a series of combats was maintained, in which the French soldiers displayed the most heroic courage and their leaders the most consummate military skill. Neither skill nor courage-no, not even success in the individual engagements which took place between the different divisions of the opposing armies could, however, avail against the apparently inexhaustible numbers on which the Imperialists could draw. In vain did the attacks of Masséna and Soult mow down their ranks-in vain were hundreds and thousands of prisoners captured-the blanks were instantly filled, and the enemy presented its lines unimpaired and undiminished. At last, on the 18th, Masséna was definitively shut up in Genoa, without hope of supplies either by land or water, for the harbor was closely blockaded by the English fleet under Admiral Keith.

What the force of arms and overwhelming numbers could not effect, famine was now sure ultimately to consummate, and the fall of Genoa became a question merely of time and endurance. The provisions within the city were carefully husbanded and distributed in regular rations among the inhabitants and soldiers. Masséna took possession of all the grain in Genoa, paying for it when voluntarily delivered; but seizing it when its surrender was refused or attempted to be evaded. In this way, a quantity of grain including much of inferior quality, such as rye and oats, was collected sufficient to support the army and the people for four weeks; nor did this fearful condition of things extinguish the warlike fire of the French soldiers. Sallies were continued to be made and not without success upon the besiegers. On the 30th, a brisk engagement took place, commencing with an attack by the Austrians on the principal fort which commanded the city, called the Diamond Fort. During the whole of the day the struggle continued with doubtful success-at length, when all seemed lost, Masséna pushed forward with two batallions, one against each flank of the enemy; a violent hand-to-hand combat ensued-the soldiers being too close to each other to fire, hurled stones at each other, and fought with the butts of their guns. At the moment when the French were about to yield, Masséna led on, in person, a half batallion which he had in reserve, and decided the victory. The Austrians driven from position to position, left the field covered with dead. Masséna re

entered Genoa that night, bringing with him the ladders which the Austrians had prepared to escalade the walls, and marching before him sixteen hundred prisoners;-again, on the 10th of May, General Ott sent word to Masséna, that he was firing guns to celebrate a victory gained over Suchet, an announcement which, however, was altogether destitute of truth; Masséna replied to this boast, by sallying from the town, driving back into the ravines of the Appenines the swarms of Austrians by which he was beset, and returning to the city in the evening, preceded by fifteen hundred prisoners; but alas! his very successes only accelerated the catastrophe which menaced him, for they multiplied prisoners upon his hands, to the number of several thousands, who aided in consuming the small amount of provisions that remained in the town. The rapid diminution of this stock, and the deterioration from day to day of the quality of food, as well as its diminished quantity allowed to the unfortunate inhabitants and troops, were gradually producing all the horrors which might be expected among a hundred thousand persons thus situated. At length bread was forced to be made of a meal formed by a mixture of coarse cocoa and starch. All the day, the cries of the wretched victims resounded through the streets, the rocks within the walls were covered with troops of famished creatures, seeking and devouring the vilest and filthiest animals, and greedily gathering the smallest traces of vegetation to assuage their intolerable torments-besides the black and revolting bread just mentioned, the only liquid food supplied to the people was a miserable vegetable soup. The streets were covered with wretched beings dying of inanition-women, attenuated with famine, exposed to public charity the infants who could no longer extract nourishment from their bosoms-at night the lamentations and wailings were dreadful -too agitated to sleep, and unable to endure the agony around them, they called aloud for death to relieve them from their suffering. The usual effect of severe and long endured calamity, became apparent in an appalling form, by closing the fountains of mercy in the human heart, and rendering men insensible to everything but their own woes,-infants lay in the public streets deserted by the parents,-women prostrated with exhaustion, stretched on the thoroughfares,

were abandoned to their fate, and sought with their dying hands in the sewers and other receptacles of filth, the means of prolonging for a few hours a miserable existence some rushed out at the gates, and threw themselves on the Austrian bayonets, where they met neither commiseration nor aid; not only were leather and skins of every kind greedily devoured, but the horror of human flesh itself was so much abated, that numbers sustained life on the dead bodies of their fellow citizens. Pestilence stalked in the rear of famine, and death in many forms awaited the crowds collected in the hospitals, and the corpses multiplying faster than the strength of the survivors could bury them, encumbered the streets and presented an awful and revolting spectacle.

