SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY •

Metpoirsnf Admiral the Right Hon. the Earl of St. Vincent, G.C.B.&c. By Jedediali

. Stephens Tucker, Esq. In two volumes Bentley. Taavets,

Impressions, Thoughts. and Sketches, during Two Years in France and Switzerland.

By Mal tha Macdonald Lamont Alexon.

TUCKER'S MEMOIRS OF THE EARL OF ST. VINCENT.

Jorts JEavis, Earl of ST. VINCENT, was a marked man, apart from his professional merits. He stood between the old and the new school •of sea-officers ; forming the connecting link between the brave but almost brute roughness of the one, and the chivalrous bearing, more humane feeling, and polished frankness of the other. In very critical times of mutiny, and (strange to say it, among sailors) of political dissatisfaction, fomented by United Irishmen preaching Revolutionary ideas, he displayed a civil courage and administrative faculty not always obtained by mere men of war. At the head of the Admiralty, he exhibited the same administrative talents in a more varied and complex sphere of operations : and he possessed, though he had slender opportunity of displaying it, a statesmanlike capacity, not inferior probably to WELLINGTON'S, but with a.liberality of idea, and a disposition to look to human ad- vancement, which the more bounded intellect and inferior morale of the soldier have prevented him from attaining. Even considered only as a seaman, Lord ST. VINCENT is entitled to rank among the very first. His victory off Cape St. Vincent, where with fifteen ships he.defeated twenty-seven' strikes us as unexampled in the daring which resolved to, risk itself .against such odds, and the prompt skill with which he took advantage of the loose order of the Spaniards to cut their fleet in two and fall upon one half of it. It was his judgment that selected NELSON, against the understanding of seniority and in despite of reclamations, to command. the squadron of the Mediterranean fleet that achieved the battle of the Nile.. He was the first man who systematically enforced the rules of nautical discipline as stringently against officers as men ; and to him belongs in a great degree the credit of completing those hygienic precautions and regulations which Coow originated. Even in the early part of his career, when opportunities of distinction were rare, there appears to have been something distinguished about Mr. JERVIS. Whether struggling at home against family determina- tions, or abroad against poverty—quelling a mutiny in a sloop, or maintaining against an Italian ruler, after his model BLAKE, the inviolability of the English flag under all circumstances whatsoever —there was a peculiar character about what he did. He set his stamp upon his deeds. Jonw JERVIS was born in January 1735. His family was ancient and respectable both by the father's side and the mother's; number- ing several judges among the proavi,—though the Earl thought slightingly of his ancestral honours. . The father of young JERVIS was a lawyer, and designed his son for the bar ; but having been appointed in 1747 Counsel to the Admiralty and Auditor to Greenwich Hospital, Mr. JERVIS removed from Staffordshire to Greenwich. Here young Joni./ determined to be a sailor ; owing, he used to say, to the advice of his father's coachman, who recom- mended the sea, and condemned "all lawyers as rogues." His parents opposed his resolution ; but the firmness which carried him through the difficult scenes of later life exhibited itself in the form of obstinacy now. Finding application vain, he ran away from school, resolving to be a sailor; and, when discovered, refused to return. His father therefore gave way : in 1748, Commodore TOWNSEND took the boy into the Gloucester of fifty guns, as a Midshipman; and Mr. JERVIS either could not or most probably would not allow him more than 20/. for his outfit and pocket- money. Finding his position in a guard-ship at Port Royal, Ja- maica, was no professional school if he remained on board, and expensive if he amused himself on shore, young JERVIS always volunteered to be sent into any vessel that was going to sea ; and occupied his leisure hours in reading and digesting all the books he could get at. Notwithstanding this economy, however, he required assistance after about three veers' service, it would seem in conse- quence of the irregularity of payment in those days. He drew upon his father for 201. ; but his bill was returned dishonoured. '.'To take up the returned bill, he was obliged to effect his discharge from one ship into another, so as to obtain his pay-tickets; which he contrived to sell at 40/. per cent discount : and during the remainder of the six years that he was Upon that station, his life was one continued endurance of pinching privation. He sold all his own bedding, and slept on the bare deck; he was usually obliged to make and mend, always to wash, his own clothes; he never afforded himself any fresh meat, nor, even in the Wcst Indies, where they are so necessary for health, and so cheap too, any fruit or vegetables but what he could obtain from the Negroes in barter for the little of the ship's provisions which he, a growing buy, might contrive to save out of his allowance. "Not having now a farthing of money to spend on shore, he was still more alert to volunteer into ships ordered to sea. And in one of these cruisers it was, That, in the cable-tier, an old Quartermaster named Drysdale, who had been mate of a merchant-vessel, afforded the Midshipman the only assistance he ever received towards the perfect acquirement which he accomplished of navigation." To enumerate the details of his routine service or change of vessels, would be tediods. In 1755, he was made Lieutenant ; he served in-1759 in the ship of Admiral SAUNDERS, during the ex- pedition.against Canada ; was made Commander, and distinguished himself under ,COOK, who was then Master of the Fleet, in sur- veying the St. Lawrence near Quebec. He also renewed a schoolboy acquaintance with Wor.rs ; who was so impressed 'with his qualities, that the night before the battle on the heights of Abraham, he sought a private interview, told him be had a presentiment that he should Lot outlive the morrow, and, taking from his bosom the miniature of the lady to whom he was attached, entreated that JERVIS would himself return it to her. Ordered to England with the despatches announcing the capture of Quebec, JERVIS was appointed to command the Scor- pion, and directed to return immediately with other despatches to New York. The Scorpion was a bad sailer; and, putting into Plymouth, he represented the urgency of the case to the Port- Admiral, who immediately gave him the Albany. , "But it so happened that the Albany had been a long while in commission, and that a considerable arrear of pay was due to her people; who, moreover, having never been otherwise employed than in short convoys coastwise, did not relish this sudden call to such distant service; and when Commander Jervis, on his first step on board the sloop, gave the order to get the ship under weigh, the crew absolutely refused to heave the anchor, rushed aft in a body to the quarter-deck, and there vociferously announced their refractory resolution. With this insubordination, the Commander at first attempted a short remon- strance ; but soon finding that useless, be restored discipline by a far different mode of persuasion. He ordered his boat's crew from the Scorpion to take their hatchets and cut the cables, and then sent them aloft to loosen the fore- sail. This was sufficient. Perceiving the sort of man who now had come on board to command them, the Albany's people at once submitted ; and the ship proceeded."

