which consisted of eighteen articles, investing him, at the same time, personally with the command of the harbour, the forts, and the fleet at Toulon. Lord Howe, having received assurances of the good disposition of the principal part of the officers and seamen of the French ships, resolved to land fifteen hundred men, and take possession of the forts which commanded the ships in the road.

Acting up to this intention, notwithstanding a display of opposition by their Admiral St. Julian, a stanch republican and withal a most turbulent spirit, the honourable Captain Elphinstone, afterwards Lord Keith, at midday on the 28th of August, took possession of the fort of La Malgue.

In pursuance of Lord Hood's directions, he took the command as governor, and sent a flag of truce, with a preparatory notice to St. Julian, that such French ships as did not proceed without delay into the inner harbour, and put their powder on shore, would be treated as enemies. St. Julian, however, was found to have escaped during the night, with the greater part of the crews of seven line-of-battle ships, which were principally attached to him; all but these seven ships removed into the inner harbour in the course of the evening.

The Spanish fleet, under the command of Don Juan de Langaras, appeared in sight as the

British troops were in the act of landing to take possession of Fort la Malgue.

Having thus made himself master of Toulon and the adjacent forts, Lord Hood issued, on the same evening, another proclamation which greatly soothed the minds of the inhabitants. The English troops received, on the 29th of August, a reinforcement of one thousand men, who were disembarked from the Spanish fleet on the same day the British fleet worked into the outer roads of Toulon, followed by the Spanish, and anchored at noon without the smallest obstruction.

The junction of two such powerful fleets, that had often met in fierce contention, but which now rode peacefully in one of the finest harbours in the world, formed a singular and cheerful sight, inspiriting to the loyal inhabitants, and proving to the republicans that they owed their late supremacy more to terror than to affection.

On the 30th of August, Lord Hood judged it expedient, for the more effectual preservation of good order and discipline in the town, to appoint Rear-Admiral Goodall governor of Toulon and its dependencies. This was the more necessary, as a detachment of the republican army, commanded by Casteaux, consisting of seven hundred and fifty men, with some cavalry and ten pieces of cannon, approached the village of Ollioulle, near Toulon.

On this being ascertained, Captain Elphinstone immediately marched out of Fort Malgue at the head of six hundred troops, English and Spanish, and attacking the enemy with great spirit, soon made them abandon their posts, took four of their pieces of cannon with their equipments, many horses, and much ammunition.

Our loss was immaterial. In this attack Captain Elphinstone displayed a knowledge of military tactics which was hardly expected from an officer in the British navy.

On the 6th of September Lord Mulgrave arrived at Toulon, and, at the request of Lord Hood, accepted the command of the British troops, with the rank of brigadier-general, until his Majesty's pleasure should be known. In consequence of the report made by his lordship of the forces that would be requisite to defend the several ports in the vicinity of Toulon, Lord Hood despatched a pressing letter to Sir Robert Boyd, the governor of Gibraltar, requesting fifteen hundred soldiers, with a number of artillery-men, and an able engineer.

By the middle of September our post began to be kept in a constant state of alarm by the continually increasing numbers of Casteaux's army on the west, and that of Italy on the east; each of them consisting of nearly six thousand men.

At

the same time, Lord Hood had apprehensions that some desperate attempt would be made from within the town by upwards of five thousand disaffected seamen. The committee-general of the sections, and the French royalist Rear-Admiral Trogroffe, represented that to get rid of them was absolutely necessary to the safety of the loyalists. This was the more especially evident, as, previously to Lord Hood taking possession of Toulon, they had agreed that those men should be sent home, provided that they did not take any active part in obstructing the operations of the British fleets. These conditions not yet having been fulfilled, they, in consequence, began to be very clamorous and unruly. All these causes pressing upon the mind of Lord Hood, he judged it expedient to embark them in four of the most unserviceable of the French ships, Le Patriote, L'Apollon, L'Orion, and L'Entreprenant, to each of which a passport was given.

These ships were dismantled of their guns, excepting two on the forecastles of each, to be used as signals in case of distress. They had no small arms, and only twenty ordnance cartridges on board of each ship. They sailed under flags of truce; two for Brest, one for Rochefort, and one for L'Orient.

In addition to the motives just related, which

induced Lord Hood thus to act, and strictly adhere to the convention previously formed with the civil and military government of Toulon, there were also others that had a powerful influence on his conduct. Amidst this mass of five thousand seamen, who were reported turbulent and disaffected, many were devoted to the cause of the inhabitants of Toulon, and were ready to make every exertion in favour of monarchy; therefore, as it was confidently rumoured that Brest, Rochefort, and the other seaports of France, would take an active part in the same cause, there was good reason to hope that the arrival of these seamen would accelerate, at the several ports, similar exertions in behalf of Louis XVIII.

His Majesty's ships Leviathan and Bedford arrived at Toulon, on the 28th of September, with eight hundred Sardinian troops, and also Marshal Forteguerri, commodore of the Sicilian squadron, with two thousand troops from Naples. This served considerably to cheer the spirits of the garrison, as well as of the Toulonnese, as, for the last fortnight, scarcely a day had passed without an attack upon the town from one quarter or another. Casteaux's army now amounted to eight thousand men on the west, and that on the east, under Le Poype, to seven thousand, with reinforcements continually pouring into both.