624 
and exacted, tokens oft respect by: no 
means Confermable to. our.mauners; and 
which.ex cited .gencral. discontent.....'To 
de dressed ina frock, wear around_hat, 
or omit, to, alight, from.a carriage when 
the Czar, or, .oneof the princes of his 
house, was. passing. ia the streets. or 
public walks, was suflicicnt to excite 
his..strongest ,animadversions, and to 
stamp the ofeuder as a jacubin, in, his 
epinion,.. Aiter bis reconciliation with 
the first consul, he had partly given up 
some of these ideas; and it is probable 
that, had he lived some. years longer, 
he would bave regained the alienated 
esteem aud alfection of bis court. The 
English, vexed aud even extremely irri- 
tated at the altciauion which bad taken 
place in him in the course of a twelve- 
month, took every means of encoaraging 
his domestic enemies. They succeeded 
in causing a report of his maducss to be 
generally believed, and, at. length, a 
conspiiacy was formed against his life. 
The; general opinion is, that * * * 
es * % # * ® * * * 
The evening before his death, Pan, 
being, at supper with his mistress. and 
his, favourite, received a dispatch, in 
which. all the particulars of the plot 
agaiust Lim were disclosed; he put it 
into. his pocket, and deferred the pe- 
rusal to the next day. In the night he 
Was inurdered. 
This crime was perpetrated without 
impediment; P * ** * * * * had unli- 
maited influence in the palace; he passed 
for the sovereign’s favourite and confi- 
dential miaister.. He presented him- 
self,..at two, o'clock in the morning, 
at the «eor of the emperor’s apart- 
ment, ,accon:panied by B** * ** *#, 
S422 **,,and..0 *% **, A. faithful 
cossack, who was stationed at the door 
of, the ‘chamber,;. made seme, difficulty 
of aliowing ikem to enter; he was. in- 
stantly massacred. “Phe nvoise awakeued 
the emperor, who seized his sword; but 
the conspirators rushed, upon him, threw 
him down, and strangled him. Lt was 
B&****** who gave him, the last 
blow, and trampled on his corpse, . The 
empress, Paul's wife, although she had 
much reason to complain-of ber hus- 
band’s, gallaptries, testified deep and 
sincere ailliction ; and none of those who 
were engaged in this assassination, were 
ever restored 10 her,favour, «°°... « 
. . . . * . = abate 7 . . . ° 
wind ANPLAP AIA DS GAA TLDS MEMES TLC, 
General B * ** ** ** still held his com- 
mand. ay" 9 
Napoleon's History of France, 
most strict cliquctte at his ©Wn cotrt, 
oh geek navaL DEFEATS. 
(Our naval deteats are.to beattribotod 
to three causes: Ist, ‘Po irresolution 
and want of cnergy in the commanders- 
in-chicl; » 2dly,. To errors. im tagties : 
Sdly,. To want of experience aed au- 
tical knowledge in the captains of-ships, 
and. tothe opinion, these oflicers  byai- 
lain that they ought only io act.accord- 
ing to signals. Tie action off Ushant, 
those during the revolution in the ocean, 
and those in the Mediterranean in 1793 
and 1794, weve all lost through these 
different, causes... Admiral Villaret, 
though personally brave, was wanting 
in strength of mind, and was not even 
attached to the cause. for which he 
fought. Martin was a good ‘seaman, 
but a man of lifthe resolution, They 
were, moreover, both influenced by the 
representatives of the people, who, pos- 
sessing no experience, sanctioned erro- 
ncous operations, ics Sh aba 
The priuciple of making no move- 
ment, execpt according to signal from 
the admiral, is the more erroneous, be- 
cause it is always in the power of th 
captain of a ship to find reasons in jus- 
tification ,of bis failure to execute the 
signals made to him, In all theé’sci- | 
ences necessary to war, theory is useful 
for giving general ideas which form the 
mind; but their strict execution is al- 
ways dangerous; they are only axes by 
which curves. are to be traced. Be- 
sides, rules, themsclyes compel one to 
reason, in order to discover whether 
they ought to be departed from: 
Although ofien superior in force to 
the English, we vever knew how to 
attack them, and we allowed theirsqua- 
drons to escape whilst we were wasting 
time in useless manoeuvres. “The fitst 
law of maritime tactics ought to be, 
that as soon as the admiral’ has madé 
the signal that he means to attack, 
every captain shonld make the necés- 
sary movements for attacking one of the 
enemy’s ships, taking part i the acticn, 
aud supporting his neighbours.) ~°" 
This was latterly the principle of 
English tactics. Had it been adopted 
in France, Admiral’ Villeneuve would 
not have thought himself blameless at 
Aboukir, for remaining inaetive with 
five or six ships ; that is to say, with half 
the squadron, for twenty-four ‘hours, 
whilst the enemy was overpowering the 
other wing, bah showy Raa 
The French’ navy is called on'to’ae- 
quire a superiority over’ the Engtish. 
The French understand building Wetter 
than their rivals; and Freel shi em 
}  Bnglish 
