Spaniard was surprised to see the son of his Britannic majesty acting
in the capacity of an inferior officer, and emphatically observed to
Admiral Digby, "Well does Great Britain merit the empire of the seas,
when humble stations in her navy are filled by princes of the blood."

We have next the pleasing duty of adverting to two signal exertions of
his royal highness in the cause of humanity--conduct which

is twice bless'd:
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.

The first is thus narrated by a midshipman of the Torbay, in a letter
to his friends:--

"_Port Royal Harbour, April_, 1783.

"The last time Lord Hood's fleet was here, a court-martial
was held on Mr. Benjamin Lee, midshipman, for disrespect to
a superior officer, at which Lord Hood sat as president. The
determination of the court was fatal to the prisoner, and he
was condemned to death. Deeply affected as the whole body of
the midshipmen were at the dreadful sentence, they knew not
how to obtain a mitigation of it, since Mr. Lee was ordered
for execution; while they had not time to make their appeal
to the Admiralty, and despaired of success in a petition to
Admiral Rowley. However, His Royal Highness generously stepped
forth, drew up a petition, to which he was the first to set
his name, and solicited the rest of the midshipmen in port to