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pid movement of the Magnanime was involuntary; but it was regarded in another light by intelligent officers on board the fleet: they considered it as a masterly stroke in the captain for the more effectual annoyance of a flying enemy. The commanding admiral himself was of this opinion, and spoke in the highest terms of so judicious an effort. For his behaviour in this action, when lord Howe was presented at court by sir Edward Hawke, he was honoured with the particular thanks of George the Second, for so many repetitions of signal service to his country. Nor did his royal master compliment him by words alone, but appointed him to a lucrative post (colonel of the Chatham marines), created on purpose, March 22d, 1760.

"On September 4th, of the same year (1760), lord Howe, in the Magnanime, with also the Bedford and Prince Frederick, was dispatched by sir Edward Hawke to dispossess the French of the island of Dumet. In the successful execution of these orders, the king's ships had not a single man killed or wounded."

"A new turn of ministerial arrangements, in 1782, brought lord Howe again into the notice of his countrymen. April 8th, he was raised to the rank of admiral of the blue. On the 20th of the same month he was created a viscount of Great Britain, by the title of Howe of Langar, in the county of Nottingham.

May 9th he sailed with twelve line-of-battle ships, in quest of the Dutch fleet that had put to sea from the Texel; but the Dutch admiral, hearing of this, retired in

to the Texel again. The British fleet cruised on the coast of Holland for about a month, and then returned to Spithead.

"It must have been within a very short time after his return from this cruise against the Dutch, that lord Howe lost his mother, the viscountess dowager, who died June 13th, 1782, turned of eighty by a few years. Her jointure of course devolved to him; and she bequeathed him the chief of her personal property; but whether the latter amounted to any thing considerable, is more than the writer of this life has the least knowledge of.

"In July admiral lord Howe sailed from Spithead on a cruise to the westward with twenty-two sail of the line; August 14th he returned to Spithead without having seen the enemy. He sailed again from Spithead, September 11th, with thirty-four sail of the line for the relief of Gibraltar. This he effected, October 11th, in spite of the combined fleet of France and Spain (forty-six sail of the line), and in that masterly manner which characterises all his naval exploits. A more particular account of this achievement may be found in captain Schomberg's work. It was the action lord Howe always spoke of to his dying day, as the greatest he had ever performed, and as the only one of which he claimed the sole merit to himself. The main object of his mission being thus accomplished, " he offered the enemy battle; which they might from their situation have accepted, but which it was not in his power to enforce. The enemy to windward kept up a constant fire four hours on the English fleet, but would never come near enough to make the action any way decisive."

British Magazine, confirmed by Naval Chronology," Ꭼ Ꮞ

Much

Much inclined in himself was lord Howe to have attempted drawing the enemy into a real engagement by a pretended flight of his own. But for the sake of his own reputation with the people, and the honour of the British flag, he would not venture trying the experiment. He knew that if his artifice had failed of its intended effect, the English admiral and his fleet would have been reviled, as if they had fled in reality. Some may account this over-cautiousness against false imputation for a weakness in our hero's character. Enamoured he certainly was of fair fame; and conscious of never deserving obloquy, he did not always despise it as he should have done. Having, according to his instructions, dispatched part of his fleet on another service, he returned home, and anchored at Spithead November 15th. For his skill and courage in the foregoing transactions he received the thanks of both houses of parliament. The corporation of London, in common council assembled, ordered an historical picture of the siege and relief of Gibraltar to be executed by Mr. Copley.-Still there were calumniators at the time, who would have placed the most laudable actions of lord Howe in a very different light; and the pound, shilling, and pence calculator of 1779, was among the foremost of these. But since the calumnies alluded to had no other ground, than a total mis-statement of facts, and are now credited by nobody, it would be mere waste of time to enter upon a particular refutation of them."

