to reside at Ethy, near Lostwithiel, where, so soon as his health was
re-established, he settled his family and looked out for fresh
employment. He was appointed early in 1799 to the _Sans Pareil_, of
eighty guns, and served in the West Indies till 1802, when he returned
to England, having suffered from sunstroke. In 1810 Captain Penrose
was appointed to the chief command at Gibraltar, with the rank of
commodore. He hoisted his flag on board the _San Juan_, and had to
direct the proceedings of a large flotilla which proved of great
utility in the defence of Cadiz and Tarifa, and in other operations
against the French under Marshal Soult. On December 4th, 1813, he was
promoted to be Admiral of the Blue, and shortly after to superintend
the naval service connected with Wellington's army, then advanced as
far as the Pyrenees. His orders were to proceed to the small port of
Passages, and there hoist his flag on board the _Porcupine_. Admiral
Penrose arrived at Passages on January 27th, 1814. The chief business
which now devolved on the naval service was to make the necessary
preparations for throwing a floating bridge across the Adour. This
bridge was to be composed of small coasting vessels, decked boats,
cables and planks. Above the bridge were to be anchored for its
protection as many gunboats as could be furnished, and, to guard both
these and the bridge from fire-ships or rafts, a boom was also to be
laid across the river further up the stream. These measures were
consequent on the investment of Bayonne. Great difficulties were to be
expected in passing the bar of the Adour, which, at the place where
the bridge was to be built, was four hundred yards wide, and where the
ebb-tide ran at the rate of eight miles an hour. The Admiral
determined to superintend the operation in person. On the afternoon of
the 22nd the _Porcupine_, conveying some transports and several large
coasting vessels laden with materials, left the harbour. But squally
weather and baffling winds came on during the night, and he was unable
to bring the flotilla to the bar before the morning of the 24th.
The passing of the bar, a most perilous service, has been described,
as seen from the shore, by Mr. Gleig in the _Subaltern_.
It was nearly high water, and the wind was fair; both officers and
soldiers gathered on the heights around, and the passage of each
vessel was eagerly watched, from the moment it was immersed in the
foaming breakers until it issued forth in the placid waters of the
river beyond. Some few vessels broached to and sank; but, on the
whole, the attempt fully succeeded, and with fewer casualties than
could have been expected. General Sir John Hope, who commanded on
shore, said, in a letter to the Admiral: "I have often seen how
gallantly the navy will devote themselves when serving with an army,
but I never before witnessed so bold and hazardous a co-operation, and
you have my most grateful thanks. I wrote to you in the course of last
night, to say how much we stood in need of boats, seamen, etc., but
when I saw the flotilla approach the wall of heavy surf, I regretted
all I had said."
So soon as the boats had thus entered the river, no time was lost in
running those which were intended to form the bridge up to their
stations, where the bridge was rapidly formed; and at dawn on the
following day, it was declared that infantry might cross it with
safety. On the 27th Bayonne was closely invested by Sir John Hope, and
Marshal Soult completely routed at Orthez by Wellington.
On March 22nd Admiral Penrose received instructions from the Duke to
occupy the Gironde. On the 24th he sailed in the _Porcupine_, taking
with him some brigs and a bomb vessel, and he was joined at the mouth
of the river by the _Egmont_, the _Andromache_, the _Challenger_, and
the _Belle Poule_. On the 27th he entered the river, the _Andromache_
taking the lead. The want of pilots and the haziness of the atmosphere
rendered the navigation difficult. The course taken was within easy
reach of the shot from the enemy's batteries, but these passed clear
of the ships, and every considerable danger was successfully overcome,
when a clear sun broke forth to animate the progress up the stream.
The abdication of Napoleon, 6th April, 1814, and the restoration of
the Bourbons followed, and Admiral Penrose left the Gironde on May
22nd, and returned to Passages to superintend the embarkation of the
troops and stores. The difficulties were great. The inadequate supply
of transports precluded the affording, even to the sick and wounded,
the accommodation of which they were in need; and the hatred borne by
the Spanish population to the British troops burst forth more and more
as their strength diminished. Although English blood and treasure had
been poured forth to assist Spain against the despotism of Napoleon
and in driving the French out of the country, not a spark of gratitude
was manifested by the Spaniards. It was thought on this occasion
highly probable that some outrage would be attempted in the rear of
the embarkation. Indeed, a plan had been formed by some Spaniards to
seize the military chest, and for security it had to be conveyed on
board the _Lyra_, and a volley of stones was hurled at the last boat
that left the shore. During Admiral Penrose's whole stay on this
ungrateful coast, he never received a visit or the smallest mark of
attention from a single Spaniard; and on his leaving Passages, not one
individual in the town was seen to look out of a window to watch the
sailing of the fleet.
