11. "The present is not a contest for distant or contingent objects; it is not a contest for power or glory; as little is it a contest for commercial advantage, or any particular form of government. It is a contest for the security, the tranquillity, and the very existence of Great Britain, connected with that of every esta in Europe. This was the object of the tended by Mr Pitt and Mr Jenkinson,* "That the real object of the war from the outset had been to obtain indemnity for the past and security for the future. Are either of these objects likely to be obtained at this period? At present, there is no security for the continuance of peace, even if it were signed, for a single hour. Every successive fac-blished government, and every country tion which has risen to the head of affairs in France, has perished the moment that it attempted to imprint moderation on the external or internal measures of the Revolution. What overthrew the administration of Necker? Moderation! What destroyed the Orleanists, the Girondists, the Brissotins, and all the various parties which have successively risen and fallen in that troubled hemisphere ? Moderation! What has given its long lease of power to the anarchical faction of which Robespierre is the head? The total want of moderation: the infernal energy, the unmeasured wickedness, of its measures. What prospect is there of entering into a lasting accommodation with a power, or what the guarantee for the observance of treaties by a faction, whom a single nocturnal tumult may hurl from the seat of government, to make way for some other more outrageous and extravagant than itself? The campaign hitherto has only lasted a few weeks; yet in that time we have taken Landrecies, formerly considered as the key of France; and though we have lost Cour-it. tray and Menin, yet the vigour and resolution with which the whole allied army has combated, gives good reason to hope, if not for a successful march to Paris (which, however, is by no means improbable), at least for such an addition to the frontier barrier as may prove at once a curb on France, and an excellent base for offensive operations. It is impossible to say what government we are to propose for France, in the event of the Jacobins being overthrown, because that must depend on the circumstances of the times, and the wishes of its inhabitants; but this much may safely be affirmed, that, with the sanguinary faction which now rules its councils, accommodation is impossible. * Afterwards Lord Liverpool. We 12. "There is no contradiction between the proclamation of Lord Hood at Toulon, and the declaration of his Majesty of 29th October. Both promise protection to such of the French as choose to declare for a constitutional monarchy; and to both we shall adhere. By entering into a negotiation, we should give confidence and vigour to the French, and entirely dissolve the formidable confederacy formed to lower their ambition. While the present system continues in France, we can have no peace on any terms short of absolute ruin and dishonour. By an express law of their constitution, any Frenchman who shall enter into a ne- | posterity the burdens of the moment gotiation with this country on any other adopted. terms than surrendering our constitution, dethroning our virtuous sovereign, and introducing into this country the horrible anarchy which prevails in their distracted state, is declared a traitor. Are we prepared to make such sacrifices to obtain the blessings of fraternisation with the disciples of Robespierre? Nor let it be supposed that the colonial conquests we have made are of little moment in bringing about in the end a termination to this frightful contest. Is it of no moment, in the first year of the war, to have cut up the resources and destroyed the sinews of the commerce of our enemies? The injury to their revenues thence arising may not be felt during the continuance of the monstrous and gigantic expedients of finance to which they have had recourse; but it is not on that account the less real, or the less likely to be felt, on the restoration of such a regular government as may afford us any chance of an accommodation." On a division, the House, by a majority of two hundred and eight to fifty-one, supported the government. 14. Meanwhile the ascendancy of the English navy soon produced its wonted effects on the colonial possessions of the enemy. Soon after the commencement of hostilities, Tobago was taken by a British squadron; and in the beginning of March 1794, an expedition was fitted out against Martinique, which, after a vigorous resistance, fell on the 23d. Shortly after, the principal forts in St Domingo were wrested from the Republicans by the British forces; while the wretched planters, a prey to the flames lighted by Brissot and the friends of negro emancipation, at the commencement of the Revolution, of which a full account will hereafter be given, were totally ruined. No sooner was this success achieved, than the indefatigable English commanders, Sir John Jarvis and Sir Charles Grey, turned their arms against St Lucia, which was annexed to the British dominions on the 4th April. Guadaloupe was next attacked, and on the 25th that fine island, with all its rich dependencies, was added to the list of the conquered colonies. Thus, in little more than a month, the French were entirely dispossessed of their West India possessions, with hardly any loss to the victorious nation. 