were making to enforce obedience to the laws, from the works at Sheerness; but the defection of several of the ships, on the ninth, with other symp. toms of disunion amongst the mutineers, rendered the application of furce unnecessary: on the tenth several of the mutinous ships, being reduced to great exigencies for want of fresh provisions and water, struck the red flag: on the twelfth all but seven of the ships hoisted the union flag, to signify their wish to return to obedience; and, on the fol. lowing morning, five out of the seven remaining vessels ran away from the mutinous ships, and Bought protection under the guns of the fort of Sheerness. All further resistance was now in vain, and, after a fruitless attempt to obtain a general pardon, the crew of the Sandwich steered that ship on the following morning into Sheerness, where Parker was arrested by a piquet guard of soldiers, with a person of the name of Davies, who had acted as captain under him, and about thirty other delegates. One of the delegates, of the name of Wallace, more desperate than the rest, being determined neither to outlive his power, nor to submit to the ignominy of a public execution, shot himself dead on the appearance of the soldiers.Thus all resistance to the authority of the officers ceased, and the public mind recovered its former composure, by the entire extinction of this alarm. ing revolt.

The trial of Parker commenced on the twenty. second of June, before a court martial, of which Sir Thomas Pasley was president. The prisoner was charged with various acts of mutiny, committed on board his majesty's fleet at the Nore; of disobedience of orders; and of contempt of the authority of his officers. The facts being clearly established, the court adjudged him to death: on which, with astonishing composure, he addressed them as follows: "I bow to your sentence with all due submission, being convinced I have acted under the dictates of a good conscience. God, who knows the hearts of all men, will, I hope, receive me. I hope that my death will atone to the country; and that those brave men who have acted with me will receive a general pardon: I am satisfied they will all then return to their duty with alacrity." He was executed on board the Sandwich, and met his fate with fortitude. A great number of the other mutineers received sentence of death, and several of the ringleaders were executed; but a pardon was granted to the far greater number of those who were condemned. The French, whose revolutionary principles had certainly some weight in producing these commotions, exulted at the intelligence of the mutiny, and, while they lamented its extinction, conceived hopes of the eruption of future discontent in the same branch of the service, or in the military department; but the true-hearted seamen resumed their habits of order and submission, and the soldiers, who also received an augmentation of pay, preserved their loyalty unimpaired.

Ever since the recall of earl Fitzwilliam from Ireland the discontents of that country had continued to increase, and several parishes, baronies, and even counties, were declared to be out of the king's peace, and subject to martial law. The earl of Moira, on the twenty-first of March, moved in the house of lords for an address to his majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to interpose his paternal interference, to remove the discontents which prevailed in Ireland, and created the most serious alarm for that country, and for the dearest interests of Britain. Lord Grenville, in reply, insisted that the present motion could not be adopted, without tearing asunder every bond of union, and breaking the solemn contract subsisting between the two countries. Instead of remedying discontents, the motion now submitted to the house would increase them, and induce the Irish to ima gine that their own legislature was regardless of their welfare. The motion was negatived; and a similar one, made two days afterwards in the house of commons, by Fox, was also lost.

On the twentieth of July, parliament was pro rogued by a speech from the throne, in which his majesty intimated that he was again engaged in a negotiation for peace, which nothing should be wanting on his part to bring to a successful termination, on such conditions as were consistent with the security, honour, and essential interests of his dominions.

NAVAL OPERATIONS-JERVIS'S VICTORY.