In 1761 Captain Jsavis was posted; and paid off in 1763. Then there seems a gap in his biography till 1769, when he was appointed to the Alarm, and stationed in the Mediterranean; where he cowed the Genoese, and horrified the officials at home by a modern imitation of BLAKE.

One Sunday afternoon, the day after her arrival, two Turkish slaves, in enjoyment of their only comfort, the holy day's rest from labour, sauntered from their galley near the Mole. Espying the Alarm's boat, they jumped into her stern-sheets, enfolded themselves within the British colours, and then exclaimed, We are free!' Hearing that, the Genoese officer on duty there ordered them to be forcibly taken from their refuge : and they were dragged out, though one of them in his struggles tore away a piece of the boat's pendant; and then were recommitted to the chains of bondage. But when his officer reported all this to Captain Jeri is, beat once decided that it was an in- sult to the British flag, and an outrageous enforcement of slavery, which he could by no means pass over ; and that for each injury a distinct reparation being due, it should be made respectively. "'Accordingly,' to use his own language, I demanded of the Doge and Senate, that both the slaves should he brought on board, with the part of the torn pendant which the .slave carried off with him, the officer of the guard punished, and an apology made on the quarter-deck of the Alarm, under the King's colours, for the outrage offered to the British nation.'

"On the following Tuesday this was literally complied with ; the offending officer came degraded, and formally made his apology on the frigate's quarter- deck, before all her officers and ship's company ; and the slaves also were brought on board, the one bringing with him the piece of the torn colours, to which he

clung for protection, and were restored to freedom. After all this was done,' continued their liberator, I asked the slave who had wrapped the pendant round his body, what were his sensations when the guard tore him from the pendant-staff.' His reply was, 'That he felt no dread, for he knew that the touch of the royal colours gave him freedom."

Soon after, the Alarm was stranded at Marseilles, in a terrific gale; which only served to procure distinction for her com- mander, by the energy he displayed in saving her from becoming a total wreck, and by the expedition and cheapness with which he repaired and refitted her.

When the vessel was paid off, Captain Jsevis, then approaching forty, determined to study French, and make a survey of the arse- nals and dockyards of Europe, though he had no other means than his half-pay. With the first object, he resided in France for some time ; applying himself with such diligence as to injure his health. He subsequently, with his friend Captain BARRINGTON, went to St. Petersburg; thence to Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and finally to France; examining the arsenals, noting their economy, and survey- ing the principal ports. His means were narrow, and, in his own phrase, they "fared somewhat roughly," getting along as they could both by land and sea. He sailed to St. Petersburg in a trader ; and acquired a practical knowledge of the Baltic, which served him many years afterwards ; for when all his colleagues were hesitating as to the orders to be issued to Sir CHARLES Por.s, Lord ST. VIN- CENT, relying upon the soundings he had then taken, confidently gave his directions. An accident prevented the friends from surveying the land-approaches to the citadel of Brest. When, a quarter of a century afterwards,: our hero commanded the Channel fleet and a descent on Brest was contemplated by the Ministry, be regretted this neglect. " Ah, Tucker,' he exclaimed to his private secre- tary, the father of his biographer, " had Captain Jervis surveyed Brest in 1774, in 1800 Lord St. Vincent would not have been in want of his information."

On his return from this European exploration, Captain JERVIS was appointed to the Foudroyant ; in which he served throughout the American troubles, and the general war to which they led. He was present at the incomplete action off Ushant, which pro- duced the courts-martial on KEPPEL and PALLisaa; and became a popular man from the strong testimony he gave in favour of KEPPEL. In 1782, whilst forming one of Admiral BARRINGTON'S fleet, he outsailed the rest in a general chase, cut off a seventy-four from the enemy's squadron and captured her after a short and neat action involving great squadron, to the enemy, but without the death of a man in the Foudroyant. As this action was not only a marked thing in itself . but broke up the French expedition to the East Indies, Captain JERVIS was made a Baronet and a Knight of the Bath. He was afterwards present at the relief of Gibraltar during its defence by ELLIOTT. But the capture of the Pegasus was hitherto the most striking event of his nautical life ; though the order and discipline of his vessel appear to have been a professional show : when the Foudroyant was in port she used to be visited al a curiosity, and young officers attentive to their profession woe wont to make interest to be admitted OR board when any important' piece of duty was going on.

