four fine 74-gun ships, the Tancredi, Guiscardo, Samnita, and Parthenope; which four ships, in conjunction with a body of 6000 troops, the King of the Two Sicilies engaged to place at the disposal, when required, of the British commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean.

The principal maritime powers, which, when the war commenced, stood in the character of neutrals, were Russia, Denmark, and Sweden. The navy of the first power consisted of about 40 sail of the line, the second of about 24, and the last of about 18. Russia agreed so far to favour England in the war, as, with some restriction, to shut her ports against the vessels of republican France; but neither Denmark nor Sweden would confederate with their neighbour in a measure by which, as they conceived, and perhaps justly, their commerce would be lessened. There was a fourth ycleped (yclept) neutral power, which, although possessing a navy of only a few frigates, and separated from Europe by the whole breadth of the Atlantic ocean, became in time, by her enterprising commercial spirit and expertness at concealing enemy's property, a more effective friend to France, and consequently a sharper thorn in the side of England, than if she had been at open war with her; as, in the latter case, the numerous vessels of the United States, trading between France and her colonies, might, without any complaint, remonstrance, or quibble, have been legally detained by British cruisers.

At no previous period had France possessed so powerful a navy as was now ready to second her efforts to humble, if not overthrow, her great maritime rival. It amounted altogether to about 250 vessels, of which 82 were of the line; and of these, nearly three-fourths were ready for sea, or in a serviceable state.* Moreover, the French government, shortly after the commencement of the war, in order to provide against those losses which, experience had shown, were likely to attend a contest with England, ordered to be laid on the stocks 71 ships, including 25 of the line; and to be cast at the national foundries 3100 pieces of sea-service ordnance, including 400 brass 36-pounder carronades, the first of the kind, as it would appear, forged in France.

Among the French ships ordered to be built, were five to mount 100 guns, and eight frigates to carry 24-pounders on the main deck. Instead of the former, one ship to mount 130 guns, and be named Peuple, was laid down; and, for the remaining four three-deckers, an equal number of 80s and 74s appear to have been substituted. Several of the old small-class 74s, or such as carried 24-pounders only on the lower deck, instead of being repaired to serve again in the line, or taken to pieces as unfit to serve at all, were cut down and converted into the most formidable frigates that had hitherto been seen. It is uncertain what was the exact armament of these "vaisseaux rasés;" but.

* See Appendix, No. 6,