mark and seal, consisting of a cimetar and half-moon. Hostages were, agreeably to the tenor of the treaty, delivered on the one side; and on the other, the prisoners of all descriptions were set at liberty.

While the capitularies, to the 'number of about 1500, who had declared their intention of emigrating, were waiting for the vessels which were to convey them to France, lord Nelson arrived with his whole fleet in the bay of Naples, having on board the Anglo Neapolitan ambassador, sir William Hamilton, and his lady. On the evening of the 26th of June the patriots evacuated their forts, and embarked on board the transports prepared for them, and which were moored alongside the English fleet. On the next day the members of the executive commission, a great part of those of the legislative commission, the whole of the officers who had occupied the first ranks of the republic, and others who had been marked by the court of Sicily, were taken out of the transports, and carried on board the British admiral's own ship. Among these was the celebrated Dominico Cerilli, above thirty years the intimate friend of the English ambassador. On the deck of the admiral's ship stood sir William Hamilton and his lady, surveying, with curious attention, these devoted victims, bound hand and foot like the vilest criminals. After this review, these martyrs at the shrine of liberty were distributed among the different ships of the fleet. The remainder of the revolutionists were shut up in the dungeons of the castles which they had surrendered on the faith of the treaty.

A few days subsequent to these transactions, the king of Naples, accompanied by his minister Acton, arrived from Palermo on board an English frigate. He immediately declared, by an edict, that it never was his intention to capitulate with rebels, and that consequently the fate of those who were in the transports, or in the forts, was to depend entirely upon his justice and clemency. And by a second edict the property of the patriots was put under sequestration. Against this procedure, remonstrances were in vain made by the commanders of the coalesced powers who had signed the articles of the capitulation.

Wearied by the cruelties they suffered, and emboldened by the sanctity of the treaties so recently concluded, the prisoners on board the ships in the bay at length addressed a letter to admiral Nelson, in which they stated, in clear and specific terms, the conditions to which they were entitled. "After the arrival," say they, “of the British fleet in this road, commanded by your excellency, the capitulation was begun to be put in execution. The garrisons of the forts, on their part, set at liberty the state prisoners and the English prisoners of war, and gave up to the troops of his Britannic majesty the gate of the royal palace which leads to the new fort and on the other side, the troops of his majesty the emperor of all the Russias attended the march of the garrison, with all the honors of war, out of the forts. It is now twenty-four days that we are lying in this road, unprovided with every thing necessary to existence. We have nothing but bread to eat; we drink nothing but putrid water, or wine mingled with sea-water; and we have nothing but the bare planks to sleep on. Our houses have been entirely pillaged, and the

greater

greater part of our relations either imprisoned or massacred. We are persuaded that all the treatment which we suffer, after having capitu lated, and after having on our side put the articles of the capitulation religiously into execution, is entirely unknown to your excellency, and to his Sicilian majesty, your fidelity and his benevolence being engaged in our deliverance. The delay of the execution of the capitulation gives us room to claim and implore his and your justice, in order that a treaty concluded with four of the most civilised powers of Europe, who have always appreciated the inviolability of treaties, should be executed as speedily as possible. We hope that, by means of your good offices with his Sicilian majesty, due execution will be given to the articles of a capitulation which has been signed with good faith, and religiously fulfilled on the part of the garrison." The answer of lord Nelson to this moving address will be for ever memorable in history. "I have," said this renowned hero, "shown your paper to your gracious king, who must be the best and only judge of the merits and demerits of his subjects." What! was the king of Naples the only judge whether the articles of a treaty, to the strict observance of which the faith and honor of Britain were irrevocably engaged, should, or should not, be carried into execution? Could so monstrous a proposition be advanced with seriousness, or beard without scorn and amazement ?