Notwithstanding the ability, energy, and order of our hero, he was a man upon whom only late eminence in life attended. His great victory of St. Vincent was not achieved till he had reached his sixty-third year. He was verging towards seventy when he be- came Naval Minister and distinguished himself as a Navy re- former. Even in matrimony he was late; having been almost fifty before he ventured upon the holy state, though his attachment was of a very old standing. In a letter written to his sister a dozen years before, he thus speaks of the lady—" Your sentiments of Miss Parker are exactly conformable to my own, founded on long obser- vation, not blinded by passion ; and, but for the insurmountable objects I have before mentioned, [his circumstances,] I should on the first opportunity make the most unreserved proposals to her : but, situated as matters now are, the most distant hint cannot be given, lest it should tend to prevent some much better match, she has just reason to expect, or embarrass her in other sort ; neither of which are consistent with the value I have for her." This long- delayed match took place in 1783, soon after the Foudroyant was paid off; and for the next ten years, Sir Joniv JERVIS advanced steadily if not rapidly in life. He entered Parliament as a Whig Oppositionist ; was made an Admiral ; and nominated to conduct several expeditions, but negotiation settled the business. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Sir JouN JERVIS sailed to the West Indies as Admiral of the expedition in which Sir CHARLES GREY commanded the land forces. The object of the arma- ment was soon achieved, by the conquest of the French West India islands : but the reinforcements the Ministry had pledged should follow, and on the faith of which both commanders undertook the charge, never came ; sickness thinned the ranks of the army ; the Admiral and General were both prostrated ; and VICTOR HUGHES, arriving with a French force, was able to regain Guade- loupe, when Sir JOHN JERVIS was compelled to return home, as the only chance of recovery.

Before his health was reinstated, and although a political oppo- nent of the Ministry, he was summoned to the Admiralty, and directed to prepare for service ; which, to his great surprise, turned out to be the command of the Mediterranean fleet. To enter into the particulars of his four years' services (1795-1799) on this sta- tion would occupy a small volume. A general idea of the kind of reading to be found in Mr. TUCKER'S account will be best con- veyed by some miscellaneous extracts from Lord ST. VINCENT'S orders and correspondence, with anecdotes by his biographer ; which will also exhibit glimpses of the personal character of the man, and some of his officers. It may, however be premised, that these four years witnessed-1. The restoration of a relaxed disci- pline. 2. The blockade of Toulon. 3. The victory of St. Vin- cent. 4. The blockade of Cadiz, with a mutinous fleet ; which was continually fed as it were by mutinous ships being sent from home, to be subdued by Lord Sr. VINCENT. 5. The arrangement of the various detachments cruising in the Mediterranean' and the general business connected with such a wide command, ex- tending from the Tagus to the Levant.

" HATS OFF."

To the Respective Captains.

H. M. S. Victory, 22d July 1796. The Admiral having observed a flippancy in the behaviour of officers when coming upon the Victory's quarter-deck, and sometimes in receiving orders from a superior officer, and that they do not pull off their hats, and some not even touch them : it is his positive direction, that any officer who shall in future SO far forget this essential duty of respect and subordination, be ad- monished publicly; and he expects the officers of the Victory will set the ex- ample, by taking off their hats, and not touch them with an air of negligence. J. JERVIS.

It was his own practice to raise his bat over his head during the time that any person, even a common seaman, addressed him on service.

ORDER RESPECTING THE LADIES.

To the Respective Captains.

Memorandum. H. M. S. Victory, at sea, 14th July 1796. There being reason to apprehend that a number of women have been clan- destinely brought from England in several ships, more particularly so in those which have arrived in the Mediterranean in the last and the present year, the respective Captains are required by the Admiral to admonish those ladies upon the waste of water, and other disorders committed by them ; and to make known to all, that on the first proof of water being obtained for washing from the scuttle-butt or otherwise, under false pretences, in any ship, every woman in the fleet who has not been admitted under the authority of the Admiralty or the Commander-in-chief, will be shipped for England by the first convoy : and the officers are strictly enjoined to watch vigilantly their behaviour, and to see that no waste or improper consumption of water happen in future.

J. JERVIS. NELSON ON THE SEX.

Theseus. 21st June 1795. My dear Sir—The history of women was brought forward, I remember, in the Channel fleet last war. I know not if your ship was an exception, but I will venture to say not an Honourable but had plenty of them, and they al- ways will do as they please. Orders are not for them—at least, I never yet knew one who obeyed

Your most faithful Houton° NELSON.

HUMANITY.

H.M.S. Victory, 30th August 1797. Mr. , acting Lieutenant of H. M. ship , having disgraced his Majesty's service by giving sanction to two boats' crews of the same ship while rowing guard on the night of the 28th instant, on boarding with drawn cutlasses two Spkiish fishing-boats, wounding one of those inoffensive fisher- men, and robbing both the boats of their wine, in breach of his orders, and in violation of all discipline and humanity, the Commander-in-chief has dis-

missed from his employment as acting Lieutenant of , and in- tends to represent him as totally unfit to fill any employment in his Majesty's service. This to be read to the officers and ship's company of every ship in the fleet. ST. VINCENT. The following, though referring to the Channel fleet, comes in here most fittingly, as a pendant to the previous.

MORALITY.

To the respective Captains.—.111emorandum.

