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the whole attention of our people, even at the hazard of their own lives, was directed to the saving as many as possible of the miserable Spaniards who seemed to have no alternative but that of finishing their lives by fire or water. They succeeded in saving between three and four hundred persons who were restored to their friends in Spain.

We are told in the authentic narrative of the battle of the Nile, "that a fire was observed on board the l'Orient, the French Admiral's ship, which seemed to proceed from the after part of the cabin, and which increased with great rapidity, presently involving the whole of the after part of the ship in flames. This circumstance, Captain Berry, immediately communicated to the Admiral, who, though suffering severely from his wound, came up upon deck, where the first consideration that struck his mind, was, concern for the danger of so many lives, to save as many as possible of whom, he ordered Captain Berry to make every practicable exertion. A boat, the only one that could swim, was instantly

dispatched from the Vanguard; and other ships that were in a condition to do so, immediately followed the example, by which means, from the best possible information, the lives of about seventy Frenchmen were saved."

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The conduct of the Admiral after the victory, is not less worthy our regard:-Although it is natural to suppose" says the author of the authentic narrative before cited, "that the time and attention of the Admiral, and of all the officers of his squadron, were very fully employed in repairing the damages sustained by their own ships, and in securing those of the enemy, which their valour had subdued; yet the mind of that great and good man, felt the strongest emotions of the most pious gratitude, to the supreme Being; for the signal success, which by his divine favour, had crowned his endeavours in the cause of his country, and in consequence, on the morning of the second, he issued the following memorandum to the different Captains of his squadron:

F

MEM.

Vanguard, off the Mouth of the Nile,

2d day of August, 1798.

"Almighty God having blessed his Majesty's arms with victory, the Admiral intends returning Public Thanksgiving for the same, at two o'clock this day; and he recommends every ship doing the same, as soon convenient.

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"To the respective Captains of the Squadron."

"At two o'clock, accordingly on the same day, Publick Service was performed on the quarter-deck of the Vanguard, by the Rev. Mr. Comyn; the other ships followed the example of the Admiral, though, perhaps, not at the same time.

"This solemn act of gratitude to Heaven, seemed to make a very deep impression upon several of the prisoners, both officers and men, some of the former of whom, remarked that it was no wonder we could preserve such order and discipline, when we could impress the minds of our men with such sentiments after a victory so great, and at a moment of such seeming confusion."

Surely, after these instances, you will scarcely say, that either the army or the navy were indifferent to the cause of the Protestant religion.

Your picture of the effects of War is equally overcharged. You alledge," that it commences with the destruction of the principle of benevolence, and with narrowing the sphere of philanthropy; that in its progress, it freezes up all the genial charities of our nature; its maturity is marked with the extinction of every liberal sentiment, and when it quits the land over which it has exercised its malignant influence, it leaves the social character of the country, barren of all that is amiable and virtuous, benevolent and humane."

I have lived long enough to see four wars, and the termination of three of them, and am somewhat surprised at neither observing, nor feeling the effects of this total depravation of the moral character of our countrymen, which you so ardently describe, and which must have happened

thrice, at least, in my memory, and, according to you, must subsist at present, though possibly you may think it not yet arrived at maturity.

We should judge from your account, that all charity must be extinct, all humanity suppressed, the roads filled with robbers and murderers, the streets swarming with house-breakers, the jails with criminals, and the gibbets with carcases.

This would have made a good supplement to your description, and have been equally just with the other part of your picture. The truth is, that the number of persons executed, is considerably less now than it was some years ago, in time of profound Peace, and the prosecutions for inferior offences, much fewer both in London and in the country. Had you made inquiry in the city wherein you reside, you would have found that much fewer prosecutions have been ordered by the society which was instituted for prosecuting local offences in this place than was formerly; and the

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