Porter stated that his crew amounted to two hundred and sixty. Captain Hillyar received on board one hundred and sixty-one prisoners, of whom fortytwo were wounded; twenty-three were found dead on her decks: the others escaped to the shore, or were drowned in the attempt. The Phoebe had her first lieutenant, Mr. Ingram, and three men killed, and seven wounded: the Cherub had one killed and three wounded, among them Captain Tucker. The Essex arrived safe in England, under the command of Lieutenant Pearson, second of the Phoebe, who was promoted to the rank of Commander.

Rear-admiral Cockburn returned to the coast of North America. The Sceptre being found defective, he shifted his flag to the Albion, of seventyfour guns, and went to the Chesapeake, where he learned that Vice-admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane had been appointed to succeed Sir John Warren as commander-in-chief in North America. Sir John was recalled; and the Newfoundland and West India stations were restored to their former arrangements.

Sir Alexander Cochrane, in notifying his appointment to Rear-admiral Cockburn, directed him to get possession of some island in the Chesapeake, which might serve at once as a place of arms and refreshment for the troops, and where our ships of war, and their prizes, might ride in safety, and obtain fresh water.

When the British army under the Duke of Wellington, had marched in triumph from the banks

London Published Feb 11825 by C.Turner, 50. Warren Street, Fitzroy Square.

of the Adour to the Garonne, he was enabled to spare a detachment, consisting of the 4th, 44th, and 85th regiments of infantry, with some pieces of artillery. These were embarked from Bourdeaux, and received on board a squadron lying at the mouth of the Gironde ready for their reception. The ships were, the Royal Oak, of seventy-four guns (on board of which the flag of Rear-admiral Pulteney Malcolm was flying); the Dictator and Diadem, of sixty-four guns each, but armed en flute;'-the frigates Pomone, Menelaus, Franc Weser, and Thames; the Meteor and Devastation, bomb-vessels, and one or two gun-brigs, with several store-ships and transports. The military were under the command of Major general Ross: they left the Gironde on the 2d of June, and on the 24th, arrived at Bermuda, where they joined Sir Alexander Cochrane in the Tonnant, of eighty guns, who was waiting to collect the fleet. On the 30th they were augmented by the arrival of the fusileers, a very fine battalion, mustering nine hundred strong. A squadron of six frigates, from the Mediterranean, arrived on the same day, with the 21st, 27th, and 62d regiments: the two latter destined for Canada; the former for a reinforcement to General Ross, who now had about three thousand five hundred men. The fleet sailed from Bermuda on the 3d of August, and reached Cape Charles on the 14th. On the following morning they came to an anchor within the bay of the Chesapeake.

This was one of the most eventful periods of that impolitic war in which the Americans had been so blindly and so rashly plunged. The slave population of Virginia amounted to about three millions five hundred thousand, of whom a seventh part, at least, might be supposed capable of bearing arms; and as many of them were known, and others suspected, to be ready to rise against their masters, they were worse than an open enemy in the heart of their country. A proclamation issued and circulated by and with the emissaries of the Commander-in-chief, invited them to join the British standard, and throw off the yoke of slavery. Tangier Island was selected by the Rear-admiral for his rendezvous. He anchored the Albion within pistol-shot of the shore, took possession, erected fortifications, built storehouses, and hoisted the British flag, to which the negroes and people of colour flocked in considerable numbers; about one thousand seven hundred were collected, and instructed in their duty by the officers of marines, and soon became very useful to us. These services, however, were not gratuitous. At the treaty of Ghent, their emancipation was one of the most serious grievances complained of, and it was agreed that the question should be referred to the Emperor of Russia, who awarded £250,000 as a proper remuneration to the proprietors.*

The activity and enterprise of Rear-admiral

* See the speech of the Right Honourable Frederic Robinson, in the House of Commons, on the 28th February, 1825.