THE French republic, having at her disposal the navy of Spain as well as that of Holland, proposed to her confederates that the greatest part of the Spanish navy should sail in the early part of the year to Brest, where, being joined by the French ships of war in that port, they should afterwards form a junction with the Dutch fleet; and that this armada, then swelled to upwards of seventy sail of the line, should bear down upon England, and having humbled the lofty pretensions of her naval power, should lay the foundation for her future subjugation. To frustrate this design, a fleet under Sir John Jervis was appointed to blockade the port of Cadiz, and admiral Duncan was stationed off the coast of Holland, to watch the movements of the Dutch fleet in the Texel. Sir John Jervis having received intelligence, that the fleet under admiral Don Joseph de Cordova was at sea, immediately set sail in quest of it. At the dawn of the fourteenth of February the enemy was descried off Cape St. Vincent, but, as the weather happened to be extremely hazy, it was not until ten o'clock that a signal from a British frigate announced the enemy's fleet to consist of twenty-seven sail of the line. The British commander, though his squadron comprised no more than fifteen ships, resolved to bring them to action, and at half past eleven o'clock formed in the most complete order of sailing in two lines. By carrying a press of sail the British came down upon the enemy before they had time to form in order of battle; and, notwithstanding their immense superiority, the admiral ordered the fleet to bear directly through them, which was gallantly performed. They then tacked, and, by this bold and skilful manœuvre, separated about onethird of the Spanish ships from the main body, which, by a partial cannonade, were prevented from a rejunction, and obliged to fall to leeward. By the great exertions of the ships which had the good fortune to come up with the main body of the enemy on the lar-board tack, four of their ships of the line were captured by the British, and the action ceased about five o'clock in the evening. This brilliant victory ranks among those which have most conspicuously illustrated the superior skill and courage of British seamen, and much to the credit of the commander-in-chief, to whom the Salvador del Mundo, of one hundred and twelve guns, struck. Only a few English ships were engaged in the contest. Commodore Nelson, in the Captain, of seventy-four guns, distinguished himself greatly, by boarding the San Nicolas and San Josef in succession, in which he only lost one officer, twenty seamen, and three marines; and, although the slain and wounded in the Spanish ships could not be less than twelve hundred, more than half that number being diminished in the crows of the captured ships only, the loss of the British did not exceed three hundred. Great rejoicings took place throughout the nation on the intelligence of this well-timed victory; the fleet was honoured with the thanks of both houses of parliament; the king conferred the title of Earl St. Vincent, with a pension of three thousand pounds a year, on the admiral-in-chief; vice-admiral Thompson, and rearadmiral Parker, were created baronets; commodore Nelson was invested with the order of the Bath; captain Robert Calder was knighted; and gold medals and chains were presented to all the commanders.

DUNCAN'S VICTORY.

THE French directory having embarked a body of troops on board the Dutch fleet in the Texel, a powerful squadron was sent to the North Sea, un der the command of admiral Duncan, to intercept the enemy. In October, when the British admiral had retured to Yarmouth to refit, the Dutch fleet put to sea, on which the English commander suddenly returned to his station. The command of the enemy's fleet, which was somewhat inferior in weight of metal to that of the British, was confided to admiral De Winter, who had distinguished him. self in the army under general Pichegru; and, on his receiving orders to risk an engagement, the troops were disembarked. No sooner had De Winter quitted the Texel than Captain Trollope, who had been stationed with a light squadron of observation at the mouth of that river, gave notice of his approach; and, on the eleventh of October,