The _Porcupine_ anchored in Plymouth Sound, September 6th, and the
Admiral struck his flag on the 12th, with but little expectation, now
that peace had revisited Europe, of being again actively employed. On
the 16th, however, he received a letter from Lord Melville, offering
him the command of the fleet in the Mediterranean, become vacant by
the recall of Admiral Hallowell. The offer was accepted, and on
October 3rd Admiral Penrose hoisted his flag at Plymouth, on board the
_Queen_, and left Plymouth on the 8th.
Whilst in the Mediterranean, he heard on March 12th, 1815, of the
escape of Napoleon from Elba, and of his having reached Prejus.
In January, 1816, Admiral Penrose was promoted to the rank of Knight
Commander of the Bath.
On March 1st he received letters from Lord Exmouth, who appointed a
meeting at Port Mahon to proceed against Algiers and Tunis to put an
end to the piracies that were carried on from these two places. The
squadron sailed for Algiers March 21st. Admiral Penrose wrote: "On
arriving at their destination, the ships anchored in two lines out of
gun-shot from the batteries, and by signal made all ready for battle;
but all went off quietly, and the slaves in whose behalf the
expedition was undertaken were ransomed on the terms which Lord
Exmouth proposed." From Algiers the squadron sailed for Tunis, and
here also the Bey submitted to the demand made on him, and thus ended
this impotent expedition. The Bey of Algiers was by no means so
overawed that he desisted from his nefarious practices, and a second
expedition was sent against him under Lord Exmouth in 1816.
By an unfortunate oversight, rather than intentional lack of courtesy,
no notice had been sent to the Admiral in command of the Mediterranean
that Lord Exmouth had been despatched to bombard Algiers and destroy
the piratical fleet. Admiral Penrose was at Malta, and hearing in a
roundabout way that Lord Exmouth, with a fleet fitted out at home, had
entered the Mediterranean and was on his way to Algiers, he deemed it
advisable to leave Malta and visit this fleet. He did not arrive off
Algiers till the 29th August. The action had been on the 27th, and the
first objects seen on entering the bay were the still smoking wrecks
of the Algerine navy, and then the fleet of Lord Exmouth engaged in
repairing the injuries which it had sustained.
Admiral Penrose was cut to the quick by the slight put upon him, and
he wrote to remonstrate with the Admiralty, but received in reply only
a rebuke for expressing his indignation in a tone that the Admiralty
did not relish.
There is no need to attend Admiral Penrose in his cruises and visits
to the Ionian Islands, but his diary may be quoted relative to an
expedition made early in 1818, in company with Sir Thomas Maitland, to
visit Ali Pasha.
The history of this second Nero, with whom to our disgrace we entered
into alliance, and supplied with cannon and muskets, may be given in
brief.
Ali, surnamed Arslan, the Lion, was an Albanian born about the year
1741. His father, driven from his paternal mansion, placed himself at
the head of some bandits, surrounded the house in which were his
brothers, and burnt them in it alive. The mother of Ali, daughter of a
bey, was of a vindictive and ferocious character, and on the death of
her husband had the formation of the character of Ali in her hands,
and she inspired him with remorselessness, ambition, and subtlety. Ali
assisted the Sultan in the war with Russia, and was rewarded by being
created a pasha of two tails and governor of Tricala, in Thessaly.
Soon by means of intrigue and crime he obtained the pashalics of
Janina and Arta; then he was granted the government of Acharnania,
and, finding himself strong enough to do what he liked, he attacked
neighbouring provinces, and banished or put to death in them all the
Mussulman and Christian inhabitants whose goods he coveted, or who had
given him umbrage. Then he attacked the Christian Suliotes and
massacred them. Previsa and some other Christian towns on the coast
had belonged to the republic of Venice. In 1797 the Queen of the
Adriatic, having been overthrown by Bonaparte, Ali took the
opportunity, at the feast of Easter, to descend on them when all the
inhabitants were keeping holiday, and massacre over six thousand and
plunder the houses. The English Government entered into negotiations
with him, gave him a park of artillery and six hundred gunshots. Thus
furnished he attacked Berat, the pasha of which was the father of his
two sons' wives. He took the place and threw the pasha into a
subterranean dungeon under his palace at Janina.