Ville de Paris. Torbay, 10111 October 1800. The First Lieutenant of H. M. S. the having, in violation of the principles of morality, decency, and good manners, entertained a woman of ill fame from time to time on board that ship, the Commander-in-chief does posi- tively forbid the introduction of any woman of ill fame into the ward-room of any of the ships under his command ; and he does hereby reprimand Lieutenant for his scandalous behaviour on that head. Sr. VINCENT.

PROEM TO THE BATTLE OF ST. VINCENT.

The morning was very foggy : as the mist cleared in the distance, the Lively, and then the Niger, signalled "a strange fleet." The Bonne Citoyenne was ordered to reconnoitre; but very soon afterwards the Calloden's signal-guns announced the enemy. At twenty minutes after nine, the signal was made to the Culloden, Blenheim, Prince George, and, shortly after to the Irresistible, Orion, and Colossus, to chase. The Commander-in-chief still walked the quarter-deck; and as the hostile numbers were counted, they were duly re- ported to him by the Captain of the Fleet. "There are eight sail-of-the-line, Sir John."—" Very well, Sir." "There are twenty sail-of-the-line, Sir John."—" Very well, Sir." "There are twenty-five sail-of-the-line, Sir John."—" Very well, Sir." "There are twenty-seven sail, Sir John !" and this was accompanied by some remark on the great disparity of the two forces. "Enough, Sir, no more of that—the die is cast, and if there are fifty sail I will go through them," was to this, in sharp tones, the silencing answer: which so delighted Captain Hallowell, [who was a passenger,] walking beside the Commander-in-chief, that, in the ecstacy of the moment, he could not help patting his Admiral's back, exclaiming, "That's right, Sir John, that's right ; by G—d we shall give them a d—d good licking."

The Mediterranean mutiny is a long act—too long to touch upon, and moreover not very well developed by Mr. TUCKER: but it contained treason as well as mutiny ; one of the plans of some of the mutineers being to carry the fleet over to the enemy, and consider "Cadiz as their future country." There is an interesting story, though diffusely told, of the decided manner in which Lord Sr. VIN- CENT compelled the crew of a vessel to hang one of their comrades, instead of sending drafts from other ships to assist ; though their Captain came openly to remonstrate, or rather to say the men would not do it. On another occasion, to avoid a day's delay, he ordered execution on a Sunday : a thing which caused some remark in the fleet, and brought a remonstrance from a Vice-Admiral. Here is NELSON'S opinion.

"Rear-Admiral Nelson to Sir Robert Calder.

"Theseus, 9th July 1797.

"My dear Sir—I am sorry that you should have to differ with ; but had it been Christmas-day instead of Sunday, I would have executed them. "We know not what might have been hatched by a Sunday's grog • nom, your discipline is safe. I talked to our people, and I hope with good effect ; indeed, they seem a very quiet set.

"Ever your most faithful HORATIO NELSON." GALLANTRY AT SIXTY-THREE.

To Lady Hamilton.

H.M.S. Ville de Paris, at anchor before Cadiz, 22d May 1798.

Madam—I feel myself highly honoured and flattered by your Ladyship's charming letter of the 15th April. The picture you have drawn of the lovely Queen of Naples and the Royal Family, would rouse the indignation of the most unfeeling of the creation, at the infernal designs of those devils, who, for the scourge of the human race, are permitted to govern France. I am bound by my oath of chivalry to protect all who are persecuted and distressed ; and I would fly to the succour of their Sicilian Majesties, were I not positively forbid to quit my post before Cadiz. I am happy, however, to have a knight of supe- rior prowess in my train, who is charged with this enterprise, and will soon make his appearance at the head of as gallant a band as ever drew sword or trailed pike.

Your true knight, and devoted humble servant, Sr. VINCENT. NELSON ON HIS CHIEF'S DEPARTURE.

Palermo, 10th June 1799.

My dear Lord—We have a report that you are going home. This distresses us most exceedingly, and myself in particular; so much so' that I have serious thoughts of returning if that event should take place. But, for the sake of our country, do not quit us at this serious moment ! I wish not to detract from the merit of whoever may be your successor, but it must take a length of time, which I hope the war will not give, to be in any manner a St. Vincent. We look up to you, as we have always found you, as to our father, under whose fostering care we have been led to fame. If, my dear Lord, I have any weight in your friendship, let me entreat you to rouse the sleeping lion. Give not ups particle of your authority to any one; he again our St. Vincent, and we shall be happy. Your affectionate NELSON.

The immediate cause of Lord ST. VINCENT'S return from the Mediterranean station was his health, which confined him for a long time. But the Government contemplated a descent upon Brest ; the Channel fleet was in a state of great disorder, from re- laxation of discipline ; another mutiny was looked for; and the Secretary of the Admiralty was directed to put himself in commu- nication with Dr. BAIRD to learn the first news of his convalescence.

"For some time the only reply the Doctor had been able to make was—his noble patient's serious illness, increasing dropsy, and that the case was one of very doubtful issue ; but, happily, a change of weather, from a cold Easterly to a mild Southerly wind, effected what medical aid had not accomplished ; a subsidence began.

"It was Dr. Baird's duty to report this fortunate turn to Mr. Nepean; and he added also, that as the change of the year was towards the genial season, a favourable result might be expected.

