After detailing the particulars of an attempt to escape, by means of sixteen boats, to the Gloucester side, in consequence of the progress of the enemy, Lord Cornwallis proceeds as follows:

"Our works in the mean time were going to ruin, and not being able to strengthen them by abbatis, nor in any other manner than by a slight fraizing, which the enemy's artillery were demolishing whenever they fired, my opinion entirely coincided with that of the engineer and principal officers of the army, that they were in many places assailable in the forenoon, and that by the continuance of the same fire for a few hours longer they would be in such a state as to render it desperate, with our numbers, to attempt to maintain them. We at that time could not fire a single gun; only one eight inch, and a little more than a hundred cohorn shells remained; a diversion by the French ships of war that lay at the mouth of York river was also to be expected. Our numbers had been diminished by the enemy's fire, but particularly by sickness; and the strength and spirits of those in the works were much exhausted by the fatigue of constant watching and unremitting duty.

"Under all these circumstances, I thought it would have been wanton and inhuman to the last degree to sacrifice the lives of this small body of gallant soldiers, who had ever behaved with so much fidelity and courage, by exposing them to an assault which, from the numbers and precaution of the enemy, could not fail to succeed. I therefore proposed to capitulate; and I have the honour to enclose to your Excellency the copy of the correspondence between General Washington and me on that subject, and the terms of the capitulation agreed on," &c.

But the capture of a second army did not put an end to the contest; and it might have been as long and as inveterate perhaps as that waged by Spain against Holland, had not the minority in parliament at length triumphed, and Lord North been forced to resign all those official situations which had enabled him to continue the struggles in express opposition to the wishes of the people.

Lord Cornwallis was well-received on his return to England, where he soon after obtained the honourable and respectable situation of Constable of the Tower. During the interval of peace that followed the American war, the noble earl may be said to have remained in a state of domestic privacy, if this can be properly observed of a man who, in addition to the duties of a legislator, was invested with an important official employment. He, however, was destined soon after to be again called into a more public line of action, and this too in a different hemisphere to that on which he had hitherto distinguished himself.

The East India company, from factors, had become sovereigns in India, and at this period may be said to have possessed more subjects than the king of Great Britain, under whom they held their charter. But as the possessions extended their difficulties increased; and while they were threatened on one hand with a combination of the native princes, they were supposed, on the other, to suffer not a little from the peculations and mismanagement of their own servants. To remedy these evils, it was determined by the government, if possible, to select a chief, who, to military talents, added a krowledge of business, and united with an unimpeachable integrity, a firmness of conduct that might atone, and at the same time appal abuse and defy treachery. It was on this occasion that the eyes of all men were turned on Lord

Cornwallis, who was accordingly nominated to the important situation of governor-general of Bengal.

On his arrival, he commenced his labours by carrying on the most difficult and dangerous of all wars,-that waged against abuse, mismanagement, and corruption. While occupied in useful and important reforms, Tippoo Sultan, who had been intriguing at the durbars of the neighbouring princes in Asia, and had also entered into a correspondence with the court of France, commenced his intended operations by an attack on one of our allies.

The Madras government, from its proximity to the scene of action, was at first intrusted with the management of the war; but no sooner did affairs begin to assume a serious aspect than the governor-general took the field in person, toward the latter end of 1790. Having now assumed the command of the grand army, and formed a confederacy of the country-powers, he determined to carry hostilities into the dominions of Mysore, with a view of preventing those dangerous inroads which had taken place during the reign of Hyder Ally. To effect this, it was necessary to enter either through the Barampal valley or the Muglee pass; and the latter was pitched upon. Tippoo, thus taken by surprise, did not appear with his troops until the British army was almost in sight of Bangalore, the fort of which was invested, and taken after a short siege, while the town was stormed in the course of the succeeding day. After his junction with the Nizam, the governor-general marched against Seringapatam, but partly in consequence of a deficiency in respect to provisions, and partly from the season of the year, he was obliged to desist. Nay, so critical had his situation become, that he was obliged to destroy his battering train, and retire to Bangalore, in the neighbourhood of which he was joined by a large body of Mahrattals.

The triumph of Tippoo-if triumph it could be called-was not, however, of long duration; for, on the return of spring, Lord Cornwallis again appeared before the capital of Mysore, and obliged the sultan, by a treaty dated March 19th, 1792, to accede to the most humiliating terms; for half of his dominions were ceded to the English and their allies, while a large portion of treasure was stipulated for, and two of the young princes were delivered up as hostages for the fulfilment of the conditions.

