We understand that after a thorough investigation, the court was fully of opinion, that their capture was to be attributed to the very superior force of the enemy's ship, and to her great superiority in sailing, which enabled her, throughout the action, to keep at such a distance, that their carronades were of little effect, whilst she was keeping up a steady fire from seventeen long twenty-four pounders; and that the officers and men evinced the greatest skill and intrepidity, defending their. ships in a manner highly honourable to them, while it could be done with the least prospect of success. It is almost unnecessary to add, that the captains, officers, and men of both ships, were fully and most honourably acquitted.

The court passed a high encomium on the conduct of the ships' companies, expressive of the sense it entertained of their loyalty, in resisting the repeated offers made to them to enter the service of the enemy. We are assured, that the whole of the men were confined in the hold of the Constitution, in a warm climate, with their legs in chains, and hand-cuffed, for three weeks; during which time repeated attempts were made by the officers and crew of the American ship to shake their attachment to their king and country; but without effect.

DEPOSITION.

Boston, July 21.

We, WILLIAM B. SHUBRICK, a lieutenant in the U. S. navy, and ARCHIBALD HENDERSON, captain of marines, both of the United States' frigate Constitution, do severally testify and declare, that we have seen in the Boston Gazette of the 17th July current, an account of a court martial holden at Halifax, on the 28th June last, for the trial of the officers and crews of his Britannic majesty's late ships the Cyane and Levant, in which it is stated, among other things, that the Constitution in her action with those ships kept at long shot, out of carronade range; and secondly, that high encomiums are made on the crews of said ships for their loyalty in resisting the repeated offers made to them to be received into the American service. Now we, on our oaths declare, that the frigate Constitution ranged alongside of those ships at not a greater distance than two hundred and fifty yards, which every person acquainted with gunnery must know is within point blank carronade range; and secondly, that no offers whatever were made, nor any temptations held out to the crews of said ships to induce them to descrt or quit the service of their king; on the contrary, the very fre quent expressions of a desire on their part to enter our service, were invariably discountenanced by the officers of the Constitution.

There is another charge made against the officers of the Constitution in the proceedings of the court martial, that the crews of the Cyane and Levant were confined in the hold in the night time, which is the custom on board all ships of war, and especially when the prisoners are nearly as numerous as the crew of the conquering ship; but the crews of the Levant and Cyane were permitted to remain on the birth-deck the whole of the day, and one third of them at a time on the spar-deck, who had no irons on them.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Suffolk, 88. Boston, 20th July, 1815.

W. B. SHUBRICK,
ARCH. HENDERSON.

Then the said WILLIAM B. SHU BRICK and ARCHIBALD HEN DERSON, personally appeared, and made oath to the truth of the above declaration by them subscribed, before

THOMAS WELSH, Jr.

Justice of the Peace.

ARRIVAL OF UNITED STATES' VESSELS.

AT NEW YORK.

NOVR. 1st, 1815. The Peacock, captain Warrington, from a cruise in the straits of Sunda.

12th. Guerriere, commodore Decatur, Mediterranean.

Left the following vessels cruising in the Mediterranean under the command of captain Shaw, senior officer.

December 3rd. The Washington, 74, captain I. Chauncey, arrived at President Roads, Boston, from Portsmouth, where she was built and fitted out.

THE WASP AND EPERVIER.

LITTLE doubt can now be entertained of the loss of the Epervier in the September gales which proved disastrous to the American commerce; and none with respect to the fate of the Wasp. The account of the destruction of the Epervier by a British line of battle ship, is, without doubt, one of those pleasant stories which captains of merchant ships sometimes invent for their private amusement, or for the purpose of disposing of their cargoes to advantage. It is of little consequence to these facetious gentlemen and their owners what alarms they create, or whose bosoms they lacerate, provided they can raise a market for their merchandise. For this object they make war, or peace, just as suits their interests, and massacre a community, or sink a ship with as little hesitation as they throw the log. A due regard to personal interests is proper, undoubtedly, but the profits of trade must have little connection with either common honour, or common honesty, when they require the support of falsehood. It is believed that no human being can tell how these two vessels were lost. All that we know, is, that they probably perished somewhere in the pathless ocean, unseen by all but the Being who dealt this severe and inscrutable blow, doubtless for some great end that we know not of. Still, while we acqui

esce in the dispensation which has robbed our country of many a gallant spirit, no duty requires us to smother our regrets, or refrain from expressions of the deepest sorrow for our loss. Who indeed can refrain from lamenting that, while our country was looking anxiously, day after day, for the return of the youthful Blakeley, who had twice conquered his enemy, or expecting to hear of new triumphs, he and his gallant companions were, probably, nay, too certainly, floating breathless on the surface of the wave, or buried in its bottomless bosom. Though he will never return to remind us of his services, let us not forget to pay the debt of gratitude to his memory, by cherishing his fame, and recording his achievements in our hearts. There is something indescribably solemn and affecting to our minds, in the idea of hundreds of men thus perishing, out of the reach of any human help, with nothing in sight but their struggling companions, the weltering ocean, and the angry skies-and nothing within hearing but the roaring of the winds and waves, and the cries of men calling upon those who cannot hear, or who cannot relieve. The mind shrinks from this lonely, dreary, desolate, and unknown calamity-of which nothing is certain, but the sad conviction that there is now hardly a hope that is has not happened.

POETRY.

FOR THE NAVAL CHRONICLE.-A SAILOR'S ELEGY,

ON THE FATE OF THE WASP.

O! WHEN in some illustrious fight,
Stout warriors yield at Fate's rude call,
They fall, like shooting stars at night,
And brighten as they fall,

A thousand tongues their deeds relate,
And with the story never tire,
A country mourns their noble fate,
And ladies weep and men admire.

But dreary is the fate of those

I mourn, in this rough sailor strain,
Who perish'd-how, no mortal knows,
And perish'd all in vain.

Who in our country cannot tell,

HOW BLAKELEY brought the red-cross low,

And twice triumphantly did quell

The prowess of a valiant foe?

Who has not heard of his brave men,

All valiant hearts of sterling gold,

Who brav'd the lion in his den,

And turn'd his hot blood into cold?

Who has not wish'd that they were here,

Escap'd the ocean's perils rude,

To share our country's welcome cheer,

And reap a nation's gratitude?

But they will never come again

To claim the welcome of their home;

Affection looks for them in vain;
Too surely they will never come.

Far distant from their native land,

They perish'd in the yawning deep,
Where there was none to stretch a hand,

And none their fate to weep.

Y