"Lord St, Vincent was then residing at Bath. One morning, not long after the propitious appearances, on the Doctor's paying his customary visit, his Lordship said, 'Baird, I am going afloat '; and before the Doctor had time to further express his surprise than Surely, my Lord, you are not ! " Stop, Baird,' his Lordship replied, I anticipate all you are going to say ; but the King and the Government require it, and the discipline of the British Navy demands it. It is of no consequence to me whether I die afloat or ashore: the die is cast! '—his Lordship's usual expression when his mind was made up to strong measures. He then informed Dr. Baird, that Lord Spencer had visited

i him n that city from London, for the express purpose of requiring his services, and that all was settled."

His appointment was heard with terror by the quality captains, and others of that stamp ; and something like a combination was entered into against him. At a dinner in the cabin of the Corn- •• Royal George, before Brest. 25th August 1800. "My dear Nepean—As you know everything at your Board, by hook or by crook, you probably are informed that an Admiral was left behind when we last sailed from Torbay—half-a-dozen Captains, under the same circumstances, has been a trifle here!

"Yours affectionately, "ST. VINCENT."

To stop this, Lord ST. VINCENT issued an order forbidding any one to go inland beyond a circuit of three miles : finding this ineffectual as well as a fixed time for refitting a ship, he at last ordered that no officer should sleep on shore. This brought the officers' wives on the Commander-in-chief; and one lady at a party extemporized a bumper-toast, "May his next glass of wine choke the wretch ! " Another mind of another calibre was also watching Lord ST. VINCENT; and this order appeared in the next code of instructions NAPOLEON issued to the Brest fleet, with the further stringency of including Admirals as well as Captains. Notwithstand- ing this strictness, he appears at last to have been on friendly terms with the officers, and even with the first repudiators of Mediterra- nean discipline. And, although the confinement of the crews and de- mand upon their exertions was much greater than before, yet, such was his attention and management, that their health was better than ever. Judging by former experience, the Navy Medical Board sent one of their members down to Torbay, when the fleet anchored there in November, to superintend the disembarkation of the sick ; and the Doctor made arrangements for renting barns to serve for additional hospitals : but only sixteen hospital cases were found. On the retirement of PITT and the accession of SIDMOUTH to the Premiership, ST. VINCENT was requested to take the Admiralty. He first sought an interview with the King, to tell his Majesty that he was in favour of the Catholic claims, which he understood Mr. PITT had resigned upon ; but he was ready, his views being dis- tinctly understood, to place his services at his Majesty's disposal. To this the King replied— "Lord St. Vincent, you have in this instance, as you have in every other, be- haved like an honest, honourable man. Upon the question of Catholic Emanci- pation my mind is made up, from which I never will depart; and therefore, as it is not likely that it will be a matter agitated, or discussed between us, I can see no reason why you should not take the Admiralty, where I very much wish to see you, and to place the Navy entirely in your hands." raander-in-chief, a Captain gave as a toast, "May the discipline of the Mediterranean never be introduced into the Channel fleet" ; which was actually drunk, and without remark from authority. On his arrival, one of the Admirals publicly told his Commander that he the Admiral was dissatisfied with the appointment, as he looked upon the command as his "birthright." As an accompaniment to these, Lord ST. VINCENT noticed that scarcely "a petty officer when summoned by signal to the flag-ship would pay the compli- ment of touching his hat to the officer on the quarter-deck, or to the Commander-in-chief himself." In addition to this, one of the earliest despatches warned him, that "letters intercepted by Go- vernment discovered that a correspondence was going on with a view that another general mutiny should dispossess the officers of their command." The die was once more cast. After reading the letters, he coolly said, "Bring me the Medi- terranean order-books, Mr. Tucker "; and reissued every one that related to discipline. Ile also drew up some others regulating the conduct of the blockade, which were not a shade more palateable ; for one directed the fleet to tack in the night, and he compelled all the Captains to be on deck during the ope- ration. Great irregularities had formerly prevailed when gales of wind compelled the fleet to take shelter in the English ports, or ships went home to refit : nor could his presence entirely check neglect by the officers,—such as an Admiral being left behind after going to an inland ball, as he privately wrote to the Secretary of the Admiralty.

The veteran had now before him a scene entirely new to his previous habits of life, but from which he did not shrink ; though his process of cleansing the Augean stable of naval corruption par- took more of the nature of the quarter-deck than of the bureau. To enter satisfactorily into the condition of the Navy at that time, would require a volume,—as, indeed, twelve volumes have been issued by Lord ST. VINCENT'S Parliamentary Commission upon the subject. Neither has Mr. TUCKER dealt very fully with this im- portant point in his hero's career. We shall therefore do no more than we did in the case of the Mediterranean command—endeavour to convey an inkling of the subject. As regards the workmen and subordinate officers in the Dock- yards, and what may be termed the regulations of the service, Lord ST. VINCENT felt his power sufficient, and permitted no opposition to it. The resistance of the superior officers, the different Boards, and the contractors really connected therewith, he doubted whether be could overcome, till an exposure of the gross corruption roused public opinion. He accordingly resolved to institute a Commission under an act of Parliament, with the fullest powers of investigation, and with men whose names should be enumerated in the act, and immoveable by any Ministry. At this proposition the ADDINGTON Cabinet started; but in vain.

