armed men was an act, however expedient, which an Englishman would not have conceived, nor an English army have executed; if to this we add, that those victims were the peaceful inhabitants of a country unjustly invaded by France, the guilt and horror of the bloody deed recoils with irresistible conviction on the head of its author.

66

An unfortunate accident at the siege of Acre disabled the Theseus, and deprived Great Britain of one of the bravest of the brave." Captain Miller, with many of his crew, was killed on board his own ship by the bursting of some shells, which were very imprudently laid on the quarterdeck, and set on fire by a young midshipman, who amused himself driving the fuzes with a mallet and a nail. The ship was on fire in five places; but by the exertion of the officers and men she was saved. Besides her gallant and lamented Captain, eighty men were killed and wounded.

Bonaparte, in August, 1799, privately embarked on board the Carrere, French frigate, at Alexandria; and having (by a letter which he left behind him) appointed Kleber his successor, set sail for Corsica, which he reached on the 17th of September, after narrowly escaping capture by the British cruisers, and landed safely in Frejus-bay on the 7th of October.

*See "A Voice from St. Helena," in which these acts are confessed, and their justification attempted.

CHAP. XVII.

Return of Bonaparte to Paris-A great epoch-His prudence and moderation-Threatens invasion-His letter to the King of England-Conduct to the senate of Hamburgh-Meeting of parliament-Discussions on the subject of peace-Insincerity of Bonaparte-Speeches of Lord Grenville, Duke of Bedford, Lord Holland-In the commons, of Mr. Dundas-La Vendee again in arms-Gallant attack of Mr. Coghlan on a French gun-brig-Sir Edward Pellew and General Maitland in the Morbihan-Ferrol expedition-Sir J. Warren and Sir JamesPulteney-Vigo-Cadiz-Letter of Morla, the governor, to Lord Keith-Observations-Loss of the MarlboroughRepulse-Union between England and Ireland-Mutiny on board the Dane-Coast of Guinea-Sir Charles HamiltonDesperate attack on the Chevrette-Non-recoil guns-Gallant action of Lieutenant Matthew Smith-Miscellaneous-Change of ministry-Admiral Cornwallis commands Channel fleetLord St. Vincent first lord of the admiralty-Negotiation for peace, and prosecution of the war.

THE return of General Bonaparte from Egypt may be considered as the greatest event of the war, and the grand concluding scene of the eighteenth century. He entered Paris, and changed the government of the country, wresting it from the corrupt hands of the directory and the councils, and assuming the consular dignity: he gave laws to the continent, and peace and prosperity to France. From the eminence on which he had placed himself, he viewed the storms and tempests of the revolution, and, like Prospero, commanded the waves to be still. Having gained the army to his

purpose, he had no difficulty in convincing one part of the nation, and subduing the other. The troubles in La Vendee, that fruitful source of misery to France, he appeased by conciliation; and pursuing a course directly contrary to that of Robespierre and the convention, obtained more by clemency than they had done by the sacrifice of half a million of lives, and the desolation of the fruitful provinces of the west. He established the toleration of religious worship of all persuasions, while that of France remained essentially Roman Catholic. He abolished the law of hostages, by which the inhabitants of a district had been made answerable for each other; and the odious law of forced loans was sacrificed to his popularity. He next turned his attention to the improvement of commerce. The system upon which France had acted with respect to neutrals, was acknowledged to be defective: the seizure of American vessels, and their unjust confiscation, have been stated in a former chapter. Bonaparte, with more sense, if not more honesty than his predecessors in office, saw that the system of terror which they had pursued would drive commerce from his ports; that, the abundant produce of the soil of France must remain without purchasers, while she languished in vain for the luxuries of colonial importation. The system of privateering had, under the direc tory, become piracy, acknowledging no law but that of the strongest; the best authenticated documents were unavailing, and the judges of their

vice-admiralty courts were inexorable to any other argument than that of bribery. It must be acknowledged, that the Chief Consul did much to abate these evils; to cure them was beyond his art.

Bonaparte either really was, or meant to be, the friend of France; but he was the bitter and implacable enemy of England. Whether by indulging this humour he sought only the gratification of revenge for his overthrow at the Nile, and for the freedom of the British press, which, while it exposed his projects, vilified his personal character and government; or whether he considered the prosperity of Britain incompatible with that of France, is not, and perhaps never will be, ascertained: certain only, that the effects of his malignant policy we have felt, and still continue to deplore. Scarcely seated in the consular chair, he addressed himself to the powerful princes of the north; and by an appeal to their pride and their selfishness, he succeeded in detaching from our cause the Emperor of Russia, and forming another armed neutrality. Suvaroff had received a severe check at Zurich, in Switzerland; and the armies of the republic, after their reverses in Italy, and on the Rhine, began to regain their former character, which, during the absence of their favourite leader in Egypt, had suffered a considerable eclipse.

One of the first acts of Bonaparte after his return to the capital, was to renew the threat of

invasion, and General Hedouville was insultingly named commander-in-chief of the "Army of England," a term which he well knew would excite a ferment of indignation or discontent in the country, advantageous to himself and his plans. To repel such an attack must cost us vast sums in preparation, and keeping a large fleet in constant service in the British Channel, North Seas, and Bay of Biscay; or, as we might justly say, from Toulon to Copenhagen. After this menace, real or affected, how could Bonaparte expect us to believe that he was sincerely desirous of peace; yet that such were his views, the following letter to the King of England will shew.

Called by the wishes of the French nation to occupy the first magistracy of the republic, I think it proper, on entering into office, to make a direct communication of it to your Majesty.

The war, which, for eight years, has ravaged the four quarters of the world, must it be eternal? Are there no means of coming to an understanding?

How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, powerful and strong beyond what their independence requires, sacrifice to ideas of vain greatness, the benefits of commerce, internal property, and the happiness of families? How is it that they do not feel that peace is of the first necessity as well as of the first glory?

These sentiments cannot be foreign to the heart of your Majesty, who reigns over a free nation, and with the sole view of making it happy.

Your Majesty will see in this overture, only my sincere desire to contribute efficaciously, for a second time, to a general pacification, by a step, speedy, entirely of confidence, and disengaged from those forms which, necessary perhaps, to disguise the dependance of weak states, prove, in those which are strong, only the mutual desire of deceiving one another.

RHOD

HOUSE

OXFORD

LIBRARY