CHAP. XVI. 1794. 21. Results of the battle. The French now began to move off in all quarters, and the British ships, with their prizes, closed round their admiral. The damage sustained by the victors was inconsiderable, except in four ships, which were disabled for further service; fifteen sail of the line were ready to renew the battle; they had still the weather-gage of the enemy; ten of the French line had struck, though six only of them had been secured, and five of their ships were dismasted, and were slowly going off under their sprit-sails. Had Nelson been at the head of the fleet, there can be little doubt the disabled ships would all have been taken, and perhaps a victory as decisive as Trafalgar totally destroyed the Brest fleet. But the British admirals, at that period, were in a manner ignorant of their own prowess; the securing of the prizes taken was deemed the great object; and thus the pursuit was discontinued, and the enemy, contrary to all expectation, got their dismasted ships off, and before dark were entirely out of sight. Six ships of the line, however, besides the Vengeur, which Toul.iv.218. sank, remained in the possession of the British admiral, Ann. Reg. and were brought into Plymouth; while the remains of the French squadron, diminished by eight of their numBrenton, i. ber, and with a loss of eight thousand men, took refuge in the roads of Berthaume, and ultimately regained the harbour of Brest, shattered, dismasted, riddled with shot :1 how different from the splendid fleet which had so 1Jom.v.290. p. 34. James, i. 172, 174. 141, 148. Barrow's Howe, 251, 252. French histories, that when the Vengeur sank, her crew were shouting " Vive la République !" Knowing that the gallantry of the French was equal to such an effort, the author with pleasure transcribed this statement in his former editions; but he has now ascertained that it was unfounded, not only from the account of Captain Brenton, (i. 131,) but from the information given him by a gallant naval officer, Admiral Griffiths, who was in the Brunswick on the occasion, and saw the Vengeur go down. There were cries heard, but they were piteous cries for relief, which the British boats afforded to the utmost of their power. Among the survivors of the Vengeur's crew were Captain Renaudin and his son, a brave boy of twelve years of age. They were taken up by different boats, and mutually mourned each other as dead: till they accidentally met at Portsmouth in the street, and rushed into each other's arms with a rapture indescribable. They were both soon after exchanged; a braver and more humane father and son never breathed.JAMES, i. 165. * recently departed amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants! The loss of the British was two hundred and ninety killed, and eight hundred and fifty-eight wounded; in all, eleven hundred and forty-eight, being less than that sustained in the six French ships alone which were made prizes. + XVI. 1794. of the 22. Brest har The Republicans were in some degree consoled for this disaster by the safe arrival of the great American convoy, Safe arrival chiefly laden with flour, consisting of one hundred and American sixty sail, and valued at £5,000,000 sterling—a supply of conveyin incalculable importance to the wants of a population, whom bour. the Reign of Terror and civil dissension had brought to the verge of famine. They entered the harbour of Brest a few days after the engagement, having escaped, as if by a miracle, the vigilance of the British cruisers. Their safety was, in a great degree, owing to the sagacity of the admiral, who traversed the scene of destruction a day or two after the battle, and, judging from the magnitude and number of the wrecks which were floating about, that a terrible battle must have taken place, concluded that the victorious party would not be in a condition for pursuit, and resolved to hold on his course for the French 291. harbour.1 1 Jom. v. 23. which the Lord Howe gained so decisive a success from the adoption of the same principle which gave victory to Frederic Tactics by at Leuthen, to Napoleon at Austerlitz, and to Wellington victory was at Salamanca, viz., to direct an overwhelming force gained. against one-half of the enemy's force, and make the attack obliquely, keeping the weather-gage of the enemy, to render *The prisoners taken in the prizes were 2300; the killed and wounded in them 1270, besides 320 who went down in the Vengeur.-BARROW's Life of Howe, 236. + The following were the respective guns and weight of metal in this memorable battle : XVI. 1794. 1 Jom. v. 288. Ann. CHAP. it impossible for the ships to leeward to work up to the assistance of those engaged. By this means he reduced one-half of the enemy's fleet to be the passive spectator of the destruction of the other. 