KJ:\J^,^- mhis !, VvJ ;VVVv^ twMi •VMC. ^t:'-r ^^ 'w'tfl^ i^i •<^<^,>/..i-'-. >: m^A yf:mi m'^'m^. mmMmm r-^1 ^c< dec <"' crc fn'c <_cc *'«:<. <:>-■ < • ■>■> »> >•» Tage CuAPTEii I. — The Father of Sir Howakd Douglas .. 1 „ II. — Young Days 15 III. — In Commission 22 IV. — Adventures at Sea 30 v.— Cast Away 40 VI. — Before the Mast 47 ,, VII. — Commanding a Cruiser .. .. 57 ,, VIII. — Among the Indians 69 „ IX. — Roughing it Home , .. 77 ,, X. — Training Generals 84 XI. — ^VITH Sir John Moore 94 ,, XII. — At Walcheren .. 102 „ XIIL— In Gallicia 112 ,, XIV. — Doubling up the Enemv 120 „ XV. — In Spanish Society ., .. .. 132 „ XVJ. — AVORKJNG THE GUERILLA.S 141 l> 2 >> »> »> viu CONTENTS. J'AGE Chapter XVII. — Serving with the Spanish Army .. 152 „ XVIII. — Takes the Field 165 XIX. — Foils the French Generals 179 XX. — Joins Lord Wellington 195 XXI. — At the Siege of Burgos 206 „ XXII. — Employed at Home 218 „ XXIII.— Becomes an Author and Inventor .. 226 ,, XXIV. — Governor of New Brunswick .. .. 239 XXV.— At the Great Fire 244 XXVI.— On the Coast 255 „ XXVII. — Restores the Prosperity of the Colony 261 „ XXVIII. — Disperses the American Filibusters .. 271 „ XXIX. — Pi; edicts the Disruption of the United States 278 >> >j >> >> XXX. — On a Mission to the Hague .. .. 290 XXXI. — Defeats the Government 305 „ XXXII. — Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands 313 , XXXIII. — At the Great Earthquake of Zakte 326 „ XXXIV. — Effects a Coup d'Etat 340 ,, XXXX. - Dliusks iiu: 1'aii;]ai;lii vi Cunstan- TINOPLL 350 CONTENTS. IX Page Chapter XXXVI, — Establishes the Douglas Code, and receives the tribute of a public Monument 357 ,, XXXVII. — Eeturned to Parliament for Liver- pool 368 „ XXXVIII.— On the Ketired List 384 XXXIX. — Pronounces against Armour Ships 398 XL.— Last Days 409 )5 >> APPENDIX. -»04- Oi'iNioN OF the Duke of Wellington on the Boundary Treaties 425 Translation of one of the Addresses presented to Sir Howard Douglas by the Chiefs of the Spanish Alarms 427 Sir Howard Douglas and General Toy 428 w LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. CHAPTER I. The Father op Sir Howard Douglas. The name of Douglas is familiar to English ears, and none is more famous in Scotland. It has figured in tale and history there from the days of tradition, when we are told of its being won by the " black- grey man " who came to the rescue of the King's lieutenant in a battle with a pirate chief. Our own great poet has celebrated the " Renowned Douglas, whose high deeds, Whose hot incursions, and great name in arms, Holds from all soldiers chief majority, And military title capital. Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ." And there is hardly one of Scotland's bards who has not touched on the same theme. The family became allied to the Scottish crown by the marriage of the Lord of Dalkeith with the Lady Mary, fifth daughter of James L, and sister of James IL ; and the latter monarch created his brother- in-law Earl of Morton. The title descended from father to son through three generations, when King James Y. seized James, the third Earl, and impri- soned him in Inverness Castle until he consented to B 2 LIFE OF SIR IIOWAllD DOUGLAS. Chap. L entail it on Kobcrt Douglas of LoclileviD, whom the King ^Yished to console for having a little disturbed his wedding b}^ carrying off the bride. But nothing was gained by the motion, as he died before the Earl, and no sooner lay in his grave than Morton abjured the arrangement, and executed a new deed, entailing the title on the husljand of his second daughter— James Douglas, brother of David Earl of Angus, and Lord Chancellor and Ecgent of Scotland during the minority of James YI. — who became fourth Earl of Morton. This nobleman was suc- ceeded by his nephew, Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus, from whom the title of Morton passed by the entail to William Douglas of Lochlevin, Avho was descended from the first Earl, and made the sixth inheritor of his honours. Another sixth generation threatened the earldom with a new diversion, as it was now^ borne b}^ an old man, apparently determined on dying a bachelor. But the twelfth hour brought him to better thoughts, and he fell in love with a beauty who enabled him to leave his title to a son. This shut out the next branch of the family, represented by young Charles Douglas, wdio had come almost within reach of the coronet, being the lineal descendant of Sir George Douglas of Kirkness, second son of Earl William of Lochlevin, and hence presumptive heir. But Fortune made up for the slip by designing him to win honours of his own ; and these lost none of their lustre on descending to his son HowAnD Douglas, whose career forms the subject of this volume. Charles Douglas ran his course in the navy, which he entered as a child, passing through the successive Chap. I. SIEGE OF QUEBEC. 3 grades of rank until he appears in command of a frigate — at one time taking part in the naval opera- tions on the coast of America during the War of Independence, and afterwards capturing prizes in the Channel. Subsequentl}^ he was employed in organ- izing the navy of Russia, on the recommendation of the British Government ; and he succeeded in placing it on a good footing, when he returned to England. His reputation now stood so high that the Admiralty selected him to command a squadron for the relief of Quebec, which the Americans had besieged, and were exerting every means to reduce. Its capture would entail the loss of Canada if not of our whole dominion in America, and the public were in the greatest alarm at the danger, as the closing of the St. Lawrence seemed to cut off assistance. But the panic abated on the an- nouncement that the succours to be sent out were intrusted to Captain Douglas, who was known to be familiar with the American waters, and had established a character for energy and action which inspired confidence. The general feeling is reflected in a letter addressed to him on the occasion by Lord Townshend. " The day before I left town to bring my family out of the country," writes his Lordship, " I asked cither Lord George Germain or Lord Sandwich (I think it was the former) who Avent up the river with the relief? and was told it was you. I replied, ' I am glad 3'ou have fixed on so good a man. You cannot inquire better upon all occasions after the river St. Lawrence than from him. He will tell you as much as Mr. Cooke ^ or any one else.' " ^ Probably the celebrated Captain Cook. B 2 4 LIFP] OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. I. Captain Douglas worked day and night to hasten the equipment of the ships, and the Admiralty urged him to even greater exertion. "For God's sake, get the ' Isis ' down to Blackstakes the next spring- tide," writes Lord Sandwich, the First Lord. " Your being ready to leave early in February is of the utmost importance to the public service. I think the fate of Quebec depends upon it." The squadron sailed at the appointed time, and the beginning of April found it on the coast of Newfound- land, waiting for the break up of the ice to make for the St. Lawrence. But Captain Douglas was not content to wait long. There seemed no prospect of the navigation opening, and he knew that Quebec must be in the last extremitv, as it had now been invested some months, and subjected to repeated assaults. It occurred to him that he might drive his ship through the ice, and he took advantage of a rising gale to put her before the wind, and run against a block twelve feet thick as an experiment. The shock had a greater effect than he expected, crumbling the ice in pieces. " We now," he says in his despatch to Mr. Stephens, " thought it an enterprise woi-thy of an English shi}) of the line in our King and countrj^'s sacred cause, and an eilbrt due to the gallant defence of Quebec, to make the attempt of pressing her by force of sail through the thick, broad, and closely- connected fields of ice (as formidable as the Gulf of St. Lawrence ever exhibited), to which we saw no bounds." The frozen tract was found to extend for sixty leagues ; but he persevered in his design, unde- terred by gales and snow-storms and innumerable perils and accidents, and nine davs of unwearied Chap. I. RELIEF OF QUEBEC. 5 labour brought the ship to open water. Here she was joined by the ' Surprise ' and ' Martin/ wliich had followed in her track ; and the little squadron entered the St. Lawrence under a heavy fall of snow. On the 3rd of May it ran into the basin of Quebec, and was received with acclamations ; the ships lowered their boats and landed the reinforcements under cover of their guns, while General Carleton made a sortie with the garrison, and drove the besiegers from their works. The siege was raised in an instant ; the British flag waved over the heights, and Canada was saved. The Americans still held Lake Champlain, w^here they kept a flotilla, which gave them conmiand of the shore. But Captain Douglas considered his work but half done while they retained this advantage. He had brought from England the framework of a sloop prepared at his suggestion, and he put her together at St. John's, and launched her on the lake. She was armed with eighteen guns, and he provided her a consort in a schooner, carrying fourteen, and remark- able for her speed. Both vessels were completed within six weeks ; and his exertions were so unremit- ting that the same time sufficed to equip a flotilla equal to the enemy's, comprising thirty vessels mount- ing cannon, as many flat-bottomed boats, and a gondola of thirty tons, with four hundred bateaux. These he caused to be transported overland, then had them dragged up the rapids of Theresa and St. John's, and assembled them on the lake, under the command of Captain Pringle, who hoisted a commodore's pendant in the ' Maria,' and advanced on the enemy. The anxiety and harass of the undertaking were repaid by success. The American flotilla was brought 6 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. I. to bay after a cliace of several clays, and every vessel destroyed, the few that escaped sinking being driven ashore. This victory cleared the lakes, and com- pleted the liberation of Canada, which obtained for Captain Douglas the approbation of the King, who rewarded his services by the gift of a baronetcy. The experience he acquired in the preparation of the flotilla developed a mechanical turn, and this led to his suggesting improvements in ships of war, both in equipment and construction. He originated the prin- ciple of a false keel, the use of locks, and the allotment of heavier guns to the quarter-deck of three-deckers, • — all of which were adopted by the Admiralty.^ His activity excited the wonder of his Russian friends, as they were aware that the death of a re- lative had brought him an independence, and he had refused the most tempting offers to remain in Russia. Admiral Greig writes to him from St. Petersburg in 1777: " I have just been dining with Count Panim, who inquired after you with professions of great esteem and regard. He said he was surprised to find that you still served at home, after having declined service here, from the easy and affluent fortune be- queatlicd to you. I told him I did not imagine any change of fortune or circumstances would make jon decline the service of your native country, whenever your services were required." His friend had justly estimated his character, for the sequel proved that he was now only in the middle of his career. On the 2.')rd of July, 1778, he com- manded the ' Stirling Castle ' in Admiral KeppeFs ' 'I'lio facts aro sliown in a, scries of letters in the 'Dnnleted. But Lord Wellington did not make known his intentions, though they were in frequent communication, and he dined with him nearly every day. They were riding together on the morning of the 6th, when the enemy appeared in front, posted on some commanding heights near Yalla- dolid. Lord Wellington made dispositions for attack, ordering up General Anson's brigade of cavalry, with the 6th Division as a support; and a dash at the French brought off some prisoners. The heads of the English columns came up in succession, and marched to their ])laces on the ridge, where their Commander hud taken ground, and Sir Howard expected a general action. To this he looked with the more satisfac- tion, as he considered a victory would restore Lord Wellington the advantages he conceived him to have lost by not following up the pursuit from Salamanca. But the opportunities of war are moments, and must be seized as they pass, for they neither linger nor return. No one better knew their value than the English Commander ; and doubtless he was now aware of any slip he had made in that operation, though Sir ' Afterwards General Sir Willoughby Gordon, G.C.B. Chap. XXI. EECOVERY OF YALLADOLID. 207 Howard witnesses that he may have been influenced by considerations which did not transpire. He showed every desire to seize the present opening, but was prevented from attacking by the absence of the 9-pounder brigade ; and it did not arrive till late in the day, when the time for action had passed. All waited impatiently for the morning, but only to meet disappointment ; for the French withdrew from the position during the night, though they still occupied the city. Sir Howard rode forward with Lord Well- ington to reconnoitre, and saw all that had occurred. An advanced party of the 12th entered the Campo Major, and drove before it the French pickets ; while their arnw was seen retiring across the bridge, leaving a small rearguard in the Tree Walk. These made a rush at a smaller party of English sent to cut off their advanced men, and gave them a check, killing and wounding the foremost, and then retreated over the bridge, which was instantly blown up. The explosion shook the earth, and the fragments shot up as from a volcano, for a moment veiling the spot with smoke and dust. Sir Howard felt alarmed for Lord Well- ington's safety, as he exposed himself in an unusual manner ; but he turned aside after the destruction of the bridge, and they rode into the garden of the Scots' College, on the road to Calderon, where they obtained a view of the whole French army marching very close to the river on the opposite liank, and Sir Howard estimated their number at 17,000. They left the English in possession of Talladolid.^ * Napier describes the recovery of Yalladolid verj- briefly, and his account is different. He merely says, " Clansel abandoned Valladolid ou the night of the 6th, and, though closely followed by Ponsonby's cavalry, crossed the 208 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXL The French Marshal covered his retreat by a series of movements which brought the English to Burgos ; and hence he fell back upon Briviesca, in company with Caffarelli, who had joined him in time to rein- force the garrison. The appearance of Burgos greatly interested Sir Howard, and he rode forward to recon- noitre the works in the train of Lord AVellington. The castle occupied a steep hill in front of the city, and comprised a strong wall, with parapet and flanks, and the additional defence of two palisaded retrench- ments, one within the other. The innermost enclosed the crown of the hill, surmounted by the castle keep, which was entrenched and casemated, and capped by a battery, named after the Emperor, and commanding all around. To the north stood a hill of almost equal height, sustaining a strong hornwork, not quite finished, but closed with palisades. Sir Howard noted every point, and looked upon the place as of great strength in relation to Lord Welling- ton's means ; but the other scientific ofiBcers conceived a different impression, and thought the means equal to the attack. His knowledge of their opinion made him doubt his own, as he entertained a high appreciation of their judgment, and he determined to satisfy himself more fully before he expressed dissent. He possessed an old plan of the castle, which he carefully studied, and then rode out in the twilight to steal a closer view. The town, the castle, and the open all lay still in the terrible suspense before battle, and the shades of Pisnerga and destroyed the bridge of Berecal on that river." — Peninsular War, V. 259. Sir Howard's notes make no mention of the pursuit by cavalry, and affirm that the French held the town in the morning, as stated above. Chap. XXI. OBJECTIONS TO MODE OF ATTACK. 209 evening looked like the gathering of doom. He knew how vigilant must be the watch at such a juncture, and that ball and bullet would give no warning if he became a mark. But he threw fear to the winds, adroitly stole within range, swept round the works, and made some important observations. There was a flash from the ramparts, and the bullets whizzed past, but he had gained his horse, sprang into the saddle, and darted off. What he had seen confirmed his estimate of the place, and he resolved to impart his opinion to his friend Colonel Robe, who commanded the Artillery, and hence had a voice in the operations. He found him in conference with Colonel Burgoyne, the Com- manding Engineer ; and both officers seemed glad of his appearance, for they invited him to remain, and .told him the measures they had concerted with Lord Wellington. But the}^ represented these as defini- tively settled, and expressed no doubt of their success ; so Sir Howard did not feel encouraged to speak out, and reserved his opinion till Colonel Robe and himself were left together. He then stated his belief that the proposed attack would fail, which startled his friend, and he begged him to disclose his grounds for such a conclusion. He readily complied, and showed him that the point marked for attack was the strongest part of the place, defended by three enclosures ; whereas but one need be breached on the eastern front ; and here he proposed to make a lodgment in the salient angle, and follow it up by running a mine from the flank under the castle wall. The directness of the plan struck Colonel Robe, and he gave it his approval, asserting that it was the only one that would succeed. 210 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXL But lie adverted to tlie difficulty of submitting to Lord Wellington a view so different from bis own, and asked if he might mention it on Sir Howard's respon- sibility. Sir Howard did not object, but said that he must first unfold the plan to Colonel Burgoyne, as no step should be taken without his knowledge ; and he went to him at once. All who know that officer will be sure that his communication was kindl}^ received, and he thought that it made an impression, but he came away without eliciting an opinion. Sir Howard mingled with the Staff next morning, and was chatting with another officer, when he was called to Lord Wellington, and found him in conver- sation with Colonel Bobe. He looked grave, and Sir Howard saw that his objections to the intended opera- tions had been mentioned. "Well, Sir Howard, you have something to say about the siege?" he said. " I think the place is stronger than we supposed, my Lord." " Yes, by G ! But our way is to take the horn work, and from there breach the wall, and then assault over the two advanced profiles." *' I would submit to your Lordship whether our means are equal to such an attack." " I am not satisfied about our ammunition," replied Lord Wellington. " The enemy's guns are 24-pounders, my Lord ; and we have only three 18-pounders and five 24-pound howitzers. The 18-pounders will not breach the wall, and our fire must be overpowered unless your Lord- ship brings up some guns from the ships at Sant- andcr.' Chap. XXL PROGKESS OF THE SIEGE. 211 " How would you do that ? " " With draught-oxen as far as the mountains, and then drag them on by hand. We can employ the peasantry, and put a hundred men to a gun." " It would take too long." " I think the place may be captured with our present means from the eastern front, my Lord," re- turned Sir Howard; and he disclosed his plan, with his reasons for thinking it the most practicable. Lord AYellington made no remark. Possibly he saw the defects of his own plan, but it had been deliberately adopted, and he was not convinced that it ought to be abandoned. The guns of the fortress had kept the English on the other side of the river up to this time, but they now effected a passage above the town, and drove in the French outposts. A force attacked the hornwork during the night, and it was carried, though with a fearful loss, its garrison breaking through the assail- ants, and making their way to the castle, which thus obtained a reinforcement of 500 men. The captors of the hornwork established a lodg- ment in spite of the fire of the Napoleon battery, and began the construction of a first battery, and a mus- ketry trench in its front. The men worked under a continuous shower of grape, shells, and cannon-balls, which grew more intense as they proceeded, fresh guns being directed on the spot, and inflicting a murderous loss. Sir Howard exposed himself in the hornwork to make further observations, and ascertained the weakness of the eastern front, so as to place it beyond doubt. He described what he had seen to Colonel Gordon, who reported it to Lord Wellington, and 212 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXT. came back with an intimation that he wonlcl take an opportunity of hearing it from himself. Sir Howard was talking with Colonel Bnrgoyne next morning, when Lord Wellington sent for them both, and opened the subject. He mentioned the course intended to be followed, and then reverted to the plan of Sir Howard, requesting him to state it fully. Sir Howard explained it on the chart, and further represented that the eastern wall was in a ruinous condition, which marked it as the point for attack, and that the reduction of the place would be accelerated by a flank fire from heavy howitzers on the Mary battery. He refrained from pointing out what he considered insurmountable diffi- culties in the other plan in the presence of the Com- manding Engineer, and these apparently escaped the notice of the Commander-in-Chief, for he finally gave it the preference. Sir Howard notes that Lord Well- ington said " he approved of my plan if mining were to be used, and expressed himself handsomely to me." The operations were carried on at such cost of life that Lord Wellington's faith in tliem became shaken, and he sent for Sir Howard again on the following day, when holding a consultation with Colonels Robe and Burgoyne. He then stated his intention of shaping the attack so as to turn the church. This was an entrenched building on one of the two crests of the hill, the other crest being occupied by the castle, which swept the position. Sir Howard expressed his belief that no advance would be made by the capture of the church, and that the success of such an attack was doubtful, though it must entail a great expendi- ture of 1)loo(l, while nothing but the brenching of the castle would reduce tlie place. The capture of the Chap. XXI. COMBATS LORD WELLINGTON'S VIEWS. 213 clmrcli would even prove an embarrassment, the vantage being in the site ; and this involved a strong occupation if it should be won, as the mere destruc- tion of the works only imposed on the enemy the con- struction of others as soon as it was relinquished. He said the question to consider was, whether that point offered an opening for breaching the castle ; and he gave his opinion that the operation would be difficult from there, if not impracticable, comparing the means of the besiegers with those of the besieged. His argu- ments elicited no observation from Colonel Eobe or Colonel Burgoyne, but he so far swayed Lord Well- ington that a battery was ordered to be erected on the eastern face ; and his Lordship expressed his approval of the howitzer batterj^, requesting him to take Colonel Robe to the proper spot for its erection. They went there at once, and then separated, the Colonel returning to Lord Wellington, while Sir Howard passed into the trenches. The plan of operations was now partially changed. The left battery was continued, and a sap pointed to an outwork on the western front, with the design of trying a mine communication with Colonel Jones. Sir Howard received a visit from Colonel Robe next morning, and learnt that he had been ordered to attend Lord Well- ington to the spot they had marked the day before, and that he thought the howitzer batterv would be CD V erected there. But he had no faith in half-measures, and expected little from this step alone, considering that the whole weight of the attack should bear on the eastern front, and that every other method would fail. This he had frankly stated to Lord Wellington_, and there was nothing to add; so he thought it undig- 214 LIFE OF SIR IIO^YA?.D DOUGLAS. Chap. XXT. nified to appear further. " I keep out of his way," he notes iu his pocket-book, " that the professional men may not accuse me of obtruding an opinion." Nothing could be more becoming his position than such a course, and the incident of the siege thus brings out his character as forcibly as his talents. He had seen how the place was to be taken from the first, but reserved his opinion till the two directing officers made him acquainted with their designs, and only imparted it for his friend to consider and apply. It was Colonel Robe who proposed to mention the plan as his, and he willingly undertook the responsibility, though it put him in opposition to Lord Wellington ; but he saw the propriety of first unfolding the plan to the Com- manding Engineer, and apprising him of their inten- tion. Thus his delicacy and honesty equalled his spirit ; and we should be undecided which part of his conduct to admire most if all were not consistent. The time had now come to " keep out of the way," and it is significant of his great self-control that he cast the situation aside, and threw himself into other thoughts. His notes present us with a sketch of the castle's history dated on this very day, and he describes the stand it made against Ferdinand and Isabella in the siege of 147G. They also tell us of a visit he paid to the cathedral, under a volley from the enemy, who fired at every one appearing in the avenue ; and he enumerates its attractions and rarities — the noble altar, the picture by Michael Angelo, the tomb of the Cid, and the banner that fell from heaven, still showing the sign of the cross, though scarcely hanging together ; a proof that even heavenly textures are not enduring. Chap. XXL RECALLED TO ENGLAND. 215 How pleasant to fiud liim again turning from the presence of war to the sanctuaries of art, and recalling history and tradition under the cannon's mouth ! Yet he did not blind himself to what was passing, and it made him wish that he could withdraw ; for he saw a catastrophe approaching when his presence might be embarrassing. The operations were carried on with vigour, but without success. The sap on the west was continued towards the wall, in connexion with a mine, and an approuch advanced from battery No. 1, with an inclination round the face of the hill to a kind of parallel for musketry, designed to keep down the enemy's fire. The mine was sprung at one o'clock on the morning of the 29 th of September, and effected a small breach, which was entered by a ser- geant and four soldiers, composing the forlorn hope. But the storming party did not come up in support, having missed the breach in the darkness, and the men returned bleeding to the trenches. Here another attack was organized, but too late, the enemy having mustered in force, and next morning showed the breach scarped. A despatch from Lord Liverpool reached Sir Howard at this crisis, and called upon him to return to England without delay, which was what he desired, and he rode off directly to inform Lord Welling- ton. He found him on the hill, watching an attempt made from battery No. 1 to reopen the breach, and directing the operation. The fire brought down a part of the wall, but it fell perpendicularly, rendering the breach more difficult, and Lord Wellington marked a site for another battery, to be erected during the night. This he ordered to be armed with the 18- 216 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXI. pouuders, and directed on the same point, arranging to deliver the assault concurrently with the springing of another mine. The battery was begun at sunset, and briskly com- pleted, when the guns were placed and opened. But Sir Howard's anticipations of the result were lite- rally fulfilled, for the 18-pounders made no impression on the breach, and the enemy's heavier guns over- powered their fire, while everj^ shot and splinter came through. It became impossible to hold the battery, and Lord Wellington withdrew the men, though this had no effect on the enemy, who did not cease firing till he had destroyed the battery and disabled the guns, one being reft of a trunnion, and the others knocked off their carriages. It was seen that he had the exact range of the spot, and the Commander-in- Chief ordered the guns to be removed, and a battery to be erected at another point, a little to the left. Here a more solid work rose during the night, but only to entail the same doom, for the French brought their guns into a position equally commanding, and reduced it to ruin. The professional officers now held a con- sultation, and decided to remove the only serviceable 18-pounder to battery No. 1, and thence open again on the breach, seconding the attack by a mine. Sir Howard did not remain to witness the result, but Lord AVellington invited him to a conference on his taking leave, and expressed his intention of obtaining some hcavj^ guns from the squadron, as he had recommended. Sir Home Popham sent up a supply of ammunition, which arrived most oppor- tunely, and he hurried off two 24-pounders as soon as he received the requisition. But this was three Chap. XXI. THE SIEGE RAISED. 217 weeks after Sir Howard had made the suggestion, and the interval gave the French army a superiority of force, allowing Caffarelli to effect a junction with Souham. They instantly advanced on Burgos with forty-four thousand veteran troops, while the army of Lord Wellington consisted of only thirty-three thou- sand, chiefly Spaniards and Portuguese, so that he was obliged to fall back on the ridges of Olenos, where he awaited attack. Events intervened to pre- vent a battle, but the allies were compelled to retreat ; and Napier tells us that their General resolved, " though with a bitter pang, to raise the siege, after five assaults, several sallies, and thirty-three days of investment, during which the besiegers lost more than two thousand men, and the besieged six hundred in killed or wounded." It was in this moment of dis- aster that Lord Wellington recalled the counsel given by Sir Howard, and exclaimed to his officers, " Dou- glas was right : he was the only man who told me the truth." ^ ' This anecdote of the great Duke was related to the author by General Sir WiUiam Gomm, G.C.B. R 218 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXII. CHAPTER XXII. Employed at Home. The despatch wliicli recalled Sir Howard to England explained the reason of that step, stating that, " in consequence of the repeated and earnest representa- tions made by the Supreme Board of the Royal Mili- tary College in regard to the detriment which that establishment suffers from your absence, Lord Liver- pool has found himself obliged to consent, although very reluctant!}', to your recall from the service in which you are employed, and which you have executed to the perfect satisfaction of His Majesty's Govern- ment." ' Indeed, the service had been executed so well that nothing remained to be done ; for the mere distribution of the supplies might be left to the ordinary channels. His tact, judgment, and resolution had carried him through a mission of unusual difficulty, and achieved results exceeding the hopes of his superiors. He devoted himself to the work so assiduously that his vigilance and industry proved as serviceable as his talents, though these were continually displayed ; but neither talent nor zeal would have availed without his good temper. His suavity soothed resentments, and irritation suljsided before his friendly manner and natural kindness, which showed itself at everv turn. ' Despatch from the Minister for War to Sir Howard Douglas, in the ' Durghis Papers.' Chap. XXII. RETURN TO ENGLAND. 219 He averted jealousy by seeking to advance the cause, not himself, being willing to leave the credit to others, if he attained the object ; and it was impossible to be offended with suggestions urged in a way that made them seem half our own. Nor could they be resisted by argument, for they were based on information and forethought, and objections vanished before facts. His military knowledge gave the momentum, but this arose from the same habit ; for he had trained himself for action by observation and study, and by recognising the value of things which others overlooked. His memoranda present nothing more curious than the odd bits of information he has jotted down, as if he read sermons in stones, and extracted a hint from every- thing he saw. Thus he exercised his perception, and brought himself to work by method, so that his instan- taneous conclusions were deductions, never guesses. It is not difficult to understand how his measures w^ere successful, when we see that they all rested on such a groundwork, that they were undertaken with determination, pursued with vigour, and carried over every obstacle and difficulty. No man was ever more loved by his friends, and he met a warm welcome on his return to Farnham. "We may be sure that Lady Douglas made a handsome report of his " boys," whom he had put on their good behaviour, and one who remembered his own boyhood did not inquire too curiously. Indeed, he looked with indulgence on little lapses whether in boys or men ; and he had nothing worse to correct in his children. His leisure was devoted to imbruing them with the highest principles, and the reverence they entertain for his memory proves that it was not mis- R 2 220 LIFE OF SIE HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIT. spent. But leisure he had now little, for he received the appointment of Inspector-General of Education in 1813, while he retained that of Commandant of the Senior College, and thus stamped his impress on every officer of the day, both of the Roj^al and Indian armies. Such a position brought him in contact with a number of officials more jealous of their functions than General Abadia, but very prone to interfere with his. An instance may be mentioned from his experience at Addiscombe, where he was conducting an examination of the cadets, when he received a note from the Lieu- tenant-Governor requesting him to dismiss them for parade. He read it with surprise, but made no remark at the moment, laying it on the table till the cadet under examination had finished his proposition in mechanics. He then took it up again and read it a second and third time, too prudent to act in a way to commit either the Governor or himself. There was not the least alteration in his manner as he turned to the Professor of Mathematics and said, "The Lieu- tenant-Governor wishes the cadets to attend parade, so we had better finish the examination for to-dav." Both the Professor and cadets heard the announcement with wonder, the quick military instinct perceiving the impropriety of the proceeding, and that the Governor had overstepped his authority. But Sir Howard knew that such a question could not be de- cided in the school-room, and was not one to set an example of defying authority, or entering on an un- seemly altercation. He complied with the Governor's order, but immediately brought it before the Court of Directors, with a request that the Public Examiner should always have access to the College, without any •Chap. XXII. INSTANCES OF FORBEARANCE. 221 interference from the Lieutenant-Governor, and that he alone should be empowered to fix the lengths of the examinations, and originate alterations in the sys- tem of education. Nor did he make the application with any wish for a personal triumph, as he had re- ceived another appointment, and desired only to leave the way clear for his successor. This object he accom- plished, as the regulations he proposed were adopted, and all ground for contention removed. He exhibited the same moderation towards the pro- fessors, and could never be betrayed into an outbreak of temper, or a want of consideration. Once he was examining the Addiscombe cadets in fortification, and illustrated his observations by reference to one of the Indian sieges, when the Professor of Fortification ex- claimed, "I beg your pardon, but I had it from my brother-in-law in the service, that the case was rather different from what you state." Such an interruption rather startled the cadets, but Sir Howard let it pass, and went on with the examination. He intended to settle with the Professor in a manner that would show him he was in error, but spare him humiliation ; and he took him into a private room next morning and requested him to look at some official documents, which proved that he had stated the facts. " Even had I been wrong," he said, "it was neither considerate nor respectful to contradict me in that open manner during the examination. I hope that you will speak to me privately in future after the examination, if you have any remarks to make." The most sensitive could not murmur at a rebuke so gentle.^ ' The author is indebted for these anecdotes to the Rev. Jonathan Cape, Professor of Mathematics at Addiscombe. 222 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXII. Sir Howard Lad not long returned from Spain when he received intelligence of the death of his cousin Charles, who had been his aide-de-camp in Gallicia, and was killed in action almost as they parted. He severely felt the loss ; for their tie of kinship had been strengthened b}^ their fellowship in danger, and his cousin's genial character. The re- membrances he cherished are revealed in letters to his friends in the Peninsular army, begging them to gather for him what could be learnt of the Captain's last moments, making inquiries about his servant, and bespeaking their care of his dog, which he desires them to send home by any opportunity. Few officers of his rank would have thought of the servant at such a moment ; but he recollects the poor soldier as a comrade, and excites an interest for him in officers as distinguished as himself. No answer arrived for months, when he received one from Colonel Frazer, and the letter has such a smack of the field, that the passage on this subject claims to be quoted : — " I fear by my silence joii may have given up all hope of seeing poor Charlie's dog. I had, in truth, very little myself, since, on sending to Major Rice of the 51st Regiment, to acquaint him that T had secured a passage for the poor creature, I learned that she had disappeared. However, Moore, poor Charlie's servant, luckily stumbled upon her with the 18th Liglit Dragoons, and a few daj^s ago the lady was brought hither, and presented me with twelve puppies next day. I am glad to say a safe passage is secured for her through James Macleod, whose servants arc taking home his horse, and will look well after poor "Bell," who \yas left in their charge the day before Chap. XXII. CASUALTIES OF WAR. 223 jTsterday. ^lacleod sailed yesterday in the packet, and will apprise joii of the arrival at Woolwich of the dog. As you made inquiries about Moore, poor Charlie's servant, I should add that the man is well, and spoke feelingly of his master. He was not, how- ever, present when poor Charles fell." The last shot fired by the French in this war struck Sir Howard's friend Captain Herries/ and cost him a limb. The sad intelligence was communicated by Colonel Gomm,^ in a letter reflecting the opinions prevalent in the army on the final operations of the war : — " My dear Sir Howard, "Biarritz, 24th April, I814. *' Although I have been well aware how grati- fying it would be to you to receive some accounts of our poor friend Herries, in addition to the public ones, I have delayed writing to you for some days past, in the hope that the events taking place in all other quarters would before now have obtained for us a free communication from Bayonne ; and that I should have been able to have had an interview with him before I wrote. Our Governor, however, does not yet consider himself authorised to desert the Imperial cause. Official communications are hourly expected, both from the Government and from Soult, which will no doubt point out his duty and his interest in terms sufficiently unequivocal to bring him to a decision: in the mean time, all hostilities are at an end. " I suppose you know the nature of Herries's * Afterwards Lieut.-General Sir William Herries, K.C.H., C.B. ^ Now General Sir William Gomm, G.C.B. 22-4 LIFE OF SIR HOWAUD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXII. wound. He was with Sir John Hope in the morning the garrison made the sortie ; his leg was broken by a grape-shot, and, as I feared, has since been ampu- tated. The last accounts we have from the town state that he is doing well, and is well taken care of. Among many other circumstances attending this un- lucky business (for it might have been prevented) that have given me great concern, there is nothing that has vexed me half so much as this unfortunate blow upon poor Herries ; for he is a young man that ought not to have been maimed so early in Ufe, and by the last ball that the enemy has hurled at us ; but I dare say he will bear it with much more temper than I do. It is a pity we did not think fit to commu- nicate to the Governor the official intelligence we had received two days before of the entrance of the Allies into Paris, and all the circumstances attending it. It is to be supposed that this piece of justice (I think) towards the Governor, and of policj" in our character of besiegers, would have prevented a loss of about eight hundred and fifty to ourselves, and something more to the French. " The battle of Toulouse will have given a bright close to the career of Lord Wellington. It appears to have been one of the most hardly contested actions of the whole war " Believe me, my dear Sir Howard, " Ever most faithful!}" yours, "William Gomm." Sir Howard had been anxious to obtain further war service, and pushed for emploj^ment in the Peninsula ; but saw the war close without achieving his object. Chap. XXII. HIS HONOURS. 225 The return of Napoleon from Elba gave him new hope, and he exerted his interest to be appointed to the army in Flanders, but with the same result, the ground being taken up by more powerful aspirants. But his meritorious services were recognised at the peace, and he was nominated a Companion of the Bath, and Knight of the Spanish Order of Charles III. He subsequently received the Peninsular medal and clasps ; and we are now to see how he worked his way to other and higher honours. 226 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. CiiAr. XXIII. CHAPTER XXIII. Becomes an Author and Inventor. It has been shown that Sir Howard had noticed the little attention paid in the navy to gunnery, which he considered its right arm, and he mentioned the subject to some distinguished naval officers, pronouncing it a mine of danger. But the faith of English sailors in their profession was not to be shaken by a landsman, and he was reminded that they had swept the seas of every fleet, and had left no enemy the power to do harm. He contended that this was a reason for greater exertion, as weakness would resort to new modes of resistance, and must look for these in in- creased expertness. But his arguments made no converts ; naval gunnery became more and more neglected ; and all that he foresaw occurred. The war with America brought on the seas the very enemy apprehended — one who sought to balance su- periority in force by a superior armament, which his sailors were trained to work. Tiie English Admiralty measured him only by the number of his ships, and left him to be settled by a few old frigates, as badly armed as manned. The capture of these vessels by American cruisers gave naval confidence a shock, and it vibrated through the nation. But it was no surprise to Sir Howard, who had predicted the event, and found it arose in the manner he expected. The contest between the ' President ' and the ' Little Chap. XXIII. STATE OF NAVAL GUNNERY. 227 Belt ' made this apparent ; for the guns of the American frigate crippled her English antagonist, and inflicted a loss of eleven killed and twent^^-one wounded, while the fire of the ' Little Belt' killed only a boy on board the ' President,' and never struck her hull.^ Such defeats left their cause unmistak- able ; and might have led to improvement, but that the impression they produced was effaced by later actions, in which the valour of English seamen covered all defects. The navy again seemed invin- cible, and things were allowed to remain in the old groove. But Sir Howard's alarm was undiminished, and he determined to effect a change. He knew that such a purpose involved difficulty, and imposed years of labour, while it was more likely to bring him into bad odour than make him friends. Even a sailor might expect obstruction in breaking the calm of the service, and introducing a working system ; and what opposition must not be excited by a soldier, who aroused the susceptibilities of a jealous profession at the same time that he discomposed the authorities ! Evidently he must look for rough treatment on the one hand, and repulse on the other. He prepared himself for the enterprise by laborious investigation, experiment, and study. It was like Stephenson mastering the structure of his engine by constantly pulling it to pieces and putting it to- gether; for he used the same inductive method, and followed it with the same industry. He had little to learn of practical seamanship, but felt himself deficient in theory ; and he applied himself to the ' Jiimes'a 'Naval Ilistury,' vol, vi. p. 10. 