NAVAL AFFAIRS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, ETC.
The French government made great exertions to put their navy on a respectable footing; but all their efforts on the ocean led only to disaster. On the 28th of February their commander, Rear-Admiral Pierre Martin, sailed out of the harbour of Toulon with fifteen sail of the line, six frigates, and three corvettes, having positive orders to engage the English fleet under Vice-Admiral Hotham, if he met it, and to drive the English out of Corsica. At that time the Mediterranean fleet under Hotham, which consisted of thirteen sail of the line, four frigates, and two sloops, with two or three Neapolitan ships, was at Leghorn; and the enemy succeeded in capturing the Berwick, of seventy-four guns, which found itself suddenly surrounded by the enemy. On discovering the intentions of the enemy, Admiral Hotham instantly unmoored and went in search of them. The two fleets came in sight of each other on the 12th of March, between Corsica and Genoa, and a partial engagement ensued, in which two French ships of the line, the Ca Ira and the Censeur, fell into the hands of the British, principally through the skill and courage of Nelson, who commanded the Agamemnon. This action saved Corsica for the time; but the victory was incomplete; and soon after, the arrival of six ships of the line at Toulon from Brest gave the French a decided superiority as regards numbers of ships. Had they known how to have used it, they might have made themselves masters of the Mediterranean; for the British navy, though manned by brave sailors, was not in a condition to withstand a superior force. On this subject, Southey remarks:—“The British navy had been much neglected during Lord Chatham’s administration at the admiralty; and it did not for some time feel the beneficial effects of his removal. Lord Hood had gone home to represent the real state of affairs, and solicit reinforcements adequate to the exigencies of the times, and the importance of the scene of action; but that fatal error of under-proportioning the force to the service, that ruinous economy which, by sparing a little, renders all that is spent useless, infected the British councils; and Lord Hood, not being able to obtain such reinforcements as he knew were necessary, resigned.” For three long months the Mediterranean fleet was left in its state of inferiority; but at length, on the 13th of June, it was joined by eleven sail of the line and several frigates. Since the recent battle the French admiral had avoided an encounter, although superior in force; but he now shunned it more cautiously than ever. Hotham, however, got sight of the French fleet near Cape Roux; and in a chase which he gave it, succeeded in capturing the Alcide; the rest of the ships got safely into Frejas Bay. These were the chief events on the ocean during this year; except by Nelson, who was detached on some coast service, scarcely another gun was fired in the Mediterranean. Many encounters of detached ships took place, generally to the advantage of the English; but the only other action which occurred was between the Channel fleet, of fourteen sail of the line, under Admiral Lord Bridport, and a part of the Brest fleet, consisting of twelve ships of the line and eleven frigates, under Vice-Admiral Villaret. In this action three French ships were taken; the rest fled for protection to their own port and their own land batteries. In the West Indies the English cruizers and squadrons were not so successful; all their vigilance was not sufficient to foil the daring projects of Victor Hugues. The French, indeed, recovered the whole of Guadaloupe, attacked with success the fort of Tiburon, in St. Domingo; and made themselves masters of St. Lucia; Grenada, Dominico, and St. Vincent’s were with difficulty preserved. But in these victories the French revolutionists were aided by the negro population. Victor Hugues flew from island to island, preaching liberty and equality to the negroes and all people of colour, and a crusade against the English and French royalists; and it was chiefly by this means that, the French were victorious. The African slave learned to adopt the tri-colour flag and the red cap of liberty, and the British were either butchered, or forced to flee from the re-captured islands. Under the same auspices, the Maroons, of Jamaica, likewise commenced a sanguinary conflict with the English, and did not lay down their arms till they were nearly exterminated; those who escaped the slaughter consented to be removed to Canada, where a portion of land was allotted to them.