Spain. In the spring of 1807, Captain Hallowell was occupied in commanding the naval part of the expedition sent from Messina, to take possession of Alexandria; and Mr. Spencer was employed in all the boat services which took place; and at both the unsuccessful attacks on Rosetta, under the immediate orders of Captain (now Vice-Admiral) Fellowes.

For the next two years the Tigre was principally employed in watching the port of Toulon; and at the capture and destruction of the French convoy in the bay of Rosas, November 1. 1809, Mr. Spencer was employed in the Tigre's launch, under Lieutenant Edward Boxer, the senior officer, and leader of the starboard line of boats. The crew of the launch were among the first who, hauling up on the in-shore side of la Lamproie, penetrated under the boarding nettings, which the French had neglected to lace down, doubtless supposing that the fire from the beach would have deterred any attempt to board on that side.

Mr. Spencer's commission as lieutenant bore date December 13. 1810: he removed with Rear-Admiral Hallowell to the Malta, 84; and continued to serve in that ship until he received an order to take charge of the Pelorus brig, in October, 1812. He was promoted to the rank of Commander January 22. 1813; and appointed first to the Kite brig, of sixteen guns, and soon after to the sloop Espoir of eighteen, which, joining Sir Edward Pellew's fleet, was selected by that officer to form a part of Captain Usher's squadron employed off the French coast, in the neighbourhood of Marseilles. That little squadron was in a state of unceasing activity, few days passing in which it was not engaged with the enemy. One of the most remarkable of its services was one suggested by Captain Spencer-the destruction of the batteries at Cassis, a small sea-port between Marseilles and Toulon. "Owing to a light wind," says Captain Usher, in his official letter," the Undaunted could not take up the anchorage that I intended: therefore, to Captain Coghlan, Sir John Sinclair, and the Hon. Captain Spencer, I am entirely indebted for the success that attended an enterprise which, for gallantry, has seldom

been surpassed." The re-embarkation of the men was conducted under Captain Spencer's orders; and he selected a situation which was particularly well calculated to resist any attack from Toulon or Marseilles, had such been attempted.

On the 19th of January, 1814, Captain Spencer was appointed to the Carron twenty-gun corvette; which ship he continued to command after his advancement to post rank, June 4. 1814. The Carron was one of the small squadron under Captain the Hon. W. H. Percy at the attack of Fort Bowyer, near Mobile, in West Florida, September 15. 1814.

It appears by the official account of that gallant, but unsuccessful enterprise, that, after the senior officer anchored, the wind died away, and a strong ebb tide prevented Captain Spencer from getting his ship into the position wished for. He therefore left her distantly engaged, hastened to the assistance of his gallant friend, and remained with him on board the Hermes, until the boats of the squadron came alongside to take out her surviving officers and crew, the greater part of whom, including many of the wounded, were received on board the Carron.

At the latter end of the same year, Captain Spencer was very usefully employed in the expedition against New Orleans. From his knowledge of the French and Spanish languages, he was selected by Sir Alexander Cochrane to obtain information respecting the state of Louisiana, and procure guides, pilots, &c. for the approaching expedition. He narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by General Jackson's cavalry, while in company with an officer of the Quarter-master General's department, looking into the fort of Pensacola, into which place the enemy's cavalry entered at the moment these officers pushed off from the mole-head.

Although the junior captain present, Captain Spencer was selected to reconnoitre Lac Borgne, in company with Major Peddie, for the purpose of discovering where a landing could be best effected. Having obtained considerable influence over the emigrated Spaniards and Frenchmen settled as fishermen, &c., he prevailed on one of them to take Major Peddie,

himself, and coxswain in a canoe up the creek; and this party actually penetrated to the suburbs of New Orleans, and walked over the very ground afterwards taken up by General Jackson as the position for his formidable line of defence. Having discovered an eligible spot for the disembarkation, he undertook, with Colonel Thornton, and about thirty of the 85th and 95th regiments, to dislodge a strong picket of the enemy; a service which they performed most efficiently, without a shot being fired, or an alarm given. From this time to the disastrous 8th of January, when the army failed in its last attack on the American lines, Captain Spencer was engaged in all the arduous duties which fell to the lot of the officers who remained on shore. It was shortly after that he received a letter from Sir Alexander Cochrane, conveying that officer's sense of his exertions and conduct during the whole of the operations connected with Louisiana and Florida, and appointing him to the command of the Cydnus, a fine thirtyeight gun frigate. Peace was soon after concluded with the United States; and it being desirable to keep our Indian allies from further hostilities, Captain Spencer was selected by Sir Pulteney Malcolm for the delicate service of settling all their claims, and dismissing them from our service. This was arranged to the entire satisfaction of His Majesty's Government, notwithstanding the prejudices and wild habits of the Indians, amongst whom Captain Spencer lived encamped at Prospect Bluff, far up the Apalachicola river, for more than a month.

