THE GREAT (FORGOTTEN) INVASION.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 207, 14 October 1859, Page 3

THE GREAT (FORGOTTEN) INVASION.

( From ffouteMd Words, March 22.) PREAMBLE. - It happened some,sixty yearV ago; it was a French invasion; and *it actually took place in England. Thousands of people are alive at the present moment, who must remember£it perfectly well and yet it has been forgotten at this very time, when the French invasion that may come, is being d'scu?sed everywhere, the French invasion that did come, is not honored with so much as a passing, word of notice. The new generation knows nothing about it. The old generation has carelessly 1 forgotten it. This is discreditable, and it must be set right; this is a dangerous security, and it' must be disturbed; this is a gap in the Modern History of England, and it must be. filled up. Fathers, read and be reminded; mothers read and be alarmed; British youths and maidens, read and be informed. Here follows the true history of the forgotten Invasion of England, at the end of the last century; derived from proved and written facts recorded in Kelly's History of the Wars:— I. OF THE FRENCH INVASION AS SEEN FROM Ilfracombe, „. On the twenty-second day of February, in the year seventeen hundred and ninetyseven, the inhabitants of North Devonshire looked towards the Bristol Channel^ and saw the French invasion coming on, in four shipsThe Directory of the French Republic (One and Indivisible) had been threatening these islands some time before; but much talk and little action having characterised the proceedings of that governing body in most other matters, no great apprehension was felt of their really carrying out their expressed intention in relation to this country. The war between the two nations was, at this time, confined to naval operations, in which the English invariably got the i better of the French. North Devonshire (as well as the rest of England) was aware, of this, and trusted implicitly in our well-known supremacy of the seas. North Devonshire got up on the morning of, the twenty-second of February, without a thought of the invasion; North Devonshire looked out towards the British Channel, and there-r-in spite of our supremacy of the seas—there the invasion was as large as life. ..-..- Of the four ships which the Directory had sent to conquer England, two were frigates and two were smaller vessels. It sailed along, this dreadful fleet, in view of a whole panic-striken, defenceless coast and- the place at which it seemed inclined to try the invading experiment first, was ill-fated Ilfracombe. The commander of the expedition brought his ships up before the harbor, scuttled a few coasting vessels, prepared to destroy the rest, thought better of it, and suddenly turned his four warlike sterns on North Devonshire, in the most unaccountable manner. History is silent as to the cause of this abrupt and singular change of purpose; Did the chief of the invaders act from sheer indecision ? Did he distrust the hotel accomodation at Ilfracombe ? Had he heard of the clotted cream of Devonshire, and did he apprehend the bilious disorganisation of the whole army if they once got within reach of that rich delicacy ? These are important questions, but no satisfactory answer can be found to them. The motives which animated the commander of the invading Frenchmen, are buried in oblivion : the fact alone remains, that he spared Ilfracombe. The last that was seen of him from North Devonshire, he was sailing over ruthlessly to the devoted coast of Wales. 11. OF THE FRENCH INVASION AS SEEN BY WELSHMEN IN GKNERAL. In one respect it may be said that Wales was favored by comparison with North Devonshire. The great and formidable fact of the French invasion had burst suddenly on Ilfracombe; but it only dawned in a gradual manner on the coast of Pembrokeshire. In the course of his Cruise across the Bristol Channel, it had apparently occurred to the commander ot the expedition, that a little diplomatic deception at the outset might prove to be of ultimate advantage to him. He decided, therefore, on concealing his true character from the eyes of the Welshmen; and when his four ships were first made out, from the heights above Saint Bride's Bay, they were all sailing under British colors. There are men in Wales, as in the rest of the world, whom it is impossible to satisfy; and there were spectators on the heights of Saint Bride's who were not satisfied with the British colors' on this occasion, because they felt doubtful about the ships that bore them; To J the eyes of these sceptics all the French vessels had an unpleasantly French manner. Wise Welshmen along the coast collected by twos and threes, aud sat down on the heights, and looked out to sea, and shook their heads, and suspected. But the majority, asiustiaK saw nothing extraordinary where nothing Extraordinary appeared to be intended; and the country was not yet alarmed; and the four ships sailed on till th ey doubled Saint David's Head; and sailed on again, a few miles, to the northward; and then stopped, and then came to a single anchor in Cardigan Bay. Here again," another difficult question occurs which recalcitant history once irigre declines to solve. The Frenchmen had hardly been observed to cast their single anchors in Cardigan Bay, before they were also observed to pull them up again, and go on. Why? The commander of the expedition had doubted already at Ilfracombe—was he doubting again in Cardigan Bay? Or did he merely want time" to mature his plans;, and was it a peculiarity of his nature that he always required to come to, anchor before ?he coulcl think at hjs ease? To this royitery, as to the

