Gantheaume does not possess either the intriguing character of Truguet, or the valorous one of Villeneuve; before the Revolution, he was a mate of a merchantman, but when most of the officers of the former royal navy had emigrated or perished, he was in 1793 made a captain of the republican navy, and in 1796 an admiral. During the battle of Aboukir, he was the chief of the staff, under Admiral Brueys, and saved himself by swimming, when l'Orient took fire and blew up. Buonaparte wrote to him on this occasion: "The picture you have sent me of the disaster of l'Orient, and of your own dreadful situation, is horrible; but be assured, that having such a miraculous escape, DESTINY intends you to avenge one day our navy and our friends." This note was written in August 1798, shortly after Buonaparte had professed himself a Mussulman.

When

When, in the summer of 1799, our general in chief had determined to leave his army of Egypt to its destiny, Gantheaume equipped and commanded the squadron of frigates which brought him to Europe, and was, after his consulate, appointed a counsellor of state, and commander at Brest. In 1800, he escaped with a division of the Brest fleet to Toulon; and, in the summer of 1801, when he was ordered to carry succours to Egypt, your ship Swiftsure fell in with him, and was captured. As he did not, however, succeed in landing in Egypt the troops on board his ships, a temporary disgrace was incurred, and he was deprived of the command, but made a maritime prefect. Last year favour was restored him, with the command of our naval forces at Brest. officers who have served under Gan-\ theaume agree, that let his fleet be

All

ever

ever so superior, he will never fight if he can avoid it, and that, in orderly times, his capacity would at the utmost make him regarded as a good master of a merchantman, and nothing' else.

Of the present commander of our flotilla at Boulogne, La Crosse, I will also say some few words. A lieutenant before the Revolution, he became in 1789 one of the most ardent and violent jacobins; and in 1792, was employed by the friend of the blacks, and our minister, Monge, as an emissary in the West Indies, to preach there to the negroes the rights of man, and insurrection against the whites, their masters. In 1800, Buonaparte advanced him to a captain general at Guadaloupe, an island which his plots, eight years before, had involved in all the horrors of anarchy; and where, now when he attempted to restore order,

order, his former instruments rose against him, and forced him to escape to one of your islands, I believe Dominico. Of this island, in return for his hospitable reception, he took plans, according to which our General La Grange endeavoured to conquer it last spring. La Crosse is a perfect revolutionary fanatic, unprincipled, cruel, unfeeling and intolerant. His presumption is great, but his talents are trifling.

LETTER XXIII.

Paris, October 1805.

MY LORD,

THE defeat of the Austrians has excited great satisfaction among our courtiers and public functionaries; but the mass of the inhabitants here, are too miserable to feel for any thing else but their own sufferings. They know very well, that every victory rivets their fetters, that no disasters can make them more heavy, and no triumph lighter. Totally indifferent about external occurrences as well as about internal oppressions, they strive to forget both the past and the present, and to be indifferent as to the future; they would be glad could they cease to feel that they exist. The police officers were now with their gens-d'armes, bayonet