+     contention and much bloodshed, and changes out of all measure and
+     human calculation. You and I have no choice. Loyalty is all our
+     duty, and we shall, no doubt, stick to it. As for myself, you may
+     well think me D.D.,[15] for I am burnt, and kicked, and torn in
+     pieces for many nights; but here I am, quite whole, sound, and
+     merry, in spite of them all, poor fools! In a fortnight they will
+     fain know how to make amends. They have a particular dislike to me,
+     and I am glad of it. We shall live to see it changed."
+
+
+With the command at Plymouth, Lord Exmouth's public life may be
+considered to have ended; for though he shrunk from no duty which his
+rank and character imposed upon him, he would not submit to become a
+political partizan. This decision, so happy for his peace, was the
+result of his habitual judgment and feeling. In a letter before alluded
+to, which he wrote for his eldest son before he went to Algiers, he
+observed, that though not rich, he would be independent, and enjoined
+him never to entangle himself with party politics. While none more
+firmly supported the great principles upon which the security and
+welfare of the country rest, he chose always to keep the high position
+of an independent British nobleman. The splendid rewards which his
+services had obtained for him, he received, not as from any particular
+administration, but from his country; and he felt himself entitled to
+assert the same independence in the House of Lords, which he had always
+displayed as a commander. Thus, by a conduct equally prudent and
+honourable, he secured, through periods of great political excitement,
+an exemption almost singular, for a man in his position, from the
+attacks of party.
+
+At the same time, his best services were always at the command of the
+Government, who frequently availed themselves of his judgment and
+experience. Few important questions occurred in connection with his own
+profession, upon which he was not consulted. Most of these were
+necessarily confidential; but the following may with propriety be
+noticed. In 1818, when the extreme difficulties of the country demanded
+the utmost possible retrenchment, it was proposed, among other measures
+of economy, to destroy Pendennis Castle. Two commissioners, sent to
+survey and report upon this step, were instructed to communicate first
+with Lord Exmouth. His opinion decided the preservation of this noble
+fortress; which is at once so important from its position, and so
+interesting for its heroic defence, when, in the great rebellion, it
+obtained the honourable distinction of being the last stronghold of
+loyalty.
+
+On the question of concessions to the Roman Catholics in 1829, his
+opinions and conduct were most decided. His eldest son resigned his seat
+for a borough, which he held unconditionally, under the influence of the
+Duke of Northumberland, as soon as that nobleman declared his intention
+to support the claims. The ground of Lord Exmouth's opposition to the
+measure has been already given in his words.
+
+That moral elevation, not always associated with powerful talent and
+splendid success, which forms the most admirable part of Lord Exmouth's
+character, was derived from religion. Young as he was when he first
+entered the service, and though such principles and feelings could not
+be supposed then to be very strongly fixed, yet he was guarded in his
+conduct, and always prompt to check any irreverent allusion to serious
+subjects. His youth was passed in camps and ships, at a time when a
+coarse and profane conduct too much prevailed, now happily almost
+unknown; but he was never deterred by a false shame from setting a
+proper example. On board his first frigate, the _Winchelsea_, the duties
+of the Sundays were regularly observed. He always dressed in full
+uniform on that day, and, having no chaplain, read the morning service
+to his crew, whenever the weather permitted them to be assembled.
+Advancing in his brilliant career, the same feelings were more and more
+strikingly displayed. It was his practice to have a special and general
+service of thanksgiving after every signal deliverance, or success. Too
+often is it found, that with the accession of worldly honours, the man
+becomes more forgetful of the good Providence from which he received
+them. From this evil, Lord Exmouth was most happily kept; and additional
+distinctions only confirmed the unaffected simplicity and benevolence of
+his character. When he was fitting out his fleet for Algiers, amidst all
+the anxiety of hurried preparations, he took care that every ship should
+be properly supplied with the sacred volume. For this purpose, he
+obtained from the Naval and Military Bible Society, of which he was a
+Vice President, every copy which could be procured at so short a notice.
+Finally, after this, the last and greatest of his services, a battle of
+almost unexampled severity and duration, and fought less for his country
+than for the world, his gratitude to the Giver of victory was expressed
+in a manner the most edifying and delightful.