13. The supplies granted by Parliament for the prosecution of the war, during the year 1794, were proportioned to the increasing magnitude and im- 15. The once beautiful island of St portance of the strife in which the na- Domingo meanwhile continued a prey tion was engaged. For the service of to the frightful disorders arising from the navy eighty-five thousand men were precipitate emancipation. "It had gone voted; thirty thousand men were added through," says the Republican histoto the regular native army; and the total rian, "the greatest succession of calaminumber under arms in the British do- ties of which history makes mention." minions, including fencibles and militia, The whites had at first embraced with was raised to one hundred and forty enthusiasm the cause of the Revoluthousand men, besides forty thousand tion; and the mulattoes, to whom the foreign soldiers employed on the Conti- Constituent Assembly had extended the nent. These numbers were described gift of freedom, were not less attached by Mr Pitt as unparalleled, and such to the principles of democracy, and openas could hardly be exceeded:" such was ly aspired to dispossess the planters, by the happy ignorance of those times in force, of those political privileges which regard to the exertions of which a na- had hitherto been their exclusive protion is capable. To meet these extraor-perty. But, in the midst of these condinary efforts, an income of £20,000,000, besides £11,800,000 for the charge of the debt was required; and for this purpose a loan of £11,000,000 was voted by Parliament: so early in the contest was this ruinous system of laying upon 66 tests, the negroes had revolted against both; and, without distinguishing friend from foe, applied the firebrand indiscriminately to every civilised dwelling. Distracted by such an accumulation of horrors, the Constituent Assembly at once declared them all free. From the moment that emancipation was an nounced, the colony became the scene of the most horrible devastations: and the contending parties among the higher orders mutually threw upon each other the blame of having brought a frightful party into their contests, whose ravages were utterly destructive to both. In truth, it was owing to neither, but to the precipitate measures of emancipation, dictated by the ardent and inexperienced philanthropists of the Constituent Assembly, whose measures have consigned that unhappy colony, after thirty years of unexampled suffering, to a state of slavery, under the name of "The Rural Code," infinitely worse than that of the French planters. as practicable as it would have been to have clothed the British plains with the fruits which ripen under the sunny cliffs of Corsica. 17. But a more glorious triumph was awaiting the British arms. The French government had, by great exertions, got twenty-six ships of the line into a state fit for service at Brest, and being extremely anxious to secure the arrival of a large fleet laden with provisions, which was approaching from America, and promised to relieve the famine which was now felt with uncommon severity in all parts of France, sent positive orders to Admiral Villaret Joyeuse to put to sea. On the 20th of May the Republicans set sail; and on the 28th, Lord Howe, who was well aware of the expected arrival of the convoy, and kept a sharp look-out by means of his inshore squadron, soon hove in sight, with the Channel-fleet, consisting of twenty-six line-of-battle ships. The French were immediately formed in line, in order of battle, and a partial action ensued between the rearguard of their line and the vanguard of the British squadron, in the course of which the Revolutionnaire was so much damaged that she struck to the Audacious, but, not being taken possession of by the victors before nightfall, was towed the following morning into Rochefort. During the next day the manœuvres were renewed on both sides, each party endeavouring to obtain the weather 16. In the Mediterranean, also, the power of the British navy was speedily felt. The disaster at Toulon having totally paralysed the French navy in that quarter, the British fleet was enabled to carry the land forces, now rendered disposable by the evacuation of Toulon, to whatever quarter they chose. Corsica was the selected point of attack, which, early in 1794, had shown symptoms of revolt against the Republican authorities. Three thousand soldiers and marines were landed, and, after some inconsiderable successes, nearly effected the subjugation of the island by the capture of the fortress of Bastia, which ca. pitulated at the end of May. It is remarkable that NELSON was employed in this service, and, by an extraordinary co-gage of the other; and Lord Howe, at incidence, Napoleon had shortly before been engaged in an expedition which set sail from it against Ajaccio: so that the arms of both the British hero and the future French emperor were employed first in any considerable command in the same island, and in expeditions, the one from, the other against, the same petty fortress. The only remaining stronghold of the Republicans, Calvi, was besieged until the 1st August, when it surrendered to the British arms. The crown of Corsica, offered by Paoli, and the aristocratic party, to the King of Great Britain, was accepted; and efforts were immediately made to confer upon the inhabitants a constitution similar to that of Great Britain--a project about the head of his fleet, passed through the French squadron. But the whole ships not having taken the position assigned to them, the action, after a severe commencement, was discontinued, and the British admiral strove with the utmost skill to maintain the wind of the enemy. During the two following days a thick fog concealed the rival fleets from each other, though they were so near that both sides were well aware that a great battle was approaching, and the officers with difficulty restrained the ardour by which their crews were animated. 