mystery at Ilfracombe, there is no solution; and here,, as there nothing is certainty known but that the Frenchman paused— threatened—and then sailed on. 111. OF ONE WELSHMAN IM PARTICULAR, AND OP WHAT HE SAW. He was the only man in Great Britain. who saw the invading army land on our. shores —and his name has perished. It is known that he was a Welshman, and thathhoe o belonged to the lower order of the population. He may be still alive —this man, r who" is' connected with a crisis in English , history, may be still alive—and nobody has found him out; nobody has taken his photograph; nobody has written a genial biographical notice of him; or made him into an entertainment; nobody has held a commemoration.of him; nobody has presented him with a testimonial, relieved him by a subscription, or addressed him with a speech. In these enlightened times this brief record can oniy single him out and individually distinguish him—as the Hero of the Invasion. Such is fame. The Hero of the Invasion, then, was standing or sitting, for even on this important point tradition is silent—on the cliffs of the Welsh coast, near Lanonda" Church, when he saw the four ships enter the bay below .him and come to anchor—this time, without showing any syinptons of getting under weigh. The English colors, under which the expedition had thus far attempted to deceive the population, of the coas*, were now hauled down, and the threatening flag of France,was hoisted in their stead. This done, the boats were lowered uway, were filled with a fierce soldiery, and were pointed straight for the beach. - J It is on record that the hero of the invasion distinctly saw this: and it is not on record that he ran away. , Honor tp the unknown gravel Honor to the solitary Welshman that faced the French army! The boats came on straight to the, beach —the fierce soldiery leapt; out on English, soil, and swarmed up the cliff, thirsting for the subjugation of the British Isles. Still, it is not on record that he ran away. He looked—the, valiant man—perhaps, he peeped; perhaps he lay prone on His stomach, and watched round the corner of a rock. But, however he managed it; he saw the Frenchmen crawling up below him —tossing their muskets on -before them— climbing with the cool calculation of an army of chimney-sweeps;---nimble as the monkey, supple as. the tiger, stealthy as the cat—hungry for plunder, bloodshed, an# Welsh mutton—void of all respect for the British constitution—an army of invaders on the land of the Habeas Corpus! He saw that—and vanished. Whether he waited with clenched fist till the head of the foremoit Frenchman rose parallel with the cliff side—or whether he achieved a long start by letting the army get half way up the cliff, and then retreating inland to give the alarm, is, like every other circumstance in connection with the/ hero x>f the invasion, a matter of the profoundest doubt. It is only known that he got away ,■<; at all, because it is not known that he was taken prisoner. He parts with us here, the shadow of a shade, the most impalpable of historical apparitions. Honor, nevertheless, to. the crafty brave! Honor to the solitary Welshman who faced the French army without being caught! IV. OP WHAT THE INVADERS DID WHEN THEY GOT ON SHORE. The art of invasion has its routine, its laws, manners, and customs, like other arts. And the French array acted strictly in acrcordance with established precedents.- The1 first thing the men did, when they got.to the top of the cliff, was to strike a light and set fire to the furze-bushes. While national feeling deplores this destruction of property, unprejudiced history looks on at her ease. Given invasion as a cause, fire follows, according to all proper rules as an effect. If an army of Englishmen had been invading France under similar circumstances, they, on their side, would necessarily have begun by setting fire to something; and unprejudiced history would, in that case also, have looked on at her ease. While the furze-bushes were blazing, the remainder of the invaders—assured by the sight of the flames, of their companions' success so ; far—was disembarking and swarming up the'rocks. When it was finally mustered on the top of the cliff, the army amounted to fourteen hundred men d This was the whole force which the Directory of the French republic had thought it desirable to despatch for the subjugation of Great Britain. History, until she is certain of results, will pronounce no opinion on the wisdom of this proceeding. She knows that nothing in politics, is abstractedly rash, cruel, treacherous, or disgraceful—she knows that success is the sole touchstone of merit—she knows that the man who fails is contemptible, and the man who suceeds is illustrious, without any reference to the means used in either case; to the character of the men; or to the nature of the motives i under which they may have proceeded to action. If the invasion smsceeds, history will applaud it as an act of heroism: if it fails, history will condemn itasan act of folly.; ~-..,■ ~; ~ .: >; ~-■;■ ■~.-.•, ... It has been said that the invasion began creditably, according to the rules established in all cases of conquering. It continued to follow those rules with the most praise- . worthy regularity. Having started with setting something on fire, it went on, in due course, to accomplish the other iirst object* of all invasions, thieving and killing-^per-forming much of the former and little of the latter. Two rash Welshman* who would defend their native leeks, suffered accordingly: the rest lost nothing; bufitheir national flannel. On; this first day of the invasion, when the army had done marauding, the results on both sides may be thu» summed up. Gains to the French: good dinners and protection next the skin. Loss . to the English: mutton, Stout Welsh flannel, and two rash countrywen,, ; .„\ ,;

