HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
They a€ted so invariably upon this 
principle, that their ships were 
usually constructed with a stedfast 
eye to the celerity of saiiing, where- 
in they commonly exceeded the Bri- 
tish vessels. It was by dint of sea- 
manship, that these were able to 
come up with the others, which, 
when brought to attion, seldcm 
could resist the valour and superior 
dexterity of the Britishseamen, The 
many engagements between single 
cruizers of both nations, during the 
present and the preceding years, 
amply proved this superiority. 
Early in the commencement of 
1795, captain Faulkner, who had 
so greatly signalized himself in the 
expedition to Martinico, fell in 
with La Pique, a French frigate of 
38 guns, and near 400 men: his 
own ship, the Blanche, carried 32. 
guns, of an inferior metal, and lit- 
tle more thanz00 men. ‘The a¢tion 
lasted four hours, when she struck, 
after 200 of her people had been 
either slain or wounded, and only 
30 on board the Blanche. But this 
brilliant success was fully counter- 
balanced by the Joss of captain 
Faulkner, who fell during the en- 
gagement. He was succeeded in 
the command by lieutenant Wat- 
kins, to whom the honour fell of 
compelling the enemy to surren- 
der. 
In the two preceding years, other 
naval officers had distinguished them- 
selves by exploits of asimilar nature. 
Captains Pellew, of the Nymphe: 
Saumarez, of the Crescent ; Laforey, 
ofthe Carysfort ; Paget, of the Rom- 
ney ; Newcome, of the Orpheus; to 
mention no others, rendered their 
names, and those of the ships they 
commanded, highly celebrated in the 
naval transa¢tions of this war, The 
ate 
[437 
zeal and ardour with which the of. 
ficers of the British navy sought 
the enemy, and constantly overcame 
him wherever he was to be found 
or overtaken, excited the admira- 
tion ofall Europe. It was not only 
in foreign parts the French were 
thus unfortunate : the like disasters 
attended them upon their own 
coasts. Few of their ships of force 
that yentured out of their ports, 
either single, or in squadrons, could 
escape the vigilance of the English ; 
who either took or destroyed them, 
by compelling them to run ashore, 
and burning them. Many feats of 
this kind were performed in the 
most daring manner. They ven- 
tured close in withthe Jand, exposed 
to the superior fire of formidable 
batteries, which they frequently si- 
lenced with their own guns; some- 
times landing their people and 
committing the enemy’s shipping to 
the flames, in spite of the most vi- 
gorous resistance. ‘Those British 
officers who chiefly distinguished 
themselves by a¢tions of this kind, 
were sir Richard Strachan, sir Ed- 
ward Pellew, sir John Warren, and 
sir Sidney Smith, ali tried men for 
yncommon palit and seamanship ; 
and who, by their wonderful exer- 
.tions'and successes, became the ter- 
ror of the French marine. 
But, in defiance of their manifest 
infirtority in every trial of skill and 
bravery at sea, and of the numerous 
losses and disgraces on every part of 
the extensive coast of France, the 
principal speakers in the convention 
had the effrontery to represent the 
officers and seamen in their navy, 
as no ways unequal to those of the 
British fleet, and their condué and 
aGtions as no less conspicuous. 
Their audaciousness was such, that 
they 