On his return Earl Cornwallis was created a marquess, and nominated to the important office of master-general of the ordnance, in consequence of which he had a seat in the cabinet. But he did not remain long in England, for by this time the affairs of Ireland began to assume a very melancholy aspect, and the inhabitants-who had demanded and been denied Catholic emancipation by the very ministers who afterwards resigned because they could not accomplish that measure, too tardily acceded to on their part-were not likely to be conciliated by free quarters and military executions. On the arrival of Lord Cornwallis, in 1798, a new system was adopted; for, although bred to arms from his youth, his noble heart had ever been averse from blood and proscription. A few days after being invested with the viceroyal dignity, he informed the house of commons by a message, that he had "his majesty's orders to acquaint them, that he had signified his gracious intention of granting a general pardon for all offences com

1

mitted previously to a certain time, upon such conditions and with such exceptions as might be compatible with the public safety," and it was very properly added, "that these offers of mercy were not to preclude measures of vigour against the obstinate."

Soon after this proposition, which gained the hearts while it disarmed the hands of the chief insurgents, a body of about 900 French troops were landed from three frigates at Killala bay, in the county of Mayo. General Humbert, leaving a small garrison under Colonel Charost behind him, clothed and armed a few of the natives who had repaired to his standard, and then marched to Castlebar, where he defeated a body of troops posted there. Amidst the consternation occasioned by his victory he advanced to Tuam. But his prosperous career was instantly put a stop to by the lord-lieutenant, who advanced by forced marches, and having come up with the rear of the retreating enemy at Ballinamuck, the French surrendered, after having been some little time in possession of Connaught.

Soon after this the English ministers conceived the idea of an union with Ireland, and that measure was carried into execution during the viceroyship of Marquess Cornwallis: it has been denied, however, and his character seems fully to justify the supposition, that he had any share in those corrupt schemes said to be recurred to for insuring an event so highly desirable of itself, and which such a crooked policy could alone render disgusting.

In 1801, after a residence of three years in Ireland, his lordship resigned his high office, and was succeeded by the earl of Hardwicke. As he had now attained the sixty-third year of his age, it was supposed that the Marquess Cornwallis, after negotiating the definitive treaty of peace at Amiens, March 22d, 1802, would spend the remainder of his life in his native country. But it was otherwise decreed; for the affairs of the East India company became embarrassed as usual by new acquisitions, and our territorial possessions in Asia required the presence of a nobleman distinguished alike for his integrity and moderation. In 1805 he accordingly repaired thither a second time, in quality of gov. ernor-general, and commander-in-chief of his majesty's and the company's land-forces. After having made a variety of arrangements, tending to introduce economy into the civil department, he determined to place himself at the head of the army, in order, by an union of firmness and conciliation, to attain, what was always the end and aim of all his labours, an honourable peace. But his constitution had been by this time undermined by bodily fatigues, mental exertions, and perhaps also by the extremities of heat and cold in two distant quarters of the globe; his digestive powers in particular failed him in an extraordinary degree, and he was obliged to perform his journey by slow and easy stages. Nature, at length, became so completely exhausted, that he died on the 5th of October, 1805, at Ghazepoor, in the province of Benares, before he was able to reach the head-quarters.

He was buried with great pomp. Minute guns, to the number of sixty-six, corresponding with the years of his age, were fired from the ramparts of Fort William, and a studied eulogium published in an extraordinary gazette. The inhabitants of the other presidencies also endeavoured, by every mark of esteem, to testify their regard: those of Calcutta voted a mausoleum, and those of Bombay a statue.

Thus died Charies, Marquess Cornwallis, a nobleman whose name will be long remembered in the remotest portions of Asia, not as a merciless and unprincipled spoiler, but as a man who practised all the offices of humanity, and a governor who, while he supported the interests of his own country, forgot not the claims and pretensions of the native princes. All persons and all parties concurred in lamenting the death of a chief who, in his own person, so eminently combined the remote and too often discordant qualities of a statesman and a general, and on no occasion prostituted his authority to the dishonour of the British name. Napoleon Bonaparte, in his conversations with Barry O'Meara, declared that Lord Corn vallis, by his integrity, fidelity, frankness, and the nobleness of his sentiments, was the first who had impressed upon him a favourable opinion of Englishmen. "I do not believe," said the ex-emperor, "that he was a man of first-rate abilities; but he had talent, great probity, sincerity, and never broke his word. Something having prevented him from attending at the Hotel de Dieu to sign the treaty of Amiens, pursuant to appointment, he sent word to the French ministers that they might consider it completed, and that he would certainly execute it next morning. During the night, he received instructions to object to some of the articles; disregarding which, he signed the treaty as it stood, observing that his government, if dissatisfied, might refuse to ratify it; but that having once pledged his word, he felt bound to abide by it. There was a man of honour!' added Napoleon, a true Englishman!'

