for the unhappy wretches about to suffer No great while, however, was granted for the indulgence of such thoughts. The captain, unfolding a roll of paper which he held in his hand, read aloud the proceedings of the court-martial, which sentenced the prisoners before him to suffer death, and having stated that the sentence in question received the approbation of the admiral on the station, he silently motioned to the culprits that their hour was come. I cannot pretend to convey to my reader any notion of the expression which passed across the poor men's countenances whilst these preliminaries went on. They were both deadly pale; the limbs of one, too, appeared to totter under him; but neither of them spoke a word. They seemed, indeed, especially one of them, as men may be supposed to feel, if indeed they feel at all, on whose heads a heavy stunning blow has fallen, for they suffered themselves to be led back towards the fatal noose without uttering one exclamation, or offering the slightest resistance. Their lips moved, however, though whether in prayer or execration I cannot tell; and one raised his manacled hands with great apparent energy to his breast. But the struggle was soon over. The chains were struck from their legs, which were bound about at the ancle and thigh with cords; their hands loosened from the hand-cuffs, were pinioned behind them, and a white night-cap being drawn over each of their faces, they were placed upright, with their fronts towards the mast. Then was the noose silently cast on their necks, and a signal being given by the first lieu- | tenant, about twenty stout fellows seized each of the ropes. One instant's, and only one instant's pause occurred, for the boatswain piping "hoist away," the executioners ran with all speed towards the poop; and the unfortunate culprits, hurried aloft with the rapidity of thought, died in an instant. I forced myself to gaze steadfastly upon the whole proceeding, and I can vouch, that not so much as a quiver, or motion of the limb, gave evidence of suffering; it seemed to me to be the most humane execution which I had ever witnessed. And now all was over. The sailors returned to their berths, and we to our transport; whilst the bodies of the deserters were left to swing in the air till sunset. NAPOLEON'S REFLECTIONS ON THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. The following conversation respecting this famous battle and its consequences, passed between the unfortunate Emperor and Dr. O'Meara, soon after his arrival in the island of St. Helena. 66 "If you had lost the battle of Waterloo," said Napoleon," what a state would England have been in. The flower of your youth would have been destroyed; for not a man, not even Lord Wellington, would have escaped." I observed here that Lord Wellington had determined never to leave the field alive. Napoleon replied, "he could not retreat. He would have been destroyed with his army, if instead of the Prussians, Grouchy had come up." I asked him if he had not believed for some time that the Prussians who had shown themselves, were a part of Grouchy's corps. He replied, Certainly; and I can now scarcely comprehend why it was a Prussian division and not that of Grouchy." I then took the liberty of asking whether, if neither Grouchy nor the Prussians had arrived, it would have been a drawn battle. Napoleon answered, "The English army would have been destroyed. They were defeated at mid-day. But accident, or more likely destiny, decided that Lord Wellington should gain it. I could scarcely believe that he would have given me battle; because, if he had retreated to Antwerp, as he ought to have done, I must have been overwhelmed by the armies of three or four hundred thousand men that were coming against me. giving me battle, there was a chance for me. It was the greatest folly to disunite the English and Prussian armies. They ought to have been united; and I cannot conceive the reason of their separation. It was folly in Wellington to give me battle in a place, where, if defeated, all must have been lost, for he could not retreat. There was a wood in his rear, and but one road to gain it. He would have been destroyed. Moreover, he allowed himself to be surprised by me. was a great fault. He ought to have been encamped from the beginning of June, as he must have known that I intended to attack him. He might have lost every thing. But he has been fortunate; his destiny has prevailed; and every thing he did will meet with ap By This and destroy the English army. This I knew would produce an immediate change of ministry. The indignation against them for having caused the loss of forty thousand of the flower of the English army would have excited such a popular feeling that they would have been turned out. The people would have said, What is it to us who is on the throne of France, Louis or Napoleon; are we to sacrifice all our blood in endeavours to place on the throne a detested family? No, we have suffered enough. It is no affair of ours; let them settle it among themselves. They would have made peace. The Saxons, Bavarians, Belgians, and Wirtemburghers, would have joined The coalition was nothing without The Russians would have made peace, and I should have been quietly seated on the throne. Peace would have been permanent, as what could France do after the treaty of Paris? What was to be feared from her? plause. My intentions were to attack | instinct of personal courage; and, charging at their head, have exposed himself in the thickest of the ranks with the greatest gallantry and boldness. But in the other case, he had to manœuvre four or five unwieldy ships, to guide a complicated mechanical operation, to prevent their running ashore, to come up to the point of action, and all this nautical calculation and process of abstraction threw a damp upon his natural ardour, and held his judgment in suspense. Now, the Englishman's head is essentially mechanical, and his will acts upon the decision of the understanding. When a Frenchman, on the contrary, has to act from foresight and combination, he forgets the end in the means, and is either rash and flighty, or formal and pedantic. So much for the naval commander. Again, with respect to those under his command, the courage of the French is in the attack, or in venturing upon danger; the courage of our sailor