Tenedos_ in order to tempt her out, sent
a challenge to Lawrence on the morning of June 1, but before it could be
delivered the _Chesapeake_ had sailed. She steered for the _Shannon_,
who waited for her. The fight began at 5.50 P.M. about six leagues out
from Boston; it was brief and bloody. After ten minutes' firing the
_Chesapeake_ fell on board the _Shannon_, and was immediately boarded.
In four minutes more every man on board had surrendered. In this short
fight the _Shannon_ had lost out of a crew of 352 twenty-four killed and
fifty-nine wounded, two of the latter mortally, while the _Chesapeake_,
according to American official figures, had lost out of 386 forty-seven
killed and ninety-nine wounded (fourteen of the latter mortally). No
fewer than thirty-two British deserters were found on board the
_Chesapeake_. The victory made the best possible impression. The two
ships had been of approximately equal strength, the American having a
slight superiority of force, and the _Chesapeake_ had been captured in
the way in which most turns on individual courage, by boarding. Both
captains had distinguished themselves in the fight, and both were
severely wounded, Lawrence, as the event proved, fatally.

[Pageheading: _CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE._]

The abandonment of Germany by the French at the close of 1813 left the
outlying provinces and allies of France exposed to invasion. The
Austrian general, Nugent, aided by British naval and military forces,
captured Trieste on October 31. Dalmatia had been invaded by the
Montenegrins as early as September, 1813, and was afterwards attacked by
Austrians and British marines, but the town of Cattaro held out till it
was taken by the British in January, 1814. On the 14th of the same
month Denmark was compelled by the treaty of Kiel to cede Norway to
Sweden in exchange for Swedish Pomerania and Ruegen, Sweden undertaking
to assist Denmark in procuring a fuller equivalent for Norway at the
conclusion of a general peace. A treaty signed between Denmark and Great
Britain at the same time and place provided for the restitution to
Denmark of all British conquests, with the exception of Heligoland,
while Denmark undertook to do all in her power for the abolition of the
slave trade. The people of Norway and their governor, Prince Christian
of Denmark, refused to submit to the transference of their allegiance,
and on February 19 the independence of Norway was proclaimed. At first
the Swedish governme