Wednesday, Jan. 4th, 1797.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,
A little after eleven this morning came an account of Elphinston's
being arrived with the 'Monarch' (I believe at Spithead). He had
letters from General Dalrymple of the 31st, by which it seems
probable that the French fleet is, if not entirely, certainly in
great part, broken to pieces. Two French seventy-fours and a
frigate had put into Bantry Bay, one without a bowsprit, and all of
them damaged, and were lying within mortar reach of Bantry when
Dalrymple wrote: other vessels were seen also trying to get into
Bantry Bay. The 'Impatiente,' a very fine frigate of forty-four
guns, just reached Cuxhaven, and foundered there, the whole crew
going down with her except a pilot and four men, who were saved. By
their report twelve thousand men only were on board, and provisions
so scarce from the first, that they were put upon short allowance
the day that they left Brest. Another French frigate was seen
driving up St. George's Channel, and is said to have gone to pieces
upon the Welsh coast. A Barbadoes ship saw a large ship, supposed
to be one of the flutes, struggle some time, and then founder;
another of the flutes was seen to founder off the Lizard; and great
traces of wreck are thrown upon the Irish coast.
Lord Bridport sailed very early yesterday morning, and met
Elphinston, who gave him all this intelligence. I presume that he
will probably detach part of his squadron towards Ireland, and part
towards Brest; besides which, I believe he has power to take with
him whatever he meets.
Kingsnill was indefatigable in collecting his frigates, which, with
his two sixty-fours, will count heavily upon this shattered and
disabled force of the enemy. Meantime, the greatest part of the
Oporto fleet is come in, and very good accounts are received from
the West Indies, where a strong naval force is gone down to the
protection of Jamaica. One of the frigates, too, upon that station
has taken a rich Spanish prize. Of the four ships out belonging to
Colpoys' fleet, all are come in except the 'Powerful,' which is
thought to have made Ireland. Upon the whole, therefore, you will
admit that I send you to-day a very prosperous naval budget. In
truth, I do think that, if the ruin of this French expedition be as
complete as it promises to be from these circumstances, the
security of Ireland, and of England too, has been more promoted by
it than by any event which has happened during the war; and much as
I applaud your manly and forward zeal in your military offer, I
doubt whether the occasion for it will again be renewed. I ought to
have mentioned to you that the four men saved from the 'Impatiente'
describe the troops on board as having been from the first highly
dissatisfied and discontented with the expedition, and that twelve
thousand, instead of twenty thousand, sailed, because it was found
difficult to persuade the troops in general to embark in the
enterprise. The result will therefore add to the ill-temper upon
this subject, and Irish invasion will for a long time be no popular
measure in the harbour of Brest. Stay then at Stowe, my dear
brother, and enjoy the satisfaction which you will feel in the
prompt and handsome service which you were ready to have done.
_Laudo momentem_--not so (_between ourselves_)--do I say to
Elphinston. I do not know what is his pretence for coming away with
the 'Monarch' in such a moment, but I shrewdly suspect his Cape
treasure to have been on board and to have influenced his decision;
if that is the case, of which I know nothing, I do think it will be
disgraceful beyond all measure, but I am speaking my own
conjectures only, for I have not had time yet to ask more. God
bless you.
The sequel of the expedition was sufficiently ludicrous. Having
effected a landing of some fifteen hundred men on the shore of the Bay
of Cardigan on the 23rd of February, the militia, fencibles, and
peasantry of the neighbourhood immediately collected; but the invaders
saved them the trouble of an engagement, by laying down their arms, and
surrendering themselves prisoners of war. The frigates were captured on
their return to Brest; and thus terminated an enterprize, which was so
inadequately planned, as to create universal astonishment that it was
ever undertaken.
The state of Ireland offered a favourable opportunity to the Opposition
for an attack upon Ministers; and Lord Fitzwilliam, having failed in his
attempts to bring them into discredit in reference to his own case, now
extended the grounds of accusation to the general discontents of the
country. Lord Moira, who undertook to bring forward the motion, appears
to have had no other object in view than to trace all these disorders to
the recal of Lord Fitzwilliam.