2,000 at Portugal Cove in Conception Bay, from which they were on their march against St. John's.' (Anspach.) 'At the same time,' says the same writer, 'the patriots of France were amused with the authentic information that Admiral Richery had summoned St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland, to surrender, had captured a considerable number of ships and fishing vessels, and above 1,000 sailors, whom he had sent to the Island of St. Domingo.'

Nothing further of any importance occurred in the island during the brief remainder of Sir James Wallace's stay.. Before his departure, the Governor received addresses from different parts of the colony, as well as from St. John's, expressing the gratitude of all classes, for the wise and efficient measures he had taken for the protection and defence of the country.

His successor was William Waldegrave, Esq., ViceAdmiral of the Blue Squadron. This gentleman, afterwards Lord Radstock, of strong religious feelings and principles, manifested an earnest interest in all that affected the civil order and the social life of the com.. munity placed under his charge. But he came to the country at a time which called for the display of the stern qualities of the British sailor.

It was that dark year in the history of Great Britain (1797) when an almost universal spirit of mutiny broke out in the fleet at the Nore, in the Channel and off the Texel,-when for a season the mutineers blockaded the Thames and addressed themselves in a tone of menacing audacity to the Government. By the middle of June, this insurrection was quelled in

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the United Kingdom, and the ringleaders punished. But the seeds of the disorder had spread to other parts of the world, where the English navy was stationed, and some of them germinated in St. John's, Newfoundland. Though the discovery of this fact stirred up great apprehension at the time, yet the fact itself, as proved afterwards, was of comparatively small dimensions, confined to one ship, the Latona.

The Governor thus describes the outbreak of the affair, in an official letter to the Duke of Portland, dated August 14, 1797:

MY LORD,As the very atrocious behaviour of the Latona's ship's company at this place will no doubt be much talked of in England, and the circumstances probably greatly exaggerated, I shall be obliged to enter into a more minute detail of the affair than at first may appear as coming within. your Grace's department.

go

On the 3rd inst. the fore-top men of the Latona refused to aloft, and in a body desired to be put in irons. On Captain Sotheron's proceeding to punish the ringleader, the men swore he should not be punished. However, upon all the officers drawing their swords, and the marines presenting their bayonets, on which some of the mutineers pricked themselves before they would retreat, the punishment was executed. The language afterwards of the seamen when in their hammocks was terrible. The marines were threatened to be thrown overboard, and bloody work promised so soon as the ship should be in blue water. The conduct of these wretches on shore has been no less wicked and daring. They have certainly endeavoured to sow sedition within the garrison, besides committing many outrages on divers occasions. On Sunday, the 6th inst., a ship having the preceding day brought the joyful news of Parker's execution, and the mutiny in the fleet, in consequence, being entirely quelled in England, I thought it would be a proper opportunity to

address a division of the Latona's ship's company. This I did, as will appear (No. 2), the seamen at the time being surrounded by the marines, Royal Artillery, and flank companies of the Royal Newfoundland regiment. My speech. seemed not only to affect the mutineers, but most of the bystanders, both military and civil. Upon the whole, I may venture to say, it was of much service, as will sufficiently appear by the enclosed addresses, which speedily followed.

The speech referred to in the above letter is sufficiently striking to justify a few extracts. It was delivered on the Sunday morning, just before church time. The first paragraph is to the marines, to whom the Governor said:

I am happy to have this opportunity of thanking you in person for your very gallant and steady behaviour in support of your officers. You have shown yourselves to be good soldiers, and true and faithful friends to your king and country. There is not a person in St. John's but what feels a regard and esteem for you, while, I am sorry to say, that they look on the seamen of the Latona with equal horror and detestation, and indeed it is impossible that they should do otherwise, considering the infamy of their conduct, both on shore and afloat.

He next directed his observations to the latter in a different strain.

After uttering the hope that there might be among them 'some single honest man and lover of his king and country,' he adds:

But if I am to judge from your conduct, I must think that the majority of you are either villains or cowards. If the greater number of you are against your officers, and refuse to obey their lawful commands, I have a right to say that you are traitors to your king and country.

If there are only a few bad men among you, which you

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pretend to be the case, I maintain that you are a set of dastardly cowards for suffering yourselves to be bullied by a few villains who wish for nothing better than to see us become the slaves of France.

His Excellency had a pleasant way of conveying to his audience the latest intelligence in which they were interested:

I thank God, I is hanged with You looked up

You were all eager for news and newspapers, to see how your great delegate Parker was going on. have the satisfaction to inform you that he many others of his atrocious companions. to him as an example whilst he was in his glory. I recommend you to look to his end as an example also. You may now indeed reap the advantage from contemplating the conduct of this vile incendiary.

Warnings were not wanting to give effect to this discourse:

I have now to tell you that I have given orders to all your officers, that in case any further signs of mutiny should appear among you, they are not to think of confining the ringleaders, but to put them to death instantly; and what is still more, I have given orders to the officers commanding the batteries to burn the Latona with red-hot shot, in case you drive me by your mutinous behaviour to that extremity. I know in this case the officers must perish with you, but there is not one of them but is ready to sacrifice himself for the good of his country, in any mode whatever.

The Governor could be earnest and pathetic in exhortation:

Reflect, before it be too late, what must be the consequence of your continuance in your present state of riot and insubordination. I now call upon you all who pretend to be honest men and loyal subjects, to step forward and show

N

yourselves to be such. I call upon you all, not only in the name of your sovereign, but in the name of all true Englishmen, in the name of your wives, children, and friends, to return to a proper sense of your duty, that you may wipe off, if possible, the stain that you have brought on the name of British seamen.

The application and conclusion, to use homiletic phraseology of this Sunday morning open-air lecture, are sufficiently pious, practical, and laconic:

Now go into church, and pray to God to inspire you with such sentiments as may acquire you the respect and love of your countrymen in this world, and eternal happiness in the

next.

One of the worst evils arising from the mutinous conduct of the men of the Latona, was the suspicion and fear which it awakened, as respected not only the rest of the ships' companies, but also the other branches of the service. For a season men seemed not to know whom to trust, and each one felt himself an object whom others regarded with distrust. After the Governor's speech, from which some extracts have been given, the non-commissioned officers, drummers, and privates of the Royal Newfoundland regiment sent an address to His Excellency declaring their loyalty, and expressing their regret at a malicious report spread about by evil designing persons, supposing the possibility of their want of duty and allegiance to their beloved king, country, and constitution; adding, and as a proof of our honour on this occasion, we hereby offer a reward of twenty guineas to any person who will apprehend any person or persons who shall endeavour diabolically to