in the eyes of each other. But in a little time the victualler was seen emerging from the smoke, having got off by the rebound of her own guns; and she and the others, amid the tumultuous cries of both parties, sailed up to the town." Derry was saved; and next day the enemy abandoned the ground.

During this siege of three months and a half, a garrison of 7500 men was reduced to 4000, of whom about 1000 were from that time unfit for service, in consequence of the injuries, whether local or constitutional, which they had sustained. Of the remainder of the population, about 7000 are believed to have died by hunger, disease, and the enemy's fire.

SIEGES DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

The cruelties enacted during the French revolutionary movements were among the most detestable events recorded in history, for they had, in most cases, nothing but a mean vengeance for their object. The sufferings of the Vendéans, of which an account is given in a former tract (No. 16), were equalled by what the unfortunate inhabitants of Lyons endured by orders of the National Convention (1793). Disinclined to the cause of the revolution, the Lyonese endeavoured to defend their city against an army of 60,000 troops, sent to bring them under subjection. The walls were manned by 30,000 citizens, who resolved to die rather than yield up the town to the crew who assailed them. For sixty-three days Lyons endured a bombardment, which demolished a large portion of the city, while the famine which existed within the walls aggravated the general horrors of the scene. Not, however, till upwards of 30,000 persons had been killed, or died of hunger, was the place rendered up, and then it was a heap of ruins. During this terrific siege, there were fired 11,000 shot and 27,000 shells, a number of the bullets being red-hot. Of the unhappy inhabitants who escaped destruction, large numguillotined, and many were put to death by being enfiladed in rows with cannon-shot.

bers were

A scene

equally characteristic of war is referred to, as follows, by Charles Sumner in his much-admired Peace Oration (Boston, 1845):"In the autumn of 1799, the armies of the French republic, which had dominated over Italy, were driven from their conquests, and compelled, with shrunk forces, under Massena, to seek shelter within the walls of Genoa. After various efforts by the Austrian general on the land, aided by a bombardment from the British fleet in the harbour, to force the strong defences by assault, the city is invested by a strict blockade. All communication with the country is cut off on the one side, while the harbour is closed by the ever-wakeful British watch-dogs of war. Within the beleaguered and unfortunate city are the peaceful inhabitants, more than those of Boston in number, besides the

French

into

troops. Provisions soon become scarce, scarcity sharpens want, till fell famine, bringing blindness and madness in her

85

9.

train, rages like an Erinnys. Picture to yourself this large popu→ lation, not pouring out their lives in the exulting rush of battle, but wasting at noonday-the daughter by the side of the mother, the husband by the side of the wife. When grain and rice fail, flax-seed, millet, cocoas, and almonds are ground by hand-mills into flour; and even bran, baked with honey, is eaten, not to satisfy, but to deaden hunger. During the siege, but before the last extremities, a pound of horse flesh is sold for 32 cents [1s. 4d.]; a pound of bran for 30 cents [1s. 3d.]; a pound of Hour, 1 dollar 75 cents [about 6s. 6d.]. A single bean is soon sold for 4 cents [2d.]; and a biscuit of three ounces for 2 dollars 25 cents [about 10s. 6d.]; and finally none are to be had. The miserable soldiers, after devouring all the horses in the city, are reduced to the degradation of feeding on dogs, cats, rats, and worms, which are eagerly hunted out in the cellars and common sewers. Happy were now, exclaims an Italian historian, not those who lived, but those who died! The day is dreary from hunger; the night more dreary still, from hunger accompanied by delirious fancies. Recourse is now had to herbs-monk's rhubarb, sorrel, mallows, wild succory. People of every condition, women of noble birth and beauty, seek on the slope of the mountain, enclosed within the defences, those aliments which nature destined solely for the beasts. A little cheese, and a few vegetables, are all that can be afforded to the sick and wounded -those sacred stipendiaries upon human charity. Men and women, in the last anguish of despair, now fill the air with their groans and shrieks; some in spasms, convulsions, and contortions, gasping their last breath on the unpitying stones of the streets. Alas! not more unpitying than man. Children, whom a dying mother's arms had ceased to protect-the orphans of an hour with piercing cries seek in vain the compassion of the passing stranger; but none pity or aid them. The sweet fountains of sympathy are all closed by the selfishness of individual distress. In the general agony, the more impetuous rush out of the gates, and impale themselves on the Austrian bayonets, while others precipitate themselves into the sea. Others still (pardon the dire recital!) are driven to eat their shoes, and devour the leather of their pouches; and the horror of human flesh has so far abated, that numbers feed, like cannibals, on the bodies of the dead. At this stage the French general capitulated, claiming and receiving what are called 'the honours of war; but not before twenty thousand innocent persons, old and young, women and children, having no part or interest in the war, had died the most horrible of deaths. The Austrian flag floated over the captured Genoa but a brief space of time; for Bonaparte had already descended, like an eagle, from the Alps, and in less than a fortnight afterwards, on the vast plains of Marengo, shattered, as with an iron mace, the Austrian empire in Italy."

