The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-23 00:00:00

that given by himself to the burgesses of Portsmouth, when
he offered himself as a candidate at the election of 1833 :
" In the course of my canvass (said the gallant officer), I
have been asked who I am ? I'll tell you. I am Captain
Charles Napier, who, twenty-five years ago, commanded the
Recruit br;• Indies. and who had the honour of

being twenty-four hours under the guns of three French
line-of-battle ships flying from a British squadron,

tht. nearest

he exce

tion of the Ha-wk brig, was from

five to six miles astern the greatest part of the time. I
kept flying double-shotted broadsides into them. One
of these ships (the Hautpoult) only was captured by
the Pompey and Castor. the other two escaped by superior
sailing. Sir Alex. Cochrane, my commander-in-chief, pro-

moted me on the spot into her. At the siege or mai-unique,
the Xolus, Cleopatra, and Recruit were ordered to beat up, in
the night between Pigeon Island and the main, and an,phorclose
to Fort Edward; the enemy, fearing an attack, bfirnt their
shipping. At daylight in the morning it appeared to me that
Fort Edward was abandoned : this, however, was doubted.
I offered to ascertain the fact, and with five men 1 landed in

1 -
lopen day, scaled the walls, and planted the union jack on the
ramparts. Fortunately I was undiscovered from Fort Bour-
bon, which stood about a hundred yards off, and commanded

it. On this being reported to Sir Alexander Cochrane, a
regiment was landed in the night. Fort Edward was taken
possession of, and the mortars turned against the enemy. I
am in possession of a letter from Sir A. Cochrane, saying
that my conduct was the means of saving many lives, and
shortening the siege of Martinique.' 1 had once the nri•for-
tune of receiving a precious licking from a French corvette :
the first shot she fired broke my thigh, and a plumper carried
away my mainmast. The enemy escaped, but the British
flag was not tarnished. On my return to England, in com-
mand of the Jason, 1 was turned out of her by the Admiralty
because I had no interest; but as I could not lead an idle life,
I served a campaign with the army in Portugal as a volun.
teer, when I was again wounded. At the battle of Busaco I
had the honour of carrying off the field my gallant friend and
relative, Colonel Napier, now near me, who was shot through
the face. Busaco was not the only field where he shed his
blood : at Corunna he was left for dead, but, thank God ! he
escaped with six wounds. On my return to England. I was

appointed to the Thames, in the Mediterranean ; and if I
could bring the inhabitants of the Neapolitan coast into this
room, they would tell you, that from Naples to the Faro
Point there was not a spot where I did not leave my mark,
and brought off with me upwards of a hundred sail of gun-
boats and merchant vessels. I had the honour of running the
Thames and Furieuse into the small mole of Ponza, which was
strongly defended ; and before they could recover from their
surprise, I captured the island without the loss of a man. I was
then removed to the Euryalus, and had the good fortune to fall
in with two French frigates and a schooner. I chased them
in the night close into Calvi, in the island of Corsiea, pass-
ing close under the stern of one, plumpering her as I passed ;
and though we were going eight knots, I tried to run aboard
of her consort, who was a little outside, standing athwart
my hawse; the night was dark, the land close, and she suc-
ceeded in crossing me, but I drove her ashore on the rocks,
where she was totally wrecked, and her consort was obliged
to anchor close to her. The Euryalus wore round, and got
off, almost bruising the shore as she passed. These ships
were afterwards ascertained to be armee en flute, mounting
22 guns each, and the schooner 14. From the Mediterranean
I was ordered to America; and if my gallant friend Sir
James Gordon was here he would have told you how I did
my duty on that long and arduo.us service up the Potomac ;
he would have told you that in a tremendous squall the
Euryalus lost her bowsprit and all her topmasts, and that in
twelve hours she was again ready for work. We brought
away a fleet from Alexandria, were attacked going down the
river by batteries, built close to what was the residence of
the Great Washington, and I was again wounded in that ac-
tion in the neck.
We now come to the war of succession in Portugal, on the
services of Napier as Admiral, in which our brief space will

