BOOK necessary to prevent the junction of the forces of XXI. Clairfait and Wurmser, now marching to the re1795. lief of Mentz, were over-powered and compelled to retreat with precipitation to Manheim; and Jourdain, thus deprived of the expected co-operation of Pichegru, found his position no longer tenable. The Austrians also, by an attack on neutral territory, had taken part of his heavy artillery: the French general was therefore obliged to raise the siege, and he repassed the Rhine at Dusseldorf, much harassed by general Clairfait in his retreat. The Austrians even pursued the enemy across the river, and beat up the quarters of the French, spreading terror over the country as far as Lux emburg. General Wurmser, on the other side, proceeded to the attack of Manheim; and in revenge for the too easy surrender of this place to the French by the elector, who was anxious for its preservation, the Austrians immediately began a bombardment, which in a short time destroyed the principal buildings, public and private, of that beautiful city, reducing it to a scene of horrid desolation; and of these smoking ruins, once Manheim, the besiegers, after making the usual regular approaches, had the satisfaction to become masters, the garrison surrendering themselves prisoners of war. Various indecisive encounters ensued between the different armies F XXI. during the remainder of this campaign, which BOOK was at length terminated by an armistice of three months, a measure never tolerated by the 1795. committees of the Convention under its former Jacobin chiefs, but now agreed upon by the generals, and ratified by the respective belligerent powers. gagement off Corsica The marine of France being extremely re- Naval enduced by the disasters of the war, the naval the coast of transactions of the present summer, owing to the continued caution of the enemy, are not very interesting or memorable. In the month of March an engagement took place in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Corsica, between two squadrons of nearly equal force, commanded by the admirals Hotham and Richery, which terminated honorably for the English. The Ca-Ira of eighty, and the Censeur of seventy-four guns, struck to the British flag: but on the other hand the French captured the Berwick, of seventy-four guns, on her way to join the fleet; and the Illustrious, of the same rate, being much damaged in the fight, was driven, on shore, and lost near Avenza. Soon after. this, another partial action took place near St. Fiorenzo, and the Alcide, a French ship of the line, struck her colors; but, from some fatal accident, blew up before she could be taken possession of by the English. 1 XXI. Skilful retreat of ad. wallis. BOOK The very skilful and gallant retreat of admiral Cornwallis, with a small squadron of five ships of 1795. the line, from a far superior force, is not undeserving of historic mention. The admiral had miral Corn- been for some weeks cruizing off Belleisle, where he made some valuable mercantile captures; but on the 16th of June, standing in with the land near the Penmarks, the Phaëton frigate made a signal for an enemy's fleet, consisting of no less than thirteen line-of-battle ships. At nine the next morning the French began the attack, which was vigorously repelled by the English, who kept up a running fight the whole day, with out suffering the enemy to gain the least advantage. At length, by a well-timed and happy deception, signals were thrown out, by the repeating-frigate, that a superior British fleet was in sight, on which the assailants thought it most prudent to sheer off. French lord Brid port. But on the 23d of the same month the French squadron squadron actually fell in with a superior fleet, defeated by under lord Bridport, off pört L'Orient. The engagement began early in the morning, and lasted till three in the afternoon, by which time three capital ships had struck their colors. The rest of the squadron, keeping close in shore, escaped into L'Orient. On the other hand, the French made, in the month of October, a capture of thirty merchantmen from the Mediter XXI. ranean and Levant, with a ship of the line, con- BOOK stituting part of the convoy. The islands Lucia re the French. In the West Indies, notwithstanding the dis- 1795. parity of naval force, the French, after recovering of St. Eusta the whole of Guadaloupe, attacked with success tius and St. the fort of Tiburon in St. Domingo, and made covered by themselves masters of St. Eustatius. Their bold and restless leader, Victor Hugues, found means to excite such dangerous insurrections of the ne groes and people of color in the English islands, that to attempt any other than defensive measures seemed wholly impracticable. St. Lucia, after a violent and bloody conflict with the insurgents, was reluctantly evacuated by the governorgeneral, Stewart; and Grenada, Dominique, and St. Vincent's, were preserved with great difficulty. Those whom the sword spared were taken off by the ravages of the yellow fever-a species of pestilential disorder which now for the first time appeared, at least in its present dreadful form, in those baneful climes; and the West Indies proved, as usual, the grave of the Europeans who were destined to that fatal service. the Maroons A war, originating in an accidental and trivial War against cause, was also commenced, on the part of the in Jamaica. English government in Jamaica, against the Maroon Indians, a free nation inhabiting a mountainous tract in the interior of the island. As they were justly deemed very hostile and XXI. BOOK dangerous neighbours, the war was conducted in the dreadful spirit of extermination; and a new 1795. species of warfare, new at least to England, was resorted to by the governor, lord Balcarras, who sent to Cuba for a corps of Spanish chasseurs, with blood-hounds, to be employed in the pursuit and detection of these wild Indians in their secret haunts; and the miserable remains of whom were, in the result, transported across the ocean to perish in the lands provided for them, amid the frozen wastes of Upper Canada. In the month of October 1794, in consequence of the rapid progress of the French arms, an urgent application had been made by the Dutch merchants to the British minister for leave to deposit their treasure and stores in England, without paying the duty ad valorem at the Custom-house. But Mr. Pitt replied, "That he could not con'sent to relax the revenue laws in this instance, since it would only serve to propagate in this country the groundless and chimerical apprehensions entertained in Holland." On the 16th of January following, nevertheless, a royal proclamation was issued, permitting all goods, wares, merchandize, &c. belonging to the inhabitants of the United Provinces, to be landed in any of the ports of Great Britain, and to be secured in the warehouses of his majesty, &c. But the time was now past; the French were in possession |