228 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIII. study of spherical geometry, splierical trigonometry, and nautical astronomy, including all the theorems required for solving the laws of navigation, the projec- tion of the sphere, the construction of maps, plane sailing, rhomb sailing, and great-circle sailing. Use made him so familiar with the sextant and the re- peating circle that he began to think of simplifying their construction ; and this led him to invent his Improved Reflecting Circle and Semicircle for Land and Marine Surveying, which came into wide use, and were highly appreciated b}^ scientific men. Their merit obtained his election to the Royal Societ}", the most gratifying recognition it could receive. He proposed to carry out his naval reform by writing a treatise which should bring forward the "whole subject, and both provide the navy with trained gunners, and prescribe their training. So he traced the science to its root, and showed it in all its de- velopments, unfolding the theory and teaching the practice. He reviewed every description of naval ordnance, and their relative power and range, the eifects of different kinds of shot, the use of sights, and the determination of distances, explaining the action of projectiles in vacuo and in their passage through the air, with their initial velocities, curve, and force ; denoting the effect of windage, length of gun, dis- charge, recoil, and preponderance. He treated of the process of loading, the amount of the charge, and the degree of penetration ; the disturbing influence of the waves, and the proper moment for firing. Shells were considered as fully as shot, and he even gave directions for their stowage, while a chapter was devoted to military rockets, and another to the treat- Chap. XXIII. TOEATISE ON NAVAL GUNNERY.. 22.0 ment of gunpowder. Instructions were laid down for going into action, for the attack of maritime fortresses, and for boat and coast service. The captain was told in what way he should exercise his crew — the gunner how he should point his gun — and the sailor how he should dispose the charge, and avoid the recoil. Lastly, every proposition was worked out by mathe- matical demonstrations, and sustained by the results of experiments, or by examples of naval combats, conveyed in the plainest language and diction. This exposition of the science embraced a plan for the enrolment of gunners and their systematic training, which started with the dogma that nothing would be attained by merely drilling a crew, as success in action was not to be insured by the dexterity of a few privates, but must depend on organisation, while this would only be effective under the direction of expe- rience. Hence he recommended that the rising class of officers should receive a course of theoretical instruction at the Royal Naval College, and that their knowledge of gunnery should be tested in the examinations for promotion. He provided for the training of crews by suggesting the formation of Depots of Instruction, at which a certain number of seamen should be taught the practice of gunnery, in company with a proportion of officers, gunners, and gunner's mates, and he laid down the principles that ought to rule these establishments. His scheme included arrangements for retaining the trained sea- men in the navy, which was to be done in a manner that entailed little expense, but offered attractions to sailors. He did not meditate the publication of the treatise, 230 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIIL and presented it to the Lords of tlie Admiralty in manuscript, his sole object being the elevation of the service ; for he exulted in any connection with the navv, and it was this that both sustained his efibrts and supplied their inspiration. The treatise was left to move by its own weight, as he made no interest to get it considered, or obtain it undue favour. Nor did he expect the Board to give it immediate attention, and put everything aside for this purpose, according to the wont of projectors and inventors. But he had some of the leaven of an author in his composition, and did suppose that he would be apprised of its receipt. It must be acknowledged that this was unreasonable, but the treatise had cost him severe labour, arduous investigation, and years of thought, and he knew its value ; so he waited a few months longer, and then wrote to complain of the omission to Eear-Admiral Sir Graham Moore, one of the Naval Lords. His letter received a prompt reply : — " My dear Sir Howard, " Admiralty, i9th April, isis. " I think the receipt of your valuable papers on a subject of great importance to the navy and to the country ought certainly to have been acknowledged, though I am not surprised tliat nothing has yet been done upon them. The subject has been long before the Board (as they call it), though I do not believe either of our two naval colleagues have yet read your papei'S. I will call their attention to them, and I am sure they will feel, as I do, whether jour ideas are attempted to be put in practice or not, that much l)raise is due to you for applying your genius and science to the improvement of so essential a branch of Chap. XXIII. TREATISE ON NAVAL GUNNERY. 231 our profession Though I date tliis 'Admiralty,' it is really written from my house near Cobham, Surrey, to which I have made my escape for a couple of nights, and where it will be a real pleasure to me to see you when I can get a few weeks' leave from the Board. I go back to-morrow. " I am, my dear Sir Howard, " Very truly yours, " Graham Moore." Sir Graham Moore exerted himself to get the treatise considered, and this is not the least of the services he rendered to the navy, which owes him so many. But the question made little progress, and it cost as much strain to drag the treatise out of dock as to launch the ' Great Eastern.' Three months later Sir Graham Moore writes to Sir Howard : — " I have given your Third Part to Croker, as he has the two other Parts, and is an advocate for something being adopted upon them. I am ashamed of being able to do so little in forwarding your excellent plans for the improvement of the service." Another letter from Sir Graham refers to a discussion on the subject at the Admiralty, in which Sir Howard had taken part : — " You had hy far the best of the argument the other day, but I do not think that brings you nearer the mark you aim at. I am glad you sent your papers to Sir George Cockburn. He is in the situation in which Sir George Hope was, and has much more to say here than I have." Still, Sir Graham did his best, and continually brought the subject forward. But it is the fate of all improvements to meet delays, and be opposed by 232 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIIL diflQculties and impediments. The trial is more painful from the risk of forestalment, for the don may carry off the prize, while the workman risks his life in trying the lamp. Nearly was it so in Sir Howard's case, for a carpet sailor snapped up the conclusions he had gathered on board the ' Venerable/ under the enemy's fire, and put them forward as his own. " Be- tween you and I," writes Sir Graham Moore, " . . . . has been here, with what he called a plan for the improvement of naval gunnery, evidently taken from the Second Part of your work ; though he seemed to be surprised when I told him that you had sent to the Admiralty many months before a detailed plan on the subject of establishing a corps of naval gunners, to be composed of seamen. I do not think you have any room for jealousy of ... . robbing you of the credit of any project that may be put in practice." But few besides Sir Graham Moore would have spoken so frankly to one in the position of .... , and Sir Howard thought it time to give his treatise to the printer. The desire to establish priority was not his sole object ; for he conceived that his scheme might interest the public, and the authorities only required an impulse to take it in hand. Indeed, they had recognised its merits, but were restrained from moving by considerations of expense. They now gave their sanction to the publication, and the work made its appearance in 1819, under the title of 'A Treatise on Naval Gunnery.' It had a different effect from what had been expected, producing no impression on the public, but meeting a cordial reception from the navy, and all ranks of the Chap. XXIII. ESSAY ON FORTIFICATION". 233 service hailed it with approval. No jealousy was excited by the profession of its author, but rather appreciation, and the first officers in the navy wrote him complimentary letters, expressing wonder at his nautical knowledge, with a high sense of the service he had rendered the profession. " We are all indeed deeply indebted to an officer who takes such pains and bestows such an ability upon an object so re- quisite to the national honour," wrote Admiral Sir P. P. Y. Brooke. The ' Treatise on Gunnery ' was followed by an ' Essay on Fortification,' combating the system of Carnot, and this drew forth a French work on the subject by Captain Augoyat, which is referred to in the following letter from the Duke of Wellington. The Duke's association of our heavy guns with the " earthen ramparts " of the Russians is curious, and has an air of prophecy, though the event did not come to himself, nor in his day, but fell to one of his lieutenants : — " My dear Sir, " Tedderby, 19th Nov. 1821. " I am very much obliged to you for the second copy which you have sent me of the work by a naval officer on Carnot. I received the first jon sent me, and wrote to you to thank you for it. I gave it to General Thielmann, at Wherntey, and he is perusing it. " 1 propose to follow up, next spring and summer, the experiments commenced this year in ricochet firing, with ordnance of the larger calibres. I expect that we shall bring it to sucli perfection as to be able s 234 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIII. to a certainty, even with reduced charges, to breach the walls which the Russians have constructed in front of, and detached from, their earthen ramparts, instead of the common revetment. If we can succeed in this object, we shall completely destroy this new system of fortification. " Ever, dear Sir, yours most faithfully, " AYellixgton." Sir Howard's authorship made him less a literary man than a man of letters, since it did not address the public at large, but the military and scientific world ; yet it brought him the aoquaintance of most of the distinguished writers of the day, and this circle in- cluded Robert Southey. The following letter from the poet has an interest from bearing on his literary toils, showing the mode in which he collected materials for his ' History of the War :' — " Dear Sir Howard, " Keswick, loth March, 1819. " I am very much obliged to you for your letter, which is full of interesting matter. Before I notice it in detail, I must reply to your question. With the Duke of Wellington himself I have had no direct communication as yet. A^ hen next I am in London (which will be in the month of May) I shall seek it, and I have many means of access to him. But many of his despatches and of his letters to Marquis Wellesley have been communicated to me, and I have the Marquis's permission (through his son-in-law, ]\Ir. Lyttleton) to apply to him for any information where 1 am in doubt. Chap. XXIII. MATERIALS FOR SOUTHEY'S ' HISTORY.' 235 " In point of authorities, indeed, I have good reason to believe that no similar work has ever been laid before the world with higher claims, I have made large extracts from the papers of one public office ; the others will be open to me. Part of my business in the South is to visit Sir Henry Bunbury, who was mj^ schoolfellow, and slept in the same room with me at Westminster, and who has offered me the use of his papers. I shall have the same assistance from Mr. Herries, with whom I have been acquainted some twenty years. I have had communications from Sir Hew Dalrymple. Lord Sheffield has supplied me with information and documents respecting the opera- tions of the army under Sir Henry Clinton. I have known Mr. Frere since his first appointment at Lisbon in the year 1800, and I shall have all the assistance which he can give me. A great deal I have derived from the private correspondence of intelligent officers. The papers which the Committee in London for managing the Portuguese subscription received from the local authorities in Portugal are in my posses- sion. I have some communications of considerable value from Spain. "The fact which you state respecting Gallicia is very curious, and explains what certainly appeared one of the greatest oversights in the Spanish Govern- ment. The details upon this subject will be very important to me. " Undoubtedly, Sir John Moore retreated in the right direction, though surely not in the right manner. Had Lisbon been abandoned, as in all likelihood it would have been if he had moved thither and drawn the enemy after him, it is very probable that the vile s 2 236 LIFE OF SIR IIOWAFtD DOTJGLAR. Chap. XXIIT. spirit wliicli Avas then so predominant in this country would have borne down the Government, and that we should have shrunk from the contest to our everlasting disgrace. Sir Robert Wilson's movement on Ciudad Rodrigo at that critical time appears to me to have been of great importance by imposing upon the French. " The affairs of Gallicia are those with which I am least acquainted. There was an apparent torpor in that province after it had so nobly freed itself from the French, which even the provincialism of the Spaniards did not appear to explain. While Romana was there and in Asturia, I have procured information of his movements from a Spanish officer in his array (Colonel Stonor), who is now settled in England, not as one of the Liberales. But a long season of inaction followed. General Malega had the command at one time : there were some things which induced me to suspect his fidelity, and there was nothing in his after conduct to diminish that suspicion. But upon such points it becomes me to be very cautious, knowing how liable I must needs be to form an erro- neous opinion, and how utterly unjustifiable it is ever to advance an opinion which aflfects the character of any man without the fullest information on the surest grounds. The defence of Astorga was one of those things which I, who love the Spaniards, regarded with wonder; for I had been at Astorga, and seen its ruinous walls. "The guerilla part of this great drama is very interesting. I saw the younger Minas three years ago in London, and obtained from him an account of the commencement of his career. I have also had a paper Chap. XXIIL THE DUKE OF KENT. 237 respecting the guerillas which was drawn up by General Alava for Lord IVellington. " Did we not neglect for too long a time the coast of Asturias and Bisca}^ ? and would it not have been advantageous for us if we had occupied Santona ? On these and on any other points I shall receive the opinions and information which you may have the kindness to impart with the greatest respect and attention. *' I have the honour to be, dear Sir Howard, " Your obliged and obedient servant, " Egbert Southey." Sir Howard is again found in communication with His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent at this period. Twenty years had passed since his shipwreck, when he appeared before His Royal Highness at Halifax, in sailor's clothes, and received from him so much kindness. He had now won a reputation as a man of science, and the Duke of Kent consulted him as to the merits of an invention for which its author sought his patronage. His Royal Highness felt an interest in every kind of merit, and this exposed him to impor- tunities, as pretenders sought to float themselves by his support. But his good nature did not mislead his good sense ; for the following letter shows that he took counsel in his doubts, and it claims insertion, as a testimony to the candour of Sir Howard : — " Kensington Palace, " My dear Sir Howard, 25th Nov. 1819. " I thank you for your obliging letter of the 23rd, and for the candid opinion given as to the merits of 238 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap, XXIII. Mr 's invention. After what you have said, I shall of course let the subject rest, and leave that gentleman to discover the real merits of his fancied improvements. "I thank you also for your endeavours to find for me the old plan of Kensington Gardens ; and although we have failed in that object, 1 am equally obliged b}^ your ready attention to my wishes in furtherance of it. "If you will take advantage of any private con- veyance for sending the models of Mr 's invention to the Palace, it will insure their arrival quite soon enough. " I remain, with sincere regard and esteem, " My dear Sir Howard, yours faithfully, " Edwaed." All this time the Admiralty made no sign, and the country never troubled itself about naval gunnery. The season had not come for a movement, and Sir Howard waited its arrival, satisfied with what he had done. He was about to enter on a new chapter of his life, and it will show him to us in a new character, as a ruler, administrator, and statesman. Chap. XXIV. GOVERNOR OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 239 CHAPTER XXIY. Governor of New Brunswick:. Sir Howard had now attained the rank of Major- General, and in 1824 was appointed Lieutenant- Governor of New Brunswick, and Major-General in command of the troops in that province, together with those in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. He embarked with his family in the frigate ' Samarang/ Captain Sir William Wiseman, Bart., and had a rough pass- age to Halifax, where he had landed thirty years before in a blue jacket and tarpaulin, but now came with decorations on his breast, and received almost ro3^al honours. The vessels in the harbour were dressed with flags, officers in uniform waited his arrival on the beach, and cannon gave a salute as he left the ship. Little did those around dream what was passing through his mind in the midst of this pageant ; for his thoughts had turned to the incidents of his first visit, and his heart swelled with gratitude to the Power which had given it this sequel. He used to say that the contrast struck him the more from his encountering on the beach a member of the Council whom he had met there in 1796 a subaltern in the Royal Fusiliers. This was the Honourable Justice Haliburton, the au- thor of ' Sam Slick,' but Sir Howard mistook him for some one else at the moment, and asked him what had 210 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIV. become of little Ilalibiirton of the Fusiliers. " Little Haliburton !" said the humourist, thoughtfully. " Oh, 3'es, I kuow ! He left the Fusiliers, sold out, turned lawyer, got made a judge, came out to Halifax, and here he is to meet the Governor :" when again he stretched out his hand, which Sir Howard shook with a hearty laugh. Sir Howard inspected the troops in the province, and then proceeded to St. John's, in the Gulf of Fundy. Here he was received with every mark of respect, and entered on the duties of his government. The colony of New Brunswick dates its origin from 1764, when it was established by a body of New Englanders, who settled at the mouth of the River St- John, in what is now called the county of Sunbury. The population received an addition in 1783 from an influx of American Rovalists, who abandoned their homes in New York and Boston on the Declaration of Independence, and came to live under English rule. The numbers were further increased by emigration, and Sir Howard found them amount to upwards of 74,000, of whom only 3227 claimed descent from the New Englanders. The Governor of a colony then held a different position from at present, when he merely represents the Sovereign, the government being vested in Ministers nominated by a Parliament. Sir Howard was associated with a Parliament, but responsible to the Ministers at home, who formed their views on his reports. The weal of a colony thus de- pended greatly on the Governor's abilities; and his proved equal to the post. He came to a wilderness, CiiAP. XXIV. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COLONY. 241 carried it through a terrible visitation, and left it a thriving province. The New Brunswick of 1824 could boast of only five roads, and these were but roads by courtesy. Three led severally to St. John's, St. Andrew's, and Chatham, from the capital Fredericton ; another ran in the direction of Quebec, and the fifth led to Halifax. They were constructed on the Roman plan of going up hill and down, and attracted little traffic, the colonists preferring to settle on the banks of the rivers, where they had the advantage of water communication. Sir Howard turned his first attention to this deficiency, and designed a road to connect Fredericton with the port of St. John's, by the Nara- pia river, pushing it forward with great rapidity ; and the colonists were astonished to see a way opened that saved a third of the distance. It was so con- structed that horses could trot the course without danger or distress, though it crossed a lofty ridge of slate. " In fact," writes a clergyman of New Brunswick ^ to the author of this w^ork, " Telford or M'Adam could hardlv have desi^fned a better." Com- fortable inns garnished the wayside, and insured the traveller good entertainment, whether he stopped at the sign of the "Government House," or that of the " Douglas Arms." The St. John's road was but the beginning of a system, and was soon followed by others, which opened up New Brunswick in every direction, while he contracted for the navigation of the St. John by a steamer, almost the first introduced in a British colony. ' The Eev. Edwin Jacob, D.D., of Mapledown, New Brunswick. 242 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIY. But it struck him that lie could know little of the deficiencies of his government unless he visited its remotest parts, and he waited for neither roads nor steamers to carry him through. His old Indian habits made the task easy, and he penetrated forests and forced his way up streams to back settlements, hardly known by name, startling the inhabitants with a sight of the Governor. " I have received accounts of his visits to every part of the country," writes the Rev. Dr. Jacob to the author. " It has been especially observed to me, by persons likely to have taken par- ticular notice of his peculiar habits, that Sir Howard showed himself determined to know men and things as they really were, and was accustomed to go in all directions, closely inspecting the abodes and occupa- tions of the rich and the poor, and discovering a kind interest in the welfare of all classes." His progresses brought him to perceive that the colonists were very backward in farming, and con- ducted its operations in the most primitive manner, whence he applied himself to promote a better system. He had not the advantage of personal experience, but he took counsel of the best agriculturists at home, and disseminated their suggestions. He also established agricultural societies, and obtained them the support of public grants, while he encouraged improvements by i)rizes, which he often distributed himself. He introduced a better arrangement in the construction of dwellings, affording more accommo- dation and domestic comfort, and he extended the same principle to churches and schools. These mea- sures resulted in a general elevation of the popula- Chap. XXIV. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COLONY. 243 tion. Farmers multiplied their crops, and carried on their work with superior implements, and the regene- rating influence was apparent both in their stock and seeds. The remotest settler felt a stimulus to exer- tion, when any moment might bring the Governor into his cabin, with a greeting for each of his household, and an interest in all his proceedings. 244 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXV. CHAPTER XXY. At the Great Fire. The impulse Sir Howard had given tlie province met a sudden check in 1825. The season was advancing, and no rain had fallen for two months, which excited uneasiness for the harvest, and he visited some of the settlements to ascertain their prospects. An urgent letter recalled him to Fredericton, and he returned to find himself houseless, a fire having broken out at Government House on the 19 th of September, and almost burnt it to the ground before it could be arrested. Happily it occurred in the daytime, and the courage and devotion of Lady Douglas nerved her to supply his place, which led to the preservation of the most valuable part of the effects ; and the author is the more bound to mention this, as it secured him the materials for the present work ; for nothing seemed more precious to Lady Douglas than the memorials of her husband's services.^ But his own misfortune was forgotten by Sir Howard in a calamity wdiich fell on the community. The long drought continued, and October came in with midsummer sultriness, keeping the thermometer at 86° in the shade, and 126° in the sun. On the morning of the 7th he expressed his belief that a ' " By means of the fortitude, calm composure, and ready presence of mind of Lady Douglas, who remained until the last, his Excellency's pajiers, books, and mo»t of the furniture were saved." — New Brunswick Courier. Chap. XXV. ALARM OF FIRE. 245 large fire prevailed in the woods, as a breeze had risen, and blew warm and parched, bringing in clonds of smoke ; but this was ascribed to the burning of the brushwood by the lumberers. The explanation did not allay his apprehensions, and he directed the engines to be in readiness, and the military prepared to assist, fearing that brands might be blown into Frederictoii. The wisdom of his precautions too soon appeared ; for the afternoon brought an alarm that fire had broken out in the wood round the house of the Hon. John Baillie, about a mile from the town ; and he ordered out the engines and troops, and galloped off at their head, followed by nearly the whole population. The air brought an odour of burning as they ad- vanced, but they saw nothing of the fire except a cloud of smoke, till a gust blew it aside and showed the flaming trees. The house rose l)ehind, and appeared uninjured ; nor had the trees caught bej'ond a few yards, where a gap imposed a boundary. Sir Howard directed the engines to play here and on the house, though this presently seemed doomed, as the trees began to fall and covered it with flakes of fire. Indeed, it excited less interest than the wood, for there the fate of the province was at stake, as a spark winged across the gap might spread the fire to the interior. Sir Howard watched both points, and so posted the firemen that they got the mastery of the flames, and less than an hour found the house pre- served, and the fire extinguished. All were rejoicing at the result, when danger pre- sented itself in a new quarter, a messenger spurring up to report a fire in Fredericton. Sir Howard pushed on the engines to the spot, and ordered up the 246 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXV. troops at the double, while he hastened to be first himself; for the breeze had increased to a gale, and blew in a direction to imperil the town. The flames burst on his view as he galloped up, rising from the house and barn of Mr. Ring, which they had half consumed, and they now threatened a range of wooden houses beyond. The engines played on the nearest ; but the gale blew about burning flakes, wliich rendered precaution futile ; and smoke rose from two or three houses at once — then from a dozen ; and a whole street was in flames. They spread like lightning, not from building to build- ing, but in forks ; and roofs lit up a dozen houses off as if they kindled spontaneously. A large area was one flame, crackling and crashing, as it shot over rafters, split walls, and brought down floors and beams, whirling smoke through the town till the w^hole seemed on fire. The torrents of water poured in had no effect ; for the smoke and flame thickened wdiere they fell, as if they supplied fuel, and house after house caught like tinder. But the engines w^orked on, the soldiers and population manning the pumps, and relieving each other, while parties kept back the crowd of women and children who watched their burning homes with frantic emotion. Nothing could be saved ; for buildings caught at a distance where they appeared secure, and blazed in an instant, throwing out flames like arms, and dragging the next houses into the vortex. Night added its shadows to this scene ; and some of the most respectable families of the town crouched destitute in the streets, reduced to beggary in a moment. All seemed lost ; and all had been lost indeed, but for one man. Chap. XXV. FIRE AT FREDERICTOX. 247 Sir Howard marked a point where he thought the fire might be arrested, as it was occupied by a brick building less in front of the wind, and here he concen- trated a large force, and so saturated the adjacent houses with water, that flakes fell on them without igniting. How long this might have continued is doubtful ; but the wind gradually veered further round and blew in the opposite direction, which turned the fire in upon itself, and a third of the town was a burning mass while the rest stood clear. The deliverance was not understood at first, but the report spread, and families returned to their homes, carrying back their furniture which they had brought into the streets. Sir Howard remained at the angle, and urged the firemen to renewed exertion ; for the wind grew more and more boisterous, and might shift any moment, when the flames would again be driven forward if not extinguished. The continuous stream of water began to abate their fury, or no- thing remained to consume, for they now vanished in smoke, which rolled away from the town, and showed the sky above. Yet the air was so hot that it became difficult to breathe ; a suffocating odour pervaded every quarter ; and a belief arose that the fire smouldered somewhere, and would break out again, Bnt imagination never dreamt of the confla- gration at hand, the most stupendous ever witnessed by man. A roar of thunder came from the forest, and a column of smoke shot up, followed by blaze on blaze, and then a burst of fire, like the eruption of a volcano. The flames fell in a shower, which the gale blew wide, hurling them about like darts 5 and here 248 LIFE OF Sm HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXV. they might be seen on the tops of trees — there flaring in the branches — there running up or clown the trunks, or from base and summit at once. The smoke blew back on the unkindled woods, making them darker than before — blacker than the blackest night ; and the fire raged in the middle, imaging the mouth of hell. But this was only for a moment. Blazes gleamed at the sides, behind, in the depths of the woods, on the river's brink ; trees of centuries' growth lit up in the midst of the darkness ; fire rained from above, soared up from below, spread from the centre, and closed in from the distance. It burst in a hundred eruptions, mounting, declining, and mounting again, throwing up spouts, falling in showers or sheets, or glaring in mid-air. A thousand miles of forest had caught ! ^ The river was crimson with the reflection ; the clouds took the form of flames ; the very heavens seemed on fire. The intense heat deranged the strata of the atmo- sphere ; and the gale burst into a hurricane, tore through the town, wrenched up trees, and carried strong men off their feet. Horses broke from the fields, and galloped about in troops, snorting and neighing, their eyes starting from their heads and their manes on end, while the wind swelled the clatter of their hoofs to the rush of hosts. All occurred in an instant, and inspired a religious people with an impression akin to the spectacle — that it was the Day of eludoment. Thcv threw themselves on their knees in the streets, or buried their faces to shut out the scene, as if thej^ made the appeal foretold to the mountains and hills. And it did seem a burning ' 'I'he cuiiflagratiou cxtciuleJ over six tlioi;saiul sc^uarc miles. Chap. XXV. RESULTS OF THE FIRE. 249 world, with the fire raging like a sea, in mountainous waves ; the sky glowing like a furnace ; the hurricane breaking in peals and crashes ; and the scorched air flapping as with a million wings. Sir Howard kept moving through the town, or paused only in the centre, where he had posted a reserve of the 52nd Regiment under Colonel M'Nair, and a body of firemen; while the remainder were stationed at different points, ready to operate on the first alarm. Only the greatest vigilance could pre- serve the remaining houses, and he went from post to post, giving directions and overlooking all. He was nobly supported by Colonel M'Nair and the other officers, as well as the gentlemen of the town, who formed parties to drive back the horses and patrol the streets.^ This reassured the crowd, whose terrors calmed as they felt the presence of authority, and more as they saw the light of another day. But now they began to realise their destitution, which horror had made them forget; and hundreds cried for bread. Sir Howard organised a system of temporary relief, and formed a committee to carry it out, but charity could do little in a case so desperate. Thriving men of yesterday had lost all they pos- sessed ; honoured families were beggars ; and deli- cate women and children stood unsheltered before their ruined homes. It terrified him to think that they reflected a distress as wide as the province ; for it could not be doubted that the fire had ravaged 1 " The exertions at this critical period by all parties cannot be suffi- ciently applai;fled, aided and encouraged (as they were) by our active and indefatigable Governor, who throughout the melancholy scenes displayed the most anxious concern, and through whom wonders absolutely were effected." — Xeiv Bnmsivick Courier, October 10, 1825. T 250 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXV. the interior, and left thousands without a roof. He considered that it must have destroyed the harvest, and that the navigation might close before they obtained supplies — so far did he look forward in a moment, and with courage to act on his forethought. He sent for an active merchant of the town, and ordered him to proceed to Quebec, and buy up food and clothing, furnishing him with bills on the Trea- sury, which he drew at his own risk. He then took measures for the relief of the misery in the town, calling a meeting of the inhabitants by proclamation ; and this brought up the whole communitj^ — the rich and destitute together. He presided himself, and made a touching appeal to the more fortunate, while he set an example of liberality by subscribing 20/. from his own purse, and 200/. in the name of the King, appropriated from the casual revenue on his own responsibility. " Such conduct as his speaks volumes in his praise," says the ' New Brunswick Courier.' "It endears him to our hearts, and throws a moral splendour around his character, tliat the adven- titious distinctions of birth, rank, and fortune cannot confer ; and much as we admire his bravery as a soldier, liis indefatigable endeavours to make himself acquainted with the real state of the province, and his profound political sagacity, we admire still more the distinguished eflbrts he has made in the cause of suffering humanity on this occasion." ^ He did not confine his solicitations to the colonists, but addressed letters to the Governor -General of Canada, his friends in England, and the Colonial Secretary, claiming their succour ; and his official * New Brunswick Courier, October 10, 1825. Chap. XXV. SUBSCRIPTION" FOR THE SUFFERERS. 251 despatcli stated the need so forcibly that the Govern- ment inserted it in the ' Gazette ' to stimulate the public bounty.^ The result was a subscription of 40,000/. collected in England and the colonies, and the presentation of large supplies of food and clothing. Several days elapsed before the fire subsided, and then it became masked by smoke which darkened the whole country. But night proved that it had not burnt out : for showers of flame shot up at intervals, and trees stood glaring in the dark, while the mingled black and red of the sky seemed its embers overhead. Thus a week passed, when Sir Howard determined to penetrate the forest, and visit the different settle- ments. A friend has described his parting with Lady Douglas and his daughters, whose pale faces betrayed their emotion, though they forbore to oppose his design, knowing that nothing would keep him from his duty. But this Avas not understood by others, and the gentlemen of the town gathered round his rough country waggon at the door, and entreated him to wait a few days, pointing to the mountains of smoke, and declaring that he must be suffocated, if he escaped being burnt. He thanked them for their good feeling, grasped their hands, and mounted the waggon. It dashed off at a gallop, and wondering eyes followed it to the woods, where it disa^jpeared in the smoke. The devastation he met exceeded his worst fears ; for the settlements he went to visit no longer existed. The fire seems to have burst in every quarter at once, for it broke out at Miramichi the same moment as at ' London Gazette, December 17, 1825. T 2 2o2 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXV. Frcdericton, tlioiigh a hundred and fifty miles lay between. But here its aspect was even more dreadful, and its ravages more appalling, as Miramichi stood in the forest, completely girt round, except where escape was shut oft' by the river. Many were in bed when they heard the alarm ; many were first startled by the flames, or w^ere suff'ocated in their sleep, leaving no vestige but charred bones. Others leaped from ]"oof or window, and rushed into the forest, not knowing where they went, or took fire in the street, and blazed up like torches. A number succeeded in gaining the river, and threw themselves in boats or on planks, and pushed off from the bank, which the tire had almost reached, and where it presently raged as fiercely as in the town. One woman was aroused from sleep by the screams of her children whom she found in flames, and caught fire herself as she snatched up an infant and ran into the river, where mother and child perished together. Then came the hurricane, tearing up burning trees and whirling them aloft ; lashing the river and channel into fury, and snapping the anchors of the ships, which flew before it like chaff, dashing on the rocks, and covering the waves with wreck. Blazing trees lighted on two large vessels, and they fired like mines, consuming on the water, which became so hot in the shallows that large salmon and other fish leaped on shore, and were afterwards found dead in heaps along the branches of the river. What can be said of such horrors, combining a confla- gration of a thousand miles with storm and shipwreck, and surprising a solitary community at midnight? Happily, the greater number contrived to reach Chap. XXV. THE FIRE AT MIRAMICHI. 253 Chatham by the river ; but floating corpses sho\Yed how maii}^ perished in the attempt, and nearly three hundred lost their lives b}^ fire or drowning. A harrowing spectacle presented itself on the sub- sidence of the flames. Scarcely a house remained standing ; not one uninjured ; and the road was strewn with black heaps, which proved to be the ashes of men and women. One of these claims mention as the remains of a woman who had so disposed herself as to cover her infant while she burnt to a cinder above, and the child was taken from beneath alive — a witness to the sublimest in- stance of maternal devotion ever recorded.^ The devastation struck the survivors with despair, and they made no effort at retrieval, but wandered about the ruins bewildered, or crouched down wher- ever they found shelter. Suddenly there was a gene- ral movement; everybody hurried out- — some with- out knowing why — and they hardly believed their eyes as they looked up the forest, and saw Sir Howard walking down, his waggon being blocked by a fallen tree. He had come a hundred and fifty miles through the woods where the fire still burnt, and received no injury, though he was often in danger, and once all but suffocated. Simultaneously^ the whole crowd went forward, and every one "un- covered as they met, receiving him with a silence more eloquent than cheers. But he spoke out ; for he knew what to say, and raised courage and hope in their breasts, if he brought tears to no few eyes. Soon the axe and the hammer were at work ; spades were ' This incident was communicated to the author by a lady of Sir Howard's family, who was present at the fire. 254 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap XXV. throwing up the ground ; men bustled about with loads on their backs ; a vessel came round from St. John s with supplies ; and the cloud began to pass from Miramichi, like the smoke from the forest. He remained through their trial, and shared its priva- tions, while his presence alleviated its bitterness ; and they followed him with blessings on his departure. He had distributed amongst them 1000 barrels of flour, 500 barrels of pork, and 1700^. worth of clothing, which he purchased on his own responsibility, though lie was afterwards indemnified by the Government. Well and truly did Lord Sidmouth write to him : — " Happy was it for the province that such a person as yourself was on the spot. All its hopes of protection, relief, and redemption depended on the resources and energies of your judgment, fortitude, activity, and benevolence." He refers to the account Sir Howard had sent him of the fire in the following words : — " I was at a large dinner-party at Lord Stowell's, and your detailed communication had the effect of exciting all present to contribute and to promote the means of relief to the utmost of their power. In reflecting upon the ruin which surrounds you, I rejoice that it has been your lot to be the instrument of performing such duties as, I truly think, jou, of all the men I have ever known, are the best calculated to discharge. The affectionate solicitude of every member of my family •constantly attends you." Chap. XXVr. SOLDIERS' SAVINGS-BANKS. 255 CHAPTER XXYI. Ox THE Coast. The duties of his government never diverted Sir Howard from those of his command. He inspected each division of the troops in turn, and made voyages to Halifax for this purpose, visiting every military post. He took the deepest interest in the soldiers, and was as anxious to promote their welfare as their efficiency. One of the measures he originated was Soldiers' Savings Banes, which worked so successfully that he thought it his duty to lay the result before the Horse Guards, and he made a report setting forth the effect produced on the character of the soldiers, par- ticularly in checking desertion and drunkenness. He received a sharp reproof in reply, and was told that he had exceeded his authority in establishing the savings- banks, which he was ordered to suppress, but he afterwards had the satisfaction of seeing them intro- duced by the Government. His voyages between St. John's and Halifax were attended with his usual fortune at sea, and his associa- tion with bad weather became a proverb, so that sailors began to look upon him as a sort of Jonah. The impression should have been just the reverse," for proofs continually arose that he was not born to be drowned. He went to Halifax for a spring inspection 25G LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXYI. in His Majesty's frigate 'Niemen,' Captain Wallace/ and intended to go from tliere to Prince Edward's Island, and then visit the military posts along the shore of New Brunswick. All went well till he left Charlotte Town, whence he passed along the coast to the Miramichi, and was entering the river in fine weather under the guidance of a pilot, when the ship struck. No bank appeared in the chart, but they found that the frigate had run on a ledge of rocks presenting such a slope that she did not stop till she had been carried high up. Her position was most critical, and excited as much alarm on shore as on board. Several large fishing-craft put off to her assistance, but the tide was falling, and the crew could do nothing but lighten the ship. This they efi'ected in the promptest manner, the boats being got away, the water started and pumped out, the yards and topmasts struck, and the guns hoisted up and stowed in the fishing-craft. Ever}^ one waited for the rise of the tide, and then worked together, when the frigate was hauled off by an anchor laid out astern, and floated. Sir Howard watched these operations with deep interest, and often expressed his admiration of the judgment displayed on the occasion b}^ Captain Wallace, as well as the zeal of his officers, and the steadiness of the crew. The frigate was accompanied by the colonial brig ' Chibuctu,' which attended on the Governor, but he w^ould not leave the ' Niemen ' in her distress, and remained on board till a leak showed that she had sustained injury in her bottom and must go into dock. ' Afterwards Vice- Admiral Sir Provo "Wallace, K.C.B. Chap. XXVI. NEWFOUNDLAND FOGS. 257 The 'Niemeii' again broiiglit him in peril in 1826. The October of that year found him at Halifax in company with Lady Douglas, and he proposed re- turning home by way of Hemapolis, to avoid exposing her to the risk of a long sea passage so late in the season, but Captain Wallace prevailed upon him to break this arrangement and embark in the ' Niemen.' They left Halifax with a fair wind, and the first day passed very agreeably, promising a good passage. But no such promise appeared next morning, when they found tliemselves enveloped in a fog, such as only that latitude presents. The fogs of Newfoundland surpass the imagination of Europeans, and that of October, 1826, was one of the densest on record. The ship might be thought to be in the clouds, for above, around, and beneath, nothing else could be seen, and it was equally vain to look for the topmast or the waves. Sailors describe such fogs as being " what j^ou may cut with a knife," but they defy cutting and must be swallowed whole. The atmosphere is one impervious cloud, and so it remains for hours, for days, and for weeks. Now it is a bright white, as if day were strug- gling through ; now it becomes shaded, and now almost night. It is the same hue everywhere one moment, and the next shows it with dark patches like shadows. Then come the little openings called fog-gaps, so familiar to seamen, and which raise delusive hopes of a clear up, sometimes cutting through like a vista, or a chasm between two precipitous cliffs, with the sea clear in the midst, and filling up with fog rolled in from the distance as vou look. Sometimes the gaps take the form of galleries or caverns, as steady as if hewn out of granite. We seem to be in a 258 LIFE OP SIR HOAVARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVI. gliost-laucl, where no tiling is real except the danger. But the solemn time is night, when the fog is thickened by darkness, and may be felt. You hear the waves lashing the ship, and reflect that you are sailing you know not whither, while imagination is haunted by unknown arctic seas or hidden rocks, and the leads- man goads it with his dismal chant as he gives out the soundings. The ' Niemen ' felt her way alongshore by the deep- sea lead, and kept between eighty and a hundred fathoms, so working round Cape Canso, as they judged from the reckoning, and entering the Bay of Fnndy, for the soundings began to mark deeper water. Thus they went on for day upon day, and were now closing a third week without having seen sun, moon, or stars, or met a ship, or caught a glimpse of land. They passed out of the deep water, and its gradual shallowing led Sir Howard and the Captain to conceive that they were approaching the coast of the United States, which placed them in great danger, and their anxiety was becoming intense when the fog suddenly cleared, revealing a shore. An officer hurried off in a boat, and ascertained the position of the ship, which was where the Captain had supposed, but his report had hardly been made when the fog returned, and shore, sea, and sky again disappeared. A clear-up now seemed hopeless, and nothing remained but to grope their way to St. John's, an enterprise that the most faultless seamanship could not divest of terrors. But Captain Wallace never seemed more himself, and was perfectly calm and collected, even when the reckoning marked the offing of the port, a spot fraught with peril. Here there was a sudden burst of moonlight : they saw the Chap. XXVI. THE 'NIEMEN' AGROUND. 