Another circumstance still further increased the horrors of this condition of affairs. Masséna had, as we have already stated, captured, during the siege, several thousand Austrian prisoners; knowing that their liberation upon parole would have been followed by their reappearance in the Austrian ranks, he felt himself bound to retain them. While this body of men shared the sufferings of the people and the army, they also augmented the evils which both had to endure; he therefore proposed to General Ott and Admiral Keith, that they should furnish the provisions necessary for their daily subsistence, passing his word of honor that no part of the same should be abstracted for the garrison. Though his word was not doubted, the proposition was not acceded to; and although Masséna supplied the same rations to the prisoners as to the inhabitants and troops, the former showed such a disposition to revolt, that he was compelled to shut them up in the hulks of some old vessels placed in the middle of the harbor upon which a park of artillery, constantly pointed, stood ready to bellow forth destruction; the frightful howlings of these miserable beings resounding through the streets of the city, increased if possible the horrors and sufferings of the unfortunate inhabitants. During this time, many instances of individual heroism were developed, which will ever be regarded with interest. In one of the sallies from the town, two French regiments, between which a feeling of hostility had grown up, owing to one being employed to quell a spirit of insubordination which had been kindled in the

other, were engaged in a desperate attack to recover from the Austrians some of the outworks of the town. When these brave men had succeeded in their object, and vanquished the enemy, they rushed into each other's arms, and forgot for ever their mutual animosities. In several cases, aids-de-camps and officers around Masséna, ventured singly to pass the Austrian lines by land, or through the British navy by water, to carry important intelligence to or from the city. In one case, an aid-de-camp bringing despatches from Bonaparte ventured to enter the harbor in an open boat; being fired upon, he saved the boatman who rowed him by jumping into the water, with his sword in his mouth, and swimming to the shore, where he succeeded in his object; and by intelligence thus gained, Masséna had received assurances that if he could hold out even for a day or two, the descent of the French army from the Alps, on the rear of the Imperialists, would necessarily break up the blockade. It was this which at once induced and justified the extremity to which that general pushed his resistance in this memorable siege. At length, on the 4th of June, the whole stock of provisions remaining in the town was reduced to two ounces of loathsome bread, made of starch and cocoa, for each individual. To have continued the resistance longer, was, therefore, a physical impossibility, and on that day a flag of truce was sent to Masséna by General Ott, proposing the surrender, and desiring to negotiate terms. The fact was, though not then known to Masséna, that, on that morning, Ott had received from his Generalin-Chief peremptory and unqualified orders to raise the siege, and to join, with his troops, the main body of the army, which was in danger of being overwhelmed by the French forces under Bonaparte, which had poured down upon them, to their utter astonishment and consternation, from the acclivities of the Alps. Had Masséna been informed of this, he would even then, hard as was the situation in which he was placed, have refused to surrender; but, having no definite information, he had no alternative left. He insisted, however, on fixing the terms of capitulation himself, declaring that if they were not acceded to, he would put himself at the head of the twelve thousand men then in the city, and, be the consequences what

they might, would cut his way through the Imperialists.

It was agreed that the garrison should be permitted to depart with their arms and munitions, but it was objected that if he were himself allowed to escape, it was impossible to foresee what formidable enterprise might not be effected by such a leader, upon the rear of the Baron de Melas. It was also proposed for the greater security of the Austrians, that the garrison should leave the city by water, and not by land. To all this, Masséna calmly replied, that his army must retire whither and how he pleased, with its arms and baggage, with colors flying, and with liberty to serve and fight anywhere beyond the besiegers' lines. "If these terms" said he to the officer who bore the flag of truce," be not acceded to, I will sally forth from Genoa, sword in hand,

and with eight thousand famished men I will attack your camp and fight till I cut my way through you." It was at length agreed that the eight thousand men still able to bear arms, should march out of the town as proposed by Masséna. The remaining four thousand invalids the Austrians undertook to feed and take care 66 these of. Now," said Masséna, things being settled, 1 give you notice, that before fifteen days shall pass away I shall be again here." Strange prophecy-to which an Austrian officer made the following noble and delicate reply. You will then find here, general, the men whom you have so well taught to defend the city." This prediction of Masséna was, as we shall see, destined to be literally fulfilled by the impending catastrophe of the field of Marengo. To be continued.

