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Chesapeake ck Shaumv.
r Wc were on the point of offeiing
to out - readers (fays the Virginia
.Argus) forne renxnks upon the
uncommon deinonitratiotis ot
ioy which have beta manifefled
in Great Britain for the capture
of the Chefapouke, when a
friend who occasionally lias the
perusal of French Gazettes lur
iihed us with the following tianf
lation from a French paper. It
will bo recollected that Gom.
Broke’s account of the battle
found its way to this country,
n the firft iuftance through the
Paris Moniteur. The l-'rcnch
nation appear to take a deep in
hered in our maritime fuicefs.
We cheerfully fubfiiture the üb
fervations of the foreign journal
lit for those we intended to make.
‘lhe reader wiil doubt ids prefer
:hem to any thing we cculu pre
sent him. j
Translated from a F> crux Paper,
‘jit Britilh who had triumphed
•n lb many naval combats previously
to the prevailing American war,
save long relinquilhed the practice
of rejoicing for victories obtained
over a ftngie frigate. If an achieve
nent of that fort took place against
any of the European powers, the
detail of the action was merely in
serted in the London Gazette, the
papers or the mttrpoiis echoed the
naradvp, paid a palling compliment
to the officer, and the affair went
off, being recorded pro memoria, in
he Naval Chronicle, as a thing oi
c.urte. Votes of honor from the
•torpuraticn ui London, a lword of
a hundred guineas value, 3nd par
fi amenta.'y er.comturns were rderv
:l for the hero who fhouid Jeltroy
a Fleet. The battle of the Nik*,
that of Tiaialgar, and the like,
were alone brilliant enough to
cite the applause of a people grown
caiious to common feats of renown
and who, accustomed to var.quiffi
every thing on the ocean, believed
.hemfelvcs omnipotent on that ele
ment. In the Americans the Bri
.i'h have found an enemy that has
abs trusted the agree a bit train c.f
ihoir maritime ideas. Ihe citizens
of the United States are the heft
uarnen in tire world. Their clii
:crs are men of nautical Science, of
great experience, and generally in
he prime of life. The firft na/al
combat of the war marked not a
simple equality of (kill and courage
in the men of the two countries,
but a decided superiority in favor
of the Americans. If the Engliffi
pride was mortified at this sudden
reverie in the case of the Guerriere
the whole Dritifli government was
thrown into corilternation at the
:apture of the Macedonian, the Ja
va, the Frolic, and the Peacock.—
Such rapid and fucceflive defeats
made the cabinet of St. James brif
•le again: It seemed as if all the
English captains were doomed to
p:*fc, one alter the other, under the
Yankee yoke, or to the regions of
the dead ! ‘1 he terror cf the Lon
don oligarchs was increased by a
neculiarify which attended these
combats; for it so happened that
the. officers who commanded the
vessels thus beaten by the Ameri
cans, were Lverally of foine one
of the cliilcrent races of which the
population of the kingdom of
Great Britain is composed. De
crees wan a gay, ftarlcfs Irishman.
He would drink with you, or iigkt
:b the ci" : Mi rranner beimmag-
Lc CiuL liiC boat!, oi tuJ
Britifti cruizersin the Weft-Indies.
Carden was a South Briton, and
was remarkable for that surly vani
ty of mind that diilinguifhed the
modern English, who aftei subdu
ing the Scotch and the Irish, ere
now aclually governed by them.
Garden was so altonifhed at the ve
hemence ot Cant. Decatur’s fire,
that he loft the faculty to command
and did not recover hindeli ’.ill his
decks ft reamed with blood and his
lliip was entirely diiabkii. Whin
yates was a Welchman and fought
with a courage worthy of the na
bves of ancient Brittany from
which the Welch are dJceuded.—
Bur he contended in vain against
the American Jones, who has made
him ft It more illustrious than his
namesake Paul ot desperate mem
ory. Lambert was a Scotchman,
cr of Scotch dtfcenr, and evinced
the heroihn for w hich tliat people
have been celebrated ever lince the
days oi the Romans. Peake was
a naiiie of the Wefl-Indies, and
icught with a warmth of courage
derived from the temperature of
his climate. He could not never
the.efs, lefift the prowefi, of Law
rence, wiio overwhelmed the lYa
cod. widi a blaze t-i fire, as ii fhc
had been pierced and lent tathe
bo*tom by a dream of lightning.—
Had such an event eccuireJ in the
duvs of Heathen Mythology, the
Greek and Latin poets would nut
have failed to celebrate it und- r the
porlbriiltcaiion of Jup’tcr deftre-y
----ing with a flroke of thunder, the
favorite bird cf his jealous confor*
Juno. Such in dlfiti., was the
fenfa;ion throughout Great Brit.tit;
o
ft the unvarying cutretit of Am r
ican naval victories, that cr.quiiies
were let cn loot Ly Lord Darnloy
in the itonic of Peers, as to the
cause c f Britilh failure; the crews
oi F.nglifh flaps of war were increal
ed in number and the officers were
commanded to ke p their men in
constant exerefie. Ships oi the
line were cut down ilill bearing
heavy batteries, so as to pais fi r
frigates; fevuity fours failed dif
guiled, so as to veil their force.—
All forts of Uraragems wer e put in
pradice by the Biitiih officers, to
decoy and take advantage of the
Americans, Frigates were even
fitted cut and called privateers l—
it was in this way that Fnglilh
pride fought to reitorc its reputa
tion i 1 here was something rrdic
clous in all these contrivances of
peciaily when we confidtr tliat they
were the inventions of Britain.*,
who had so oltcn and so infclentiy
boaffed themlelvu the lords oi the
ocean! At length a captain by the
name ot Broke who went in the
frigate Shannon to watch the port
of Boften, fueceeded in bringing
the United States’ frigate Chela
peuke to a premature engagement.