V.—OP THE BRITISH DEFENCE, AND OF THE WAY IN WHICH THE WOMEN CONTRIBUTED TO IT.

'•' The appearance of the Frenchmen on the coast, and the loss to the English, mentioned above, produced the results naturally to be expected. £he country was alarmed, and started up to defend itself. This great and populous nation was just as miserably incapable of protecting itself on its own ground, and was just as lamentably dependant on the help of a small minority of fighting-men by profession, at that day, as it is at the present'time. Then, as now, the strength, bravery, and numbers of Englishmen availed them little in a case of warlike emergency occurring,at their own doors, because not one ablebodied man out of five hundred, in the entire population, understood anything of the use of arms. One of these days, this dangerous omisson in the Education of Englishmen may come to be remedied. May the lesson of reform be learnt in this matter, before it is read to us for the last time, traced in the indelible characters of bloodshed and disgrace! , On the appearance of the Frenchmen, pn their numbers being known, and on its being discovered that, though they were without field-pieces, they had with them seventy cart-loads of powder and ball, and a quantity of grenades, the principle men in the country bestirred themselves i n setting up the defence. Before nightfall, the whole available number of men who new anything of the art of fighting were collected. When the ranks were drawn out, the English defence was even more ridiculous in point'of numbers than the French attack. It amounted—at a'time when we were at war with France, and were supposed to be prepared for any danger that might threaten—it amounted, including militia, fencibles, and yeomanry cavalry, to just six hundred and sixty-men, or in other words, to less than half the number of the invading Frenchmen. Fortunatly for the credit of the nation, the command of this exceedingly compact force was taken by the grandee in the neighborhood, who turned out to be a man of considerable cunning, as well as a man of high rank, and who was known by the style and title of the 'Earl of Cawdor; The one cheering circumstance in connection with the heavy responsibility which now rested on the shoulders of the Earl consisted in this: that he had apparently no cause to dread internal treason as well as foreign invasion. The remarkable inconvenient spot which the French had selected for their landing, showed, not only that they themselves knew nothing of the coast, but that; nOne of the inhabitants, who might have led them to an easier place of disembarkation, were privy to their purpose. So far so good. But still, the great difficulty remained of facing the French with an equality of numbers, and with the appearance, at least, of an equality of discipline. The first of these requisites it was easy to fulfil. There were hosts of colliers and other laborers in the neighborhood,—big, bold, lusty fellows enough ; but so far as the art of marching and using weapons was concerned, as helpless as a pack of children. The question" was, how to make good use of these men for show-purposes, without allowingthem to fatally embarrass the proceedings of their trained and disciplined companions. In this emergency, Lord Cawdor hit on a grand idea. He boldly mixed the women up in the business—and it is necessary to add, that the business prospered exceedingly from that lucky moment. In those days, the wives of the Welsh laborers wore, what the wives of all classes of the comunity are wearing now—red petticoates. It was Lord Cawdor's happy idea to call on' these patriot-matrons to sink the question of skirts, to forgo the luxurious consideration of warmth, and to turn the colliers into military men (so far as external appearance, viewed at a distance, were concerned), by taking off. the wives' red petticoats and putting them over the husbands' shoulders. Where patriot-matrons are concerned, no national appeal is made in vain, and no personal sacrifice is refused. All the women seized their strings, and stepped out of their petticoats on the spot. What man in that make-shift military but must think of "home and beauty" now that he had the tenderest memento of both to grace his shoulders and jog his memory ? In an inconceivably short space of time every woman was shivering, and every collier was turned into a soldier.

