avail. The first entrance was made amidships on 1800. the starboard side, in the most gallant manner, by a May. boat of the Haerlem, under the command of midshipman John Caldwell; who was promptly supported by some of the other boats. In the mean time the boats' crews of the Minotaur's cutter, commanded by captain Beaver, and of the Vestal's launch, by lieutenant William Gibson, supported by the remaining boats, had clambered up the images on the quarter, to carry the poop, where a considerable number of french soldiers had assembled. After a desperate struggle, the British succeeded in their object; and, as they gained footing on one side, the greater part of their opponents fled overboard on the other. Almost immediately afterwards the night burgee, or commodore's broad pendant, the only colours flying on board the galley, was hauled down by lieutenant Gibson, first of the Vestal, and all further resistance ceased. The boats were immediately ordered ahead to tow; and the slaves, in seeming cheerfulness, manned the sweeps, crying out, in broken english," Bless the king of Gibraltar." After some delay, the galley was cleared from the chains by which she had been moored to the mole, and began moving towards the entrance of the harbour under a tremendous fire of shot, shells, and musketry; the latter from a numerous body of troops drawn up on the mole-head ; round which the galley passed within 10 yards, with no greater loss or damage than five british seamen wounded, one shot through the head of the mainmast, and some cut rigging. Of the galley's people, one was killed, and 15 wounded, by the British when they boarded a few others, in all probability, were drowned; and many succeeded in gaining the shore. According to the french accounts, the captain, Bayastro, was among the latter, and had leaped into the water on seeing that 50 ligurian grenadiers, stationed on board his vessel, had treacherously fired 1800. only three muskets at the assailants.* From the testimony of the latter, there is not the least ground for this accusation; and, in lord Keith's letter in the Gazette, the captain of the galley is named Patrizio Galleano. Soon after the Prima had passed the mole-head, captain Beaver quitted her in his boat to acquaint lord Keith with his success, and the command devolved upon lieutenant Gibson, already mentioned as the officer, who, with his own hand, had struck the galley's colours. Before the galley had got quite out of gun-shot of the mole-head, an alarm was raised of fire below. Lieutenant Gibson instantly rushed down, and found a half-drunken french sailor, with a light and a crow bar, in the act of breaking open the door of the magazine, for the purpose, as he unhesitatingly declared, of blowing up the vessel and all on board of her. The man was promptly secured and a sentry placed over the hatchway. Had the wretch succeeded in his villainous attempt, between 400 and 500 souls might have perished; for, besides the british officers and men who had captured the galley, and the 60 or 70 french soldiers and seamen remaining on board out of those that had belonged to her, there were upwards of 300 miserable beings chained to the oars. It was principally by the exertion of these very slaves, that the galley shot so quickly past the molehead, and thus escaped destruction by the batteries. So vigorously did these practised rowers continue to ply their sweeps, that the galley nearly overran the british boats towing ahead. As soon as the galley had got out of gun-shot, the slaves, by the permission of the british commanding officer, released themselves from their fetters. This operation they performed with surprising quickness; and, now that the galley's lateen sails began to supersede the use of the oars, the poor fellows were jumping about the deck in a * Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xii. p. 199. delirium of joy; heaping blessings upon those who 1800. had restored them to liberty, and evincing so dif- May. ferent a feeling towards their former masters in the galley, that the latter, for their personal safety, were transferred to the boats towing astern. The half-frantic wretches little dreamt of the fate for which lord Keith had reserved them. To that we shall come presently. We must first express our regret that captain Beaver, who, throughout this dashing enterprise, appears to have conducted himself in the most gallant manner, was not allowed to write the official letter; as, doubtless, he would have named the officers who served under him. Not one officer, besides captain Beaver, is mentioned in lord Keith's letter; and it has been with no inconsiderable difficulty that we have been enabled to give the names of two of the number. Shortly after daylight on the 21st the galley was brought to an anchor under the stern of the Minotaur, and a more beautiful vessel of the kind had