To every commercial nation, a complete and efficient Light-House Establishment is a provision of the utmost necessity. The perils of the open sea, from tempests, or lightning, or any of the ordinary hazards of ocean navigation, are trifling in comparison with the dangers which lurk along the shore. The coast of the United States, stretching, as it does, over twenty-five degrees of latitude, swept by the winds of a northern winter, and, at times, by the still more destructive blasts of a hotter clime; indented with bays of narrow and difficult entrance; or projecting in capes frowning in over-hanging terror, or extending more fearful, because less palpable, dangers beneath the surface of the sea; skirted with sunken rocks and quicksands; and beset, in almost every mile of its irregular extent, with "dangers difficult and dark," is exposed for nearly three thousand miles to these terrible hazards. The natural dangers of such a coast must be compensated by science and human skill. Perils, known and unknown, must be warded off. Charts must be provided, on which every turning point, every rock, and every shoal must be distinctly brought to the view of him who sails along or approaches the shore. Reefs

and headlands should be lighted up; beacons must point out danger wherever it exists; and by night, as well as by day, the navigator should be able to ascertain his precise position, the perils which environ his ship, and the path by which he may hope to escape them. A blaze of light should illuminate the seaboard; and all the resources of science and of art should be employed in rendering this service to Commerce and Humanity.

The provision of such a Light-House Establishment devolves upon the General Government. The same authority which maintains a corps of Consular Agents to protect American Commerce from hostility abroad, is in duty bound to guard it from peril at home. This responsibility has always, under the Constitution, been assumed by our Government, and the general charge of this important branch of the public service has rested with the Treasury Department. The collectors of the customs are inspectors of the lighthouses within their respective districts: the office is merely collateral, and a very slight addition to their regular salary is allowed for this superadded duty. The only information, in the ordinary course, which reaches the Treasury Department, concerning this branch of the service,

thus comes through the collectors; and upon their fitness and faithfulness depends, therefore, to a great extent, the efficiency of the system.

There is in this, as in other important respects, a striking difference between the organization of the Establishment in this country, and that of Great Britain and France. In the former country, the Light-Houses are managed by three associations: the Trinity House, of Deptford Strond, chartered in the reign of Henry VIII., has since that time had charge of the Light-Houses of England; those of Scotland are under the control of the Commissioners of Northern Lights, established by Act of Parliament in 1786; and those of Ireland, originally placed in charge of the Board of Customs of Dublin, somewhat as ours are now, were in 1810 confided to a new Board, composed of the principal merchants, under the name of the "Corporation for improving and preserving the port and harbor of Dublin." Of these three boards, the Trinity Corporation is of course the most important. It consists of 31 persons, of whom twenty are efficient for actual service. The members are formed into seven committees, to each of which are assigned special duties; and as very considerable emoluments depend upon the vigilance and efficiency with which their duties are performed, the working of the system is, in general, good. In France the organization is still more perfect. The administration of the LightHouses of the kingdom is committed, by an ordinance of the King, to a LightHouse Board, composed of members chosen from the most distinguished scientific characters, and the inspectors of roads and bridges. Attached to this board is a scientific engineer, who, through a large corps of assistants and secretaries, has the general charge of the most important practical duties of the Establishment. That, in most respects, the French organization is conceded to be superior to the system which prevails in Great Britain, may fairly be inferred from the fact, that a Committee of the British Parliament, in 1834, recommended in very strong terms, that all the Light-Houses of the United Kingdom should be committed to a single Central Board, and that such changes should be made in the regulations, as should enrol among the members a still greater number of scien

VOL. I.-NO. III.

