een exempted from these
prejudices, by a better acquaintance with life, and more liberal turn of
thinking.]

[Footnote 505: Note 3 X, p. 505. The reasons assigned by the commodore
for his conduct in this particular are these:--The bay of Dominique was
the only place in which he could rendezvous and unite his squadron. Here
he refreshed his men, who were grown sickly in consequence of subsisting
on salt provisions. Here he supplied his ships with plenty of fresh
water. Here he had intercourse once or twice every day with general
Barrington, by means of small vessels which passed and repassed from
one island to the other. By remaining in this situation, he likewise
maintained a communication with the English Leeward Islands, which
being in a defenceless condition, their inhabitants were constantly
soliciting the commodore's protection; and here he supported the army,
the commander of which was unwilling that he should remove to a greater
distance. Had he sailed to Port-Royal, he would have found the enemy's
squadron so disposed, that he could not have attacked them, unless M.
de Bompart had been inclined to hazard an action. Had he anchored in the
bay, all his cruisers must have been employed in conveying provisions
and stores to the squadron. There he could not have procured either
fresh provisions or water; nor could he have had any communication with,
or intelligence from, the army in the Leeward Islands, in less than
eight or ten days.]

[Footnote 511: Note 3 Y, p. 511. The following anecdote is so
remarkable, and tends so much to the honour of the British soldiery,
that we insert it without fear of the reader's disapprobation:--Captain
Ochterlony and ensign Peyton belonged to the regiment of
brigadier-general Mouckton. They were nearly of an age, which did not
exceed thirty: the first was a North Briton, the other a native of
Ireland. Both were agreeable in person, and unblemished in character,
and connected together by the ties of mutual friendship and esteem. On
the day that preceded the battle, captain Ochterlony had been obliged
to fight a duel with a German officer, in which, though he wounded and
disarmed his antagonist, yet he himself received a dangerous hurt under
the right arm, in consequence of which his friends insisted on his
remaining in camp during the action of the next day, but his spirit was
too great to comply with this remonstrance. He declared it should never
be said that a scratch, receive