allow us to dwell but shortly. We therefore adopt a sum-
mary of them as furnished by our hero himself, in a letter
addressed by him in his usual blunt style of truthful advice
to the Emperor Don Pedro.
" Your Majesty cannot be aware on what slender grounds
I will tell your Majesty. The Chevalier Lima
wrote to me to say that Oporto was reduced to the last ex-
-

we began

Itremity, and that he had received letters from Sartorius to
say the fleet was determined to come to England. Not one

shilling could be raised to pay them, or for anything else ;
the cause was gone. He requested me to come to town. It
was proposed that I should take three steamers and twelve
hundred Poles that Mendizabal fancied he could procure at
Rochfort, and proceed to the Guadiana, pass the river, and
march upon Bega. To put this wild scheme into execution,
three English houses offered to advance the money provided
I would go. After some hesitation I acquiesced, provided

the Marcia-is Palmella would go also. On his consenting, the
£6,000 increased to upwards of £20,000, and five steam-
boats were fitted out. There was no great merit then in
coming out ; the merit was offering to risk life and every-
thing in the cause of the person then in despair."
On his arrival at Oporto, Napier was badly received by
the Emperor, and expressed himself much hurt at the recep-
tion, and stated his opinion pretty bluntly to the Emperor

on the state of affairs, and at last, after many intrigues and
delays, and a threat to sail away to England with the troops
he had on board, unless the full amount he required were
sent, the admiral got his fleet off.
" On the 20th," says our hero, " I wrote to the minister,
and took leave by telegraph. On the night of the 23d, we
rounded Cape St. Vincent, which was well lighted, by the
friars in the convent, who have on certain nights a brilliant
fire on the promontory."

The galla.nt Comm()Clore then goes on to narrate the par-
ticulars of the successful descent made by his pal ty on the
coast, and the capture of Beja, Tavira, Othao, and Faro, the
capital of the Algarves. He then describes the capture of
the Miguelite fleet as follows :
_

" From Lagos, the City of Waterford steamer was de-
spatched to Oporto, and thence to England, with the news
of our first success, and after organising the government and
completing our supplies, on the evening of the 2d of July we
sailed from Lagos, leaving the steamers to take in fuel and
follow us along-shore to Lisbon. At this time we knew
nothing certain of the movements of Don Miguel's squadron.
A vessel from the Tagus had brought intelligence of their hav-
ing dropped down to Cascaes, and returned the following day ;
but this must either have been fabricated by the master, or
she had been sent to throw us off our guard.

" At eight o'clock on the morning of the 3d of July, the
officers of the watch reported two sail, then three, then four,
and so on until they counted nine. I was surprised, and, as
Sir Richard Strachan said, delighted; but the delight was
accompanied with a disagreeable sort of feeling just resem.
bling the sensation of your heart coming up into your mouth,
requiring a tolerable gulp to keep it down. We were standing
on the starboard tack under courses and top-gallant sails ; the
enemy were on the larboard, broad on the lee-bow under
their topsails : one alone, which we took for the fifty-gun
ship, had her courses and top-gallant sails set, and sailed
bad. The Villa Floe was immediately despatched to Logos
for the steamers, and after nearing the enemy to three or
four miles, we tacked. They were formed in two lines, having
the Don John, bearing a Commodore's pennant, to wind-
ward, supported by the Rainha of the line, the Martin Freitas,
and Princess Real. The three corvettes and two brigs formed
the lee division opposite the open spaces, all well painted,
sails well set, and lines compact. It was a majestic sight,
and I turned the hands up to show the crews how well they
looked, and to exhort them to pay attention to the manage-
ment of their guns as the surest means of success. I had
never been in a general action, and although delighted at the
prospect before me, I could not but feel appalled at their
great superiority and the magnitude of the enterprise I was
about to undertake.
" Both squadrons stood in for the land, and I was apprehen-
sive they meant to prevent the junction of the steamers, who
were in Logos Bay, and considerably to leeward. At two I
tacked, and stood towards the enemy. This manoeuvre had
the desired effect ; they tacked also, and left the Bay open.
At five the Villa Flor and steamers joined, and we took our
station about a mile and a half on their weather beam. The
breeze was strong, and the sea too rough to attempt to board
with success—the plan of attack I had decided upon. *
During the night the hostile squadrons kept within musket
shot—the Miguelite fleet in a compact line, my squadron in
two, ready to take advantage of any favourable opportunity
that should offer of bringing on a general action, or cutting
off any of their ships that should drop astern during the
'night. At daylight one of the corvettes was about three
miles in the rear of the fleet : we bore up in two divisions.
She was under her topsails ; but whether from indolence, or
trusting to her superiority of sailing, she did not increase
sail tilt we were within musket-shot. The Don John then
tacked, and there being no possibility of cutting her off with-
out risking a general action, we hauled off, neither ship firing.
This brought us considerably to leeward. By noon we re-
gained our station on their weather-beam. Neither party
shewed any disposition to engage.
" There was a good deal of impatience manifested by the
crews to come to blows, and they expressed' their concern
that this might be delayed some time longer, or entirely given
up. I instructed the different captains to insure them that
the moment a favourable opportunity offered they should have
their fighting propensities indulged to their fullest extent.