259 masts and the waves, the dim outline of the cliffs, and the opening harbour, and then the fog rolled up like a curtain, and the shore appeared, like a scene in a play. All danger seemed over ; and they were swept on by a fine leading wind, in spite of the falling tide. Ten o'clock found them entering the Narrows, where the breeze fell off, and the tide gathered in- creased force, rushing out with such violence that the frigate could hardly bear up. It was now at flood, and came on at the rate of six or seven knots, everv moment getting more power over the ship, as the wind blew less home, and allowed her to be hustled towards a shoal. The Captain thought to keep her in check by letting go the starboard anchor, but it was im- possible to give off a sufficient service of cable in time, and she settled on the bank. Lady Douglas might now see the advantage of being in a well-manned ship, under a good Commander ; for there was no confusion or outcry as the frigate struck, and all relied on the Captain, awaiting his orders. Nor could the example of Sir Howard fiil to have an effect, and his calm bearing gave confidence to others, as they knew that he understood the position of the ship, and her chance of extrication. No attempt to float her could be made by hauling, as the bank was discovered to be very steep, with little water on the port side, and a great depth to starboard ; and destruction must follow any haul upon the anchor in a falling tide. Captain Wallace fired a gun of distress to bring off help from the shore, but to little purpose ; for none arrived till the ladies had been placed in a boat and sent away. Sir Howard remained to share the fortune of the ship, and watched 260 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXV I. the arrangements with his old interest. Soon all was ready, the starboard guns being hauled to port, and all movable articles passed to the same quarter, as the smallest list to starboard must heel the ship over in deep water, when every one would perish ; for the sturdiest swimmer must vield to the rushino; tide. The crisis arrived, and thev stood between life and death, but the frigate tool^ the proper list to port, and low water left her high and dry. They wxre out of danger, and the tide set her afloat. The following day brought Captain Wallace to dine with the Governor, and it came out that he had been hearing tales about his Excellency which he did not consider to his advantage ; for he suddenly asked him if he had not once been shipwrecked. Sir Howard replied by telling the story, and the Captain's face became longer as he proceeded, though he made no remark till the close. He then observed that his regard for him was very great, and he valued their Interchange of hospitality in port and ashore, but should never like to take him to sea again ; for he had been twenty years afloat without mishap, except on the two occasions when the}" had been together, and he should now look upon his appearance in his ship as a passenger as a very bad omen indeed. Chap. XXV I T. ERECTS LIGHTHOUSES. 2G1 CHAPTER XXYII. Eestores the Prosperity of the Colony. Sir Howard's misadventures on the coast led him to more practical conclusions than those of his friend Captain Wallace. He had experienced its dangers, and sought to provide a remedy by the erection of lighthouses, beginning by a recommendation to the House of Assembl}^ to place one on Point Escuminac, at the entrance of Miramichi Bay, and requesting a contribution towards the establishment of another at St. Paul's Island, at the southern entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Both these suggestions were adopted,' and he then procured the erection of light- houses on the Glanet Rock, the Eastern Seal Island, East Quaddy Head, and Point Le Beau, in the Bay ^ The following were the resolutions adopted on the subject in the sitting of the 6th March, 1826 :— " Resolved unanimously, that an humble address be presented to his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, thanking his Excellency for the active measures he liad taken to promote the establishment of a lighthouse on Saint Paul's Island; and whereas the erection of a lighthouse on Point Escuminac is recommended by his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, and would afford great security to vessels navigating those waters, from whence such light could be discerned, — " Resolved, that an humble address be presented to his Excellency, praying that he would be pleased to cause plans and estimates of the pro- posed establishment to be prepared, and that he would take such other measures as he may deem most conducive to the furtherance of this very desirable object."— Resolutions of the House of Assembly, in the ' Douglas Papers.' 2G2 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXYII. of Fiindy. Thus his disasters probably led to the preservation of huiidreds of lives. But his energies were chieiiy eraploj^ed in retrieving the colony from the ruin caused by the fire, and he made surprising progress, giving expansion to every resource, and introducing regulations to extend the sale of lands and their cultivation, and to develop the customs, the exports, and the shipping. Nor is it least creditable to him that he started a fund for assisting a number of poor Irish emigrants who ar- rived in the midst of these changes, and addressed an appeal to the Colonial Secretary in their behalf. He carried out further improvements in the roads, and projected a canal for linking the Bay of Fundy with the water-communication of the Canadas, and so opening up a tralhc which should embrace both the coast and the interior. He drew plans of the under- taking, and made an estimate of the expense, with a statement of his views and expectations, and sub- mitted the whole to the Earl of Dalhousic, the Go- vernor-General of Canada. The following letter shows that they obtained the approbation of that states- man : — " My dear Sir Howard, " Quebec, i4tii May, 1827. "I have had much satisfaction in the perusal of 3^our proposed application to H. M.'s Government on the subject of the Bay Yerti Canal. It would be useless, indeed, to offer any observations upon it, ex- cept such as may express my own individual opinions, which coincide entirely witli yours, and I think it suffices merely to say so. "A communication to establish a coasting-trade Chap. XXYII. TROMOTES EDUCATION. 263 with these provinces is to draw forth their natural resources in many ways yet unforeseen — impossible to foresee. One occupation for the lower orders pro- duces another, creates industry, and multiplies the objects of it. On that view alone of our more imme- diate intercourse, I think it highly desirable, and deserving the attention of the Government, Imperial and Provincial. " I have retained copy of your manuscript, and copy of Plan No. 5 with the line level of the canal • • • • " My dear Sir Howard, faithfully yours, " Dalhousie." In nothing did Sir Howard more evince his zeal for the progress of the colony than in his efforts to pro- mote education. Fredericton owes to him its college, which he expanded from a grammar-school, and then obtained for it a royal charter, conferring the privi- leges of an university. The project involved him in controversy, and imposed endless trouble, but he was not to be vanquished by obstacles. His first difficulty was to provide an endowment, and this he met by appropriations from the revenue arising from the sale of unoccupied lands, of which he possessed the dis- posal, and by inducing the House of Assembly to grant an equal sum. But the colonists remembered their " pilgrim fathers," and stipulated for the sup- pression of the Thirty-nine Articles and the admission of Dissenters. This aroused opposition, and the appli- cation for a charter was resisted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, while it had a local adversary in the Bishop of Nova Scotia, who not only opposed it on 264 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVII. religious grounds, but because he favoured a rival scheme, Avhich contemplated a college for the whole of British America in his own diocese. No one could be less disposed than Sir Howard to disturb a barrier of the Church, but he also attached weight to the religious scruples of others, and the influence of associations. He saw^ there must be a compromise, and framed one undeniably fair — open- ing the college to all, but reserving the direction to the clergy, and limiting the stipulation of the Assembly by exacting subscription for degrees of divinity. Objections were more easily overcome in the colony than at home, where they could only be answered in letters, and it took reams of persuasion to gain over the Primate, and the same measure to convert the Bishop. At last the charter was won, and the King gave his name to the college, commemorating its obligations to Sir Howard by appointiiig him its first chancellor. He was installed in the office on the 1st of Januarv, 1829, the day of the opening.^ Tne solemnity began with divine service, when the masters and students assembled in the hall, and were joined by the mem- bers of the Legislature and the Royal Council, who took possession of seats, leaving a space for the public. All rose on the appearance of Sir Howard, and he advanced to his place amidst a burst of cheers, which were renewed when he announced that the institution had been established by the King, and that His Majesty conferred upon it the name of " King's College, New Brunswick." He delivered an oration worthy of his office, and designed both to ' The • British Colunist and New Brunswick Reporter.' Chap. XXVII. ESTABLISHMENT OF KING'S COLLEGE. 265 excite the emulation of the students and enlist the liberality of the colonists, which he sought to stimu- late by his own. " I shall leave with the College," he said, " I trust for ever, a token of my regard and best wishes. It shall be prepared in a form and de- voted to an object which I hope may prove an useful incitement to virtue and learning •, and at periodical commemorations of the commencement it may serve to remind you of the share which I have had in the institutions and proceedings of a day which I shall never forget." Thus modestly did he speak of his donation of a gold medal as an annual prize. So late as 1859 the Principal of the College bore testimony that his promise to " never forget " had been fulfilled. " This ever- watchful and indefatigable friend," said Dr. Jacob, at the commemoration of that year, " has persevered in his endeavours to maintain our exist- ence and promote our prosperity. By a very recent mail I have received the counsel of his experienced wisdom, with the assurance of his yet unfliiling efforts for objects which, as long as life and light remain, he will not cease to regard with unabated solicitude : — " Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part, And the last i^ang shall tear thee from his heart." In truth, neither time nor distance weakened his attachments, nor lessened his interest in objects he had taken up. His constancy is attested by his friend- ships, many of which extend over sixty years, and have been preserved through separations of half a life. The Atlantic did not divide him from his u 266 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVII. friends in England, and he was in tlieir minds as often, deepening their regard and making every letter that passed an interchange of confidence. This would forbid their publication if the grave had not closed over the writers, and events dispersed their secrets ; so that they no longer claim to be suppressed. His chief correspondents were His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Lord Sidmouth, and the Earl and Countess Harcourt. Thev send him the eossip of their different sets, and it is amusing to compare their sentiments as each comes into the confessional with thoughts begotten by the wish. 'J'he Duke of Grlou- cester holds by Mr. Canning, and augurs for him a long tenure of office : " Great changes have taken place in this country in the last few months. Happily for Great Britain and for the \Yhole world we have now an administration in which there are many Whigs, composed of onr ablest men, headed b}^ our greatest statesman, and founded upon liberal and tolerant principles. Mr. Canning has certainly done more for England in the last three vears than almost any Minister we have ever had. The nation and the House of Commons are, I conceive, very decidedly with the present Government, which will long remain in power." But it is dangerous to prophesy smooth things. The letter of His Royal Highness is dated July, 1827, and the Ministry changed several times before the July following. Earl Harcourt writes to Sir Howard on the 4th of June, 1828, — "I have more than once intended to write to you upon the late extraordinary Chap. XXVIL HOME POLITICS. 267 situation of this country, whicli has, I think, had not fewer than three or four different administrations in the course of the last twelve months; but now has one which is, I trust, likely to be more permanent — thanks to the Duke of Wellington's firmness and decision, which bids fair to carry us through all our difficulties ; as the new arrangement of offices, with your friends Sir George Murray for the Colonial De- partment and Sir H. Hardinge for the War Office have actually kissed hands. The disfranchisement of the borough of East Retford, and the transfer of the elective privilege to the neighbouring hundred, as proposed by Peel but objected to by Huskisson, who named Birmingham for the purpose, was the osten- sible cause of the disagreement which produced the resignation of the latter; but the real fact is that Huskisson, who is a thorough intriguant, and who has a powerful following in the House, is labouring to overset His Grace's Government, which, notwith- standing all the disadvantages it labours under from a very formidable opposition of talent and practice in public speaking, will, it is thought, ultimately prove successful." Lady Harcourt does not feel so confident. She looks at the political world with the minute percep- tion of a woman, and seems to have a foreshadowinsc of the convulsions about to shake Europe, and which began with the Roman Catholic Relief Bill in Eng- land, soon followed by the French and Belgian Revo- lutions, and the English Reform Bill. Her remem- brance of the Church is equally characteristic, and a late event gives an interest to the reference to u2 268 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVII. Dr. Sumner. Nor is there wanting a bit of scandal as a further mark of a lady's letter, and giving the moral of a painful story : — "My dear Friend, « St. Leonard's, 2nd Aug. 1828. *' Your letters of late have made us very anxious, and we feel more than usually uncertain respecting the health and situation of yourself and Lady Douglas and your family The changes that take place here must be always ai>:ainst the interest of those abroad, and not advantageous at home. It is to be hoped that all will remain now as it is, but it depends on one life alone. Should anything happen to the present Premier [the Duke of Wellington], all will again break up. His health, however, I am happy to say, is better than it was There seems to be a general uncertainty resj^ecting the fate of nations, as if some change was likely to take place. In respect to the Church, Bishops have died, and London [Dr. Howley] goes to Canterbury — a popular measure; not so the translation of Bloomfield to Loudon. But Dr. Sumner to Chester every one approves of. The Sumners have been a fortunate famil3\ Dr. Sumner has been allowed to keep his Deanery of Durham with his Bishopric of Chester. " Poor Lord Liverpool's health is as bad as ever, and there seems no prospect of his dissolution. Lord Grenville also is declining fast. " About Sandhurst I can tell nothing but that Sir E. Paget is very popular, and something has happened respecting ***** *^ about which we can get no Chap. XXVII. HOME NEWS. 2G9 distinct information. There has been some inquiry respecting some pecuniary arrangements, which were extremely trifling, yet he was somewhat to blame ; and it is said that his wife, who was a most amiable woman, has died of the vexation it has caused her. I find it is perfectly true that the poor woman died of a broken heart. She said that the mortification she experienced from the Court of Inquiry was more than she could bear. I was told ****** was a most pitiable object. It was, I believe, proved that he had made about thirty or forty pounds a year by selling the boys' clothes and trifling things. " With my best love to your ladies, I am, my dear friend, yours very affectionately, "Mary Harcourt." The opinions of Lord Sidmouth may be omitted, as they coincide with Earl Harcourt's ; but one of his letters contains a reference to two illustrious characters who were highly esteemed by Sir Howard, and the passage may be introduced here as bear- ing on the complications in which we were con- tinually involved with the United States, one of the most serious of which forms the subject of our next chapter: — '"It is probable that before you re- ceive this letter you will have seen Lord Stowell's recent judgment on the slave case. On no occasion has he been more powerful and convincing This judgment, I sincerely hope, will close his splendid and eminently useful judicial career. He met his daughter and Mary Anne and myself yesterday at 270 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVII. Lord Powis's, and was well and cheerful ; but lie becomes very naturally more and more restless, and impatient for the society of his daughter, as his dis- position and powers to engage as formerly in social intercourse diminish. Lord Eldon gives a very good account of himself." Chap. XXVIII. AMERICAN ENCROACHMENTS. 271 CHAPTER XXYIII. Disperses the American Filibusters. Sir Howard's embroilment with the United States arose out of the Treaty of 1783, which left the colon}^ with an uncertain boundary. The interior of the country was then unknown, and England and America had divided their territories somewhat in the manner of Abraham and Lot ; one power taking all that lay to the right of a point on the coast, and the other what spread to the left. The interior boundary was to be marked by the highlands which should be found to divide the sources of the Connecticut and the St. Croix from the sources of the rivers which emptied them- selves into the St. Lawrence ; an arrangement which gave to America all the lands on the banks of her own rivers, and left to the British colonies the banks of the rivers known to reach the sea from their shores. The point of departure from the coast was the Bay of Passumaquaddy. It might be imagined that such an arrangement left no ground for misunderstanding ; but it afforded room and verge enough to the Americans, who made it a standing dispute. Their pretensions grew in propor- tion as they were temperately met till they advanced their line 140 miles, and claimed the free naviga- tion of the St. Lawrence, while they left the British colonies without a frontier. The question became •272 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVIII. more and more serious, and a party in the States resolved to put it to the arbitrament of the sword if it were not adjusted in their own way. Their design was known to Sir Howard, and he kept a w^atch on their proceedings, particularly in the State of Maine, where they were most active. Indeed, the mob there were for occupying the territory without waiting for its surrender •, and the same feeling animated the Legislature, and even the head of the State. Governor Lincoln declared that Maine was entitled to fix her own boundary, and that she neither recognised the right of England to the disputed lands, nor the authority of the Federal Government to bind her by negotiations. Such an announcement increased the excitement of the population, for every one felt that he had a per- sonal interest in the acquisition of a tract equal in extent to a kingdom, with a rich soil, Avatered by rivers, and possessing a harbour on the coast. They looked about for some pretext for occupation; and this was nearly afforded by some New Brunswickers, who made a dash down the St. John's River, and felled some timber in the disputed limits. But the same mail which reported their irruption brought news of their arrest, and the ' Gazette ' announced that steps were taken for their prosecution. Sir Howard had declared that he would preserve the territory as it stood, and now showed that he intended it to be re- spected by the colonists no less than the Americans. Such impartiality might satisfy the colonists, but found no favour with the people of Maine. They saw the land open before them, and knew no right so strong as possession, by which they could make it their own. The clamour became more furious ; and Chap. XXVIII. IRRUPTION OF FILIBUSTERS. 273 speeches were made in the Legislature pledging the State to action, and teeming with abuse of England, as if the meditated spoliation had been accomplished by her in Maine, instead of being contemplated by Maine at the expense of England. Governor Lincoln called out the militia, and marched it to the frontier, to show that he was in earnest; and the leaders of the movement arranged to take possession of the ter- ritory by filibusters, while the militia stood by. It was thought that Sir Howard would be too fright- ened to act; but they rather hoped that he might be provoked to march up the troops, in which case they would contrive to bring on a conflict, and so give their proceedings a cover. This design was intrusted to a ruffian named Baker, worthy of his emploj^ers ; and he did not content himself with violating the territory, but burst into a British settle- ment, which he declared to be a part of the United States, and hoisted the American flag in token of sovereignty. Such an irruption struck the settlers with amazement, but they knew where to seek protec- tion, and sent a report of the occurrence to Sir Howard, judging it better to remain passive themselves, that they might not fetter his action. The despatch of a messenger caused no alarm to Baker, who warned his friends on the frontier, and watched for the appearance of the English troops, whom he expected to be hurried to the spot. But Sir Howard was not to be taken in a trap, and he followed his own course without allowing for Ame- rican magnificence. He made such arrangements that he could bring up all his force at a moment if the militia crossed the border ; but everything was done 274 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVIII. SO quietly that it did not strike even the soldiers themselves. While both parties awaited the issue the affair was settled by a constable, who suddenly entered the settlement, knocked down the flagstaff, bundled the American flag under his arm, and took Baker into custody, effecting the capture so adroitly that he was borne off in a waggon before it was understood. The news of this insult startled the Union from its propriety. The indignation against England could not have been greater if the territory had been American and the invaders English, instead of the reverse being the case; and the most moderate ad- mitted that the time had come for driving England from the continent and annexing her dominions. The State of Maine would accept no other terms, and her view seemed to be adopted by the Federal Government, as it advanced a body of troops to her aid.^ But this commotion excited no stir in New Brunswick. Every one there went about his busi- ness as usual ; no arrangements seemed to be making for defence ; and not only did Sir Howard persist in keeping Baker in prison in spite of the w^arlike demonstrations, but he gave orders for bringing him to trial. Tbis contumely drove the people of Maine dis- tracted, and the militia marched up and down on the frontier, and took up a tlu-eatening position — but kept on their own side. Indeed there was nothing to be done, for Sir Howard remained as quiet as if they did not exist. Governor Lincoln determined to force him out, and sent an envoy to Fredericton with a letter demanding Baker's release. But Sir Howard ' Letter of the Riirht Hon. C. Vaugliau to Sir Howard Douglas. Chap. XXVIII. APPEOVAL OF HIS ACTS. 275 saw his design, and refnsed the envoy an audience, though he was careful to abstain from offence, and instructed the Commanding Officer of the 81st Regi- ment to invite him to the mess, and pay him marked attention. But the American was not to be conci- liated, and he spent the evening in warning the officers of the chastisement impending over England, and wondering at the Governor's infatuation. Nor would he take his dismissal, though Sir Howard despatched a reply to Governor Lincoln, stating that he was unable to enter into the subject in debate, as no commu- nication was authorised between the two Governments except through the British Minister at Washington and the central authorities. It had become so customary for England to submit to American encroachments that the attitude he held formed a topic for the whole continent, and excited a burst of enthasiasm in the British colonies. He was spoken of with pride and admiration, and none ex- pressed these feelings more strongly than the Earl of Dalhousie, the Governor-General of Canada. " I beg 3^ou will offer his Excellency my best regards," he writes to Sir Howard's aide-de-camp, " and assure him that the steps he has taken regarding Baker, and his correspondence on that subject with the Governor of Maine, are in the highest degree gratifying to me. Nothing more firm, polite, and proper could have been done in these delicate and very important matters." ^ Sir Howard received a corresponding tribute from Mr. Vaughan, the British Minister at Washington. "I congratulate myself every day," he writes, " that at this moment of irritation we have such a person as 1 Letter of the Earl of Dalhousie in the ' Douglas Papers,' 276 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXVIIL yourself Governor of New Brunswick. Your proceed- ings respecting the outrage of Baker and your discre- tion in avoiding any controversy with Lincoln please me much." ^ It became clear that nothing could be effected by Governor Lincoln ; and a commissioner was despatched to Fredericton by the Federal Government, furnished with a letter of introduction from Mr. Yaughan. But Sir Howard was as inflexible to the one as the other ; he persevered in the prosecution of Baker, who was brought to trial before the Chief Justice, found guilty, and sentenced to be fined. And the fine was paid. These proceedings had so enlisted public feeling that they could not be disavowed hj the Government, and their success won it to approbation. But it was seen that such a question could no longer be left open without danger, and the two powers agreed to an arbi- tration, referring it to the King of the Netherlands. Sir Howard was called to Europe to assist in pre- paring the English case. He was so endeared to the colonists that they heard of this summons with dismay, and all classes evinced their regret. Much as he had been appre- ciated, it seemed that they never knew his value till now, when they remembered his concern for their interests, his zeal for their advancement, his wise measures, and his good deeds. He had been with them in ealamit}^, brought them through desolation and ruin, and raised them to a point of prosperity exceeding their fairest hopes. They were now to see him depart, without any assurance that he would return, and felt it a common misfortune. ' Letti-r of tlie Ri;j;lit Hon. C. B. Vaii^'han in the 'Douglas Rapara.' Chap. XXVIII. RECALLED TO ENGLAND. 277 Addresses were presented to liim by the Council, the House of Assembly, the clergy, the merchants, the different corporations, the College, the various Friendly Societies, and every class of the community, express- ing respect and attachment and fervent wishes for his welfare. Crowds waited in the way to give him a parting cheer ; and many hovered round the ship in boats till the sails were spread to the breeze, and the vessel stood out of the harbour. One of his last acts was to render a service to his aide-de-camp, whom he was to leave behind. He knew that he longed to obtain his company ; and an opportunity presented itself to purchase, but he could not command the means. Sir Howard recommended him to see what could be done among his friends in Fredericton, and he would suppl}^ the deficiency. The amount was raised, but what sum he contributed is unknown, as the facts only transpire in the officer's letter of thanks, found amongst his papers, and en- dorsed by himself as " on a particular subject." 278 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIX. CHAPTER XXIX. Predicts the Disruption of the United States. The success of Sir Howard's policy towards the United States was grounded on observation and in- quiry. From his post at Fredericton he kept his eye on the Union, taking note of every incident and popular movement, and considering whither they tended. He thus forecast public opinion before it took effect, and divined the influence it would exer- cise on the course of affairs. But he did not base his conclusions solely on the posture of parties. He viewed the States in all their relations, plummed the channels of their trade, and observed the divergence of their interests, marked the extent of their shipping, the condition and prospects of agriculture, the acts of the different Legislatures, and the range of the Central Government. He submitted to the Secretary of the Colonies a Report on these points in 1828, so pro- phetic of what has since occurred, that it forms one of the most remarkable State Papers ever written. Its object was to show there was a tendency in the States to create a manufacturing interest, which would ulti- mately lead to a prohibition of the manufactures of England ; and that this policy was a necessity for the States, both on political and social grounds. He represents it as aiming to associate them by new ties, but goes on to show that it will fail in this object, and Chap. XXIX. TtEPORT ON THE UNITED STATES. 279 that England may look forward to a dissolution of the Union. The paper opens with a reference to the restrictions then just imposed on the intercourse of the Americans with the British colonies, and remarks: — " It is announced that the time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the Government of the United States to introduce such changes into the statistical policy of the Union, as may stimulate manufacturing industry to resolve itself into the establishment of numerous dense communities, in all suitable parts of the Union, to become the home manufacturers of those articles which have heretofore been imported from Europe, and principally from that country whose new mea- sures of trade have so far closed external markets against the agricultm-al produce of the United States as to have ren- dered necessary this defensive system. It is announced that this measure is moreover necessary to provide home con- sumers for those productions which can no longer be ensured external markets, as well from the recent restrictions as from the competition of British Colonial produce, which the Govern- ment of the United States gives to the British Ministry full credit for stimulating and favouring by all means in their power. " The proposed alteration in the system of the United States is expressed in terms which show the dread which is entertained of revulsion and distress, from want of a vent for the prodigious quantities of surplus agricultural productions which the extending cultivation of waste lands is yielding in a high ratio ; and as these waste lands lie chiefly in the vicinity of the frontier territory, lakes, and rivers of the British provinces, it concerns us much that we see distinctly in what practical shape the motives and modifications which I have noticed should be considered to affect our policy. The well-known maxim is laid down with great truth, in an im- portant state paper, that countries in which there is an undue predominance of agricultural population are the poorest, and their inhabitants the most distressed. What room for reflec- tion does not this observation, as applied to the United States, 280 LIFE OF Sm HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIX. present ! Anything, it is said, that may serve, therefore, to hold back the diffusion of a thin rural population from running too far and too long over a great surface of soil, can scarcely prove otherwise than salutary ; and in the present circum- stances of the country the encouragement of manufactures by legislative measures will be a wholesome counterbalance, if not a check, to the extension of agriculture, which, according to the present terms upon which public lands are sold by the State Governments, and the natural tendency of a rapidly- increasing population to go on developing and engaging itself in the settlement and cultivation of vast and fertile tracts of land, that may be had at a very moderate rate, would other- wise get out of keeping with a wholesome statistical condition. To counteract and counterbalance this tendency, manufac- turing industry, it is submitted, should be encouraged by such prohibitory duties as may be effectual to ensure success to the home manufacturer, even at the necessary sacrifice of cheapness to the individual purchaser. Though the establish- ment of manufactures, under the immediate protection of the laws, would at first raise the cost of the articles, and for a succession of years keep it up far beyond the price at which they are and might be imported, yet the forecast of the Government, looking rather to the future than to adajjt its calculations to the existing hour, should not hesitate to embrace the protecting policy and found schemes of solid and durable advantage, even at the peril of temporary privation." Sir Howard does not suppose that American states- men reckon on creating a home demand for all the produce of the country. On the contrarj^ he considers they are looking for other markets, which can only be found by giving the inland States access to the sea, and hence the claim to the navigation of the St. Lawrence : — " The Government appears to be fully sensible that these measures cannot be applied to absorb the vast quantities of Chap. XXIX. -REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES. 281 produce raised in those portions of the States which front the British possessions, or which either join or communicate with the hikes and rivers of Canada ; and that, unless convenient outlets to the exterior can be ensured for disposing of these productions, the truth of the maxim which has been quoted with respect to the poverty and depression of extensive and thinly-dispersed agricultural populations, labouring under the want of a market, will apply with great force to the pro- digiously extensive back settlements. It is from a profound sense of this that Ave see the Government of the United States reagitating with sensitive pertinacity claims to the navigation of the Saint Lawrence, which, for other obvious reasons, becomes an object of great importance to them under the new aspects of affairs ; all of which are eminently calcu- lated to manifest the great disadvantages to British policy, and to the well-being of these colonies, that would arise from making such a concession. " A stand may be made by the United States to resist measures which might tend to make Quebec and Montreal entrepots for dealing in articles the growth and production of the United States ; but the distress which such a rejection would ultimately occasion in the quarters I have indicated as demanding an outlet in some shape, would constrain the Government of the United States to continue to permit the export of those articles to the British provinces, and which would give to Great Britain the advantage of conveying them down the Saint Lawrence, in common with our OAvn colonial productions, to supply the demand of our other colonies in the West." Sir Howard reviews the relations maintained by the States to each other, and shows that they imply practical independence. This opinion rests on a state- ment of facts, admitting no other inference, and proving that secession was already in germ. The Federation is represented as solely a bond of convenience, which brings the States together, but imparts no cohesion, X 282 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIX. since cacli State claims exclusive sovereignty in its own limits. Any interference of the central govern- ment is resented, and the local governments look to the interest of their own State, not to the general good. Nothing can be more positive than the views expressed on this point. They were passed unnoticed by the statesmen of the day, but Sir Howard sees them big with import, and details them so forcibly, that his conclusions seem the natural issue. A league of States is seen to be guarding themselves from each other, with interests always clashing, and some right always in dispute. Such signs appear unmistakable after the event, but they were marked at the time by him alone. Others have dreamt of a collapse of the America]! Union, but no one but he has sketched its political horoscope, and foretold that it was hurrying to " a natural death." His view claims to be given in his own words, though at the cost of a break in our narrative : — " It is not the object of this paper to notice all the political effects which the intended measnre of forcing an alteration in the statistical system of the United States must produce in dealing with, attempting to regulate, and to control, on prin- ciples so general, the rival interests of individual States, each endowed with sovereign powers and possessing separate legis- latures, claiming the right to regulate their OAvn internal affairs, territorial, statistical, and fiscal. Under all these heads remonstrances are making against the interference of tlie General Government Avitli tlie jurisdiction of tlie ' Sovereign States,' within themselves severally ; and it is highly important to the objects of this paper that I should notice these very significant indications. This I shall do briefly, quoting and using, as much as is consistent with brevity, the resolutions entered into by some of the State legislatures, and the Chap. XXIX. REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES. 283 manner in which the questions are actually treated, in order that the deductions which it is my object to draw may be received by the Government as grounded upon no shallow or hypothetical premises. "The State of Maine denies the right of the General Government to conduct the negociation pending between that Government and Great Britain respecting the disputed ter- ritoiy in this quarter, without the express consent of that State, and avows in the most solemn form her right and dis- position to dispute and resist the authority of the General Government to ratify any decision which should go to deprive the State of Maine of the right which she considers she has to the disputed territory, without her express consent as a sovereign power. Governor Lincoln, in his speech to the legislature of Maine, acquainted them that the executive of the Union has been considered as disposed to submit the question of the boundary of Maine, and with a perfectly friendly iutent, but without regarding her as a party, to the umpirage of a foreign authority — a submission which in itself admits the possibility of an unjust and disastrous decision. That it has been considered due to the interest of this State (Maine) to advance a counter doctrine, namely, that a sub- mission of its boundary to any umpire unknown to herself, and upon terms not confided to her consideration, will leave her at liberty to act upon the residt, as to the country and herself, in the manner that may be dictated by just and patriotic inclinations. That if the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent has pledged the Federal authority beyond the limits which are contended to be the true demarcations of her powers, the delicacy of the case ought to have some influence upon the assertion of the rights of Maine, although an entire concession of those rights cannot be expected. "But the Government of the State of Maine goes beyond the mere assertion of independence on this occasion, for, without the knowledge or consent of the General Government of the Union, Maine despatched an Envoy to this Government with powers to treat of a question actually pending in nego- ciation between their General Government and that of Great Britain. I reported to His Majesty's Secretary of State that X 2 284 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIX. I had declined to recognise this Envoy, not from doubting the powers or questioning the propriety of sending, but from having no powers to receive, treat, or correspond with the agent of any subordinate State. Soon after the arrival of the Envoy from Maine, an agent despatched by the General Government, with letters of introduction to me from the British Minister at \A'ashington, presented himself, and was immediately furnished with tlie fullest information respecting the arrest of the American subject who had committed the outrages (which I reported to His Majesty's Secretary of State at the time) in an ancient Britisli settlement in territory in the actual possession of Great Britain. It is sufficient for my present purpose that I merely present to view the presence, in the face of a foreign Government, of two Envoys, deputed for the same purpose, under circumstances which on the one hand amount to an actual exercise of independence upon the gravest matter of state affairs, and on the other hand a denial of such powers of sovereignty ! " Near the otlier extremity of the Union again we per- ceived within the last year the Government of Georgia dis- puting, and in martial array resisting, the authority of the General Government to carry into effect the provisions of a treaty with the Cherokee Indians, which, made and ratified accordino- to all the formalities of the constitution, had become the supreme law of the land, and which we perceive the General Government did not dare to enforce, in compliance with the provisions of that treaty, over one of the constituent States of the Union under whose sanction that contract had been made, and with the decision of the congressional senate which had ratified it ; but actually proposed to purchase the territory in dis})utG with the funds of the Union, thus attempt- ing to accommodate the question by evading it and giving the territory to the party to whom the treaty had awarded it ; by which evasion the Government of the United States has given public and demonstrative proof of defect of constitutional energy in its executive functions, and of moral weakness in the centre of that Union. " But this question does not appear to be set at rest, although Governor Troup, in whose administration these measures of Chap. XXIX. REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES. 285 resistance were adopted, has been succeeded by another person. By a resohition of a joint committee of the two branches of the legislature of Georgia (dated December 15, 1827), it apjDcars that they consider the whole course of policy pursued by the United States not to have been in good faith towards Georgia, and that all the difficulties which now exist respecting the treaty of tlie Indian springs have resulted from acts and policy which it would be unjust and dishonourable in the Government of the United States to endeavour to screen themselves from by taking shelter behind the difficulties which these acts have created. " The State of Georgia, as the resolution expresses, enter- tains for the General Government so high a regard, and is so solicitous to do no act that can disturb or tend to disturb the public tranquillity, that she will not attempt to enforce her rights by violence until all other means of redress fail. That, to avoid such a catastrophe, Georgia makes this solemn, this final appeal to the President of the United States, that he take such steps, &c. &c. " In the Senate of South Carolina we find it Resolved, within these two months, that the Constitution of the United States is a compact between separate and independent sove- reignties, having legislatures to regulate their own internal affairs ; and that all acts of the Congress known by the name of the Tariff Laws, by which manufactures are encouraged under the protection of imposts, are violations of the Con- stitution. The Eesolutions further deny that the Congress has power to construct roads and canals to the imhvidual States, or to direct any other improvement or appropriation within those States. " Governor Giles in his late message on opening the Legis- lature of the State of Virginia asserts that such a jm-isdiction as that claimed by the Congress would annihilate the power of the State Governments, and expresses an exordium that not one State in the Union surrender this jurisdiction to the General Government. He states tliat such an expectation is confirmed so far by corresponding Eesolutions adopted by the State of Maine, which had been forwarded to him by the 286 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIX. Governor of tliat State ; and he lays before the Legislature of Virginia a communication which he had received, containing a copy of the proceedings of the Legislature of Connecticut, which appear to sympathize with those of Virginia and Maine. " The position taken upon this question is, that, if it shall be the determination of the Government of the United States to appropriate a part of its revenue to the internal improve- ments of individual States, in the construction of roads and canals, improving the navigation of rivers, and in promoting education, &c., that the funds designed for these objects ought to be distributed equitably among the several States, to be expended under the authority and discretion of their respec- tive Legislatures. Then with respect to the tariff, it is ex- pressly denied in this speech that Congress has power to regulate commerce amo77gst individuals within the limits of the several States. The Constitution expresses that Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations ammig the several States,^ but not tvitJun the several States ; and that the exercise of the power claimed by the Congi-ess to regulate absolutely the tariff of each State would be an usurpation of internal power which can only be exercised constitutionally by the local Legislatures ; and that, when- ever this constitutional jurisdiction of the respective States over territory, persons, and tilings, within themselves, shall cease to be so exercised exclusively, the Federal principle is for ever gone, and with it the sacred chart of American Liberty." Sir Howard points to the clangers of the Slave question, whidi he considers at some length, predicting that any measure of emancipation will be linked with a scheme for colonization. This he characterizes as "a strange project," and declares that it cannot suc- ceed. His observations so exactly foreshadow what is J Section VIII. Article 4. CiiAr. XXIX. EEPORT ON THE UNITED STATES. 