"We will proceed to 1794. May 2d the fleet, with the same commander, sailed from St. He

lens. May 21st, news was heard of the French being off Ushant. May 28th, captain Parker, of the Audacious (one of lord Howe's fleet), engaged Le Revolutionnaire, and made her strike; but she was rescued by five other French ships coming up, one of which (L'Audacieux) towed her into port. May 29th a battle began; in which (had the captain, who was afterwards by a trial found guilty of breach of orders, done his duty) lord Howehad got the French into such a situation, that he doubted not of being able to give a good account of the whole of them. The battle of that day (being thus impeded) was, before night, totally intercepted by a fog. This fog was not dissipated till June 1st; and it is remarkable, that, during its continuance, earl Howe's youngest daughter (then countess of Altamont) coming with the earl her husband from Lisbon to Ireland, sailed through the midst of the French fleet, happily without seeing or being seen by any of them. During the fog, the four other French ships that had accompanied L'Audacieux from Brest had join ed their fleet, though lord Howe knew nothing of this reinforcement of the enemy, till after he had written his letter of June 2d to the Admiralty. On June 1st (the French having now twenty-nine sail of the line to twenty-five) the action recommenced; in which six French ships were taken, a seventh sent to the bottom, and the rest put to flight-most of them in a shattered condition.'

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"In the beginning of the year 1798 passed an act, empowering the Bank to receive voluntary contributions for defraying the ex

"Sans Pareil of 80 guns, Le Trajan, Le Patriot, Le Temeraire, of 74 guns each.”

penses

penses of the war. At this time earl Howe's only pecuniary emolument, for all his past services, was the stipend arising from his post of general of the marines. Being himself confined to his bed, he commissioned the countess to receive his annual salary at the marine pay-office, with instructions to carry the whole of it (upwards of 18001.) immediately to the bank as his contribution. This was executed accordingly, I state the transaction with the utmost minuteness, that no partisan of the late prime-minister may, from inaccurate information of the mere manner of doing it, be led to deny the truth of the thing itself, and thus to detract from the patriotic virtues of his father's friend.

"I come now to the most painful part of my biographical duty; and must give some account of this important life, during its valetudinarian state for two years, previous to its fatal conclusion. It was in the summer of 1797, that, having been deprived of Dr. Warren's medical assistance by that eminent physician's decease, lord Howe, with his usual discernment, applied for advice to the present Dr. Pitcairn. Bathing in warm sea-water was the doctor's prescription for the earl's rheumatic weakness; who, in compliance with this opinion, went first to Bognor rocks, and afterwards to Worthing. While resident at the latter place, finding his strength exceedingly restored, he used riding exercise to a much greater degree than his age or constitution would allow. The fatigue of one of his excursions on horseback produced so much gout, that it sent him to London. There, by the diligent and unwearied attention of his physician for many months, he reco

vered from the violent disorder: he might perhaps still have been living, and also his daughter lady Mary (who departed next), and his affectionate countess (whom the double weight of sorrow made lastly sink into her grave*), had not a most unlucky accident intervened. Dr. Pitcairn, from an internal hurt by a fall, was obliged to repair to Lisbon in the autumn of 1798, and did not return before the spring of 1800. Lord Howe, after his recovery from this long confinement to his bed-room, was obliged to use crutches. Such a perpetual memento of his infirmity suited not his genius. In the beginning of 1799 he grew so impatient of the weakness and pains in his knees, that he could not forbear trying electricity. The experiment had given him such considerable relief, that he was able to move about upon a horse; nor did he in the least apprehend that this quick restoration of his strength would be attended with any fatal consequence. So far from it, that he strenously recommended the same remedy to myself, for the perpetual debility in my tottering knees, which a stroke on the forehead in 1793 has entailed upon the rest of my life. He gave me too a written direction to the electrifier, and I had accorded to make Mr. Stott a visit of inquiry into his method, the next time I should go to London. Thither first, in very few days, driven by a sudden emergency, the earl went himself, never to return. The gout had seized upon his head; and by August the 5th he was no more. He had lived five months and seventeen days of his seventy-fourth year, and was buried in the family vault at Langar, in the county of Nottingham."

"She out-lived her daughter lady Mary exactly four calendar months, and died August 9th, 1800."

MANNERS

MANNERS OF NATIONS.