V. OP HOW IT ALL ENDED,

Thus recruited, Lord Cawdor marched off to the scene of action; and the patriot women, deprived of their husbands and their petticoats, retired, it is to be hoped and presumed, to the friendly shelter of bed. It was then close on nightfall, if not actually night; and the disorderly marching of the transformed colliers could not be perceived. But, when the British army took up its position, then was the time when the excellent stratagem-of Lord Cawdor told at its true worth. By the uncertain light of fires and torches, the French scouts, let them venture as near as they might, could see nothing in detail. A man in a scarlet petticoat looked as soldierlike as a man in a scarlet coat, under those dusky circumstances. All that the enemy could now see were lines on lines of men in red, the famous uniform of the English army.

The council of the French braves must have been a perturbed assembly on that memorable night. Behind them was the empty bay—for the four ships, after landing the invaders,' Had set sail again for France, sublimely indifferent to the fate of the fourteen hundred. Before them there waited in battle array an apparently formidable force of British soldiers. Under them was the hostile English ground on which they were trespassers caught in the fact. Girt about by these serious perils, the discreet commander of the invasion fell back on those safe-gaurds of caution and deliberation of ■which he had' already given proofs on approaching the English shore. He had doubted at Ilfracombe; he had doubted

again in Cardigan bay; and now, on the eve of the first battle he doubted for the third tinier-doubted, and gave in. If history declines to receive the French commander as a hero, philosophy opens her peacefnl doors' to him, and welcomes him irf the character of a wise man. At ten o'clock at night, a flag of truce appeared in the English camp, and a letter was delivered to Lord Cawdor from the prudent chief of the invaders. The letter set forth, with amazing gravity and dignity, that: the circumstances under which the French troops had landed, having rendered it "unnecessary" to attempt any militiary operations, the commanding officer did not object to come forward generously and propose terms of capitulation. Such a message as this was little calculated ta impose on any man—far less on the artful nobleman who had invented the stratagem of the red petticoats. Taking a slightly different view of the circumstances, and, declining altogether to believe that the French Directory had sent fourteen hundred men over to England to divert the inhabitants by the spectacle of a capitulation, Lord Cawdor returned for answer that he did not feel himself at liberty to treat with the French commander, except on the condition of his men surrendering, as prisoners of war. On receiving this reply, the Frenchman gave an additional proof of that philosophical turn of mind, which has been already claimed for him as one of his merits |by politely adopting the course which Lord Gawdor suggested. By noon the next day • the French troops had peaceably laid down their weapons, and were all marched of, prisoners of war—the patriot matrons had resumed their petticoats—and the short terror of the invasion had happily passed away. ■» The first question that occurred to everybody, as soon as the alarm had been dissipated, was what this extraordinary burlesque of an invasion could possibly mean. It was asserted, in some quarters, that the fourteen hundred Frenchmen had been recruited from those insurgents of La Vendee who had; enlisted in the service 6f the Republic, who could not be trusted at home, and who were therefore despatched oh the first desperate service that might offer itself abroad. Others represented the invading army as a mere gang of galley slaves and criminals in general, who had been landed on our shores with the double purpose of annoying England and ridding France of a pack of rascals. The commander of the expedition, however, disposed of this latter theory by declaring that six hundred of his j men were picked veterans from the French army, and by referring, for corroboration of this statement, to his large supplies of powder, ball and hand-grenades, which would certainly not have been wasted, at a time when military stores were so precious on a gang of galley slaves. The truth seems to be, that the French (who were even more densely ignorant of England and English institutions at that time than they are at this) had been co entirely deceived by false reports of the temper and sentiments of our people, as to believe that the mere appearance, of the troops of the Republic on these Monarchial. shores would be the signal for a revolutionary rising of all the disaffected classes from one end of Great Britain to the other. Viewed merely as materials for kindling the insurrectionary spark the fourteen hundred Frenchmen might certainly be considered sufficient for the purpose—providing the Directory of the Republic could only have made sure beforehand that the English tinder might be depended on to catch light! One last event must be recorded before this history can be considered complete. The disasters of the invading army, on shore, were matched at sea, by the disasters of the vessels that had carried them., Of the four ships which had alarmed the English coast, the two largest (the frigates) were both captured, as they were standing in for Brest Harbor, by Sir Harry Neale. This smart and final correction of the fractious little French invasion was administered on the ninth of March, seventeen hundred and ninety-seven. . . moral. - This is the history of the Great (Forgotten) Invasion. It is short, it is not impressive, it is unquestionably - deficient in serious interest. But there is a moral to be drawn from it, nevertheless. If we are invaded again, and on a rather larger scale, let us not be so ill-prepared, this next time, as to be obliged to take refuge in our wives' red petticoats. . The Neiv Cape Parliament.*—ln the legislative council, of fifteen members altogether, eight are. new. members,: of whom, however, four have previously served in the House of Assembly. Of the whole number of "honorables/* 8 are merchants, one an:auctioneer, five are agriculturists, and one a retired civil servant. In the House of Assembly,, of 46; members, 22 have nq| been in Parliament before. As the membership of the house stands now, it 'consists of 20 merchants, traders, :• or general agents; 14 agriculturalists, 4 newspaper proprietors, A editors, 2 barristers*. 2 physicians, and 4 retired civil servant* or ■ private gentle^ men. '~ ;.,.;. . ; •-., ■• -. ; , -,•.:.:.•; • ■.:-■:■; .Curious Fact.~M human being always measures more within; twenty or? thirty minutes after rising < in< the morning 'than at;any period in the day- Qur ( informant states thati he: has seen men who were rejected: the previous day (by lodging near th|3 barracks), walk= -into the; orderly room of his : regiment, hot and steaming from thjeir beds^ get measured, and passed as b^ing of. the proper height. He; explains the Cause of this byr stating that the system is! moire relaxed 'at that^ tim&~TMted- • Service Gfasette.::; '■ "■/■'■ ■- ; '■•■ ■'■'■■'" ;

