pgQ ' Warden^s Letters on Napoleon. 



«nce the cotirt of Vienna in favour of the justify him hi making the attempt 

 9oji-in-lBw?" "The court of Vienna'." 



tut 



tlie exclaimed, " O yes, yes : he )ms the 

 OHpacity to influence all the courts of 

 Jiurojie !— It" lie had but joiiitd the em- 

 Hpror, wc bhould at this instant have 

 been in Paris, and France would never 

 inore.have changed its piaster."-— Of this 

 njan's virtues I lieard no tulosiuni: but 

 you will now be a competent j'id(;e Ihmv 

 lys political talents wtre apprccia.ed in 

 Ihe French circle on board iJ»fc. North- 

 umberland. , . V 1. , 



INVASION or. tKCl-AhD* 



Every ^^\^e remeirtbers the ibreatened 

 invasion of England in 1805,, and the 

 various, conjectuies \ivhich were formed 

 pn thismomentiiua suhject. It vvasnot, 

 ^ccorriitis to tny recollection, by any 

 iiv'eans generally coniidered as practica- 

 tie ; nia did any very great apprehen- 

 sioiis prevail that it would be attempted. 

 l.wiJI, however, i;ive you my authority 

 fat the actual intention of carrying it in. 

 tq execution. Bonaparte p-tsitively avers 

 it. He says, that he had two hundred 

 thousand men on the coast of France 

 opposite to Enj^land ; and that it was his 

 determination to head them in person. 

 The attempt hencknow|edned to be very 

 hazardous, and the issue equally doubt- 

 fu|. His mind, however, was bent on 

 tl«e enterprize, and every possible ar- 

 rani^ement was made to give effect to its 

 operations. It was liinted to him, how- 

 ever, that his flotilla was altogether in- 

 sujffjcient, and that such a ship as the 

 l>Jorthumberland would run down fifty 

 of them. This he readily admitted: but 

 he stated that his plan was to rid the 

 Channel of English men-of-war ; and for 

 th;it purpose he had directed Admiral 

 Villeiieuve, with the combined fleets of 

 Tcance atid Spain, to sail apparently for 

 Martinique, for the express puiposo of 

 distrRctin)5 our naval f irce, by drawing 

 8t\er him a Uirge portion of, if not all, 

 out be&l ships. Other squadrons of ob- 

 geevation would follow; and England 

 p(ij{ht, by these manoeuvres, be leftsufii- 

 ciontly defenceless I'nr his purpose. 

 Admiral Villeneuve was direqied, on 

 gaining a certain latitude, to take a baf- 

 fling course back to Europe, and, having 

 eluded the vigilance af Nelson, to enter 

 the English Channel. The flotilla would 

 theJt have sallied forth from Ostend, 

 Dunkirk, Boulogne, and the sidjoining 

 ports. The intention was to have dashed 

 at the capital by the way of Chatliam. 

 He well knew, be added, that he should 

 liave had to encounter many difficulties: 

 tkfi ob]ect, bowevfirt was so great as to 



Villeneuve was met on liis return by. Sir 

 Koberi Calder ; and, having suSered-<t 

 defeat, look refuge in Ferrol. From 

 tliat harbour he was peremplorilj order* 

 e-d to sea, according to liis orii{iHal iu- 

 structions; but, contrary to their Jiiost 

 imperative and explicit mtent, he steered 

 bis course for Cadiz. '< lie might as 

 well," exclaimed Napoleon, raising ly* 

 voice, and increasing his impetuosiljTy 

 *',he niiiiht as well have gone to the East- 

 Iiuliej \" — Two days after Vijleneuve 

 liad quitted his ancliorage before C^diz, 

 a nava^ I'llicer arrived there to supersede 

 him. The glorious victory of Trafalgar 

 soon folioned, and the French admiral 

 died a few d.vys after his arrival iit 

 France: report says — by iiis,own hand. 



Ills MEDICAT. OFIMONS. 



Our great man seldom suffered a day 

 to pass without makiog particular en- 

 quiries respectiiig the health of. the crew; 

 ai)d the nature of such diseases m then 

 prevailed among them, with tbe par- 

 ticular mode of treatment. The com* 

 plaints then prevalent on board the Nur> 

 timmborland required a free use of th« . 

 lancer. We had a young, healthy, floritjl . 

 crew on our quitting England, with coU'^ 

 stitutiuns liable to be influenced with eiv* . 

 crease of temperature. He seemed t«* 

 entertain a very strong prejudice against 

 bleeding, which he called the Sangrado 

 practice ; nor did he fail to treat our Rm 

 conversations on the subject with a de- 

 gree of humour and pleasantry) wiiich 

 proved that the great events of his jife 

 had not driven from his recollection the 

 solemn sail i e ^f Le Sage. He urged the 

 propriety of sparing the precious fljid, 

 under an apprehension of its deficiency^ 

 when, as he conceived, t{je food <Mi board 

 a ship was not suQiciejitly nutritious^ t<^ 

 restore it. A Frencliman, he excjaimed* 

 would never submit to the discipline uf 

 the Spanikih doctor. And, on nry obq 

 secviog that tbe French did not eat quite; 

 so much beef as Englishmen ; he por 

 remptoriiy denied the fact:— "to the fuJt 

 as much," he said, •• but they cauk ic 

 difltrently."-— He was, however, open KM 

 convjction; and when he had been raadii'' 

 to understand the general health of our 

 fleet, and had witnessed the good eflects 

 of the practice which he had so forcibly 

 reprobated and ridiculed, lie no longer 

 ari;ucd against it; but always menlioned 

 it with some facetious observation. On 

 meeting me, he would apply his fingers 

 to the bend of the opposite arm^ «nd 

 ask — '' Well, how many have you bled 

 to-dayif" £^' Of did he fail to. e»d«tn» 



