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saying on board the Peacock, when a sailor felt himself overheated, that he sweated like the purser. This Silenus of Ægle, this Bitias of Dido, however strutting his exterior, was a shy cock in heart, and made his own personal safety the rule of all his actions. He chuckled at the love of glory, and the care of posterity, as the ridiculous reveries of idle speculation. When an engagement impended he sought refuge below, and a story had got wind on board, that in the action between the Peacock and the Epervier, he covered himself over with a profusion of his own bread bags, from under which, after the battle, he was dragged out by the laughing lieutenants more dead than alive. Yet, however degraded his conduct, it was not without attractions in the microcosm of a ship; and his sprightly humour diffused itself from the captain to the cook. There was not a man on board who would not rather have dispensed with the chaplain than his ridiculous victualler. His first words to Mr. Macgregor were, A hot day, Sir, aggravated to such an intenseness by their closing the hatchways to keep the chicken-hearted from deserting their quarters and escaping into the lower apartments, that respiration has become difficult. What news from Anjier? Are you the cutwal of the place-the goree-the pundit-or have I the honour (assuming an air of grandeur) to address the rajah! I am, Sir, replied Mr. Macgregor, the masterattendant at Anjier, and the news is that peace has been concluded between Great Britain and the United States. I have informed your lieutenant of the event, and a shot fired from your ship will be an unprovoked instance of wanton and aggravated barbarity. I do not see, re

joined the purser, how we can avoid a little brush; and if we knock some of the gingerbread-work off your stern, you may impute to yourselves the consequence of a just retribution for pillaging Havre de Grace, bombarding Stonington, and lighting a torch from the firebrand of the furies to consume the city of Washington. What is become of the Capitol, the President's Palace, the Arsenal, and the Rope Walk? We can now only trace the streets by the colour of the grass, and its sole manufacture is in Members of Congress.

In the mean while, Lieutenant Boyce having perceived through his glass, that his officers, on getting on board the Peacock, were forcibly detained, and the lascars dragged out of the boat, prepared his brig for action; and Captain Warrington, opening his tier of ports, bore down upon the Nautilus. The two vessels were now lying abreast of one another, with their courses hauled up, jogging on under their topsails. A profound silence prevailed on board the Peacock, whose sailors were diverting themselves with the novelty of the crowded deck of the Nautilus-the Asiatic costume of the crewand the high tone of command assumed by the Serang,* who, by his frequent trips to Canton, and rambles through Hog-lane, had acquired a Chinese cast of countenance. His cheek was shrivelled, and his whiskers meagre, but his eye keen and piercing. He wore on his head a huge cotton turban, which the renegade English tars on board: the Peacock compared to a "Welch wig with sleeves to "it" and he had on a long loose gown, with slippers

*Boatswain.

turned up at the toes: the old tawny sea-farer often blew his whistle, and called to the lascars Ka bobbery! To the idle it was ludicrous, but to the thoughtful affecting, to behold the turbanned sailors standing at the cannon of the Nautilus with lighted matches in their hands, awaiting the command to fire; for nothing but a high sense of duty could have assembled them to oppose a desperate defence to an assault which they could have no rational hope of repelling. But the breast of Captain Warrington, so far from being awakened to pity, was provoked to indignation-and, darting on the Nautilus a look of anger mingled with scorn, he said to his lieutenant, Should you be prompted, Mr. Mayo, to board that catamaran, you will lay aside your sword, and arm yourself with a whip, as a more suitable instrument to repress the insolence of palankeen-bearers and slaves. Nay, sir, replied the lieutenant, this is, apparently, the Honourable Company's man of war fitted out for the express purpose of cruizing for the Peacock.-While Captain Warrington was overcome with indignation at the hostile attitude assumed by men of colour, from whom, as a Virginian, he thought that he had a right to salams, he was hailed by Lieutenant Boyce, and a dialogue ensued, from which I shall discard the said he.

Lieutenant B. Hoa the ship ahoy!

Captain W. Halloo!

Lieutenant B. What ship is that?

Captain W. Halloo!

Lieutenant B. I say, what ship is that?

Captain W. Halloo!

Lieutenant B. Am I to consider you as a friend, or a foe?

Captain W. A foe! (Here the English blue ensign was hauled down on board the Peacock, and the American colours hoisted.)

Lieutenant B. Do you know there is a peace?

Captain W. No.

Lieutenant B. I have, then, the satisfaction to inform you that peace has been concluded between Great Britain and the United States, and ratified by both parties.* I have the proclamation on board. I hope this intelligence will restrain you from any act of hostility.

Captain W. This information, to obtain credit, must come in a more formal shape. I am here to act, and not deliberate. command you to haul down your colours.

Lieutenant B. I shall not.

Captain W. Haul down your colours instantly, or I will sink you as sure as you carry tops above your lower mast-heads.

Lieutenant B. I shall do no such thing.

Humanity would willingly draw a veil over the scene that followed-Captain Warrington enforced his demand with his guns, and a brisk action of a few moments terminated in the hauling down the flag of the Nautilus, the death of six Lascars, and the lamentable mutilation of

The peace was made early in December 1814, after a war of two years and eight months. By the general pacification of Europe, the causes which had produced the unhappy impulse no longer subsisted; and in the Treaty concluded between the Mother Country and America, both parties silently relinquished their claims, as though unwilling to recapitulate the principles of the contest.

Lieutenant Boyce, and his only officer, Mr. Maystow, by gun-shot wounds. The heart is more sensibly touched by a picture of individual suffering than of general calamity; and the relation which poor Boyce gives of his wounds affects us the more powerfully, from the fortitude which he displays in venting no reproach against the want of moderation in Captain Warrington. "I re"ceived a grape-shot (two inches and a third in diame"ter) in a slanting direction through my right buttock; "(it passed out near my back-bone ;) and a few minutes "after a 32-pound shot shattered my right knee joint, "and splintered my thigh-bone. It was deemed neces

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sary to amputate my leg, and it was accordingly taken off "above the knee. My cure has been greatly impeded "by two unfortunate fistulas in my stump, which have "caused me to suffer much." This is the statement of a man whose silence on every thing but his wounds, implies that forgiveness is a virtue most native to his heart; and while the reader deplores the severity of his fate, he may learn from his forbearance the charity of a Christian.

Such were the events of a war between England and a nation whose forlorn founders left her shores not two centuries before, without possessing consequence enough to have their transmigration recorded in her chronicles. It instructed the councils of America to adopt the policy of those of Athens, when, under the direction of Themistocles, they looked to their wooden walls as the bulwark of the Republic. It gave scope to the abilities of a Hull,

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