Cunious Stor-s op a Cat.—ln the .village of Tottington, near Buryi'at the house of MrVAdam Broolts, Bexton; may be witnessed a curious instance of feline' attachment. , A* cat, which has a kitten-three weeks old, abput a week ago caught a mouse, .but instead of idevouring the little : creature, according to the old-es* tablished custom, she brought it to the kitten, and they are all living together on the most affectionate'terms. Puss invinces an extraordinary affection for it/ and appears disconsolate should the mouse be out of her. sight, lt'is delightful to witness the fearlessness with which the mouse trusts itself in the hands of its natural •nemy, nestling itself for hours in its breast; running up and down its body, and evincing the most' unbounded confidence in its new friend;, whilst the cat, if possible, lavishes greater attention on it thai) on its own offspring. Hundreds go daily to witness .thin, curious exhibition and go away suprised and delighted. Thirst Wobsb than Hunger.—That disturbance of the general system which is known under thename of Raging Thirst is far more terrible than that of Btarvation, and for this reason: During abstinence from food the organism can still live upon its own substance, which furnishes all the necessary material; but during abstinence from liquid, the organism has no such source of supply within .itself. Men have been known to endure absolute privation of food for some weeks, but three days of ab«olute privation of drink (unless in a moist atmosphere) is perhaps the limit of endurance* Thirst is the most atrocious torture ever invented by Oriental 'tyrants. It is that which most effectually tames animals. Mr. Astley, when he had a refractory horse, always used thirst as the most effective power of coercion, giving a little water as the reward for every act of obedience. The histories of shipwreck paint fearful pictures of the sufferings endured from thirst; and one of the most appalling, cases known is the celebrated imprisonment of one hundred and forty-six men in the Black Hole at Calcutta.—Blacktvooda Magazine. Holloway's Pills have been placed, by tbs common consent of mankind, at the head of internal remedies. To say that in warm climates they save thousands upon thousands of persons annually from falling a sa» orifice to dyspepsia, dyseatry, diarrhsoa, constipation, liver complaint, general debility, remittent fever, etc, ii simply to relate a fact attested by clouds of witnesses. No sufferer from scorbutic affections has ever failed to experience relief from them, and'they are guaranteed to cure chronic diseases of the internal organs, which have previously baffled the skill of the most successful : practitioners. / A western editor says hia attention was first drawn to matrimony by noticing'''the skilful manner in which", a pretty girl handled a broom. A' brother editor re- i marks that the manner in which his wife handles a broom is iiofc so piaasipg., ... . ;, J; ' ; Cheerfujnecs ia cho daughter of employment; and i I have known'tV&iah come home in High spirits from] a funeral, niei'tiLy because he had the managementV .ofit. ■ • ■■ '; : •■'- ;.;;' ■:■ '■■'■' '■■"':: l: ■• ;■■'■■ ■ - Fine sense, and exalted sense are not half so. use&r as common sense. . : .- ■ . ;;. ,s. ■ j