period for active operations; and the Vanguard 74, with a few frigates and smaller vessels, was all the British force left cruising in the Belt.

On the 30th of August the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Quebec, Captain the Right Hon. Lord Falkland, arrived off the Danish island of Heligoland, situated at the mouth of the Elbe, and forming a natural barrier to the shoals of that river, the Weser, the Emms, and the Eyder. Lord Falkland immediately summoned the governor to surrender this small, but in a commercial point of view important, island to the arms of Great Britain. The Danish officer refused; and the Quebec was preparing to use force to compel him, when, at 2 h. 30 m. P.M. on the 4th of September, Vice-admiral Thomas Macnamara Russel, with the 74-gun ship Majestic, Captain George Hart, arrived and anchored close off the town. At 6 P.M., while making arrangements to storm the place with the marines and seamen of the two ships, the vice-admiral received a flag of truce with an offer to capitulate. On the next day, the 5th, the treaty was signed, and the island, which was much wanted as a safe asylum for the English cruisers in these dangerous waters, became a possession of Great Britain.

British and Turkish Fleets.

The unbounded influence which, in the autumn of 1806, France had acquired in the councils of the divan, threatening a rupture between Turkey and Russia, England as the ally of the latter, endeavoured to restore the amicable relations of the two countries; but her ambassador, Mr. Arbuthnot, found himself completely foiled by the intrigues of the French ambassador, General Sebastiani. This artful emissary had arrived at Constantinople on the 10th of August, and in a few days succeeded in persuading the Porte to recal the reigning hospadars from Moldavia and Wallachia. On the 16th of September Sebastiani demanded, that the canal of Constantinople should be shut against Russian ships, which by a former treaty were allowed to pass it; threatening war in case of refusal, and pointing to the powerful French army then in Dalmatia.

On the 22nd of October the British admiralty directed Viceadmiral Lord Collingwood, who still cruised off Cadiz, but, in the peaceable demeanour of the Franco-Spanish squadron, found little to occupy his attention, forthwith to detach three sail of the line, to reconnoitre the situation of the forts of the Darda

nells and fortifications adjacent, as a measure of prudence, in case circumstances should call for an attack upon them by a British force. Owing to the quick passage of the vessel bearing the despatches, Lord Collingwood was enabled, on the 2nd of November, to send Rear-admiral Sir Thomas Louis upon the delicate and important service in view. And yet, on the 15th of February, 1808, in the House of Commons, the Hon. Thomas Grenville, the first lord of the admiralty who had given the orders, but who was then out of office, stated, that Sir Thomas Louis had not been detached until the 5th of December, and seemed to complain, as in that case well he might, that six weeks from the date of the orders had been allowed to expire before any step was taken to put them into execution. This shows how requisite it is to attend to dates.

On the 8th Sir Thomas, with the 80-gun ship Canopus, bearing his flag, Captain Thomas George Shortland, 74-gun ship Thunderer, Captain John Talbot, 64-gun ship Standard, Captain Thomas Harvey, one frigate and one sloop, anchored in Valetta harbour, island of Malta; and, having taken in water and provisions, the squadron sailed again on the 15th. On the 21st the rear-admiral anchored off the island of Tenedos, situated about 14 miles to the southward of the entrance to the Dardanells, for the purpose of obtaining pilots, and a change of wind to the southward. While these two indispensable articles are being waited for, we will endeavour to give a brief description of the passage which the squadron was preparing to enter. The channel is full 12 leagues long, and, between the Capes Greco and Janizary at its entrance, about three miles wide. About a mile up the strait are a pair of forts, called the outer castles of Europe and Asia. Here the channel is about two miles wide. About three leagues higher is a promontory, that contracts the passage to little more than three-quarters of a mile. On each side of this narrow, the proper Dardanells, stands a castle, mounted with heavy cannon. These are called the inner castles of Europe and Asia, or the castles of Sestos and Abydos. Above these castles the passage widens, and then forms another constriction, which is hardly so wide as the former, and is also defended by forts. The passage again widens, and, after slightly approximating at Galipoli, opens into the sea of Marmora. At nearly the opposite extremity of this small sea, and at about 100 miles from the entrance to it, stands the city of Constantinople.

On the 27th, at 3 A.M., pilots being on board and the wind

fair, the squadron weighed and stood towards the strait. At 9 A.M. the Thunderer and Standard anchored in Azire bay, about two miles below the castle of Abydos; and the Canopus, with a light west-south-west wind, proceeded alone. At 10 A.M. the rear-admiral interchanged salutes with the fort of Mydore, and, at 4 P.M. on the 28th, with Seraglio point; off which, at 5 P.M., the Canopus anchored, in company with the 40-gun frigate Endymion, Captain the Honourable Thomas Bladen Capel, who had carried out Mr. Arbuthnot, and was waiting the result of his negotiation.

It would appear that, intimidated by the preparations of the Russian ambassador, Italinski, to leave the capital, the Turks had, since the 15th of October, reversed the decrees which Sebastiani had extorted from their fears, and acceded to all Italinki's demands, when, on the 23rd of November, the Russian General Michelson, at the head of a powerful army, entered Moldavia, and took possession of Chotzim, Bender, and Jassi. The news of this invasion turned the tide of affairs; and Italinski, on the 25th of December, went on board Sir Thomas Louis's ship.

