A biographical sketch of the late Captain Sir Frederick Thesiger would, at any time, have excited its due portion of interest; but, at the present period, when every thing which bears even the most distant relation to our departed hero of the Nile, of Copenhagen, and of Trafalgar, is sought after with avidity, it must be peculiarly acceptable. To mention that Sir Frederick Thesiger was in possession of the confidence and friendship of Lord Nelson, reflects lustre on his name, and gives to his memory a decided claim on the attention of the public.

The first entrance of this gentleman into maritime life, was in the service of the Honourable East India Company; but, after having made two or three voyages, he found that his genius was but ill-adapted to trading pursuits, and he became anxious for some more active employment, in which his talents might be displayed to advantage. It has been judiciously observed by Dr. Johnson, in his life of Boerhaave the physician, that “Providence seldom sends any into the world with an inclination to attempt great things, who have not abilities likewise to perform them.” This may in some measure be accounted for, by adverting to the fact, that projects of enterprise and spirit are scarcely ever conceived or executed but by persons of an ardent temperament. The same ardour which inspires a man to attempt the accomplishment of some favourite object, furnishes him with energy and perseverance to achieve it.

It is with much satisfaction that we undertake the present memoir; as, from the authenticity of its materials, it will tend to counteract certain improper and malevolent statements which have appeared; and as, from the interesting facts which it records, it cannot fail of imparting instruction, and of exciting emulation.

Philip d'Auvergne, now Duke of Bouillon, was born in Elizabeth Castle, in the Island of Jersey, on the 22d of November, 1754. Having shown an early predilection for the Naval Profession, he was, in the year 1770, borne on the books of one of the Royal Yachts, commanded by the late Vice-Admiral Campbell, as was not unusual, at that period, to fill up the qualifying time for passing examination, while he continued to enjoy the advantages of a private education.

In the year 1772, under the patronage of the late Lord Howe, he joined the Flora Frigate, commanded by the late Sir George Collier. In the Flora he made several foreign Voyages, as a Midshipman, particularly to Cronstadt, when, together with all the Officers of that Ship, he had the honour of being presented, by Lord Cathcart, the British Ambassador at Russia, to the Empress Catherine the IId, and her Court, at Peterhoff, near St. Petersburgh. On their return, they stopped at Copenhagen, where they met with the French Frigate la Flou, in which were embarked several members of the Academy of Sciences, of Paris, making observations on the time-keepers of Le Roy and Berthoud.

“THE CROWNING CITY! WHOSE MERCHANTS ARE PRINCES, AND WHOSE TRAFFICKERS ARE THE HONOURABLE OF THE EARTH.”

THE indefatigable Biographer of the Walpole Family, Mr. Coxe, has inadvertently omitted to notice the gallantry of this British Officer, amidst the splendid archives of his Family. As our Chronicle was purposely established to assist the future Historian, and to supply the omissions of contemporary writers; we have availed ourselves of that affability which so much belongs to Captain Walpole's Widow; and with the memoranda she has been pleased to communicate, shall hope to render a Character more known, whose amiable disposition cannot be better described, than in the words of Lord Clarendon—“He was compounded of all the Elements of Affability, and Courtesy, towards all kind of People.”

The change that has taken place in the Merchant Service, since the period we are about to Review, is well worthy of the attention both of the Statesman, and the Directors of its interests: for notwithstanding the abilities of some few Individuals in that line, the acquirements of Mr. Dalrymple, the ingenuity of Captain Burgess, the variety of observations by different Officers, which form the Oriental Navigator; the character of the East India Service has of late years been waning in the public estimation: it neither contains the rank, nor the talent, which it formerly possessed; and until the Squadron under Commodore Dance chastised the vaunting Linois, and recalled the memory of former Heroes in the same department; our Countrymen were led to believe, and particularly the younger Officers in the King's Service, that the Command of a Merchant Ship was a situation derogatory to the character of a Merchant Ship.

I was born in the City of Edinburgh on the 6th of May, O. S., 1731, and having from my cradle an abhorrence of a sedentary life, I went to sea at the early age of twelve years with my Father, in the Britannia Merchantman fitted out from Leith belonging to the London Trade. After making several voyages both in her and in the Ships James and John, the latter was taken up as a Transport, and ordered with many others to proceed to Aberdeen, under convoy of his Majesty's Ship Fox, of 20 guns, commanded by Capt. Beaver; who was under orders there to embark some Troops that were destined to oppose the progress of the Rebels, already in the vicinity of Edinburgh.

