the tide.

Though thus prevented against acting upon the enemy, lord Cochrane did not join the fleet that day, nor was the signal of recal repeated, because it was impossible to get out. The next morning the signal was made again. He did not again make answer that the enemy could be destroyed, because that, he thought, would be disrespectful to the commander-in-chief, but he made an interrogatory signal to ask if he should unmoor, concluding that his lordship would understand what was intended by it. The signal however was repeated, and the Imperiense being unmoored hove short; but as the tide was done she was permitted to remain till the ebb began to set. In the mean time lord Gambier sent another letter to lord Cochrane, which indicated the same irresolution as the last.. It was necessary, he said, that he should have some communication with him before the despatches to the admiralty were closed, and therefore he had ordered captain Wolfe to relieve the Inperieuse, which the admiral wished to join him as soon as possible, that she might convey sir Harry Neale with the despatches to England; or, lord Gambier added, lord Cochrane might return to carry on the service where he was; two bombs were expected to arrive every moment, and they would be useful in it. Lord Cochrane Lord Cochrane now joined the admiral, and said to him, that as there could be no jealousy with respect to admiral Stopford, it would be essential to the service to send that officer in with the frigates or other vessels as might be thought best; his zeal would then accomplish what would be yet more creditable than any thing which had hitherto been done. Then he apologized for the freedom that he used in advising the

The Imperieuse was now sent to England; and from the 15th to the 24th some fruitless attempts were made by the bombs and small vessels upon the ships at the mouth of the Charente, but the enemy had too much time allowed them, and by throwing overboard their guns and stores, got so high up, that even the gun-brigs frequently grounded in endeavoring to approach them, and could not arrive sufficiently near to produce any effect. But the French had yet to suffer other losses:-The Tourville, a 74, was wrecked up the river, the L'Indenne frigate they set fire to themselves, at the mouth of the Charente; one or two ships of the line and two frigates were all that escaped without injury, the rest having been long and repeatedly aground, were rendered unfit for sea till after a thorough repair. What had been achieved was of signal importance. The fleet, it was understood from the best information that could be obtained, was to have gone to Ferrol and there to have been joined by the Spanish squadron which had been betrayed, thence to have proceeded to Toulon; it would then by a junction with the Toulon fleet, have had so decided a superiority to any force that could be brought against it, that troops were to have been taken on board and landed, to take possession of Cadiz and the Spanish navy. Their after destination was to the West Indies, to succour Guadaloupe and Martinique, and do what

mischief they could elsewhere. Probably some blow on South America was to have been the completion of the plan. The whole had been frustrated; in their own harbor, in sight of their own shores, and of two of their sea-ports, the enemy had been attacked; the French people themselves had witnessed the destruction of part of these ships, and the panic with which all had fled before their assailants. The total loss sustained by the conquerors was only 10 killed, 37 wounded, one missing.

The merit of what had been done was given, as it was due to lord Cochrane, and he was rewarded with the order of the bath; but his lordship was dissatisfied that more, had not been effected; and when the first lord of the admiralty told him that it was his intention to move thanks in parliament to the commanderin-chief, and the men and officers employed, he replied that he should feel it his duty to oppose any vote of approbation to lord Gambier for his conduct on that occasion. Under these circumstances the notion was necessarily suspended, and lord Gambier of course, being made acquainted with the cause, demanded a court-martial. Great part of the case turned upon the state of the anchorage of the inner Road, and of the batteries in the isle of Aix, and on both these points there was a material difference in the evidence given by lord Cochrane, and in that given by most of the other officers who were called as witnesses by lord Gambier. The evidence was equally positive on both sides; but the preponderance which would also have been produced by the number on one side, was counterbalanced on the other, because lord Cochrane spoke from his personal observation, they from their own opinions. With regard to the anchorage, he relied upon the French charts, and the soundings which he made, confirm ed his opinion of their accuracy; ours, he said, were abominable, and not fit to be delivered out. Lord Gambier relied upon the pilots. Cochrane said there was no

confidence to be placed in them; for his part he never had one, and he never knew a pilot, particularly a French one, who did not find a shoal wherever there was a gun. The works upon the isle of Aix, he affirmed, were in a ruinous state; the inner fortifications having been completely blown up and destroyed. He had ascertained this from the deck with perfect precision as to the side towards him; and as to the opposite side also, from one of the tops of the ship. There were only 13 guns mounted on that side, where he had formerly seen about 50. Lord Gambier argued in opposition to this statement, that what lord Cochrane supposed to be ruins, were in fact materials for improving or increasing the works. "Can it be natural to suppose," said he, “that the enemy who are so active in forming batteries wherever they can be useful, and whose engineers are considered to be equal to any, would of all moments choose that for dismantling or blowing up works when they expected those works would be most required, for they were fully apprised of the intention of attacking them; and it was still less likely that they should weaken their defences on the isle of Aix, (raised evidently for the protection of the fleet,) when at the same time they were endeavoring to form others on the Boyart shoal, as a farther protection for it." Lord Gambier's secretary also affirmed, that lord Cochrane, in conversation with the admiral, had said, that if the ships had been sent in agreeably to his signal, he reckoned upon three or four of them being lost. This was a point upon which lord Cochrane had no opportunity of explaining himself. The great error seems to have been in not attacking the isle of Aix at first, when it might have been carried with little loss, and then the whole of the enemy's fleet must have been destroyed. That the works were weak is proved by the fact, that for many months afterwards the French were employed in strengthening them. There appeared also a difference of opinion on the trial cor