287 now in progress, that we need to reflect they were written tliirty-four years ago : — " Then, to these causes of disunion may be added the important, and perhaps most disturbing of all — the Slave question. Hopeless of leading the State Governments to any measure of abolition adopted separately, we perceive that the measure of forcing a general emancipation by manumission and COLONIZATION (a strange project !) under a general act of the Congress, is entertained, and will some time ok other BE ATTEMPTED. In the mean time its very agitation has powerfully affected individual interests, and those States in which slavery still exists manifest much discontent and fer- ment. Such a general measure adopted by the Congress would reach directly into, and menace the rights claimed by all the State Governments to regulate their own affairs, and would at once bring to issue the question of right and power on the part of the several States to regulate all that concerns Persons and Things within those States respectively — terms which Vhginia and the other slave-holding States are con- tinually using to warn the Government of the stand they MEAN TO MAKE agaiust the manumission of these persons from slavery. To show the intensity of feeling and the vehemence of expression upon this subject, I shall quote a few sentences from the speech of an influential member of one of the slave- holding States, in some discussions which came on incident- ally in Congress on the 7th of January last (1828)." The passage quoted is a vehement protest against any interference by Congress in the internal affairs of a State, and particularly witli slavery, the speaker declaring that his " countrymen will resist such en- croachment with arms in their hands." Sir Howard considers that this crisis is approaching, and announces that it will develop itself by secession : — " Here we may see the manner in wliich the Union will BE DISSOLVED — namely, the Secession of any State 2S8 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXIX. which, considering its interests, property, or jurisdiction menaced, may no longer choose to send deputies to Congress. This is a great defect in the bond of Union, which has not, perhaps, been very generally noticed, cloaked as it is under Article 1st, Section V. of the Constitution, which states, that, when there are not present of either House numbers sufficient to form a quorum to do business, a smaller number may be authorized for the purpose of forming one to compel the attendance of absent members. But this appears only to be authorized for the purpose of forming a quorum, and only extends over members actually sworn in, and who, being delegated to Congress by the States they represent, are sub- jected to whatever rules of proceeding and penalties each House may provide, with the concurrence of two-thirds of its members. But there is nothing obligatory upon the several ' Sovereign States ' to send members to Congress, or to prevent those sent from being withdrawn. The ' Sovereign States ' have never bound themselves to do either ; so that the process of dissolution in this way is very simple, and the danger imminent of a separation being thus effected, whenever the interests of any particular State or.. States are touched by the Govern- ment, or brought into discussion in Congress, although those interests may be outvoted hj the prepoiiderating influence of other States having different iiiterests. But the State or States which are to suffer will not, it is clear, send members to vote their own injmy or ruin ; and it may safely be pro- nounced, from what I have shown in this paper, that this is THE MANNER IN WHICH THE AMERICAN UnION ^VILL COME TO A NATURAL DEATH." The events we have witnessed could not be more clearly described, and the conflict they have opened seems the more horrible when we see that it is waged against natural laws at the base of societ}^ The threat of tlie North to convert the American con- tinent into a desert must be realized before the South can be recovered, and then it will only bequeath the struggle to another generation. Sir Howard fore- Chap. XXIX. EErORT ON THE UNITED STATES. 289 shows that it will be met by the erection of a new Confederacy : — " I have shown in this paper that the State Governments are beginning to resort to a practice (jnst allnded to) which is full of danger to the Union, namely, that of transmitting their views and the proceedings of their Legislatures to each otlier, whenever they are desirous of preparing a formidable opposition to any measures of the General Government which may be likely to interfere with any of those concerns which such States may be interested in opposing. The practice of corresponding with each other respecting grievances was very commonly resorted to by the people of the different Provinces before the Eebellion [against England], and was one of the most significant and alarming signs of the events that were coming on. They cannot be prevented from going any lengths in communicating with each other upon matters which concern their own individual interests and affairs, and out of this disposition and power may at any time be worked THE MOST POWERFUL COALITION AGAINST ANY GENEEAL MEASURE affecting them in common ; OR they may with- draw FROM THE Union altogether, and if they please FORM another COMPACT AMONG THEMSELVES." 2li0 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. CHAPTER XXX. On a Mission to the Hague. The bark iii which Sir Howard and his family sailed for England was the ' Mutine ' brig of war, one of a class nicknamed " coffins," from their predilection for foundering at sea. The ' Mutine ' did not go down during the passage, but she went as near it as pos- sible, sustaining both her own and Sir Howard's re- putation. The voyage was an unbroken gale, and the brig was continually dipping, as if uncertain whether to roll under water or turn over. " I can only sa}"," writes Sir Howard to a friend, " that in this tre- mendous winter passage of six weeks I never expected to see England." But the dangers were forgotten on landing when he found himself in the midst of his friends, who hailed his return with joy. From none did he receive a kinder welcome than the Duke of Wellington, though the part he had taken in the boundary dispute made him an object of interest to all the statesmen of the day, and elevated him into a public character. This was recognised by the most dignified bod}^ in the realm, the University of Oxford, Avhich determined to confer upon him the degree of D.C.L. ; and he was invited to receive the honour in person at the commemoration of 1829. The spirit he had shown in the American Chap. XXX. HONOURED AT OXFOED. 291 question excited the patriotism of the University, and the theatre was crammed with the junior members, who greeted his name with a burst of cheers. These were renewed on his presentation by the Public Orator, whose Latin oration may be thus rendered in English : — " Most Illustrious Yice-Chancellor, and you, learned Doctors, — *' I present to you a distinguished man, adorned with many virtues and honours, belonging to military and civil affairs, as well as to literature, — How^ard Douglas, a Knight and Baronet, a worthy heir of the latter order from a renowned father, the former richly deserved from his own King and that of Spain ; a member of the Eoyal Society of London on account of the fame of his writings ; for many years the Governor of New Brunswick, followed by the admiration and favour of his country, and the reverence and love of the province : lastly. Chancellor of a College in that province, built under his care and direction, to which its patron, the King, gave his name and a University's privileges. Behold the man ! I now present him to you that he may be admitted to the degree of a Doctor of Civil Laws for the sake of honour." Sir Howard received invitations from his numerous friends to their country seats ; but none gave him such pleasure as one from Sir Walter Scott, pressing him to visit Abbotsford. Sir Walter's letter may be given here, as everything from his pen commands interest, and this beams with his hearty nature : — 292 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. " Abbotsford, near Melrose, " My dear Sir Howard, 2ist July, 1829. " I have just received your most welcome letter, and [write] to express my earnest wish and hope that, as I have for the present no Edinburgh establishment, you will, for the sake of auld lang syne, give me the pleasure of seeing you here for as much time as you can spare me. There are some things worth looking at, and we have surely old friends and old stories enough to talk over. We are just thirty-two miles from Edinburgh. Two or three public coaches pass us within a mile, and I will take care to have a carriage to meet you at Melrose BrigleyEnd, if j^ou prefer that way of travelling. Who can tell whether we may ever, in such different paths of life, have so good an opportunity of meeting ? " I see no danger of being absent from this place, but you drop me a line if you [can] be with us, and take it for granted you hardly come amiss. Five o'clock is our dinner-hour. I have our poor little [illegible^ here. He is in very indifferent health, but no immediate danger is apprehended. Always most truly yours. You mention your daughter. I would be most happj^ if she should be able to accompanj^ you. " Always, my dear Sir Howard, " Most truly yours, "Walter Scott." The visit to Abbotsford led to Sir Howard's essay on ' Naval Evolutions.' In an after-dinner conversa- tion Sir Walter Scott referred to the manoeuvre of breaking the line, and said that it was originated by Chap. XXX. VISITS SIR WALTER SCOTT. 293 a Mr. Gierke, who had written a work on 'Naval Tactics,' in which it was first mentioned. Sir Howard had heard of this claim before, and had collected all the facts about the manoeuvre, in case it should be asserted in a manner that would require him to vindi- cate the credit of his father. He thought this was now done, and he wrote to town for the papers, stating where they were to be found, and they came down to him by post. He happened to be alone with Sir Walter when the packet was placed in his hand. '' Scott," he then said, " the other evening you ascribed the invention of the manoeavre of breaking the line to Mr. Gierke. I must tell you the merit belongs wholly to my father." " Indeed ! " replied Sir Walter. " Are you aware that the Clerkes possess a copy of their fatlier's work with Eoduey's notes in the margin, showing that it was in his possession at the time of the battle ? " " I know this has been said, but I must ask you how the work could be in Rodney's hands at that time, when it was not published till after his return to England ? " " It was not published, but fifty copies had been struck off for private circulation, and one of these was presented by the author to Rodney before he left England." " It is true that fifty copies had been struck off some time before, and here is one of them. Unfortunately for the claim of Mr. Gierke, it does not contain the manoeuvre. It is only after Rodney's return to Eng- land, when the manoeuvre had been reported in the newspapers, that it makes its appearance in Mr. Gierke's work. These letters prove that it occurred 294 LIFE OF SIE HOWARD DOUGLAS. CHAr. XXX. to my father in the heat of the battle, as an inspiration of the moment ; and I shall be glad if you will satisfy yourself on the point by looking over them some time when 3^ou are at leisure." " No time like the present," said Sir Walter, smiling ; and he went through the case in Sir Howard's presence. " You have removed all doubt on the matter from my mind," he then said. " This manoeuvre was one of the happiest ever introduced into naval w^arfare; and I think your duty leaves you but one course to pursue with those documents in your possession. You must lay them before the public." ^ Sir Howard was of the same opinion, and ' Naval Evolutions ' made its appearance in due course, though not till he had entered into a correspondence with Sir George Gierke, informing him that it was in prepara- tion, and affording an opening for the withdrawal of Mr. Gierke's pretensions.^ This did not interrupt him in assisting the Ministers to prepare their case on the Boundary question ; and his views were found to coincide with those of the Duke of Wellington, who also examined the treaties and drew up a memorandum on the subject, now first printed from the autograph in the ' Douglas Papers.' ^ But there were points not clear to the King of the Netherlands, and Sir Howard volunteered to go to the Hague and answer his inquiries. His offer was accepted, and he set out on this mission in May 1830. A distinguished reception awaited him at the Dutch ' This conversation was related to tlie author hy Sir Howard liimself. 2 Letters from Sir George Gierke to Sir Howard Douglas in the 'Douglas Papers.' •'' It will be found in tlie Appendix. Chap. XXX. INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF HOLLAND. 295 court, where his name was in high repute in conse- quence of his ' Naval Gunnery ' having been trans- lated by the Minister of Marine, though the King needed no such credential in a companion in arms of the Great Captain, under whom he had served the Waterloo campaign. Sir Howard has preserved an account of their first conversation, and it shows that His Majesty desired to be thoroughly informed on the subject of the arbitration, and to arrive at an impar- tial decision, while it is very characteristic of himself.^ The King began by inquiring how far the disputed territory was settled by British subjects. " There are about three thousand in Madawaska, sire," replied Sir Howard. " The numljcr settled in other parts is not known." " How many American citizens are settled there ? " " None under a competent grant ; but ten or twelve reside there. Baker, of whom your Majesty has heard and read so much, is one of these tres- passers." " How strange !" said the King, after some hesitation. " We are now forty-seven years after the treaty, and its limits not yet determined ; and at such a distance of time such a question to be brought forward !" " This is one of the many extraordinary features of the case, sire. Such a boundary as is now claimed by the United States was not contemplated at the time. It was first mooted constructively, on some obscurities in the letter of the treaty of 1783, at Ghent, but not absolutely claimed till the census of 1820." Here Sir ^ It is endorsed "Minute of a conversation whicli I had the honour of having with H. M. the King of the Netherlands, on the subject of the boundary, on Monday, the 13th May, 1830." 296 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. Howard paused, thinking it imprudent to say more unless the King should invite him to speak out by prolonging the conversation. This he did, after a moment's interval. " You are now in the position, in some of the argu- ments, which was occupied by the French Commis- sioners during the discussions respecting the limits between Canada and Nova Scotia," he said. " You appear to have the same interests." "The settlement of the limits may involve pro- vincial interests," replied Sir Howard, " but the case to which your Majesty alludes has positively nothing to do with that submitted for your Majesty's decision. Those old boundaries were never settled." And he stated the case of the discussions of 1763, going on to show that the treaty of 1783 was a distinct act, a point important to establish, as the Americans sought to occasion confusion by jumbling the negotiations together. "It is difficult to pronounce which view of this matter is sound," replied the King, " the English or the American ; and I fear I may give offence in deciding." "Your Majesty's decision will be given in justice and equity, according to the spirit and intention of the treaty, the letter of which is, in one part, so obscure as to have occasioned this submission to your Majesty for the prevention of disputes." " Yes. The letter certainly is, as you say, obscure, otherwise this reference had not been made. If the treaty had been clear and express, the limits would long since have been settled." " It is on this account, and to prevent further cavil, that your Majesty is called upon to arbitrate," said Chap. XXX. INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF HOLLAND. 297 Sir Howard. And he proceeded to explain that Great Britain did not want territory, but security, which could not be obtained if the Americans were allowed to intersect the river St. John, or to class the Bay of Fundy rivers with the Atlantic rivers. "Yes," said the King, "but this is a question of right." " Great Britain firmly believes the right is on her side, sire," answered Sir Howard, " and your Majesty has full powers to settle the limits in any way jour Majesty may deem consistent with the objects of an arbitration — even should it be by splitting the differ- ence, as was proposed by Mr. Gallaton." ^ " Did Mr. Gallaton propose that ? " cried the King, eagerly. " Yes, sire, and gave offence to the State of Maine by the admission this implied." Sir Howard thought there was here an opportunity of contending for the right accruing from possession, and he pointed out what portion of the territory would thus fall to the United States, and what part to England, expressing his determination to uphold the English claim during the continuance of his rule in New Bruns- wick, unless it should be renounced ; and for this he justified himself by an allusion to the King's motto. " That territory has been placed in my charge, sire," he said, " and that, par la grace de Dieu, je le main- tiendrai'^ " Good," replied the King, smiling; "that is our motto, — Je maintiendrai !" " And it is our hope, sire." " It is a difficult position for me/' rejoined the King, ^ One of the American Commissioners. Y 298 LIFE OF SIR HO WARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. good-bumoiiredly ; "but I hope to make my impar- tiality respected by my decision." The decision was not satisfactory to England, and was rejected by the Americans, as it did not give all they demanded. This was eventually to be done b}^ England herself, though only to encourage fresh claims, prolonging the dispute to the present da}^ But inci- dents now occurred that held it in abeyance for a time, and Sir Howard was called to attend to complications on the spot, arising out of the Belgian Eevolution. There never was such a testimony to the poet's doctrine that great events from trivial causes spring as this convulsion. Sir Howard writes to Sir George ^lurray from the Hague on the 4th of September, 1830 : — " There are many remote causes for what has recently occurred here, but the exciting cause was the late revolution in France, so far as it was insurrec- tionary. But the objects which the Belgians have in view are, in many respects,^ entirely different from those entertained by the French ; for high aristocratic and Roman Catholic inlluences are the sustaining powers of the Belgian confederac}^ as it may now be called, and they have succeeded in giving a great special object to a movement which commenced in the shape of a riot, occasioned hy the performance of a certain opera, and which might easily have been quelled, and all the subsequent disturbance prevented, if proper measures had been taken." The ultimatum of the insurgents proposed to form Belgium into a separate state, in confederation with Holland, and governed by her Sovereign ; and Sir How^ard learnt that the project was entertained by the King, conditionally on its acceptance by the Chap. XXX. BELGIAN REVOLUTION. 299 States General and the great Powers. " But," lie writes to Sir George Murray, " should all this be smoothly done — mid I am sure it cannot and will not be so ^ — there will come the details of execution." He sees no hope of an arrangement on these points, espe- cially as respects the finances, the repartition of the national debt, and the surrender of the forts to Belgian troops. The last object he declares to be the aim of a French party, which is working to effect an entire separation, and so break down a barrier to France by the dissolution of the Netherlands monarchy. This is designed to be followTd by the absorption of Belgium, and he describes the scheme as already laid. "Consider Lafayette," he writes, "his early career, his political impressions, his reception of and com- munication with persons who, in an evil hour, were prosecuted in this country, and, being banished, found a refuge in France ! " Thus early does he warn the Government of the intrigues which led to the offer of the Belgian crown to the Duke de Nemours in the following year. "France herself might be applied to," he adds, in considering how the danger is to be met, " and France thus applied to, and thus engaged, the incorporation of the Belgian people will be headed back." But he declares that such a result cannot be averted, if England allows it to be seen that she will not intervene by force, however urgent the con- juncture. On the 14th of November he writes to the same effect to Sir Robert Peel, and censures a notice of motion in the House of Commons, which pledged the ^ The passage in italics is underlined in Sir Howard's letter. y2 300 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. country to this course. Sir Robert replies on the 7th of Decem]3er — " You will have seen that Mr. Hobhouse abandoned, or at least postponed, his motion on the subject of Belgian affairs immediately on the notification of a change in the government of this country. If no such change had taken place, I think it doubtful whether he would have persevered in a motion so very inopportune, and in my opinion so very unwise, as a positive declaration against all interference on the part of England in the affairs of the Netherlands. Not to interfere is very different from a public notification to France while negotiations are pending that our mind is made up against inter- ference." So far Sir Howard's counsel was adopted, but the scheme for a mediation was not taken up so promptly, and the favourable moment escaped. The Belgians fell more and more under French influence, and gave the command of their troops to General Nyples, whose brother was a colonel in the French army, and who drew from France many of his officers. The military stores accumulated by the Dutch in the frontier fortresses had fallen into their hands, and supplied unlimited means, enabling them to equip 35,000 men, and bring into service 2542 pieces of artillery.^ On the other hand, the loss paralysed the Dutch, who were left almost destitute, and now needed every resource, as General Nyples threatened to invade their ancient territor}^ Sir Howard indicated the danger to the British Government, and he received ' Report of Sir Howard Douglas to the Right Hon. Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B,, British Minister at the Hague. Chap. XXX. TOUR IN THE NETHERLANDS. 301 orders to make a tour of the northern provinces, and report on their situation, that steps might be taken to insure their safety.^ He set out on this duty on the 30th of October, going first to Breda, thence proceeding to the canton- ments of General Yan Greeus, on the Antwerp road, and afterwards visiting Bois-le-Duc, Flushing, Batz, Wilhemstad, Bergen-op-Zoom, and the other strong- holds. He found the Dutch troops animated by the noblest spirit, though the rank and file were imper- fectly trained and equipped. " I cannot speak too strongly of the good spirit and intelligence of all the officers," he writes to Sir Charles Bagot. Some of the fortresses were in good order; others were in need of additional defences, or out of repair, and 1 These instructions were embodied in the following letter from the British Minister at the Hague : — «' Sijt^ " The Hague, October 30, 1830. " The rapid progress which appears to be making by the rebel forces in the southern provinces of tlie kingdom, and the great probability which there seems to lie that if the citadel of Antwerp should fall they may proceed to attack the line of fortresses which protects the ancient territory of Holland, make it very necessary that His Majesty's Government should obtain, if possible, the most exact information as to the state of defence in Avhich these fortresses may now be, and the general means of resistance which the northern provinces may have it in their power to oppose to the insurgent forces in case they should attempt to invade this portion of the kingdom, .... " I have now the honour to request that your Excellency will do me the good service of examining, with as little delay as possible, the whole of the military defences, extending from Grave to Bergen-op-Zoom and into the Scheldt, and of reporting to me, or, if your Excellency should think it more convenient, directly to His Majesty's Government, the condition in which they may be at the present moment. " I have already acquainted His Netherland Majesty with my wish that your Excellency should be permitted to make this examination, and His Majesty has been graciously pleased to acquiesce in my proposal. .... " I have the honour to be, &c., " CuAULES Bagot." 302 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. slenderly garrisoned. He mentioned what steps should be taken to make all secure, and suggested that the corps of General Tan Geeus should keep the field, operating as a moveable column in North Brabant. General Yan Geeus undertook to open a communication with General Chasse', who was in command of the citadel of Antwerp, as Sir Howard considered it important to learn the position of the garrison — the defensive measures for the northern provinces requiring time, which could only be secured by the maintenance of the citadel. But his informa- tion would not be complete unless he knew also the situation of affairs in the town, and such an object must be sought with great tact, or he might com- promise the English Government. This lie avoided by forwarding a message to the English Consul, requesting a conference at Lotto, within the Dutch territory ; and he was soon visited by that func- tionary, who brought with him the Hanoverian Consul, and a gentleman who had just left General Chasse. The General sent a cheerful account of his situation, engaging to hold the fortress so long as there should be no frost, but foreseeing that his position would then become critical. On the other liand, the Consuls described the town as in a ferment, and compared it to a volcano which might burst forth any moment, though General Chasse threatened to lay it in ruins on any demonstration of hostility. Batteries had been erected by the insurgents at com- manding points on the river, and fire-ships were pre- paring to drive down the Dutch fleet, the destruction of which would deal Holland "a mortal blow," while the attempt would expose Antwerp to a bombardment. Chap. XXX, TOUR IN THE NETHERLANDS. 303 It was of the liigbest moment to prevent both con- sequences, and this Sir Howard proposed to do by withdrawing the fleet, which now gave no support to General Ohasse', as he had victualled the citadel for two months, and trusted his Avater defences to gun- boats. Sir Howard represented that the gunboats could also be used for keeping up a blockade, which would hold the population in check, and jet involve no risk, as the gunlioats could run up and down in the shallow channel, but the ships must pass close to the batteries.^ Throughout this tour Sir Howard moved about in the strictest privacy, but no precaution could avert recognition, and his movements were even noticed in the London newspapers. '• Notwithstanding every possible circumspection on my part," he writes to Sir 0. Bagot, " not to give publicity to my pro- ceedings, ray visits, my inspections of the works, my confidential reception by the general officers, and my person being known, have given rise to many surmises. But whilst I have neither said nor done anything to compromise, it has afforded me much satisfliction to observe that my appearance has had a good effect. It has shown a solicitude for the safety of the Dutch frontier ; it has had a sustaining effect on the morale of the Dutch people and the Dutch troops ; and has operated on the other side to deter attack." Such was the impression created on our oldest ally by the appearance of an English officer on her frontier in a time of national danger. His suggestions to the Government were appreciated, and proved of great ' Letters of Sir Howard Douglas to Sir Charles Bagot, dated 1st, 2iul, 4tb, 6tli, 12th, and 16th November, 1830. o04 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXX. service, while they obtained the approl)ation of his own Sovereign, signified to him by Lord Pabnerston, then Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The expectations he had formed of the Dntch troops were fulfilled in the event ; and how General Chasse redeemed his promise to make the citadel of Antwerp the citadel of Holland, is a world-known story. Sir Howard's exposure of French intrigues proved eqnally useful ; for the resolution of Lord Pabnerston compelled the Duke de Nemours to decline the Crown, and thus saved Belgium, which must have been absorbed by France in 1848, if the convulsions of that year had found it ruled by a French prince. Chap. XXXI. STATE OF THE NAVY. 305 CHAPTER XXXI. Defeats the Government. From the moment of the expedition to Algiers, the French Government seemed uneasy as to its relations with England, and hence took measures for strength- ening its navy. One of its first steps was to intro- duce Sir Howard's scheme for an organization of gunners, as detailed in his treatise on Naval Gunnery ; and the Institute rewarded Marshal Yaillant for his translation of the work by electing him one of its members. The activity displaj^ed at Brest and Toulon did not attract notice in England, where the navy was engaging no attention, and the public thought little of the French armaments till the appearance of a pamphlet on the state of the navy, purporting to be by an " Old Flag Officer." This created a panic •, its statements were the general theme of conversation ; and the nation trembled for its naval supremacy. Several leaders on the subject appeared in the Times,^ and attention was called to the " Flag Officer's " strictures on our naval gunnery, and his advocacy of the scheme of Sir Howard Douglas, which the Times warmly commended. Sir Howard was at the Hague when the pamphlet reached his hands, and there heard of the sensation it had produced, and the prominence it gave to his plan. The advo- i Times of iTtli, 20tli, and 24th May, 1830. 306 LIFE OF SIR HOAVARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXI. cacy appeared to him so strong, that he feared it might be imputed to himself, or at least to his inspira- tion, and this he hastened to disclaim. " Under- standing that the author is not yet known," he wrote to Lord Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty, "I think it necessary to assure your Lordship that I am utterly ignorant from Avhom the publication proceeds. However I may concur in some of the opinions advanced, and which, indeed, are founded upon my work, yet that is not the way in which it would become me to approach your Lordship." ^ His consideration for the authorities was the more praiseworthy as he had obtained so little of their atten- tion, and they were now set to work by the pamphlet, not by his representations. The credit of giving this fillip to their movements must be assigned to Admiral Sir W. Bowles, who has long been known as the author of the pamphlet, and could not have rendered a greater service to his profession. A beginning was made with the plan before Sir Howard left Holland, as he had the satisfaction of hearing from Sir S. J. Pechell, one of the Lords of the Admiralty. "The ' Old Flag Officer ' has done what even you could not effect," writes that officer, " tliough not to the extent that either of us could wish, but within these few daj'S an order has been given to establisli a gunnery-school on board the * Excellent' at Portsmouth." The order would appear to have been slowly carried out, for a year passed before the work made any progress, and it is not till November, 1831, that Sir S. Pechell ' III the same letter to Lord Melville, Sir Howard refers to " other com- munications " he had addressed to his Lordship, and adds, " which I hope have been received," implying that they had never been acknowledged. Chap. XXXI. SCHOOL FOR NAVAL GUNNERY. 307 writes about it in good spirits : " We are now likely to do something more. Sir James Graham has approved of the plan, and has appointed the ' Excellent ' for this service, and I am sure you will not refuse me your assistance in drawing up a pro- spectus for our future sea-gunners." Thus Sir Howard saw his system launched, after he had patiently waited fourteen years, during which time his labours were left unnoticed and his letters unanswered, though he could never be provoked to complain. The system has fulfilled all that he hoped, resting the supremacy of our navy on the surest bottom b}^ supplying it with the most expert gunners. In after years he might feel proud that he had rendered this service to his country, and perhaps the more so as it was not only left without reward, but even without thanks. The establishment of the ' Excellent ' was first placed under Commander George Smith, but it acquired its repute under the next director, Captain Chads, and this has been extended by its present chief, Captain Hewlett. Never did it assume greater importance than now, when artillery is making such developments, and naval warfare is revolutionised by the introduction of armour-ships. Happily it has had the counsel of Sir Howard up to the last moment, and nothing can be more complete than his programme of drill for the Armstrong gun, which appears in the latest edition of his treatise. It was now necessary that he should return to New Brunswick, and he was preparing for his departure, when the Government proposed a new arrangement of the timber duties, giving an advantage to produce 308 LIFE OF SIR HOAVAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXL from the Baltic by abolishing the protection afforded to colonial timber, which had to meet greater cost of transport. He considered such a measure unjust, and entreated Lord Goderich to recede, declaring the change would ruin New Brunswick, and be very injurious to the sister colonies. But his representa- tions produced no effect, though backed by a report on the condition of the colonies, and a statement of their imports from the United Kingdom and the West Indies, w^hich were shown to depend on the con- tinuance of the duties. The question seemed so linked with his position, that he thought himself called upon to urge it by every means, and even appeal to the public if he could not persuade the Government. He had deemed such a course unbecoming in the case of his gunnery movement, for that had a reference to himself; but here was a question no w^ay personal, but in which he represented interests confided to his care by the Government itself. Those interests would be looking to him as their advocate on the spot, and he considered them as important to the mother country as the colonies. Hence he must speak out, and he could only do so by following the example of the " Old Flag Officer," and publishing a pamphlet. Such productions are now little heeded, but they obtained readers in a day when they strengthened or unseated a minister, and made bishops. An opposition pamphlet could bring no advantage to Sir Howard. On the contrary, it exacted from him the sacrifice of the post he held, and even his hopes of further employment, as far as concerned the existing Government. It is impossible that such considerations should have been overloolvcd by one who was not rich, and was weighted Chap. XXXI. PAMPHLET ON TIMBER-DUTIES. 309 with a young family; but they could not stay his hand. He drew up a careful exposition of the ques- tion, much like the one he had laid before the Govern- ment, stating everything in a temperate way, and basing his arguments on facts and figures. He main- tained that the colonies had a claim to favour, as our largest customers ; the returns proving that they took three-fourths more per person of British goods than the people of the United States, who stood next on the list. He pointed to the employment they afforded to British shipping and sailors, which had embraced 400,000 tons and 25,000 seamen in 1828, being one-fifth of the whole foreign trade of the kingdom. And he contended that the good effect of a fostering system was apparent in the expansion of the provinces, which had increased their population 113 per cent, between 1806 and 1825, while the numbers in New England had only increased 37 per cent, in the same time. But it must not be supposed that he argued for restrictions on trade. Quite the reverse : he was for giving trade every latitude, but this latitude was to be reciprocal, and he proposed to yield a prefer- ence to the produce of the colonies in return for their preference of the manufactures of England. His principles are now adopted by the chiefs of free-trade themselves, and we may see them embodied in the late commercial treaties with France and Belgium. The pamphlet combated the notion that the colonies are an encumbrance, and do not repay our outlay, adducing proof of their advantage both to our revenue and power. A detail of the arguments would be out of place here, but they claim the attention of states- men now that the question of abandoning the colonies 310 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXI. has been revived. Onlv one who had lived in a colony could present the subject in a form so striking ; and all who have had this experience will give the same testimony. The sheets were sent to press, and Sir Howard received a stitched copy, which he instantl}^ took to the Colonial Office, and presented to Lord Goderich. " I have published this pamphlet against the repeal of the timber. duties, my Lord," he said, "and I beg to present your Lordship with the first copy. And here, my Lord," he added, producing a letter, "is my resignation of the government of New Brunswick." "I am sorry for that. Sir Howard," replied the Minister : " I have no feeling about the timber duties, but vou know we are all for free-trade." " I am not for free-trade, my Lord," said Sir Howard : "I am for fair trade." ^ To this creed he adhered to the last, living to see it generally accepted. He was " not for free-trade," yet no one could speak more kindly of its founder, from whom he differed on almost every question. "We don't agree with Cobden," he once said to the author of this work, "but he is a great man, and no one stands higher with the masses. I had a curious proof of this lately in the country. I was passing a very fine house, where there was a van of furniture at the door, which some men were unloading. I asked them whose it was, and they answered, 'Eichard Cobden's.' I walked in, as the door stood open, and asked some men who were fixing up blinds at the windows the same question. The answer was the same— ' liichard Cobden's.' A name so familiar in 1 This anecdote was related to the authca- by General Sir Hew Ross, G.C.B. Chap. XXXI. RESIGNS HIS GOVERNMENT. 311 the common mouth seemed a title, and such a title Cobden needn't care to change." His words recurred to his biographer when the newspapers announced that Mr. Cobden had refused a baronetcy. The pamphlet made an impression. It formed the subject of articles in all the newspapers ; and a leader in the Times described its author as " the stanch friend and able advocate of the interests of our North American colonies," complimenting him on " the frank and manly manner " in which he stood forward in their cause.^ His facts gave weight to his arguments, and excited a sensation in the commercial cities, where the pamphlet was in every hand. A corresponding effect was produced on the House of Commons, where the Opposition determined on resistance ; and the second reading led to a warm debate, mainly turning on the statements made by Sir Howard. It became evident that the measure was in danger ; and the division resulted in its rejection, a shout from the Opposition announcing the defeat of the Government. The news flew across the Atlantic, and caused the greatest joy in the North American provinces, though the victory was thought dearly purchased by Sir Howard's resignation. " The very unwelcome tidings," writes the President of New Brunswick^ from Fredericton, on the 20th of April, " that you had felt yourself so circumstanced in your exertions in the cause of the colonial interests as to determine on the great sacrifice of resigning your government, must long continue a subject of deep regret to this province. A day or two since we received the gratifying news 1 Times of February 25, 1831. 2 The Hon. William Black. 312 LIFE OF SIR HOAVAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXI. that your able and indefatigable efforts have been crowned with complete success. Your pamphlet is by all here considered one of your happiest produc- tions." The colonists displayed their satisfaction at the result by bonfires and by enthusiastic gratitude to Sir Howard, holding public meetings to express their sense of his services, which it was decided to recog- nise by a testimonial, to be subscribed for by every parish in New Brunswick. The result was a noble service of plate, presented to him in England, together with an address and letters of thanks from the pro- vincial Chambers of Commerce — a spontaneous and general tribute of respect, which he always remem- bered with pride. Chap. XXXIL EULOGISED BY WILLIAM IV. 313 CHAPTER XXXII. Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. The pamphlet excluded Sir Howard from employment for four years, though the authorities recognised his merits, and he stood equally high as a soldier and administrator. His cause was taken up by the King, who wished him to be given a command in India, but Lord Hill returned what Sir Howard deemed an unfavourable answer. A letter he received from Sir Herbert Taylor represents His Majesty as taking a more hopeful view.^ " The King agrees with me in considering it [the answer of Lord Hill] by no means so unsatisfactory or so unencourag- ing as it would seem to appear to you ; Lord Hill appears to His Majesty to have said more upon this occasion than he usually does." But Sir Howard's interpretation proved correct, as the move led to nothing, and he remained unemployed. Still his time was not lost to the country, for he occupied himself in attending artillery experiments and bringing out im- proved editions of his ' Naval Gunnery ' and ' Military Bridges.' The King paid a tribute to his worth in a public address at the Ro3^al Military College at Sandhurst, in June, 1834, and eulogised his services and literary productions, describing him as " an ofiBcer of first-rate ability and scientific attainments." His ' The. letter is dated Windsor Castle, August 3, 1832. Z 314 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXII. Majesty remarked that " his high talents and zeal in the service of his country were hereditary ;" and added in a pointed manner and with great emphasis, that " to his own knowledge the distinguished merits of Sir Howard's father— Sir Charles Douglas, to whom the naval service of the country was greatly indebted — had not met their commensurate reward, merely owing to party spirit, of which he was the victim." Such an allusion from the Sovereign might be expected to produce an effect; but no employment was found for Sir Howard till 1835, when he was appointed Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, at that moment a most unenviable post. The Republic of the Seven Islands comprises a group on the coast of Greece, in a situation that gives them an importance exceeding their size, as the largest of the cluster locks both the Adriatic and Levant. Such a fastness should be held by a nation with a strong grip, but whose traditions guarantee that the vantage it gives will not be abused ; and the Congress of Vienna vested the protectorate in Great Britain, as a power answerinor these conditions. The islands are not to be coveted for themselves, as they afford no room for colonization, and are a source of expense instead of profit ; Avhile the population embraces an impoverished gentry, who think it their interest to be disaffected. Thus a field presents itself for foreign intrigue ; and this was not overlooked when the feeling which ruled the Congress of Vienna subsided, and the position of England in the Mediterranean was seen to be an obstacle to aggressive designs. But England could not resign such a post to a strong power, and it would be wrested from a weak one ; so that she has been Chap. XXXII. APPOIKTED TO THE IONIAN ISLANDS. 