expedition was sent to the Baltic for the purpose of counteracting the ill effects of the Northern Confederacy; it is needless to say, that this object was completely effected by the victory obtained over the Danes, at Copenhagen, April 2, 1801[1]. An attempt made to destroy the French flotilla at Boulogne, was unfortunately attended with a totally different result, notwithstanding every thing was attempted that might have been expected from the approved talents of the officers, and the known bravery of the men employed.
About this time, Earl St. Vincent obtained a patent for a Viscounty, with a collateral limitation, to him and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten; and in default, to the children of his sister, Mary, by her marriage with William Henry Ricketts, late of the Island of Jamaica, Esq., deceased.
In the month of May, 1804, his Lordship was succeeded in the office of First Lord of the Admiralty, by the late Viscount Melville, the intimate friend and confidant of the immortal Pitt; and in the beginning of 1806, when Mr. Fox succeeded that lamented statesman, as Premier, he was again appointed to the chief command of the Channel Fleet, and was on this occasion permitted to carry the Union at the mast-head, instead of his own proper flag. In the autumn of the same year, his Lordship proceeded to Lisbon, in the Hibernia, a new first-rate; it is generally believed, for the purpose of making arrangements for the emigration of the royal family of Portugal[2], which country was at that time threatened with the presence of a French army.
In the month of April, 1807, the Earl retired from the command of the Channel Fleet. On the 7th May, 1814, he succeeded the late Lord Bridport, as General of the Royal Marines; and in 1815, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
During the summer of 1818, this nobleman visited that stupendous national work, the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound; and both his patriotism and curiosity were fully gratified by the sight. A line-of-battle ship, the Bulwark, was lying within it, as quiet and easy as if she had
- ↑ See an account of the battle, under the head of Sir Thomas Foley, Vice-Admiral of the Red.
- ↑ The editor does not pledge himself for the accuracy of this statement.
