Army ; neither can too much praise be given to the seamen, for their friendly and cheerful exertions under very hard labour, exertions which were accompanied with a propriety of behaviour which I greatly attribute to your management, and which will ever merit my acknowledgments."

For his services on this occasion, General Stuart was made a knight of the bath ; but Commodore Duckworth, who, according to a letter from Earl St.-Vincent to Earl Spencer, expected to be created a baronet, received no mark of royal favour. Without waiting to discuss the merits of the commodore's claims, we shall merely state, that he found a false friend in him whom he requested to urge them. Let Earl St.-Vincent be judged by his own words: "Commodore Duckworth will, I am sure, represent me as lukewarm to the profession if I do not at least state his expectations, which, I understand from Captain Digby, are, to be created a baronet. It is certainly very unusual for a person, detached as he was, under a plan and instruction from his commander-in-chief, from which the circumstances attending the enterprise did not require the smallest deviation, to be distinguished in the manner he looks for. Very different was the case of General Stuart, who received his instructions from the secretary of the war department, and was himself a commander-in-chief." * Had Captain Brenton, whom no one can accuse of being "lukewarm " in Earl 'St.-Vincent's cause, instead of publishing this letter, thrown it into the fire, he would have escaped the charge so expressively conveyed in the poet's deprecation, "Save me from my friends !"

So much had the Camperdown defeat damped the energies and crippled the resources of the Dutch, that no fleet which they could assemble dared to show itself outside of the Texel. Nor, even were every one of the 16 ships that had met Admiral Duncan restored to her station in the Batavian line, would the aggregate force have been able to contend against the united fleets, which now cruised between Holland and England. The command of the British North-sea fleet still remained with Admiral Lord Duncan ; who had under his orders 16 sail of the line (four 74s and twelve 64s), besides more than double that number of 50-gun ships, frigates, and sloops. The Russian Vice-admiral Mackaroff cruised also on the same station, with 10 sail of the line, of which number seven were 74-gun ships.

Light Squadrons and Single Ships.

On the 3d of January, at 6 a.m., the British armed sloop or tender George, of six guns (3 or 4 pounders) and 40 men, commanded by lieutenant Michael Mackey, being on her passage

* Brenton, vol. ii., p. 348.

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