admiral Duncan gave orders for a general chase, | and the Dutch ships were soon discovered drawn up in a line of battle on the larboard tack, between Camperdown and Egmont, the land being about nine miles to leeward. Admiral Duncan, whose Reet consisted of sixteen sail of the line, exclusive of frigates, finding there was no time to be lost, made the signal to bear up, break the enemy's line, and engage them to leeward, each ship her opponent, by which the British squadron placed itself between the enemy and the land, whither they were fast approaching. The admiral's signal being obeyed with promptitude, vice-admiral Onslow, in the Monarch, bore down on the enemy's rear in the most gallant manner, his division following his example; and the action commenced about forty minutes past twelve o'clock. The Venerable, which was admiral Duncan's flag ship, soon got through the enemy's line, and a close action was begun on their van, which lasted nearly two hours and a half, when all the masts of the Dutch admiral's ship were observed to go by the board: she was, however, defended for some time longer in a most gallant manner; but, being overpowered by numbers, her colours were at length struck, and admiral de Winter was brought on board the Venerable; soon af ter, the ship bearing the vice-admiral's flag was also dismasted, and surrendered to vice-admiral Onslow; and these, with three of sixty-eight guns, two of sixty-four, two of fifty-six, and two frigates, were taken possession of by the English. In the early part of the action, rear-admiral Storey, who commanded the centre division of the Dutch fleet, fled for the Texel, in the States-General, of seventyfour guns, with part of his division, and afterwards made a merit of having saved part of the fleet. The British squadron suffered much in their masts, yards, and rigging, and many of the ships lost a great number of men, but in no proportion to that of the enemy: the carnage on board the two ships that bore the admiral's flags was beyond all descrip. tion, and did not amount to less than two hundred and fifty men killed and wounded on board each ship. The total loss of the British was one hundred and ninety-one killed, and five hundred and sixty wounded, while the loss of the enemy must have been more than double. When the battle ended the English fleet was within five miles of the shore, from whence thousands of Dutch spectators witnessed the destruction of their navy, every mancu. vre being distinctly seen. The votes of both houses of parliament greeted the arrival of the gallant sailors; many of the captains were gratified by medals; the venerable admiral was rewarded by the king with the dignity of viscount Duncan of Camperdown, and a pension of three thousand pounds per annum; vice-admiral Onslow was created a baronet, and captains Trollope and Fairfax knights banneret.

Rear-admiral Nelson bombarded Cadiz on the twenty-third of June, and on the fifth of July, but without materially advancing the objects of the

war.

staved their boats, and reduced them to a mere wreck. In this situation they were summoned by the Spanish commander to surrender, which was disdainfully refused by captain Troubridge, who commanded on shore after rear-admiral Nelson had been severely wounded; but he added, that if he were allowed to re-embark, the squadron before the town would not injure it. To this the captain received a polite answer, stating that, for the purpose of sparing the effusion of blood, facilities would be afforded to himself and his followers to return to their ships. The loss of lives in this attempt was equal to that sustained in the battle off Cape St. Vincent.

FRENCH LAND IN WALES.

THE French government now menaced the territory of Britain itself by assembling troops on the coasts of the channel, under the designation of the army of England; and Buonaparte was appointed to its command. In the early part of this year, an attempt, of a nature quite incomprehensible, was made on the coast of Wales, by an expedition fitted out at the port of Brest. On the twenty-second of February an enemy's force, which entered the small port of Ilfracombe, in Devonshire, scuttled some merchant vessels, and made an unsuccessful effort to destroy all the ships in the harbour. This invading squadron, which consisted of two frigates and two sloops, next steered its course for the bay of Cardigan, where, on the following day, they disembarked about fifteen hundred criminals, attired as French troops, and provided with a proportionable quantity of arms and ammunition, but without field-pieces. On receiving information of this event, the Welsh peasantry, animated by the gentry of the country, seized their scythes, sickles and pitchforks, and marched forth to meet the invaders. Lord Cawdor bad assembled, in the course of a single day, a local force, consisting of seven hundred militia, fencibles, and yeomanry cavalry; and the French commander, perceiving his situation to be desperate, after having despatched a letter to his lordship, proposing a capitulation, surrendered himself and his followers prisoners of war on the twenty-sixth. The two frigates which accompanied the expedition were captured on their return to Brest, and the whole proved as unfortunate in the execu tion as it was unaccountable in its plan.

SURRENDER OF MANTUA-EXPULSION OF

THE AUSTRIANS FROM ITALY.

Ar the commencement of the year, the Austrian general Alvinzi, at the head of fifty thousand wellappointed troops, and a formidable train of artillery, formed the determination to raise the blockade of Mantua, and, having attacked and carried the French position, suddenly passed the Brenta, stormed the town of Cortona, and obliged a body of troops under Joubert to fall back upon Rivoli. Buonaparte, who had been for some time at Bolog na, was no sooner apprized of this irruption than he repaired to the heights of San Marco, and made