18. At length, on the 1st June, a day ever memorable in the naval annals of England, the sun broke forth with unusual splendour, and discovered the French fleet in order of battle, a few | seldom as yet practised, in the British miles from the British, awaiting the navy, so ingeniously traced to scientific combat, while an agitated sea promised principles by Clerk of Eldin, and so the advantage of the wind to an imme- successfully carried into execution by diate attack. Lord Howe instantly Rodney, on the suggestion of Sir Charles bore down, in an oblique direction, Douglas, his captain of the fleet, on the upon the enemy's line, designing to re- 12th April.* Having the weather-gage peat the manœuvre long known, though of the enemy, he was enabled to break * An animated and interesting controversy, conducted with remarkable acuteness and zeal on both sides, took place twenty years ago, as to whether Mr Clerk of Eldin, author of the "Naval Tactics," or Sir Charles Douglas, captain of the fleet to Rodney, had the merit of having first discovered the celebrated manœuvre of breaking the enemy's line, and attacking them to leeward. It was conducted by Professor Playfair and Mr William Clerk, son of the author of the "Naval Tactics," on one side, and the gallant Sir Howard Douglas, son of Sir Charles, on the other. It was admitted on all hands, that Sir Charles-who was beside Rodney when passing to leeward of the French line on the contrary tackhaving failed in the attempt to weather their van on 12th April 1782, seeing a gap in the enemy's line, suddenly, on the inspiration of the moment, suggested, in the most energetic manner, the passing through, to the admiral, by whom the advice was instantly followed. Thus it was conceded that he was the person who had the merit of having first carried into execution that brilliant manœuvre. But the point was, whether Sir Charles Douglas did this on his own original impulse at the moment, as Wellington in the case of the flank attack on the opening in the French line at Salamanca, or whether he did so in consequence of having previously been made acquainted with the suggestions of Mr Clerk of Eldin on the subject. The main strength of Mr Clerk of Eldin's partisans lay in the fact, which was proved by a great number of concurring witnesses, that Lord Rodney, especially in his later years, frequently said, with the generosity which so often accompanies real elevation of mind, that he had gained the victory of the 12th April, in consequence of having studied and adopted Mr Clerk's suggestions contained in his "Naval Tactics," printed and circulated in the January preceding. It was stated also, by various persons, that Lord Cranstoun, who had been on board the fleet going out, said repeatedly that he had heard Rodney, at his own table during the voyage, discuss Mr Clerk's projects, and express his intention of breaking the line, in pursuance of his suggestions, if he fell in with the enemy. These testimonies, which came from the most respectable persons, embracing, among others, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, and many others, naturally produced a great impression, and amply justified the zeal with which the family and friends of Mr Clerk of Eldin strove to appropriate to him the merit of the original idea on the subject. VOL. III. To this it was added, that Sir Charles Douglas had had several conferences with Mr Clerk on the subject of naval tactics, at one of which Lord Chief Commissioner Adam was present, shortly before leaving Britain, which he was said to have done some months after Rodney, who set sail from Portsmouth on 2d January 1782, in which the plan of breaking the line was distinctly explained to that officer by Mr Clerk. On the other hand, Sir Howard Douglas, on behalf of his father, advanced a great variety of proofs of a still more convincing, because a more authentic, kind. The "Naval Tactics," as it now stands, was published for the first time in 1790; but fifty copies were thrown off and distributed in the first week of January 1782, three months before Rodney's battle was fought, and the case for Mr Clerk's partisans was mainly rested on the hypothesis, said to be established by conclusive evidence, that Rodney had seen, or at least heard of, one of these copies, and adopted its principles. But Sir Howard overturned all these inferences, by proving that the breaking the line and attacking to leeward-the peculiar manoeuvre which gained the battle of 12th April-was not mentioned in the edition of the "Naval Tactics" printed in 1782, at all, but appeared for the first time in the edition of 1790, eight years after the battle had been gained. This was admitted by Mr Clerk himself in the 1790 edition.* It is evident, therefore, that whether Rodney or Sir Charles Douglas knew of the 1782 edition or not, when the battle of 12th April in that year was fought, it is not from it they could have taken the idea of the brilliant manoeuvre which won the victory. In truth, various accounts from eyewitnesses concurred in stating, that, so far from the breaking of the line and engaging to leeward having been previously thought or determined on by Rodney, it was taken up at the moment by Sir Charles Douglas, in consequence of having observed an accidental gap in the French line in the middle of the battle, and was in truth forced by him, after a considerable altercation and much resist "These observations (on the attack to the leeward) were intended to be inserted in the first edition of this essay, printed January 1, 1782, as being applicable to the two similar encounters of Lord Rodney, on 15th and 19th May 1780, and as well as those of the 27th July, where the adverse fleets had passed each other on con trary tacks. But it was afterwards thought proper to omit them, as it was conceived it might be prejudicial to the other parts of the work to advance anything doubtful; no example of cutting an enemy's line in au attack from the leeward, before that time, having been given."