During the alarming mutiny in the British navy, Earl St Vincent's resolution and prudence were of invaluable service to his country.

In 1800 he accepted the command of the Channel fleet on the resignation of Lord Bridport. In 1801 he was placed at the head of the

To save the body politic from perishing, caustics and the knife must extirpate the root of this pernicious weed. The navy, most excellent Sir, has given us an evident proof of this irrefragable truth. In place of humbling the English pride, which had begun to decline from the high opinion to which she was elevated by her natural haughtiness, it has raised her insolence to a height unparalleled. From this so powerful a cause, commerce, the basis of your monarchy, is going to suffer an irreparable loss. The whole nation detests the vile proceedings of the navy, and weeps with respectful apprehensions for the misfortunes that must ensue.

"The squadron would not fight (let us withdraw the veil from treason). They have bartered and compromised the national honour so it has been made appear to the Directory, by authentic and sure documents. That Directory, ever watchful for the honour of her allies, cannot see with indifference such turpitude, tending to produce the most pernicious and fatal consequences.

66

"I, most excellent Sir, in the name of the Directory, entreat your Excellency to dispose the mind of the king with inflexible resolution to chastise this enormity, stifling for a moment the dictates of paternal affection.

"The undersigned entertains this hope, and that your Excellency will be pleased to give an answer to this Memorial, that it may be transmitted to the Directory.

(Signed)

"PERINON."

ANSWER of the Spanish minister to the Memorial or Remonstrance, presented by Citizen Perinon, French ambassador at Madrid, upon the defeat of the Spanish fleet, off Cape St Vincent, by the British fleet.

"CITIZEN AMBASSADOR,

"I HAVE, with great reluctance, laid before the king the heads and purport of the Memorial presented by your Excellency, in the name of the Directory of the French republic. I say the heads of that Memorial, because the language it contained is couched in terms so offensive, so debasing, and so insolent to the ears of a free people, that I deemed it quite inconsistent with the dignity of my station to present it in the form it stands to an independent sovereign. The king, Sir, laments, with great sincerity, the unexpected and severe loss which has befallen his majesty's arms in the late engagement with the British fleet, and is naturally led, in support of his own honour, as well as the honour of the Spanish nation, to make becoming inquiry into the cause of that misfortune; but he will not suffer for a moment the Directory of the French republic, nor any foreign power whatever, to assume a privilege of interference, in the smallest degree, with the concerns of his kingdom.

"It is true, as stated in the Memorial of your master, that the naval arms of Spain have hitherto been eminently distinguished among nations; and on that account any humiliation at sea is felt with the greater force and mortification by his majesty; but it cannot but seem very extraordinary indeed to the king, and to his majesty's subjects in general, that the loss of one action should be viewed as a matter of surprise by the French nation. Surely, Sir, the Directory of the French republic are not unacquainted with the reproach of a naval defeat. They are pleased to observe, that the Spanish flag has suffered a remarkable disgrace to its honour; and that they, as the allies of his Catholic majesty, cannot, with indifference, behold such turpitude. Are these gentlemen the members of the same assembly who embarked on board your fleet on the three memorable days of the 30th and 31st of May, and the 1st of June, 1794? Are these gentlemen the commissioners who assumed the rank and station of naval fieldmarshals upon that occasion; who, before the commencement of the action with the British fleet, sent a frigate with an insolent message to each ship of your line, viz. that the commissioners gave positive orders to the separate captains, that they were to sink to the bottom every English man-of-war, only excepting the Queen Charlotte, who carried the British commander's flag; out of their mercy, that ship they were to spare -but they were to bring her safe into the harbour of Brest, in order to grace the triumph of the glorious new republic; but who, instead of performing this act of heroism, were in the end very happy to make their escape from the cowardly English, with the loss of nine capital ships? And are these the gentlemen who are prescribing to the 2 Q

VII.

admiralty, in which station he effected various most beneficial amendments in the system of management adopted by the Board, and gave very general satisfaction throughout the service; but in the month of May, 1804, he was superseded in office by Viscount Melville. In the beginning of 1806, on the accession of Fox to office, his lordship was again appointed to the command of the Channel fleet.

On the 14th of May, 1806, Mr Jeffery, a member of the house of commons, preferred a charge against Earl St Vincent of gross neglect in the building and repairing of ships. He took a view of the state of the navy during the late war, and contended that the ships which were built during his lordship's administration were by no means equal to the annual destruction. The earl, he said, had not only neglected the usual means of recruiting the navy, but all other modes; for he had actually launched only ten ships of the line. Though his predecessors left him fifteen ships building, his lordship had only left to his successors nine in that state, and these requiring three years to finish them. Not half had been done which his predecessors had accomplished in a similar period. He condemned the earl's conduct respecting the building in merchants' yards, as capricious and dangerous; he had also, he said, at a time of necessity, wantonly discharged workmen, many of whom had gone to the enemy's yards; and by his illiberal conduct he had disgusted every body, at a period when the navy was running to destruction. The late victories of Lord Nelson, Sir R. Strachan, and Sir J. Duckworth, were, he concluded, all due to the exertions of Lords