SCENES IN EGYPT.

Napoleon's ambitious and disastrous attempt to conquer Egypt was productive of great sufferings among the unfortunate inhabitants of that interesting country, as well as among the invading forces. Speaking of the appearance of the country after an engagement with the Egyptian soldiery or Mamelukes, Miot observes "I rode through the midst of 3000 slaughtered Mamelukes. My horse trembled under me while I fixed my eyes on those poor victims of ambition and vanity, and said to myself, We cross the sea; we brave the English fleet; we disembark in a country which never thought of us; we plunder their villages, and slay or ruin their inhabitants; we wantonly run the hazard of dying with hunger and thirst; we are every one of us on the point of being assassinated; and all this for what?" Proceeding onwards "The whole way was tracked with the bones and bodies of men and animals that had perished in those dreadful wastes. If the eagles and vultures had arrived in time, bones only were left to bleach upon the burning sands; otherwise the carcase was presently dried up till it resembled a mummy. There was but one single tree to be seen along the whole journey; and to warm themselves at night (for the cold was so severe, that sleep would otherwise have been dangerous), they gathered together these dry bones and bodies of the dead, and it was by a fire composed of this fuel that Bonaparte lay down to sleep in the desert! The imagination of Dante could not have conceived a more emblematic situation for this incarnate Moloch."

แ

Denon presents similar accounts of this disastrous campaign: The large village of Bintan," says he, was deserted at the approach of the French. Woful experience having taught the people the necessity of flying from their invaders, whenever they were apprised of their coming, they stripped their houses even to the door and window-frames; and a village thus deserted had the appearance of a ruin a century old. Here, when the French had ransacked the walls to the very foundation, a soldier came out of a cave dragging a she-goat which he had found there. He was followed by an old man, carrying two young infants in his arms; he laid these helpless babes upon the ground, fell on his knees, and without uttering a word, but weeping all the while, pointed to the children and to the goat; for if they were deprived of her milk, they must perish. The goat was killed: and another Frenchman having picked up a third child, whose mother had dropt it in her flight, laid it down beside the other two, not reflecting, while he performed an act of intended kindness, that the three must now perish together!

"During the whole expedition a flock of kites and vultures followed the army, hastening to their prey whenever the sound of cannon ceased, and always joined company with the army

whenever it halted, being sure that something would always be left for their share. At the island of Philoe we saw mothers drowning their children, whom they could not carry away, and mutilating the girls, to save them from the violence of the soldiers.

"One of the magazines blew up, and the flames extended in every direction. The Mohammedans were without water, but they were seen extinguishing the fire with their feet and hands, and even rolling upon it in hope of smothering it with their bodies. Black and naked, they were seen running through the flames, and resembling so many fiends. During this tremendous scene there were intervals of tranquillity, and then a solitary voice was heard; it was that of their sheik, who was wholly employed in prayer, and exhorting them to fight for their faith; and these Mohammedans, amid their torments, answered him with hymns and shouts, and then rushed out against the enemy. During the night the French kept up two blazing fires against the walls, as a safer expedient than storming them; and in the morning they entered and put to the sword those who, notwithstanding they were half roasted alive, still offered resistance!"