cerning the rise and fall of the tide. Lord Cochrane thought it did not fall more than twelve feet: he spoke entirely from the French chart; which in this respect is certainly erroneous, for it rises three fathoms. The trial occupied nine days, and the court decided that the conduct of the commander-in-chief had been marked by zeal, judgment, ability, and an anxious at tention to the welfare of his majesty's service; they therefore most honorably acquitted him. Lord Gambier was a man so universally respected, so gentle and irreproachable in every part of this conduct, and it is always so painful to see a brave man censured for an error of judgment, that every person rejoiced in his acquittal; yet it was generally regretted that any inquiry had taken place. Lord Gambier had so conducted his defence, as if not his own conduct only, but that of all the other officers concerned in the affair, had been impeached; and lord Cochrane, who wished to explain this at the close of the trial, could not be permitted, because the matter did not bear upon the specific subject of inquiry. It was manifest that his appointment to this service had deeply wounded the officers of the fleet, and this ought to have been foreseen. The result The result is greatly to be lamented; it made him enemies, and his political connections were not such as to lessen the evil. The distinction between lord Cochrane and the radical reformers, whose meetings he has attended, has not been sufficiently remembered. He has seen the the question of parliamentary reform in that light in which it appears to an ardent, a frank, and generous mind, which has not yet considered it in all its bearings; but the baneful spirit of party never for a moment benumbed his British feelings. He never slandered the allies nor flattered the enemies of England, he never disgraced himself by holding the language of despondency and fear;-these are feelings which have never found entrance in his heart, and that his love for freedom was sincere, has been amply evinced by the enthusiasm which he displayed in assisting that heroic people, whose suffer

ings and whose constancy no true lover of liberty can contemplate without adniration. Lord Cochrane, like our great Nelson, possesses that highest and rarest quality by which exploits are achieved, which neither zeal, nor courage, talents, would accomplish without it. He is a man, who, attempting what others conceive beyond the bounds of possibility, will never leave any thing that is possible, undone.

nor

The destruction of the French ships had happened in sight of France, and therefore could not be concealed there. A court-martial was held on the officers whose ships had been lost. The captain of the Tonerre, who had set fire to her, was acquitted; the captain of the Indienne, who had done the same, was sentenced to three months' confinement in his own chamber, for having acted with too much precipitation, and without previously advising the admiral; the captain of the Tourville, for having quitted bis vessel, was adjudged two years' imprisonment wherever the government should think fit, to have his name struck out of the list of naval officers, and to be degraded from the legion. These two officers were found found liable in expenses of process, a species of mulct which is discreditable to the French courts of justice. The captain of the Calcutta received sentence of death, for having in a cowardly manner, abandoned his ship in the presence of the enemy; and the sentence was executed upon him. It is worthy of remark that the captains of those two ships, whose position was considered by lord Gambier as so formidable on the morning of the 12th, and who cut and run as soon as the fleet moved towards them, were not thought to have misbehaved, though their misconduct had appeared so egregious to the English.

I have already observed, that the selection of a junior officer to command this enterprise, excited the jealousy of his seniors. Rear-admiral Harvey having tendered his services, lord Gambier replied, that the board of admiralty had

TH

HE north of Europe presented a melancholy prospect at the beginning of the year. Pestilence enfeebled and destroyed the population of Sweden, while the sovereign labored beneath the pressure of insanity. The conduct of Gustavus was blameless, and sometimes judicious; but every error which he committed, and every indication of anger or eccentricity, was attributed to his hereditary affliction. His very virtues confirmed the prejudice of the multitude, and his most prudent and beneficial acts were attributed to lunacy.

The discontent of the nobles became apparent towards the close of 1808, and a conspiracy was formed against him under the auspices of his uncle the duke of Sudermania. Beneath the command of Addelsparre, the burgomaster of Carlstadt was arrested on the 8th of March, and the rebel troops were quartered in the town. Gustavus, little suspecting 1809. that he was surrounded by traitors, sent orders to supersede Addelsparre. General Aldercreutz prevented the courier from proceeding; and the king was falsely informed that the mutineers were appeased and order perfectly restored. Two days Two days elapsed before he discovered the deception, and he then determined to march in

VOL. II.

person, at the head of his guards, against the insurgents. As he was descending the great staircase in the morning, to inform them of his purpose, a party of the conspirators, headed by Aldercreutz, advanced to meet him, and surrounded him. "What do you mean," said Gustavus ? "Am I arrested?" They all answered, Yes. He then drew his sword, and attempted to run Aldercreutz through the body, but the conspirators prevented him. Having secured his person, they sent him as a prisoner to Drotningholm, an antient palace of the kings of Sweden, situated in the isle of Lozon, a short distance to the west of Stockholm. He was afterwards removed to Gripsholm, a royal castle upon an island in the lake of Malar : the duke of Sudermania usurped the regency, and was ultimately elected king by the title of Charles XIII. A new constitution was framed, and while the people bitterly lamented the dethronement of a prince whose gentleness, benevolence, and condescension, had rendered him, notwithstanding his eccentricities, the object of love and reverence, the leaders of the conspiracy commanded the most sumptuous festivals and the most splendid rejoicings. The effects, however, of the recent revolution were not wholly un

2 B