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ORIGIN, CUSTOMS, and LANGUAGE of the CEYLONESE.

[From Mr. PERCIVAL'S Account of that ISLAND.]

HE Malay troops are armed and clothed much in the same manner as the European, with the exception of shoes, the wearing of which is contrary to the rules of their religion; instead of then they use a particular species of sandal. Along with their other arms they always wear their kreeses or poisoned daggers by their sides: in the heat of an engagement they often throw down their musket and bayonet, and rushing upon the enemy with these kreeses carry terror and destruction wherever they come. From having done duty in the same garrison with them for three years and a half, and having during that period lived in habits of intimacy with their native officers, I had an opportunity of minutely observing the character of the Malays as soldiers. From their natural intrepidity and hardiness, they are well calculated to become very useful and serviceable troops if properly officered and commanded. It requires however much manage ment, much attention to their tempers, skill in regulating their œconomy, firmness in maintaining

discipline, and at the same time great caution in punishing misbe haviour, to make our service reap in its full extent the advantage that might be derived from them. To their native officers, who were at that time chiefly from among their own princes and great men, they always pay the most implicit obedience, and seemed to hold them in the highest veneration. On being punished by sentence of a courtmartial they never murmur, and their darling passion of revenge seems to be entirely laid aside. The contrast of this behaviour with their usual furious resentments on the most trivial occasions, struck me so forcibly, that I was induced to inquire the cause of some of their officers. I was told, that it was an ordinance of their religion, and a rule among their customs which was never infringed upon, to pay implicit obedience to all their offcers, European as well as Malay, and to execute military orders with the strictest punctuality; and they were also enjoined never to murmur at any conduct of their superiors, or hesitate to execute orders as long

as

as they received pay and continued in the service of any power. In addition to this they are always tried for any offences by a court composed wholly of their own native officers, who are acquainted with their language and customs, and thus afford a security of every justice being rendered to the accused. The patience with which the Malays submit to the sentence of their court-martial, and their refraining from revenge when they are assured that justice is intended them, is another striking argument in support of what I have already advanced, that mild and generous treatment will, in the end, have the effect of subduing their natural ferocity."

"I have now described those various races who, for the purposes of conquest or commerce, have settled in the sea-coasts of Ceylon. The far greater proportion of the inhabitants consists of the native Ceylonese who have submitted to the dominion of Europeans. When the Portuguese first arrived on the island, the whole of it, with the exception of the woods inhabited by the wild Bedas, was possessed by one race. The natives who inhabited the sea-coasts, however, were soon compelled either to fly for independence to their mountains, or to submit to their invaders. A great proportion of them chose the latter alternative, and preferred the comforts of the plains to the poverty and independence of barren fastnesses. It was indeed impossible for them all to retire to the mountains, as the interior parts barely supply the wants of their thinly-scattered inhabitants. It is known from their frequent insurrections that they at first bore the yoke of the Portuguese with reluc

tance: time, however, has rendered it familiar, and they are now reduced to a degree of abject obedience; in which they must conținue to serve, unless some extraordinary chain of circumstances should concur to rouse their natural feelings.

"The Ceylonese under the dominion of Europeans retain their original appellation of Cinglese, while those who live in those parts which acknowledge only the authority of their native princes, are distinguished by the name of Candian, from the country they inhabit. The constant intercourse of the Cinglese with Europeans, and the aversion which the Candians have uniformly entertained to their seve ral invaders, have introduced considerable shades of difference into the manners of these two branches of the same people. In most points however they still continue to resemble each other; and a description of the one cannot fail to include most of the circumstances which characterise the other. I shall therefore give an account of those circumstances which apply to both under the general name of Ceylonese, and then point out those characteristics which distinguish the one from the other.

"Whether the Cinglese were the original inhabitants of the island, or from what other country they came, and at what time they effected a settlement there, are points of which neither they themselves nor any one else has been able to give a distinct account. There is an ancient tradition among them, that after the expulsion of Adam from this island, which they universally look upon to have been Paradise, it was first peopled by a band of Chinese adventurers who accidentally arrived on its coasts.

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