whilst the second, third, and fourth brigades, were to debark at Reisiere des Pluies, to force the lines of defence from the north to the south side, and from thence to cross the rear of the town to the river. Early in the afternoon of the 7th of July, the several ships having reached their stations, the fourth brigade under lieutenant-colonel Campbell, which formed the advance, and the third under lieutenant-colonel Macleod, prepared to debark, but the weather proving boisterous, 150 men only, of each, effected a landing. These, however, succeeded in gaining possession of St. Marie for the night. On the following day, the main body of the troops landed at Grand Chaloupe, and, under the command of lieutenant-colonel Keating, advanced by the mountains, and took possession of the heights which commanded the capital. The necessary dispositions were now made for a general attack from various points; but, when all was in readiness, the besieged sent out a trumpeter with an officer, demanding a suspension of arms, and offering to surrender the island on honorable terms. The garrison were made prisoners with the honors of war; and the governor, colonel St. Susanne, was allowed a passage to the Mauritius, or to France, on his parole, not to serve till exchanged. The property. seized in this valuable colony repaid the exertions of the captors; and the military stores, which contained 145 pieces of cannon, and 195,000lbs. weight of gunpowder, afforded them an opportunity of securing the ulterior object of their expedition. When. it is considered that the population of the island amounted to 100,000 souls, the accomplishment of the enterprise, within so short a period, reflects great credit on the abilities and zeal of the commanders, and on the discipline of the troops.

After this conquest, the blockade of the isle of France was renewed with great vigour, but received a partial check from the failure of a very daring operation. In telligence being received that a squadron of two frigates, a corvette, and an armed Iudiaman, were lying at anchor in the harbor of Sud Est, his majesty's ships

VOL. JI.

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Sirius, Nereide, Magicienne, and Iphi genia, went to attack them. In pushing their stations along side the enemy, the Sirius, Magicienne, and Nereide, unhap-. pily grounded; and, notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions to remedy the disaster, they could not be got off. After two days of unremitting toil, under the fire of heavy batteries, the crews of the Sirius and Magicienne set fire to their vessels. The Nereide had grounded in such a situation as enabled the enemy to turn the whole fire of their ships upon her. Against a force so unequal, captain Willoughby, the commander, continued to fight to the last extremity, and did not surrender till every officer and man on board were either killed or wounded. All the enemy's ships were driven on shore, but one of the frigates was afterwards got off, and, being joined by three others from Port Louis, they blockaded the Iphigenia at her anchorage, under the isle of Passe, which had been garrisoned by our troops. Therethe crews of the Sirius and Iphigenia were · landed.

This loss was compensated in the sub-sequent capture of the isle of France, by. a combined naval and military force, under, the command of vice-admiral Bertie, andlieutenant-general Abercrombie. In this. service the exertions of the gallant commodere Rowley, who had been so long on the station, were particularly distinguished On the 2nd of December, the capitulation was proposed; and on the following day it was ratified by the British commander. The purport of the terms was, that the garrison were not to be considered: prisoners of war, but to be sent to Eu-. ropean France, in ropean France, in proper vessels equipped as cartels at the expense of the British government; that the colony and its de-. pendencies, with all public property, should: be ceded unconditionally; that the private property of the inhabitants should be respected; and that for two years to come, such of the colonists as were inclined to: do so; might emigrate. The fruits of this. conquest were, the seizure of about thirty vessels in port Napoleon, the recovery of the English frigates Iphigenia aud Nereide,

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with other ships; and the appropriation of an immense plunder which had been accumulating in this depôt for a number of years. But the great and permanent advantage resulting from it, was the destruction of the remaining colonial power of France, and the consequent deliverance of our East India trade from a most serious and galling annoyance.

This is the first revolution which the isle of Mauritius has undergone, the first war that has ever been waged there; yet the history of that island would be considered as disgraceful to France, and to humanity, if our own colonial system had not familiarized us to the contemplation of human sufferings and human wickedness. The Dutch who first possessed it purchased slaves from the French at Madagascar; these poor people had all been kidnapped by the villanous settlers in their country; they fled to the woods, and made such continual incursions upon their former masters, that the Dutch at length forsook the settlement in despair in 1712. The French had established themselves in Mascarenhas half a century earlier; they were indebted for that colony to Flacourt, who was governor of their establishment at Madagascar, and who wrote the best book that has yet appeared concerning that great country. From Mascarenhas they now took possession of Mauritius. In both islands the sin of slavery brought with it its punishment, and the runaway slaves lost no opportunity of taking vengeance upon their tyrants. The French, who speak with such horror of Cortes and Pizarro, instead of making any effort to conciliate or civilize them, which might so easily have been done, set a price upon their heads. Admiral Kempenfelt relates, that the captain of a French ship, knowing the Maroons in Mascarenhas could see from the mountains every thing that passed where his vessel lay, ordered some of his sailors to land, and enjoy themselves on shore with biscuit and cheese, and brandy, some bottles of which he had mixed with arsenic. The negroes came towards them and took possession of the bait which had been left for them. The next morning this villanous murderer sent on shore to

see for how many heads he was to claim ; twenty were found, and as many more so swelled with the quantity of water which they had drunk to allay their torment, that they were incapable of moving. They also passed into the other world where, as Kempenfelt says with proper feeling, it is probable they found a more happy allotment than the captain experienced when he made the same voyage.