Captain Spencer's next appointment was May 20. 1817, to the Ganymede, 26; and, whilst commanding that ship in the Mediterranean, he was sent, by Sir Charles V. Penrose, to remonstrate with the Bashaw of Tunis on the behaviour of his cruisers. Not only was this mission successful, but the Bashaw was induced to sign an additional article to the existing treaty, binding himself to certain points deemed of importance by the British Government.

In 1819, an expedition being intended by Spain for the recovery of her South American colonies, and it being sup

posed that our extensive and valuable commercial interests might suffer between the contending parties, Sir Thomas M. Hardy was nominated to the chief command on the coasts of South America; and Captain Spencer was selected by the First Lord of the Admiralty to command a frigate under his orders. He was accordingly appointed to the Owen Glendower, of 42 guns.

It was his fortune on this service to be frequently obliged to act in a diplomatic character. Our complicated commercial relations with the new states, which we had not then recognised, occasioned very intricate questions of international law: in all these, Captain Spencer's cultivated mind, and excellent judgment, were of the greatest advantage to the important interests which he represented. To the internal government of his ship, and the education of the young men intrusted to his care, he also so far devoted his attention, that the Owen Glendower was instanced as an example of efficient order and perfect discipline worthy of general imitation. It was in that frigate that the useful invention of Congreve's Lights was first introduced, at Captain Spencer's own expense, before it had been countenanced by the Board of Ordnance. The Owen Glendower was paid off at Chatham, September 17. 1822, having previously visited Copenhagen, to which place Captain Spencer was accompanied by his noble father.

On the 12th of April, 1823, Captain Spencer was appointed to the Naiad, 46; in which frigate, after a cruise in the Channel, he sailed from Spithead with sealed orders, in September following. After remaining at Lisbon until the early part of 1824, he proceeded to Algiers with the Chameleon brig, of 10 guns, under his orders, to remonstrate against the outrageous proceedings of the Dey, who had broken open the house of the British Consul, and taken away two of his servants, under the pretence that they belonged to a tribe called Cabbais, natives of the interior, against whom the Regency had commenced a war of extermination and plunder. On his arrival, Captain Spencer found two Spanish vessels in the mole, which had just been captured, and their crews

destined to slavery. With the most praiseworthy feeling, he made the release of these poor captives a part of his demands, agreeably to the Exmouth treaty, which renounced the right of the Dey to enslave Christian subjects. After waiting four days, and finding the Dey still obstinate in refusing his just claims, Captain Spencer embarked the Consul-general and family on board the Naiad ; and on the 31st of January, 1824, got under weigh with his guests, and worked out of the bay with the Chameleon in company. Whilst the Naiad and her consort were beating out, the corvette which had captured the Spanish vessels was seen running for the mole; and chase being given, and several shot fired across her bows to bring her to, which was disregarded, she was reduced to a wreck by the Naiad's fire, and subsequently laid on board very gallantly by the Chameleon. In a few minutes she was in possession of the brig's crew, and proved to be the Tripoli of 18 guns, and 100 men, of whom seven were killed and twelve wounded; the British sustained no loss. Finding that this vessel was in a leaky state, and so much disabled by the fire she had sustained as to make her quite unseaworthy, Captain Spencer abandoned her, after taking out the Algerine commander and seventeen Spaniards, the latter of whom were thus happily rescued from slavery.

Captain Spencer then repaired to Malta, for the purpose of communicating his proceedings to Sir Harry Neale, the commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, with whom he returned, two days afterwards, to Algiers. The Dey still continued obstinate in his refusal, and a blockade was established; during the whole period of which the Naiad was employed on that coast. On the 24th of May, 1824, Captain Spencer reported to the commander-in-chief a very gallant exploitthe complete destruction, under the walls of Bona, of an Algerine brig of war, by the boats of the Naiad, under the command of his first lieutenant, Mr. Quin.

At length every preparation was made for bombarding the town, when the Dey communicated to Captain Spencer, who had been sent on shore, his readiness to come to terms. As