Aboukir ruined all our hopes; it prevented us from 1798. receiving the remainder of the forces which were Aug. destined for us; it left the field free for the English to persuade the Porte to declare war against us; it rekindled that which was hardly extinguished with the emperor of Germany; it opened the Mediterranean to the Russians, and planted them on our frontiers; it occasioned the loss of Italy, and the invaluable possessions in the Adriatic, which we owed to the successful campaigns of Buonaparte; and, finally, it at once rendered abortive all our projects, since it was no longer possible for us to dream of giving the English any uneasiness in India: add to this, that the people of Egypt, whom we wished to consider as friends and allies, instantaneously became our enemies; and, entirely surrounded as we were by the Turks, we found ourselves engaged in a most difficult defensive war, without a glimpse of the slightest future advantage to be derived from it." On the 5th the Leander, having on board captain Berry of the Vanguard, with despatches for earl St.-Vincent off Cadiz, quitted the squadron; but, about 12 days afterwards, was fallen in with and captured by the french 74-gun ship Géneréux, after an action highly honourable to the british 50gun ship, and the full details of which will appear under the next head of the work. The ships of the british squadron at anchor in Aboukir bay now set about repairing their damages, with all possible speed. Every exertion was also used, to place the captured ships in a state to undertake the voyage to England with safety. The prisoners taken in them were sent on shore in a cartel, upon the usual terms; but Buonaparte, to show how he respected treaties, formed the men, soon after they landed, into a battalion, which he named the nautic legion, and gave the command of it to the late second captain of the Franklin, Jules-François Martinencq. On the 8th the island of Aboukir was taken possession of, and the two mortars, with 1798, the two brass 12-pounders, were brought off. The reAug. mainder of the guns, with the carriages of the whole, and the platform on which they had been mounted, were destroyed. The island was also newly, and far from inappropriately named, Nelson's island. On the 10th sir Horatio, aware of the designs of the French, in case of succeeding at Egypt, to attack the british East India possessions, despatched, over land to Bombay, with the intelligence of the victory, lieutenant Thomas Duval, of the Zealous, an officer selected by captain Hood. On the 12th, in the evening, the british 36-gun frigate Emerald, captain Thomas Moutray Waller, and 32-gun frigate Alemène, captain George Hope, along with the Bonne-Citoyenne sloop of war, hove in sight in the offing; but, on being chased by the Swiftsure, stood off. On the next day, however, the frigates got over their alarm, and joined the squadron. On the 13th the 16-gun brig-sloop Mutine, captain the honourable Thomas Bladen Capel, who had succeeded captain Hardy, on the latter's promotion to the Vanguard, and was now the bearer of the rear-admiral's duplicate despatches, sailed for Naples. On the morning of the 14th, after an incredible deal of labour in refitting the ships, the Orion, Bellerophon, Minotaur, Defence, Audacious, Theseus, and Majestic, accompanied by the Franklin, Tonnant, Aquilon, Conquérant, Peuple-Souverain, (the two latter scarcely in a seaworthy state,) and Spartiate, under the orders of captain sir James Saumarez, got under way and stood out of the road. The prizes, being rigged with jury-masts and very weakly manned, could hardly work out of the bay. At length they reached the mouth of it; and, after lying at single anchor for the night, again weighed, and proceeded on their voyage. On the 16th the *For a brief account of this officer's journey, see App. No. 14. † Named by mistake at p. 254 as first lieutenant of the Vanguard, instead of, we believe, Edward Galwey. Aug. Heureux, and on the 18th the Mercure and Guerrier, 1798. being all, particularly the last, in too bad a state to be refitted, were burnt, as they lay, the first two aground on the beach, and the last at anchor in the road, of Aboukir bay, the scene of their discomfiture. On the 19th rear-admiral Nelson, in the Vanguard, accompanied by the Culloden and Alexander, sailed for Naples; leaving captain Hood, with the Zealous, Goliath, Swiftsure, Seahorse, (who had joined on the 17th,) Emerald, Alcmène, and