Broke was a veteran commander,
near sixty y<.ars of age, and had
prepared his ship for adion in a
very extraordinary manner; he
had a choice crow, picked from
different vcikls ci the Britifii navy ;
and had borrowed from Commo
dore ilardy at ieaft twenty harp
(hooters who have been approved
under the eye iff Nellun; these
were ffationed ha the Shannon’s
tops, in order to take oil early the
chief officers of the American frigate
Thus prepared, Captain Broke
took a iavorti :e oppcrtutiity to in
vite Capt. Lawrence, then just ap
pointed to the cvvn:u..;. l i t the
ter. The Chesapeake was cr.c c*r
the worll (hips the Americans had ;
; her firft licutonanr who alor.e was
well acquainted with her trim of
i failing, was fickafhore; Lawrence
himfeif was a ftrangtr to the crew,
and they had never been in buttle,
j It limit be confeffed tliere was
j foinething cowardly in this invita.
j tion of Broke; tor he had not only
j the choice of his own lhip to fight
i in, bu? be had the fefettion ol the
! fliip of his adversary that he would
• figlu. That this was a deliberate
j fllecticn is obvious, as Broke, al
! though theTenedos liigate accom
panied the Shannon, kept aloof
1 *rom Com. Rodgers, who, with
Capr. Smith of the Congress, put
to iea as free from moleftution as if
there had been no Britilh squadron
near Bolton. Capt. Lawrence,
with that gallantry so natural to the
truly brave, and which at tiiis day
is charactuiftic of the chivalry of
Franca, had scarcely leen the decks
of the vtihl clear from loole cord
age when he failed forth to fight,
‘ihe (harp fir, outers of the Shannon
shot him anil his principal officers
down at the firft fire, which produc
ed confusion nn board the Annri
ican frigate, when Broke put fiim
fclt at the lieau ot nearly ail his
crew and precipitated himfeif upon
tlic Cluiapcake. ihe rduh is well
known. A triumph gained Ly
foinething like an aituiec, has giv
en oe vail on to the moft extravi
g.:nt detronlfrations of joy in Lon
, don. A member or l'arliament,
! whose name i; Crokr, which i.i
♦he Englifii figrtifies a noisy, but
coniemptible repriie, li.;. pronounc
ed on the occasion a molt prepof
temus culogium, and the corpora
•ion of London have treated the
..iiair as if the fleets of ah the world
bad been anchored in the i iianits
.s trophies ot their valor ! Who is
there that does not perceive in this
vaporing ot the Iflandcrs, a real
star for their ultimate naval superi
ority r—ihe Aineiicans will thou
recover from tl is evert They are
a people who do nut yield to mil
fortune. We had ionic experience
of them thirty years ago ; and y
have uiready evinced that they have
not degenerated. It is not ntcef
fary to conceal that France regards
the naval proguds of the United
States with considerable intsreft.—
His Imperial M, ’ fiy has no with
to reprcls their growth in tln.t way.
He defircs every power t.> enjoy
its reafonal/le rights on thw ocean.
It is for that be now wages war and
negotiates. ll< claims for France,
for his kingdom cf L ily, and for
. his allies, nothing more than their
j legitimate portion of commerce
. lie would be unworthy id ti.c rine
empire ever which he reigns, if he
did not purine that objett by all
i the plans which his great genius
1 may conceive and his refouic.s aud
j abilities enable him to execute.
me:: 7/1 s w: : r jtr. :::rr:: cr
uiiE (ith rzsTJX-r.
FUROPI AN AFFAIRS.