This wholesale murder was an act of individual guilt; it is more painful to think of the daily and hourly crimes which arose from the accursed system of slavery. For the most trifling fault, or even accidentfor neglecting to shut the door, or for breaking a plate, the slaves, without regard to sex, were flogged till covered with blood, and vinegar and salt were then rubbed into their wounds. They were tied hand and foot to a ladder, the overseer then came with a whip, like a French postillion's, and laid on fifty, an hundred, or twice as many lashes every one of which carried away the skin. St. Pierre says, that tne smack of the whips echoed in the hills like the report of a pistol, and that when he went abroad the cries of "mercy, master, mercy!" used to pierce his heart. At night, as if to add the mockery of religion and insult to cruelty, they were regularly made to pray for their hellish masters and mistresses. An eighteenth part of all the slaves in the island were every year consumed by this system of slow murder. Many of these poor wretches destroyed themselves. They have often put to sea in a canoe, in the hope of reaching Madagascar; more have sometimes made the attempt than the canoe would carry, and they have then been known alternately to embark and swim throughout a voyage of 100 leagues! In Madagascar it is believed that the French bought slaves to eat their flesh, make red wine of their blood, and gunpowder of their bones. If it had been so, the guilt of the planter would scarcely have been greater and the misery of the slave would be less. When the priest attempts to convert them his chief obstacle consists in the difficulty of persuading them that the Europeans who have been the

cause of all their sufferings can ever be instrumental to their reception in heaven. They comfort themselves by a belief that the volcano in Mascarenhas is the mouth of hell, into which the white men are plunged, and where the demons employ them as slaves, in digging the bowels of the mountain, and directing the lava streams, under negro drivers who are as remorseless as they have been themselves.

The runaway slave when he was caught was whipped for the first offence, and marked by the amputation of one of his ears; for the second he was hamstrung, again whipped, and put in chains; for the third, hung or broken alive on the wheel. They went joyfully to execution, and suffered without a groan. The Maroons were hunted by wild beasts, but it was not suf ficient to employ soldiers and dogs. The inhabitants would form parties of pleasure for the inhuman chase, put up a negro as they would a deer, and if he did not fly so as to make them sport, they shot him and brought his head into the town in triumph, upon the end of a stick. These poor and outcast wretches were accustomed to venture at night down to the sea side, for the sake of fishing; they spent the whole morning in casting lots, by which they were to be guided for the day, and such was the continual fear and danger in which they lived, that the moment a child was born among them it was put to death, lest its cries should discover their hiding place. These horrors originated in the system of slavery not from the national character of the French in Mauritius, or the Dutch in Surinam. Shocking as they are they might be paralleled in the history of our own islands, where Hodges, a man of reputation and of property, had been lately executed for the murder of his slave, and Huggins was only relieved from the infliction of deserved and exemplary punishment by the influence of his friends and the liberality of his bribes.

Among the affairs connected with the history of our colonies it will be proper to notice a misunderstanding which took place in the government of Jamaica, at the close of the year 1809. The house of

assembly came to various resolutions in which they declared that an edict recently issued on the recommendation of the board of trade, interdicting the passing of laws by the Jamaican legislature on the subject of religion, was a violent infringement of the constitution of the country. In consequence of these resolutions the duke of Manchester, governor of the island, summoned the house of assembly to attend him, and informed them that their recent conduct had induced him to bring the session to an amicable termination, and to dissolve the assembly. The adoption of so unexpected a measure excited considerable agitation in the island, and the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants did not subside till after several months.

Throughout this year of war and animosity the only pacific act of Great Britain in her foreign relations was a treaty of commerce and navigation, concluded at Rio de Janeiro, between his majesty's ministers and those of the prince regent of Portugal. The conditions relating to intercourse, and the regulations respecting duties and imposts were declared to be reciprocal. Toleration of religious worship to the English protestants in Brasil, the admission into the Brasilian ports of all articles of British manufacture, on the payment of a duty of fifteen per cent.; the privilege of warehousing for exportation, the merchandize of Brasil for re-exportation; and the revision of former treaties were the most important stipulations between the respective powers. The treaty thus concluded was declared to be unlimited in its duration, and its obligations were not to be affected by any change which might hereafter restore to the Portuguese monarchy its European dominions.