315 obliged to maintain the protectorate for the common security. The situation is changed by late events, and arrangements are now proposed for its termination. Corfu did not escape the political agitation of the time, and a cry had been raised for a new constitution, which received encouragement from a proclamation by Sir Howard's predecessor, Lord Nugent. The expec- tations thus raised were damped by his appointment, and he immediately became an object of attack, the agitators denouncing him as a violent Tory, opposed to progress, and a sworn enemy to concession. An opposition was organised against him before he arrived ; and it was determined to resist him from the first, and make his government impracticable. It did not take Sir Howard long to perceive how he stood, but he kept his own counsel, and acquainted himself with the views of parties and the state of popular opinion, from which he drew up a statement for the British Government as to what he thought necessary to reform. This was done within a few days of his arrival at Corfu, but threatened to be useless, for it had scarcely been completed when news came of the fall of the Ministry, placing the Govern- ment of England in the hands of the Whigs. The change threw the lonians into ecstasy. It was not doubted that Sir Howard would be recalled, and he entertained this opinion himself. But his mere recall would not satisfy the anti-English party, and they resolved to give it the appearance of a concession to themselves, which would make it an humiliation. Accordingly they accused him of overstepping his authority, and embodied the charge in a memorial to Lord Glenelg, the new Secretary for the Colonies, z 2 31G LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXII. representing him as a despot, who trampled on every right and class. The memorial was despatched to England by the same mail that carried his programme, and its statements were then made public, there being no doubt that they must work their effect before he could furnish a refutation. Sir Howard was not one to sit down under imputa- tions, but these could only become important from being entertained by the Government, and he left them unnoticed for the moment, waiting to be apprised of their reception. Nor did he look for more than strict justice, having determined to resign his post, as he hardly expected a Whig Minister would afford him that support without which it was impossible to meet the Legislative Assembly.^ But he resolved to main- tain his authority while it remained in his hands, and became more resolute as his assailants became more violent. They found consolation in antici- pating the effect of their machinations in England, and exulted at the prospect of his recall, naming the very hour when it would arrive. At last the packet steamed into the harbour and landed her mails, and the news spread through Corfu and through the Medi- terranean. It was a surprise to every one, for the memorials of the agitators were returned unanswered, Sir Howard was confirmed in his post,^ and the new ^ " My first impulse, seeing these difficulties, was to resign." — Letter of Sir Howard Douglas to Lord John Russell. 2 The author was up the Mediterranean when the news arrived, and remembers the impression it produced , though he was only a boy at the time. A feeling prevailed that Sir Howard triumphed through his interest, but the following letter will show that he received no favour : — " My dear Sir Howard, " Downing Street, 14th April, 1835. " The intelligence will doubtless have reached you of the dissolution Chap. XXXII. EUSSIAN INTRIGUES. 317 Minister adopted his programme, and supported it witli all his authority. For a moment the opposition was checked, but influences were at work to keep it together, and proved successful. Sir Howard traced the action of Eussia and Greece, or rather of Greece under Russian direction, and saw its object. The first indication of these troubles comes from the letters addressed to him by Sir Edmund Lyons, the British Minister at Athens, and he hears of a panic at the Greek Court, caused by an intimation from the lady of the Russian Ambassador that three Turks in Corfu had sworn to assassinate the King. Sir Edmund Lyons does not apprehend much danger, but he tells Sir Howard that the Greek Prime Minister is of a different opinion, and entreats that he will take measures of precaution. These were hardly necessary, as the assassins existed only in the imagination of the lady, who used them to further Russian intrigues. The King fell more under Russian influence, and Sir Edmund Lyons announces that a post at Court has been given to of Sir Eobert Peel's administration ; and if you have had the means of observing the course of proceedings in the House of Commons, as reported in the public papers during the last fortnight, you will not have been surprised at this result. Our resignation was tendered to the King last Wednesday, and we only hold our offices until our successors shall be appointed. " I will not indulge in any speculations affecting our future prospects either at home or abroad, but sincerely hope that whoever may succeed me in this department will feel it to be his duty not to disturb you in the Ionian Islands. I have established no precedent for such a practice since I have been here, and your appointment had the additional recommendation of being in conformity witli the Keport of the Committee of the Ilouse of Commons " Believe me, my dear Sir Howard, " Very truly yours, " Aberdeen." 318 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIl. Count Bulzo, an Ionian agitator, and one of the par- tisans of the Czar. But Sir Howard continued to show his goodwill, and rendered the Greek Govern- ment some important services, for W'hich he received the King's thanks.^ He availed himself of this open- ing to obtain several immunities for the lonians, arranging that their vessels were to be admitted into Greek ports on the same footing as those of Greece, in return for a like privilege, and that no fees were to be charged on their passports. He also made over- tures for establishing reciprocity of trade, and nego- tiated a convention for the transmission of letters between the islands and Greece, and another for the regulation of quarantine.^ He was very solicitous for the material advancement of the islands ; and this he sought to promote Ijy the construction of roads and the removal of impediments on commerce, at the same time initiating several im- provements. The means for such projects were limited, as Lord Nugent had endeavoured to propi- tiate the lonians by abolishing the Customs-duties, which deprived the revenue of 150,000/. a year,^ and it now fell short of the expenditure. But he pro- cured funds for a poorhouse and lunatic asylum, and for the improvement of prisons, as well as a large sum for purposes of puljlic instruction. The town of Corfu had long suffered from a scarcity of water, and he looked round for a source of supply, which he found on a neighbouring height, where it had been unheeded before ; and here he constructed a reservoir, employed * Despatch from Sir Edmund Lyons to Sir Howard Douglas, October 18, 1835. - Despatches of Sir Edmund Lyons to Sir Howard Douglas. ' Letter of Sir Howard Douglas to Lord John Russell. Chap. XXXII. LETTER FROM DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER. 319 soldiers to lay down pipes, and brought water to the town in an abundant stream. About this time Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester addressed to him the following letter, which gives a glimpse of the affectionate relations maintained between the members of the Royal family, and possesses an historic value, from the allusion made to the character of Her Majesty in her youth : — " My dear Sir Howard, " April the IStli [no year]. " I trouble you with this letter by the Rev. "William Greville, who was for some years curate at Egham, and has made himself respected and beloved by everybody round that neighbourhood. Sir William Fremantle, and Lady Anne, and Mr. C. Smith have begged me, as well as many other of the neighbours, to recommend him strongly to your notice and that of Lad}?- Douglas. Any kindness or attention you can pay to him or Mrs. Greville I shall feel obliged to you for. " I venture to send by this family a dress for each of your daughters, the last of our new manufacturing that has appeared, which I hope they will kindly accept as a mark of my affection and regard ; and I also send to Lady Douglas an album, which I trust she will fill with her daughters' drawings ; and a ring, which she will love for my sake. I trust this may find 3^ou all in good health and enjoying the fine climate you are in. I have to thank you for some very enter- taining prints which Mr. Buckhouse sent me. Every proof of your kind recollection is gratifying to me. I am vain enough to believe you will rejoice to hear that 320 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXII. my health keeps improving, and I have passed a good winter, and hope to venture to go out a little in the world. I appeared for an hour at three most splendid parties the Duchess of Kent gave during the time her nephew, the Prince of Portugal, was in England, on his way to Lisbon, and did not suffer from the exer- tion. I have become a subscriber to the Ancient Concerts, but have not been there yet. I determined not to go to any place before I paid my respects at the Drawing-room •, and next Thursday I propose to make my first appearance there for the last five years. Of course I shall not attempt to stay longer than I am equal to, as the King and Queen have given me leave to go away when I feel fatigued. Gloucester House is now most comfortable, and I am quite settled in my new apartments, and the whole house looks clean. I have had two little parties and some very good music, which answered particularly well; and my friends encouraged me so, and appeared to like it so much, that I intend giving another the day the King and Queen dine at Gloucester House. Bagshot Park is to be put under repair. Being a Crown house, the King has kindly ordered the Office of Works to go down and see what is required, which will make it impossible for me to be there this summer. Should my health continue as good as it is now, I have some idea of using this opportunity to take a trip, and make my brother the Duke of Cambridge a visit at Hanover The King, thank God, keeps well, and avoids all the anxieties of the times he can. In the painful state of politics and parties it is a mercy he keeps so well. The great prosperity of the country keeps this Government in. How long it will last, Chap. XXXII. TRIBUTE TO HER MAJESTY. 321 God knows ; but I believe tliat the longer they remain in, the more mischief they will do " All my sisters are well. My brother Augustus is about to undergo the operation for his eyes, and we have every hope of success, as Alexander assures us he never saw eyes look more in health. My niece Yictoria is a kind, pleasing, and interesting, promising young person, full of good and right feelings. " I think b}^ this time you must be quite tired of myself and my family concerns, but I am sure you will be glad to have these few particulars from me. I hope this volume ^ will bring me as long an one from some of you, and that you may be able to give a good account of all those dear to you. Offer my love to Lady Douglas and your daughters, and my kind regards to Percy, and believe me " Yours sincerely, " Mary." The elements of discord existing in Corfu attracted the notice of the Pope^ and the Roman Catholic party in England, now exercising great influence, under O'Connell. They had formed a design of apportioning the British empire in Roman Catholic sees, and de- cided to begin with the colonies, where the proceeding was not likely to excite alarm, and where success would give a warrant for action in England. There seemed no spot so favourable for a commencement as the Ionian Islands. It might be objected that a ^ The term " volume " is applied to the letter, which is of great length, but the portions relating to Her Royal Highness's private affairs are suppressed. 322 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXII. Bishop there would be without a flock, as there were few Eoman Catholics ; but this was rather an advan- tage, for the British Government and the Lord High Commissioner would jump at the introduction of a counterpoise to the Greek Church, which drew the lonians towards Russia; and the recognition of a Bishop in Corfu involved recognition in every other dependency. Such was the prospect opened in October, 1838, when the 'Catholic Magazine' an- nounced the erection of an Ionian see, and its bestowal on the Right Reverend Dr. Hynes. "These are gratifying circumstances for the lonians," remarked the Editor, " in the difiicult position in which the Catholic religion is placed amongst them, and they have reason to be grateful to his Holiness for selecting a divine to preside over them who had gained the distinguished notice of the Holy See, obtained the merited confidence of the British Government, and secured the love and veneration of those whom he formerly guided on the road ' that leadeth to eternal life.' We have no doubt that Lord Glenelg and Her Majesty's Ministers will, besides their lil)erality and sense of justice, be actuated by a desire to secure the affectionate loyalty of that part of the population whose difference of religion secures it a barrier to Russian intrigue, and strengthens their hold of those islands, which, though small, may become of the greatest importance, should the forebodings of great political convulsions in the East be realised." The paragraph is obscurely worded ; but it does not hide the bait, and none could look more tempting. Nor is the British Government to be discouraged that the Roman Catholic fold in the islands is "small," Chap. XXXIT. PAPAL AGGRESSION. 323 but rather consider what it " may become," and rest the English dominion on its " affectionate loyalty." Sir Howard little dreamt of the ally who was coming to his aid — so little, that he expected to see one of his opponents, when a page announced " the Bishop of Corfu." How was he startled to behold a stranger, robed in the canonicals of the Roman Catholic Church ! The Bishop delivered his credentials in the shape of a letter to Sir Howard from Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Minister ; another from the Sacred College of the Propaganda ; and a third from his friend Major-General Sir Charles Napier,^ all of which were read with attention. " You seem not to be aware that there is already a Bishop in Corfu ? " remarked Sir Howard. Dr. Hynes intimated that he was a Catholic Bishop appointed by the Pope. "I know of but one Bishop here, sir," replied Sir Howard, " and no other could be recognised." Dr. Hynes remonstrated, and pointed out the im- portance to England of the Roman Catholic interest in the islands ; but Sir Howard could not be persuaded that the British Government was not strong enough to hold its ground without this bulwark. The prelate appealed to the letter of the Minister of the Colonies ; but was shown that this was no recognition, nor could such be given without the sanction of the Ionian senate. He declared he would assume his functions, and abide the consequences ; but met a firmness sur- passing his own, and learnt that he would not be 1 " Minuto d'una conversazione die ebbe Sua Excellenza col Dr. Hynes," in the ' Douglas Papers.' 324 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXII. permitted to remain in the island. He denied that he could be expelled, and warned the Lord High Commissioner that his conduct must be answered in England. " I have only to say," was the reply, " that you will be removed by the police, if you are not gone within twenty-four hours ! " Dr. Hynes threw down his defiance, but seems to have been better counselled ; for he took his departure from Corfu within the time. So ended the papal aggression in the Ionian Islands, and it might never have been attempted in England if it had met the same front in our other dependencies. The dismissal of the Eoman Bishop gratified the clergy, but nothing could appease the anti-English part}^ ; and they continued their agitation, giving the Lord High Commissioner no respite. They even established an agency in England, and the Colonial Office was beset with his assailants, who went to prefer their complaints in person, while a memorial was forwarded from Mr. Dandolo, accusing him of infringing the constitution, and praying for his recall. But Lord Glenelg declared that such a memorial could not be received while the constitution existed, as this provided that all communications to the Government must be transmitted throudi the Lord Hioh Com- missioner. The weight of this support and his own energy carried his measures through the Assembly : he w^on the adhesion of the senate, and terminated the session in triumph. Nor was he unappreciated by the people, and an attack made upon him in a Greek journal was repelled by an Ionian, whose sentiments are reflected in the following paragraph, quoted in the Chap. XXXII. DEFENDED BY AN IONIAN. 325 'Morning Chronicle' at the time from 'Galignani's Messenger :' — " The ' Soter,' of Athens, having published not long since an article complaining of the manner in which the adminis- tration of the Ionian Islands was conducted, and asserting that the tribunals were overawed by the Government, and that the police exercised a most oppressive control over the inhabitants, prying into the secrecy of their domestic relations, and destroying all social confidence, a reply to this article has been sent to that journal from a resident of Corfu. The writer, after observing that it is by no means the duty of an honest and impartial editor of a public journal to provoke turbulent individuals to write against the Government, declares that the accusation of the ' Soter ' is based on a totally false view of the actual condition of the Ionian Islands. He observes that the administration of Sir Howard Douglas is justly popular throughout all the islands ; that their material prosperity is rapidly on the increase, as is proved by the cir- culation of capital, the alterations going on in the towns, and the ameliorations introduced into the agricultural districts ; while, as far as the moral and political condition of the islands is concerned, they enjoy much greater liberty than many other European states ; that perfect freedom of discussion is allowed ; that the functions of the police are in reality con- fined only to the furtherance of justice and the preservation of liberty ; that the tribunals are totally uninfluenced by the government ; and the perfect freedom of the press will in all probability be speedily established. This reply the ' Soter ' inserts in one of its recent numbers." 326 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIII. CHAPTER XXXIII. At the Great Earthquake of Zante. It is pleasant to find proofs of Sir Howard's goodness of heart in the midst of so much vexation. To what extent it was practised cannot be told ; for some of his kindnesses come as a surprise on his own family, and his papers show that it never slept. One instance may be recorded here. An officer in England found that he must be prepared to pay a large sura by a certain day, or he would be ruined, and he wrote in despair to Sir Howard, revealing his situation and the circumstances. Sir Howard mentioned the importance of procuring the money to three or four of the officer's friends in Corfu, and proposed that they should club together and make it up. This was done, and the amount transmitted to England, eliciting the following acknowledgment: — "I cannot express to you, my dear Sir Howard, how grateful I feel for what you have so kindly and so readily done for me ; nor do I feel less so for the kind co-operation of my good friends w^ho surround you. I will confess I was most dreadfully alarmed when I saw the perfect^ unfore- seen order come out, and felt the most intense agony of mind, passing miserable daj's and sleepless nights. May the time not be distant when I may have it in my power to return, with most heartfelt thanks, what Chap.xxxiii. atrocities of greek government. 327 you, my dear Sir Howard, and those others to whom I owe my present peace of mind, have so kindly advanced to me." Distress or suffering never pleaded to him in vain, nor was any appeal needed if they came under his notice ; for he carried his succour unasked. Thus Ave have seen him relieving the poor soldiers in the Spanish hospitals, riding miles to visit a wounded Frenchman, and sharing his own little comforts among the sick at Walcheren. He now exerted his influence to curb the despotism established in Greece, and put a stop to its atrocities, the nature of which may be conjectured from the following extract from a letter addressed to him by Sir Edmund Lyons : ^ — " The w^omen whose persons had been lacerated by the cats which were placed in their drawers presented them- selves to the King; but His Majesty says the end justifies the means. Now what was the end proposed? To torture these women into accusing the Minister's political opponents ! " Immediately on receipt of this letter, Sir Howard inserted an article in the * Corfu Gazette,' describing the outrage and holding up the Greek Government to the execration of Europe. He made the strongest representations to the King himself, and his attitude and proceedings caused such alarm, that his Majest}^ deemed it prudent to recede, at least in appearance. " I cannot sufficiently express my sense of the importance I attach to your valuable support," writes Sir Edmund Lyons, after this success. But the King had become his enemy, and henceforward favoured every movement against his authority, and 1 Dated January 12, 1839. 328 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIII. maligned liim to every Englisbman of influence who visited Athens. Yet a time came when his rule extorted homage even from the Court of Greece. Most of his adver- saries made him the same reparation, and for the same reason — that his motives were disinterested and sprang from a sense of duty. He had no warmer friends, in later years, than some of his Corfu oppo- nents, who had gone to lengths in their hostility which it is better not to review ; and others were his admirers in secret, without being admitted to his friendship. One instance may be mentioned : his administration had secured to the islands new channels of trade, involving extensive transactions, which led to an occasional pressure for money ; and great in- convenience arose for want of the proper facilities. Advances could only be obtained from usurers, at rates varying from twenty to forty per cent. ; and the extortions of these money-lenders became a hindrance to trade, as well as a scandal. It attracted the notice of Sir Howard, and he suggested to some of the chief merchants the propriety of establishing a bank on the joint-stock principle, which would be open to all. He could not aid the undertaking with money, as he considered persons in authority debarred from en- gaging in speculations ; but the necessary funds were provided, and he then brought the project before the Legislature. Here it met an unexpected opponent in the Treasurer-General, Mr. Woodhouse, who looked upon it as calculated to lessen his importance, and threw every obstacle in its way. His conduct was the more culpable, as Sir Howard had just rccom- Chap. XXXIIT. JOINT-STOCK BANK ESTABLISHED. 329 mended him to the Colonial Secretary for the second class of the Order of St. Michael and St. George/ though he had before provoked his displeasure. As an English functionary he gave dignity to the oppo- sition, and it seemed impossible the measure could pass. But the discussion brought out the objects it contemplated, and it was now espoused by the public, who obliged the faction to give way, and the project received the sanction of the Assembl}', in spite of the Treasurer-General. It proved a great public benefit, and Mr. Woodhouse marked his respect for Sir Howard on his departure from Corfu by buying his horse, which he declared should never be saddled again. It was impossible to keep up a bad feeling against Sir Howard ; for he gave it no provocation, meet- ing hostility with conciliation and forbearance. He resented an affront, but he forgave an injury, and no one acted less under the influence of anger. An incident of this period may be cited as an example of his self-command and generosity. A member of his staff Avas so affected by the climate as to be unable to perform his duties, which were of a con- fidential nature, and could not be intrusted to a deputy, so that they fell on Sir Howard himself. But the labour was not his whole burden ; for the state of the gentleman's health made him fretful, and the Lord High Commissioner had not onl}^ to do his work, but 1 This recomnicuflation is revealed in Lord Glenelg's reply, dated London, January 28, 1839, and wliich sa}s : — ■" I have not answered your desj^atch, marl^ed 'separate' of the 9th of October hist, because I have felt much difliculty re'j,ardiug the advance of Mr. Woodhouse to the Coniraandership of the 0. of St. M. and St. George. I am quite ready to do justice to the merits and services of that gentleman ; but I question the expediency of conferring that dignity on the officer holding the rank of Treasurer. It is with sincere concern that I feel myself obliged to differ from j'ou." 2 A 330 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIU. to bear with his temper. Thus things continued for a couple of years, when the doctors reported that a longer residence in Corfn would shorten his life, and might affect his reason. Sir Howard then gave him leave of absence, and sent him to England with despatches, at the same time making a strong appeal for him to the Colonial Secretary. " I venture," he writes, " my earnest recommendation, suggested by the greatest regard for him and his family, that your Lordship will do what you can to get him removed to a better situation in a better climate. From the effects of bodily ill-health and great depression of spirits and great languor, and from the very embar- rassed state of his pecuniary affairs, I forebode serious consequences to my poor friend, if we cannot rescue him by a more suitable, more healthy, and more pro- fitable employment." The mention of the gentleman as his "poor friend " instances his unaffected character. This showed itself continually, and sometimes in a way to excite a smile, linking his wisdom with the simplicit}- and ingenuous- ness of a child. One of his local improvements was the construction of a cemeterj", for which he had diffi- culty in obtaining funds, as there were doubts whether it could be made to pay. " Well, Sir Howard," cried a friend, who met him out riding, " how do you get on with the cemetery?" "Oh, capitall}^" was the reply ; " we have half-a-dozen burials every day." A letter from Sir Edmund Lyons acquaints him with an incident in his family which caused a noise u)) the Mediterranean at the time, and agitated fashionable circles in England. Indeed, it still has Chap. XXXIII. LOKD FITZALAN. 331 an interest, and might be made the subject of a novel ; for it opens a wide fiekl for the imagination in its association of romance with love. Chance brought to the British embassy at Athens the 3'ouug Lord Fitz- alan, heir to the oldest dukedom of Eugland. There he was seized with a fever, and received the tenderest attention from Sir Edmund Lyons and his household, which led to the restoration of his health, but at the cost of his heart. As soon as his strength allowed, he flew to England, and asked his father's permission to seek the hand of Miss Lyons.^ Sanction was readily given, and here we obtain a glimpse of the sequel : — " My dear Sir Howard, " Atliens, ISth March, 1S39. "I am sure you will be glad to hear that we have received very delightful letters from Lord Fitz- alan's family. Lord Surrey writes to me, and Lady Surrey writes to my wife and to my daughter. They differ, however, with their son upon one point — he would come to Athens — tltey engage us to come to England, for many reasons which they give ; such as the register of the marriage ; but above all, that the Duke of Norfolk may have the happiness of witnessing the marriage of his grandson, the heir to all the honours of his ancient house. Lord Surrey contem- plates the possibility of my not being able to quit my post, and in that case urges me to send the ladies, as he is of opinion that, when once such matters are decided upon, the sooner they are fully accomplished the better. This, my dear Sir Howard, is irresistible ; so Lady Lyons and my daughters will start from 1 The present Duchess of Norfolk. 2 A 2 332 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIII. Aiicona next month, probably by the Austrian steamer of the 12th, and they will be under the pro- tection of Mr. Griffith, the secretary of this mission, who is going on leave. It is a great sacrifice of private feeling to public duty that I am making ; but make it I must, and my son, who has just been attached to this mission in the most flattering manner to me, will remain with me. " Pray present me to the ladies, and believe me, my dear Sir Howard, " Yours most faithfully, " Edmund Lyoxs." A high position claims the practice of hospitality, and few carried this duty further than Sir Howard, bearing in mind his limited means and the demands he had to meet. His dinners, and parties, and balls are talked of in Corfu to this day, and not their least attraction was the warm friendliness of the host and hostess. He was not a lover of state, and made no display, but he kept up the dignity of his position, and the palace gave a welcome to all comers. Its saloons formed a common centre for English and lonians, and the Lord High Commissioner mingled in the same spirit with each, smoothing down antipathies, and setting an example of good fellowship. He never forgot that he was an author, and surrounded himself with whatever the islands possessed of literary talent, while Lady Douglas showed the same favour to artists, merit being a passport to both. Nor were their invitations confined to the inhabitants of Corfu and the English functionaries and garrison. They Chap. XXXIII. PRIXCE GEORGE OF CAMBRIDGE. 333 constantly entertained persons who brought letters of introduction from friends in England, as well as many of the English nobility, royal princes, and even crowned heads, as they passed to and fro in the Medi- terranean. The visitors in 1839 Avere unusually nu- merous, and included His Eoj^al Highness Prince George of Cambridge, who visited Corfu on his way to Grreece. From that country His Eoyal Highness addressed to the Lord High Commissioner the follow- ing letter, giving an account of his proceedings : — • "My dear Sir Howard, " Athens, 6th June, 1839. "I take advantage of to-day's post to write to you a few lines to tell you of our safe arrival at Athens, after a ver}^ prosperous journey, and which, thanks to your kind assistance, was made as comfort- ably and as easily as possible. We stopped at Santa Maura and Samos, and I can assure you that nothing could exceed the attention and kindness of both Colonel Sutherland and Captain Fitzgerald, as well as of the Eegent of Cephalonia. We were tolerably fortunate in our excavations at Samos, and I have taken the liberty of sending you some of the things we found. Nothing could exceed the attention of Captain Gavalzo, whom we found an exceedingly amusing man ; and I cannot thank you sufficiently for your kindness in letting me have one of the Ionian steamers, by which means I was enabled to see so much more than I otherwise should have done. I also must beg leave to thank you once more for your hospitality and kindness in allowing me to remain in your very agreeable house, and for the trouble 334 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIII. jou took in making my stay at Corfu in every respect cleligiilful and interesting. We shall go on to Con- stantinople on Saturday evening by the Austrian steamer. I am here at the house of Sir Edmund Lyons, whom I find a delightful person, and to whom I feel greatly indebted. Of Athens I have as yet seen but little, with the exception of the Acropolis, with which I am quite delighted. May I request you to present my l3est compliments to Lady and Miss Douglas and to the officers of your staff; and believe me ever, iny dear Sir Howard, " Your most sincere friend, " George." The young Prince had not passed Sir Howard un- noted, and he reported to the Duke of Cambridge that he saw in him high qualities such as he has since dis- played. This grasp of character at a glance was one of his gifts, and rarcl}' missed — though his glance was open and trusting, never covert. He invited frank- ness by being frank himself, and had no trick of the eye to surprise or disturb. The Duke of Cambridge received a testimony to his son with pride from such an authority, and this feeling pervades his reply : — " CnmLridge House, *'My dear Sir Howard, lath July, 1839. "I have many thanks to return you for your kind letter, and to assure you that I feel very grateful for the attention you have shown to my son during his stay at Corfu. He is delighted with all he has seen there, and he feels deeply your kindness to him. Chap. XXXIII. EARTHQUAKE AT ZANTE. 335 Nothing can be more satisfying to my feelings than the opinion yon give of dear George, and I trust he will continue by his future conduct to prove that he is worthy of being the grandson of George the Third. " Believe me, m}^ dear Sir Howard, " Yours most sincerely, " Adolphus." The year was not to close without calling Sir Howard to other duties, which brought out his best qualities, nobly displaying his character. It is re- markable how his career placed him in situations open to such, actions, as it embraced the range of human catastrophes ; for he experienced the perils of battle, storm, shipwreck, and famine ; faced pes- tilence at Walcheren, revolt in Belgium, and fire in New Brunswick; and now destiny made him a witness of earthquake. He could have had no fore- boding as he entered the harbour of Zante in the Ionian steamer, and saw flags fly up to bid him wel- come, while the sun beamed on an unrippled sea, looking like a mirror. Every one exclaimed at the prospect, so familiar, but which had never appeared so lovely. But this calm veiled a dislocation of Nature, and the exclamations were interrupted by a sudden concussion, which threw all on board from their feet. Sir Howard thought the steamer had run on a rock, but a cry of " terra mota " from the crew gave another explanation, and realised the convulsion to every mind. The sea was raging in an instant ; the clouds seemed to have been shaken from heaven, and girt 33G LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIII. the shore ; and the air rang with a terrible cry. Sir Howard swept the land with his glass, and saw that the seeming clouds were volumes of dust thrown up by the cliffs, which heaved like waves. Houses were lying in heaps, and people were running to and fro distracted. He had come to the island to inspect the garrison, and preparations had been made to receive him in state ; but this he now forbade, and landed without delay. He sent one of his staff to the castle to look after the troops, selecting for this service Colonel Dawkins, the Assistant Quartermaster-General, and made for the town himself, in company with his aides-de-camp, Captain Best and Lieutenant Forbes. The scene that met his eye blended horror with deso- lation. The air was dark with dust ; walls gaped in seams ; houses leaned over, so that a breath would throw them down, and nothing remained of others but shapeless ruins or piles of rubbish. But more har- rowing than this spectacle was the w^ail of human terror. It rose from every quarter, and might daunt the stoutest heart. But Sir Howard had not come to think of himself : he was there to rescue others •, and this was soon felt. A man rushed up with a cry, as he caught sight of his well-known face. " Ah, Excellency ! you are here to help us ? " he exclaimed. " As far as I can," replied Sir Howard. The earth shook as he spoke ; the houses rocked, and a huge coping-stone fell over, and crushed the man to death at his side. The panic was now appalling. Every one rushed into the streets — the men white with fear, and women and children screaming, cro^Yding together, or running Chap. XXXIII. EAETHQUAKE AT ZANTE. 337 they knew not where. The ground seemed alive, yawning under the foot, or rising to its step ; the houses rocked and fell ; rolling thunder beneath was answered by crash on crash above ; and the scene lacked no element of horror. But one man moved through it undismayed. His voice was heard amidst the din, calming and reassuring ; his example gave courage, and his presence inspired hope. He directed the people to the spots where they would be in least danger, and took measures to extricate the inmates of fallen houses and remove the dead — sending for the troops to assist. All the operations were carried on under his own eye, and he went from point to point during their progress, and remained on the spot through the night. Such a night ! The darkness enveloped heaven and earth, hiding the usually clear sky and every object beneath, except where the torches of the soldiers and working parties threw up a glare, or when the lightning burst in a vivid flash. The people were lying in the streets, but started up with shrieks at every shock, which now made the earth heave, now came like a quiver — at one moment with crashing thunder, at another amidst the silence of the grave. Morning brought reports from every quarter announcing the same destruction, and Sir Howard learnt that scarcely a house in the island remained standing. The work he undertook tasked all his powers, and was not to be despatched in a day, though he pushed it rapidly forward — constructing temporary barracks for the troops, who were left without a roof, and then providing shelter for the inliabitants, so that all might be under cover before winter. For this he drew on 338 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIII. tliG public stores, and obtained supplies from Corfu, where his appeal for help met a prompt response. He became his own almoner and architect, and made a tour of the island, visiting every village and almost every house, and comforting as much by his words as his succour. Indeed, Zante would have been deserted but for his presence ; for the earthquake did not cease, though it diminished, and such terror prevailed that many feared to lie down at night, lest the island should be engulfed before morning. The shocks oc- curred every hour, and extended over a fortnight, till they numbered upwards of six hundred, and it seemed that the convulsion would never end. But the most timid rallied at sight of the Lord High Commissioner, ahvavs calm and resolute, and sure to be found at the point of danger. They became influenced by his example, and he swayed the population as one man, so that he was able to act with extraordinary vigour and effect. Nor did he leave the island till the shocks had ceased and he had brought his work to a completion. Services so signal could not pass unnoted, and they were reported to the General Commanding in Chief, whose approbation was conveyed to the Lord High Commissioner by Lord Fitzroy Somerset in the fol- lowing terms : — " I have to express his Lordship's sense of the great exertions made by yourself, and by those acting under your judicious direction and autho- rity, in affording the most effectual relief to the sufferers the circumstances of this unforeseen calamity would admit of, and equally in providing cover and temporary accommodation for the troops when their barracks WTre rendered uninhabitable. The General Chap. XXXUI. ArPROBATIOX OF HIS SERVICES. 339 Commanding in Chief further commanded me to ob- serve that it was, in his opinion, fortunate that the inspection of the 38th Eegiment had so opportunely brought 5"ou to the island, where your personal direc- tion and authority have been exerted with so much advantage to the public service." 340 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIV. CHAPTER XXXIY. Effects a Coup d'Etat. Though taking a wide range, Sir Howard's hospi- talities had a limit : the doors of the palace were shut against such of the English functionaries and residents as had formed loose connexions. To have extended the same rule to the lonians would have been to pro- claim an interdict, and hence he was more rigorous with the English, by whose example he hoped to put the prevailing corruption to shame. He had con- ceived the design of raising the lonians to the English level — as near as might be ; and proposed to base their regeneration on a scheme of general education and a new system of laws. The difficulty of such a work may be understood from the character given of them by Sir Thomas Maitland, than whom no one knew them better: — "To a British mind," he writes, " the feelings of the people of these coun- tries are equally repugnant and revolting, and it docs require a positive experience and knowledge of tlieir cliaracter to be able to make up one's mind to the Ijelief that people exist with principles so de- grading and feelings so debased They are much fonder of Eussian than of British liberty, and they would prefer any Government, however corrupt and tyrannical, to the only one Great Britain can ever wish to give them — one that would tend to their Chap. XXXIV. CHAEACTER OF THE GEEEKS. 341 general happiness, prosperity, and security. I doubt much, to say the truth, whether the cliaracter most dreaded and most detested in these countries is not that of an honest and upright man." Sir Thomas Maitland's description is corroborated by a French traveller, M. Lacour, who visited Zante in 1832, and notices the islanders in an account of his travels published two years later : — " Aussi a nous Fran^ais confient-ils qu'ils detestent souverainement les Anglais, et Zante serait en notre pouvoir ; qu'ils adresseraient aux Russes les memes voeux et les memes plaintes. Le Grec est I'homme le plus vain, le plus ingrat, le plus leger de tons les hommes. Le Zantiote sous ce rapport est plus que Grec ; il porte ses vices de lachete, de perfidie, et de fanatisnie a Fextreme." The French opinion of the Greeks will not be raised by their tender of the Crown to Prince Alfred, but this has shown them in a better light in England, and corroborates the testimony the}^ received from Sir Howard — that their vices are caused by their rulers, and show a redeeming margin. He was not for leaving this barbarism unchecked in the case of the lonians, but sought to effect a reformation. The principles he kept in view are unfolded in a despatch to the Colonial Secretary, on the 25th of April, 1839:— "A sense of national dignity, and all the high and noble sjanpathies which so peculiarly distin- guish our country, unite in requiring us to show that we are not actuated solely by selfish motives in re- taining possession of these islands, and that we recog- nise the moral obligation that rests with us, above all 342 LIFE OF SIK HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIY. others, to dispense the blessings of internal improve- ments, education, and civilisation which Great Britain has it so much in her power to confer, and which may realise to these people, and exhibit to adjoining na- tions, the peculiar advantages which accrue to all who have the hapi)iness to be connected with our great nation "As the right of initiation, the power of control, and the responsibility of execution, rest in so high a degree with the protecting country, so the obligation is the more binding, the duty the more sacred, for that country to exercise vigilance and activity in pressing forward discreetly and rationally all measures tending to improve the moral and political condition of these States, to bring the people to that point which may admit of such modifications and changes in their constitution as should be consequent upon and cannot safely precede an improved state of society " But this sacred duty will be but indifferentl}" dis- charged, and these splendid prospects but imperfectly realised, if, whilst establishing firmly our military possession of these islands, we do not evince a still greater solicitude to secure ourselves as firmly in the affections and confidence of the people by devoting ourselves to the internal improvement of the countr}--, and by treating the people in all respects with as much favour as we show to the interests of the inha- bitants of our other possessions. But truth and a strong sense of duty compel me to declare that the internal state of the country, the moral and phj'sical state of the people, have not been benefited by British connexion so far as to protect us hereafter from the Chap. XXXIV. TACTIOUS OPPOSITION. 