is chiefly in defence, or in holding out against it. Except in the "These," continued Napoleon, "were case of boarding a vessel, he cannot get my reasons for attacking the English. I at his enemy or intimidate him either by had beaten the Prussians. Before twelve gallant bearing or by personal prowess, o'clock, I had succeeded. Every thing he merely mans his own guns, and stands was mine, I may say, but accident and the fire of the enemy's battery with resodestiny decided it otherwise. The Eng-lution and presence of mind; and cerlish fought most bravely, doubtless; nobody can deny it. But they must have been destroyed.” me. England. On another occasion, the Emperor Napoleon, alluding to this fatal battle, exclaimed to Count Las Cases, "Ah! unfortunate army! brave men! You never fought better !". Then after pausing a few moments, he added in a tone expressive of deep feeling :-"We had some great poltroons amongst us! May Heaven forgive them! But as to France, will SHE ever surmount the effects of that ill-fated day!" FRENCH AND ENGLISH COURAGE. The French are undoubtedly brave, but their bravery seems to be an affair of impulse; they do not stop to calculate consequences, but yield to their national ardour and impetuosity, and rush at once on danger and the foe. Had Villeneuve had to lead a battalion of cavalry to the field, there is little doubt he would have been withheld by no considerations of prudence or punctilio from obeying the tainly in this, which may be called the passive part of courage, the English sailor bears the bell alone. It is bred in his blood and in his bone. He endures pain and wounds without flinching, and he will sooner be cut in pieces than he will give in. A bullet whizzing by makes him recollect himself; a splinter that stuns him brings him to his senses; the smart of his wound sharpens his courage, and all that damps and startles others rivet him to his post. The British tar feels conscious of his existence in suffering and anguish, and woos danger as a bride. There is something in this Saxon breed of men, like the courage.and resolution of the mastiff, that only comes out on such occasions. There is something in his soul that struggles with his fate, and seeks to throw off the load that oppresses it, and stakes its all on one hour of heroic daring or unshaken fortitude; and shut out from effeminate delights, takes a pride in the extreme of pain, stands by his country, the only thing on which he values himself, to his latest breath, and ends a life of danger and peril in honour and glory. The wooden walls of Old England are nothing but this hard, determined character, that melts and expands in the heat of battle as in a summer's day, that welcomes a cannon-ball as an even match, feels the first flush of triumph with the last gush of life, and is quits with the world by the shout of victory and death! The difference then of the French and English navy depends on the character of the two nations, and this will change when the bull-dog changes nature with the greyhound. It has been said that the great error of the French (in which they persist in spite of experience) is in firing at the rigging, instead of the decks; but this is only another example of what has been said before, of being attached to a theory or a whim, instead of minding the main chance. WAR CRIES. It was formerly the custom of almost every nation, when joining in battle, to begin the attack with loud shouts, called cries of war, or of arms; these shouts were intended to terrify the enemy, to occupy the soldiers, and prevent them from hearing the shouts of their opponents. Froissart says, that "at the battle of Cressy, fifteen thousand Genoese archers began to yell in a most frightful manner, to terrify the English." In these cries, every nation, and almost every leader, had their peculiar word or sentence, which also served as a kind of watch-word to distinguish friends from foes; cries of arms were likewise used to rally broken squadrons, especially when their banner was in danger. The ancient English cry was St. George; this was in such estimation, that a military writer, (Davis) in the beginning of the seventeenth century, inserts the observance of it among the military laws, to the observance of which he would have all soldiers sworn. "Item," says he," that all soldiers entering into battle, assault, skirmish, or other action of arms, shall have for their common cry and word, "St. George! St. George! forward, or upon them, St. George!' whereby the soldier is much comforted, and the enemy dismayed, by calling to mind the ancient valour of England, which with that name had been so often victorious; therefore he that shall maliciously omit it, shall be punished for his obstinacie." Although the cry of St. George has been long disused, war-cries are still kept up among the English sailors, who constantly accompany their first broadside with three huzzas, styled by them three cheers; and some modern military officers, particularly General Wolfe, recommended, on charging the enemy with fixed bayonets, to give a loud war-like shout. Sir James Ware says, the ancient Irish war-cry was farrah! farrah! In after-ages, each clan made use of a different war-cry, most of them terminating in the word Aboe, derived from an obsolete Irish expression, signifying cause or business. The war-cry of the Spaniards was A mat, that of the French, Mont joye St. Dennis; but at present the latter, in assaults of the covered way, or any other attack, cry, Tue, tue. FAIR PLAY. St. Fernando de Omao, in the year 1780, In the attack on the strong fortress of an English sailor who had scrambled singly over the wall, had, for the better armed himself with a cutlass in each annoyance of the enemy on all sides, hand. Thus equipped, he fell in with a Spanish officer just roused from sleep, who, in the hurry and confusion, had restrained the fury of the British tar, who forgotten his sword. This circumstance disdaining to attack an unarmed foe, but unwilling to relinquish so happy an opportunity of displaying his courage in single combat, presented one of the cutlasses to him, saying, "I scorn any adVantage, you are now upon an equal the officer at such an act of generosity, footing with me." The astonishment of and the facility with which a friendly parley took place, when he expected nothing else from