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# A Free People

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Delivered to the Irish parliament on 16 April 1782 on the news that the King would not oppose the motion that the Irish Parliament should pass its own laws.
I am now to address a free people: ages have passed away, and this is the first moment in which you could be distinguished by that appellation.
I have now spoken on the subject of your liberty so often, that I have nothing to add, and have only to admire by what heaven-directed steps you have proceeded until the whole faculty of the nation is braced up to the act of her own deliverance.
I found Ireland on her knees, I watched over her with a paternal solicitude; I have traced her progress from injuries to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift! Spirit of Molyneux! Your genius has prevailed. Ireland is now a nation. In that new character I hail her, and bowing to her august presence, I say, Esto Perpetua!
She is no longer a wretched colony, returning thanks to her governor for his rapine, andto her king for his oppression; nor is she now a squabbling, fretful sectary, perplexing her little wits, and firing her furious statutes with bigotry, sophistry, disabilities, and death, to transmit to posterity insignificance and war.
You, with difficulties innumerable, with dangers not a few, have done what your ancestors wished, but could not accomplish; and what your posterity may preserve, but will never equal: you have moulded the jarring elements of your country into a nation. You had not the advantages which were common to other great countries; no monuments, no trophies, none of these outward and visible signs of greatness, such as inspire mankind and connect the ambition of the age which is coming on with the example of that going off, and form the descent and concatenation of glory: no; you have not had any great act recorded among all your misfortunes, nor have you one public tomb to assemble the crowd and spread to the living the language of integrity and freedom.
Your historians did not supply the want of monuments; on the contrary, these narrators of your misfortunes, who should have felt for your wrongs, and have punished your oppressors with oppressions, natural scourges, the moral indignation of history, compromised with public villany and trembled; they excited your violence, they suppressed your provocation, and wrote in the train which entrammelled their country. I am come to break that chain, and I congratulate my country, who, without any of the advantages I speak of, going forth, as it were, with nothing but a stone and a sling, and what oppression could not take away, the favour of Heaven, accomplished her own redemption and left you with nothing to add and everything to admire.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Nott, John Thomas

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​NOTT. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 17; h-p., 29.)
John Thomas Nott entered the Navy, 23 Jan. 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Clyde 38, Capt. Chas. Cunningham, attached to the force in the Channel. In the of 1802 (he had previously attained the rating of Midshipman) he successively joined the Achille 74, Capts. Edw. Buller and John Okes Hardy, and Rosario sloop, Capt. Wm. Mounsey; and he was next, between April, 1803, and June, 1807, employed in the Channel and off Cadiz and Ferrol in the Malta 84, Capt. Edw. Buller, under whom he bore a warm part in Sir Robt. Calder’s action with the combined fleets of France and Spain, 22 July, 1805. After a servitude of 15 months in the Mediterranean on board the Queen 98, flag-ship of Real-Admiral Geo. Martin, he proceeded, towards the close of 1808, to the West Indies in the Subtle, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Brown, and on his arrival on that Station was nominated, first in Jan. 1809, and then in the ensuing Dec, Acting-Lieutenant of the Port d’Espagne and Curieux sloops, Capts. Alex. Kennedy, Sam. Geo. Pechell, and Colin Campbell. In the Port d’Espagne he assisted, we believe, at the reduction of Martinique. Being confirmed, 18 Oct. 1810, into the Perlen 38, Capts. Norbome Thompson, Joseph Swabey Tetley, and John Allen, he was in that vessel, off Toulon, when she effected, 22 Nov. 1811, a gallant escape from a French line-of-battle ship and frigate with whom she had for several hours endured a close running fight. In 1812-1314 we find him employed on the Mediterranean and North American stations in the Thames 32, Capt. Chas. Napier, Pilot 18, Capt. John Toup Nicholas, Ocean 98, Capt. Robt. Plampin, and Iphigenia 36, Capt. Andrew King. In the Pilot he was present, 14 May, 1812, in an attack made, in company with the Thames, on the port of Sapri, where a strong battery and tower, mounting two 32-pounders, were surrendered at discretion, after having been battered for two hours within pistol-shot. From 8 Dec. 1841 until the spring of 1843, and from 7 Sept. in the latter year until the close of 1845, Lieut. Nott commanded the Partridge 10, and Lynx brigantine – the former in South America, the latter on particular service. He was advanced to the rank he now holds 9 Nov. 1846.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Nourse, Joseph

