in the Dutch to twice that number. They were the choiceft of their feamen. The vaft diminution of their commercial fhipping had enabled them to felect, out of the numerous hands difmiffed from the merchant service, the very beft only that offered.

enemy

The circumftance which may be faid to have laid the foundation of this victory, and which does equal honour to the courage and fkill of admiral Duncan, was, his running his fleet between the and a lee fhore: a ftep which, we believe, no other admiral had ever dared to take before, in fimilar circumftances. The admiral's judgement, in closing the conteft in proper time, and in extricating his fleet and prizes from fo difficult a fituation, was equal to his boldness in hazarding fo decifive a measure. The battle was fought fo near the Thore that every manœuvre might be distinctly feen; and the whole coaft, for many miles, was crowded with thousands of fpectators, who had the mortification of obferving the entire destruction of their fleet, without the poffibility of affording any relief.

it

and skilful officer, but a modeft, religious, and good man, and had, lately, had occafion to fignalize all thefe qualities, as fhall, by and by,

be related.

This proved a victory of the most acknowledged importance to Great Britain. It extinguifhed, at once, all the remaining hopes of the French to make that impreffive attempt upon Ireland, from which they had conceived fuch expectations. Nor was it Ireland alone on which they had built the most decifive projects. England was no lefs a part, if it was not, in fact, the principal object in their view, under the avowed plan of carrying their arms into the fifter kingdom. What renders this furmife, which was, in truth, the opinion of many, at this time, not in the leaft improbable, a pamphlet had been written, in France, under the aufpices of the directory, and publifhed by their orders, which had been, during the fummer, circulated with uncommon induftry. It was an addrefs to the French nation at large, inviting, and exhorting, it to revenge upon the English." England, the directory faid, was the richest country in the world, and they would give it up to the French to be plundered by them. You fhall march, faid the addrefs, to the capital of that haughty nation; you fhall feize the immenfe heaps of gold in the bank of London; the prodigious wealth contained in their fhops, their warehouses, and their magazines; the riches contained in their gilded palaces and their ftately manfions; the accumulations of pub lic and private property; the treafures, in fhort, of every fpecies that are to be found in that opulent country, and you will return to

France loaded with the fpoils of the English." This curious addrefs concluded by affuring them, that whatever they took fhould be their own, and that government would require no participation in the plunder of England. They fhould be fupplied with arms and ammunition for this great undertaking, and with veffels to carry them over. Once landed, they would foon find the way to London, and their prowess would atchieve all the rest.

This publication, which made much noise at the time, was very acceptable to the mafs of the people, whofe hatred to the English has always been notorious, and numbers had actually refolved to join an expedition of this nature; but the fober-minded ftrongly condemned a proclamation, for fuch it was in reality, calling upon men to enter upon fo frantic an undertaking, as that of one nation rifing in a body to plunder another, divided from it by the fea, guarded by fleets that had vanquished their own, and deftroyed all their commerce, and that was, at the fame time, fuller of refolute and difciplined men than they had fhipping enough to bring over, had the project, held out to them, exifted in the real contemplation of their rulers.

But there was another scheme, on foot at this time, which, though by the intelligent world efteemed impracticable, did not, however, carry the appearance of fuch extravagance as the former. This was to collect as large an army as they, could provide ships to transport to this country, and to invade it at feveral places. They did not feem to apprehend much obftruction to

the landing of this army, when dif tributed into various parts, every one of which, being confiderable, would require an adequate force to oppofe it. They dwelt, alfo,

with particular confidence, on the fuperior experience and foldiership of the men that would be employed in an enterprize of fuch importance, and on the ignorance in practical war of the English foldiery, whofe native courage was not fuperior to that of the French, while their total unacquaintance with the reality of thofe fcenes, in the reprefentation of which they might excel, did not entitle them to a comparison with veterans.

Such were the ideas of the many individuals in France, that looked forward to an attempt of this nature, with no fmall degree of confidence. The government itfelf, whether of their opinion, or with a view to create an alarm in this country, formally gave them countenance. Numerous forces were collected, on which was beftowed the appellation of the army of England. It was put under the command of Buonaparte; and, it was not doubted, that the fame of this conqueror of Italy would ftrike the English with terror, as it had done fo many others, and that the fame fuccefs would attend him which he had conftantly met with, in all his enterprizes.