pected an easy conquest, soon found himself surprised and defeated. The garrison of Mantua, now despairing of succour, capitulated, after a long and brave resistance, on the second of February; and on the fall of this important fortress, by which the imperial arms were expelled from Italy, Buonaparte published a proclamation to his army, in which he stated that they had proved victorious in fourteen pitched battles, and in seventy engagements; that they had taken from the enemy more than one hundred thousand prisoners, five hundred field-pieces, and two thousand large cannon; that the contributions raised in the countries conquered by them had supported, maintained, and paid the army, during the whole campaign; while thirty million of livres had been sent to the minister of finance for the increase of the public treasure; and, after glancing at their achievements against the kings and princes of Italy, he declared it to be his intention to carry the war into the hereditary states of Austria, and requested them to recollect that it was liberty they were about to present to the Hungarians, whose sovereign had disgraced himself by submitting to be in the pay and at the disposal of England.

The pope had imprudently resumed hostilities against the French, and was now menaced with sud

and, during the summer of 1797, a regular warfare was carried on between them, in messages and in speeches. The majority of the nation sided with the councils, and, if their energy had been equal to the goodness of their cause, there could have been little doubt that they would have succeeded in their efforts to give a better constitution to France and peace to Europe: their opponents, however, were better versed in the revolutionary tactics, and were masters of the army, and of the executive power of the state. An article of the constitution expressly prohibited the army from deliberating on any subject whatever; but in consequence of applications from the Directory, who had connived at all their plunder and extortion, they loudly declared themselves in their favour. Buonaparte made all the divisions of the army of Italy present petitions, of a threatening nature, against the councils: Moreau and Hoche did the same with their armies on the Rhino, and the latter was pitched upon by the Directory to command a body of troops, which they had ordered to Paris to destroy their enemies in the councils. Another article of the constitution prohibited the approach of troops to within a certain distance from the place at which the legis. lative body held its sittings; but this article was disregarded by the Directory. Hoche, alarmed at the state in which he found the public mind on his approach to the capital, was induced to decline the commission; and Augereau, who was originally a private soldier in the Neapolitan army, but now a favourite general with Buonaparte, was employed in his stead. Augereau had no sooner taken the command of the troops, than he moved forward, and passed the limit prescribed by the constitution; had the councils acted with firmness and decision, they might still have succeeded: but while they

wasted time in ascertaining with precision, whether the troops had really passed the constitutional li mit, the hall in which they sat was suddenly sur. rounded, and most of the chiefs of the party in opposition to the Directory, together with the new director, Barthelemi, were arrested without the smallest resistance or difficulty, and, being placed in carriages, resembling iron cages, previously prepared for the purpose, were sent to Rochefort, where a frigate waited to transport them to the pestilential deserts of Guiana. The remains of the two councils, who no longer constituted a legitimate body of representatives, and who were not competent to perform any one act of legislation, now assembled at the Odeon, and conferred on the Directory, by a formal decision, that absolute power which they had usurped, in breach of the constitution. The immediate consequence of this event was the triumph of Jacobinism, and the re-establishment of a revolutionary government.

The princess royal of England, Charlotte Augusta Mauda, eldest daughter of the sovereign, was married on the eighteenth of May, to Frederic William, hereditary prince of Wirtemburgh, on which occasion a portion of eighty thousand pounds was voted by parliament for the royal bride. On the eighth of July, Burke, whose talents as a political writer and parliamentary orator were of the first order, died at his seat at Beaconsfield, in the sixty-eighth year of his age: and on the tenth of November also died, after a reign of eleven years, Frederic William the Second, king of Prussia, in his fifty-fourth year. He was succeeded by his son Frederic William the Third, who, on his accession, adopted such measures of justice and prudence, as inspired confidence in his subjects, and augured a happy reign.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE RENEWED AND BROKEN OFF.

