globe. But the most deadly blow, that was aimed at British commerce, was the animating call upon the French merchants and capitalists, to equip without delay, strong and swift-sailing privateers. In short, the natural valour and enterprise of Frenchmen had never been raised to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, as at the onset of this the first maritime war in which, with the slight exception of Sardinia, the republic was engaged.

As, in the course of the details that are to follow, frequent reference will be made to the force of French ships, a table, showing at one view the established armaments of the different classes, would tend to free the subject from much of its accustomed embarrassment. Fortunately, the French navy being composed wholly of French-built ships, a uniformity prevails, that renders this mode practicable ; and here follows, drawn up from authentic records, a tabular statement, which will afford the requisite information

There is one remarkable peculiarity in the arrangement of the guns on board of French ships. So paramount to all other considerations is the comfort of the captain, that no guns are mounted in the cabin of a line-of-battle ship; and sometimes the aftermost port of the main deck of a frigate is left vacant, to answer a similar purpose. This is the reason that French ships of the line, and frigates occasionally when captured by the British, are established with a greater number of guns than they had previously carried; a British captain preferring the uniform appearance of his gun-deck to the greater comfort of domestic furniture.

In a week or two after the declaration of war against England, Rear-admiral Pierre-César-Charles-Guillaume Sercey, with the 74-gun ships Eole, America, and Jupiter, and some frigates and corvettes, sailed from Brest bound to the West Indies; whither