proprietors of inland fisheries, against the use of tide-nets, remains to be stated, and one which seems unanswerable-that they catch fish which would have entered the river, and fallen victims to other adventurers. But the same objection applies, with equal force, to the fishers in rivers, especially those near the mouth, who capture fish which would have ascended to higher stations. In point of fact, so far as individuals are concerned, every fishing station in a river is a nuisance to those more inland, and its owners bear a grudge to all those occupying a more seaward position, so that unanimity of opinion, in reference to the enactments of any statute, need not be expected. It is for the interest of the public to prevent monopoly, by diffusing the sources of wealth as equally as possible; and to permit, nay encourage, every proprietor to derive emolument from his local advantages. It cannot be the object of parliament to deprive the proprietors of fishing stations in estuaries of the advantages which they may derive from the changes of the tide, as a substitute for human labour, or to compel them to employ those engines only which are suited to the circumstances of their more inland neighbours. It cannot be the object of parliament to prevent the proprietors of estuary fishings from capturing with suitable engines those fish which are roaming along their boundaries, in the healthiest and the fattest condition, in order that the seals and the grampuses may enjoy a feast, rather than our citizens; or that, by the help of these monsters, the supply may be diminished, and the value of the produce of the river fisheries increased. We hope and confidently expect that the new statute will check a monopoly which, to a certain extent, exists at present with those who possess the more seaward of our river fisheries, and guard against many evils which the present system not only overlooks but encourages. It is true that, in the arrangements which we have ventured to recommend, from an impartial examination of the whole bearings of the question, the fishing season may appear to be circumscribed within too narrow limits. We have, however, constantly kept in view the great national object of securing the permanency of our salmon fisheries, and we have little hesitation in believing that the use of the same means would increase their productiveness ten fold. Nor can we conclude without expressing a hope that some suitable legislative enactment may be speedily announced, since, during the protracted investigation by a Committee of the House of Commons, extending to nearly four years, those whose capital is engaged in our salmon fisheries have been kept in a painful state of suspense,--the poacher has fancied that all restraints on his career have ceased,-while the patriot laments the spoiling of a most valuable source of our national wealth. ART. ART. III.-A Selection from the Public and Private Correspondence of Vice-Admiral_Lord_Collingwood, interspersed with Memoirs of his Life. By G. L. Newnham Collingwood, Esq., F.R.S. London. 1828. WE E have been more highly gratified and instructed than we could possibly have expected, by the perusal of the history and letters of this noble and gallant officer; whose name, except on one memorable occasion, has never attracted a prominent share of notice among those which belonged to the public characters of his day. And yet his services were of the most important nature, and most ably conducted, at a crisis, too, big with danger, not to England alone, but to all civilized Europe; but the field of action in which he was chiefly engaged, though extensive, was at a distance from home. We are only surprised that Mr. Newnham Collingwood, his lordship's son-in-law, should have so long delayed this act of justice to the public, as well as duty to the deceased, in making his countrymen acquainted with his extraordinary merits; in the performance of which, however, though late, we can safely assure him he has entitled himself to the thanks of every class of readers, and more especially to those of every rank, from the highest to the lowest,-from the commander-in-chief to the midshipman of that profession of which, as it now appears, Lord Collingwood was so distinguished an ornament. We say now, because, until the present volume saw the light, the public at large were utterly unacquainted with a tithe of the merit which this great and amiable man possessed. It was known, it is true, that he bore a gallant share in the victory of the 1st of June, and that, by caprice or ignorance, by accident or gross injustice, he was not included by Lord Howe among those who received medals for their conduct on that day. It was known that he nobly seconded the gallant and romantic Nelson in the victory of Cape St. Vincent, and in that most glorious of all victories-Trafalgar― which gave the death-blow to the united fleets of France and Spain; but little or nothing was known of the arduous, extensive, and most important services which, for the five succeeding years, he had to conduct as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean station, the incessant fatigue and anxiety of which brought on the disease that terminated his valuable life. These are now, for the first time, made generally known, and in the best and most agreeable way, by the publication of his lordship's correspondence, with the editor's remarks, which compose the volume before us. It was during this important command that the greater part of the Correspondence took place; and it is one that displays Lord Collingwood not only in the light of an active, intelligent, and brave officer, officer, but also as a most amiable, generous, warm-hearted and affectionate man, in all the relations of husband, father, and friend. His letters, a great part of which were never intended to see the light, are those of an accomplished gentleman, gifted with a superior degree of intellect, and adorned with all those qualities which command the love and esteem of mankind. They are not less admirable for the elegance and purity of style, than for the candour and boldness of opinion, the nobleness of sentiment, and the zeal, every where manifested, for the honour and integrity of the profession to which he belonged. We trace in them a neverceasing anxiety for the welfare and prosperity of his country, and a longing desire to meet her enemies, under a well-grounded hope of adding fresh laurels to the martial renown which he had gained, jointly with his bosom friend and companion, the immortal Nelson; whose thirst for fame might perhaps have taken a more ardent and impassioned character, but could not have been more greatly and nobly sincere than that of the modest, unpretending, unostentatious Collingwood-to whom may truly be applied the beautiful lines of our great poet: Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise To scorn delights, and live laborious days; Comes the blind fury with th' abhorred shears, -but not the praise' we may safely add-for that will attach to the name of Colling wood as long as England shall continue to cherish her last best hope the Navy. The whole life, indeed, of this great commander was devoted to the service of his country, and the arduous duties of his profession; to the long and laborious discharge of which it was at last sacrificed. It has been commonly but very erroneously supposed that, like the celebrated Cook, Lord Collingwood was brought up to the sea as a collier, whereas his family, though not opulent, was ancient and honourable.