and in the course of the same day returned thanks for the highly distinguished examples of resolution, spirit, and perseverance, which had been testified by every description of officers, seamen, and military corps, in the ships of the fleet, during the several actions with the enemy on the 28th and 29th of May and the 1st of June. The British fleet, after it had been refitted, again put to sea; but the enemy was so completely humbled, that the Brest fleet never ventured out, till Lord Howe had returned to port. The victory of the 1st of June conferred great glory on the admiral, and was received at home with uncommon rejoicing. Large sums of money were subscribed for the benefit of the widows and children of those killed in the action. Rear-Admirals Bowyer and Pasley were created baronets, and received a pension of 1000l. each per annum. Admirals Graves and Sir Alexander Hood had the honours of the peerage conferred upon them. Earl Howe was presented with a diamond-hilted sword of great value, by the King in person, on board the Queen Charlotte, at Spithead; and also with a golden chain, to which was suspended a medal, with Victory crowning Britannia on the obverse, and on the reverse a wreath of oak and laurel, encircling his lordship's name, and the date of the action. In December, 1796, his Majesty was also pleased to transmit gold chains and medals to the following flag-officers and captains, who were reported by Lord Howe to have signalized themselves during the battle with the French fleet:Vice-Admirals Sir A. Hood, T. Graves; Rear-Admirals A. Gardner, G. Bowyer, T. Pasley, Sir R. Curtis; Captains W. Hope, Elphinstone, Hon. T. Pakenham, J. T. Duckworth, Sir A. Douglas, H. Harvey, W. Domett, H. Nichols, J. W. Payne, and T. Pringle. The success of the British navy in the course of this year was nearly uniform. On the 23d of April Sir John Borlase Warren captured two French frigates off Guernsey, after two hours' fighting. In August, he pursued five other French ships of war off Scilly; and, driving two of them under the 21. 3 Q batteries of the Gamelle rocks, would have proceeded to burn them; but, with a generosity, worthy of his courage, abstained from the last rigours of war against an unfortunate enemy, whose wounded must have perished, had he set their vessels on fire. Several combats of single ships displayed the superiority of our seamen in a most brilliant light; nor did the loss of the Alexander, of seventy-four guns, in the month of November, tarnish the reputation of the British arms, though the unusual spectacle of such a prize was resounded through France as an immortal achievement. This vessel, which had parted from the division of Admiral Bligh, was attacked off Brest by three French seventy-fours, which she resisted for two hours, and it was not till her lower masts were on the point of going by the board that she reluctantly struck to this disparity of force. England now became the dupe of the treachery of the continental powers, for although Pitt lavished the treasures of the country with the most profuse and lavish hand in subsidising the foreign states, they frequently received the money and then actually expended it against the very government which had paid it to them. This was particularly the case with Prussia, who received a large subsidy from this country, but instead of applying it against France, she treacherously expended it in her designs against Poland, and then made peace with the republic of France. Thus England became the laughing stock of Europe; she lavished her treasures in the hire of an army of mercenaries, to whose Prince or monarch, the money was no soner paid, than their bayonets were employed in the cause of despotism, and the overthrow of the rights of man. It is pleasing to dwell on all which concerns so great a man as Nelson; and it is highly to the credit of the Duke of Clarence that he exerted himself and got the appointment for his friend to the Agamemnon, which was the foundation of all his subsequent great services to his country. Nelson seems to have had no other friend so zealous at the period, when his talents were unknown, and interest only told at the Admiralty. The letters which Nelson wrote to the Duke of Clarence are full of interest, as in the first place they prove the gratitude which that great man entertained towards his royal patron, and in the second place, they testify the warm interest which his royal Highness took in the naval affairs of the country. At the time when Nelson was in the harbour of St. Fiorenzo in Corsica, he thus writes to the Duke of Clarence. "Our last cruise, from December 21st, 1794, to January the 10th, when we arrived in this port, was such a series of storms and heavy seas, as I never before experienced; the fleet was twelve days under storm staysails. Our ships, although short of complement, are remarkably healthy, as are the troops in this island. There is already a difference to be perceived in the cultivation of the land, since last year. Many hundred acres of pasture are now covered with wheat; and as the Corsicans will find a ready sale for their corn, wine, and oil, (the two last articles the French suppressed as much as possible,) every year will doubtlessly