-" Naval Tactics," p. 119; note, edition 1790. I 66 their line near the centre, and double | such a manner as that each ship should, with a preponderating force on the one- as soon as possible, cut the line, and half of their squadron. The signal he get alongside of its destined antagondisplayed was No. 39, the purport of ist, and engage it to leeward, so that, if which was, that, having the weather- worsted, the enemy could not get away. gage of the enemy, the admiral means 19. Had the admiral's orders been to pass between the ships of their line literally obeyed, or capable of complete and engage them to leeward, leaving, execution, the most decisive naval vichowever, a discretion to each captain to tory recorded in history would in all engage on the windward or leeward." probability have attended the British The French fleet was drawn up in close arms. But the importance of specific line, stretching nearly east and west; obedience, in the vital point of engaging and a heavy fire commenced upon the the enemy to leeward, was not then British ships, as soon as they came generally understood; and the enemy's within range. They did not come per- line was so regular and compact that pendicularly upon their adversaries as in most places it was thought to be, at Trafalgar, but made sail abreast, in and in some was, impervious. The conan omission which was not likely to have happened, if he had been conscious of having been the original author of the manoeuvre which had gained that brilliant victory. Perhaps these conflicting statements may furnish the true key to the fact, in regard to this much agitated controversy, which is, that Rodney, conscious that the manoeuvre which won the day had been in a manner forced upon him by his flag-captain, was afterwards, in his old age, more solicitous than he would have been in his earlier years, to take the merit of the movement, and claim forethought and consideration on his part for a step which was in truth the happy inspiration of genius at the moment, in another, to whom the glory of the success really belongs. ance on his part, on Rodney.* Sir Howard has shown, too, from the log of the vessel in which he sailed, that Lord Cranstoun could not have heard the conversations said to have been reported by him at the admiral's table on the voyage out, as he only arrived in time to dine with him the day before the battle. In regard to the assertion, that Sir Charles Douglas sailed some months after Rodney, and that in the interval Mr Clerk had met him, and explained the breaking of the line, it appeared from the log of the Formidable, that Rodney and Sir Charles left London together on the 2d December 1781, and on the 2d January 1782 sailed together for the West Indies. Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, when applied to on the subject, declared he had no recollection of any such meeting or conversation. Mr Clerk also himself, in none of the successive editions which he published of his work during his life, ever once asserted he had met with Sir Charles Douglas, or explained his system to him previous to Rodney's victory, although his son said he had done so after his death-before, it had been practised in a battle with *Several most respectable persons Cn board Rodney's ship (the Formidable) at the time Sir Charles Douglas suggested the breaking of the line to the admiral, concur in this statement. Take, for example, the following from Captain Sir Charles Dashwood, then aide-de-camp to Rodney on board the Formidable-"After attentively observing the enemy's line, and remaining some time in deep meditation, Sir Charles said, addressing the admiral, Sir George, I give you joy of the victory.' Pooh,' said Rodney, the day is not half won yet,' Break the line, Sir George,' said Douglas; the day is your own, and I will insure the victory.' 'No,' said the admiral, I will not break my line." After another request and another refusal, Sir Charles desired the helm to be put a-port, upon which Sir George ordered it to starboard. Sir Charles again ordered it a-port, upon which Rodney sternly observed, Remember I am commander-in-chief: starboard, sir.' In two minutes they again met on the deck, and Sir Charles said, 'Only break the line, Sir George, and the day is your own.' The admiral then said, in a quick and hurried way, 'Well, well, do as you like.' Port the helm!' upon this, cried Sir Charles. Firing commenced on the larboard side; in two minutes the Formidable passed between two French ships, each nearly touching us, followed by the Namur and the other ships astern; and from that minute victory was decided in our favour." Sir Joseph Yorke's and F. Thessiger's evidence is precisely to the same effect.-See Sir Howard Douglas's Appendix, p. 1-10. The breaking of the line and the engaging the enemy's fleet to leeward, since so often and successfully practised against the French at sea, though not generally done before, was not, previous to Rodney's memorable battle, unknown in the British service. A century the Dutch. "Sir George, with nine of his head- See, for this interesting controversy, Edinburgh Review, April 1830, vol. li. p. 1; PLAYFAIR'S Works, iii. 461; and SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS'S Naval Evolutions, London, 1832, where the subject is most ably treated, and all the contemporary statements from eyewitnesses on Rodney's victories are to be found. |