efitting of
his squadron, he returned to his cabin with a deep sense of the
responsibility he had incurred; but supported by the unqualified
conviction that every exertion had been made to obtain success,
and that the disappointment resulted from circumstances over
which he had no control.

The action terminated, as appears by the log, at thirty-five
minutes after one; and the squadron proceeded to Gibraltar. As
soon as the ship was secured, the Admiral sent me on shore to
the governor, to relate to him the events of the two preceding
days. I found him sitting in his balcony, which commanded a view
of the Bay and Algeziras, evidently deeply affected by the
unlooked-for termination of an attack upon the French squadron,
and anxiously reflecting on the probable results.

On my return on board, the Admiral had retired to his cot; and I
had no means of communicating with him until next morning. I
could then, however, perceive that under all the severity of
disappointment he experienced from our failure, and the loss of
the Hannibal, he felt that no honour had been lost; that every
effort had been made to obtain success; and that he derived
comfort from the sanguine hopes he entertained that an
opportunity might present itself in which he should be able to
retrieve the loss.

He ordered me to take a flag of truce and wait upon the French
Admiral, and propose an exchange of prisoners; which M. Linois
refused, alleging that it was not in his power to establish a
cartel for the purpose until he obtained the sanction of the
Minister of the Marine at Paris, to whom he had sent off an
express as soon as the firing had ceased on the preceding day;
but he consented to send over the officers on parole. The object
of the French Admiral was very obvious. He concluded we wanted
the men to replace those that had been killed and wounded; but
he thought, justly, that sending over officers on parole would
be a harmless act of courtesy, from which we could reap no
immediate benefit. It will be seen that, subsequently to the
second action, (only six days after the first,) when his
despatches from Algeziras had scarcely reached Paris, he did not
wait for an answer from the Minister of the Marine: but
circumstances had altered. We had taken a line-of-battle ship,
and burned two first-rates; and he now wished to get as many o