cused, positively denied the charge; and that to pass sentence upon them, without bringing them to an open. trial, argued an apprehension that they would not have been found guilty by an impartial jury. It was alo urged, that to violate the form of a constitution was to violate the constitution itself, of which those forms were designed to be the safeguard; and that, even allowing the conspiracy to have been no fiction, if no legal jurors could be brought to condemn the conspirators, it would amount to a plain proof that the public was with them, and approved of their design: in which case they would stand acquitted by the highest authority,

To the many censures and invectives cast upon the republican party, for its conduct on this occasion, the answer, which was generally allowed to be the most plausible, and by many reputed satisfactory, was, that if the conspirators had been formally tried, they must inevitably have been found guilty, and condemned to die in which case it would not have been in the power of government to remit the sentence. It was more humane, therefore, as well as more prudent, to banish them; a punishment which, by sparing their lives, prevented the odium that must have been incurred by the effusion of so much blood.

The ineffectual expedition of the French to Ireland, in the month of December, 1790, did not put an end to the expectation they had formed of being able to make an effectual impression upon that part of the British empire. On the return of the fleet to Brest, a proclamation was published, wherein the troops, enbarked for that service, were

told, that another attempt was in preparation, which would only be deferred till the return of more favourable weather. ·

Whether a second expedition was actually intended, or that government meaned only to keep up an alarm in Great Britain, every appearance of such a design was maintained. Sailors and soldiers resorted, from various quarters, to Brest, where general Hoche had fixed his head quarters. But the whole month of January, and more than half of February elapsed, before any active measures took place : and those that were then taken, appeared of a nature that shewed an intention rather to perplex the British ministry, than to prosecute any regular design against this kingdom.

Acorps of about fourteen hundred men was embarked in four vessels, three of them large frigates, which, sailing from Brest, stood round the coast of England, and entering the Bristol channel, about the 20th of February, anchored in the harbour of Ilfracomb, on the north of Devonshire, where they skuttled several merchantmen, and would probably have destroyed all the shipping there, had they not been apprised that a body of troops was marching against them. This was the North Devon regiment of volunteers, commanded by colone Orchard. Leaving Ilfracomb, they stood over to the headland off St. David's, in' Penibrokeshire, and came to an anchor in a bay near Fishguard. Here their troops were disembarked. But their landing was attended with great diffiulty. As they were totally unacquainted with the country, they came ashore at a place full of rocks, which they were obliged to climb

with much labour. On the twentythird, their whole force being landed, they advanced into the country, expecting, it has been said, to be joined by numbers, But if such, was, their expectation, they were greatly deceived. The whole country was instantly alarmed, and the people gathered from all parts to oppose them. In the course of the day, more than three thousand men were collected, of whom seven hundred were well trained militia. Lord Cawdor put himself at their head, and marched directly against the enemy, whom he reached before the setting in of night. But in stead of attempting either attack or defence, the French commander informed him, by a letter, brought by one of his officers, that the circumstances, under which the French troops were landed, rendering military operations unnecessary, as they would only tend to bloodshed and pillage, all the officers under him, had intimated their desire to enter into a negociation for a surrender.

To this message lord Cawdor replied, by requiring them immediately to surrender prisoners of war. With this requisition they complied, and laid down their arms on the following day. They had no fieldpieces with them, but brought a quantity of powder and ball, sufficient to load seventy carts. One half of them were picked veterans, but the other consisted, according to report, of galley-slaves, and others of the like sort, taken out of prison on condition of their engaging in this attempt. Their ragged appearance fully countenanced this surmise, and the first object that occupied them, on their landing, was to provide themselves with clothes where

ever they could find any. Various motives were assigned for this undertaking. Whatever they might be, those who were employed in it, had only their own prowess and exertions to rely upon for success, as the ships that brought them, took their departure as soon as the debarkation was completed, leaving them entirely to the chances and protection of their own fortune. The most probable of the several opinions, formed upon this subject, seems that which ascribes to the French government a determination to prove the practicability of effecting a landing in England, notwithstanding the numerous fleets that guard it coasts. In a trial of this importance they were willing to risk the handful of men that were sent to make it. They might not, however, imagine that they would so readily yield to the first summons, and possibly hoped that they would be able to occasion much confusion before they were subdued.

While the French were thus vainly endeavouring to carry the war into the British dominions in Europe, the arms of England were more successfully employed against the possessions of their Spanish allies in the West Indies. An expedition was planned, and took place in February, against Trinidad, au island of

consequence on the northern coast of South America. The land forces were under the command of general Abercromby, and the squadron under that of admiral Harvey. The Spaniards, in expectation of an attack, had collected a naval force for their defence. It consisted of four ships of the line, besides frigates, and lay at anchor in a bay, protected by strong batteries. On the sixteenth

of

of February, admiral Harvey arrived, with the British squadron, and immediately resolved to attack it. But, during that night, which preceded the intended attack, the Spanish ships casually took fire, and all were consumed But one, which was captured. After this disaster,

the Spaniards were not in a condition to make any effectual resistance. General Abercromby landed his forces, and having made himself master of the principal town, with little opposition, the Spanish governor surrendered the whole island by capitulation.

CHAP.

tempt. The loss of men upon this occasion, notwithstanding the superiority of the enemy, was small, and the troops reimbarked without any molestation.

The French were, in the mean time, making preparations, in their islands, to attack some of those belonging to the English, which these had taken from them. As the forces, which they intended to employ, consisted of a numerous proportion of blacks, it was proposed by the British commander-in-chief of the land forces, general Abercromby, conformably to his instructions, that a large body of negroes should be raised, and formed into regiments, for the protection of the British islands. But this proposal was highly disapproved by the representative bodies of the inhabitants, who unanimously concurred in condemning the measure, as full of danger. The emancipation of the negroes, in the French islands, had filled those in the English with sanguine expectation that they would be placed on the same footing. They. were greatly dissatisfied at their disappointment, and their dissatis faction was daily heightened, through the communication they maintained, by various means, with the French negroes, who warmly solicited them to procure their freedom through force, as they would not obtain it otherwise. While such apprchensions hung over the planters, they could by no arguments be prevailed upon to put arms into the hands of the nogroes, whom they considered as much readier to attack their masters, than to protect them.

The preparations made by the French, against the English, were of little effect they landed a body of picked men at Anguilla, a small

island, where meeting with no resistance, from its defenceless situation, they committed great ravages. Happily for the inhabitants, captain Barton, of the Lapwing frigate, being apprized of their danger, sailed immediately to their relief. On his approach, the French reembarked: but their shipping was attacked, and totally destroyed, and the whole of their land and sea force either killed or taken. This happened in the latter part of 1796. In the commencement of the following year, they prepared for other attempts: but whether from the discouragement, occasioned by this check, or that they were not in sufficient readiness, they remained inactive till the ensuing June, when, instead of making any of their `threatened attacks upon the islands in possession of the English, they confined their exertions to St, Domingo, where they endeavoured to retake some places in the hands of those French planters that had put themselves under the protection of Great Britain, or were possessed by the British troops. They laid siege, in the month of April, to Trois, a strong post recently taken from them. Captain Rickets, of the Magicienne, came fortunately to its assistance, and attacked the ships and transports, laden with ammunition and necessaries for carrying on the siege: they were all taken, and the besiegers on shore, thus deprived of the supplies they wanted, were, by the united fire from the garrison and the British frigate, driven from their position, and compelled to abandon the attempt.

Some days before this repulse, general Rigaud, commander of the republican forces, resolved to make an attempt upon the fort of Trois,

the