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​NOURSE. (Lieutenant, 1841.)
Joseph Nourse entered the Navy 3 Jan. 1825; passed his examination 2 Jan. 1832; and, at the period of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant 23 Nov. 1841, was serving at the Cape of Good Hope in the Southampton 50, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Durnford King. His succeeding appointments were – 3 Dec. following, again to the Southampton, in the capacity of Additional-Lieutenant – 8 Feb. 1842, to the command, which he retained for 12 months, of the Fawn brigantine, on the Cape station – 6 Feb. 1845, to the Rodney 92, Capt. Edw. Collier, fitting at Portsmouth – and, 6 May following, to the Rattler steam-sloop, Capts. Henry Smith (b) and Rich. Moorman, with whom he was for two years employed on Home service, the greater part of the time as First-Lieutenant. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Norway, Nevil

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​NORWAY. (Lieut., 1838. f-p., 13; h-p., 11.)
Nevil Norway was born on 20 April 1807. He is nephew maternally of Commander Rich. Moorman (a), R.N., K.F.M.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 May, 1823, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hussar 46, Capt. Geo. Harris. After a servitude of three years and a half in the West Indies, part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman, he joined, towards the close of 1826, the Prince Regent 120, bearing the flag of Sir Robt. Moorsom at Chatham; and he was next, from July, 1827, until June, 1829 (in the course of which month he passed his examination), employed, chiefly on the Mediterranean station, in the Isis 50, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines, and Brisk 10, Capt. Smith. He then became Mate of the Victory 104, Capt. Hon. Geo. Elliot, lying at Portsmouth, as he subsequently did, in March, 1830, of the Asia 84, Capts. Hyde Parker and Peter Richards, on the Lisbon station – in Oct. 1833, for a few weeks, of the San Josef 110, Capt. Gordon Thos. Falcon, at Plymouth – and, in Oct. 1837, of the Rodney 92, Capt. Hyde Parker, in the Mediterranean. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 28 June, 1838, he was successively appointed in that capacity, on the Lisbon and Mediterranean stations – 18 Oct. 1838, to the Ganges 84, Capt. Barrington Reynolds – and, in 1839-40, to the Hydra and Phoenix steamers, Capts. Anthony Wm. Milward and Robt. Fanshawe Stopford. In the latter vessel he was present throughout the operations on the coast of Syria, including the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre. He has been on half-pay since Dec. 1840.
He married, 15 June, 1843, Judith Catherine, only child of the late N. Cole, Esq., of Trebyan. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Norton, John

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​NORTON. (Retired Captain, 1840. f-p., 21; h-p., 35.)
John Norton was born 24 May, 1771, and died 26 Sept. 1845.
This officer entered the Navy, about 1789, as A.B., on board the Phoenix 36, Capts. Byron and Sir Rich. John Strachan; under the latter of whom, while cruizing off the coast of Malabar in company with the Perseverance frigate, he took part, 19 Nov. 1791, in an obstinate action (produced by a resistance on the part of the French Captain to a search being imposed by the British upon two merchant-vessels under his orders) with La Résolue, of 46 guns, whose colours were not struck until she had herself sustained a loss of 25 men killed and 40 wounded, and had occasioned one to the Phoenix ​of 6 killed and 11 wounded. Removing, in Nov. 1793, to the Alexander 74, Capt. Rich. Rodney Bligh, he was on board that ship when captured, off Scilly, 6 Nov. 1794, after a glorious resistance of more than two hours, and a loss in killed and wounded of 40 men, by five French 74’s and three frigates under Rear-Admiral Nielly. On his release from French prison in Aug. 1795, he joined the Topaze 36, Capt. Stephen Geo. Church, and sailed for the Halifax station, where he witnessed, 28 Aug. 1796, the surrender of the French 36-gun frigate Elisabeth. He was confirmed a Lieutenant of the Topaze, after having acted for four months as such, 8 Jan. 1799; and he was subsequently appointed – about 1801, to the Resolution 74, Capt. Hon. Alan Hyde Gardner, which ship was paid off on her return from the West Indies 15 July, 1802 – 22 Sept. 1803, to the Trent 36, bearing the flag of Lord Gardner at Cork – 14 Dec. 1804 and 24 Aug. 1805, to the command of the Marie tender and Frisk cutter, on the Home station – and (having left the latter vessel in Sept. 1816), 30 April, 1807, as Senior, to the Fame 74, Capt. Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett, in the Mediterranean. In the Frisk he assisted, in April, 1806, at the capture and destruction of a battery, of 3 long 36-pounders, with a garrison of 50 men, situated on Pointe d’Equillon, in the Pertuis Breton, and was highly commended by Lord Cochrane for his zeal on the occasion. He continued in the Fame until Feb. 1811; he then took up a commission bearing date 21 of the preceding Oct.; and on 10 Sept. 1840 he accepted the rank of Captain on the Retired List.
We may add, that, when in the Topaze, Capt. Norton had been severely wounded by an explosion of powder while clearing for action. He married 16 Sept. 1803, and had issue one daughter.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Nott, Edward Bunbury