king of Spain what punishment he is to inflict upon the commanders of the Spanish fleet, for the loss of a battle, while the English have in their possession, at this moment, the one half of their navy? We did not hear, Sir, of any punishment proposed by the Directory for the defeat of your impregnable fleet on the 1st of June. On the contrary, it was asserted, in that solemn assembly, that, for the arms of France even to meet the English in an action at sea, was of itself sufficient, and equal to a victory, I am stating here to your Excellency the history of three only of the naval exploits of your republic; but almost every day since its commencement might have accustomed the ears and eyes of your Directory to the turpitude of naval defeats; therefore, previous to your Excellency's approaching the presence of his majesty, where you threaten to speak your opinion of the guilt of the officers who commanded his fleet, I would advise you, as a friend and an ally, to balance the disgrace of the two nations-to take in one hand the single defeat of the arms of Spain off the cape of St Vincent, while in the other you carry the various defeats and disgraces that have befallen the navy of the French republic ever since the commencement of its career, and see which weighs heaviest.

"Your Directory will then be convinced that, for either of our two nations to attempt to bring reproach on the other for their inferiority to the English in naval skill and courage, is nothing less than to arraign the wisdom of the Almighty Power, who has thought it good and proper to grant the decided superiority, upon the wide and extended ocean, to that brave people.

"The king, my master, has, in the mean time, commanded me to signify to the members of the French republic, that, whether it be true or not that it is the infirmity of governments, as they say, to be seized with certain cancers, which contaminate, and corrupt the state, it is not his majesty's intention to follow the example of degenerated France, by applying caustics and the knife to remedy that evil; for which reason he has no occasion to suspend, even for a moment, the dictates of his parental affection towards the subjects of his own states, which he is more than ever determined to cherish and cultivate; being firmly persuaded, by his own observation, and which is confirmed to him by the historical experience of all nations, that no evil can be so great as to submit to the tyranny and oppression of a foreign government, nurtured and supported by the very dregs of the lower orders of society. (Signed)

"GODOY."

He con

Barham and Melville. He next touched on the repairs which, in Oct. 18th, 1801, were required by 120 ships; but he asserted that, according to the system upon which repairing was then conducted, they would have taken twenty years to be got ready; and added, that though the earl found 102 sail of the line when he came into office, he was not entitled to the excess of 22 over that number, as he left only 88 when he resigned. He threw upon his lordship all the blame of deficiency of timber,-contended that, under his administration, the British navy was verging fast towards ruin, and deprecated the present great appointment of his lordship as one which he had by no means merited. cluded with recapitulating his charges, and moving a resolution, "That his lordship had been guilty of gross negligence, misconduct, and dereliction of duty." M. Dent seconded the motion; but merely that the question might be put, as he was convinced, he said, that in a committee the conduct of the earl would be fully vindicated. After some remarks by the speaker and Lord Howick on the unparliamentary manner in which Mr Jeffery had proceeded-he having read his speech from a manuscript-Admiral Markham entered upon a refutation of the various statements of the mover. He observed that the number of ships of the line built in the eight years preceding Lord St Vincent's administration would be 24; and comparing with that the period of that lord's administration, from his accession to office in March, 1801, to his departure in May, 1804, the total number was 10 in a period of little better than three years, which so far proved no deficiency. It also appeared, that when he came into office he found upon the slips building but 16 sail of the line; whereas, on his departure from office, he left 18 in forwardness upon the stocks. Besides which, he added, that the Admiralty had nothing to do with the building of ships. The earl, who had done his part in ordering the building, was not to blame for tardiness in the execution. He insisted that the earl was entitled to great credit for many parts of his conduct while in office, particularly his arrangements for providing what the country then wanted more than ships, namely, seamen to man the Channel fleet. For this purpose, had taken the men out of the first-rates and frigates, and thereby effected a purpose essential to the safety of the country; so that at the end of an eight years' war, he was thereby enabled to man 20 additional sail of the line; while he increased the number of frigates from 183 to 195, and the total of the navy from 295 to 371. With respect to the breaking up of ships, he added that this was done in pursuance of the directions of the Navy board. As to the Dock-yards, he insisted that the papers on the table proved that not a man was dismissed capable of doing duty; many of the men, who had long received the highest wages in the dock-yards, were actually blind, and others lame, disabled, and moving on crutches; these, to the amount of 327 men, to whom, in the year 1800, £28,024 wages were paid, were superannuated by Lord St Vincent. At Plymouth 76 were discharged of a similar description, to whom, in 1800 and 1801, £10,943 wages were paid. Now, some of those were put upon allowance greater than usual, amounting to £4,529, and others superannuated, upon allowances to the amount of £2,264 11s. The usual allowance of £20 per annum had, in these cases, been increased to £24; and the allowance of £24 to £28; while to the rope-makers and others discharged, to whom no such