• After the surrender of the fort Castell-a-mare, commodore Foote had shown the most anxious solicitude that the conditions granted to the garrison should be punctually performed. "I entreat you," said this gallant officer to the commander of the fortress for the king of Naples, who had, as it appears, detained some effects belonging to the officers of the garrison, "to observe, that I am highly interested in seeing these gentlemen satisfied; since such is the condition of the capitulation which is necessarily sacred." The whole body of Neapolitan revolutionists being thus consigned to remediless ruin, by the British admiral, in open, and almost avowed, violation of the faith of Britain, solemnly and publicly pledged, a horrible scene com. menced; of which the view, and even the relation, might suffice to rouse the most insensible to indignation, to melt the most obdurate to pity.'

:

With these proceedings, the author is gratified in contrasting the humane and honorable behaviour of a gallant British oflicer, the companion and esteemed friend of Nelson, on a scene not very distant from that of which we have been speaking, viz. the conduct of Captain Trowbridge, on the occasion of the surrender of Rome to the British naval force:

It was determined to enter into a negotiation with the English, who proposed the same capitulation as had taken place at Gaeta. The British squadron was under the direction of commodore Trow bridge; an officer of the highest reputation. In consequence of the positive instructions he received from Naples, the British commander was obliged to make a formal demand of the French governor, to deliver up the Neapolitan patriots who had fled for refuge to Rome. General Garnier nobly answered, "that he would never consent to

an action so unworthy; but that the French would rather sacrifice their own lives with those of their friends."

The first name on the fatal list happened to be that of the princess de Belmonte; and when the determination of the French commandant was made known to the commodore, he is said to have signified very intelligibly his high approbation of it. He knew what had passed at Naples. He felt how paramount to all orders or instructions, was the honor and dignity of a British soldier. "I never will become the executioner of the vengeance of the queen of Naples!" was the indignant declaration of this gallant officer. This being perfectly understood, a capitulation was signed 6th Vendemiaire, (Sept. 27); conformably to the articles of which, ROME and its dependencies, for the first time since the foundation of that famous capital of the world, surrendered to the arms of BRITAIN :-an event than which, had the awful book of destiny been laid open to the view of the Julian or Augustan age, nothing more calculated to excite amazement could have occurred in all its records.

The twelfth and other concurrent articles of the treaty of capitulation imported that "such citizens of Rome as shall now form, or have heretofore formed, a part of the constituted authorities of the Roman republic; and those also who shall have served the republican cause by their patriotic works, or taken up arms for that purpose, shall be at liberty to depart with their property at the same time. with the French troops, and on the same terms as they do." And by other articles it was agreed, "that transports should be provided by the English commander, and victualled, for the conveyance of the above descriptions of persons to Villa Franca, Antibes, or Toulon; and that such Romans as choose to remain, shall suffer no molestation." The last article even expressly stipulates, "in case of any difficulty arising with respect to the interpretation of the articles of this convention, that such articles shall be explained in favor of the French and their allies."

During the transient existence of the Napolitan republic, the duke of Cansano had been sent as ambassador to Rome, and many other Neapolitans of high rank were also resident in that city at the period of its investment. Even previous to its surrender, the English commander took an anxious interest in the fate of these unfortunate exiles. He precipitated their departure from the port of Civita Vecchia; and, on their being unavoidably forced back to that place, commodore Trowbridge, inflexible in his humanity, again enabled the vessel to put to sea, and the proscribed fugitives were at length happily landed at Toulon. In return, they paid him-and it was all they could pay-those grateful tears of admiration which are shed over noble deeds. Thus the honor of the British name was vindicated; and the world, as in other and better times, saw that it did not without reason aspire to a rivalship with that of ancient Rome.'

In relating the Siege of Acre, Mr. B. makes some just observations on the singularity of the contest, especially on the circumstance of British Christian Kuights fighting in defence of the Turkish Infidels. To the account of Bonaparte's aving

massacred

massacred the Turkish prisoners taken at Jaffa, he gives full credit: but to that of the poisoning of the French who were sick in the Hospitals, he thinks that no belief is due.