343 reproach of having attended less to their interests than our own." It might seem there could be no opposition to a ruler so alive to his duties, and so sensible of Avhat had been left undone. But this was a character the lonians did not want. They saw in him an enemy of abuses and a promoter of economy, while they were all look- ing for a job or sinecure. He aimed at the public good, and they at their private advantage, raving about their country, but offering to sell it for a mess of potage. They could not understand benevolent designs framed to elevate a wretched community, and everj'thing Sir Howard proposed with such a view appeared to them a deception and snare. He had urged the Colonial Secretary to remit the tribute of 35,000^. paid by the islands towards the military ex- penses, and represented that a fund would thus accrue for internal improvements ; but he did not allow the fact of his having made an application to transpire, fearing that it might be rejected, as proved to be the result. The same reserve was not practised in England, and the secret oozed out, whence it might be expected that the lonians overwhelmed him with grati- tude. But the effect was very different. The Cavalier Mustoxidi accused him of seeking the remission of the tribute by stealth, in order to get it into his own hands, and thus secure the means of covering appro- l)riations from the revenue applied to his private use !^ ' Lord John Russell thus speaks of this charge in a despatch to Sir Howard Douglas of the 4th of June, 1840: — "I can only therefore repro- bate conduct so unworthy of respect, and assure you of the continued con- fidence of the Queen whom you have the honour to serve." 344 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIV. But the Lord High Commissioner could not be turned from his policy by slander. He rather looked on the lonians with pity,^ and ascribed their vices to ignorance and "centuries of misgovernment," ^ main- taining that it should be the aim of England to put them in a way of distinguishing between good and evil. He had no respect for what he described to the Colonial Secretary as "paper constitutions," and declared that any such change in the islands would render government impossible f but he looked for- ward to a time when the lonians might be intrusted with self-government, if it were preceded by the dif- fusion of education. He now framed a measure with this object, and laid it before the Legislature, recom- mending it in the strongest manner. But his initiation of the project made the opposition more bitter, and they resisted it at every stage, while they raised a tempest among the people by representing it as a blow at their religion. Such a form of opposition seemed insurmountable, as it leagued faction with fanaticism, and arrayed against the measure all the power of the Church. But Sir Howard knew when to advance and ^ "Thoy are a good-natured people, but it never enters into their lieads that anj' Government shouhl act on the simple dictates of common sense and impartiality." — Letter from Sir Howard Douglas to Lord John Russell. 2 Despatch of the 25th April, 1S39. ' In tlie despatch of the 'inth of A\)y\\ he says : — " But no chan?;o other than that for improving the judicial organization and administration can in my opinion be safely made for many years ; and if by prematurely altering in principle the law by which the elective fninchise is at jjresent regulated, granting perfect freedom of the press or other essential changes before the people shall have acquired just views of their real interests, and be in a little fitter condition than at present to be intrusted with a more unlimited management of their own affairs, such concessions luov.ld ivfuJlihhj jn'ovc a deathblow to the sxprcvKicy of British influence, and jilunge these States into anarchy and confusion.^' How completely have these words been verified ! Chap. XXXIV, HIS LEGISLATION. 345 when to recede, and thonglit it better to gain imper- fect education than none at all ; so he permitted the introduction of a clause establishing an ecclesiastical censorship on the printing of school-books, which con- ciliated the clergy, and the measure was carried/ His next aim was to establish a code of laws which should effect for the islands what Napoleon accom- plished for France, and what baffled Lord Macaulay in India. Such a work exacted study and inquiry ; for he must shape his notions by the jurisprudence of the Levant and the traditions of the people ; and for this he prepared himself by mastering the statutes of Greece, which he obtained through Sir Edmund Lyons.^ His check on the prevailing corruption was a new law of marriage and divorce, which raised the social position of women, and might be called the breath of the code. But here the anti-English faction pretended to see a new attack on the Church ; the outcry was encouraged by the Patriarch of Con- stantinople at the instigation of Russia ; and the faction again enlisted the priests, whose denunciations lashed the populace into frenzy. Sir Howard used every means to alia}" the excite- ment, and prove their apprehensions groundless. His friends in the Senate made statements in explanation, and articles appeared in the public journals detailing the points at issue, and revealing their bearings. It was shown that a revision of the laws was demanded by public morals, and that the new code rested on the dictates of nature, and possessed the advantage of sim- plicity. There could be no interference with religious 1 Despatch of the 25th April, 1839. 2 Letter from Sir Edmund Lyons, 28th January, 1839. 2 B 346 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIV. dogmas, as they were not brought iuto question, the regulations as to marriage and divorce being simihir to what existed in Greece, where they had the sanction of the Greek clergy. But the opposition could not be persuaded, being only actuated by malice ; and Sir Howard saw that he must exert his authority or forego improvement. He reported the situation to Lord John Russell, who had succeeded to the Colonial Depart- ment, and begged that he might be left to act as he should judge best in the crisis. Lord John expressed confidence in his judgment, but recommended concilia- tion, and suggested that the Assembly should have one more trial. The Lord High Commissioner understood the duty of concession, and practised it to the utmost ; but he knew that it must be backed by decision, and that occasions occurred when it would be out of place. In what way could he conciliate the faction ? By relin- quishing his projects for the elevation of the popula- tion, the retrieval of the finances, and the increase of trade and production ? Such was the aim of the mea- sures they resisted, but not because they deemed them objectionable : it was only to create obstruction. Hence nothing would be gained by a change of policy, as this was not the object sought, though made a pretext. The purpose was to stir up sedition and a cry need never be wanting. Indeed the agitators did not conceal that they desired the termination of the English protectorate, and coidd be satisfied by nothing less ; for that alone would give them the direction of affairs and possession of the revenue. It was this they had in view, whether clamouring for reform or ranting about religion, and they taught the people to look upon it as the cure for their ills, all of which they Chap. XXXIV. SCHEMES OF THE OPPOSITION. 347 laid to Britisli connexion. They knew that Sir Howard aimed at improvements, but his good intentions es- tranged them the more ; for whatever tended to win the people raised an obstacle to their schemes. Their policy was to nurse discontent and foment disorder, and several members of the Assembly bound them- selves by oath to resist ameliorations.^ How could such opponents be conciliated ? Conciliation they did not understand, except as a proof of weakness, and they now formed the opinion that Sir Howard was either held in check by the Ministry, or had come to the end of his devices. Their language grew more violent, and the sittings of the Assemljly became so stormy that he was twice obliged to resort to prorogation. Their subtlety caught a perception of his situation, but misinterpreted his attitude, mea- suring him by its own standard ; and he was derided for his fears, while they taunted him with his per- plexity, exulting at having placed him in a dead-lock. The leaders held meetings at the house of Count Bulgari, and agreed on a bolder course of action, which commenced on the reopening of Parliament.^ Their scheme was to obtain the control of the civil government, by withholding the allowance to the Lord High Commissioner guaranteed by the Constitution ; and a motion for this object was brought forward by Mr. Dondi. Sir Howard received an intimation that no change would be made in his own case if he allowed the measure to pass, and he replied to such an insult in a manner little expected. He had wrung 1 Copy of Instructions by Sir Howard Douglas to the Cavalier Viletta, President of the Assembly, in the ' Douglas Papers.' ^ Letter to Lord John Eussell. 2 B 2 348 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIY. from Lord John Russell the mandate from the Queen empowering him to act, and instantly made his appear- ance in the House and dissolved the Parliament. The faction now learnt that he had lost none of his energy, and were thrown into confusion, while the friends of English rule were reassured. Congratula- tions poured in upon him from every quarter, and he received letters of approbation from Her Majesty's Ambassadors at Vienna and Constantinople, the British Minister at Athens, the Consul-General in Egypt, the British Admiral, and other important functionaries, the tone of whose sentiments may be gathered from those of Sir Edmund Lyons : — " Your moral cournge in punishing by dissolution the soi-disant Liberal, but real Eussian part}^ has had an effect the benefit of which will, in my opinion, be felt for years to come in Greece as well as in the Islands." ^ But the agitators were not resting on the Par- liament alone. They thought the moment favour- able for an insurrection, and had called in the aid of Count George Capo dTstria, an intriguing Greek, and employed him to set it in motion. The Count drew up a plan of revolt, aiming to unite the islands with Greece under the protection of Russia, and combining the political with a religious movement, which was to extend to all the countries professing the Greek faith. A communication was opened with the Patriarch of Constantinople, and met an eager re- spouse, securing the adhesion of the clergy, w^ho kept up the excitement, and preached a crusade against the protectorate. The conspirators met by stealth, > Letter to Sir Howard Douglas, January 9, 1840. €hap. XXXIV. ARKEST OF CONSPIRATOES. 349 under an oatli of secresy, and took their measures with the greatest dexterit}^ They arranged the quarters where each should act, and concerted a rising in Greece which was to have in view the same objects. But they Avere reckoning on blindness in the Lord High Commissioner, and he was watching their move- ments and waiting till they were unmasked. At the proper moment the police were at the door : they burst into the room, seized all who were present, and secured the evidence of their papers. 350 LIFE OF SIR nOWAED DOUGLAS. Cuap. XXXV. CHAPTER XXXy. Deposes the Patriarch of Constantinople. It is worthy of note that Sir Howard cannot be charged with a single severity. The defamers of his govern- ment never adduced an instance of his overstepping the law, though he came down on his adversaries at every turn with resistless energy. His administration was a continued struggle, but without a stain ; and we hear of no hangings, scourgings, or imprisonments, but of unceasing lenity. He was not accused of rigour even in the memorials that denounced him to the Colonial-office, indictments proved to be without a particle of truth, and framed by persons who ac- knowledged themselves his debtors. His inclination to mercy was so well known, that Sir Edmund Lj^ous i:)romised pardon to one of the d'Istria conspirators, without deeming it necessary to learn his intentions. " Doctor Mavrojammi," he writes to Sir Howard, " has sent to me to say that he sees his error, and deeply laments having been led into it. I said that, if he really were repentant, it must appear in his conduct, and that you were the last person to shut the door for ever against a political sinner." ^ Indeed, the Lord High Commissioner might have brought the conspi- rators to the gallows with the evidence he possessed of their guilt ; but he regarded them as no worse than 1 Letter from Sir Edmuud Lyons, June 24, 1840. CuAP. XXXV. COMPLICITY OF THE PATRIARCH. 351 their countiyraen in general, and granted them bail as soon as they had been examined. He looked with a different eye upon their insti- gators, and especially the chief mover, the Patriarch of Constantinople. The lonians he could watch, but how was he to guard against the intrigues of Russia and Greece, carried on by a foreign pontiff who ruled the Ionian Church? The problem cost him anxious meditation. He saw a mode of solution, but it in- volved so bold a measure, that he hesitated to set it in motion until he should have felt his way. What he contemplated was the deposition of the Patriarch, and the establishment of the' independence of the Ionian Church, which might be wrested from the Patriarch's successor, by making assent a condition of his promotion. This would cut off a fruitful source of intrigue, while it would be a salutary display of England's power. But he must first establish the Patriarch's guilt in a manner that could not be dis- puted ; and the proofs in his hands might be held inconclusive ; so he determined to open his designs to Sir Edmund Lyons, and engage him to obtain evidence. He had apprised Sir Edmund of the conspiracy, and requested him to procure the seizure of Capo d'Istria's papers at his house in Athens ; and he now sent Captain Douglas ^ to explain to him what he pro- jected. But the Greek Government had no inten- tion of giving up papers so charged with secrets, and postponed their search till they could be put beyond ^ His son, now Major-Geneval Sir R. Percy Douglas, Bart., Lieutenant- Governor of Jersey. 352 LIFE OF SIE HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXV. reach. Capo d'Istria was warned of their intention, while the King professed a warm regard for Sir Howard, and pronounced the defeat of the conspiracy a service to himself.^ Nor was such an assertion unwarranted ; for the plot contemplated his assassina- tion, though his own duplicity prevented the point being established. His eflbrt to screen the Patriarch did not obtain the same success, for a letter was found proving that he had received an agent from the con- spirators, and Sir Howard brought to light a pastoral he had addressed to the lower classes, inciting them to revolt.^ The fact of this complicity came to be understood, and it is a testimony to Sir Howard's wisdom that the step he meditated was recommended to Captain Douglas by Mr. Tricoupi, the leader of the Greek Liberals, and declared by him the only remedy.^ Sir Howard now communicated with Lord Ponsonby, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, and found him well-disposed. Fortunately the foreign affairs of England were then directed by a Minister of great experience, and he saw the question in the same light, ^ " The King said many complimentary things of you, acknowledges the great kindness and attention you have always shown him and the Queen, expressed a wish to have the advantage of seeing you, and begged me to thank you for the steps you had taken in this affair." — Letter from Sir Edmund Lyons, 9th January, 1840. - " I have the honour to forward your Lordship a translated copy of a pamphlet written by his Holiness and transmitted by his emissaries to Zante for circulation among the ignorant classes." — Letter of Sir Howard Douglas to Lord Ponsonby. =* " I told Mr. Tricoupi that this important and indispensable measure had occupied much of your attention, and that you were only waiting for a more convenient and safer opportunity of doing this, if possible." — Letter from Captain Douglas, dated Athens, 23rd January, 1840. Cmav. XXXV. THE TATRIAECH DEPOSED. 853 and can gilt at tlie opportnnity of efifecting an object whicli would both administer a check to Russia, and shut the door against future intrigues. Lord Palmerston enlisted the support of France and Austria in the project, convincing those powers that the Patriarch was a Russian tool, and that their interests in the Levant were identical with those of England in rela- tion to Russian designs, which penetrated all the countries embraced by the Greek Church.^ Marshal Soult declared to Lord Granville that Lord Pal- merston's views were his own, and that the Ambas- sador of France should be instructed to aid the English Ambassador in carrjdng out their common policy.^ All being read}", the impulse was given to the Porte, and the blow struck. The ' Corfu Gazette ' announced to the lonians that the Patriarch of Constantinople had been deposed. Sir Howard had baffled the Pope, but it required him to move three of the great powers to overthrow the Patriarch. The lonians were as im- pressed by his vigour as by the display of England's influence, and the incident told wherever it was re- ported. " It has confounded the Russian party here," writes Sir Edmund Lyons from Athens.^ And Sir Robert Stopford writes from Malta, " I heartily con- gratulate you on the success of your energetic measure in putting down that hydra of faction, fomented in ^ " I see that T ord Palmerston invited the Courts of Vienna and Paris to assist in endeavouring to depose the Patriarch." — Letter from Sir Edmund Lyons to Sir Howard Douglas, March 28, 1840. - Copy of a letter from Lord Granville to Sir Edmund Lyons, in the ' Douglas Papers.' 3 Letter to Sir Howard Douglas, March 28, 1840. 354 LIFE OF SIE HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXV. every quarter by Russian intrigue to the detriment of British interests." ^ But the faction was not "put down," though it was checked. The men composing it knew the measure of English forbearance, and the latitude it permitted, and their audacitv revived as dansfer lessened. The lenity of the Lord High Commissioner then became an affront ; for it proclaimed their insignificance, and challenged their resentment. None were more bitter against him than the brothers Caravalla, the elder of whom he had brought into the Legislature, and the first use he made of his elevation was to turn against his patron, because he could not bestow upon him the post of Protonedies of Zante. The orphan children of another of the brothers had been left destitute, and he maintained them for five years at his own expense, pajang for their education, and keeping them in their own sphere of life. Yet their uncle was not ashamed to wear on his breast Russian and Greek decorations, the reward of his abuse of their benefactor. Mr. Andrea * * * * had likewise been brought for- ward bv Sir Howard, who made him a member of the Primary Council, and only incurred his enmit}^ for not creating him a senator. Mr. Dandolo had been treated by Sir Howard with the greatest kindness, as he acknowledged himself, and was also alienated by the refusal of promotion, after he had sought it with threats. The Lord High Commissioner had shown the same good feeling to Dr. * * * *^ raising him to the grade of senator, and bringing his brother-in-law into 1 Letter from Admiral Sir Robert Stopford to Sir Howard Douglas, March G, 1840. Chap. XXXV. IONIAN INGRATITUDE. 355 Parliament at his request. But lie became a rabid Oppositionist because lie could not be appointed Regent of Zante. The Cavalier * * * * was found by Sir Howard in poverty and obscurity. He took him by the hand, introduced him into the Legislature, and then recommended him for a Commandership of St. Michael and St. George ; but he could not satisfy the ambition he had awakened, and the Cavalier joined the Opposition. D * *' * * wasanother of those who owed him his place in the Legislature, and was a constant visitor at the palace, till he learnt that an action brought against him for peculation raised an obstacle to his promotion, when he went the way of the others. The Count Bulgari had twice been nominated President of the Senate, the highest post in the State, and lived in the closest intimacy with Sir Howard, the two families being inseparable ; but the Lord High Commissioner thought it unjust to give him such a post a third time, and bestowed it on the next in rota- tion, offering the Count the Regency of Corfu. All the claims of friendship were then renounced ; all the remembrances of an unbounded hospitality for- gotten ; and the Count threw his weight into the Opposition. The faction was emboldened by a change in the attitude of France, arising out of the movements of Mehemet Ali, and counted on a rupture be- tween that power and England. The armaments in the French ports gave a sanction to this opinion, and we know that it had real grounds, though the danger was averted by the firmness of Lord Palme r- ston.^ Something like the Ionian impression infected ' Guizot's Embassy to the Court of St. James's. 356 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXV. the British Admiral, and he confided his uneasiness to Sir Howard,^ who appears to have taken alarm some time before, for one morning he set the engineers to knock down the land fronts of the fortifications, and thus made Corfu defensible by a naval power.^ This unexpected measure drove the Opposition frantic ; for they saw that the small English garrison was now equal to the duties, and possession secured, leaving no hope of a change. They denounced Sir Howard in the most opprobrious language, and declared that he had violated the stipulations of the Treaty of Vienna, which guaranteed the maintenance of the for- tifications. They sent a mission to England to repre- sent his conduct in the most odious light, and even applied to the great powers to terminate the English protectorate, which they declared to be voided by this breach of the compact. Such an appeal might have occasioned a complication at another time, though the treaty afforded it no w^arrant ; but it now fell to the ground, as the powers were intent on the quarrel be- tween Turkey and Egypt, and too much occupied in watching each other to heed the lonians. We shall see that the machinations of the faction were not so unsuccessful in England. ^ " From the open declarations made liy the French that they propose having a squadron of fifteen sail of the line, including three first-rates, in the Archipelago this spring and summer, it is to be hoped that the Govern- ment at home is fully and satisfactorily apprised of their pacific intentions." — Letter from Sir Robert Stopford to Sir Howard Douglas, March G, 1840. - Letter to Lord John Russell, February, 1840. Chap. XXXYT. HIS INCREASED POPULARITY. 357 CHAPTER XXXYI. Establishes the Douglas Code, and receives the Tribute of A Public Monument. Sir Howard had not dissolved the Parliament a moment too soon ; for hardly was the step taken when Lord John Russell forbade the dissolution, and again enjoined conciliation. Such a relapse took Sir Howard by surprise. He knew that some lonians were intriguing in England, but they were persons of such infamy that he could not expect their statements would be received by a Minister of the Crown, much less that they should outweigh his own, and deprive him of the support due to the Queen's representative. Hence he felt annoyed at Lord John's vacillation, but not discouraged ; for events were justifying the course he had adopted, and proving it the best. His vigour had taken a form that won the multitude, while it brought the faction into contempt, and the Government had never been so strong. He was once more popular, and was received with cheers whenever he appeared in public, so that he looked for an accession of support at the coming elections. And his anticipations were realised, for everything passed off with effect, and the constituencies returned the Government candidates by large majorities.^ 1 " The measures completely discorjcertcd and defeated the faction, enabled me at once to restore perfect tranquillity, and so entirely put down all excitement, that the general elections were carried on in all the 358 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXYI. The Parliament assembled in the best temper, and instantly entered on the public business, which it had been customary to impede by motions of ad- journment, or throw over altogether, in order to place the Administration in a dead-lock. There was no contention or dissension, and the lonians were astonished by a Legislature engaged in legislation, and acting in harmony with the Government. Several useful measures were introduced and passed both Houses, receiving the assent of the Lord High Com- missioner. But the interest centred on Sir Howard's system of laws, wdiich drew out a number of speakers and incurred some criticism, but gained adherents at every step, and finally overcame all opposition. It passed almost unaltered, and the Legislative Assembly voted an address to the Queen, which they directed their President to present in person and obtain Her Majesty's ratification of the code. The care and labour bestowed on the work appeared more clearly in debate, yet was only in accord with the tenor of Sir Howard's administration, which had raised the islands from penury to affluence, secured them new channels of trade, endowed them wath public works and useful institutions, and carried them through a political crisis of the gravest nature. The establish- ment of a new jurisprudence seemed but the crowning of the column with a capital, but made the w^ork more prominent and his merit more conspicuous. The official regulations limited his government to six years, which he had nearly completed; and speeches were islands in the most orderly manner, the electors attending for the exercise of tlicir rights in greater numhers than on any former occasion."— Desiatcli of Sir Howard Douglas to Lord John Russell. Chap. XXX YT. DECREED A STATUE. 859 made extolling his administration, and looking to its close as a public misfortune. It was then determined to introduce a paragraph in the address to the Queen setting forth the benefits he had conferred on the States, and praying her Majesty to prolong his term. At the same time the Legislature awarded him the highest honour in its gift, by decreeing him a statue, which w^as voted by acclamation. The President of the Senate informed him of the resolutions, and they caused him the deepest emotion ; for such a tribute did more than symbolize success — it rendered homage to his motives. Any recognition of his usefulness gave him pleasure, but this affected him the more, because it expressed attachment, and so touched his heart. Yet he shrank from a reward his modesty deemed excessive, and obtained the sup- pression of the paragraph in the address, while he declined the statue. At the same time he exerted his influence to procure a good reception for the code from the Government. It was conveyed to England by the Cavalier Yiletta, the President of the Assembly, and he recommended that the opportunity should be taken to invest him with the Order of St. Michael and St. George on his presentation to her Majesty, which would give dignity to the Order by the personal inter- position of the Queen, and exalt the Legislature in the same degree. The approaching termination of his government had not been overlooked by Lord John Eussell, and he wrote to assure him that " neither his reputation nor interests should run any hazard from anything he was likely to do with respect to it ; " nor can there be a doubt that he spoke sincerely. But the Government 3G0 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXYT. was actuated by a conciliatory spirit, and tbonglit to win the Ionian agitators by concession, winch was pressed upon it by adherents in the House at a time when it could not dispense with support. The situa- tion is described to Sir Howard in a letter from Sir Henry Hardinge. " The Government is low in reputa- tion, and we all think cannot exist much longer. Peel is very well and very able ; Stanley ^ unrivalled and vigorous, and ready for any course of action ; the Duke sadly changed, but his intellect as clear as ever." Such was the opposition to be faced, and so shaken the means of resistance. The loss of a single vote might overthrow the Government — indeed, a few months later carried a motion of want of confidence by one vote — and hence the Ionian difficulty suggested to Lord John Russell incompatible objects : he sought to uphold Sir Howard, while he conciliated his traducers, receiving complaints against him from Dandolo, Mustoxidi, and others, and meeting them with soft answers, at the same time that he defended him against attacks in the House. " With regard to the motion," writes Sir Henry Hardinge, " it was so wretched an affair, and Feel supported you so effectually in the House (although briefly reported), that I am confident it would have answered no good object if I had taken part in the debate. I hear that the Government ex- press themselves highly satisfied with your adminis- tration, and I may, with great truth, most cordially congratulate you on the ability and success of your measures." It is due to Lord John Eussell to say that he pro- nounced the same opinion, and avowed it in the ' Tlio present Eavl of Dciby. Chap. XXXVI. LETTER FROM SIR ROBERT PEEL. 361 House, as will be seen by tlie following letter from Sir Robert Peel : — "My dear Sir Howard, "Wiiitehaii, June 29th. " I have no doubt (altbough tbe proceedings were very imperfectly reported in the newspapers) that you will have received full accounts of the discussion in the House of Commons on the motion respecting the Ionian Islands. It was half-past eleven at night when brought on, in a very thin House, and a speech almost inaudible, and which appeared to make no impression on those who, from being in the immediate neighbourhood, had the advantage of hearing it. " The previous publication by the Government of the correspondence with you on the main subjects under discussion had greatly contributed to deprive the motion of the interest it might otherwise have excited, inasmuch as it had produced a general impres- sion that there was no ground for parliamentary interference, none for questioning any part of your conduct, and that the whole question had better be left, and could safely be left, in the hands of the Crown and the local authorities acting under your general superintendence. " Not a word was said reflecting on you personally, and I had scarcely a fair opportunity, though I did not neglect to do so, of bearing my testimony to your character and public services, and of explaining the grounds on which a former Grovernment had appointed you to this charge of the Ionian Islands. 2 c u 362 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVI. *' The conduct of Lord Jolin Enssell was in every respect fair and satisfactory, and the impression of the House as favourable as you could wish. Believe me, my dear Sir Howard, " Very faithfully yours, " Robert Peel." But Lord John clung to the notion of conciliation, and continued to receive memorials from the agitators, who now turned on the Cavalier Yiletta ; and their aspersions so influenced the Minister that he delayed presenting him to the Queen. It is true he acted with the best motives, as he believed the charges must have some ground, and the baseness of their framers did not enter his imagination. But the effect was to give them encouragement, and the faction again raised its head in Corfu, where Sir Howard was attacked in a pamphlet which charged him wath aiming at the subversion of the Greek Church, and pilfering from the revenue, though it had increased 40,000/. a year under his management. How different might have been the result if Lord John had acted with the same energy as Lord Palmerston, when he ranged three of the great powers behind the Lord High Commissioner and procured the deposition of the Patriarch ! Sir Howard felt so mortified at his situation, that it became insupportable. " I am perfectly certain, my Lord, that there was nothing intentionally unjust or unmindful in this," he writes to Lord John Rnssell, in February, 1841, "and I will also add the like of everything else I venture to complain of; but the Chap. XXXVL ADDRESS FROM THE ASSEMBLY. 363 effects were nevertheless as if it had been otherwise, and unfortunate, untoward circumstances, expressions, and discrepancies have so greatly pained and paralyzed me, as have determined me instantly to withdraw from these States." He mentioned his approaching departure in an address to the Senate on the 8th of the following month, and excited a general feeling of sorrow. " Your Excellency has alluded,' ' said the President, "in terms that sensibly affect us, to the approaching close of your distinguished administration. You will, however, be ever present to us in the numerous works of general utility which you leave in this country — the lasting monuments of your indefatigable exertions for the solid welfare of the Ionian people. These will ever keep alive in our hearts the feeling of gratitude, as sincere and profound as it is inextinguishable." The same sentiment animated the Legislative Assem- bly •, and its President was directed to address Sir Howard the following letter : — " My Lord, — " One part of your Excellency's speech contains the announcement that your public relations with these States are drawing to a close : this information is painful to us and to the people whom we represent ; for we never can forget how greatly you have exerted yourself to promote all those institutions that render nations prosperous, and give them full enjoyment of an advanced civilization, and how, on every occasion, you have shown yourself the beneficent father of these people. 2 c 2 364 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVI. " Accept, my Lord, our most sincere thanks both for the wisdom of your administration, and for the regard you have expressed for us. Your Excellency will reap sreat satisfaction from the consciousness of having to the utmost seconded in this country the beneficent views of the gracious Sovereign that protects us ; and we must seek consolation in the assurance you make us feel, that vou will ever have at heart the welfare of the Ionian people. Our prayers for your happiness and for that of your family will attend you everywhere, and the remembrance of you will ever be most pleasing to our minds." It was again determined to commemorate Sir Howard's administration by a national monument, and the Senate passed the following resolutions by accla- mation : — « UNITED STATES OF THE IONIAN ISLANDS. " Corfu, March 24, 1841. " Eesolution of the Senate. " The Senate, desirous of making some public demonstration of gratitude to Sir Howard Douglas, Lord High Commissioner of the Protecting Sovereign in these States, for the real benefits which, by his un- remitting care, have been procured to them during the course of his distinguished administration, have resolved : — *' Art. 1. That a bust in marble of his Excellency Ijc made at the public expense, and placed in the hall of the Senate. Chap. XXXVI. EESOLUTIONS OF THE SENATE. 365 " Art. 2. That in each of the islands of these States an obelisk be raised, the sides bearing analogous inscriptions and emblems. "Art. 3. The competent officers of the Govern- ment are charged to carry the above resolution into effect. " P. Petrizzopulo. " T. J. GiSBORNE, "Sec. to the Senate for the Gen. Dep." A copy of the resolutions was forwarded to Sir Howard by the President, who thus notified the vote of the Senate : — " Excellency, — " The Senate, duly appreciating the general feeling of gratitude with which your Excellency's distinguished administration throughout has inspired the Ionian people, have resolved to perpetuate the remembrance of the peculiar claims your Excellency has acquired to universal respect and esteem. " And in order that your Excellency's name, asso- ciated with our truly grateful recollections, may be handed down to our latest posterity, the Senate have voted the resolution which I have the honour to trans- mit, accompanied by the relative proces verbal. "Happy in being the channel of communicating to your Excellency the wishes of the Senate in this respect, I seize this opportunity, as one of the happiest moments of my life, to express also my own heartfelt gratitude for the deep and unwearied interest your Excellency 366 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVL lias ever taken in the prosperity of these States through the whole course of our official relations. " I have the honour to be, " P. Petrizzopulo." Sir Howard did not feel warranted in declining such a tribute a second time, and perhaps the less so as it refuted his traducers by the voice of their country. Nor was the testimony confined to himself; for the ladies of Corfu determined to present a token to Lady Douglas ; and this made its appearance at the palace in the shape of a costly gold vase, which an irresistible deputation begged her to accept. Such were the terms on which the Ionian States parted with one English Governor — the only Governor who ever won their affection ; and there can be no nobler memorial than the inscription they have placed on the ol^elisk erected to him at Corfu, and which may be thus ren- dered from the Italian and Greek : — "Howard Douglas, Cavalier and General, High Commissioner, Benefactor of the Ionian Islands. The Benefits common to all : comprising extension of the University Studies ; the founding of the Ionian Colleges ; the completion of the Preliminary Schools ; the establishment of the Ionian Bank, and of Savings Banks ; the Codification and Revision of the Laws ; Chap. XXXYI. MONUMENT TO HIM AT CORFU. 3G7 the construction and completion of tlie Public Eoacls, including the Strada Marina, from which great utility is derived, not only to the inhabitants of the city, but also to the suburbs ; the construction of the Cemeteries of the Oriental Orthodox Church, and also of the Latin Church ; the founding of the House for the Poor, and the Asylum for Lunatics ; the Eestoration of the Hospitals and Prisons ; the conception and completion of the Aqueduct built by F. Adam ; the erection of the Exchange for Merchants, of which he became the Patron ; the Increase of Communication between the City and the Country ; the Draining of the Lake ; and the improvement and construction of Bridges. The Community of Corfu have raised this in Eternal Remembrance, in 1843." 368 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVII. CHAPTER XXXYII. Eeturned to Parliament for Liverpool. A VACANCY occnrrecl in the representation of Liverpool soon after Sir Howard's return to England, and he accepted an invitation to become a candidate in the Conservative interest. The other side advanced Mr. Morris, and called on the second commercial city of the kingdom to decide between Protection and Free- trade. This was the question of the moment, though not the only issue ; for all the doctrines of our two parties were brought out in the struggle, and its progress was watched by the wdiole country. The day of nomination set Liverpool in commotion, and every avenue to the hustings was bloclvcd with Montagues and Capulets, though they confined their feud to jibes and sarcasms, and the usual party cries. Sir Howard delivered a temperate speech and stated his opinions, as they were set forth in his life, and are recorded in this volume. But the uproar was great, each party being determined to shut up the other, and it cannot be affirmed that he made many converts. Tlie same greetings saluted Mr. Alorris, and caused such a strain on his voice that he became hoarse, and was brought to a stop in the middle of his harangue. Some one touched his arm at this juncture, and he was surprised to find it was Sir Howard, who had Chap. XXXVII. MEMBER FOE LIVERPOOL. 369 made his way across the hustings, and offered him a lozeno-e. This relieved his hoarseness, and enabled him to finish his address, which obtained him the nomination •, but the poll resulted in the return of Sir Howard. Twenty years later Sir Howard was walking in the country, and passed the entrance to a noble domain, which attracted him to enter — for the gate was open, and he could never resist a^ beautiful prospect. The owner stepped out of a side-walk as he stood there, glanced at him, and instantly raised his hat. "I believe I have the pleasure of addressing Sir Howard Douglas ? " he said. The answer removed all doubt ; and he added, " You don't remember giving me a lozenge on the hustings, when I opposed you at Liverpool ? " They shook hands, and had a pleasant chat ; for it was his fortune to leave impressions of kindness where others shed only bitterness. He was introduced to the House of Commons by two of his political friends, and went to a vacant place on the Conservative benches where he found a warm welcome. " It is curious. Sir Howard, that j^ou should have taken that seat/' remarked an old member, " for it was successively occupied by two of your prede- cessors from Liverpoob Canning and Huskisson." He was so sensitive as to feel disturbed by this infor- mation, fearing it might be thought that he knew the associations of the seat^ and had selected it pur- posely, so he rose to take another, but his neighbours persuaded him to remain. He never pretended to be an orator, like those eminent statesmen ; but his speeches were impressive from their simplicity, the knowledge 370 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVII. thiij showed of the subject, and the manner in which they were delivered, obtaining the ear of the House from the first. He was a steady supporter of Conser- vative principles, but in a constitutional sense, advo- cating progress, while he resisted innovation. Nor would he bind himself to a Minister's car, to be dragged wherever it drove, and he refused to follow Sir Robert Peel in throwing open the colonies to the United States, his doctrine being that such concessions should be reciprocal and not all on one side ; and he let him know that they could not receive his support. Sir Robert replied to him in a kindred spirit : — " My dear Sir Howard, " WMtehaii, eth May, i842. "I am much obliged for the communication with which you have favoured me. "The question is one on which I must not seek to impose any restrictions on you, in respect to the opinions which you may think it right to express in Parliament. I consider it necessary to diminish the cost of production iu the West Indian colonics, in order to give them the means of competing, now that slavery has been abolished, with other countries in which it continues to exist. Our commercial inter- course with the United States is not on a satisfactory footing. Notwithstanding our immense imports of cotton, our exports to the United States far exceed our direct imports, and there is great difficulty in making remittances for the balance. The extension of intercourse, direct or colonial, with the United States has advantages preponderating on the whole, in Chap. XXXVII. SPEECH ON STATE OF IRELAND. 371 my opinion, over the partial evils which it may en- gender. " Believe me very faithfully yours, " Robert Peel." Sir Howard joined mastery of facts with fluency of speech, and this gave him power in debate, as he did not come down to the House with a set oration, but stood to answer the previous speakers, whatever their arguments or statements. An example may be cited from his speech in the debate on the state of Ireland, in February, 1844, which elicited the cheers of the House by its instantaneous refutation of an unfounded assertion: — "Notwithstanding what is said by the hon. Member for Waterford, that the taxation of Ireland is one-fifth that of England, ^ — and what the hon. Member for Kilkenny saj^s, that it is as three to four, — the fact is, that the taxation of Ireland is not one-tenth of that of England and Wales, and about four-fifths of that of Scotland. Thus, Ireland, with a population of about 8,200,000 is taxed to the amount of 4,000,000/., whilst England and Wales with a population of 16,000,000 are taxed to the amount of 42,485,000/. ; and Scotland, with a population of 4,600,000, is taxed to the amount of 5,000,000/. At the time of the Union the Irish debt was 23,000,000/. He spoke in round numbers ; that of Great Britain was 451,000,000/. The Irish debt has only increased from 23,000,000/. to 34,000,000/., whilst the debt charged to G-reat Britain has increased from 451,000,000/. to 740,000,000/. The charge for interest is, for Ireland, 372 LIFE OF SIE HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVII. 1,183,845/,; and for Great Britain, 27,357,330/. It was settled, at the Union, that for the space of twenty years the contributions of Great Britain and Ireland, respectively, towards the expenditure of the United Kingdom, should be in the proportion of fifteen-seven- teenths, and two-seventeenths-, and that after that period, the expenditure, other than the charges for interest of debt to which either is liable, should be in such proportion as to the united Parliament may seem fit. According to this, the budget of 1801 was, for the expenditure of the United Kingdom 42,197,000/., of which 4,324,000/. was for Ireland. It thus ap- peared that, in all these respects, Ireland has been treated with the greatest liberalit}^, and that all the financial stipulations and engagements made at the time of the Union have been most faithfully carried out." He indignantly repelled a threat that Ireland would turn against England, if invaded by a hostile force. " But in the name of the soldiers and the gentry of Ireland lie protested against the supposition that, under any circumstances whatever, they would join in rebellion. He had heard with admiration the senti- ment of an hon. Gentleman who said, ' Whatever may be our difference at home, if an enemy dare invade us, it would be the most certain means of uniting us as one man.' Indeed he could oppose historical proof against any aspersion that foreign invasion would be seconded or supported in Ireland. He was old enough to remember the cases of Bantry Bay and Killala. A French force of ten ships of the line and seven frigates, after suffering something from stress of weather, Chap. XXXVII. INVITED TO DRAYTON MANOR. 