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.

Soon after the taking of Martinique, at which he was present, he was, in 1762, appointed a Commander in the Virgin Sloop of War, and was actively employed in cruising against the Enemy's Privateers, of which he captured several that had greatly annoyed our Commerce in those Seas.

It has been observed, by certain critics, that the life of an individual, and the history of a country, can never, with any degree of propriety, be blended with each other. This position, however, is true only in part; for, if the individual, whose life is exhibited, have been a public character, if his conduct have been connected with, or influenced by, public events, it necessarily follows, that the history of his life must also, in a measure, be the history of his country during the period in which he lived and acted. Unless the reader be acquainted with the motives of his hero, how is he to enter into the spirit of his enterprises? How can his atchievements interest, unless we are enabled to comprehend and appreciate their object? – The most brilliant actions, if not connected by something like historical narrative, can appear but as a chaos, or as a variety of vivid colours thrown indiscriminately upon canvas, without form or consistency.

We have premised these remarks, in order that, while we are relating the particular actions of the late Sir Peter Warren, we may be permitted, uncensured, to take a cursory view of naval transactions in general, during the period in which he had the honour to command under the British Flag.

The veteran head of our Navy is an object not to be contemplated but with veneration. From his personal Valour, his professional skill, and his general merit, Sir Peter Parker is entitled to the respect and esteem of every son of Neptune, of every inhabitant of the British dominions.

Sir Peter Parker, Bart, now Admiral of the fleet, is the son of the late Rear-Admiral Christopher Parker, descended from a very respectable and ancient family in Ireland. Of the period of his birth, or of his entering the service, we are not in possession; but we find his first appointment, as Lieutenant, to have taken place in the year 1743. Admiral Matthews, who was at that time Commander in Chief on the Mediterranean Station, advanced him to this rank on board of the Russel, Captain C. Long. During the year of Mr. Parker's appointment, the Mediterranean Fleet continued in Hieres Bay, the chief service which it performed being that of blocking up the French and Spanish Fleets in the harbour of Toulon.

In the progress of our biographical labours, though sedulously anxious to render all possible justice to the professional merit of individuals, it too frequently happens, that through the scantiness of materials, and the difficulty of obtaining correct information, our ardent wishes are defeated. Instead of presenting a finished portrait, with the nice distinctions of light and shade, we are frequently compelled to offer what is little better than a mere outline.

With such an outline of the professional career of that meritorious and respected Officer, Sir John Colpoys, must we now endeavour to content ourselves; assuring our readers, however, that if, at any future period, we should possess the means of correctly filling up so desirable a piece, we shall with pleasure resume the task.

Of the immediate ancestors of Admiral Cornish we have no particular information; but it is of some importance to state, that he is descended, collaterally, from that distinguished Officer, Sir Samuel Cornish, Bart. Vice-Admiral of the Red Squadron, who was brother to the present Admiral's mother. Our Officer's paternal name is Pitchford; but, in the year 1771, he assumed that of Cornish, in pursuance of the will of his uncle, who died, much lamented, in the preceding year, and left him a considerable portion of his property.

The late Baronet may be mentioned as one of the innumerable instances recorded in British history, of humble merit attaining a splendid remuneration; for the rank which he enjoyed, and the honourable title which was conferred on him, towards the close of his life, were simply the rewards of persevering exertion and intrinsic worth

Under the protection and tuition of his uncle, Mr. Pitchford was first inured to the toils of the service.

“Reputation,” observes Dr. Johnson, “is a meteor, which blazes awhile and disappears for ever; and, if we except a few transcendent and invincible names, which no revolutions of opinion or length of time is able to suppress, all those that engage our thoughts or diversify our Conversation, are every moment hasting to obscurity, as new favourites are adopted by fashion.” To protract the departure of this evanescent fame, to preserve to a distant period the memory of greatness, to weave a perennial garland for the brow of bravery and virtue, is one of the solacing duties of an historian. A pleasure such as this have we frequently experienced; for many a memorial have we formed, which, when the hand that penned it shall have ceased its functions, will proudly tell, to future generations, the heroic deeds of their ancestors!

The Honourable Robert Digby, Admiral of his Majesty's White Squadron, is the personage whose professional character now attracts our attention, and whose actions we intend to record.

There is something so peculiarly delightful in the task of tracing the professional services of existing merit; there is such a proud and honest glow experienced by the writer, who reflects that he is recording the illustrious actions of a countryman and a contemporary, that we think the sensations which he is then so fortunate as to possess, must be truly enviable. He almost conceives himself to be an actor in the glowing scenes which he delineates, and half fancies that the laurel which decks the brow of his hero forms also a garland for his own fame.

In a work, the peculiar province of which is to record the lives and actions of brave and honourable men, we trust that the candour of our readers will pardon us, should we sometimes be found guilty of the sin of repetition.–We have before had occasion to observe, that “man is so much the creature of circumstance, that, even in war, it is not possible that every latent energy of Valour can be called forth;” and that it will not, therefore, “be deemed a derogation from the merits of the greatest Commanders, whose daring and successful exploits reflect a lustre on our annals, to say that, if many others, who have passed to the grave unnoticed and unknown, had been placed in their situations, they would have achieved deeds of equally high import.”

This is not offered as an apology for the memoirs which we are about to present:–they need none; neither is it intended as an invidious allusion to any of our naval worthies, who “bear their honours thick upon them.”