He seized on the Albanian towns of Argyro-Kastro and Kardihi. The
inhabitants of the latter surrendered without striking a blow; but as
they had at some former time offended his mother, he put all the males
to the sword, and handed over the women to his sister, who, after
having delivered them up to the most horrible outrages, had them
stripped stark naked and driven into the forests, where nearly all
perished of cold and hunger. When Napoleon fell, Ali got the English
to cede to him the town of Parga. It was concerning this cession that
the English Government thought it no shame to send Sir Thomas Maitland
to Ali to negotiate with him at Previsa. "The General embarked with
the ladies (Lady Ponsonby, Lady Lauderdale and her daughters) in the
_Glasgow_, and with the two ships we proceeded to the anchorage of
Prevesa. On the evening of our arrival I despatched the second
lieutenant to find at what time on the following day Ali would receive
us. His report of the chief himself was wittily characteristic: 'He is
exactly like a sugar hogshead, dressed in scarlet and gold.'
"A long and heavy pull we had the next day in the _Glasgow's_ fine
barge against a very cold wind, but at last we reached the land. The
palace of the ferocious chief whom we had come to visit was built of
wood, and on the water's edge, so that the boats landed at one of the
doors, contrived, no doubt, to enable the owner to escape in that
direction if requisite. It was an immense building, badly finished,
not painted, and badly furnished, but calculated to lodge about three
thousand persons. The chief, with all his heads of departments, and
his son and grandson, received us in a small room, one end of which
was occupied by a comfortable and well-cushioned divan. Here we were
soon served with coffee in beautiful china and gold cups and saucers,
and magnificent pipes.
"Sir Thomas introduced me as the naval commander-in-chief. Before we
returned to our ships an excellent collation was provided on a long
table; but the climate was severe in this wild mansion, and after
trying many bottles of execrable light wines, great was my joy in
finding a flask of excellent brandy.
"I had several good opportunities of watching the countenance of the
extraordinary man who was now our host, and I never could observe the
smallest indication without of what was passing in his breast. Simple
benevolence was apparently beaming from the whole expression of this
human butcher. At one time particularly, when I know for a certainty
that he was both angry and mortified at some turn in the investigations,
I sat opposite him at only a yard's distance, and could not perceive the
smallest outward token of the storm within. He once questioned me about
my family, whether I was married, etc.; and when I told him I had three
daughters, 'What, no sons? Why have you not them?' and burst forth into
one of his frightful haugh-haugh laughs, which were quite disgusting,
and resembled the grunt of a wild beast.
"As a high honour, on the day on which the ladies were with us, he sat
at the head of the table at dinner. The dinner was much more profuse
than elegant; and one of Ali's first operations was to cut off the
fore-quarter of a roasted lamb, and with his hand tear out the flesh
between the shoulder and the breast, which he devoured with great
glee. Lady Lauderdale sat on his right hand, and I was next her. Ali,
understanding that she chose some turkey, had one brought before him,
and helped her with a fore-quarter of an immense bird, which, of
course, puzzled her greatly. Whereupon, bowing for permission from our
host, I cut off a proper portion from the wing, and helped myself to
the remainder. When Ali saw what a small portion I had allotted to the
lady, he grunted out his peculiar laugh, but luckily did not persist
in the cramming system.
"Even at this more distinguished feast good wines were not the order
of the day, and I had again recourse to the brandy bottle. I know not
what Ali had in a particular bottle placed near himself, as he
indulged no one but Sir Thomas Maitland with a taste of it, but I do
not recollect hearing it praised. The chief took a good portion of
this bottle to himself, heedless of the Koran and the prophet.
"Immediately after dinner dancing boys were introduced, and performed
a great number of evolutions, showing the most extraordinary
flexibility in every part of the body. These poor creatures must have
been Nazarites from their birth, as their hair was long enough to
reach to the floor as they stood, and great part of their skill was
displayed in throwing about these profuse locks with their arms. I
think these boys must have been of Indian extraction.