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​NOTT. (Commander, 1846.)
Edward Bunbury Nott entered the Navy 17 June, 1815; passed his examination in 1821; and obtained his first commission 12 May, 1829. His succeeding appointments were – in the course of the latter year, to the Sybille 48, Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier, on the coast of Africa, whence he returned in 1830 – 16 Nov. 1832, to the Coast Guard, which service he left in the spring of 1 835, but rejoined 15 June, 1838 – 18 Aug. 1841, as Senior, to the Siren 16, Capt. Wm. Smith (b), under whom he was for three years employed in the East Indies – and, 4 March, 1845, in a similar capacity, to the Canopus 84, Capt. Fairfax Moresby, attached to the force on the Home station. He attained his present rank 8 June, 1846; and, since 6 Feb. 1847, has been officiating as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard.
Commander Nott married, in Oct. 1829, at ​St. Helena, Sarah Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Thos. Reid, Esq. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Nott, John Neale

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​NOTT. (Captain, 1842.)
John Neale Nott, born in 1800, at Reading, co. Berks, is eldest son of the Rev. Edw. Nott, more than a quarter of a century Rector of Weeke, co. Hants; and grandson of Capt. John Neale Pleydell Nott, who fell in command of the Centaur 74 in an action between Sir Sam. Hood’s squadron and the French fleet in the West Indies, 29 April, 1781.
This officer entered the Navy, in Oct. 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the San Josef 110, Capt. Robt. Jackson, in which ship and the Queen Charlotte 100, each bearing the flag of Lord Keith in the Channel, he served until Aug. 1814. Between that period and 1820, in Aug. of which year he passed his examination, we find him employed on the Brazilian, East India, Home, and Mediterranean stations, in the Duncan and Cornwallis 74’s, flagships of Sir John Poo Beresford and Sir Geo. Burlton, Tyne 24, Capt. John Allen, Theban 36, Capt. Sam. Leslie, Rivoli 74, Capt. Chas. Ogle, and Racehorse 18, Capt. Hon. Geo. Pryse Campbell. After a further attachment, latterly in the West Indies, to the Active 46, Capts. Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon and Andrew King, and Valorous 28, Capt. the Earl of Huntingdon, he was promoted, 25 Aug. 1826, to the rank of Lieutenant, and next, 16 April, 18.32, and 18 Dec. 1833, appointed to the Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Thos. Hastings, and Edinburgh 74, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres. On the paying off of the last-mentioned ship Mr. Nott, having been three years her Gunnery-Lieutenant in the Mediterranean, was presented with a second promotal commission bearing date 10 Jan. 18.37. He subsequently obtained command – 14 Feb. 1838, of the Medea steamer, in which vessel he served in the river St. Lawrence and on other parts of the North American station until paid off in Nov. 1839 – 7 Aug. 1840, as Second Captain, of the Excellent, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings, employed as before at Portsmouth – and, 1 Jan. 1842 (with his name on the books of the William and Mary yacht), of the Firebrand (now the Black Eagle) steam-yacht. In the latter vessel, which he left in the following month, he conveyed the King of Prussia from Ostend to England, and again from England to Ostend. He was advanced in consequence to Post rank by commission dated 28 Jan. 1842. From 18 Aug. 1845 until Nov. 1847 he was variously employed in the Trafalgar 120, part of the lime as Flag-Captain to Sir Edw. Durnford King at Sheerness. He is now on half-pay.
Capt. Nott married, first, in May, 1827, Elizabeth Anne Bennet, eldest daughter of the late Thos. Calley, Esq., M.P., of Burderop Park and Overton House, Wilts, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for that county; and, that lady dying three months afterwards, secondly, 18 Feb. 1840, Mary, eldest daughter of Sir Wm. Burnett, Kt., M.D., K.C.H., F.R.S., Director-General of the Medical Department of the Navy. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Nowell, William Calmady