" We kept our station close to the enemy during the after-
noon and following night, and towards morning there was
every appearance of a calm, which eventually took place
about nine o'clock. The steamers were now ordered to close,
and to our astonishment and disappointment, the captains,
engineers, and mews to a man, refused to take us in tow,
with the exception of Captain Wilson of the William the
Fourth, who with great difficulty persuaded his men to act.
The Pembroke bad parted the night before under pretence of
her engines being out of order. Officers and seamen came
forward with all the money they possessed to bribe the
cowards to act, which they refused to do unless two thousand
pounds were laid down on the capstan-head for each engineer.
This being impossible, they were dismissed the ship, with the
hearty curses of officers and men. It had now been calm
two hours : had the steam-boats taken the frigates in tow, we
should have chosen our position, and in all probability have
gained a bloodless victory ; or had the ships been fitted with
paddles similar to those in the Galatea, the effect would have
been the same. Never before did I see an occasion where
they could have been so triumphantly applied.
" Towards noon cat's paws here and there indicated an ap-
proaching breeze, and the swell had completely subsided ;
the men went to dinner, and the captains came on board to
receive their final instructions.
The intentions of the commodore during the approae,hing
contest are then detailed. He describes the enemy as "look-
ing well and firm," and their approach is portrayed in strik-
ing and graphic language. The enemy kept their line close,
and the frigate having thrown out a signal, the commodore's
answer was hardly at the mast head ere a broadside was
opened. " Poor Rainha "adds the hero," I looked up, and
expected to see every mast tottering ; but the cherub was
sitting aloft, and notwithstanding the most tremendous fire I
ever witnessed, which made the sea bubble like a boiling
cauldron round her, the smoke clearing away, discovered to
the astonished enemy the Rainha proudly floating on the
waters of Nelson and St. Vincent, with her mast erect, her
rigging and sails only shewing the fiery ordeal she had gone

thruugh

" The men were lying down at their quarters ; few were
struck down on the main deck, but the three foremost guns
on the quarter deck were nearly dismounted, and Lieuten-
ant Knivett, of the marines, received a mortal wound. At
this time we had not fired a shot, and I ordered a few to be
throvi,n on hoard, to check, as much as possible, their taking
a deliberate aim. Onr example was followed by the Don
Pedro, and we soon passed the frigate and Martin Freitas,
the latter losing her foretopmast. At this time the sternmost
line-of-battle ship luffed to—our helm was put up to avoid
her broadside, and the Do❑ Pedro bore across her bows,
to place us between the two line-of•battle ships. This was
just what I desired, and as she had passed too far to leeward
to recover a weather position, our helm was suddenly put
down. The frigate flew to, grazing the' Rainha's stern with
her flying jib•boom ; the foremost guns were poured into