+
+With such principles, he might well have hoped for happiness when he
+retired from public life. Religion alone can fill and satisfy the most
+active and capacious mind; but that its power may be felt to calm,
+strengthen, and support, under whatever circumstances of endurance, or
+of action, it must govern the character always, and be the supreme
+controlling principle. For this, the position of a naval officer is not
+favourable. War has much, in addition to the miseries and evils it
+directly creates, which only necessity can excuse; and there is too
+little leisure for reflection amidst the anxiety of early struggles, the
+full career of success, or the pressure of exciting and important
+duties.
+
+But when external responsibilities had ceased to divert his attention
+from himself, his religious principles acquired new strength and exerted
+a more powerful influence. They guided him to peace; they added dignity
+to his character: and blessed his declining years with a serenity, at
+once the best evidence of their truth, and the happiest illustration of
+their power.
+
+The quiet of domestic life offers little to be recorded; and except when
+public or private claims might call him for a short time from home, Lord
+Exmouth passed the remainder of his life at Teignmouth. He had nobly
+done his duty; and now enjoyed in honourable repose all that the
+gratitude of his country and the affection of his family could bestow.
+Though he knew himself liable to an attack which might be almost
+suddenly fatal, he dwelt on the prospect without alarm, for he rested
+upon that faith whose privilege it is to rise above present suffering,
+and to regard death itself as the gate of immortal life.
+
+No man was more free from selfish feeling. His honours and success were
+valued for the sake of his family. His services and life were for his
+country. He had a truly English heart, and served her with entire
+devotedness. Nothing, indeed, could be a finer commentary than his own
+career upon her free and equal institutions, which, by the force of
+those qualities they so powerfully tend to create, had enabled him to
+rise from the condition of an unfriended orphan, to the dignity of the
+British peerage. Most painful, therefore, were his feelings, when revolt
+and anarchy in neighbouring countries were held up to be admired and
+imitated at home, until a praiseworthy desire of improvement had become
+a rage for destructive innovation. In a letter written at this time,
+Nov. 12th, 1831, after alluding to his own declining strength, he thus
+proceeds:--"I am fast approaching that end which we must all come to. My
+own term I feel is expiring, and happy is the man who does not live to
+see the destruction of his country, which discontent has brought to the
+verge of ruin. Hitherto thrice happy England, how art thou torn to
+pieces by thine own children! Strangers, who a year ago looked up to you
+as a happy exception in the world, with admiration, at this moment know
+thee not! Fire, riot, and bloodshed, are roving through the land, and
+God in his displeasure visits us also with pestilence; and, in fact, in
+one short year, we seem almost to have reached the climax of misery. One
+cannot sit down to put one's thoughts to paper, without feeling
+oppressed by public events, and with vain thought of how and when will
+the evils terminate. _That_ must be left to God's mercy, for I believe
+man is at this moment unequal to the task."
+
+He then passes to another subject. It was a trait in his character,
+that, through all his success, he never forgot his early friends.
+
+"When I sat down, I intended to commence by letting you know that I have
+heard from ---- of the last week's illness and decease of our early, and
+I believe almost our oldest friend, ----. He states, that he died, by
+God's mercy, free from pain; that his suffering was not much, and he
+bore it patiently, with a calm mind, keeping his senses to the last few
+hours. That you had paid your old friend a last visit, from which, he
+says, he appeared to be quite revivified; that his eyes sparkled with
+inward joy, and that he had asked kindly after me; that he went off at
+last in a kind of sleep, without a struggle, and had felt all the
+comfort which could be given him by a sincere old friend. I was very
+glad to hear that you had given him the comfort of taking leave of him,
+for I readily believe he ever felt for you unabated friendship, and for
+myself also. I think we must have known him above three-score years. I
+am sure you will derive pleasure from having shown him that your
+friendship could only end by his death."
+
+In the last week of December, 1831, after an extraordinary exemption
+from such trials in his own family, he lost his youngest daughter.
+Little more than two months elapsed, when on the 2nd of March the
+warning was repeated in the almost sudden death of a grandchild,
+daughter of his eldest son. He communicated this event with the
+reflection--"We have long been mercifully spared. Death has at length
+entered our family, and it behoves us all to be watchful."[16]
+
+In the spring of this year he was made Vice-Admiral of England, and was
+honoured at the same time with a very flattering letter from his
+Sovereign. This he immediately enclosed to his elder brother, to whom he
+knew it would give pleasure. Of the appointment itself, he remarked, "I
+shall have it only for one year." He held it but for a few months.
