At an address so unassuming and patriotic, the whole ship’s crew were dissolved in tears, and one and all declared, with every expression of warmth they could use, their determination to stay by the admiral in life or death. Their example was followed by all the other ships left in the squadron, and the brave and excellent old admiral, notwithstanding the defection of so many of his ships, repaired to his station, off the coast of Holland, to watch the movements of the Dutch fleet. Here he employed a device to hide the sparseness of his fleet by employing one of his frigates, comparatively close in shore, to make signals constantly to himself and to the other vessels in the offing, many of them imaginary, and give the enemy the impression that a large squadron was outside. He had resolved, however, not to refuse battle, if the Dutch fleet should have the courage to come out and offer it. But to return to the mutineers. The accession of the new vessels so elated Parker that he gave way to the wildest fits of extravagance. He talked of taking the whole fleet to sea, and selling it to our enemies. He tried to stop the navigation of the Thames, declaring that he would force his way up to London, and bombard the city if the Government did not accede to his terms. The alarm at these proceedings became general in the metropolis, and the funds fell lower than ever known before or since in the financial history of our country. An order was given to take up the buoys marking the channel of the Thames, while the forts were heavily armed and garrisoned, so that should Parker attempt his vainglorious threat, the fleet might be destroyed. The Government now acted with more promptness and decision than they had previously displayed. Lord Spencer, Lord Arden, and Admiral Young hastened to Sheerness, and held a board, at which Parker and the other delegates attended, but the conduct of the mutineers was so audacious that these Lords of the Admiralty returned to town without the slightest success. The principal article of conflict on the part of the seamen’s delegates was the unequal distribution of prize-money, for the omission of which matter in the recent demands, they greatly upbraided their fellow-seamen at Portsmouth. Bills were immediately passed in Parliament inflicting the heaviest penalties on those who aided or encouraged the mutineers in any way, or even held intercourse with them, which speedily had the effect of damping their ardour, and by the end of the first week in June the fire which Parker had fanned into a serious conflagration, began to die out. The fleets at Portsmouth and Plymouth disowned all fellowship with them, and the example of one or two ships, such as the _Clyde_, which from the first had resisted Parker’s influence, commenced to be of effect. The ringleader himself, seeing that his influence was waning, and knowing the perilous position in which he had placed himself, tried to re-open negotiations with the Admiralty, but his