LONDON. 
238 
Ifleof Paffe, into which three French frigates had taken 
t.vo of our Tndiamen, and in which the French (hips of 
War were (rationed. Unfortunately the Sirius and Magi- 
cienne ran aground on (hoals with which the pilots were 
unacquainted ; and the crews, after burning them, re¬ 
turned in the Iphigenia, which they took in tow to the 
Kle of Paffe. The Nereide, having proceeded nearer to 
the inner harbour, was alfo (Iranded, and (hatiered almolt 
to pieces; yet the captain, Willoughby, though expofed 
not only to the fi.re of the three frigates, but alfo to that 
of the batteries on-fhiore, did not furrender before every 
man on-board was either killed or wounded. The Iphi¬ 
genia, clofely blockaded in the Ille of Paffe, was after¬ 
wards taken, together with the ifle itfelf, by the French 
frigates. General Decaen, .governor of the Mauritius, 
gave a pompous account of thefe conquefts ; and alfo of 
the previous aCtions, not only with the Nereide, but, as 
the governor fays, with the Sirius and Magicicnne, with 
whom there was no aClion, the whole fire of the three 
French frigates being directed againft the Nereide. The 
circumflance of our (liips being ftranded on unknown 
Ihoals was altogether concealed in the French journals; in 
which the capture of the frigates, and the Kle of Paffe, 
was blazoned as a great and glorious achievement. It is 
almolt unneceffary to obferve, that neither was any no¬ 
tice taken in the French papers of the retreat of a French 
fquadron, on the 20th of July, from the prefence of a fmall 
Britifli force, under the orders of captain Blackwood, 
cruizing off Toulon. Though we cannot, in this fum- 
niary narrative, relate all the diftinguiflied afts of (kill and 
bravery performed by our navy, which would require a 
volume, we cannot refrain from noticing that of captain 
Blackwood. His fquadron confided of three 74-gun Ihips, 
with a frigate and corvette. Thefe two lad: veffels being 
in danger of being cut off by a French fquadron of fix 
fhips of the line, of which one was a three-decker, and 
four frigates, captain Blackwood, with his three (hips 
drawn up in a line, bore down on the French fleet, and 
poured a broadfide into the foremoft (hip. The French, 
intimidated by this bold attack, which they fuppofed to 
be a certain proof of the near vicinity of the fleet under 
admiral Cotton, (heered off for the harbour of Toulon. 
The courage of Britifli feamen, and the excellence of the 
tactics of Britifli naval officers, though both have been 
fo often tried, were never more glorioufly iiluffxnted.—It 
may be mentioned among the naval and colonial affairs 
of Britain, that the Englifh in the courfe of this year 
fortified and eftabliffied a commercial depot at the fmall 
Danifli ifland of Anholt, fituated in the Categat, in the 
fame manner as had been done in 1809 at Heligoland, 
near the mouth of the Elbe, very convenient for the finug- 
gling of goods into the Danilh territory, and alfo into 
Germany, by the Elbe and the Wefer. 
The burning-decrees of Bonaparte, and an exclufion 
from the American market, occafioned much (iagnation 
of trade in many of the m an u fail tiring and fome trad¬ 
ing towns in England ; but new avenues were opened, 
and our commerce ftill flouriflied, all things confidered, 
wonderfully. It is lamentable to fee refined nations, 
inftead of co-operating for their own, together with the 
convenience and comfort of fociety, uling all poffible 
■means for oppreffing each other’s indultry :—duties, 
prohibitions, conflagrations, and even punifliments, ufu- 
ally inflicted only on criminals. There is fomething in 
this procedure, which, after all the calculations of a 
crafty narrow policy, appears to be odious, immoral, and 
inhuman. The ruler of France was fo fenfible of this, 
that his demi-official newfpaper, the Moniteur, was em¬ 
ployed to weaken the imprelfion naturally made by fuch 
barbarous attacks on human induftry and genius, by (how- 
ing that they were common on the part of England. And 
certainly the Moniteur made it out clearly, that, in mat¬ 
ters of finance and revenue in France, there was no regu¬ 
lation fo levere as to be without multiplied examples in 
the revenue-laws of England. Divers Englilh laws for 
the burning of French manufactures, and fmuggled to¬ 
bacco and tea, are cited ; and one, palled in the nineteenth 
year of the reign of George the Second, making the im¬ 
portation of any article prohibited felony, whether tile 
importation (hould be clandeffine or open. 