To the generous mind, ever grareful is the task of recording the exploits of valour, of illustrating the actions of great men, of holding up to posterity a fair portraiture of that glorious conduct which may become the object of future emulation. The biographer who takes for his subject a British Naval Officer, can scarcely fail of finding his labours the labours of pleasure; for, so uniformly noble are the characters of our brave nautical protectors, that, in the words of our immortal poet, with the honest spirit of the historic Muse, we may exultingly exclaim, “They are all honourable men!” Admiral Caldwell, a faint outline of whose professional life we are now about to delineate, is not an exception from the general rule.

This esteemed Officer is the descendant of a respectable and ancient family, originally from Scotland. Some of its younger branches, however, as we learn from Craufurd's History of Renfrew, were in the army, and, going to Ireland at the time of the troubles in that country, they settled near Drogheda.

Mr. Caldwell, being destined for the naval service, went to the Royal Academy at Portsmouth in 1754. Having finished his nautical studies there, where he remained two years and a half, he went to sea, in the spring of 1756, in his Majesty's ship Isis, commanded by Capt. Edward Wheeler.

72. SIRIUS, 36 Guns, Captain W. Prowse. In the Channel, May, 1803. Built in 1797, at Dudman's yard, Deptford. Commanded by Captain R. King in the Channel, May, 1800; continued on the same station, under the same Officer, in May, 1801; and also at Spithead, May, 1802. Captain King was first appointed to her in June, 1797.–At present under Captain Prowse, in the Channel.

73. LA TOPAZE, 38 Guns, Captain T. W. Lake. In the Channel, May, 1803. Taken by Admiral Lord Hood in Dec. 1793. At present off Ireland under the same Commander.

74. TRENT, 36 Guns, Captain J. Katon. On the Jamaica station in May, 1803. Built at Woolwich of Fir in 1796. Is at present commanded by Captain W. Grosett, off Ireland, with the flag of Admiral Lord Gardner.

75. TARTAR, 32 Guns, Captain J. Perkins. On the Jamaica Station in May, 1803. Built at Wilson's yard, Finsbury, in 1801. Sailed for the West Indies Oct. 19, 1802; where she still remains, under the command of Captain Perkins.

76. ULYSSES, 44 Guns, Commodore Samuel Hood, Captain L. O. Bland. At Trinidad in May, 1803. Built at Liverpool in 1779–At present on the Leeward Islands, commanded by Captain E. H. Columbine.

77. UNICORN, 32 Guns, Captain L. Hardyman. Fitting at Chatham in May, 1803. Built in the King's yard, Chatham, in 1794.–At present off the Texel, under the same Commander.

Having now reached our Eleventh Mile Stone, we may be allowed to sit down by it, amidst the fervid heat of the weather, for a few minutes, and reflect on our past and subsequent labours.

Of the different periodical works that have been established in this Island, none has appeared so difficult and arduous to the Editor, as the Naval Chronicle. Confined to one particular line, he is obliged to search for Variety, and Information, in a department where every avenue is guarded with a watchful and strange suspicion: The very appointments in the Profession, instead of being inserted in the Gazette, as is the case with the Army, are only given to the Public through the uncertain medium of a newspaper; or in the Monthly List, which the industry of the late Mr. Steele established. And when we add to this, the spirit of party and of jealousy which pervades the Profession, we may truly affirm, that we have sometimes sought for truth, “e'en at the cannon's mouth.”

An extensive acquaintance with the Profession, has, however, enabled us to give some valuable Memoirs of living Officers, not withstanding these obstacles, which have thrown considerable light on the Naval History of our Country. The Debate that has taken place, respecting the Ships captured by Lord Hood at Toulon, has called the attention of many persons to our valuable Biographical Memoir, and Public Papers respecting that Officer.

Since we last addressed our readers at the conclusion of a Volume of our Work, an event of the greatest importance has occurred in the Political World; namely, the renewal of hostilities with the Republics of France and Holland. The grounds of offence on the part of the enemy, which have produced the revival of war, are so fully stated in his Majesty's Declaration, that any observations on our part are unnecessary. Yet we may be permitted to say, that Great Britain was never involved in a contest, which so materially concerned her interest, her honour, and her safety as an independent nation. It is not on her part a contest to gratify ambition, or extend her dominions, but to maintain her possessions, to protect her rights, and secure her territories from lawless attack. In the prosecution of a war for objects so just and necessary, our Officers and Seamen will not fail to exhibit the same unshaken and loyal attachment to the interests of their country, and the same ardour to combat her enemies, which they have ever shewn; and the pages of this Work shall be attentively devoted to record the successful efforts of their valour, heroism, and spirit.

It may be questioned by casuists, whether, to emblazon virtue in her loveliest hues, or to depict vice in her most glaring features of deformity, be more beneficial to the moral interests of man; but, to the heart which has any sense of goodness or honour itself, there can be no hesitation in fixing upon the task. The satirist, indeed, may derive pleasure from exposing, and holding up to detestation, the vices of his fellow-creatures; from exhibiting, in terrorem, those crimes at which humanity must shrink with horror; but, to a congenial mind, it is far more soothing to trace the noble deeds of virtue, to entice her from her modest recess, to display her to the world be-decked with all her charms, and thus to excite an honest emulation in those who live but to tread in the footsteps of their superiors.

That there is a greater portion of moral goodness to be found in the higher ranks of society, is an assertion which we will not venture to make; for we have ever considered that virtue, shunning extremes, more frequently fixes her residence in the middle walks of life; yet, as in some noble achievement have most great families originated, to maintain or increase the honour of that achievement should be the task of succeeding generations; and in the descendants of an illustrious race we have a right to expect an hereditary possession of those qualities which ennobled their ancestors.