Although it may, unfortunately, be considered improper by some, in the present state of modern opinions, to attribute heroism and nobleness of character as the sole and inseparable appendages to illustrious Ancestry, and that the latter is the only certain fountain from which the former can flow; yet it is to be hoped, that the laudable superstition, if it be one, is not even at the present moment so completely eradicated, as to deny the lesser, and certainly modest point, that the example of the Ancestor possesses no mean influence over the conduct of the Descendant.

It will not perhaps be thought impertinent in us to have urged this point, when it is stated, that Captain Suckling, the Subject of the present Memoir, was the maternal Uncle of the Lord Viscount Nelson, a name, which most indubitably must ever stand revered by every lover of his native Country, and by every honest Briton, till the record of great and glorious deeds shall fee no more.

TO THE FOURTEENTH VOLUME

THE thirteen Columns we have raised, will hereafter be often pilfered, to set off the works of those, who ‘would otherwise search in vain for such materials. Such were the words with which we concluded our last Preface, and very fully has the truth of them been confirmed, by what has since taken place; for never was any poor devil so plucked, and pulled, and gutted, as our Chronicle has been, since the lamented death of our illustrious Hero, Lord Nelson. Some of the public Prints, particularly the Oracle and The London Chronicle, were liberal enough to acknowledge, the source, whence they had derived the only authentic materials that exist respecting this renowned Officer. At our request; which Mr. M'Arthur communicated to his Lordship, he was pleased to send us a Memoir of his professional life, in his own hand writing, on three sheets of letter paper—an invaluable relic, which is still in Mr. M'Arthur's possession; and from this document Lord Nelson's biographical memoir was composed by the Rev. J. S. Clarke, conjointly with the above gentleman. The whole of what has appeared since, as far as relates to the period which our memoir embraced, whether published in separate Volumes, or in the public prints, has been pilfered from the Naval Chronicle.

Sir Richard Onslow, Bart. is the second son of Richard, brother to Arthur Onslow, Esq. a gentleman of considerable celebrity in the annals of the British Parliament. He in some measure may be considered as possessing an hereditary claim to consequence in his profession; for his mother was the daughter of Charles Walton, Esq. and niece to the well-known Admiral Sir George Walton.

Mr. Onslow commenced his Naval Career at a very early period of life. His first appointment, as Lieutenant, bears the date of December 17, 1758. On the 11th of February, 1761, he was advanced to the rank of Commander in, we believe, the Martin Sloop; and on the 14th of April, 1762, he was made Post in the Humber, a forty-gun Ship.

Shortly after Captain Onslow's appointment to the Humber, he sailed in that Ship, to convoy the outward-bound Baltic Fleet. On his return to England, in the month of September, with a similar charge, the Humber unfortunately ran upon the south end of the Haysborough Sands, and was entirely lost. Several of the Convoy had the misfortune to ground also; but their Crews and Cargo were saved, as was the whole Crew of the Humber, one Man only excepted.

As a matter of course, Captain Onslow's conduct was regularly investigated before a Court Martial, which acquitted him in the most honourable manner.

Fired by example, the generous bosom pants for glory, and emulates the most illustrious models of heroism. In contemplating the gallant Exploits of Rodney, we cannot wonder that from the school of so distinguished an Officer some of the fairest ornaments of the British Navy should have risen ;– Men eminently conspicuous for their modesty, their bravery, and their general worth. Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh, whose Naval Career we are now about to trace, is fully entitled, by the general tenor of his conduct, to rank with such Men. This Gentleman, who is descended from an ancient and respectable Family in Cornwall, was born in the year 1737. Having been destined to the Naval Service of his Country, he received an appropriate education; and, in 1750, he commenced his professional progress under the immediate auspices of his Godfather, the late Lord Rodney; who, in the preceding year, had been made Governor and Commander in Chief of the Island of Newfoundland.

Of the manner in which Mr. Bligh passed the immediately succeeding years, we are not accurately informed; but we believe that he continued under the protection of his Patron, employed in various service; and in the year 1757 he received a Lieutenant's Commission.