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​NOWELL. (Lieutenant, 1828.)
William Calmady Nowell entered the Navy 5 Feb. 1813; passed his examination in 1820; and obtained his commission 8 Aug. 1828. His appointments have since been – 15 March, 1831, to the Pallas 42, Capts. Manley Hall Dixon and Wm. Walpole, fitting for the West Indies, whence he returned to England and was paid off in 1834 – 13 Oct. 1836, to the Vanguard 80, Capts. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie and Sir Thos. Fellowes, under whom he was for upwards of three years and a half employed in the Mediterranean – 14 Jan. 1841, to the Powerful 84, Capts. Geo. Mansel and Michael Seymour, on the same station – and, 16 March, 1842, and 15 April, 1844, as Senior-Lieutenant, to the Formidable 84 and Queen 110, commanded, also in the Mediterranean, by Capt. Sir Chas. Sullivan. He was paid off from the Queen in the summer of the latter year; and he has been in command, since 9 Oct. 1847, of the Ardent steam-sloop of 200 horsepower, again on the station last named.
He married, 9 April, 1839, at Malta, Catanna, daughter of the Marquis of Testaferrata.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Montagu, John William (b)

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​MONTAGU. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 16; h-p., 12.)
John William Montagu is son of the late Admiral Robt. Montagu; and a descendant of Admiral Sir Henry Montagu, M.P., who was created Earl of Sandwich as a reward for his loyalty in inducing the fleet to declare in favour of King Charles II. Commander Montagu’s grandfather, John, fourth Earl of Sandwich, was First Lord of the Admiralty in 1763, and again from 1771 to 1782.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 Dec. 1819, as Midshipman, on board the Phaeton 46, Capt. Wm. Augustus Montagu. After serving for two years and a half in that frigate on the coast of North America, he was next, from July, 1822, until Dec. 1825, employed in the Espiègle sloop, and colonial brig Wizard, in surveying the west coast of Africa, in cruizing in suppression of the slave-trade, and in civilizing the natives of Madagascar. Between 1 Jan. 1826, in the course of which year he passed his examination, and 3 Aug. 1827, Mr. Montagu appears to have been attached, at Portsmouth and on the coast of Ireland, to the Victory 104, William and Mary yacht. Tiger cutter, and Royal Charlotte yacht; the latter under the command of the present Sir Chas. Malcolm, by whom we find him officially described as a young officer of high promise, “zealous, manly, and steady in the performance of his duty.” He obtained a Lieutenant’s commission on 18 Sept. in the year last mentioned; and was subsequently appointed – 25 Aug. 1828, to the Britomart 10, Capts. Russell Henry Manners and Edw. John Johnson, employed on the coast of Portugal – 26 Oct. 1830, to the Revenge 78, Capts. Jas. Hillyar and Donald Hugh Mackay, in which ship he continued for about three years on the Home station – 16 Aug. 1834, as Second-Lieutenant (a rank he had for some time held in the Revenge), to the Malabar 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Augustus Montagu, with whom he served for two years, chiefly in the Mediterranean and off Lisbon – 20 Aug. 1839, for 12 months, to the Coast Guard in Norfolk and Kent – and 19 Aug. 1841, as Senior, to the Isis 44, Capt. Sir John Marshall, fitting at Chatham. He attained his present rank 23 Nov. 1841; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Montagu is married and has issue. Agent – Frederick Dufaur.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Montagu, William Augustus