he

allowance had ever been usual, £20 a-year had been allowed. He next combated the assertion, that no credit was due to Earl St Vincent for the late victories; as it was a fact that Lord Nelson, Sir J. Duckworth, and Sir R. Strachan, had all been selected by him for principal commands. Lord Howick went over the same grounds as Admiral Markham; and stated, that among the advantages of his lordship's administration, he had formed a plan for procuring a supply of timber from Dalmatia, and 40,000 trees had actually been felled in that country ; but they had now fallen into the possession of the enemy. Messrs Fox, Markham, and Banks, severally spoke against the motion, and praised the conduct of Earl St Vincent; and Mr Jeffery's motion was negatived without a division. Mr Fox afterwards declared, that from a conviction of the charge being frivolous and groundless, he should move, "That it appears to this house, that the conduct of the earl of St Vincent, in his late naval administration, has given an additional lustre to his exalted character, and merits the approbation of the house." Messrs Yorke, S. Bourne, and Tierney, supported this motion; and Messrs Wilberforce, Banks, Perceval, and Canning, opposed it, on the ground of no notice having been given. Mr Fox's motion was agreed to without a division.

In March, 1807, the earl retired from the command of the Channel fleet. In 1809, and again in 1810, he supported amendments on the answer to the address at the opening of parliament. In 1814 he was appointed governor of marines; and, on the 19th of July, 1821, when in his 85th year, was named admiral of the fleet.

He died without issue on the 15th of March, 1823.

John, Earl of Hopetoun.

BORN A. D. 1766.—died a. d. 1823.

THIS gallant and highly esteemed nobleman was the son of John, second earl of Hopetoun, by his second marriage with Jane, daughter of Oliphant of Rossie in Perthshire. He was born on the 17th of August, 1766, and entered the army as a volunteer in his fifteenth year. After passing through the subordinate ranks in several different regiments, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 25th foot, in April, 1793; and received the brevet of colonel on the 3d of May, 1796, in which year he was elected M. P. for his native county of Linlithgow. He accompanied the expedition to Holland in August, 1799; and was appointed adjutant-general to the duke of York's army. In the following year he attended the expedition to Egypt, and negotiated the convention for the surrender of Cairo. In May, 1802, he attained the rank of a major-general; and in April, 1808, was appointed a lieutenant-general.

In the last mentioned year he accompanied the British force to Portugal; and, on the death of Sir John Moore, the command in the battle of Corunna devolved upon him, Sir David Baird being severely wounded. The following admirable report of this celebrated action was made by General Hope to his superior in command, Sir David

Baird. It is one of the most luminous and able documents of the kind which our military annals can show :

"His Majesty's Ship Audacious, off Corunna, January 18th, 1809. "SIR,-In compliance with the desire contained in your communication of yesterday, I avail myself of the first moment I have been able to command, to detail to you the occurrences of the action which took place in front of Corunna on the 16th instant.

"It will be in your recollection, that about one in the afternoon of that day, the enemy, who had in the morning received reinforcements, and who had placed some guns in front of the right and left of his line, was observed to be moving troops towards his left flank, and forming various columns of attack at that extremity of the strong and commanding position, which, on the morning of the 15th, he had taken in our immediate front.

"This indication of his intention was immediately succeeded by the rapid and determined attack which he made upon your division, which occupied the right of our position. The events which occurred during that period of the action you are fully acquainted with. The first effort of the enemy was met by the commander of the forces and by yourself, at the head of the 42d regiment, and the brigade under Major-general Lord William Bentinck.

"The village on your right became an object of obstinate contest. "I lament to say, that soon after the severe wound which deprived the army of your services, Lieutenant-general Sir John Moore, who had just directed the most able dispositions, fell by a cannon-shot. The troops, though not unacquainted with the irreparable loss they had sustained, were not dismayed, but, by the most determined bravery, not only repelled every attempt of the enemy to gain ground, but actually forced him to retire, although he had brought up fresh troops in support of those originally engaged.

"The enemy, finding himself foiled in every attempt to force the right of the position, endeavoured by numbers to turn it. A judicious and well-timed movement, which was made by Major-general Paget, with the reserve, which corps had moved out of its cantonments to support the right of the army by a vigorous attack, defeated this intention. The major-general having pushed forward the 95th rifle corps and 1st battalion 52d regiments, drove the enemy before him, and in his rapid and judicious advance, threatened the left of the enemy's position. This circumstance, with the position of Lieutenant-general Fraser's division, calculated to give still further security to the right of the line, induced the enemy to relax his efforts in that quarter.

66

They were, however, more forcibly directed towards the centre, where they were again successfully resisted by the brigade under Major-general Manningham, forming the left of your division, and a part of that under Major-general Leith, forming the right of the division under my orders. Upon the left the enemy at first contented himself with an attack upon our piquets, which however in general maintained their ground. Finding, however, his efforts unavailing on the right and centre, he seemed determined to render the attack upon the left more serious, and had succeeded in obtaining possession of the village through which the great road to Madrid passes, and which was situated in front of that