On the 28th, early in the morning, the rear-admiral weighed and steered for the Dardanells, leaving the Endymion to attend upon Mr. Arbuthnot. On the 2nd of January, 1807, the Canopus joined the Thunderer and Standard in Azire bay; where were also lying the 38-gun frigate Active, Captain Richard Hussey Moubray, and 18-gun ship-sloop Nautilus, Captain Edward Palmer. On the 4th the Russian ambassador removed on board the Active, and the latter sailed with him to Malta. On the 31st, at 10 A.M., the squadron was joined by the Endymion, having on board the British ambassador and suite, and the whole of the British merchants late residents of Constantinople; with whom the frigate, having cut her cables, had sailed on the 29th, at 11 P.M.

It appears that the cause of all this alarm was some private information, that the Turkish government meant to seize the Endymion, also the ambassador, his suite, and all the British residents, with the view of detaining them as hostages, and of "putting them to death by torture," in case a British force should commence hostilities. The merchants placed such reliance upon the intelligence, that they did not wait to carry off any part of their property. Sir Thomas Louis immediately weighed with his passengers, and, dropping down, re-anchored the same evening off the entrance of the strait. On the follow

ing morning, the 1st of February, the squadron again weighed and anchored soon afterwards off the island of Tenedos.

In anticipation of a rupture of the negotiations with the Sublime Porte, the British admiralty, on the 22nd of November, 1806, had directed Vice-admiral Lord Collingwood to detach a force to the Dardanells, to be ready, in case of necessity, to act offensively against the Turks; and, proceeds the order, “as the service pointed out will require much ability and firmness in the officer who is to command it, you are to intrust the execution thereof to Vice-admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth." Owing to these orders having been put on board a squadron, which was detained by contrary winds, it was not until the 12th of January that they reached Lord Collingwood off Cadiz. On the 15th, in the evening, Sir John parted company from the fleet, in the 100-gun ship Royal George, Captain Richard Dalling Dunn, with instructions to the following purport :

After having assembled the ships he had been directed to take with him, the vice-admiral was to proceed as expeditiously as possible to the Straits of Constantinople, and there take up such a position as would enable him to bombard the town, in case of a refusal to deliver up the Turkish fleet (the paper-force of which was 12 sail of the line and nine frigates), together with a supply of naval stores from the arsenal sufficient for its equipment. This was all plain sailing; but some contingencies were tacked to the vice-admiral's instructions, which rendered them complicated and obscure. For instance, he was to consult Mr. Arbuthnot on the "measures proper to be pursued ;" and it was only when the British ambassador was of opinion that hostilities should commence that the British admiral was to make the peremptory demand of the surrender of the Turkish fleet. "At this crisis," says Lord Collingwood, "should any negotiation on the subject be proposed by the Turkish government, as such proposition will probably be to gain time for preparing their resistance or securing their ships, I would recommend that no negotiation should continue more than half an hour; and, in the event of an absolute refusal, you are either to cannonade the town, or attack the fleet wherever it may be, holding it in mind, that the getting the possession, and next to that the destruction, of the Turkish fleet, is the object of the first consideration." Lord Collingwood added, that the force appointed for the service was greater than had originally been intended, on a belief that the Russian squadron would not be in 1 Parliamentary papers ordered March 23, 1808.

a situation to co-operate; but that his lordship had, by letter, requested Vice-admiral Seniavin, then cruising in the Archipelago, with a Russian squadron of eight or 10 sail of the line, to detach four of his ships to serve under Sir John Duckworth in the expedition.

On the 17th the Royal George arrived at Gibraltar, and on the 18th sailed again, accompanied by the 98-gun ship Windsor Castle, Captain Charles Boyles, and Repulse 74, Captain the Honourable Arthur Kaye Legge, all three ships, as ordered by Lord Collingwood, having completed their provisions to four months. On the 30th the squadron anchored in Valetta harbour, island of Malta; and on the 1st of February Sir John despatched the Active, which had arrived the preceding day with the Russian ambassador, to Sir Thomas Louis, to apprise him of the intended junction, and of the plan that was to follow. On the same day the 74-gun ship Ajax, Captain the Honourable Henry Blackwood, and on the 2nd of February the Pompée, of the same force, Captain Richard Dacres, bearing the flag of Rearadmiral Sir William Sidney Smith, arrived from the coast of Sicily. On the 4th, in the afternoon, Sir John, thus reinforced, sailed for the Archipelago, and on the 10th anchored off the island of Tenedos, in company with the Canopus and her companions; making the squadron under the vice-admiral amount to eight sail of the line, two frigates (the Active having rejoined on the 6th), and two bomb-vessels, the Lucifer and Meteor, Captains Robert Elliot and James Collins.

Sir John had now the satisfaction to learn, that the strait of the Dardanells was not quite so formidable a passage as had been represented; that the batteries were, some of them dilapidated, and others but partially mounted and poorly manned ; and that the bulk of the Turkish fleet lay moored in the port of Constantinople, in an unequipped but preparing state, except one 64-gun ship, four frigates, and several smaller vessels, at anchor just below Point Pesquies, which is nearly half-way up the channel to the Marmora.

Every moment's delay augmenting the danger, Sir John, on the 11th, at 11 A.M., weighed with the squadron, and stood towards the mouth of the Dardanells; but at 1 P.M., the wind, which was from the south-east, not being fair for passing up the channel, the ships came to an anchor off Cape Janizary. Whether Vice-admiral Duckworth had received any other information than that afforded him by Sir Thomas Louis, or that a few days' reflection had enabled him to discover, in the latter's