and then, the appearance of a strange sail afar off, or some dim
object in the horizon, would create a momentary degree of excitement and
anxiety; but when the 'lookout' from the mast-head had proclaimed her a
'schooner from Brest,' or a 'Spanish fruit-vessel,' the sense of danger
passed away at once, and none ever reverted to the subject.

With General Humbert I usually passed the greater part of each
forenoon--a distinction, I must confess, I owed to my skill as a
chess-player, a game of which he was particularly fond, and in which I
had attained no small proficiency. I was too young and too unpractised
in the world to make my skill subordinate to my chiefs, and beat him at
every game with as little compunction as though he were only my equal,
till, at last, vexed at his want of success, and tired of a contest that
offered no vicissitude of fortune, he would frequently cease playing to
chat over the events of the time, and the chances of the expedition.

It was with no slight mixture of surprise and dismay that I now detected
his utter despair of all success, and that he regarded the whole as a
complete forlorn-hope. He had merely taken the command to involve the
French Government in the cause, and so far compromise the national
character that all retreat would be impossible. We shall be all cut
to pieces or taken prisoners the day after we land,' was his constant
exclamation, 'and then, but not till then, will they think seriously in
France of a suitable expedition.' There was no heroism, still less was
there any affectation of recklessness in this avowal. By nature he was a
rough, easy, good-tempered fellow, who liked his profession less for
its rewards than for its changeful scenes and moving incidents--his one
predominating feeling being that France should give rule to the whole
world, and the principles of her Revolution he everywhere pre-eminent.
To promote this consummation the loss of an army was of little moment.
Let the cause but triumph in the end, and the cost was not worth
fretting about.

Next to this sentiment was his hatred of England, and all that was
English. Treachery, falsehood, pride, avarice, grasping covetousness,
and unscrupulous aggression, were the characteristics by which he
described the nation; and he made the little knowledge he had gleaned
from newspapers and intercourse so subservient to this theory, that I
was an easy convert to his opinion; so that, ere long, my compassion for
the