There has been tevrif.!,* fighting
in Germany ; hit the knavery or
ignorance of the printers thre ugh
whose hands the iv.fils have part,
(and have none but what Lave
reached us by the w 7 < 1 England)
1i- uircv.n 1.1. <: .... * iOv.fi con. i
lion, that it is r.o < aiy tnuUer t.i
form an opini.m ‘ tl e real uatc cf
tl/ng.% much Ids to afc.ra*:i the
# ! 1* h* * ■ * 1 ■ . <■'. es i p
i\i fine c .cr.ts r.re narrated in the
Flinch I ufictins, v. have at kafl
a well co” etieu fiery; all tile is
“ t pruar wild.”
ihe French accounts detail a
battle fougfit r:ar
on the ‘Jfi h and t. J 7rh el Auguic.
The Fiench were commanded by
Bonaparte* in person, cfiiffid iy
Mur;u, icy ( fiarmoi.fc, \';£fi.r,
fit. Cyr, c-:c. Ihe a l :.. ?, v ore un
der tie cti*ptro:s of.ilnifii end
Auflita and tin. Iling oi Prufiia .
the latter h laid n> have bed if 7
diiecfion of the w hole. ‘ll.c* for
ces of the* contending panics nmft
Lave amounted to -/.co i- t n.
‘i he ati.fi n began at 4” r J o’clock
i:i the evenit.g ; the allies appear
to have Uer: driven from the:.-
ground before night—and tfit riev.
day, though the* rain :dl in torrent*!
th*. Fit in h purfutd their advar/-
ages wih great fucctfs—and date
the result to be 2 r c r 30,000 pris
oners, 40 flandarvls, and 60 pieces
of cannon taken—tl.tr whole bifit
of the allies being efliir.ated at
6 .000 mm ; the French lofi. only
o, which is imurTabie. ?duu:
with th- cavalry, t.rg srs to b.ave
conJutimd himfeif u.:h his ufra!
fk:ll, courage and gco-.J fortune.—
(>n ii a tßt!i, j'ith, and 3c f li, the*
1 .'emh j itifueu iheir fucctlies and
1 zoo amrauu.ii. n w r a.. r gnr.s
and mar.y pril nuu. T i.< y found
the neighboring viii gvs full c-r t; ••
w euiu’eu of ii>e allift! army—“iht v
counted irerr.” The French
accounts arc as : ate as the Bth e
September, ar.d notice various mi
ne. tu.’ cflls; but adn they
3 or 4.C.C0 nrifoistrs i:.fi ‘! , fn, be
-a part of the duhe cfTare-titeA;
comi ard, ; urieit.g t!,c allies, wh.-
vo re f parat. ti IV .m the other f.r
ces hy the iifi r g of the water-’,
which Lu-pt away the bridges, Ac
Moreau, who had been appointed
major-general and chief of the
ffufi ’ of tfie* R;. fit an forces (dvr
iatr.k poll r!ra: Bcniiier holds un
der Bonaparte) while eiici urfm
witli Alexander, v.es irmrudiy
wounded by one of tl c fiif: canm.n
the i renrh lin'd on the add . k
tarried off o. ith Jes paii:-;- tiro’
la.-, liotfe, and he c._*d on ihe :d
dcnicrabi r
In cunfcqncnce oi tiiefe events
th? emprr fs regcr.ioi’ Fra >cs ord.r
ed a grand ifi ! >eum.
it.e war ai*b goes cn. in !* :'•.*.
1 lit* Flinch f >rce under the vite
rry, is report. J to have gained
loi.irad’ antages—which ctiier fbte
niu.ts d.ny.
C..J 1 ..lyiiui uCaimt u
defeat !• Jj.l c* PreU'en, but dtp live
tl.e bat.l.* of the great importance
t!:e Ftcnch aie:ibe to it—ar.d fav
tii.it the allijs on the sth of Sipterr.-
l.tr “ i.’ued from the | afl'es ot L’.--
hetiii:’,” an 1 took ti e rcrufi lead
ing to Hidden ; where it was c *l
cuSated another hunle tn g! t b*
fought about the ie;!i cf zhai
:noi*;i. i.at ikuis p..p.rs i t the
2 rh are ffint on the furl, cb, from
v. him tiie .fi :g! ih editors infer th.
I’unch have nh: anen. itap-
P ars that Bcrnadotte r -de a fir
cd-diil ainnk upon the l.ft wing c
ihe Fi lidi a. uiy, ttnetr Yauiiatr
me at Dannewi;::, where he took
about ic.cco prisoners; th:’.*
liitithcr obtained corfidcrable ad
vantages to the rigiu ; other fuc
cti.es rue claimed for the ai its, too
t us i- rus to de'.dfi even if th
tr. ‘h could be gleaned from tl
ncf matter prcfcnteJ, which
iir: c fiible.
C r.v*a- *to cur belief, the crown