from the coasts of Sardinia, Rome, and Naples; and in strong and nervous language called upon Mr. Wilberforce to exert his wonted humanity by arousing the British Government to a proper state of its dignity, so as to put a final termination to the disgraceful system. As might be expected, Mr. Wilberforce received this communication with great interest; nor is it too much to infer, that it hastened, even if it did not mainly tend to, the treaties entered into with Tunis and Algiers in April 1810, when all the Christian slaves were released by Lord Exmouth and the trade promised to be terminated for ever, the violation of which engagement, by the Dey of Algiers, was so signally punished by his lordship in the month of August following. The letter alluded to is printed at length in the Naval Chronicle, Vol. 40, pp. 421–426.
The success of the American navy formed the subject of universal conversation among officers after the peace with France, and occupied a more than usual share of Captain Nicolas’s attention. Having committed his opinions on the cause of those disasters, and their remedies, to paper, he was induced by some officers of high rank, to print them; and towards the end of 1814, he published a pamphlet, entitled “An Inquiry into the Causes which have led to our Late Naval Disasters, by an Officer in the Navy, in a Series of Letters to a Friend.” This tract, which was confined to private circulation, though bearing evident marks of haste, contains some valuable remarks, and many important truths. It denies that the principal causes of the superiority of the American navy arose from the size of their ships, but from the different manner in which they were manned, and from their crews being constantly practised to fire at a mark; whilst by the naval instructions, our first rates were allowed to fire only sixteen guns a month for the first six months, and eight afterwards. This, with many other faults which that pamphlet exposed, have since been remedied; and though the immediate interest which gave it birth has passed away, numerous points are adverted to, which arc still deserving of consideration.