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​MONTAGU, Kt., C.B., K.C.H. (Rear-Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p., 23; h-p., 28.)
Sir William Augustus Montagu entered the Navy, 4 Sept. 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Glatton 50, Capt. Henry Trollope; under whom he continued employed on the Home station, as Midshipman, in the Russell 74 (part of the victorious fleet in the action off Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797), and Juste 80, until transferred, about the close of 1800, to the Sirius 36, Capt. Sir Rich. King. In that ship he witnessed, 27 Jan. 1801, the surrender of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse. After a servitude of four years in the East Indies on board the Dasher, of which sloop (commanded at first by Capt. Delafons) he was successively confirmed Lieutenant and Commander by commissions dated 14 Nov. 1804 and 31 Oct. 1805, he was there nominated, 8 June, 1807, Acting-Captain of the Terpsichore frigate – an appointment sanctioned, 8 Dec. following, by the approval of the Admiralty. In March of the following year Capt. Montagu, whose ship mounted but 28 guns and had only 180 men on board, fell in with, fought, and (with a loss to himself of 21 men killed and 22 wounded) fairly beat off the French frigate Sémillante of 40 guns and a crew of at least 300 men. Being soon afterwards appointed to the Cornwallis of 50 guns and 335 men, he assisted, in the early part of 1810, at the reduction of the island of Amboyna, where he elicited from Capt. Edw. Tucker, the senior officer present, the greatest praise for the able nature of his support in the different actions with the enemy’s batteries and forts, and for the judgment he displayed in the navigation of his ship amidst baffling winds and strong currents. About the same period Capt. Montagu succeeded in effecting the capture of the Dutch corvettes Mandarin and De Ruyter. In the following Nov. he was intrusted with the command of the naval brigade landed to assist at the reduction of the Isle of France; during the operations connected with which, particularly on the occasion of the defeat of the French troops before St. Louis, 1 Dec, his zeal and exertions were such as to call forth the sincere acknowledgments of Major-General Abercromby. His last appointments were – 8 Sept. 1812, to the Niobe 40, employed until June, 1814, on the Channel, American, and Lisbon stations – 29 Oct. 1819, to the Phaeton 46, which ship he commanded on service at Halifax until put out of commission in Sept. 1822 – and 25 July, 1834, to the Malabar 74, fitting for the Mediterranean, where, and off Lisbon, he continued until ordered home at the close of 1837 for the purpose of being paid off. He attained Flag-rank 23 Nov. 1841.
The Rear-Admiral (a Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Huntingdon) was nominated a C.B. 8 Dec. 1815; a K.H. 5 Oct. 1830; and a K.C.H. (accompanied with the honour of Knighthood) in Jan. 1832. He married, 26 Aug. 1823, Anne, third daughter of the late Sir Geo. Wm. Leeds, Bart., of Croxton Park, Cambridgeshire.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Montgomery, Alexander Leslie

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​MONTGOMERY. (Captain, 1846.)
Alexander Leslie Montgomery, born 15 March, 1807, is second son (by Sarah Mercer, daughter of Leslie Grove, Esq., of Grove Hall, co. Donegal) of the late Sir Henry Cunningham Montgomery, Bart., M.P. for St. Michael’s and the borough of Yarmouth, who, during the war with Tippoo Sultan, won distinction at the head of three battalions of infantry and 5000 cavalry, and was afterwards, in 1803, appointed Inspecting Field-officer of Yeomanry and Volunteers in co. Donegal, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army. Capt. Montgomery’s eldest brother, the present Sir Henry Cunningham Montgomery, Bart., is in the civil service of the East India Company at Madras; his next, Hugh, is an officer in the Madras Army; and his youngest, Arthur, is married to a daughter of Colonel Wyndham, of Petworth House, co. Sussex. His eldest sister is the wife of the Hon. and Rev. Grantham Munter Yorke, youngest son of the late Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, K.C.B., and brother of the Earl of Hardwicke, Captain R.N.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College 7 Oct. 1819; embarked in Oct. 1821; and, on passing his final examination, was made Lieutenant, 30 Aug. 1828, into the Helicon 10, Capt. Robt. Henry Stanhope, at the Cape of Good Hope. His succeeding appointments were – 26 Feb. 1830, to the Alligator 28, Capt. Chas. Philip Yorke (now Earl of Hardwicke), with whom he served in the Mediterranean until paid off in the summer of 1831 – 9 May, 1833, to the Orestes 18, Capts. Wm. Nugent Glascock and Sir Wm. Dickson, in which vessel he continued, chiefly on the Lisbon station, until put out of commission in the spring of 1834 – and 16 July, 1836, to the Inconstant 36, Capt. Dan. Pring, also attached to the force off Lisbon. He was promoted from the latter ship to the rank of Commander 28 June, 1838; and from 12 March, 1845, until advanced to the rank he now holds, 2 July, 1846, was employed on the south-east coast of America in the Grecian 16. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Montgomery married, 30 June, 1840, Caroline Rose, daughter of Jas. Campbell, Esq., of Hampton Court, co. Middlesex. Agent – J. Hinxman.