1 His mode of attack, Reg. p. 344. which brought his whole squadron at once into action with the enemy, seems clearly preferable to that adopted by Nelson at Trafalgar, in sailing down in perpendicular lines; for that exposed the leading ships to imminent danger before the succeeding ones came up. Had he succeeded in penetrating the enemy's line at all points, or his captains implicitly obeyed his directions in that particular, and engaged the whole to leeward, he would have brought twenty ships of the line to Spithead. To a skilful and intrepid squadron, who do not fear to engage at the cannon-mouth with their enemy, such a manœuvre offers even greater chances of success at sea than at land, because the complete absence of obstacles on the level expanse of water enables the attacking squadron to calculate with more certainty upon reaching their object; and the advantage of the wind, if once obtained, renders it proportionally difficult for one part of the enemy's line to be brought up to the relief of the other. The introduction of steam-vessels of war, either as light ships, or as forming the line of battle itself, promises to assimilate still more closely actions at sea to those at land, and, by always putting it in the power of the superior force to bring its opponents to close action, and intercept their retreat, promises yet greater and more uniform results to the daring tactics of Howe and Nelson. 24. Its great moral effect in Great Britain. Never was a victory more seasonable than Lord Howe's to the British government. The war, preceded as it had been by violent party divisions in Great Britain, had been regarded with lukewarm feelings by a large portion of the people; and the friends of freedom dared not wish for the success of the British arms, lest it should extinguish the dawn of liberty in the world. But the Reign of Terror had shocked the best feelings of all the respectable portion XVI. 1794. of this party; the execution of Louis had caused the film CHAP. to drop from the eyes of the most blinded; and the victory of 1st June captivated the affections of the patriotic multitude. The ancient but half-extinguished loyalty of the British people wakened at the sound of their victorious cannon; and the hereditary rivalry of the two nations revived at so signal a triumph over the Republican arms. From this period may be dated the commencement of that firm union among the inhabitants of the country, and that ardent enthusiasm in the contest, which soon extinguished the seeds of former dissension, and ultimately carried the British empire triumphant through 1 Ann. Reg. the severest struggles which had engaged the nation since p. 282, 283. the Conquest.1 parations of and their war. Vast were the preparations for war made by the 25. Committee of Public Salvation in France. Her territory Vast miliresembled an immense camp. The decrees of the 23d try preAugust and 5th September had precipitated the whole the French, youth of the Republic to the frontiers, and twelve hundred system of thousand men in arms were prepared to obey the sovereign. mandates of the Convention. After deducting from this immense force the garrisons, the troops destined to the service of the interior, and the sick, upwards of seven hundred thousand were ready to act on the offensive-a force much greater than all the European monarchies, taken together, could bring forward to meet them. These enormous armies, though in part but little experienced, were greatly improved in discipline since the conclusion of the preceding campaign. The months of winter had been sedulously employed in instructing them in the rudiments of the military art; the glorious successes at the close of the year had revived the spirit of conquest among the soldiers, and the whole were directed by a central government, possessing, in the highest degree, the advantage of unity of action and consummate military talent. Wielding at command so immense a military force, the Committee of Public Salvation were prodigal of the blood XVI. 1794. CHAP. of their soldiers. To advance incessantly to the attack, to bring up column after column, till the enemy were wearied out, or overpowered, to regard as nothing any losses which led to the advance of the Republican standards, were the maxims on which they conducted the war. No other power could venture upon such an expenditure of life, because none had such inexhaustible resources at their disposal. Money and men abounded in every quarter ; the camps were overflowing with conscripts, the fortresses with artillery, the treasury with assignats. The preceding campaign had cost above £100,000,000 sterling, but the resources of government were undiminished. Three-fourths of the whole property of France was at its disposal; and on this vast fund a paper currency was issued, possessing a forced circulation, and amply sufficient for the most prodigal expenditure. The value of assignats in circulation, in the course of the year 1794, was not less than £236,000,000 sterling, and there was no appearance of 1 Ann. Reg. its diminution. The rapid depreciation of this paper, 345. Toul. arising from the enormous profusion with which it was iv. 321. 28, issued, was nothing to a power which enforced its man30. Th. vi. dates by the guillotine; the government creditor was Hist. Parl. compelled to receive it at par; and it signified nothing to them though he lost his whole fortune in the next exchange with any citizen of the Republic.1 322, 324, Jom. v. 271, 272. xxvi. 431, 437. 26. which their military force was wielded. What rendered this military force still more formidable Talent with was the ability with which it was conducted, and the talent which was evidently rising up among its ranks. The genius of Carnot had from the very commencement selected the officers of greatest capacity from among the multitude who presented themselves; and their rapid transference from one situation to another gave ample opportunities for discovering who were the men on whom reliance could really be placed. The whole ability of France, in consequence of the extinction of civil employment, was centred in the army, and indefatigable exertions were every where made to communicate to headquarters |