* He was born at Newcastle, in the year 1750, and was His ancestor, Sir Cuthbert Collingwood, of Esslington, was one of the English knights taken by the Scots at what was called the Raid of the Reidswire, and he is accordingly mentioned in the Border Minstrelsy But if ye would a souldier search, The Collingwoods suffered severely from their devotion to the cause of Charles I., and were subsequently deprived of almost all their land in consequence of their participation in the insurrection of 1715, when the head of the family was taken prisoner and put to death, was brought up in the same school with those illustrious brothers Lord Eldon and Lord Stowell, but sent to sea, in 1761, at eleven years of age, in the Shannon, under the care of a friend and relation, the late Admiral Brathwaite. In 1775 he was made a lieutenant, on the day that the battle was fought at Bunker's Hill, at which he was present. Of these early periods of his service we have no further information. There is sufficient evidence, however, in his Correspondence, of his having given a close application to study. It is obvious, indeed, that nothing short of extensive reading could have supplied him with that comprehensive knowledge, and that clear and energetic style of writing, which he employs on all occasions whether public or private. And here we may observe how frequently we find naval officers, who must necessarily have entered the service at the early age of eleven to thirteen years, not only expressing themselves well in their epistolary correspondence, but able to perform, as they are frequently called upon to do, the office of skilful diplomatists. I know not,' said one of the most eminent of these gentlemen, with whom he had afterwards very frequent communications, I know not where Lord Collingwood got his style, but he writes better than any of us;' so little truth is there in the sweeping observation of a French writer, that 'les marins écrivent mal.' The extracts which we shall lay before our readers will evince that Lord Collingwood is one brilliant exception from this rash rule. It appears that Lords Nelson and Collingwood had become acquainted in the very early periods of their services. In 1776 they met as lieutenants in Jamaica, when Sir Peter Parker had the command of that station; and that admiral being the friend of both, whenever,' says Collingwood, Nelson got a step in rank, I succeeded him; first in the Lowestoffe, then in the Badger, into which ship I was made commander in 1779, and afterwards in the Hinchinbroke, which made us both post-captains.' In the recent era of projects, which has happily expired by suicide, among many wild speculations, not the least wild was that of opening a navigable communication through some part of the isthmus of Panama; and the one which was considered the most plausible was that by the river San Juan and the lake Nicaragua. Let us see what Lord Collingwood has to say on this old project, lately attempted to be revived. death, like his friend Lord Derwentwater; who is made to address him, in the ballad called Derwentwater's Good Night, in a gallant stanza, which we wonder the present writer did not quote, And fare thee well, George Collingwood, Since fate has put us down; If thou and I have lost our lives, 'The The Hinchinbroke was, in the spring of 1780, employed on an expedition to the Spanish main, where it was proposed to pass into the South Sea, by a navigation of boats along the river San Juan, and the lakes Nicaragua and Leon. The plan was formed without a sufficient knowledge of the country, which presented difficulties not to be surmounted by human skill or perseverance. It was dangerous to proceed on the river, from the rapidity of the current, and the numerous falls over rocks which intercepted the navigation; the climate, too, was deadly, and no constitution could resist its effects. At San Juan I joined the Hinchinbroke, and succeeded Lord Nelson, who was promoted to a larger ship; but he had received the infection of the climate before he went from the port, and had a fever, from which he could not recover until he quitted his ship and went to England. My constitution resisted many attacks, and I survived most of my ship's company, having buried, in four months, 180 of the 200 who composed it. Mine was not a singular case, for every ship that was long there suffered in the same degree. The transports' men all died; and some of the ships, having none left to take care of them, sunk in the harbour; but transport-ships were not wanted, for the troops whom they had brought were no more: they had fallen, not by the hand of an enemy, but from the contagion of the climate.'-pp. 6-7. t; After the peace of 1783 Nelson and he again met and served together in the West Indies, which Collingwood left in 1786, and went into his native county, Northumberland. But in 1790, on the Spanish armament, he was appointed to the Mermaid, and again went to the West Indies; returned to the north when the affair had blown over, and was married to Miss Sarah Blackett by whom he had two daughters, one born in 1792, and the other in 1793. On the breaking out of the French war, in the latter of these years, he was appointed captain of the Prince, then bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Bowyer, with whom he served until the admiral lost his leg in the action of the 1st of June, in the Barfleur. In this action, as well as in the partial one of the 29th May, the conduct of the Barfleur was most conspicuous; and the rearadmiral was mentioned by Lord Howe with well-merited praise, while her captain was passed over without notice. This act of capricious partiality and flagrant injustice was received with surprise and disgust in the fleet. The rear-admiral, shortly after the battle, thus speaks of him : . I do not know a more brave, capable, or a better officer, in all respects, than Captain Collingwood. I think him a very fine character; and I told Lord Chatham, when he was at Portsmouth, that if ever he had to look for a first captain to a commander-in-chief, I hoped he would remember that I pledged myself he would not find a better than our friend Collingwood.' Captain Packenham, of the Invincible, which was as close to the Barfleur, VOL. XXXVII. NO. LXXIV 2 в |