increase the growth. The fleet goes to sea on the 22d or 23d, thirteen sail of the line. The French have fifteen in the outer road of Toulon, and fifty sail of large transports ready at Marseilles; therefore, it is certain they have some expedition just ready to take place, and I have no doubt, but Porto Especia is their object. We soon expect to be joined by some Neapolitan ships and frigates. I have no idea we shall get much good from them; they are not seamen, and cannot keep the sea beyond a passage. I beg your Royal Highness to believe that I am your most faithful servant." The suspicions of Nelson in regard to the intentions of the enemy were soon verified, for on Admiral Hotham with the blockading squadron being blown off the coast, the French fleet put to sea, and steered direct for Corsica, with the intent of re-capturing that island. Amongst the many senseless, silly acts, which the English government performed at that time, there was, perhaps, no one which excited more strongly the ridicule of the people, than one which was committed, when the island of Corsica was captured by the troops of this country. In all the acts which were issued by Geo. III. for the government of the island, it was pompously styled "and our kingdom of Corsica." This circumstance gave rise to one of the most severe caricatures which was ever published, entitled: "Mud island off the kingdom of Corsica," which was in reality a blank profile of his Majesty; but so exactly was the contour of his Majesty's countenance preserved, that it was impossible to mistake the meaning of it. This is perhaps the most scarce caricature which was ever drawn of Geo. III, as the whole impression was bought up, and the plate destroyed. The intelligence of the sailing of the French fleet from Toulon was no sooner ascertained than Admiral Hotham sailed in pursuit of it, and after a running action, captured two ships, the Ca Ira, of 80 guns, and the Censeur, of 74, Nelson in a letter to the Duke of Clarence, thus describes the engagement, with which he was highly dissatisfied, as it was his opinion, that had Admiral Hotham followed up his success, a greater number of the enemy's ships might have been taken. "I hope and believe, if we only get three sail from England, that we shall prevent this fleet of the enemy from doing further service in the Mediterranean, notwithstanding the red shot and combustibles-of which they have had a fair trial, and found them useless. They believed that we should give them no quarter; and it was with some difficulty we found the combustibles, which are fixed in a skeleton, like a carcass; they turn into liquid, and water will not extinguish it. They say the Convention sent them from Paris, but that they did not use any of them, only hot shot." Nelson was now in command of a flying squadron, which was destined to co-operate with an Austrian force near Genoa. Of this service, Nelson imparted the following curious particu lars to the Duke of Clarence :— "Almost every day produces such changes in the prospect of our affairs, that in relating events, I hardly know where to begin. The two armies are both so strongly posted, that neither is willing to give the attack; each waits to see which can longest endure the cold. The French general has laid an embargo on all the vessels on the coast, near a hundred sail and it would not surprise me, if he were meditating a retrcat, in case his plans did not succeed-which I hope they will notas the prevention of them, in a great measure, depends on our naval force under my orders. This has called me here, where a circumstance has arisen, that has given us the alarm sooner than was intended. An Austrian commissary was travelling from Genoa towards Vado, with ten thousand pounds sterling; and it was known he was to sleep at a place called Viltri, about nine miles from Genoa. This temptation was too great for the French captain of the Brune, in concert with the French minister, to keep his word of honour; and the boats of that frigate, with some privateers, went out of the port, landed, and brought back the money. The next day, the 11th of November, recruiting was publicly carried on in the town of Genoa, and numbers enlisted; and on the 13th, at night, as many men as could be collected were to sail, under convoy of the Brune, and to land, and take a strong post of the Genoese, between Genoa and Savona. A hundred men were to have been sent from the French army at Borghetto, and an insurrection of the Genoese peasantry was to have been encouraged; which, I believe, would have succeeded for several miles up the country. General de Vins must have sent four or five thousand men, probably from his army, which would have given the enemy a fair prospect of success in their attack. The scheme was bold, but I do not think it would have succeeded in all points. However, my arrival here on the 12th, in the evening, caused a total change: the frigate, knowing her deserts, and what had been done here before with the transports and privateers, hauled from the outer to the inner mole, and is got inside the merchant-ships, with her powder out; for no ships can go into the inner mole with powder on board; and, as I have long expected an embarkation from the |