"On purpose to hear the fate of the proposition, the Secretary had the ho- nour of dining with his Lordship on the day it was submitted to the Cabinet. Lord St. Vincent's looks, manners, tones, all indicated that something had gone very much amiss. The Secretary awaited silently. But after dinner, when the gentlemen were about to join the ladies—' Tucker, stay ! ' and then, 'Ex- cepting the Lord Chancellor, the whole Cabinet has mutinied today! My Com- mission is rejected. But,' bending his fist, while his countenance personified his invincible firmness, we'll read them a lesson out of the Articles of War tomorrow, Sir!' And then he related the opposition he had met with : nor Would be again sit on the Ministerial bench in the House of Lords till he had carried his point.

This Commission exposed, in twelve Reports, the whole system

of Navy corruption • furnishing the information which caused Lord MELVILLE'S impeachment, and eventually improving if not reform- ing the Naval administration. How much it needed improve- ment, may be indicated by a few passages.

LESSER ROGUES.

Whole classes of men were entered and borne upon the books of the ships in ordinary, and at the very same time on those of the receiving-hulks, thus re- ceiving double pay and provisions : others were certified to have for years done usual, even extra duty in the ordinary, while, on their own application to be absent, as if on service, they had all along plied in their own skiffs, as water, for hire. Here a favourite man was for several years certified to have rendered extra labour the whole of every day, and to have been a vigilant watchman the whole of every night, without a single interruption, and was paid accord- ingly ; there, the only duty to earn an annual salary, required of a said-to-be "good man," was to appear at church on Sundays. In most of the yards the identically same items of work were, at different periods, repeatedly charged, and paid for orer and over and over again. The greater part of the artificers in all the yards being employed by the job, in none was there any attention to the notes of the work performed ; rarely were the notes themselves made ; and if made, often destroyed. Though the men were paid on the principle of task- employ, no single instance could be found of the comparison of the quantum of labour rendered with the money demanded having been an ingredient in the calculation of wages. In one rope-yard the men were all paid extra for what was only three hours' labour; in another, the inspecting Lords of the Admi- ralty found it necessary to superannuate a whole class of artificers who, up to that very day, had been stated to perform extra duty. One yard let all its men out every day at eleven and four, for, it was said, a quarter of an hour ; but never were they mustered on their return. In another, out of three hundred and thirteen working-days in the year, in only sixty-four was there any muster observed; in a third, the artificers of a whole and that a large class were never mustered at all.

TIMBER DOING!.

The timber then supplied to the Royal Yards was either of British growth, admitted to he the best, or of foreign, coming mostly from Northern soils, as Stetin, Holstein, &c., which was much more perishable. It is difficult to say of which description the supply exhibited the greatest negligence. For, pending such distress in the yards for the material, the Purveyor of the Royal Forests complained of trees decaying because not felled ; and many private offers of our native timber, although of line-of-battle-ship measurement, were rejected ; some because " not in sufficient quantities," others because it "would not be wanted that year"; while as to that which the Royal Forests did contribute, for sixteen years the statement of the supply, to enable a comparison of the quantity delivered with the sum paid to the Land .revenue for it, was totally ne- glected. One receiver chipped off the mark designating the lot as come from the Royal Forests, and then represented it as the supply of foreign oak, for which his son was the contractor. On detecting this rogue, Lord St. Vincent ordered him to be indicted. The bill was found, but the accused absconded. Another of the clan hung himself shortly after his Lordship's visitation of the plundered yard. In good keeping with such proceedings, the chief supplies for which contracts had been made were for the Northern oak, so spongy, porous, and perishable; thus, that when at last some timber-masters were appointed, their first duty was to report the defective state and deficient quantity of the stock they found ; while sbipwright-officers as loudly remonstrated against the use- lessness of that of which they were ordered to construct ; and, to crown the whole, it was proved that a receiving-officer had been for years the paid agent of the merchant-suppliers.

Yet was all this but a portion of the evil. The conversion of what was used was with a negligence causing still more lavish extravagance. The first piece of timber that lay at hand, even of an entire tree, however large, however costly, was thoughtlessly appropriated to the manufacture of whatever article however small, however trifling; and this with a recklessness and destruction which would now-a-days be absolutely incredible. Equally improvident was the restriction of the contracts to those for timber of cubic measurement only fit for the construction of line-of-battle-ships, since to all ships of smaller size timber applicable to the largest was thus unavoidably converted. The con- sumption of material which this caused will hardly be believed; but a sample is offered from the official returns. In building the Royal Charlotte yacht, of the size of a then small sloop, three hundred and thirty-one loads of timber, fit for line-of-battle-ships, were absorbed; but of these three hundred and thirty-one loads only eighty-three could, by measurement, be found in the yacht herself.

Mr. TUCKER is so polite as to say that such things could not occur now. Possibly not in this form ; but the late inquiry into the Customhouse frauds, stifled as it was, shows quite as much negligence and corruption, according to the Customhouse ways and means. Unluckily, our First Lord of the Treasury is not a ST. VINCENT, or any thing like him.

The reader will have observed, that there was much of force and

something of neatness and humour in the composition of Lord Si'. VINCENT: but his variety, flexibility, good sense, and plainness without harshness, can only be apprehended by a perusal of his replies to the different applications for promotion during his reign at the Admiralty. WELLINGTON is as direct and clinching ; but there is a causticity—a growing causticity, about his style, which not only gives offence, but seems designed to give it. From this, Sr. VINCENT'S heart and good-nature preserved him, even in his gruffest moods. We take a few samples, though of the shortest.

"To the Right Honourable Sir Charles Grey, KB.

Admiralty, 28th March 1801.