SCENE AFTER THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.

The sea engagement off Trafalgar, in which Lord Nelson was unhappily killed, is usually spoken of as having been a particularly glorious victory. The British had destroyed the French fleet, and great were the rejoicings accordingly. Surely much of the joy on this occasion was out of place, for it is not exactly conformable to the principles of Christianity to rejoice over the fallen, to delight in the vengeful defeat of an enemy? Perhaps this heedless spirit of gratulation would have been somewhat tempered, had the people at large seen the actual effects of the victory on the bosom of the ocean. These are described by Mr Semple, who was at the time voyaging on the coast of Spain, near Cadiz.

"As the wind," says he, "was contrary to our crossing over, the boat was obliged to make several tacks. In one of these we approached so near the shore, that we plainly discerned two dead bodies, which the sea had thrown up. Presently one of a number of men on horseback, who for this sole purpose patroled the beach, came up, and having observed the bodies, made a signal to others on foot among the bushes. Several of them came down, and immediately began to dig a hole in the sand, into which they dragged the dead.

"All this possessed something of the terrible; but in Cadiz the consequences, though equally apparent, were of a very different nature. Ten days after the battle, they were still employed in bringing ashore the wounded; and spectacles were hourly displayed at the wharfs, and through the streets, sufficient to shock every heart not yet hardened to scenes of blood and

human sufferings. When, by the carelessness of the boatmen, and the surging of the sea, the boats struck against the stone piers, a horrid cry, which pierced the soul, arose from the mangled wretches on board. Many of the Spanish gentry assisted in bringing them ashore, with symptoms of much compassion; yet, as they were finely dressed, it had something of the appearance of ostentation, if there could be ostentation at such a moment. It need not be doubted that an Englishman lent a willing hand to bear them up the steps to their litters; yet the slightest false step made them shriek out, and I even yet shudder at the remembrance of the sound.

"On the tops of the pier the scene was affecting. The wounded were carrying away to the hospitals in every shape of human misery, whilst crowds of Spaniards either assisted or looked on with signs of horror. Meanwhile their companions who escaped unhurt walked up and down with folded arms and downcast eyes, whilst women sat on heaps of arms, broken furniture, and baggage, with their heads bent between their knees. I had no inclination to follow the litters of the wounded; yet I learned that every hospital in Cadiz was already full, and the convents and churches were forced to be appropriated to the reception of the remainder.

"On leaving the harbour, I passed through the town to the Point, and still beheld the terrible effects of the battle. As far as the eye could reach, the sandy side of the isthmus bordering on the Atlantic was covered with masts and yards, the wrecks of ships, and here and there the bodies of the dead. Among others, I noticed a topmast marked with the name of the Swiftsure, and the broad arrow of England, which only increased my anxiety to know how far the English had suffered, the Spaniards still continuing to affirm that they had lost their chief admiral and half their fleet.

"While surrounded by these wrecks, I mounted the cross-trees of a mast which had been thrown ashore, and casting my eyes over the ocean, beheld, at a great distance, several masts and portions of the wreck still floating about. As the sea was almost calm, with a slight swell, the effect produced by these objects had in it something of a sublime melancholy, and touched the soul with a remembrance of the sad vicissitudes of human affairs. Though portions of floating wreck were visible from the ramparts, yet not a boat dared to venture out to examine or endeavour to tow them in, such were the apprehensions which still filled their minds of the enemy."

SIEGES IN SPAIN-SARAGOSSA.

The effort thankless and useless, as far as the wellbeing of Spain is concerned-made by the British to drive the French armies out of the peninsula, was attended with some of the most distressing events which can occur in a state of warfare. To