+
+In May, Sir Israel Pellew was on his death-bed; and Lord Exmouth, though
+he now travelled with much difficulty and pain, could not refuse himself
+the melancholy satisfaction of a parting visit to one with whom he had
+been so closely and affectionately united. Their brother came up from
+Falmouth on the same errand, and on this painful occasion they all met
+for the last time. He then returned to his home, which he never left
+again.
+
+He cherished a very strong attachment to the Church; and for more than
+thirty years had been a member of the Society for Promoting Christian
+Knowledge, which he joined when the claims of the society were so little
+appreciated, that only principle could have prompted the step. It might
+therefore be expected that he would feel deep anxiety when the safety of
+that Church was threatened. But upon this subject his mind was firm; and
+in one of the last letters he ever wrote, dated August 28th, he declares
+his confidence in the most emphatic language. After some personal
+observations to the friend he was addressing, one of his old officers,
+he alludes to the cholera, then raging in his neighbourhood; "which," he
+says, "I am much inclined to consider an infliction of Providence, to
+show his power to the discontented of the world, who have long been
+striving against the government of man, and are commencing their attacks
+on our Church. But they will fail! God will never suffer his Church to
+fall; and the world will see that his mighty arm is not shortened, nor
+his power diminished. I put my trust in Him, and not in man; and I bless
+Him, that He has enabled me to see the difference between improvement
+and destruction."
+
+Not many days after, he suffered a most violent attack of the illness he
+had long anticipated. The immediate danger was soon averted; but the
+extent of the disease left not the smallest hope of recovery. He
+lingered until the 23rd of January, calmly waiting the event which his
+gradually increasing weakness convinced him was inevitable. Sustained by
+the principle which had guided him so long, his death-bed became the
+scene of his best and noblest triumph. "Every hour of his life is a
+sermon," said an officer who was often with him; "I have seen him great
+in battle, but never so great as on his death-bed." Full of hope and
+peace, he advanced with the confidence of a Christian to his last
+conflict, and when nature was at length exhausted, he closed a life of
+brilliant and important service, with a death more happy, and not less
+glorious, than if he had fallen in the hour of victory.
+
+Lord Exmouth was buried at Christow, the parish in which are the family
+mansion and estate of Canonteign. The flag under which he fought at
+Algiers was used for a pall, and a young oak, to bear his name, was
+planted near the grave; a suitable memorial for a British seaman.
+
+Two noble line-of-battle ships, the _Algiers_ and the _Exmouth_, of
+91-guns each, and fitted with screw propellers, of which one is just now
+commissioned and the other just launched, preserve in the navy the
+memory of his name and victory, and may yet be commanded by officers
+trained by his care, and formed by his example.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] The plate bore the following most flattering inscription:--
+
+
+                     TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+                 EDWARD, VISCOUNT AND BARON EXMOUTH,
+                          And a Baronet,
+  Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath,
+   Of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain,
+       Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand, and of Merit,
+    Knight of the Royal Sardinian Supreme Order of the Annunciation.
+Knt. Gd. Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Lazarus & St. Maurice,
+     and of the Royal Military Order of William of the Netherlands,
+              This Tribute of Admiration and Esteem
+                 Is most respectfully presented by
+            THE REAR-ADMIRAL, CAPTAINS, AND COMMANDERS,
+               Who had the honour to serve under him
+            _At the memorable VICTORY gained at ALGIERS_
+                    On the 27th of August, 1816,
+Where, by the Judgment, Valour, & Decision of their distinguished Chief,
+                   Aided by his brilliant Example,
+                 THE GREAT CAUSE OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM
+                       Was bravely Fought, and
+                        _NOBLY ACCOMPLISHED_.
+
+
+[15] "Discharged, dead." The mark by which a man is reported dead on the
+ship's books.
+
+[16] It is a remarkable fact, that after the death of his daughter,
+seven members of the family died within three years.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth, by
+Edward Osler
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17929.txt or 17929.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/2/17929/
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+
diff --git a/17929.zip b/17929.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b77428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17929.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c669b16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #17929 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17929)