373 arrived in that Bay with 20,000 troops on board, iu expectation of assistance and co-operation from the people. But the very French officers who first went on shore to reconnoitre, and prepare for landing the troops, were made prisoners by the peasantry, and the fleet returned to France without striking a blow. At Killala a force landed, invited by certain rebel agents. But they were not supported by the people ; they were joined by only a few hundred unarmed peasantry. They were met by a force consisting chiefly of Irish militia, and taken prisoners, execrating those who had deluded them to come over by representations of the great support they would receive." He received a cordial invitation from Sir Robert Peel to join him in the country: — "I wish I could hope for an opportunity of seeing you at Drayton Manor. The period for my departure for London is fast approaching, and I could hardly calculate upon now finding you disengaged. Baron Bruunow and Lord Aberdeen are coming here on Tuesday the 23 rd for three or four days ; and if you should be at liberty at the time, it will give Lady Peel and me great pleasure if you will join the party. You will be in time for dinner by the two o'clock train from Euston Square." Sir Howard maintained an independent attitude towards the Premier in his day of power; but he clung to him in his decline, and joined Sir John Yarde BuUer in rallying round him the Conservative party on the occasion of his being outvoted on the sugar question. The meeting was held at the Carlton Club, on the 17th of June, 1844, and passed the following resolution : — 374 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXYII. " That this Meeting has heard with deep regret the rumour of an intended resignation on the part of Her Majesty's Ministers, a step which, in their opinion, would be fraught with the most disastrous conse- quences to the best interests of the country ; and, while they reserve to themselves the full exercise of an independent judgment upon all measures submitted to the consideration of Parliament, they take this op- portunity of expressing a grateful sense of the services whi(;h have been rendered to the empire by Her Majesty's Ministers, an anxious desire for their con- tinued maintenance in power, and a firm determination to afford them a general and cordial support." Sir John Yarde Buller communicated the result in the following letter: — " Spring Gardens, 10, New Street, *' My dear Sir Howard, loth June, 1844. *'I send 3'ou a copy of the letter I received yesterday evening from Sir Robert Peel in answer to the address we presented to him, and I likewise send a copy to Lord Ingestrie,^ to whom I spoke concerning the mode in which we should make the letter known to those gentlemen who joined in the address ; and we thought the best plan was for each of us to have a copy to show to those we are acquainted with, and thus give the letter sufficient publicity. " I am yours truly, " J. B. Y. Buller." ' The present Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. Chap. XXXVII. CONSERVATIVE MEETING. 375 " My dear Sir John, "Whitehall, 12th June, 1844. " I availed myself of the earliest opportunity of communicating to my colleagues in the service of Her Majesty the address which you were deputed to present to me yesterday. On their part and my own I return to you, and to the gentlemen who were parties to that address, our grateful acknowledgments for the gratifying terms in which they express their sense of the services rendered by us in the conduct of public affairs, and for the assurance which they give (re- serving the right of judgment in respect to particular measures) of a cordial disposition to place confidence in and give support to the Government. We are fully sensible of the value of these declarations, and most anxious to retain the esteem of that powerful and most honourable party to which we have been deeply indebted, on many trying occasions, for zealous support. " I am, my dear Sir John, " Most faithfully yours, "Robert Peel." The address is a foreshadowing of the rupture be- tween the party and its leader, and swells with the import, mingling doubt and perplexity with the im- press of attachment, and distrust of the future with assurance from the past. The curious may speculate whether Sir Robert would have regained his old posi- tion if he had lived over the tide of events; but we may think this was impossible when his personal friends already " reserve to themselves the full exer- 376 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVII. cise of an independent judgment upon all measures submitted to the consideration of Parliament." Sir Howard took especial interest in questions con- nected with the army and navy, or those with which he had been concerned in his official career, and which he might be said to represent still, as they had their roots in Liverpool. He Avas alwa3"S at his post in dis- cussions on the estimates, the shipping interest, and the relations of trade, and gave several overthrows to Mr. Hume, generally referring to him as " the great economist, the Member for Montrose." He insisted on the importance of maintaining a proper naval force, and was the first to suggest the formation of a naval reserve, though he lived to see the credit appropriated by others. The Admiralty seem to have flattered him with hopes that his suggestion would be adopted in 1847, and then broke faith ; for he speaks of it in a despond- ing tone in the debate on the navy estimates in that year : — " I must express great regret and disappoint- ment that no vote is taken for a purpose which I think of the first importance, and even indispensable to the safety of the State in these times, and which I cannot doubt the Committee would have received by acclama- tion, and the country would learn with general appro- bation — I mean a vote to provide, in some form or other, for a reserve of seamen to be organized and kept always ready to form fighting crews, for a mode- rately extended establishment in case of any emergency or combination ; thus to insure, that in the event of any aggression upon us, any sudden breach of the peace, the first operations might be telling and tri- um pliant. The material of our navy is in the most efficient condition. AVe could commission in a day Chap. XXXVII. SPEECH ON NAVAL AFFAIRS. 377 twenty or thirty sail of tlie line, and innumerable smaller vessels. Our armament is the most perfect in the world ; our ships and fleets commanded by excel- lent, and in many cases experienced officers ; and those vessels might gradually be manned b}^ abundance of British seamen, trained to the sea by our commercial marine. But where are the men to man those ships for the first emergency of a war ? " He reminded the House that England existed by her naval supremacy, and called attention to the development given to the ports and armaments of France, quoting the latest appropriations: — "These amount to no less than 126,500,900 francs— about 4,800,000/. sterling. To Cherbourg, 15,500,000 francs ; to L'Orient, 8,000,000 francs ; to Rochefort, 3,000,000 francs; to Toulon, 14,300,000 francs; to Havre, 25,880,000 francs. Never has any nation made such stupendous exertions — such successful efforts — in creating, or at least recreating, a naval power of the first order as France since 1815. Her commerce had been destroyed, her commercial marine ruined, her naval power destroyed ; but, guided by a lofty policy, sacri- ficing nothing to her docteurs econoniiques, she has restored her commerce, fostered her maritime re- sources, and reconstructed a formidable naval power. Not in the days of Rodney and Be Grasse, Hughes and Suffren, was the navy of France more powerful than it is now. No British statesman, of whatever party, can or ought to be unmindful of this. No British House of Commons, however economical in other respects, should affect to disregard this. Distant may the period be when these tremendous powers are 2 D 378 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVII. to be called into activity ! but whilst we are deter- mined to commit no act of aggression, let us not fail to provide effectually the best means of preserving peace, namely, to be well prepared for war ; and that, if any act of aggression, any pregnant ambition be attempted against us, w^e may always be in a condition to make the first blow of a war the most effectual, and so herald a course of successes as signal as those which distin- guished the commencement of the late war, and ter- minated with an ever-memorable naval victoiy." The debate on the vote of thanks for the battle of Ferozepoor called on him to vindicate his friend Sir Henry Hardin ge, who was thought to have encroached on the functions of Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander- in-Chief, and his speech drew from the Governor- General the following letter, written on the ladies' plan of reserving the pith for the postscript : — " My dear Douglas, " Simla, 5th May, 1846. " I thank j'ou for the very friendly and decisive manner in which you defended me when the vote of thanks came before the House. " I have been in a strange position, where the line of demarcation between my powers and the profes- sional rights of a Commander-in-Chief are not easy to be defined •, but there is one unerring rule, to be determined to act with cordiality where the interests of the general public are concerned ; and Sir Hugh Gough and myself have always kept on the best of terms. " I will not speak to you of my policy at Lahore Chap.XXXYII. the SIKII WAR. 379 until it is fairly launched before the House, and there it will I hope be scrutinized by friend and foe, for I have nothing to conceal. " In sixty days we have fought four battles, occu- pied Lahore, disbanded the mutinous Sikh army, and sent to Calcutta 256 pieces of very fine large artillerj^, curtailed the Sikh State by about one-third of its terri- tories, established a new dynasty in the hills under our protection as a counterpoise against the Sikhs, and, having effectually crushed them as a warlike power, we are now protecting them by a British garrison at Lahore, affording them every co-operation to re-esta- blish a government. " After years of military anarchy it is not to be expected that a military people will suddenly turn their swords into ploughshares. If they do, so much the better. If they do not, the annexation of the country will be easier hereafter. In March last it was impossible. I had only 15,000 infantry at Lahore. I have left 9000, and have no fears of a Cabool disaster. "My sons are absent on a tour to Cashmeer, and I am hard at my work trying to keep down the mass of arrears of the last four months. "I am gratified to have the approbation of my former master at High Wycombe. My very best regards to Lady Douglas. " Ever yours very sincerely, " H. Hardinge. "At the assault of the Sikh entrenched camp at Sobraon we should have been repulsed if we had not 2 n 2 380 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXYIL persisted in using tliirty-six pieces of heavy artillery to Ijombard tlie camp for two hours before the infantry attack began. " When I went down and saw the two field officers of Engineers and Artillery, they decidedly told me that, as the enemy had only field guns in their camp, their heavy guns being in battery on the other side of the river, that our heavy guns and mortars could reach well into their camp, whilst their G-pounders would not reach our open batteries. " Having been opposed to the plan of an attack by infantry alone, I sent these officers to the Commander- in-Chief, with the member of the Military Board (an Ordnance Department officer). Colonel Benson, to say that, as they were of opinion that the enemy must be shelled out of his camp by such a proceeding, that I recommended the attack. I was so very lame I could scarcely move, and in the doctor's hands. Gough came to me, and it was agreed when these guns arrived in two days to make the attack. "The next day the Artillery and Engineer field officers declared the proposed attack to be imprac- ticable, that their men in open battery would be cut to pieces. This they reported to the Commander-in- Chief. He came to me and agreed that an attack by infantry alone would be too expensive, although he thought he could carry it. The attack, therefore, was given up •, but I desired him to require the ivritteii opinion of these officers why they had changed their opinion. I got into my carriage and returned to Feroz-poor to expedite the bridge by which we were to pass the river. "In conversation with ^lajor Abbott of the En- Chap. XXXVII. ASSAULT AT SOBRAOJT. oSl gineers, I told him ^vliat had passed, and he and I both agreed that the heavy ordnance conld in open battery remain at a distance out of shot of field guns, and yet fire into the enemy's camp. I wrote to Goiigh recomraendiiig him to assemble the officei's of these professional departments, and stated what I had ex- plained in a letter which I sent by Major Abbott. This letter was read to the officers. They again changed their opinion, and agreed they would make their thirty-six heavy guns very effective, and we agreed to make the attack. " The guns began at daylight. We could not see, from the haziness of the morning, what was the effect produced at 1200 yards, but we saw they all went into the camp. Onlu two of our artillerymen were even wounded. " We moved the infantry column forward. It got in, and, not being strong enough to fight against 35,000 men, who turned their light guns upon them, our right of the attacking column was driven out after they had got in. The second divisions of Gilbert and Smith were ordered simnltaueousl}^ to assault the works in front. They icere both repulsed. But the attacking column, that is, the right of that division, animated by the advance of one division fn the first instance, re- turned into the entrenchments and took the enemy's batteries in reverse, whilst the two divisions again attacked and got in. Then the slaughter of the Sikhs in crossing the ford was very great. " But we always expected that our left, when it got in, would be greatly exposed to the enemy's heavy guns 600 yards on the other side of the river, 382 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVIL having a plunging fire into their own camp. Our astonishment was great that they did not fire, for we felt it was the worst part of the affair we had in hand. " Subsequently the Sikh G-encral, and Colonel Mou- ten, a French officer, explained that, when the bom- bardment was going on, the Sikhs in the camp were so discouraged, our artillery having dismounted some of their guns and killed their men, whilst it was evident their shot could not and did not reach us, that they sent to their batteries on the other side and took away all their artillerymen to reinforce the camp batteries, took up two of the boats of the bridge, and told their men there was no retreat. " By this piece of good fortune we suffered a less severe loss than we otherwise should have done ; and in confidence I will say that, if the thirty-six heavy guns had not been brought to bear, we should have been repulsed, for they did much execution and pro- duced the effect of causing their heavy batteries to be of no avail. Our captains of troops and batteries are good." Sir Howard exerted himself to obtain a better position for the army surgeons, and brought their claims before the House, representing the devotion he had seen them exhibit, and the dangers they incurred in the field. His efforts opened to them the honours of the Bath, from which they had been excluded, and they determined to show their gratitude to him by a testimonial. A Committee was formed, and started a subscription which reached a large sum, Chap. XXXVIL ADDRESS OF ARMY SUKGEOKS. 383 1)ut the project came to his knowledge, and he begged that it might be dropped. The promoters reluctantly yielded, and confined the movement to an address, which he received with pride and emotion, valuing it more than gifts — so highminded was he in every relation. 38-1 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVIII. CHAPTER XXXYIII. Ox THE Eetieed List. Sir Howard retired from Parliament in 1847, when lie was in his seven tj^-second year, and ceased to engage in political affairs. But his public spirit was undiminished, and showed itself in his readiness to aid the Government on military questions, whenever they arose, hardly a commission being formed without his counsel. The Duke of Wellington treated his opinion with great respect, and almost his last speech in the House of Lords upheld him on an artillery question, declaring that he "quite agreed with his gallant friend Sir Howard Douglas." One incident of their inter- course reached the author and may be mentioned here. Sir Howard had observed the decline in military educa- tion, and addressed a report on the subject to the Duke, who made no reply for nearly a year, and he began to think that the report had jjcen laid aside and forgot- ten, when it came back to him, with a letter from the Duke, stating that he had read it through, and calling attention to his notes in the margin. The report affirmed that the outbreak of war would find us with a deficiency of trained officers, and this occurred as he foresaw, which led Lord Panmure to despatch a com- mission to the military schools of France, Austria, and Prussia, to ascertain their modes of administration, Avitli a view to introducini'' an efficient svstcm in Chap. XXXVIII. EXPEDITION TO THE CRIMEA. 385 England. But the labours of the commission might have been spared, for it only discovered that the con- tinental schools were founded on regulations we had rescinded and which had been established by Sir Howard at Sandhurst forty years before. He attended the funeral of the Duke in 1852, and took a deep interest in Wellington College, the memorial erected to him by the national subscription originated by the Hon. Colonel Talbot. He also supported the Cambridge Asylum, of which he became President, and other charities and institutions. He employed his leisure in watching the develop- ment of artillery, mastering the bearings of steam, and making experiments in mechanics. The result appeared in new editions of his ' Naval Gunnery,' issued in 1850 and 1855, and in a work on 'Naval Warfare with Steam.' The fourth edition of ' Naval Gunnery ' afforded him an opening for remarks on the Russian war, reviewing the naval movements in the Baltic and Black Seas, as well as the operations on shore. He had been consulted by Lord Aberdeen about the expedition to the Crimea, and stated his opinion that the season was too advanced for such an enterprise, and the army too unprovided, whence it could not be attempted without disaster. He ex pressed the same views to Lord Derby, Lord Lans- downe, and other statesmen both of the Conservative and Liberal parties. He dwelt on the great import- ance of equipment in war ; and it is curious to find Lord Fitzroy Somerset writing to him on this sub- ject ten years before, and foreseeing the expense that will arise, but not that equipment will be considered unnecessary. " This country is not easy to move in 386 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVIIJ. matters of expense, whatever party may hold the reins of Government," Lord Fitzroy observes, dating the letter in 1844 on November 5, the day on which we commemorate the battle of Inkerman ; " and this it is that renders onr ontlay so enormous on the first breaking out of a war." The force which landed in the Crimea wanted all the requisites for service, being only a moveable column ; and Sir Howard asserts that " all the establishments which are indispensable to enable an army to take the field had to be restored and reorganised." He described the siege of Sebastopol as " a desperate and dangerous operation," and considered that " the most advantageous point of attack was the north side ; there the ground is most elevated, and the large octagonal work on its summit is the citadel and the key of the place." It was objected to his view that he did not know the place from personal observa- tion, but this only shows his quickness of perception ; for Lord Raglan formed a similar impression, and requested Marshal St. Arnaud to attack the fort on reaching the Belbek from the Alma. The fort is described as "taking in reverse all the water batteries on that side," in a report by Major-General Macintosh, drawn up on the outbreak of the war, and transmitted to the authorities through Colonel Airey, the Military Secretary ; ^ and the General adds that *' it is not a strong work, and that its capture would be the most effectual preliminary to an attack on the town and harbour." This was the opinion of Lord Raglan, but ' 'United Sfvvice Magazine,' November, 1859. General Macintosh's * ^Military Tour ' (Lonelon, 1854) points out that " Fort Severnaya, or Constantine, is an important point, hut not strong, and ought to be cap- tured as a preliminary step in attacking Sevastopol." Chap. XXXVIII. SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. 387 the fort stood in front of the French, and the usages of war vested them with the attack. The enemy had given the work an air of strength by fronting the northern scarp with a tliin wall/ such as the Duke of Wellington describes to Sir Howard in his letter (p. 233 ante), but which Marshal St. Arnaud appears to have taken for a revetment,^ for he refused to countenance the operation, declaring that it required heavy guns. Lord Raglan had seen the Duke of Wellington reduce fortresses in the Peninsula with 1 2-pounders, and be- lieved the place might be carried by a rush, but the Marshal's obstinacy closed the way, and he resorted to his celebrated flank march to the south side, as " a matter of necessity " — in Sir Howard's opinion. But he did not know how far his views were shared by Lord Raglan ; and the facts are now published for the first time. His review pointed out the difficulties opened on the south side, and they were fully esti- mated by Lord Raglan, who knew that he had nothing to depend upon but a dash. He proposed an imme- diate attack — the very course he has been censured for not adopting ; and it is now established that both the Severnaya and the Malakoff must have fallen if his views had been adopted.^ Sir Howard sustained a great affliction in 1854 in the death of a grandson bearing his name. It would seem there was to be but one Howard in the family, for he had lost a son of the name in 1820, after a short service in the navy. Death had since ' 'A Voice Within Sevastopol.' 2 A revetment is never less than three feet thick at the top, and ten feet at the base. ^ It may he right to state that Sir John Bnrgoyne was not in favour of a coup de main, as the author learnt from his own lips the morning after his return front the Crimea. 388 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVIII. carried off his eldest son, Colonel Charles Douglas, his second son. Captain James Douglas, his daughter Sarah Mary Harcourt, and his daughter Mar}^ wife of Captain jMurray Gartshore. Mrs. Gartshore has left an impression in many a circle, where she is remembered as uniting her father's genius with her mother's beauty, and these with their winning qualities. Her form was so fault- less that she was called an animated statue ; and her gifts so varied that she was both a composer and musi- cian, a novellist and poet. Nor did Sir Howard feel less pride in his son James, who promised to be one of those men who shed such lustre on our rule in India, but fell in action in the midst of his career. We gather his history from a tablet erected by his brother officers in the church of Meerut, and which may aid us to imagine how his father felt the blow : — To tlie memory of JAMES DUNDAS DOUGLAS, Late Captain in the 53rd Regiment Native Infantry, Assistant Adjutant-General In Afghanistan, And a few days prior to Lis decease, In appreciation of his high talents and services In that country, Appointed Deputy Military Secretary To Government, Wlio v/as killed in action near Pesh Rolak On the 25th February, 1841, aged 41. An adequate tribute To the merits of this amiable and talented officer It \\ould be vain attempting To express within the limits of this Tablet, Which is erected As an earnest though simple token Of the undying attachment of Friends By whom his memory is deeply revered. Chap. XXXVIII. DOMESTIC BEREAVEMENTS. 389 A bereavement of more than sons and daughters overtook Sir Howard in 1856, when he was plunged in grief by the death of Lady Douglas, the mother of his children and the companion of fifty-seven years. The shock prostrated him for a time, but his brave spirit rallied, and showed its sorrow in a manner indi- cative of his character, and blending fortitude with pathos, for he took her room as his study, and always kept her portrait on the table. She had expressed a wish to lie near her daughter, Mrs. Gartshore ; and her remains were convej'cd to Boldre, near Lymington, where that lad}^ was interred. Boldre thus became the family burialplace, and we shall see others follow to that last bourne. Mr. Gladstone wished to be informed of the military value of Corfu, on his appointment to a mission to the Ionian Islands in 1858 ; and Government referred the question to Sir Howard. He made a report on the subject to the Minister for War, opposing the sur- render of the Protectorate, but this was under a dif- ferent posture of affairs. The following letter implies that he was consulted about it by the present Govern- ment in 1861, and replied by mentioning his report. The glance thrown at the Turkish succession gives the letter interest : — • " "Wilton, Salisbury, " My dear Sir Howard, 4tii April, isei. "I believe that the question with the Ionian Islands is not one of good or bad government, but of nationality; and, if Greece had been decently governed, it would by this time have been powerful enough (at the expense of its Turkish neighbour) to take over 390 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXYIII. and hold the islands, of ^Yhich the Protectorate was forced npon us. " I will look up the document you allude to when T return to town, and will communicate it to my col- league. " Pray believe me yours sincerely, " S. Herbert." The year 1858 brought forth * Naval Warfare with Steam,' which aimed to introduce a svstem of tactics applicable to the conditions arising from the use of steam by ships of war. It was easy to see that these must be different from the old evolutions, and opened dangers to our supremacy, but no one attempted to grapple the subject and frame a principle of action. This is wdiat Sir Howard wished to indicate, and he followed his purpose with his usual persistance, fur- nishing a programme of manoeuvres adapted to every conjuncture.^ He lays down the doctrine that naval actions with steam must be conducted with as much strategy as battles on shore, since fleets will no longer be subject to atmospheric conditions, but be moveable at will ; and the time may not be distant when their commanders may again be styled "Generals at Sea." The publication is too professional to be dwelt upon ^ The work is thus described by Commander Ward, of the United States Navy : — " So recent is the introduction of steam into the navies of the world, that no maritime battle and but little experience of any kind is afforded from whicli to draw examples and illustrations ; but the language has been graced and naval science enriched by Sir Howard Douy;las in this work, to which the reader is referred as to a mine of professional knowledge. As a landsman, Sir Howard treats subjects whicli especially aj^pertain to the sea with remarkable clearness and accuracy." — Manual of Naval Tactics. Chap. XXXVIII. 'NAVAL WARFARE WITH STEAM.' 391 here, except to say that it announced an improvement in the screw propeller, which he had successfully worked out, though now in his eighty-second year. The defect of the screw is its excessive vibration, caused by the revulsion of the water in its frame, and involving a loss of speed and lapse of steerage way, which amounts to a deflection of two and a half points. Sir Howard considered whether the shake might not be lessened, so as to add to the power and reduce the deflection ; and he thought the object might be attained by a cur^^ature, cutting off the leading corners. He made experiments with a curved blade, and found that the vibration had greatly diminished ; while the screw obtained power in the same ratio, the speed being increased, and the steerage corrected. At the same time he provided against fouling, by forming the edges of the blade of hard metal, which would cut through any rope or spar coming in their way, though such a hitch seemed im- possible, as two knife-blades projected from the trunk surrounding the screw, and severed every obstacle in front. He entered a specification at the Patent Office, to secure the credit of the invention, and then threw it open to the world, publishing this licence in 'Naval Warfare with Steam,' with a full description of the improvement. Its merit was first tested by the Admiralty, and Sir Howard heard of the experiments with satisfac- tion, particularly as they had been intrusted to a competent officer. Captain Gordon, of Her Majesty's ship ' Doris.' But he thought it strange that he had received no intimation that his invention was under trial, and the silence of the Admiralty surprised him 392 LIFE OF SIR HOWATtD DOUGLAS. Chap, XXXVIII. tlie moi'e, when rumour announced it a success. He thougiit it right to ascertain what had been done, and wrote to the Admiral Superintendent at Portsmouth for information, which he obtained in the following note from Captain Gordon : — " H.M S. 'Asia ' " Dear Admiral Bow^les, 23rd June, i859. "I cannot return Sir Howard Douglas's note without remarking how very gratifying it must be to that talented oflQcer to observe how correct his views were as to the necessity of removing the leading corners of the screw propellers, by which the steerage of the ship is much improved, and the vibration diminished. "Believe me yours faithfnlly, "G.J. Gordon." Sir Howard now complained to the Admiralty of the treatment he had received, and was informed that he had no claim to the invention, as it had been brought to light by the experiments of the ' Fairy ' in 1853, though never utilized. The Admiralty thus affirmed that it had fitted vessel on vessel with defective screws, while able to provide superior ones, and treated a great improvement as non-existent. But this position tlicy found untenable when they were put to the proof, and an article in the Times asked, "How can any inventor look for success at the Admi- ralty when even Sir Howard Douglas, with all his claims upon the consideration of the authorities, can- not get them to acknowledge gracefully that the Chap. XXXVIII. IMPROVED SCREW PROPELLERS. 393 improvement they get for nothing is an important one, and is his ? " A new claimant was put forward in Mr. Griffiths, who had introduced an improved propeller, adopted by the Admiralty, and which he declared embodied the discovery. It was a suffi- cient refutation of this assertion that Sir Howard had applied to the three principal engineers of the kingdom for their opinion of his invention, and they all gave an unfavourable verdict, but made no refer- ence to the Griffiths propeller, which was fabricated at their works, so that any resemblance must have struck them directly. Indeed, the principle of the two constructions was entirely different. Mr. Griffiths' specification runs thus : — " I claim the making of propeller-blades narrower or tapered towards their outside extremities, in contradistinction to the form hitherto adopted of increasing the width of that part of the blade." Sir Howard's specification retains the " form hitherto adopted/' which Mr. Griffiths abandons, and cuts off the leading corners. But it must here speak for itself: — ''My invention of improvements in screw propellers consists, first, in a modification of the form of the blades, so that the advance or leading edges of the propeller-blades shall receive less shock in cutting through the water, and therefore produce a more equable action of the propeller, which will result in less tremulous motion in the stern of the ship when under weigh, and also steady and equalise the pro- pelling force. For this purpose I form the advance edge of the propeller-blades of a convex curved form, in such manner that the curve of this edge of the blade at the extreme end or periphery will be in the rear (as regards its position in the screw) of the inner 2 E 394 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVIII. termination of the curve or that next the centre ; the curve is such that it produces an easy cleaving action in the water. By this form of the advance edges of the blades a further advantage results, which is this, that any spars, rope, or wreck with which the screw blades may come in contact are thrown off in a radial direction, or have a tendency to be so acted on ; the propeller therefore assists to clear or effectually clears itself from any wreck or material with wdiich it is liable to come in contact. By forming the advance edges as described, as they enter and leave the opening in the dead wood of the ship, the transition is gradual, and therefore will not induce shakes or tremu- lous motion, so perceptible in all vessels propelled by screws by reason of the right line edges thereof striking the disturbed water throughout their whole length, and the violent reactions of such water in propelling, the w^ater in the dead wood being in a comparatively qui- escent state and inoperative as regards propulsion. I also form these advance edges of the blades of screw propellers of steel or other suitable metal so sharpened or serrated like a saw that they will sever any un- yielding obstacle with which they may come in contact in the manner of a circular saw." Mr. Griffiths' letter to the Times determined Sir Howard to vindicate his claim, and he took counsel of his friend Lord Lyndhurst, who recommended him to submit the facts to Mr. Caq)macl, of Southampton Buildings, and he obtained from that authority the following opinion : — " I have very carefully examined into the claim made by General Sir Howard Douglas, in regard to Chap. XXXVIII. MR. CARPMAEL'S OPINION. 395 his being the first to devise the screw propeller-blade of the particular form shown and described at page 61 of his work on 'Naval Warfare with Steam.' This propeller-blade consists in a modification of the Admiralty screw propeller, each blade of which was formerly made of about one-sixth of a helix or com- plete screw, with the forward or leading edge, and also the after edge, perpendicular to the shaft; con- sequently such a blade increased in width the further it proceeded from the axis, and was widest at its outermost edge or periphery. " Sir Howard Douglas, as I understand his claim, alters this propeller-blade in respect to its leading or forward edge only, and he does so by removing parts of such forward edge, so that, in place of its being a straight line, he makes it into a convex curved line, and he leaves the after edge of the blade as here- tofore. "If the above be the correct expression of Sir Howard Douglas's claim, I am clearly of opinion that he was the first to devise and publish that particular form of screw propeller ; and I am further of opinion that, whatever be the advantages which may arise from the use of that propeller-blade, to Sir Howard Douglas will be due the merit of having originated it. "I am intimately acquainted with Mr. Griffiths' screw propeller-blades, and I can only imagine that that gentleman, when he wrote the letter to the Tmies newspaper on the 30th August last, was uninformed of the precise nature of Sir Howard Douglas's claim, or he would not have fallen into the error of supposing that Sir Howard Douglas claimed his (Mr. Griffiths') previous invention. It is of the 2 E 2 39G LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXVIII. essence of Mr. Griffitlis' invention, and of his patent, that screw propeller-blades should become ^narrower or tapered towards their outside extremities, in contra- distinction to the form hitherto adopted of increasing the width of that part of the blade.' Now, Sir Howard Douglas's propeller-blade does go on increasing in width as it proceeds outwards from the axis, and it is widest at the periphery, consequently his blade is the reverse of that invented by Mr. Griffiths. " I would further state that the giving a convex curved form to the forward or leading edge of a screw propeller was not new either to Sir Howard Douglas or to Mr. Griffiths, Lowe and others having used and pul^lished descriptions of screw propeller-blades with curved forward or leading edges ; but these propellers differed in other respects both from those of Mr. Griffiths and also from those of Sir Howard Douglas. " William Carpmael. " 24, Southampton Buildings, 27th Septemher, 1859." This opinion satisfied Sir Howard, and he com- municated it to Mr. Griffiths, who could not impeach its fairness. Indeed, he admitted that he had " nothing to complain of in Mr. Carpmael's opinion," ^ but main- tained that he was acquainted with the advantages of the curved blade years before, though he had not made it available. Such assertions carr}^ no weight, and Sir Howard has established the right of any one to use his propeller without interference from Mr. Griffiths. " You may with the most perfect propriety ^ Letter from Mr. Griffiths to Sir Howard Douglas, in the ' Douglas Papers.' Chap. XXXVIII. MESSES. MAUDSLAY'S TESTIMONY. 397 go on making and maintaining your claim to the particular form of screw propeller as if you had received no letter from Mr. Griffiths," writes Mr. Carpmael to Sir Howard, in reference to this letter. " He cannot take any proceedings at law against you for so doing." Yet the nation continues to pay a royalty for Mr. Griffiths' propeller, when it has here a better one without charge.^ ^ Messrs. Maudslay altered their opinion of the Douglas principle on witnessing the trials of the ' Ariadne,' the results of which they commu- nicated to Sir Howard. These showed an increase of speed in his form of blade, though not to a great extent, but were decisive in the correction of the vibration which causes the deflection in steerage, and is such a strain on the ship : — " The ' Ariadne ' having been originally built for engines of greater power, the screw aperture was one foot larger fore and aft than in any of the other vessels fitted with engines of the same power, which was much in favour of less agitation, and the stern was not nearly so much shaken by the action of the propeller as in other vessels ; and to this we may add that on the last trial, when the forward corners were cut off, it was agreed by all that it ivas still more reduced ; in fact, that there was no AGITATION PERCEPTIBLE. We have the honour to be, &c., MAUDSLAYJ^ Sons, and Field." 398 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIX. CHAPTER XXXIX. Pronounces against Armour Ships. The great interest Sir Howard took in naval gunnery led him to consider whether ships might increase their means of defence, as well as their powers of attack ; and he was prepared to decide the question when Sir Robert Peel consulted him as to the expediency of building iron vessels of war in 1848. He declared that iron ships would not be invulnerable, and recom- mended Government to forego the pursuit of an impos- sibility, and turn its attention to the development of artillery, which might be carried to an indefinite extent, and given irresistible penetration. His argu- ments prevailed, and the notion was dropped for a time, but revived as a movement when the Emperor Napoleon launched the 'Gloire,' the public being brought to believe that squadrons could be as effec- tively protected by armour as the knights of old, who fought battle after battle without drawing blood. Sir Howard showed the fallacy of this view, but conceded that we must take up the armour to the same extent as the French. " Although we would not have initiated such a system," he observes, "yet so long as our neighbours the French persist in building iron-cased ships, we must do so likewise, and that in a manner to keep well ahead of anything the French or any other power may do for aggressive purposes. I think, therefore, the country is much indebted to Sir Chap. XXXIX. IRON SHIPS AND IRON-CASED SHIPS. 899 John Pakington for having had the moral courage and the administrative enterprise to effect these objects, and that on a scale adequate to satisfy all the require- ments which such vessels demand, and which cannot be attained by vessels of the displacement of the ' Gloire.' ^ But he pointed out that we must not consider iron ships the same thing as iron-cased ships ; for the latter are " less vulnerable by being so protected than ships that are not so covered," though " they are not in- vulnerable to the penetrations and impacts of heavy solid shot," and iron ships are still less so. Sir John Pakington differed from him on this point. " I quite agree with you that ships formed of iron and iron- sided ships are very different questions," he writes on the 28th of February. " I confess my own present impression to be that ships formed of iron wall make the best ironsided ships, but this is a question open to much discussion." The discussion was settled by the demolition of Mr. Scott Russell's iron target by the Armstrong 300-pounder, while the shot of the same gun stuck in the wood backing of the target repre- senting the ' Warrior.' Sir Howard forecast the result exactly as it happened, though he did not live to see it. " I consider the ' Warrior ' and the other vessels now being built of timber combined with iron to belong to the category of iron-cased ships ; for although the only timber used in the formation of the ' Warrior ' consists of two laj^ers of wood, 8 and 10 inches thick respectively, placed behind the plates, yet it must be observed that, hut for the timber by which the plates are backed up, the side of the ship would not ^ ' Observations by Sir Howard Douglas, read before the Institute of Naval Architects, Feb. 28, 1861.' 400 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIX. he shot-proof''^ He repeats the opinion in another l)aragraph. " In reply, therefore, to the question which forms the title of Mr. Scott Russell's pamphlet — ' Iron or Wood ? of which shall our Fleets be formed ? ' — I confidently reply, Of neither singly, but by a combination of both to constitute that new description of vessel for special purposes in which the French have taken the lead, but which lead we must take out of their hands by constructing iron-cased ships, which like theirs should be formed of timber, that is, on wooden bottoms having iron-cased sides ; the number and strength of these vessels to be extended according as the cir- cumstances of the case and the perfect security of the country may demand." ^ He thus foretold the degree of impenetrability that would pertain to iron-cased ships, and gave a qualified assent to their construction — not as being on a right principle, but because they were a necessity, required for " special purposes." He considered that there was no worse material for ships' hulls than iron, except steel ; and his observations trace its weakness to every point. " The bottom of a well-built copper-bottomed timber ship scarcely ever wears out," he tells us, "but will at least wear out three tops. In iron ships it is the reverse. One top will wear out three bottoms." The dockyard authorities have just reached the same discovery. The ' Defence ' was found to have made her bottom as foul in a short cruise, as that of a timber vessel from the coast of Africa after five vears' service. It was coated with rushes three feet long, jammed in a layer of mollusks. A few weeks converted the bottom of the 'Resistance' into a geological formation, the mollusks lianging in accretions as large as a ' ' Observations before the Institute of Naval Architects,' &c. ^ Ibid. CiiAP. XXXIX. EXPERIENCE OF AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 401 child's head, and the grass adhering so tenaciously that it carried away the grain of the iron when chipped off by adzes. It is contended that the American civil war has decided the question between wood and iron, by proving the superiority of the latter; but the facts point the other way, for all the successes have fallen to wood. Wooden gunboats forced the obstructions at New Orleans and captured the city ; and the Federal wooden flotilla remained half an hour under the Con- federate batteries, while clearing the obstructions of the Mississippi, and afterwards destroyed the Con- federate flotilla of iron-clads. On the other hand, the vaunted ' Monitor ' and her consorts were unable to pass Fort Darling on the James Ri^er, and have not achieved a single triumph. Much has been made of the onslaught of the ' Merrimac ' on the ' Congress ' and ' Cumberland,' as if it had been undreamt of, and settled w^ood for ever. But Sir Howard proposed an experiment imaging what happened. " Steam-ram ships, as proposed by Admiral Sartor ius, endowed with great power of speed," he says, " would un- doubtedly be of great use in preventing a landing." And he adds that he " would, therefore, submit that this project should be tried on a real service scale — by running a floating battery, well strengthened at the bow, and covered with iron, direct at the broadside of a line-of-battle hulk, brought down to her load w^ater-line by being sufficiently loaded." ^ Here we see the line-of-battle hulk placed in the very position of the ' Congress' and ' Cumberland,' when the ' Merrimac ' ran on ; while the ' Merrimac ' was a 1 ' The Defence of England,' by Sir Howard Douglas, in his work oa Fortification, 1859. 