Horatio, Viscount Nelson.

BORN A. D. 1758.-DIED A. D. 1805.

HORATIO NELSON was born at Burnham-Thorpe, a village in Norfolk, of which his father was rector. His health was feeble during childhood, but he exhibited early traces of that daring and inflexible spirit by which he was afterwards so eminently distinguished. At the age of twelve he made a voyage, in a merchantman, to the West Indies, and on his return was received on board the Triumph, a guard-ship in the Thames, commanded by his uncle. In 1772 he accompanied Captain Phipps's expedition of discovery in the Northern seas. He next served on board the Seahorse on the East India station. After holding several inferior appointments he obtained the command of a warsloop in 1778; and in June 1779 attained the rank of post-captain. At the conclusion of the war, in 1783, Nelson went to reside at St Omer in France, finding his income too limited for England. He soon, however, obtained an appointment to the Boreas of twenty-eight guns, in which he proceeded to the West India station; and in 1787 he married, at Nevis, a physician's widow.

In 1793 he obtained the command of the Agamemnon of sixty-four guns, in which charge he highly distinguished himself at the taking of Toulon and the siege of Bastia. The victory off Cape St Vincent, on the 13th of February, 1797, was mainly owing to Nelson's unparalleled bravery and audacity. Disobeying the admiral's signals, he bore gallantly down upon seven of the enemy's fleet; on being asked if he had

VI.

3 L

reckoned them, replied, "No; it will be time enough to do that when they have struck." After having attacked the Santissima Trinidada of one hundred and thirty-six guns, he passed on to the San Nicholas of eighty guns, and, compelling her to surrender, proceeded from her deck to board the San Josef of one hundred and twelve guns, which speedily submitted. For his brilliant services on this occasion, he was made a knight of the Bath, rear-admiral of the Blue, and appointed to the chief command of the inner squadron at the blockade of Cadiz; where he was attacked one night in his barge, by a Spanish launch, which, however, although her crew amounted to double the number of his own, he succeeded in taking. In the following July he commanded the expe dition sent against Santa Cruz; while heading a midnight attack on the mole, he received a shot in his elbow which compelled him to return to his ship; and the expedition entirely failed in its object. On his return to England, however, he was presented with the freedom of the cities of London and Bristol; and on account of his having been compelled to suffer the amputation of his arm, obtained a pension of £1,000 per

annum.

In 1798 he hoisted his flag on board the Vanguard, and was detached by Earl St Vincent to watch the enemy's fleet in Toulon. While proceeding thither, he narrowly escaped shipwreck in the gulf of Lyons, and the French armament in the meanwhile put to sea. Nelson followed in search of them, and after much inquiry, on the 1st of August, 1798, discovered the enemy. It had been his practice, during the whole of his cruise, whenever the weather and circumstances would permit, to have his captains on board the Vanguard, where he fully developed to them his own ideas of the different and best modes of attack, and such plans as he proposed to execute upon falling in with the erremy, whatever their position or situation might be. With the masterly ideas of their admiral, therefore, on the subject of naval tactics, every one of the captains of his squadron was most thoroughly acquainted; and upon surveying the situation of the enemy, they knew with precision what were the ideas and intentions of their commander, without the aid of any further instructions, by which means signals became almost unnecessary, much time was saved, and the attention of every captain could almost undistractedly be paid to the conduct of his own particular ship.

Had he fallen in with the French fleet at sea, that he might make the best impression upon any part of it that might appear the most vulnerable, or the most eligible for attack, he divided his force into three sub-squadrons, two of which were to attack the ships of war, while the third was to pursue the transports, and to sink and destroy as many as it could. The destination of the French armament was involved in doubt and uncertainty; but it forcibly struck Nelson, that, as it was commanded by the man whom the French had dignified with the title of the Conqueror of Italy,' and as he had with him a very large body of troops, an expedition had been planned, which the land-force might execute without the aid of their fleet, should the transports be permitted to make their escape, and reach in safety their place of rendezvous; it therefore became a material consideration with the admiral, so to arrange his force, as at once to engage the whole attention of their ships of war, and at the same time materially to annoy and injure their con