Throughout these volumes, the writer has depicted Bonaparte in colours much more favourable than those in which we apprehend he would now represent him. Historians, when they describe living personages, ought to bear in mind the famed answer of Nero to the Roman senate in his good days,

quum meruero."-How pleasing is it to be called a moment from contemplating this restless Despot, to view a character which united all that was great and good in our nature! we mean that most enviable and greatest of his cotemporaries, George Washington. We think that Mr. B-lsham is more cautious in his praise of this renowned patriot than he should have been : we cannot admit that Washington was better adapted to defensive than off-nsive war' the affair of Trentham, and the catastrophe, at York town, ill agree with the supposition; and we are not aware of the grounds which warrant him in limiting his reach of penetration and ardour of enterprize.' Let his slender means be considered, and his atchievements be set against them, and we shall be sensible that no mind was ever more indebted to its own resources, nor any man ever victorious over greater difficulties.

Mr. Belsham has inserted an elaborate narrative of the war of the Mysore which is highly favourable to the late Gover nor-General, Lord Wellesley.

The memorable speech of Mr. Pitt, in the parliamentary discussion occasioned by the pacific overture of Bonaparte when he attained the consulship, is here severely criticised, The ability displayed in it was universally admitted at the time, but it was considered more as a display of oratory than as a correct statement of facts. Nearly three years had elapsed since the termination of the iniquitous and treacherous carcer of Bonaparte in Italy; yet in all that time British subjects in general had received no other accounts of it than such as proceeded from revolutionary authors; the harangue of Mr. Pitt, therefore, produced no effect beyond the circle of his devoted partisans; and Mr. Belsham does not appear to have been undeceived when he penned the present narrative, since he represents Mr. Pitt's statements as originating in misrepre sentation and malignity; whereas, as far as they regarded the progress of the French General in Italy, they fell very short of the truth. It is no more than justice to Mr. Pitt to admit that his conception of the principles, views, and aims of the French chief, was extremely correct: but the public had not been prepared for the information, and did not give to it the credit

which it deserved. That Mr. Belsham should have been ignorant of these matters, at the time of writing this history, is to us a matter of some surprize.

On the subject of the dispute with the Northern powers, in regard to belligerent and neutral rights, the question is very fairly and intelligibly stated by Mr. Belsham: but we by no means concur in the violent and unqualified censure which he pronounces on the measures then adopted. It must be allowed that, if England had been imperious, the neutrals had acted fraudulently to a prodigious extent. The author lays great stress on the universal consent given to the principles of the armed neutrality: but it will be seen that the parties were all either weaker belligerents, or interested neutrals. He fairly admits, however, that this consent is not binding on England; and that she has still the right of asserting the former principle, even at the hazard of war. It is to this point that the question ultimately resolves itself. If neutral privileges are pushed so far as to operate as succour to an enemy, a belligerent has undoubtedly the right by violent means of putting a stop to the intercourse, if that power deems it expedient to proceed such lengths.

In treating of the scarcity of provisions in this country, Mr. Belsham displays much information and truly enlightened views. The conduct of the chief magistrate of the metropolis in that difficu't crisis was universally applauded; and Mr. B. describes it with due praise.

Considerable discrimination and ability are also manifested by the historian, in examining the several steps of the negotiation which ended in the peace of Amiens. Its authors had the countenance of the greatest names on that occasion: but this circumstance does not prevent Mr. B. from representing in a just light the weak parts of the transaction.

Though in these volumes Mr. Belsham may have been more sparing of harsh terms than in the preceding portions of his history, some have still escaped him which had better have been omitted. Altogether, we meet with nothing in these concluding pages, which calls on us either to add to or alter the observations which we have on former occasions applied to the work. If its auhor be too much the partisan, we cannot overlook that he is the supporter and follower of that denomination of Englishmen, under whose administration the country has ever most flourished; and who have cherished and protected those principles, to which it owes its pre-eminence among nations, and all its choicest blessings of society.

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