"The ladies having heard that Ali had bought a diamond of great value
from poor Gustavus, the ex-King of Sweden, expressed a strong desire to
see it. He assented graciously, and ordered a plate to be brought to
him. He then searched in the folds of his own fat neck, and at last
untied a string to which was affixed a little bag of either oil-cloth or
bladder. Out of this he took a coarse paper parcel, and having opened
the envelope, and three or four interior papers, he, with a pretended
air of indifference, threw out on the plate a considerable number of
diamonds, which some of our party valued at £30,000. Among these was the
diamond of the ex-King, which had been valued at £12,000; but owing
partly to his necessities, and, perhaps, partly also to a change in
value, Ali purchased it, I think, for £7000 or £8000.
"The strangest part of this story was that such a man could display
such a treasure, showing that it was usually concealed about his
person, before a considerable number of his own subjects as well as
strangers. There seemed to be the freest possible ingress and egress
to and from the hall in which we sat; and beside his officers of
state, there were many menials in the hall at the time. In what, then,
consisted the confidence which he must have felt? It could not have
been derived from conscious virtue, or security of attachment; and,
except at the gate which led from the great square of the palace
towards the town, I never saw anything like guard or sentinel.
"Besides the dish of diamonds, Ali kept by his side a brace of pistols
richly set with valuable jewels, a present from Napoleon; and in his
girdle he always wore a dagger, the hilt of which must have been worth
£2000 or £3000; one stone especially being very large. Probably the
reign of terror might operate to some degree as a safeguard; but the
appearance of the people immediately about Ali's person indicated much
more confidence than fear.
"Our ladies had been introduced into the harem, and to the favourite
Fatima, who, as we were told, was the best _scratcher_ Ali ever had.
One of his chief luxuries was to have his immense, coarse carcase
scratched for a considerable time daily by his female friends."
The end of this man, Ali Pasha, may be briefly told. He had become
independent, disregarding the authority of the Sultan, and a menace to
the State. Accordingly an army was despatched to Janina, and a fleet
to make a descent on the coasts of Epirus. Ali, in spite of his great
age, exhibited great energy, and prepared to resist, but his fatal
avarice stood in his way. With his enormous treasures he could have
secured the fidelity of his troops, but he could not make up his mind
to deal liberally with his defenders, and most deserted. His own sons
and grandsons, with one exception, passed over into the enemy's camp.
He set the town of Janina on fire, and retired himself into the
fortress, which was defended by Italian and French artillerymen, and
which bristled with cannon. This was in August, 1820. At the beginning
of 1821 the Sultan gave the command of his forces to Khorchid Pasha,
and the siege was begun. Ali had previously sunk one portion of his
treasure in the lake in spots where it could be recovered by himself
when the storm blew over; the rest was in his cellar heaped up over
barrels of gunpowder, and a faithful attendant stood ever by with a
lighted fuse in his hand. Khorchid was particularly desirous of
securing the treasure. He proposed an interview in an island of the
lake. After some hesitation Ali, who had now but fifty men in his
garrison, consented. The interview took place on the 5th February,
1822; Khorchid had taken the precaution to surround the island with
soldiers, but concealed. When they met, the officer of the Sultan
produced a firman granting complete forgiveness to Ali for all his
crimes and defiance, on condition that he surrendered some of his
treasures. Ali then drew off his ring, handed it to the general, and
said, "Show that to my slave, and he will extinguish the fuse."
Ali was detained in the palace on the isle till messengers had been
sent to the fortress, and the slave, obedient to the token, had put
out the light, whereupon he was at once stabbed. When Khorchid knew
that the treasure was secure, he summoned the soldiery, and they fired
into the kiosk from all sides and through the floor, till Ali was
struck mortally.
The moral infamies of this man are not to be described.
When the negotiations with Ali Pasha were ended, the Lord High
Commissioner and the ladies returned to Corfu, and Sir Charles Penrose
went back to his fleet.
He returned to England in 1819, being succeeded in his command by
Admiral Freemantle.
He again made Ethy his home, taking occasional flights to London to
obtain some other naval appointment, which would not compel a
severance from his family, but none was available, and, finally, as
his wife's health and his own began to fail, he was content to remain
in his quiet Cornish home. There he died January 1st, 1830, at the age
of seventy; and Lady Penrose died in 1832.
The Life of Vice-Admiral Sir C. V. Penrose, K.C.B., together with that
of Captain James Trevenen, was written by their nephew, the Rev. John
Penrose, and published by John Murray, 1850, with portrait.
SIR CHRISTOPHER HAWKINS, BART.
