exhibited the French line to leeward drawn up in order of battle, and prepared to renew the contest. The British admiral perceiving that there was time sufficient for the various companies to take refreshment, made a signal for breakfast, a measure which by procrastinating the commencement of the action, induced the enemy to believe that the British were disposed to decline the engagement. But their hopes were fallacious. In about half an hour lord Howe, relaxing the usual sternness of his countenance into a smile, gave orders for steering the Royal Charlotte along side of the French admiral. His command was obeyed. and, by an extraordinary display of seamanship on the part of his master, he was enabled to assume a most excellent position, and to contend with advantage against a vessel of far superior strength and size. While some of the English commanders penetrated the line of battle and engaged to leeward, others occupied such stations as enabled them to combat with their antagonists to windward.

So close and severe was the contest, that the fate of this day depended but little on the exertion of nautical skill. Yet upon this occasion, when the drapery of the three-coloured flag not unfrequently intermingled with that of the British cross, the superiority of the English seamen was eminently conspicuous. Disciplined into war, the steady arm, the undaunted eye, the animated countenance, denoted that they were familiar with the element on which they fought. And while the shot of the enemy occasioned but little bloodshed on decks which were not crowded by useless men, every broadside spread death and despair through the crowded ranks of their antagonists.

In about fifty minutes after the action had commenced in the centre, admiral Villerat determined to relinquish the contest.

Several of his ships were already dismasted, one of them was about to sink, and six were captured. He crowded off with all the canvass he could spread, and was followed by nearly all the ships in his van that were not completely crippled.

The enemy had, as usual, chiefly aimed at the rigging, and the victors were thus disabled from pursuing the vanquished. The British endeavour to destroy the ef fective force of the enemy's ships; the French to secure the means of safe and easy flight. The Queen Charlotte was prevented from capturing her antagonist, La Montagne, by an unlucky broadside from Le Jacobin, which rendered her nearly unmanageable. The slaughter of the English was comparatively trivial. Captain Montagu, of the Montagu, was the only commander who fell in the engagement. Vice-admiral Graves, the honourable G. Berkley, and captain J. Harvey, were wounded, and the rear-admirals Pasley and Bowyer, with captain Hutt of the Queen, lost their legs. Hutt and Harvey died on their retura to port. Pasley and Bowyer were created baronets, and each received a pension of £1000 per annum. Admirals Graves and Hood were honoured with the peerage. Too much praise indeed cannot be given to the skill of the officers or the courage of the men; and had not the bravery of the French seamen and the firmness of their commanders far surpassed every former display of these qualities in naval conflict, the prowess, coolness, and tactical expertness of the British navy, would have obtained a more immediate and still more decisive result.)

The loss of the French, in consequence of the mode of action to which I have alluded, was nearly four times that of the English, who had 272 killed, and 787 wounded. That of the enemy has been estimated at 1300 killed, and 2380 wounded. On board the six captured ships there were 690 killed, and 580 wounded; while on board the six English ships that suffered most, there were only 125 killed, and 335 wounded. Notwithstanding the disastrous result of this engagement, the French obtained the object for which the fleet had been equipped, but the splendor of the victory elevated the maritime renown of our countrymen, and swelled the hearts of the people with exultation. The skill and energy of the officers, the courage and activity of the men under their command,

were loudly applauded; and confident hopes were entertained, by the sanguine public, of the total ruin of the French

navy.

An expedition to the West Indies also proved, in a great degree, successful. Sir Charles Grey landed, with a respectable but not numerous force, on the island of Martinique, while sir John Jervis superintended the naval operations. Several strong posts were quickly seized; and the reduction of Pigeon isle opened the bay and harbour of FortRoyal to the shipping. Of the works near St. Pierre the invaders gained possession with small loss; and that town was then evacuated by the enemy. To complete the investment of Fort-Bourbon, it was necessary that the heights of Sourier should be gained. Bellegarde, a bold leader of the mulattoes and negroes, might have defended this post for a considerable time, if he had not been prompted by the impetuosity of his spirit to rush from the heights with a part of his force, and attack the left division of the British army. Pleased at the opportunity, the general sent three battalions from his right to storm the weakened camp, which was soon forced by the valor of this detachment, while Bellegarde was repelled by the defensive firmness of the corps which he engaged.

