hips,
two frigates, and two bombs. The French envoy, by his agent, M. de
Lascours, had endeavoured to impress the necessity of exertion on
the mind of the Turkish negociator; but he had a predilection for the
English, and would not believe that they would commence hostilities with
the divan. It was not written in the book of destiny that the English
should come; and if they did, there were guns enough to sink them all:
the expenses which the French recommended, were, in fact, unnecessary:
God was great. Nor did the arrival of the squadron of Sir John Duckworth
interrupt the conference between the British envoy and the Turkish
negociator, or incite him to greater exertion; he still smoked his pipe,
and hoped that all things would end well. His confidence was possibly
increased by a terrible disaster which befell the "Ajax," one of Sir J.
Duckworth's squadron. While at anchor off Tenedos, she took fire, and
about two hundred and fifty men and women perished in the flames; the
rest, including the Captain, Blackwood, escaped by leaping into the sea,
where they were picked up by boats sent for their relief.

Sir John Duckworth had orders to force the passage of the Dardanelles,
anchor before Constantinople, and bombard the city, unless certain
conditions were complied with. The passage of the straits was effected
in the midst of a fire from the forts of Sestos and Abydos. At the same
time Sir Sidney Smith directed his efforts against a squadron; and a
battery, which, if completed, might have defended the Turkish vessels,
was stormed by a party of the British. The Turkish squadron and bastion
were destroyed, in which enterprise Sir Sidney Smith lost only four men
killed and twenty-six wounded. Sir John Duckworth now passed in apparent
triumph into the Bosphorus, whence he sent a letter to the Reis Effendi,
demanding a declaration of the sultan's views--whether he was determined
to espouse the cause of France, or renew his alliance with England, and
second her efforts in opposing the tyranny of Napoleon. The British
were again overreached by French subtilty. Sebastiani, the French envoy,
inspired the Sultan with confidence, and persuaded him to enter into a
negociation, while in the mean time all the approaches to Constantinople
should be fortified. All this was done, and when the proposals of the
British government were rejected, the wind and current, as Sebastiani
had foreseen, prevented the hostile fleet from taking such a p