Lives of the British admirals, and naval history of Great Britain, chiefly abridged from the work of J. Campbell

ABOUT the beginning of the seventeenth century a controversy was maintained between men no less celebrated than Grotius and Selden, regarding what was termed the sovereignty of England over the narrow seas. During this controversy, Selden, the advocate of England, in his work styled "Mare Clausum," went so far as to assert that "the English have a hereditary uninterrupted right to the sovereignty of these seas, conveyed to them from their earliest ancestors, in trust for their latest posterity." Without perplexing our readers with an abstract discussion of this question, it is of importance to bear in mind that only by power could our ancestors have acquired the sovereignty of the seas; and that only by power can we and our children maintain it.

Rob Roy's motto must be ours in this matter

"The good old rule

sufficeth us; the simple plan,

That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can."

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We may rest well assured that should foreign nations acquire a superiority over us in bravery and nautical skill, they will little regard our speculative right of sovereignty.

Knowledge is power, and it is upon the union of knowledge and bravery that our maritime superiority depends. While, then, it is trusted that science will continue to direct its aim steadily to the improvement of our methods of navigation and shipbuilding, and to the manufacture of offensive and defensive weapons of war, be ours the humbler, but not unimportant task, to keep before our British youths the example of their heroic fathers: and while thousands of young hearts are glowing with admiration at learning to emulate the excellent deeds of the heroes of other days, our country shall not want defenders, should the sound of hostile cannon be again heard upon our shores.

The long peace with which we have happily been blessed, renders it still the more necessary that the histories of our naval heroes should not only be guarded against any danger of falling into oblivion, but that a knowledge of them should be more and more widely diffused. Yet, even while we write, threats of war are heard all around us.

Our merchant vessels and deep-sea steam-ships, form, no doubt, a useful, nay, an indispensable school for navigators. But the daring actions of a St. Vincent, a Nelson, and a Collingwood, are no longer passed from mouth to mouth among the eager crowd-no longer form the engrossing topic at the social board-are no longer celebrated by the peal of bells, amid the glare of illuminations. No! the living memory of these glorious deeds is chiefly confined to the hoary veteran, as he sits by the fire with the companions of his former victories, and with cheerful garrulity "fights all his battles o'er again."

To the young, these tales can only be matter of history; and we need no excuse for reproducing that history in a varied form, convinced that, notwithstanding the able works before the public, there is still ample room for their extension.

It is obvious, at first, that the origin of the maritime character of the British is to be attributed to their situation as inhabitants of an island, surrounded by rugged shores, and begirt by stormy seas. The natural bent thus given, acquired strength, and was confirmed by subsequent occurrences in the history of the country. It is highly probable, indeed, that the first colonists of Britain were bold adventurers, who, fearless of the raging billows, risked themselves

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Lives of the British admirals, and naval history of Great Britain, chiefly ...