The monitor. (Washington, Ga.) 1800-1815, November 27, 1813, Image 2

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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