The primary defect in the organization of our Light-House Establishment, as compared with those of Great Britain or France, is that it is not entrusted to the most competent hands. Collectors of the Customs have not necessarily any qualification whatever, for the collateral duty which has been superadded to the ordinary business of their office. They may be good merchants, or good lawyers, or both; and if they are honest men, and have rendered full party service, they may be competent, even according to the degenerate practice of the present day, to the discharge of all their common duties. But none of these accomplishments qualifies them, either to choose with discretion the proper location for lighted beacons, or to see that they are firmly and securely built, or to judge what methods of illumination are the most powerful and will best answer the purpose for which Light-Houses are erected. These are matters which require different knowledge. Under the existing laws, the construction of LightHouses is performed by contract with the "lowest bidder," whose qualifications are not disputed, and who can give bonds for the execution of his work. No provision is made for a skillful examination of the site, or for the preparation of a suitable design. The specifications in all these points have uniformly been made by the contractor himself. And yet it is evident that neither the Treasury officials to whom the subject is committed, nor the Custom House Collectors who are the inspectors, nor the contractors, are the proper persons to decide upon these points. The proper distribution of beacons, the determination of the points where they are most and where least needed, is to be best ascertained by actual experience; and should therefore be submitted to the judgment of naval officers or intelligent seamen, The erection of towers, often under the most difficult circumstances, upon unstable foundations and under exposure to various and peculiar impulses, is a matter evidently to be entrusted only to skillful and experienced engineers, who can adapt, on scientific principles, the building required to the character of the

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site.

As at present effected without this intelligent supervision, it has been remarked by engineers, that in all our Light-Houses a strong family-likeness is exhibited, no matter how opposite may be the character of their locations. "Be it the rocks of Maine, the sands of the Carolinas, or the mud banks of Louisiana, the same formula of construction is observed throughout."* Still more essential is the aid of science in the selection and construction of optical apparatus for deriving the greatest effect from a given quantity of light, for penetrating fogs, for combining and varying revolving lights, so as to distinguish one House from another, and for keeping pace in all respects with the advance of invention and of art. These duties require an extensive and thorough knowledge of the principles of optics and of their application, and none but scientific men are competent to their discharge. Here, then, are three classes of men, whose combined knowledge and observation are essential to the proper supervision of a Light-House System: experienced Seamen, thoroughly instructed Engineers, and men of Science, possessing both theoretical and practical knowledge of everything relating to Optics. But under our system, not the slightest provision is made for any of them. In the Treasury estimate for the year 1838 appears an item of $4,000, as the expense of a “board of navy officers," whose duty it was to make an annual inspection of Light-Houses: but although the item was retained, naval officers were never afterwards employed. So also an engineer was appointed in 1842, under the direction of the Treasury Department, to make a similar inspection of the seacoast lights. His report comprised a very full account of the Light-Houses on the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts; but at this limit he was stopped, and the abuses and defects of the remainder of the Establishment remain unrevealed. And at present, as for a long time past, no scientific or strictly competent men are connected with the management of the system.

Under circumstances so unpropitious, it is certainly a matter of surprise that our Light-House Establishment should have reached its present actual efficiency. In 1789, when, by act of Congress, the general government took from the several States the responsibility of sus

taining the system, there were but eight Light-Houses in the United States. In 1800 the number had doubled, and prior to the year 1812, 49 had been erected. In 1822 they had increased to 70: and in 1842 the whole number in the United States was 256, maintained at an annual expense of $474,000. These Lights have rendered the greatest service to commerce, and have certainly been managed with a good degree of economy, so far, at least, as the aggregate expense of the whole is concerned. The credit of this is unquestionably due to those in whom the supervision of the system has been vested. Their intelligence and good management have been forced to supply the deficiencies of the system ;-and if all has not been done that may seem desirable, more certainly has been accomplished than could rightfully have been expected from so bad a system. These advantages, however, have been fortuitous, and would be forfeited, of course, by a change of agents. The only security for the preservation of the establishment in its existing efficiency, to say nothing of increased advantages, must lie in improving the system. We owe it to the position we hold among enlightened nations, to place this great department of the public service upon the most perfect footing possible. There is no reason why our Light-House system should not fully equal that of any foreign nation. An American ship should be guided into her own harbors as safely as into those of Great Britain or France. Our Light-Houses should be as judiciously distributed, as firmly built, and as brilliantly illuminated as those of either of the European powers. Science and skill should preside over our LightHouse Establishment, as well as over theirs.

We have already alluded to the lack of proper discrimination in distributing lights along the coast. The authority for building a new Light-House is derived from the act of Congress, making the appropriation for its erection. Such acts are usually passed in consequence of petitions from persons residing where lights are said to be required. The constituents of some honorable member become impressed with the conviction that, even if useless sea-ward, a LightHouse on their coast would be highly valuable to them, as ensuring a constan