the 74-gun ship Culloden, Diadem 64, and Inconstant, Flora and Lowestoffe frigates, when seven or eight leagues to the south-east of Cape Matapan, standing into the Archipelago, chased the Badine, which had just been detached by M. Ganteaume, purposely, as he states, to draw the British squadron away from his own.

Running into the gulf of Coron, the Badine anchored close off the town; and on the next day the Lowestoffe cast anchor alongside of her, in order to watch her motions. On the 31st of December Commodore Troubridge, with the remainder of his squadron, anchored in the harbour of Milo, and subsequently steered for Smyrna. Meanwhile, Commodore Ganteaume was bending his course for Toulon, and on the 5th of February, 1796, reached the road in safety.

Having detached Rear-admiral Mann and Vice-admiral Sir Hyde Parker, as already stated, Admiral Hotham sailed on the 12th of October, for Leghorn, where he arrived on the next day. On the 1st of November, admiral Hotham struck his flag,* and was immediately succeeded in the command by Vice-admiral Sir Hyde Parker, who had the day before rejoined the fleet with his squadron. On the 11th, the fleet sailed for Leghorn, and on the 20th, anchored in the bay of San-Fiorenzo ; where, on the 30th, the 32-gun frigate, Lively, Captain Lord Garlies, arrived from Portsmouth, having on board Admiral Sir John Jervis, appointed the commander-in-chief on the station. On the 3d of December, Sir John shifted his flag from the Lively to the Victory, and on the 13th, sailed with the fleet for Toulon ; between which port and the isle of Minorca, the admiral was cruising at the close of the year.

War Between England and Holland.

The extraordinary success which had attended the French arms throughout the year 1794, operating upon the revolutionary spirit by which Holland was overrun, rendered the conquest of that country, especially after the fall of the Netherlands, no difficult task. France, in her policy, permitted Holland to retain the nominal dignity of an independent state, under the style of the Batavian Republic ; as, while it flattered the vanity of the Dutch, it gave to the conquerors every advantage to be derived from possessing Holland as a province, without the expense of maintaining her as an integral part of the French empire.

England now found it her duty not to let slip the opportunity of weakening the maritime power of this new ally in her enemy's cause. Accordingly, on the 19th of January, orders

* The admiral soon afterwards returned to England, and, by dint of sheer interest, got himself made an Irish peer.