HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
’ ; 
in the Dutch totwice that number. 
They were the choicest of their 
seamen. The vast diminution of 
their commercial shipping had en- 
abled them to select, out of the nu- 
merous hands dismissed from the 
inerchant service, the very best only 
that offered. 
The circumstance which may be 
said ‘to have Jaid the foundation of 
this victory, and which does equal 
honour to the courage and skill of 
admiral Duncan, was, his running 
his fleet between the enemy and a 
lee shore: a step which, we be- 
lieve, no other admiral had ever 
dared to take before, in similar 
circumstances. ‘Theadmiral’ sjudge- 
ment; in closing the contest in pro- 
per time, and inextricating his Heet 
- and prizes from so ‘difficult a situa- 
is 
¥ 
a 
ay 
Lr 
forced to encounter. 
tion, was equal to his boldness in 
hazarding ‘so. decisive a measure, 
The battle was fought somear the 
shore that every manceuvre might 
be distinctly seen ; and the whole 
coast, for many miles, was crouded 
with thousands of spectators, who 
had the mortifieation of observing 
the entire destruction of their fleet, 
without the possibility of affording 
it any relief. 
This splendid victory was ~re- 
warded by the most general and 
lively joy, admiration and gratitude, 
from the king on the throne to the 
very beggar in the street. His 
_ merit, it was observed, was in pro- 
portion to the difficulties he was 
His perse- 
verance had been tried in a cold 
‘climate, on a stormy sea; andin a 
contest -with'a hardy, rugged, and. 
‘resolute people. 
But there was an- 
other’ circumstance that endeared 
admiral Duncan’ to all ‘men, and 
. 
al them to participate in’ his 
ortune, He was not only a brave 
[101 
and skilful officer, but a modest, re- 
ligious, and good man, and had, 
lately, had occasion to signalize all 
these qualities, as shall, by and by, 
be related. ; 
This proved a victory of the most 
acknowledged importance to ‘creat 
Britain. It extinguished, at once, 
all the remaining hopes of the 
French to make that impressive at- 
tempt upon Treland, from which 
they had conceived such expecta- 
tions... Nor was it Ireland alone 
en which they had bnilt the most 
decisive projects.. England was no 
less a part, if it was not, in fact, 
the principal object in their view, 
under the avowed plan of carrying 
their arms into the, sister kingdom. 
What renders this surmise, which 
was,in truth, the opinion of many, 
at this time, not in the least im- 
probable, a pamphlet had been 
written in France, under the aus- 
pices of the directory, and pub- 
lished by their,orders, which had 
been, during the summer, circulated 
with uncommon industry. It ‘was 
an address. to the French nation at 
large, inviting, and exhorting. it to 
revenge upon the English. ‘‘ Eng- 
land, the directory said, was the 
richest country in the world, and 
they would give it upto the French 
to be plundered by them. You 
- shall march, said the address, to the 
capital of that haughty nation; you 
shall seize the immense heaps of 
gold in. the bank .of London ; the 
prodigious wealth contained in their 
shops, their warehouses, and their 
magazines; the riches contained in 
thei: gilded palaces and their stately 
mansions; the accumulations of pubs 
lic and. private property; the trea- 
sures, in short, of every species that 
are to be found in that opulent 
country, and you will return to 
fH 3} France 