"My dear Sir Charles—Lieutenant has been playing a game to get to Ireland, which haslowered him very much in my opinion. He is brave and enterprising; but, like the rest of the aristocracy, thinks he has, from that cir- cumstance, a right to promotion in prejudice of men of better services and supe- rior merit ; which I never will submit to. Having refused the Prince of Wales, Duke of Clarence, Duke of Kent, and Duke of Cumberland, you will not be surprised that I repeat the impossibility of departing from my principle, which would let in such an inundation upon me as would tend to complete the ruin of the Navy."

"To Mrs. Montagu.

.• Admiralty. 6th April NAL

"My dear Madam—From the incredible number of meritorious Captains

and Commanders I have found without employment, I have been under the painful necessity of putting a total stop to promotion to either of those ranks ; and I see no prospect of my being able to relax an iota on this subject. The officers of the Ville de Paris remain as they did when I left her ; and my own nephew, Commander of the Stork sloop, who is reputed an officer of uncommon merit and acquirements, stands as he did before I came Into office ; and I have refused to promote at the request of four Princes of the Blood. Having said thus much, I am sure you will not charge me with neglecting you, Madam, for

whoMI entertain the highest respect ; and shall be proud of any occasion to "prove with how much regard I am, my dear Madam, your truly affectionate

"Sr. VINCENT."

" To IL R. H. the Duke of York.

" Admiralty, 3d November 1801. !4 Sir—I have had the honour to receive your Royal Highness's letter of the 30th of last month, with the memorial of Captain Woodriffe ; and I have the mortification of being reduced to the necessity of informing your Royal High- ness that it is out of my power to obey yourcommands in favour of that officer, witliOut exposing myself to a considerable degree of difficulty and embarrass- ment.

" Since I have been at the head of this department, I have resisted almost every claim that has been brought forward for promotion, excepting in cases wherein officers have particularly distinguished themselves in action; and, how- ever favourably I may be inclined to consider the merits of Captain Woodriffe, noticed as he has been by your Royal Highness, yet I find there are so many claims for promotion from many meritorious officers remaining unattended to, that were I to promote Captain Woodriffe, I could not avoid giving promotion to several others, which it is impossible for me to do at this moment. Thus circumstanced, I must lay myself at your Royal Highness's feet, trusting that this explanation will obtain the forgiveness of your Royal Highness for not paying (at least immediate) obedience to your commands.

" I have the honour to be, with very high respect, your Royal Highness's -very obedient, &c. &c. Sr. VINCENT." "To Mrs.

"nth March 1802.

"Madam—Although I cannot admit the force of your argument in favour

of Captain , there is something so amiable and laudable in a sister con- tending fur the promotion of her brother, that no apology was necessary for your letter of the 24th; which I lose no time in acknowledging: I am, Madam, &c. ST. VINCENT."

When PITT thought the time was come to turn out SIDMOUTH, Lord ST. VINCENT of course went out with him. The Heaven- born Minister subsequently wished him to reassume the command of the Channel fleet : but the sophist had lectured HANNIBAL on the art of war—moved resolutions condemnatory of the Admiralty administration, especially the plan of resisting NAPOLEON'S gun- boats. The resolutions were rejected; but the veteran was not placable, and refused the offer, in "language sufficiently unceremo- nious and decisive." He, however, accepted the command under the GRENVILLE Administration, (" All the Talents") ; and also com- manded the first squadron that sailed to Portugal to bring away the Royal Family, had events required it. According to Lord BROUG- HAM, he had formed a plan, apparently derived from the seizure of MONTEZUMA by CORTES, which was exceedingly happy, and, though exposing himself to danger, required no military force, and appeared -certain of success.

With this command the long nautical career of Lord ST. VINCENT may be said to have closed. He went out of office with the Whigs, but continued his attention to public affairs to the very last. As long as his state of health permitted, he attended the House of Lords; when it did not, his proxy was in the hands of Earl GREY or Lord GitErivir-LE. He was found in opposition to the Corn- bill, to the large Peace-establishment, and to the doings contempo- raneous with the Manchester massacre ; and went down on the Catholic question even when his infirmities compelled him to speak sitting, and wear a cap to protect his head from cold. Considering his early hardships, his severe exertions, and his length of years, he must, however, be held to have enjoyed a green old age. From the time he commanded the Channel fleet be had been afflicted with an habitual cough, which troubled him much in bad weather ; and latterly his step grew tottering. But he enjoyed his friends to the last. The day before his death, he talked and laughed over old times with his former secretary, Mr. TUCKER, and played a rubber in the evening. The excitement of the day is thought to have hastened his death,—as if excite- ment need be added to long-standing , disease'. and a eighty-eight _years. But though' his night had been restless; he was still.alive. The newspaper was read • to him : he inquired about Greece, and remarked on the circumstances connected with the Bourbon in- vasion of Spain. He then dazed a little '; but waking up, remarked, "What a convulsed state the world is in ! "...He inquired about the popular reception of the Duke of Loam4zo.., the representative of the Spanish Cones in London ; and, hearing it was favourable, his countenance brightened for the last time.