Kit Hawkins, as he was familiarly termed in Cornwall, played a
considerable part at the close of the eighteenth century, and before
the passing of the Reform Bill, as a borough-monger. There was a
contemporary with a similar reputation, Manasseh Lopes, a Jew diamond
merchant from Jamaica, and both purchased their baronetcies by
subservience to the Government in finding places for their nominees in
the pocket boroughs they had got into their hands. When Manasseh Lopes
drove into Fowey with his candidates, the town band stalked before the
carriage playing "The Rogues' March"; when Kit Hawkins arrived in
Grampound or S. Ives with a carriage and four, and his candidates with
him, the band played "See the Conquering Hero Comes"--but he conquered
not with weapons of steel, but with golden guineas, handed over to him
by the candidates, a share of which passed to the electors.
The Cornish Hawkins family pretended to derive from a very distinguished
Roman Catholic stock in Kent, whose place, Nash, was plundered in 1715
by the rabble, on account of the Jacobite proclivities of the Hawkins
family and the excitement caused by the rebellion in Scotland of the
Earl of Mar. On this occasion all the family plate, portraits, and deeds
were carried off; some were burnt, some were recovered.
But not a shadow of evidence is forthcoming to show that there was any
descent of the Hawkins family in Cornwall from that in Kent. The
story given out was that on account of the religious persecution in
the time of Queen Mary, two of the Kent Hawkinses left the paternal
nest: one settled in Somersetshire and the other in Cornwall, where
each became the founder of a family. It was forgotten, when this
fiction was given to the world, that the Hawkins stock in Kent was
Roman Catholic, and not at all likely to be troubled by Queen Mary.
The first Cornish Hawkins of whom anything is known is Thomas of
Mevagissey, who married a certain Audrey, her surname unknown, by whom
he had two sons, John and Thomas, and three daughters.
John Hawkins, of S. Erth, the eldest, married Loveday, daughter of
George Tremhayle, by whom--who was living in 1676--he had four
surviving sons and three daughters, viz. Thomas; George, Vicar of
Sithney; Reginald, D.D., Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge; and
Francis. Thomas, the eldest, of Trewinnard in S. Erth, married
Florence, daughter of James Praed, of Trevethow, near Hayle, by whom
he had a daughter, Florence, the wife of John Williams, merchant, of
Helston; and as his second wife he had Anne, daughter of Christopher
Bellot, of Bodmin, by whom he had six daughters and four sons, of
which latter, John, Thomas, and Renatus died young, and only
Christopher lived. Thomas Hawkins, the father, died in 1716.
Christopher Hawkins, of Trewinnard, only surviving son, married Mary,
daughter of Philip Hawkins, of Penzance, a supposed descendant of the
Hawkinses of Devonshire, by whom he had a daughter, Jane, married to
Sir Richard Vyvyan, of Trelowaren, Bart., and a son, Thomas Hawkins,
of Trewithen, M.P. for Grampound, who married Anne, daughter of James
Heywood, of London, by whom he had four sons--Philip, who d.s.p.;
Christopher; Thomas, who d.s.p.; John, of Bignor, Sussex, who married
the daughter of Humphrey Sibthorpe, M.P. for Lincoln--and a daughter,
who married Charles Trelawny, son of General Trelawny. Thomas Hawkins
died on December 1st, 1770, and was succeeded by his second son,
Christopher Hawkins, of Trewithen and Trewinnard, born at Trewithen
May, 1758.[31] The seat Trewithen in Probus descended to his father
from his grandmother's brother, Philip Hawkins, M.P. for the pocket
borough of Grampound.
Christopher Hawkins came in for a good deal of land, derived through
the marriage of the ancestors of Philip Hawkins, of Trewithen, with
the heiresses of Scobell and Tredenham and that of his own
great-grandfather to the co-heiress of Bellot of Bochym.
Christopher never married, and was of a frugal mind, buying land in
all directions, and securing the pocket boroughs, where possible, as
excellent investments. It was said of Trewithen--
A large park without deer,
A large cellar without beer,
A large house without cheer,
Sir Christopher Hawkins lives here.
But this was not fair, for there was certainly hospitality shown at
Trewithen. Polwhele says: "Not a week before his death, I passed a
delightful day with the hospitable baronet. To draw around him the few
literary characters of his neighbourhood was his peculiar pleasure; and
at Trewithen the clergy in particular had always a hearty welcome."
He purchased the manor of S. Ives in or about 1807, the fair at
Mitchell, in Enoder, commanding the election to that borough, and the
four fairs at Grampound giving him control there also over elections.