but the free navigation of, and the right of fishery in those seas, were conceded to Great Britain[1]. During this discussion Captain Waldegrave commanded the Majestic, of 74 guns.
We find no farther mention of our officer until the commencement of the year 1793, when he was appointed to the Courageux, of 74 guns, and in the following spring accompanied Vice-Admiral Hotham to the Mediterranean.
By this time, Louis XVI. like our Charles I, had experienced a violent death on a public scaffold; and France, towards the end of the eighteenth century, like England, about the middle of the seventeenth, had declared herself a republic. With an energy seldom practised, even in limited monarchies, this new commonwealth smote all her enemies, and carried terror and desolation on her victorious banners; while, wonderful to relate, her own provinces were a prey to domestic factions and civil wars.
The squadron under Vice-Admiral Hotham was speedily followed by the main body of the fleet destined to act, under the orders of Lord Hood, in concert with the Royalists of the Southern departments of that distracted country.
Upon the arrival of his Lordship in the Mediterranean, he proceeded off Toulon, the inhabitants of which place and Marseilles, had manifested evident signs of a disposition to free themselves from the oppressive yoke of their new masters. Lord Hood availed himself of these dissensions to open a negotiation with the commandant, and principal residents of Toulon, for the delivering up of the town, arsenal, forts, and shipping to his Britannic Majesty, in trust for the reigning King of France, at the re-establishment of peace and order in that country.
The general committee of the sections of Toulon having acquiesced with the proposals made by the British Admiral, the necessary arrangements were made for the landing of 1500 men, which was accomplished by noon on the 28th August[2]. The disembarkation was completed under the immediate protection of two frigates, supported by the Courageux, and three other line-of-battle ships; and the same day the British fleet, and a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Langara, anchored in the outer road of Toulon, the greater part of the French Fleet at