" After that, he lay in silent exhaustion for two hours ; during which time the bystanders of his bed were, his old Captain, Sir George Grey, the affection- ate Dr. Baird, and the heart-broken S.cretary, the witnesses of his greatest -energies, the objects of his uninterruptcd countenance and kindness. About .balf-past eight, his extremities were notictil to have become cold and clammy; exertion in breathing then gradually increased to a Libour beyond his strength; and, at last, without a sigh or groan, but with merely an effort similar to a suppressed sneeze, he expired." [On the 13th March 1823; in the eighty- ninth year of his age.] Of all the public characters of later days, Lord ST. VINCENT wg the most complete and sturdy Englishman ; and probably he hitt more of the heart of oak than any man in our annals. All his characteristics belonged to this class : a robust and massy frame, a broad and beaming countenance, powerful and stern yet kindly in its expression ; great energy and decision, indefatigable industry, and a total disregard for comfort or life in comparison with duty ; a free and open hand, with a careful parsimony ; great contempt for pomp and pretence, yet a scrupulous and even prejudiced observer of accustomed forms either in business or society ; an extreme lover a popular freellom, a strong stickler for constitutional rights, no great respecter of an aristocracy, and yet devoutly loyal... Men of this sturdy stamp, whether at the head of a fleet or the tail, of a plough, always seem hard to bystanders, and are hard to the slothful and the skulker, or even the unzealous • but there is often, under their outward rigidity, much of real tenderness' to real in- capability or infirmity. In judging of Lord Sr. VINCENT'S discipline, and of the prompt measures by which he enforced it, regard must

be had to the political,,circumstaneeti,of the,time, the character of the age, and of the men he bad to, command; for it seems evident that many officers in ':the Navy were, just' as unprofessional as

WELLINGTON found them. in the Peninsula army. ", With NELSON, COLLINGWOOD, TROUDRIDGE, and other captains' of that .class, though he met them for the first time in the Mediterranean and formed their school, he was not only popular but beloved.. it was something the same in private life : when he put on his quarter deck manner he could at once silence the free or obtrusive; ut among his intimates he was pleasant ; and was always playful with children. There was often, however, something hard in his jests : he was of the old school of jokers, and did not think of the passing discomfort of his subject if all was to come right at the end.

His prejudices and failings were equally English. He had the national and nautical horror of standing armies. On the peace, he drew up a proposal of reduction that would have delighted JOSEPEE HUME ; and to such a length did he carry his sturdy persistence in his views, that when the United Service Club applied to him, through Lord LYNEDOCH, to join the society, he refused, think- ing the " congtegation" of so many military men unconstitu- tional: and, though the objection seems idle to modern manners and practice, in principle the octogenarian was not so wrong. Hay- ing had so much to do with mutiny where Irish objects and persons were the moving power, he had no particular love for the natives of Ireland ; and some authority had told him that Scotehmen, when bad, were worse than Irishmen. His French prejudices do not seem to have been so strong as NELSON'S; perhaps from his more ripened mind and better acquaintance with France. His early struggles had rendered him careful never to exceed his income for any private purposes whatsoever. Beyond this, he had the sailor-like aversion to accounts ; and once sent for Mr: TUCKER to consult on selling land to raise a sum of money, when it turned out he had a balance of several thousand pounds at his banker's.

A spendthrift was his abhorrence ; and his own youthful prudence indisposed him to make any allowance for young officers who con- tracted debts. He was not rich, but his plain mode of living generally left him money at his disposal. He subscribed liberally for public charities ; and when he heard that DIDDIN was in dis- tress, he sent hint a hundred pounds. "It would indeed be a shame, Tucker," he said, "that the man who has wiled away the mid-watch and softened the hardships of war should be in need, whilst a seaman enjoys an abundance." His preparatory schooling for the bar, though ended so soon, seems to have given him a better education than falls to the lot of nautical men in general ; and he always studied, or at least read, in his leisure-time. ' Ills acquirements, however, are not displayed, but rather shown in their effects upon his style and cast of thought. It is only by an allusion here and there that any one

could directly tell. he had read at all ; but when these allusions occur, they are apt to the occasion, and indicate a keen per-

ception of the characteristic points both of nature and the author. In composing he is said to have rivalled CJESAR, having been able to write a secret despatch and dictate to two secretaries at the same time,—a thing we should have doubted, 'from the closeness and point of his style, except in his public despatches. . ,

The position of Mr. TUCKER has placed him' in possession of the public- correspondence and professional muniments' of Lord ST. VINCENT; and the family have added to these stores private letters and private anecdotes, in addition, to what his father had preserved. His volumes, therefore, are full of valuable and interest- ing matter... But the work is unequal to the subject. It is not that the Memoirs are unreadable, for they are quite the contrary; or that Mr. TUCKER writes badly, (beyond a garrulous diffuseness of style) : but he does not seem confident in his own capacity to judge of his hero, or to do justice to his theme ; and his arrange- ment is faulty, not merely in introducing foreign or subordinate matters, which encumber the principal points instead of developing them, but in jumbling the correspondence and documents together at the end of each chapter to which they chronologically refer. Should a second edition be called for, we would recommend a vigorous condensation of the Memoirs, interweaving such letters as are biographical or of personal compliment ; a more historical view of the Mediterranean command and the Admiralty administration, in the shape of distinct episodes; with a fuller selection from the St. Vincent papers as a supplement, arranged under the two heads of Private Correspondence and Professional Documents. We should then have another standard nautical work, and a more complete monument of an English " worthy," whose like, take him for all in all, the world cannot look upon again. More amiable heroes, officers of more dashing enterprise or with a more chivalrous spirit, and captains with a profounder or more comprehensive policy on the grandest scale, may probably arise ; but the age and the manners have passed away that produced Join( Earl of Sr. VINCENT.