the uncouth and hostile appearance of his foe than being cut into pieces instantly, and without mercy, could only relation of the story excited in his counbe rivalled by the admiration which his trymen. London:-Printed by JOSEPH LAST, 3, Edwardstreet, Hampstead-road; and published by W. M. CLARK, 19, Warwick-lane, Paternosterrow; J. PATTIE, 17, High-street, Bloomsbury, and may be had, by order, of all Booksellers in town and country. DURING the summer of 1807, a very formidable expedition was assembled at Yarmouth; the object of which was, to secure the Danish fleet, at Copenhagen, and to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French. Upwards of eighty ships were collected, and all the transports had as many flat-bottomed boats on board as they could stow. About 20,000 troops were also embarked, under the command of Lord Cathcart. The naval part of the service was placed under Admiral Gambier, Vice Admiral Stanhope, Rear Admiral Essington, Sir Home Popham, (captain of the fleet) Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, and Commodore Keats. The force sailed from Yarmouth towards the latter end of July, and had assembled off Elsineur, on the 12th of VOL. I. August. Every disposition was made for disembarking the army; but, the wind not allowing the transports to move towards Copenhagen, it was not until the evening of the 15th, that they arrived off Wibeck, a village situated about midway between Elsineur and Copenhagen, where, on the following morning, the army was disembarked without the slightest opposition. Previously to this, however, at an interview with the Prince Royal of Denmark, Mr. Jackson, the English envoy, had requested to be informed, whether the Danish government intended to declare for, or against England; because in the present system of violent measures adopted on the Continent, the neutrality of Denmark could no longer be aowledged. His Royal Highness made this reply:-"I will consider any 2 G power as an enemy, which shall en- | pledge has been offered to your governdeavour to make me depart from my neutrality." And having thus delivered his sentiments, the Prince immediately set off from Kiel for Copenhagen, where he arrived on the 11th of August. It appears that our admiral waited the result of Mr. Jackson's mission before he commenced his operations. No sooner had the landing of the troops been effected, than the British commanders issued the following proclamation : "Whereas the present treaties of peace, and the changes of government, and of territory acceded to, and by so many foreign powers, have so far increased the influence of France on the continent of Europe, as to render it impossible for Denmark, though it desires to be neutral, to preserve its neutrality, and absolutely necessary for those who continue to resist the French aggression, to take measures to prevent the arms of a neutral power from being turned against them. In this view the king cannot regard the present position of Denmark with indifference; and his majesty has sent negotiators with ample powers to his Danish majesty, to request, in the most amicable manner, such explanations as the times require, and a concurrence in such measures as can alone give security against the further mischief which the French meditate through the acquisition of the Danish navy. "The King, our royal and most generous master, has therefore judged it expedient to desire the temporary deposit of the Danish ships of the line in one of his majesty's ports. "This deposit seems to be so just, and indispensably necessary under the relative circumstances of the neutral and belligerent powers, that his majesty has further deemed it a duty to himself and to his people, to support his demand by a powerful fleet, and by an army amply supplied with every preparation necessary for the most determined and active enterprize. "We come, therefore, to your shores, inhabitants of Zealand, not as enemies, but in self-defence, to prevent those who have so long disturbed the peace of Europe from compelling the force of your navy to be turned against us. "We ask deposit, we have not looked to capture; so far from it, the most solemn ment, and is hereby renewed, in the name, and at the express command, of the king our master, that if our demand is amicably acceded to, every ship belonging to Denmark shall, at the conclusion of a general peace, be restored to her in the same condition and state of equipment as when received under the protection of the British flag. It is in the power of your government, by a word, to sheath our swords, most reluctantly drawn against you; but if, on the other hand, the machinations of France render you deaf to the voice of reason, and to the call of friendship, the innocent blood that will be spilt, and the horrors of a besieged and bombarded capital, must fall on your own heads, and on those of your cruel advisers. "His majesty's seamen and soldiers, when on shore, will treat Zealand, as long as your conduct to them permits it, on the footing of a province of the most friendly power in alliance with Great Britain, whose territory has the misfortune to be the theatre of war. "The persons of all those who remain at home, and who do not take a hostile part, will be held sacred. Property will be respected and preserved, and the most severe discipline will be enforced. "Every article of supply furnished or brought to market will be paid for at a fair and settled price; but as immediate and constant supplies, especially of provisions, forage, fuel and transports, are necessary to all armies, it is well known that requisitions are unavoidable, and must be enforced. Much convenience must arise to the inhabitants, and much confusion and loss to them will be prevented, if persons in authority are found in the several districts to whom requisitions may be addressed, and through whom claims of payment may be settled and liquidated. "If such persons are appointed, and discharge their duty without meddling in matters which do not concern them, they shall be respected, and all requisitions shall be addressed to them through the proper channels and departments of the navy and army; but as forbearance on the part of the inhabitants is essential to the principal of these arrangements, it is necessary that all manner of civil persons should remain at their respective |