never been seen. Her extreme length was 159 feet, and her breadth 23 feet six inches. In her hold were 30 large brass swivels, intended to have been mounted upon her forecastle and poop. Not being a vessel adapted for the british navy, the Prima was sold to the Sardinians for, we believe, the comparatively small sum of 15000 dollars. The garrison of Genoa, as was well known to the british admiral cruising off the port, was in a state bordering on famine. Had there been a doubt on the subject, the lank and miserable appearance of the galley's crew must have instantly removed it. Perhaps it is conformable to the laws of war, however repugnant to those of humanity, to press an evil of this sort upon an enemy. At all events lord Keith, with that object in view, restored to general Masséna the few french or ligurian soldiers and seamen which, out of the small number taken, had survived the sudden change from starvation to plenty. His lordship did more: he actually sent 1800. back the galley-slaves, or 250 of them at least, about 50, fortunately for them, having been blown off the coast in the Expedition 44. Lord Keith must have been certain that the poor slaves would, at the least, have been rechained to their oars. What some would consider a more merciful fate awaited them. It having been made known to general Masséna that, by their aid principally, the galley was moved from her strong position inside of the mole, he ordered the victims of lord Keith's breach of faith, (for, surely, there was an implied, if not an expressed promise not to betray human beings so peculiarly circumstanced,) to be taken to the great square of the town and shot! June. Battle of Ma rengo. Starved at length into compliance, general Masséna, on the 4th of June, consented to evacuate the town of Genoa, and, with the 8000 of his troops that were able to march, retire to Nice. In some preparatory conferences held on shore between general d'Ott, lord Keith, and general Masséna, the latter expressed as much contempt for Austria, as he did respect for England; observing to lord Keith, "Milord, si jamais la France et l'Angleterre s'entendre, elles gouverneraient le monde."* Much more passed in the same strain. There was, no doubt, a little policy in all this; and it may indeed be gathered from an apparently authentic account of the negotiation for the surrender of Genoa, that the french general seldom paid a compliment to the british admiral or nation, without exacting in return some solid concession. On the 5th the Minotaur, Audacious, and Généreux 74s, Charon store-ship, Pigmy cutter, and a small neapolitan squadron, anchored in the mole of Genoa. On the very day on which the treaty was signed for the evacuation of Genoa by Masséna, the first consul of France, having with a powerful army crossed the Alps, entered the city of Milan, the capital of Lombardy, and on the same day proclaimed * Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xii. p. 210. afresh the cisalpine republic. The austrian general 1800. Mélas, as soon as this news reached him, abandoned the whole of Piedmont, and concentrated his forces at Alexandria. On the 7th of June Buonaparte, still unacquainted with the surrender of Genoa, quitted Milan to attack the Austrians. On the 9th and 10th he defeated general d'Ott, who had evacuated Genoa after three days' possession, at Casteggio and Montebello. On the 14th was fought the famous battle of Marengo; in which Buonaparte defeated general Mélas, with a loss to the latter of 4500 left dead on the field of battle, nearly 8000 wounded, from 6000 to 7000 prisoners, 12 stands of colours, and 30 pieces of cannon, and with a loss to himself of only 2000 killed, 3600 wounded, and 700 prisoners. session On the 15th, at Alexandria, a convention for a suspension of arms was signed between the two commanders in chief; by the terms of which France was to be put in possession of the 12 following fortresses Tortona, Alexandria, Milan, Turin, Pizzighittone, Arona, Placenza, Cori, Seva, Savona, Genoa, and Fort Urbin. Repossession of the city of ReposGenoa was taken on the 22d of June by general of GeSuchet, and on the 24th general Masséna himself noa. returned to it. This reoccupation was so sudden and unexpected, that the Minotaur found some difficulty in warping herself out of the mole in time. We must now leave, for a while, the shores of northern Italy, to attend to operations in another quarter of the Mediterranean. ade of At the close of the year 1798 we left the french Blockgeneral Vaubois, with about 3000 soldiers and sea- Malta. men, shut up in the fortress of Valetta, menaced on the land side by a powerful force of Maltese, Neapolitans, and British, and blockaded at the mouth of the harbour by a squadron of british and portuguese ships. In the latter end of January, 1799, the garrison, already beginning to be straitened for |