It was, therefore, a great mortification to the directory, to fee their principal defign rendered abortive. The means of executing it, were now taken out of their hands, as, without a maritime force, it were vain to attempt an attack of England. They had certainly incurred a large expence in preparations. The troops affembled in various parts of the republic, avowedly for

this purpose, formed a total of little lefs than one hundred thousand men, and every appearance indicated, that nothing but a conviction of the unfurmountable difficulties attending it would put a ftop to the undertaking. The directory faw thefe: but, unwilling to difcourage the multitude, by acknowledging that the two great victories, gained by admiral Jervis and Duncan, had wholly difconcerted their projects, they fill continued to wear the femblance of a determination to perfift, at all hazards, in a fixed refolve to try the ftrength of the English, in England itself. Such were the words of the directory, and of their fupporters, both in and out of the councils. Arguments, for the probability of fuccefs, were copioufly drawn from the fources of ancient and modern hiftory: but they af forded nothing convincing to judicious obfervers: as the refemblances of times and circumstances were far from appofite, no ftrict inferences could be drawn, and only conjectures formed, according, as ufual, with the wishes of those who made them. The warmth of the French, in describing the multifarious means they would employ to compass the great point of landing, was contrafted with the coolness of the English, in allowing its feasibility, but in urging, at the fame time, the probability, or rather, the certainty of no force being put afhore, that would not have to encounter one much greater, and better provided. The circumftance of being inexperienced, fo much infifted on by the French, was held frivolous by the English, when they recollected how well the French themselves had behaved, in the campaign of 1792, notwithflanding that they were in

the fame predicament in which they reprefented the English, very few of their troops, at that time, having ever seen actual fervice. They would not furely have the vanity to think, the English their inferiors in bodily ftrength and activity, nor poflefled of lefs aptitude to acquire the knowledge of military discipline and tactics.

But fetting thefe particular confiderations afide, Europe was thoroughly perfuaded, that unless France could recover a greater degree of maritime ftrength, than that to which it was now reduced, all its attempts to invade this country would either be fruftrated, or, in the iffue of a debarkation, terminate in the defeat and capture of thofe troops that might venture to land, either favoured by the cafualties of weather, or by the absence of thofe numerous fhips of war that guarded the British coaft, but of which the vigilance could not, in the nature of things, extend to every acceffible part. Thefe landings, in the mean time, could only fucceed through ftealth; the moment they were effected, the hips of war, and tranfports, muft, of neceflity, make off with the utmost precipitation, left they fhould be difcovered, and captured; a fate which they would hardly ever escape. Thus cut off from communication, and fupplies, their troops, afhore, could not fail to undergo a fimilar destiny.

It was, therefore, with great reafon, that the public, in Great Britain, teftified their exultation at the triumphs obtained by the British navy, and expressed their contempt for the endeavours of the French to leffen their importance, and to magnify their own capacity, to execute their defigns against this coun

try, in defiance of its naval fuperiority. To the fenfe of the nation, and the univerfal applaufe bestowed upon admiral Duncan for the eminent fervice rendered to it by his great victory, on the eleventh of October, the government added that remuneration which he fo amply deferved. He was raised to the dignity of the peerage, and the title of viscount Camperdon conferred upon him, from that town on the Dutch fhore, in fight of which the fleet of the Batavian

republic had received fo fignal a defeat.

The people of the Seven Provinces now experienced, more than ever, the calamities brought upon them by their junction with France, or rather by their fubjection to that ambitious power, which they had been rightly forewarned would compel them to become the inftruments of its views, as foon as they fhould be fo unfortunate as to be obliged to depend on its good faith and pro tection.

CHAP.

ON

N the fixth of October, 1796, his Britannic majefty addreffed a new parliament on the state of the nation, in both its external and internal relations, and the correfpondent measures of his government. He told them, that he had omitted no endeavours for setting on foot negociations to reftore peace to Europe, and to fecure, for the future, the general tranquillity. But nothing, he obferved, could contribute fo effectually to this end, as to manifeft that we poffefs both the determination and refources to oppofe, with encreased activity and energy, the farther efforts with which we may have to contend. This was peculiarly neceflary at a moment when the enemy had openly manifefted the intention of attempting a descent on these kingdoms. The flourishing state and profperous exertions of the navy were next noticed, and our military operations in the aft and Weft Indies, which had been highly honourable to the British arms. Speaking of the fortune of the war on the continent, his majesty took

an opportunity, with the most perfect propriety, to pay a public tribute of praife to the archduke Charles, under whofe aufpicious conduct fuch a turn had lately been given to the course of the war as might infpire a well-grounded confidence, that the final refult of the campaign would prove more difaftrous to the enemy than its commencement and progrefs, for a time, were favourable to their hopes. With regard to the apparently hoftile difpofitions and conduct of the court of Madrid, the final result of thefe was yet uncertain. His majefty proceeded to notice the flourishing ftate of the commerce, manufactures, and revenue of this country; the profpect of returning plenty; the repreffion of anarchy and confufion; and the continuance of the public tranquillity. An addrefs to his majesty, in anfwer to the speech from the throne, was moved by the

Earl of Bathurst, who, after cuftomary apologies for himself, and fome obfervations on the importance of the fubject on which he was about to offer a motion to their