On reviewing the operations of the British navy during the year 1810, we find that, exclusive of the colonial conquests which they coutributed to achieve, no opportunity of an engagement was afforded by the enemy. Perhaps at no former period, was the empire of Great Britain, over the seas, so fully acknowledged; or the maritime power of France, so completely blockaded. While it was the boast of Napoleon, that his armies could march unresisted, from

one extremity of Europe to the other, his fleets remained inactive in their harbors, and uniformly declined to encounter our blockading squadrons, even under the most favorable circumstances. Our naval operations were therefore confined to the intercepting of convoys, and the capture and destruction of frigates, and other vessels of war, which occasionally ventured from the enemy's ports. In the early part of the year, the British navy lost one of its distinguished ornaments, lord Collingwood. After remaining in the command of the fleet on the Mediterranean station, ever since the battle of Trafalgar, in which service he displayed the most unwearied vigilance, and the most persevering activity in the cause of his country, he died, at sea, on the 7th of March, not indeed like his glorious predecessor, in victorious combat with the enemy, but under circumstances which will doubtless endear him to the memory of Englishmen ; an illness, brought on by zealous and continued endeavors to bring the enemy to action. He was succeeded in the command by sir Charles Cotton, in whose abilities and bravery, the loss which the service had sustained, was compensated. Shortly after the death of lord Collingwood, the island of St. Maura was reduced by the troops under brigadiergeneral Oswald. Numerous captures were made of the armed naval force of the enemy. A squadron of French and Neapolitan ships and gun-boats, were engaged by his majesty's ships, Spartan and Success, and driven on shore near the island of Capri.

On the 27th of July, a Neapolitan flotilla was intercepted by his majesty's ship Thames, captain Waldegrave, assisted by a number of Sicilian gun-boats; 37 vessels full of stores were taken and carried to Messina, and the rest destroyed. The only important attempt that was made by the enemy's fleets, was on the 20th of July, when a strong division, consisting of six sail of the line, ventured from the harbor of Toulon, with a view to liberate a frigate that was blockaded in Bandol. Captain Blackwood, who commanded a detached squadron of admiral Cotton's fleet, collected his ships, and placed himself aloof from the enemy in as good a posture of defence as possible; but, owing to the situation of the Euryalus and Sheerwater, who were obliged to cross their headmost ships, it became absolutely necessary to risk an action. He therefore brought to, with the Ajax and Conqueror astern; and the enemy coming within reach of his fire, hauled up in succession their headmost ships, gave their broadsides, and then tacked. Captain Black wood's squadron tacked also: the retreat of the Sheerwater and Euryalus was secured; and the enemy, although it was fully in their power to come to action, under decided advantages evinced their respect for the British navy, and declined the contest. In the other stations of our fleets, the same proud superiority was maintained, and the bravery of our seamen, though displayed only in partial engagements, was fully equal to the splendor of their established reputation.

I

N the annals of the preceding year, I have casually and briefly noticed the disturbances at Madras, and the misconduct of the governor-general of our eastern dominions. But as the late intelligence from India exhibits a striking picture of the consequences which have already resulted from these apparently trivial events, and presents the most unsuspicious evidence upon a question which will shortly demand the investigation of the house of commons, it will be necessary to trace the origin, progress, and termination of these singular occurrences with greater minuteness of detail.

In contemplating the dependence of an extensive and populous empire like that of India, on a country so inferior to itself in all the apparent sources of strength and power, it is impossible not to be deeply impressed with a conviction of the continual and imminent hazard to which our dominion is exposed. A population of 60,000,000 submitting to the government of a handful of Europeans, can only be retained in subjection by the omnipotence of opinion, and by the union of the most rigid discipline, with the most perfect disposition to gentleness and conciliation. In proportion to the magnitude of the evils which may result from imbecility or perverseness, should be the punishment of one and the discouragement of the other. When, therefore, a governor-general, either

from a persuasion of the extent of his prerogative, or in the agony of ungovernable passion, indulges in proceedings which evidently tend to the oppression of his inferiors, the degradation of his rank, and the ruin of the empire, he becomes the ob ject of public animadversion.

The charges mentioned in the report to sir John Craddock, accused the officers of a gross and corrupt violation of military, duty; and, as the act of preferring false accusations against officers by an officer, is a military offence, they drew up charges against colonel Munro, which they presented to the commander-in-chief, general Macdowall, who, after much consideration, placed Munro under an arrest. Munro appealed against this arrest to the commander-in-chief, thus acknowledging his jurisdiction, and submitting to his authority; but, finding that the appeal was not productive of the expected effect, he made another representation to sir George Barlow, who, after a consultation with the judge-advocate, and the advocate general, directe the release of the prisoner, 1 thus annihilating the authority of the commander-in-chief: For his subservience to the governor, the judge-advocate-general was immediately rewarded with the situation of agent of military stores, and a salary of nearly £2000; a situation utterly incompatible with the office of judgeadvocate.