If we turn from foreign countries to domeftic feenee, 
we (hall find Come matters which, though beneath the dig* 
nity of hiffory, cannot be palled overriii a topographical 
article. 
Eroffratus fet fire to the famous temple of Diana at 
Ephefus, in order, as it is laid, to obtain celebrity. What 
could have been the reafon which induced Mr. Lyon Levy,- 
an eminent Jewifn diamond-merchant, to take the trouble 
to afeend the ftaircafe of the Monument, and to throw 
hi in (elf from the gallery into the ftreet, cannot be exaCtly 
afeertained. This Angular kind of filicide, however, took 
place on the 18th of January; and the haplefs Ifraelite 
was killed on the fpot. 
We may venture to conclude, however, that a failure 
in fome money-fpeculation was the caufe of this raff) aCt ; 
and we have to record another of the fame kind, and by 
a perfon of the fame religion, which was perpetrated-on 
the a8th of September following.—When the depraved 
gambler, reduced to defperation by an adverfe throw of 
the dice, vifits on himfelf the injuries which he has inflicted 
on fociety ; when the feducer or adulterer lifts againft his 
own bread the piffol with which he was wont to defend 
and augment his crimes ; when the fafliionable idiot, tired 
with a life of folly, and (huddering at reflection, feeks in. 
vain for endlefs reft in the grave;—we are grieved, but not 
furprifed, at the blind audacity of our fellow-creatures. 
But, when the benevolent of heart, in whole hands wealth 
has proved a fource of comfort to the poor, affiftance to 
the helplefs, and fupport to the deferving, dole an ho¬ 
nourable and ufeful career by an aCt as cowardly as it is 
criminal, u-e not only feel grief but affonilhment at the 
vveaknefs and perverfity of man. We interrogate the pall 
to difeover fome traces of iniquity, unmarked by the eye 
of the world, which might have led more watchful ob¬ 
servers to the .'expectation of fuch a deed; but when, as 
in the prefent cafe, none appears, we can only attribute 
the rafli aCtion to the abfence of that Chriltian light which 
reveals in prefent calamities future bleffings, and thofe 
Chriltian principles that fweeten the moft bitter cup with 
the dew of refignation. It is remarkable, that, whillt 
chiefly the wicked amongft Chriftians, or thofe who, al¬ 
though born under the difpenfation of the gofpel, both 
by their conduCt and profeflions deny its doctrine and 
contemn its faith, are found to commit fuicide, the beffc 
characters in other religions have recourfe to that dread¬ 
ful expedient as a means of fecurity for their fame and 
relt for their fouls.—Mr. Abraham Goldfmid, whole 
felf-infiiCted death gave birth to the preceding obferva- 
tions, was the fecond fon of a refpeCtable Dutch merchant 
of the Jewilh perfnafion, and came over to this country 
with his father and elder brother. He was born in the 
year 1757 ; and, as foon as his mind lnd acquired fufficient 
powers, was initiated into the principles of merchandife. 
Tenderly attached to his brother, he became his partner 
when both were grown up, and when the death off their 
father left them in poffefiion of a capital that enabled them 
to venture into bold (peculations. Their indefatigable 
induftry and natural acutenefs foon improved their for¬ 
tune, which was greatly increafed by the marriage of the 
elder Goldfmid with the daughter of Mr. Solomons, of 
Clapton, who brought him no lefs a fum than one hun¬ 
dred thbufand pounds. From that time their commercial 
undertakings became more confiderable, and in a few years 
they were ranked among the firft men in the moneyed world. 
Their increafing riches introduced them to the notice of 
an adminiftration celebrated for the expenfe which it in¬ 
curred, and the debt which it entailed on the nation. 
Whenever a loan was wanted, the Goldfmids moflly fup- 
plied a large portion of it; and, as the terms on which 
it was obtained were always advantageous, their fortune 