Preparations were now made for assaulting Fort-Royal; and a detachment of grenadiers and light infantry, under the conduct of colonel Symes, marched to the back of it, while commodore Thompson directed the exertions of a select naval force. Captain Faulknor particularly distinguished himself on this occasion. He pushed forward at the head of the crew of the sloop which he commanded, and scaled the walls in defiance of volleys of grape-shot. This daring act concurred with the approach of the flat boats, and the appearance of the soldiery, to intimidate the garrison into a surrender. The commaudant of Fort-Bourbon, no longer inclined to resist, proposed a capitulation; and the acquisition of this fortress completed the reduction of the island.

Major-general Dundas and prince

Edward afterwards landed in St. Lucia without loss of men, and proceeded to the investment of la Morne Fortunée. Lieutenant-colonel Coote stormed a redoubt and two batteries; and the dread of an assault of the fort produced its speedy surrender. The isles called the Saints were then reduced; and a disembarkation was effected at Gosier-bay in Guadaloupe. Fort Fleur d'Epée was quickly stormed; and the ferocity of the assailants spared only a small part of the garrison. Fort Louis, and other posts of Grande-Terre, were abandoned with great precipitation; and the English proceeded to the conquest of Basse-Terre. Palmiste, the strongest post of this division, was soon taken; and, after other exploits, they became masters of the whole island and its dependencies.

They did not long retain the last of these conquests. The yellow fever began to diffuse its ravages, to diminish the number of the armed occupants of the island, and weaken the survivors. Expecting to find the works inadequately manned, a French force approached the coast, attacked Fleur d'Epée and other posts, and recovered them with little difficulty. The English soon regained the post of St. Anne, where they (not very humanely) put to death about 400 of the enemy, without losing an individual of their own party. After various actions, brigadier Symes and colonel Fisher, with a body of soldiers and seamen, endeavoured to surprise the enemy in the night on the heights near Point-a-Petre; but they were saluted in their march with so severe a cannonade, that great confusion arose; and, instead of attempting to gain the heights, the major part of the corps entered the town, where many were mowed down by grape-shot from the batteries, and musketry from the houses. A retreat was now ordered; and, for some time, from the prevalence of disease, the troops were almost inactive. When the camp at Perville was at length attacked by the French, it was so bravely defended that they suffered considerable loss; but their repeated exertions constrained the English to capitulate.

After farther hostilities, Fort Matilda was the only place of strength which the English retained in Guadaloupe. Here they were besieged by Victor Hugues for eight weeks; and, as the fort was no longer tenable, they found it expedient to retire in the night. The embarkation was well conducted; and the garrison lived to serve the king on other occasions. Not long after the total loss of the island, the brave Faulkuor, who had so eminently contributed to the reduction of Martinique, lost his life in an engagement with a frigate near Marie-galante. More than 70 men are said to have been killed in the French vessel, and above 100 wounded; while only 29 suffered in the victorious ship.

In the island of St. Domingo, the English had so far profited by intestine commotions as to acquire some territorial possessions. That island, in a remarkable degree, had suffered the mischievous effects of the French revolution. When the people in the mother country asserted their right to freedom, the claims of the colonial subjects of France were also recognised; and a society called les Amis des Noirs (or friends of the negroes) warmly supported the pretensions of the slaves to emancipation, and of the mulattoes to all the privileges enjoyed by the white inhabitants. The declaration of rights promulgated by the National Assembly increased the ferment which the first intelligence of the revolution had produced in the islands; and sanguinary disturbances or acrimonious contests were apprehended. Deputies from the different districts of the French part of St. Domingo met by the king's order, to prevent tumults and reform abuses by seasonable regulations: but their endeavours were thwarted by the partisans of the old regime; and the and the governor dissolved the assembly. Many of the representatives sailed to France to justify their conduct; and, during their absence, Ogé, an enterprising mulatto, returned to the island from Europe for the execution of a scheme which had been suggested to him by Brissot and Grégoire, who wished that the people of color (as the mulattoes were styled) might be

stimulated to rise in arms, and redress their own grievances. He found means to excite an insurrection; but it was quickly suppressed, and his life was sacrificed to the demands of public justice. The claims of his brethren, however, were confirmed by a decree of the ruling assembly of the parent state, which admitted them to all the privileges of French citizens. Before the death of Ogé, the negroes had been instigated to join the mulattoes in a general rebellion; and the recent decree gave vigor to their intentions.

