CRISIS OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20821, 3 June 1939, Page 15 (Supplement)

CRISIS OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

When Napoleon Scared Europe : : Stormy Period

(Evening Post.)

AT THE CLOSE of the eighteenth century, J. C. Mottley, of Portsmouth, England, decided to publish a weekly newspaper to be devoted mainly to naval and military affairs and interests. Mr Mottley was evidently an energetic business man, for already a bookseller and chemist, he was now blossoming out as a newspaper publisher, who used his journal to advertise his wares. He called the publication the Portsmouth Telegraph; Mottley’s Naval and Military Journal, and a copy of the first issue, dated October 14, 17yy, was recently presented to the writer by a Portsmouth resident when visiting New Zealand. The Telegraph was born shortly before Napoleon’s star was in the ascendant, for only a few days before (October 8) he reached France from Egypt, having successfully eluded the English Fleet, 'me coup d’etat of November 10 made him Third Consul, then immediately afterwards First Consul. Napoleon’s future conqueror, the Duke of Wellington, then Colonel Arthur Wellesley, was Governor of the fortified town of Seringapatam, and commander of the forces in Mysore. He already was displaying that forceful personality which was to make him renowned. The fortress was taken on May 4 previously, and the Telegraph records that the partition of the captured treasure and spoils had been arranged thus: The King to receive all arms and military stores of the garrison, and the besieging troops to have a clear moiety of all the other produce, and the East India Company the other. It was a very Disturbed Epoch in the World’s History. War was raging between the Allies and the French in Europe, in the East and elsewhere. The paper is, therefore, full of tidings of important naval apd military engagements and movements. There had been heavy fighting in Switzerland, and Massena, General-in-Chief, reports from Zurich that he had entered that city, having completely defeated the Austrian and Russian armies. .The enterprising Russian commander, I 1 ield-Marshal Suvarov, had fared ill from the outset. He heard first rumours of the disasters when near Altdorf. Struggling across the mountains to Muotta, he beat off several attacks, and finally reached winter quarters in Lindau. In this campaign Switzerland witnessed the most dramatic series of disasters ever brought about by the jealousy of allies. The Duke of York’s dispatch of October 4 from his headquarters, printed in full, speaks of the operations of his army in Holland, in conjunction with Russian troops, and tells of “a severe and obstinate action on October 2, in which the Allied forces prevailed throughout and the enemy, entirely defeated, retired from the positions he had occupied.” Subsequently, however, a reverse made the Duke fall oack on his entrenchments at Zype, and various adverse circumstances, including sickness, which was beginning to w'aste the Allied forces, decided him to conclude a convention on October 18 with the French General, Brune. Under the terms of this he agreed to evacuate Holland, the British retaining the Dutch Fleet. As a sidelight on the British soldier s life abroad, one reads that “ Private letters from Holland state that the British soldiery now use an exceedingly good substitute for bread, which has been among their greatest privations. They fry sliced potatoes and afterwards butter them. The butter in North Holland is both cheap and excellent.” The French account of the recapture of Aboukir in Egypt by Napoleon is given. This stated that Napoleon landed his field artillery’, and being reinforced by 50 ships, Completely Vanquished the Turks, who had 6000 killed, with a loss to the French of 100 men killed and 50 wounded. Herbert Fisher, in his book “Napoleon,” says of this affair that if the comparative percentage of casualties is the crucial measure of success in a battle, the French victory was the most complete in history. In addition to British troops, foreign levies were employed in the far-spread scenes of fighting. So one reads that “A fine body of German recruits and Dutch levies are training at East Cowes under the command of Colonel Maclean, preparatory to their being embarked for service as the 6th Battalion of the 60th Regiment of foot. The French assert that thirteen thousand Bavarians are to be in the pay of this country’, besides the Elector’s contingent.” Other military intelligence mentions that

“this morning the w’hole light infantry battalion of the Guards, under the command of Colonels Calcraft, Campbell, Disney, and Wortley marched from St. James’ Park to Greenwich, where they are to embark fo% Holland. They were ordered to J>e on the parade at 7 o’clock, but were not mustered till near ten, being obliged to be collected from the public-houses, where many of these were taking a farewell of their friends. They were all in high spirits as they proceeded along Westminster Bridge and sang ‘God Save the King.’ ” Lying at Spithead were over thirty naval vessels, headed by the Queen Charlotte, of 110 guns, Admiral Lord Keith. On the Royal William, of 84 guns, was Admiral Miibanke. The names of some of the warships were peculiar to the period, such as Stately, Glory, Europa, and Haerlem. The Porpoise, of 10 guns, was the smallest vessel. Lord Keith was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet and during his temporary absence from that position Lord Nelson Had Taken Over the Command. The two Admirals had clashed over the relative importance of defending Naples and Minorca. At the time the first issue of the Telegraph was being published Nelson was returning to Palermo after visiting Minorca. His Majesty’s ship Pearl of 32 guns, then at Spithead, had been appointed to leave, when the wind permitted, with General Fox for Minorca, where he would assume command, and at Nelson’s urgent request have the Messina garrison sent to the Malta siege. An extract from the London Gazette is given covering a dispatch from Sir Hyde Parker reporting the capture in the W’est Indies of five armed and thirty-eight merchant vessels. Sir Hyde Parker was Com-mander-in-Chief at the Battle of Copenhagen in April, 1801, when Nelson turned his blind eye on the signal to discontinue action. “A considerable quantity of fire-ships, bomb-vessels, and guns” (says another paragraph) “are collected by Admiral Mitchell on the coasts of Friesland. The French and Bavarians, are rising everywhere to oppose them. The cutters, gunboats, etc., that were at Flushing, have been fitted out and sent, armed, with the utmost haste, by the French through the Zuyder Zee by the canals. They are also fitting out all the ships of war at Dunkirk as the last effort they can make for the protection of the above city.” In 1798 William Pitt greatly increased the assessed taxes as he found that it was impossible to rely upon loans for all the resources necessary for a continuance of military operations. Dissatisfied, however, with the results obtained, he decided to alter his system and to tax income instead of expenditure. So in the Telegraph one reads that a Bill to amend part of the Act passed the previous session was brought forward in the House of Commons, and being approved, was ordered to be read a third time. This income-tax was later abolished after the Peace of Amiens, but was re-established in 1803 under the name of the property and income-tax. Pitt had hoped to raise £10,000,000 with his income-tax, but only collected £5,500,000. Contrast this sum with the huge amount of £630,000,000 to be expended on defence this year in England. The Telegraph gives a glimpse of the House of Lords at work. Lord Holland disapproved of a provision of the Militia Bill exempting the regiments proposed to be raised under the Bill from service out of Europe, as he contended this would create an individual distinction between them and the other troops of the line. Lord Grenville disagreed; the troops were for European service only, and a knowledge of this might be an Inducement for Volunteers to Offer more readily, which, he said, was a matter of importance in the existing urgency. In view of the present negotiations between Great Britain and Russia, it is interesting to note the Telegraph’s report of Lord Holland’s remarks about the treaty then under consideration between the two countries, in which he “severely reprobated the principle and tendency of the said treaty, and enforced the necessity and expediency of entering into a negotiation of peace.” Many more items could be quoted from the time-yellowed pages of the English seaport newspaper of 140 years ago, but sufficient have been given to afford some idea of its historic interest.