Bonne-Citoyenne, to cruise off the port of Alexandria. The news of the loss of his fleet reached Buonaparte on the 14th of August, when on his way from Salahieh to Cairo, in a despatch from rear-admiral Ganteaume, delivered by an aide-de-camp of general Kléber's. While reading the despatch, Buonaparte did not betray in his countenance the least trait of the extraordinary sensations which the account must necessarily have caused in his mind. He called the messenger to him, and demanded, in a loud voice, to hear the details. As soon as they were related, Buonaparte said to the aide-de-camp with the utmost sang-froid: "We have no longer a fleet: well, we must either remain in this country, or quit it as great as the Ancients."* The power which this extraordinary man possessed of disguising his feelings was as remarkable, as the facility with which he could turn a disastrous event to his advantage. Great as he was in some matters, Buonaparte could also be mean, where, by being mean, an object was to be attained. Wishing, for some inexplicable reason, to inculpate the brave admiral who was second in command at Aboukir, Buonaparte, on the 24th of August, issued a general order, in which were these words: "The Franklin struck her flag without being dismasted or having sustained * "Nous n'avons plus de flotte: eh bien, il faut rester en ces contrées, ou en sortir grands comme les Anciens."-Victoires et Conquétes, tome ix. p. 73. Aug. 1798. any damage."* Rear-admiral Ganteaume, as soon as he discovered this, hastened to defend the character of his brother officer, and pleaded his cause with so much effect, that Buonaparte, yielding a little, issued a second order, stating that rear-admiral Blanquet had been wounded in the action; but which still left uncontradicted the false assertion, that the Franklin surrendered when in a perfect state. At the instance of vice-admiral Bruix, the minister of marine, justice was at length done by the directory to the character of that brave officer; but we cannot discover that rear-admiral Blanquet was ever afterwards employed. The crippled state of the Nile prizes made it the Sept. middle of September, ere they and their escort arrived at Gibraltar. The Peuple-Souverain was in too bad a state to proceed further, and was therefore, under the name of Guerrier, converted into a guard-ship, the only service in which she could be useful. The five remaining prizes, after obtaining a tolerable repair, set sail for England, and arrived in safety at Plymouth. The british government, in order that the captors might not suffer for the prowess they had displayed in riddling the hulls of the captured ships, paid for each of the three destroyed 74s, the Guerrier, Heureux, and Mercure, the sum of 200007.; which was as much as the least serviceable of the remaining three 74s had been valued at. Of these, the Conquérant was about 50 years old, and of no greater tonnage than the Theseus, the largest ship, except the Minotaur, in the fleet that took her. The Aquilon, or, as newly named, Aboukir, was built at Lorient in the year 1793, measured 1869 tons, and, but for her shattered state, would have been a useful ship: as it was, both of these ships remained in port until they were broken up. Not so with the remaining 74, the Spartiate, nor with the 80-gun ships Tonnant and Franklin. "Le Franklin a amené son pavillon sans être démâté et sans reçu aucune avarie."-Victoires et Conquétes, tome ix. p. 107. avoir All three of these ships were built at Toulon; owing 1798. to which, on account of the superior durability Sept. of the Adriatic oak,* their value became greatly enhanced. The Tonnant was launched in 1791-2, the Franklin, in the spring of 1797, and the Spartiate, as recently as the commencement of the year in which she was captured. The following are the principal dimensions of the three ships : The two 80s were of about the same dimensions as the Sans-Pareil, taken by lord Howe; but the Franklin, in point of materials, workmanship, and qualifications, was considered to be the finest twodecked ship in the world. In order to show what an immensely powerful ship a french 80 is, we here couple, with the force of the Franklin, that of a british three-decker of the 98-gun class: The Franklin had the ports for, and subsequently mounted, four more guns on her quarterdeck. * A very intelligent writer, when remarking on the properties and qualities of timber, says: "The oaks of the southern parts of |