While a new colonial assembly deliberated on the conduct which prudence required at this crisis, the slaves in the neighbourhood of Cape François attacked the whites, murdered a great number of them, and destroyed the plantations. The insurrection soon spread to other districts; and, though many hundreds of the negroes and their confederates were slain in battle, or perished by famine, they seemed to multiply like the heads of the Hydra. In the vicinity of Port-au-Prince, however, the insurgents agreed to an accommodation, on condition of the observance of the late decree; but, about the same time, the French legislature thought proper to annul it. When the intelligence of this repeal reached the island, the mulattoes accused the planters and their adherents of insidious duplicity, and again had recourse to arms. They destroyed a third part of Port-auPrince by fire, and committed barbarous outrages, which exposed them, when taken, to severe retaliation. Commissioners were sent from France to heal the disorders of the colony; but they did not succeed in their endeavours. A new decree respecting equality of privilege was enacted; and new delegates were sent to enforce it. to enforce it. These men behaved in an absurd and arbitrary manner, and disgusted the colonists by their rapacity and violence. Having produced by their misconduct a civil war among the whites, they invited to their aid a body of rebel negroes, who, thus encouraged, perpetrated a horrible series of massacres at Cape François, and burned the greater part of the town.

The convulsions of the colony induced

many of the planters to solicit succour from the British government; and, as they asserted the probability of a speedy acquisition of the whole French division of the island, major-general Williamson was ordered to detach an armament. from Jamaica, to take possession of those settlements which the people might be disposed to surrender. Lieutenant-colonel Whitelocke now sailed to Jeremie, and was gratified with the submission of the inhabitants: the town and harbour of St. Nicolas were also given up to the English; and to these possessions Leogane and other towns and districts were soon added. An expedition was undertaken for the reduction of Cape Tiburon; and a bribe was offered to general Lavaux for the surrender of Le Port de Paix. The enterprise was successful; but the bribe was rejected with disdain. The fort of Acul was stormed by the English and the colonists; but, at Bompard, they were repelled with loss. They defended Cape Tiburon against an army of blacks and mulattoes, who were routed with considerable slaughter.

The arrival of a reinforcement from Great Britain, under brigadier Whyte, elevated the hopes of the English; and preparations were made for the conquest of Port-au-Prince. Fort Bizotton was attacked by sea with little effect; but, when it was assaulted on the land side by a small party under captain Daniel, amidst a violent thunder-storm and torrents of rain, it was taken at the point of the bayonet; and the town was soon after evacuated. The French commissioners intended to have set fire to the buildings, and the vessels that were in the harbour; but this havoc was prevented by the vigilance of the English. The unhealthiness of the climate now occasioned a great mortality among the troops, and checked the extension of their conquests. They lost Leogane, were severely harassed in the town of St. Marc and at Fort Bizotton, and were deprived of Tiburon by the mulatto general Rigaud.

While the French were fully employed in various parts of the world, they had no opportunity of interfering in the affairs of

Poland, which they would gladly have rescued from the grasp of the Russians and their associates. After that dismemberment which was effected in 1772 by the injustice of three potent neighbours, those powers dictated some alterations in the government of that part of Poland which they did not seize: but their regulations tended to promote their own views of arbitrary influence, rather than correct the errors and absurdities of the old constitution. The Russian empress, in particular, long enjoyed a domineering control over the king and the state; but, in 1788, when that princess and her Austrian ally were engaged in a war with the Turks, the chief nobility listened to the persuasions of the British and Prussian courts, and procured from the diet the annulment of that constitution which Catharine wished to maintain. A new code was deliberately prepared, and at length adopted by the assembly; and the friends of their country hoped, that a constitution which declared the throne hereditary, and provided for the reform of notorious abuses, might be. effective and durable.

The king of Prussia, who had agreed to a treaty of alliance with Poland, expressed his satisfaction at the recent display of national independence; but he was by no means sincere in his professions. The empress, being assured of his readiness to concur in the most iniquitous schemes of ambition, made preparations for crushing that spirit of liberty which a just and magnanimous princess would have encouraged; and she did not scruple to send an army to establish, by rapine and murder, her sway over the country. Her troops prevailed over the feeble opposition of the Polanders: Stanislaus, and many of the nobles, renounced the late constitution; and new encroachments were concerted with the court of Berlin. On pretence of securing Poland from the dangerous effects of French principles, and of extinguishing the flames of democracy in that part of Europe, Frederic William took possession of Dantzic and Thorn, while Catharine seized various towns and districts which bordered on her