402 LIFE OF SIR HOWABD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIX. floating battery, " covered with iron and well strengthened at the bow," on the principle laid down by Sir Howard. He commanded more attention in America than his own country, and the Confederates put his suggestion to practical use. The ' Monitor ' claimed the merit of driving off the * Merrimac,' but it afterwards transpired that the shock of collision had dislocated her machinery, and that her withdrawal was owing to this cause, not the fire of the * Monitor.' Sir Howard states that he " has great mis- givings as to the destructive effects which so enormous a shock as running butt at a large ship would produce upon the ram. Exclusive of the effects that such colli- sion might produce upon the ram-ship, by the fouling of the screw amongst the floating wreck of the vessel so run into, there remains one important, and perhaps vital evil, which has not hitherto been considered. It is, that the vis-viva of an engine weighing, with its appurtenances, 800 or 1000 tons — carried forward in a ship moving at the rate of, it is said, fourteen or fifteen knots per hour — being sudddenly arrested by the stoppage of the ram when the collision takes place, would cause a shock so enormous that, in the recoil, any ordinary fastenings by which the engine is attached to the ship must be torn asunder, and the whole of the internal machinery dislocated." Sir George Sartorius affirms that derangement might be prevented by solidity of construction ; and the author will not presume to throw a doubt on this assertion, coming from such an authority. The ram principle has proved a success to a certain extent, and Sir George Sartorius must be credited with its revival, but it has not overstcpi)cd the limit assigned to it l)y Sir Howard, who tells us that rams "should not Chap. XXXIX. THE 'MONITOR' AND 'MEREIMAC 403 attempt to charge liiie-of-battle ships, but should, as they might, charge through, and overran, one after another, any number of comparatively light transports, each having, perhaps, 1500 or 2000 troops on board, and a considerable number of these verv formidable monsters should be provided accordingly." ^ Such results are more important than running down line-of- battle ships, and Sir George Sartorius has rendered a great service to the country in furnishing it with this means of defence. The * Monitor ' did not come out of the contest unscathed, and it is difficult to see how she proves the case of iron against wood. The ' Merrimac ' fired but two or three shot — we know not of what weight nor with what charges, but one split a block of iron 9^ inches thick at the foot of the ' Monitor's ' turret, another dinted her side, and one that struck the turret blinded her captain, while the concussion knocked down her engineer and another man inside, whence they were carried below insensible. Blood dropped from the eyes and nostrils of the crew as they fought their guns ; and the disabled and sinking ' Merrimac ' was allowed to retire, without an attempt at pursuit. Neither ' Merrimac ' nor ' Monitor ' ever renewed the battle, though they had frequent opportunities ; the * Merrimac ' was ultimately destroyed to save her from capture, and ' Merrimac No. 2 ' was settled by the wooden gunboat ' Echo,' which sent a shot through her iron sides, and left her to be blown up. The * Monitor ' has since foundered at sea, while in tow of the ' Ehode Island,' and realised one of the casualties foreseen by Sir Howard, and which he based on the facts that " timber, when immersed in water, loses as » ' The Defence of England,' &c. 404 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIX. mucTi of its weight as is equal to that of the water dis- placed by it, and it floats. But the excess of the weight of a cubic foot of iron over an equal volume of salt water is 6180 oz., and with this force it sinks." And he instances the case of the iron ship ' Connaught,' whicli "sprung a leak, and sank in deep water, the origin of the leak being therefore unattainable with certainty." {Postscript, foot-note in pp. 6, 7.] It may be urged that experience has not led the Americans to relinquish ironclads, but we must re- member that the press there is in the pay of con- tractors, and this persistence will be explained. Nor should it be forgotten that their naval operations have been restricted to the sphere which Sir Howard appropriated to ironclads — namely, service in still water, — and that the sea value of ironsides has yet to be tested. Or does not the coast voyage of the ' Moni- tor ' set the question at rest ? Sir Howard foresaw that ironsides would possess two qualities fatal to sea-going men-of-war — difficulty of rising to the water, and excessive rolling. The bows of the ' Warrior ' are not iron-clad, and she might be expected to show no want of buoyancy, but the weight of her sides throws a strain for'ard, and she is found to labour heavily in a rough sea. It is curious that her crew describe her as an " awful roller " — using the very words by which Sir Howard prefigured her character ; and her behaviour is a poor augury for the ships with iron-clad bow^s which we are constructing in such a hurr3\ She is said to have attained a speed of thirteen and fourteen knots under full steam, but the * Defence ' has never exceeded eleven, and requires eight minutes to perform a circle. Speed is an im- portant quality in a manof-war, but a more essential Chap. XXXIX. ARMOUR-SHIPS NOT INVULNERABLE. 405 one is handiness, and steadiness is equally valuable. " The roll of a ship," says Sir Howard, " is a matter of the very greatest importance in naval gunnery, and I have made it the subject of elaborate consideration under all the circumstances of the case, namel}^, the lee roll or the weather roll, whether to fire with the rising motion or the falling motion of the side, whether to fire when the ship is on the top of the wave, or the trough of the sea; the gunner considers the roll of the ship, so far as it effects gunnery, to be seriously or ' awfully ' great when, irrespective of gunnery, it is not immoderate. There is no comparison to be made between the roll of the 'Great Eastern,' carrying no armament, with that of the ' Ariadne ' under different circumstances, but overweighted as all that class of vessels is with heavy armament." Official experiments have proved that a ship cannot be rendered invulnerable by any armour that she can carry, though it is alleged that this may be indefi- nitely thickened by obtaining a larger displacement. It is true that vessels may be built of the size of the ' Great Eastern,' which might allow a six-inch armour-coat, but the ' Great Eastern ' has not inspired confidence in magnitude, and there might be less reason to admire ' Great Easterns ' in armour. The experiments rather lead to Sir Howard's doctrine — that our future fleets must look to the weight of their ordnance, not of their armour. The law now is that ships cannot carry heavier guns than five tons, and this is laid down as if it could not be altered. Heavier guns certainly present two difficulties — the topweight they would throw on the deck, and the scope of their recoil. But the Americans have removed the latter 406 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIX. objection by firing a 410-pounder on board a gunboat, proving that it can be done with safety, and we have but to deal with the former. The author of this work projected a mode of transport which has received the approval of several distinguished naval officers, and it is given in a note below as not irrelevant here.^ For a greater weight of ordnance is incompatible with iron-sided ships, and we must choose between armour and armament. It is one of the favourite arguments for ironsides that they will keep out shells though they are vulner- able to shot, but the experiments at Shoeburyness have made this pretension doubtful. In point of fact, they are no longer shell-proof when they are pene- trated by shot ; for every such shot becomes a shell of the most destructive kind, scattering splinters of the iron in every direction, w^hile it would only strike ahead in a wooden vessel. Sir Howard traced the ^ The author's scheme proposes wooden frigates, ofvery solid construction, carrying four iS-pounders and two 400-pounders. llie 48-potinders are to be on the orlop deck for ordinary service : the 400-pounders will be carried below on a turntable and platform, one gun for'ard and one aft ; but will be raised to the deck for service, the platform being ringed round six pillars of iron, one in each corner of the hatchway, and one midway on each side. It will be lifted to the deck by machinery worked from the engine-room. Beams of iron will then be slid from the deck, fore and aft, through the corner pillars into the centre pillars, where their lips will lock each other ; and two lipped beams of iron will be slid from heneath the deck on each side, and lock in the centre with a bolt through the platform, the bolt hav- ing a worm at the point for a nut. Thus the 400-pounder, carriage, and slide will rest on a bed as firm as the ship, and may be pointed to starboard or larboard, or over the bows or stern, by a whirl of the turntable, avoiding the derangement caused by X'ivots. The weight of the 400-pounder, car- riage, slide, platform, and turntable, is estimated at 12 tons, which will be the weight of the 600-pounder constructing by Sir William Armstrong. There could be no difficulty in lifting and lowering this by a piston-ajjpa- ratus, or even by a capstan, which easily raises a line-of-battle ship's anchor from the bottom of the sea, a weight of five tons, apart from the hea\-y cable. Chap. XXXIX. HIS CONFIDENCE IN THE NAVY. 407 effect in an experiment with a Wliitwortk 68-pounder against an iron and wood target, when the shot made a hole 13^ inches by 21 inches, " the shot and plate breaking up into very small pieces, spreading about the main deck to the extent of 22 feet, and making marks on the opposite side to the depth of half an inch, which sufficiently indicates the destructive effects that would be produced on the crew in real service." ^ The shot from the Armstrong 300-pounder against the * Warrior ' target produced the same results on a larger scale.^ The experiments with the Whitworth 68- pounder caused the gun to burst. Sir Howard's stand against the iron clamour ex- posed him to the taunts of Mr. Scott RusselP and other theorists, and drew down upon him an anony- mous letter, warning him to "take care of what he was about." Surely more consideration might have been shown to a veteran of eighty-five winters, de- voting his last hours to the service of his countrj^, and who had a better right to speak on this question than any of his assailants. These men would do well to study the concluding paragraph of his observations to the Institute of Naval Architects. " I will not follow Mr. Scott Russell in the plunge which he takes to dive into the future of the British navy ; not from any dread on my part that the naval power of Eng- land can ever be destroyed by open force, single or coalesced, if right be done ; but from the apprehen- sion that a power which has withstood a world in arms, defeated maritime coalitions of the most formid- 1 * Naval Gunnery,' p. 400, fifth edition. 2 Letter from Sir W. G. Armstrong to the Times. 3 ' The Fleet of the Future.' /* 408 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XXXIX. al)le description, and wliicli formed tlie only obstacle that stood in the way between the ambition of Na- poleon T. and universal conquest, might possibly thus be tampered with by a speculative philosophy, which would prescribe to our descendants the mode and means of warfare for a remote future, and even pro- vide them with armour and armament. Britons will not degenerate ; we should be thankful for the past, careful of the present, and leave the future to our sons'' The following letter is written in a spirit akin to his own: — " W^ilton House, Salisbury, " My dear Sir Howard, i2tb October, i860. " I am an old friend of the editor of the Saturday Review, and read the articles you mention with great interest, without, however, having an idea as to their author. I thought many of the suggestions they con- tained were admirable. But I do not think we are yet in a position to judge of the success or failure of * La Gloire ' or any other iron-plated ships. Experi- ence alone can prove which will be the most valuable in time of war, and in the mean time we must go on with our experiments, and earn success at the last, even through failures. " Ever yours most truly, " SiDXEY Herbert. " I ought to have added that I think a full discus- sion and ventilation of the subject must do good." Chap. XL. CONSULTED BY GOVERNMENT. 409 CHAPTER XL. Last Days. Sir Howard published a new edition of his work on * Fortification ' in 1859, and brought it down to the present day, reviewing the new systems, and intro- ducing a plan for the naval, military, and littoral de- fence of England. He again urged the formation of a Naval Reserve, and recommended a better organization of the militia and the erection of works for the pro- tection of the arsenals and dockyards. The necessity of these measures had been seen by Lord Palmerston, and the two first were soon carried out, while a Com- mission was formed to report on the sites for fortifi- cations. It included the most distinguished scientific officers in the country, and Government requested Sir Howard to become its President. His great age rendered this difficult, as the duty involved journej'-s round the country and examinations of localities in all weathers; and he requested to be excused if the public service permitted. The reply of the Minister for War assigned him a more important duty, but one not imposing personal exertion : — " War Office. " My dear Sir Howard, 1st August, 1859. " I returned to town this morning and found your letter. 2 F 410 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. " I find we have on hand other work which must be referred to some central authorities of experience and capacity to arrange and decide upon. This would not be confined to the one subject of fortifications, but would require an intimate knowledge of military topo- graphy and a general view of how the country could best be defended. " It appears to me that if you would give your ser- vices to the Government in this matter they would be even more valuable than on the Fortifications Com- mission, where the subject is narrow and the range of knowledge required far less. You would not in this case be exposed to any risk to health by moving about and examining ground, nor, if you found yourself incapable of such exertion, would you have any misgiving as to the manner in which you were discharging the duties you had undertaken. Hoping that you will be able without risk or hesitation to accept this latter proposal, the details of which I will forward to you in a few daj^s, I will act on j^our official letter as regards the Fortifications Com- mission. " Believe me, my dear Sir Howard, " Yery sincerel}^ yours, " Sidney Herbert." No testimony is needed to Sir Howard's attain- ments, but nothing could more strongly mark them than the relations thus maintained with him by suc- cessive Governments, while his character stood so high that no one suspected him of blinking his prin- ciples. " You could not, I think, do otherwise than Chap. XL. DEATH OF MISS DOUGLAS. 411 accept tlie arduous duty which the Government seek to impose upon you," writes Lord Derby. " The pro- position is equally honourable to you and creditable to them ; and if an inquiry so extensive is to be insti- tuted on a subject of such vital importance, I rejoice that the country will have the advantage of having it presided over by one so thoroughly conversant with every branch of it. I only hope the inevitable labour attending it may not overtask your physical strength." ^ We see a kind warning here, but his strength was to be tasked in harder measure, and by a trial not to be averted. He had gone to Folkestone with his daughter Helen, his only companion since the death of Lady Douglas, and they appeared to derive benefit from the change, though Miss Douglas did not gain strength. But her spirits were good, and she accom- panied him in his afternoon strolls, and one day seemed so well that he left her to prolong her walk with her friend Miss Eoss, returning home alone. She joined him at dinner, and they spent the evening together, when Miss Douglas retired quite cheerful. They were never to meet again, for she was found dead in her bed in the morning. Her maid alarmed the household, and one of the servants ran for Mr. Bateman, the well-known sur- geon of Folkestone, while the others gathered at Sir Howard's door. But there they felt the difficulty of speaking, and came to a stand. He was reading his prayers at the moment, but heard them whispering, ^ Letter from the Earl of Derby to Sir Howard Douglas, Nov. 27, 1859. 2 F 2 412 LIFE OF SIK HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. and went to the door; for it struck him that some- thing had happened to Miss Douglas, as he after- wards told the author. Their looks confirmed his fears, and he instantly asked for his daughter. No one ventured to speak. "Is she dead?" he ex- claimed. The truth could not be concealed, and he fell on the floor insensible. But he shook off the weight, or rather rose beneath it, bearing it like a giant. He was now joined by Mr. Bateman, and they found Miss Douglas with her head reclining on her arm, her face wearing a placid expression, so that she might be thought to have died without pain, and this soothed her father. " No one can tell what a loss she is to me," he said to Mr. Bateman ; " she has devoted herself to me. But I must do what is to be done. She will sleep beside her mother, where I shall soon join them." He went to his dressing-case, and took out a paper. " This is the address of the undertaker," he continued, "for I have thought of these things beforehand, and I had prepared everything in case of my own death. Perhaps you will kindly order him to come, and telegraph for my son Frederick." ^ His wishes were attended to, and Mr. Bateman returned in the evening, and did not leave him till he retired. He Avas joined by his children as soon as they heard of their loss ; and even they were surprised at his fortitude, often as they had seen it displayed. He watched the coffin to the hearse, and could hardly be dissuaded from attending the funeral, though now bordering on his eighty-fifth year. But he gave way, ' The Rev. W. F. Douglas, Rector of Scrayingham, near York. Chap. XL. HTS FOKTITUDE. 413 and was satisfied with assembling the household, and asking them to join him in prayer. They knelt down, and Mr. Bateman writes that "he offered up an extempore prayer, which touched the hearts of all by its pathetic eloquence." The same spirit pervades the following letter, which he addressed to the author of this work on the occasion ; and rarely have so many emotions been expressed in so few words, or a cha- racter so mirrored by its own reflection. *' My dear FuLLOM, " Folkestone, 15tli October, 1859. *' I shall have a great deal to write to you about in a few days, D.Y. At present I reply to your kind inquiries that I have been supported wonderfully hj the mercy of Almighty God through this sudden and awful bereavement of the only remaining daughter,^ and the only child domesticated with me, and that I begin to feel as if I should be spared to do for some time my duty to th se that remain, and perhaps to be useful to my country. " I do not feel that my intellectual or mental faculties are impaired nor my public spirit dead, and even think it is increasing. " Yours ever truly, " Howard Douglas." These were not mere words ; for " to do his duty and be useful " had been the aim of his life, and was ^ Sir Howard means " the only remaining daughter " under his roof. This was afterwards shared by his surviving daughter, Mrs. Dawkins, who was not living with him at the time. 414 LIFE OF SIE HOWAED DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. now liis cousolation. The narrowing of his family ties threw him on his " public spirit," and this carried him 'through so much work that he thought it had " increased " — as if that could be ! But those who loved him saw the strain, and feared that it would prove too great. Government now requested his advice as to the action they should take on the Fortification Eeport. "It is not yet signed, and still subject to correc- tion," writes Mr. Sidney Herbert : " I send it there- fore in the strictest confidence. You are so familiar with the subject that it will not take you a long time to come to an opinion on the principle of its various proposals. Your opinion will be most valu- able to me and the Government, who have now immediately to decide what course they will take on this report." The Minister was right in thinking that the task would " not take him a long time," for he received his opinion within three days, and Sir Howard learnt that it had been adopted by Government : — " 49, Belgi-ave Square, " My dear Sir Howard, sist Jam;ary, i860. " I am very much obliged to joii for your Draft Observations on the Report of the Fortification Com- mission, which I have read with the greatest interest and attention. T do not think it can be in a better form than that in which it now stands, namely, a Confidential Minute on the Report ; neither would I shorten in any way matter at once so pregnant and so Chap. XL. MR. SIDNEY HERBERT. 415 valuable. I return the original as you wish, but without in any way giving up my copyright. " Pray believe me, with renewed thanks, " Very sincerely yours, " Sidney Herbert." The next letter has a sad interest, and seems to come fitly here, though the date is a year later : — " Belgrave Square, " My dear Sir Howard, 7th January, isei. " If anything could soften to me the pain of the step I have been compelled to take, it would be the warm expression of sympathy and regret which that step has called forth from old and valued friends like yourself. It has been a terrible struggle to me ; but I had no alternative. I have never recovered the last session ; and my doctor came to the conclusion that the only chance for prolonging my life was to give up my seat in the House of Commons : I can only hope that I may thereby gain an increase of health and strength to enable me the better to discharge the duties of my office. " Pray believe me, with renewed thanks for your kind letter, " Yours very sincerely, " Sidney Herbert." Sir Howard presented a copy of the new edition of ' Naval Gunnery ' to His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, through Her Majesty and the Prince Consort, 416 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. wlio set a high value on his productions. The volume was appropriately bound, and he wrote in it the following inscription, than which nothing could be more suitable : — To His Royal Highness PRINCE ALFRED, Of H. M.'s Ship St. George, One of the foremost hopes of future glory To the Royal Navy, This Volume Is respectfully and affectionately presented BY A Veteran of fourscore years and five, Howard Douglas. " Nil Claudias non proficient maniis Quas et benigno numine Jupiter '] Defeiidit, et curse sagaces Expediunt per acuta belli." — Horace. The motto may be thus rendered : — [There is] notbing [wbicb] tbe Claudian hosts will not accomplish. Which both Jupiter with a favourable providence Defends, and wise care Brings through the perils of war. Her Majesty and the Prince Consort looked at the volume with much interest, and gave orders that it should be forwarded to Prince Alfred by the first Admiralty bag.^ It reached His Eoyal Highness in a few weeks in the West Indies, and drew from him the annexed letter, which the author found put up by itself in Sir Howard's pocket-book. ^ Letter from Major-General Grey to Sir Howard Douglas. Chap. XL. LETTER FROM PRINCE ALFRED. 417 " H.M.S. ' St. George,' Port Royal, 6th April, 1861. '* Dear Sir Howard Douglas, " Accept my best thanks for your kindness in sending me a copy of your new work on ' Naval Gunnery,' which I received by the mail to-day, and which I shall study with much interest. Although I have been only a short time in the navy, I have been able to recognise how much it is indebted to you, and I can wish you no greater satisfaction than that this edition may have the same success as the first. " I remain yours truly, " Alfred." Sir Howard enjoyed excellent health up to Miss Douglas's death. All his teeth were sound ; he walked three or four miles a day, and obtained eight hours' sleep at night. But that event gave his system a shock, and the controversy about armour-ships wore it more, showing his friends a marked change. His sleep was less regular and composed, and he frequently recited the lines of our great poet : — " sleep, gentle sleep. Nature's soft nurse, liow have I frighted thee. That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness ? Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast. Seal up the shipboy's eyes, and rock his brains ^ In cradle of the rude imperious surge, And in the visitation of the winds, Who take the ruffian billows by the top. Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them With deaf'ning clamours in the slippery clouds, That, with the hurly, death itself awakes ? " 418 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. But he liid his sorrows, appearing calm and cheerful, though his manner was subdued, and his conversation less animated. His vivacity revived at times, parti- cularly when he spoke of Scotland, the theme he liked best, or when he recalled his early life in America, and described the pathless forests, the villages of wigwams, or the falls of Niagara, reciting the lines of Thomson : — " Smooth to the shelving brink a copious fiood Rolls fair and placid ; where collected all In one impetuous torrent, down the steep It thundering shoots, and shakes the country round. At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad ; Then whitening by degrees, as from it falls. And from the loud-resounding rocks below Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower. Nor can the tortured wave here find repose, But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts ; And, falling fast from gradual slope to slope, With wild infracted course, and lessen'd roar, It gains a safer bed, and steals, at last, Along the mazes of the quiet vale." He derived little benefit from the Folkestone breezes on his last visit, though enjoying his walks on the promenade, which he pronounced the noblest platform in Europe. Its attractions were just to his taste, for he could here see the coast of France, against which he had raised such bulwarks, — watch the yachts and shipping in the harbour and channel, — and glance round at the military strollers. Shorncliffe camp was within reach, as well as the Musketry School at Hythe, in which he took great interest, highl}^ appre- ciating General Hay. He supported the Volunteer Chap. XL. SUPPOETS VOLUNTEEE MOVEMENT. 419 movement, and aided in its organization, addressing a letter of advice to the National Eifle Association through his friend General Hay, and receiving an acknowledgment in his election as an honorary member. " I have most carefully considered the contents of your valuable letter," writes General Hay, " and am proud to feel that my views in regard to the training of the Yolunteers have always harmonized with those expressed by you." .So well did he keep abreast with the age. He showed the same interest in the movements at the camp, and attended any display, though not always to commend. He particularly censured a sham fight, representing an attack on an enemy who had landed in the bay near Hythe. The troops were marched down, and skirmishers thrown out on the beach, when the whole body fell back on the heights, holding them to cover their retreat. " What an absurd pro- ceeding ! " remarked Sir Howard to Mr. Bateman, who was by his side. " The movement ought to have been exactly reversed. They should have brought down every man and gun as quickly as possible, if the enemy had landed, and attacked him and driven him into the sea. There would be some sense in that." Sir Howard looked a soldier to the last, retaining his erect bearing, and walking with a firm step, though cautiously, and with looks bent on the ground. His sight had begun to fail, and cataracts were forming on both his eyes, but he did not submit them to medical treatment. " They will last my time," he remarked to the author. He contrived to write by never raising his pen, forming the letters by habit, and all were plain to one acquainted with his hand. 420 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. A career of three score years and ten seems to have left his character much what it first appeared, with all its elements of dash^ vigour, enterprise, aptitude, and perception, its habits of industry, its generous instincts, and its w^arm sympathies. Neither heart nor mind showed the wear of life, and he is the same at eighty- five as seventeen, inspiring the Yolunteers at Hythe as he inspired them at Tynemouth, and exercising the inventive genius which scared the rats in improving the screw propeller. The hand that caught up the child in the shipwreck obeyed the same impulse still, and Mr. Bateman saw him walking up the street at Folkestone with a loaded basket, which he had taken from a poor little girl. " My dear, give that to me," he said, as he saw her bending under the weight ; " I am better able to carry it than you." The words were reported by a lady, who heard them in passing, as the General of eighty-five and the poor child of five walked away together. One of his most marked qualities w^as courage, for he shrank from nothing. An instance of this was witnessed by two of his sons. They were fishing in the Farnham mill-stream, when they heard an outcry, and saw a man pursuing the miller, while his wife screamed for help. The miller escaped, and the man went back and stood watching the house. " What is the matter ? " asked Sir Howard of the w^oman, who remained terror-struck at the door. " That man is a lunatic, sir," she replied, " and has got a carving-knife, with wdiich he has sworn to kill my husband." He went up to the man, who kept his hand in his breast, holding the knife. " Give me that knife," he said sternly. The man drew it out, grasped the blade, and Chap. XL. HIS FRIENDSHIPS. 421 presented him the handle. Sir Howard threw it to the woman, and remained by the poor fellow till he was secured. Another of his prominent traits was benevolence, which in him became a principle, not confining itself to persons, but seeking to benefit communities. His correspondence shows that he was always exerting his interest for some one — usually people who had no other friend ; and the author has entered his room as these applicants withdrew, yet never heard their errand, though possessing his unlimited confidence. But what were such acts compared with the good he effected in office, by the influence of his position and the exercise of his talents ! There are many careers more dazzling, but few have been more useful. Nothing attests his worth more than his friendships, which were formed for life. General Forbes was as much his friend at eighty-five as when he dragged him out of the sea in the shipwreck, and now mourns his loss. " I rejoice to find that you are writing the Life of my lamented friend Sir Howard Douglas," writes Sir Frederic Smith to the author. " I knew him from my childhood, and a more amiable, noble- hearted, gallant, talented, and devoted soldier has seldom existed." " And I can bear witness," wri|ps Sir William Gomra, " with many, many more, to the unsullied purity of his mind and whole course of life, the warmth and tenderness of his affections, and, com- bined with his rare proficiency in severe science, the childlike freshness of nature and feeling which Mr. Gladstone so happily instances in the character of the lamented Prince Consort— animating him and abiding with him to the last of his days." 422 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. Chap. XL. The time had come when this life was to be laid down — laid down in sorrow, but in calmness, with a pious trust in his Redeemer, and still thinking of his fellow-men. A stranger solicited his opinion of an apparatus he had invented for steering, and he began to answer the letter with the hand of death upon him. "It is my duty," he replied to entreaties to refrain. But he could not finish. " There was no appearance of disease," writes Mr. Bateraan to the author. " Even his teeth were perfect, and, if he could have been induced to take the repose which he had so well earned, his life would in all pro- bability have been prolonged for many years." The kind doctor warned him against such toil. " Of what consequence is it whether I live a year or two more or less?" he replied. " I never was idle, and it is misery to me to be so. I have served my Queen and country, not unprofitably I hope, and it is the wish of my heart to die in harness." But his resistance to armour-ships bore him down : his arguments met unbelief, or elicited taunts, and ceased to influence the public. He discovered the barrenness of fame after a life of success, and the harass and toil hastened his end. His thoughts turned to a better existence, for which he had pre- pared, and he alwaj^s bade his family "good night" with a tender look, as if they should never meet again — for he remembered the fate of his father and daughter. But it was to fall otherwise with him. His children surrounded him at the last, and he passed away in their presence, in possession of his faculties, and assured of resurrection. Armour-ships proved vulnerable a few weeks later, leading to their Chap. XL. HIS HONOURS AND DEATH. 423 renouncement by Mr. Fairbairn before the British Association ; and it is remarkable that a letter arrived as Sir Howard expired, announcing his spontaneous election as an Associate of the Institute of Naval Architects, where his opinions had been most strongly opposed. Yet he knew that he was right. " All that I have said about armour-ships will prove correct," he re- marked, twenty-four hours before his death. " How little do they know of the undeveloped power of artillery ! " His services had won him the honours of the Bath, of which he was a Knight Commander in the Military Division and a Grand Cross in the Civil, wearing both decorations by the authority of the Prince Consort. He was also a Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George ; and Lord Palmerston offered him the Grand Cross of the Military Division of the Bath shortly before his death, but this he declined, alleging that he was " too old for such vanities." On the 9th of November, 1861, earthly distinctions ceased for him, and " He gave his honours to the world again, His blessed part to Heaven, and died in peace." i ( 425 ) APPENDIX. Opinion of the Duke of Wellington on the Boundary Treaties. The difference of opinion between Great Britain and the United States respecting the true course and position of the St. Croix Kiver appears important in the discussion of the question respecting the boundary in the following views. The second article of the treaty says, "From the north- west angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix River to the Highlands," &c. The conclusion to be drawn from the perusal of this article is that the position of the river St. Croix must have been known to both parties when the treaty was concluded ; and it must be supposed to have been the intention of both to fix the north-west angle of Nova Scotia upon a point in the Highlands due north of that position. This point had before been fixed, by the Commissioners of the United States, at the source of the St. John's River. It appears, however, from subsequent transactions, that the real St. Croix River and the position of its real source were not known till the year 1794. The British Commissioners considered the Penobscot to be the St. Croix. The river designated by that name in the treaty was at length fixed upon by Commissioners appointed under the article of the treaty of 1794. Even if the position of the source of the St. Croix had been accurately known at the moment that the treaty of peace was concluded in the year 1783, the north-west angle of Nova Scotia as described in the second article remained to be found. That point depended on the Highlands described on 2 G 426 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. App. which the due north Ime from the source of the St. Croix should strike those Highlands. But in the article as framed every- thing was to be discovered — the St. Croix Eiver, its course, its soiu-ce ; the due north line fr-om that source, and the point at which that due north line should touch the Highlands. It is very important that the arbitrator who shall decide the difference which has arisen under the treaty of Ghent should understand exactly what passed respecting the St. Croix Eiver and its source ; and seeing how little was known of that important point at the time the article was drawn, should seek for the intentions of the parties from other sources of information besides the words of the article itself. We should attend to the original instructions of the Com- missioners of the United States in 1779 ; to tlie admission which they contain that the north-west angle of Nova Scotia was to be found at the source of the river St. John ; to the geographical features of the coimtry ; and to the distinction which clearly exists between the term sea and the term Atlantic Ocean, and between those parts of the sea called respectively Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Fundy, Bay of Chaleurs, and Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the diplomatic act referred for his arbitration. It is quite clear that neither party knew wliat was the real source of the St. Croix River. Is it not probable, considering the source of the negociation of the definitive treaty, that both parties considered it to be placed further to the westward than it has been found to be ? In that case the due north line from that point would have struck the Highlands not far from the source of the river St. Jolm. App. address from don JOSE ROZAL. 427 Translation of one of the Addresses preseiited to SlR Howard Douglas by the Chiefs of the Spanish Alarms. To Baron Douglas, " Sn. Esteban deribas del Sil, " SiK, 4th April, 1812. " When I was aDxiously expecting to see you, Sir, in this province of Orense, in order to have the honour of paying you my respects as the most beneficent representative of the British Nation, and to present to you my Company of Alarm (in which although you Avould not find military men for parade, yet you would meet with a few brave Mountain Tirailleurs, good Spaniards, lovers of their religion, their country, and their King, which they have proved at the time of the first invasion of the enemy, and are ready to do it again, if again he dared to invade us, if the Nation would assist us with such articles as are necessary to render this point inaccessible), my heart was overwhelmed with grief to learn that you had returned to Corunna, and the motives you had for taking that step ; my grief was increased when I announced to my companions your return, as I saw that it filled them with the same sentiments, to see their hopes frustrated, and thus de]irived of the aid and protection they expected to receive from you, Sir. They expressed their sorrow to me in these very words : ' Why, Sir, should we molest ourselves with exercising and sacrificing our families and properties when we see that fortune is so very adverse to us ? If till now after so many sacrifices we have not been able to advance a step, what shall we do now without them ? And what can we do without arms, without ammunition, and without hopes that the generous nation who assisted us will furnish us ? ' These and other such plaints which they ex- pressed to me, filled my breast with sighs, and I could not help exposing the whole to you, adding, that if the represen- tatives of the Spanish Nation do not take a leading part with regard to the o[)position of the military in the organisation of the Alarms and their armament, this same Alarm will 2 G 2 428 LIFE OF SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS. App. become a monstrosity and its enthusiasm be turned into a lamentable terror. " I have sworn with them to defend these points at the cost of my life ; for this purpose we need arms of every de- scription ; my means and faculties are already sacrificed for the benefit of the country ; I supplicate you, Sir, in the name of the whole, that you will assist us with those necessary articles, and may the Almighty preserve you many years, &c. " (Signed) Br. Jose Eozal." Sir Howard Douglas and General Foy. The following paper was drawn up by Sir Howard on the operations of General Toy in 1812, and submitted to him on his visiting England in 1817 by the Eight Hon. W. Wickham : — " xVfter the retreat of the Galician army before General Foy, from Yalladolid and Tordebaton, in August, 1812, to Benavente and La Baneza, it was an object of extreme solicitude to me, in the then critical state of the campaign, to ascertain in time what General Foy w^ould attempt when he should hear of the fall of Astorga ; being persuaded, from his character, that he would attempt some important blow, " On Friday night, the 21st of August, I was in a small village near the Baneza, and remained the next day near that place, after the Spanish Division had retired from Castrocontrigo and Torneros. Having ascertained General Baron Foy's march to be in the direction of Tabra, I ima- gined the following to be his aim. That he would march rapidly upon Caiwajales ; by gaining which point before the Portuguese Division then before Zamora, he would certainly have captured that division ; and as Toro as well as Zamora was in possession of the French, I suspected tliat, should General Foy succeed in his well-arranged plan against the Portuguese, that he would then attempt a eoup de main upon Salamanca. Lord Wellington was then at Madrid with the App. operations of general FOY in 1812. 429 bulk of his force, and one division was at Cuillar. Salamanca was left with a very weak garrison, and the trophies of the victory, and was the chief entrepot on the line of communi- cation with Portugal. " Apprehending this, I sent instant information to the Conde de Amaranthe, and entreated him to raise the blockade of Zamora, cross the Esla, and get through Carvajales as soon as possible, for that Baron Foy would certainly attempt to anti- cipate him upon that point. " I should very much like to know if I was right on the whole case, and how near the Baron was to succeed in the part he did execute against the Portuguese Division. " Farnham, March 25th, 1817." General Foy appended to these observations the following remarks : — " L'officier qui a ^crit ceci a parfaitement devine les inten- tions du General de Division Comte Foy pendant les opera- tions du mois d'Aout, 1812. " L'Empereur Napoleon attachoit la plus haute importance a la conservation d'Astorga. Cette place n'avoit des vivres que jusqu'au 10 Aout, tout au plus. " Aussitot qu'on eut acquis dans I'armee Francaise la certi- tude du mouvement de Lord Wellington sur Madrid, on resolut de se porter en avant, et de delivrer les garnisons laissees precedemment a Toro, Zamora, et Astorga. Le General Clauzel commandoit I'armee par interim, comme plus ancien General de Division. Le General Foy fut charge de detache- ment, comme dans le second. " Le General Foy proposa au General Clauzel de partir de Valencia pour Astorga. Celui-ci, ne croyant pas que la place fut tres-presse, mit de la lenteur dans les ordres. Le General Foy ne put partir de Valladolid avec deux divisions d'infan- terie, et quinze ou seize autres chevaux, que le 17 Aoiit, a cinq heures du soir. " Le General Foy, passant a pen de distance de Toro, appella a lui la garnison de Toro, qui n'avoit ete bloque que par des 430 LIFE OF SIR HOWAED DOUGLAS. App. guerrillas Espagnoles, et continua sa marclie sur Astorga. II eut le 19 sur I'Ezla, pres Benaveute, uii engagement avec I'arriere-garde de Tarmee de Galice, qu'il fut impossible d'ar- reter. Le 20, a trois heures apres midi, en entrant a la Baneza, il apprit qu'Astorga s'etoit rendu la veille, et que le General Castauos* se retiroit en liate sur le cliemin de Yilla- franca. " Des lors I'operation principale etoit manquee. Le General Foy voulut que son mouvement ne fut pas inutile. II savait que la division de Milice Portugaise du Comte Amarante etait devant Zamora, faisant un simulacre de siege ; il voulut I'enlever. A cet efFet il se dirigea de la Baneza sur Miranda du Douro. II etoit impossible qu'une pareille marche restat secrete, dans la disposition unanime des habitants centre I'armee Fran^aise. Le General Foy arriva a Tabra le 23, dans I'apres-midi. II apprit la que les Portugais n'avoient pas encore evacue Carvajalis. " Des I'entree de la nuit du 23 an 24, le General Foy se mit en route dans la direction de Mirauda du Douro. Les troupes etoient liorriblemeut fatiguees, et la pointe du jour le 24 I'avant-garde de cavalerie Franqaise aperfut I'arriere-garde des Portugais, qui se retiroient en grande bate sur Constantin. La cavalerie Franpaise ^toit mal commandee, et ne fit pas ce qu'elle devoit et pouvait faire. L'infanterie etoit a deux lieues en arriere. Le General Foy courut avec trente ou quarante chevaux sur la colonne de tSelviera, et I'attaquoit a I'entree du Portugal, dans un pays difficile. Elle etoit assez serree pour exiger qu'on tirat centre elle quelques coups de fusil. On ne pourroit pas courir a I'entamer avec trente ou quarante clievaux ftitigues. Le General Foy fut oblige de se contenter de quelques prisonniers faits a dehors de la colonne. " Le General Foy arriva le 25 a Zamora, avec le projet de se porter a Salamanque, ou etoient les hopitaux, les bagages de I'armee Anglaise, et plusieurs officiers generaux, parmi les- quels le i\[arechal Beresford. II se proposoit de marcher en deux colonnes, I'une dirigee sur Salamanque, I'autre sur [ blank ]. C'est avec cette derniere qu'auroit ete la plus ' Castaiios, instead of being with the army, was at Villafi-anca. App. operations of general FOY in 1812. 431 graude partie de la cavalerie. Les dispositions etoient faites pour cette operation ; le succes etoit infaillible ; mais on eut dans ce moment des avis secrets de Madrid, desquels il resultoit que Lord Wellington alloit partir avec son armee de cette capitale pour se porter a Yalladolid, et peut-etre meme en droiture a Burgos. Le General Clauzel prescrivit an General Foy de se rapproclier de I'armee. Les avis requs de Madrid etoient fondes. Lord Wellington arriva a Arevolo trois ou quatre jours apres que le General Foy etoit arrive a Tordesillas." THE END. LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. (cr <:>C_:< /C^- THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara STACK COLLECTION THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. i iO"!-6,"62(Cn7:;4s^)476r) DCOCr (^C CCOLCC XiLCJBKB^jCCii^ BCCCC cCfCf CCSXC WVVv i^W^W^ Wj^..^:y'»V«^^; '\j\j'^y\iy'\J\