learn how much they exalt themselves by a promptitude in doing justice to the merits of an enemy.

The capture of the Ville-de-Milan, and the recapture of the Cleopatra, became a sore subject to the French naval writers. They consoled themselves, however, with the idea, that they could make up a story, which would both gain credit and give satisfaction on their side of the Channel, without its being confuted, or perhaps even seen, on the other. They pretended to believe, that the Cleopatra had exchanged her long 12 for long 18 pounders, being ignorant enough, as naval men, not to know, that the ports for the first, would not answer for the second caliber ; and, in short, that the ship was scarcely large or strong enough to carry her battery of twelves. The inference meant to be drawn was, that the Cleopatra, in every respect, was the equal of the Ville-de-Milan ; and that, therefore, the victory gained by the latter redounded to the honour of the French navy.

One admission has slipped out, which, as coming from a Frenchman, is rather important, and so precisely applicable to the case of the Cleopatra and Ville-de-Milan, that, offering our acknowledgments, we adopt the very words: " We should seem here " (alluding to an opinion just given) " to be passing sentence upon several French captains, did we not hasten to remark, that ; to be equal in force, it is not enough that two vessels be armed with the same guns, in number and caliber, but they ought to be of an equal strength in their hull, masts, and rigging. " " Nous semblerions prononcer ici l'arrêt de plusieurs capitaines de vaisseau français, si nous ne nous hâtions de faire remarquer que, pour être égaux en force, il ne suffit pas que deux bâtimens soient armés d'une artillerie pareille, quant au nombre et au calibre, mais qu'ils doivent être d'une égale solidité dans leur coque, leur mâture, et leur gréement. " *

All curiosity about the circumstances that attended the capture of the Ville-de-Milan herself is stifled at once by the sweeping falsehood, that the British 40-gun frigate Cambrian [sic] was aiding and assisting the Leander in the very difficult task she had to perform. And yet he, whom, after what has already appeared in these pages, it will be no libel to call the imperial fictionist, and who actually took some interest in this particular case, wholly overlooked the circumstance of the alleged interference of a second British ship. "Il paraît," says Napoléon, in a letter to his minister of marine, dated May 10, 1805, " que la Ville-de-Milan a été prise, mais non la Cléopâtre qui s'est sauvée. Les renseignemens que j'ai me donnent lieu de croire que la Cléopâtre était très-loin de la Ville-de-Milan, et n'a pu prendre part au léger combat qui a eu lieu contre le Léandre ; que le commandant de la Ville-de-Milan, voyant que l'état de dêlabrement où elle était la compromettrait, lui fit le signal de s'éloigner,

* Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xvi., p. 66, note.

^ back to top ^