B

Y the treaty of Campo Formio, Great Britain was left alone in her contest with France; and, on the first of June, an official note from lord Grenville to de la Croix, the French minister for foreign affairs, communicated the desire of the British government to negotiate preliminaries, which might be definitely arranged at a future congress. The French government replied, that the directory would receive with eagerness the overtures and proposals which should be made to it by the court of England, but required, for the purpose of avoiding delay, that the negotiations should be rather for a definite than for a preliminary treaty. The British government rejoined, that it would depend upon the progress and turn of the negotiations, whether preliminary or definitive articles should be signed. The directory, in three days after the date of lord Grenville's last note, transmitted the necessary passports for a minister, furnished with full powers from his Britannic majesty, for the purpose of negotiating and concluding a definitive and separate treaty of peace; and fixed upon the city of Lisle as the place of meeting for the respective plenipotentiaries. On the seventeenth of June, lord Grenville informed de la Croix, by letter, that his majesty had again made choice of lord Malmsbury to represent him; to which the French minister assented, intimating, however, that another choice would have appeared to the directory more favourable for the speedy conclusion of peace. On his arrival at Lisle, his lordship was met by the French plenipotentiaries-Letourneur, late member of the directorial council, Pleville le Pelley, and Hugues Maret, when he opened the business by submitting the plan of pacification which he had received from the British ministry. This projet required the cession of the colony of Trinidad, on the part of Spain; and of the Cape of Good Hope, Cochin, in the East Indies, and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, on the part of Holland; in return for which it was proposed that Great Britain should cede all the other settlements taken from France and her allies in the course of the war: our minister further required the restoration of his personal property to the Prince of Orange, or an equivalent in money; and that France should engage to procure for him, at the restoration of peace, an indemnity for the loss of the United Provinces; that Portugal should be included in the treaty, and that no demand should be made upon that country by France.

To these proposals the French answered, that, previously to entering on the main business, it was necessary that three concessions should be made: first, that his Britannic majesty should resign the title of king of France; secondly, that the ships taken and destroyed at Toulon should be restored, or restitution made for them; and, thirdly, that any mortgage which England might have upon the Low Countries, in consequence of the money lent to the emperor of Germany, for the purpose of carrying

on the war against France, should be given up. On the first of these points lord Malmsbury observed, that on all former occasions a separate article had been agreed to, which appeared to answer every purpose they required, and which it was his intention, as the treaty advanced, to have proposed as proper to make a part of this: on the second, he replied, that the claim of restoring the ships was so perfectly unlooked for, that it was impossible for him to have been provided for it in his instructions: and, on the third, that, if the French republic had taken the Low Countries as they stood, charged with all their incumbrances, there could be no doubt what these words meant, and that, if no exception was stated in the first instance, none could be made with a retro-active effect. These were the observations that occurred to him on the first mention of the subjects to which they had adverted, but he would transmit the claims to his government for consideration. On the fifteenth of July the French plenipotentiaries addressed a note to lord Malmsbury, in which it was stated that the French government, unable to detach itself from the engagements which it had contracted with its allies, Spain and the Batavian republic, established, as an indispensable preliminary of the negotiation for the peace with England, the consent of his Britannic majesty to the restitution of all the possessions which he occupied, not only from the French republic, but, further and formally, of those of Spain and the Batavian republic. Lord Malmsbury replied, that this was, in effect, to declare the intention of France to put an abrupt termination to the treaty, as it proposed cessions on one side without any compensation on the other: if this were the resolution of the directory, the negotiation was at an end; and it only remained for Great Britain to persevere in maintaining, with an energy and spirit proportioned to the exigency, a war that could not be ended but by yielding to terms at once disgraceful and unjust.

It was then, however, notorious to all Europe, that the members of the Directory were at this period tottering in their seats; and that, during the delay of the negotiation, their attentions were confined to their own preservation. During this crisis, another revolution, as has already been related, took place in France, which expelled two of its members, Barthelemi and Carnot, from the office of directors. These events led to the recall of the French ambassadors, then at Lisle, and to the ap pointment of citizens Treilhard and Bonneir d'Alco as their successors; a change not more unpleasant to the feelings of lord Malmsbury than inauspicious to the progress of the negotiation. Immediately after their first interview, on the thirteenth of September, lord Malmsbury was required to inform them whether he was empowered to concede, as a preliminary, that England should surrender all the possessions she had gained from France and her allies since the beginning of the war: and his lordship was further required to return an explicit answer in the course of the day. On the sixteenth his lordship addressed a note to the French plenipo