STARS AND STRIPES
On June 20, 1808, on the _St. Albans’_ passage towards England, there
is an entry in the log: “Exchanged numbers with the _Raven_ brig. The
brig is from off Lisbon. The French have taken possession of Spain.
The Spanish Royal Family are prisoners in France. It is not certainly
known where the Rochefort squadron is gone, but supposed into the
Mediterranean.”
This was the beginning of the Peninsular War, in its results
disastrous to Napoleon. Napoleon’s calm supposition that he could
turn out the King of Spain and put in Joseph Bonaparte at his own
pleasure, was formed without reference to the feelings of the people
of Spain and Portugal; and futile as their objections might have
been if unsupported, their appeal to England was far-reaching in its
consequences. Not only was the seat of war transferred to a country
which, with its long sea-coast, was favourable to British arms, but the
actual naval gain was very great. Such ships of the French Navy as had
escaped from Trafalgar were still lying in Cadiz, and had now no course
open to them but surrender, while the Spanish and Portuguese fleets, on
which Napoleon counted, were of course entirely hostile to him.
The feeling in England over this war was very strong. Added to the
hatred of Napoleon, which would have made almost any of his actions
abhorrent, there was a real impulse of generous anger at the oppression
shown in pretending to buy the nation from its wretched King, in order
to establish a purely arbitrary dominion. At the same time it was a
grave question whether Napoleon, with his many legions, was to be
resisted successfully.
As yet, however, Napoleon had not entered Spain, and Junot was in
command of the French army in the West of the Peninsula.
Sir Arthur Wellesley was first appointed to command the British
expedition, but England does not always know her best men, and almost
at once Sir Harry Burrard was despatched to take over the work. The
battle of Vimiera was the first serious encounter, and, but for the
hesitation of Burrard to follow up his advantage, might have been
decisive.
Sir Hew Dalrymple next day arrived from England to supersede Burrard,
and after some vacillation, not unnatural under the circumstances,
between the policy of Wellesley and that of Burrard, he prepared
to push on, and was met by French proposals of a Convention. The
Convention of Cintra secured that the French should evacuate Portugal,
leaving for France on board British ships, and as they were determined
to take everything with them that they could lay their hands on, this
was not a bad arrangement for the French. Such, at least, was the
opinion in England, and a court of inquiry soon came to the conclusion
that it would have been better to leave the entire matter in the hands
of Wellesley, who was first on the scene, and had consequently other
qualifications for accurate judgment besides those which his genius
gave him.
Napoleon, however, saw very clearly how much harm the battle of Vimiera
had done him, and came himself to Spain, enraged at Junot’s defeat.
The campaign of Sir John Moore, ending at Corunna, is too well known
for any description to be necessary. The fact that Napoleon could not
have everything his own way was established, and the struggle in the
Peninsula went on, until it closed five years later with the capture of
San Sebastian.
Some extracts from the log of the _St. Albans_ and two letters, tell
us of the small share which Francis Austen had in this business. “_St.
Albans_, in the English Channel, July 22nd, 1808. Received on board
Brigadier-General Anstruther with his staff and suite. Weighed and made
sail, twenty-three sail of transports in company.
“_July 23._--At a quarter past nine hove to and called the masters of
the transports on board by signal. Issued to them a sealed rendezvous.”
The transports were bad sailors, so it was not until August 5 that they
got away from the English Channel on the passage towards Portugal. On
the 12th, off Corunna, news was received from the _Defiance_, which
caused a deviation in the route in order to bring Anstruther into touch
with Wellesley, who was then near Figuero, just before the battle of
Vimiera.
“_August 16._--Saw a number of ships at anchor in Figuero Roads. At two
o’clock Captain Malcolm came on board, and brought instructions for the
General as to the disposition of the troops.
“_August 17._--Sent a boat with despatches for Sir Arthur Wellesley on
board the transport sent from Figuero (for this purpose).
“_August 19._--At anchor off the Burlings. Light airs and cloudy
weather. At three o’clock a Portuguese boat came alongside with a
messenger having despatches for Brigadier-General Anstruther from
Sir Arthur Wellesley. At daylight a very thick fog. At eleven the
fog cleared away, weighed and made sail to the southward. At three,
anchored off Panago in company, hoisted out all the boats and sent
them to disembark the troops. At six, the General and his staff quitted
the ship. Light airs and fine weather. All the boats of the fleet
employed landing the troops.”
The landing went on all night, and was finished next morning.
_On Sunday, the 21st_: “Observed an action between the English and
French armies on the heights over Merceira.” This was the battle of
Vimiera, where Kellerman and Berthier vainly endeavoured to dislodge
the British from the crest of the hills.
_August 22._--“Sent all the boats on shore to assist in taking off
the wounded of our army to the hospital ships. Boats also employed
embarking French prisoners on board some of the transports.”
_August 24._--“On the passage towards Oporto.” Thence they went back to
England, where on September 2 the French prisoners were discharged at
Spithead to the prison ships in the harbour.
[Illustration: PORTCHESTER CASTLE
(_The French prisoners were interned in the neighbouring buildings
after the Battle of Vimiera._)]
Two letters written to the Honble. W. Wellesley Pole, brother of Sir
Arthur Wellesley, give this story in a different form.
“_St. Albans_ OFF THE BURLINGS, _August 18, 1808_.
“SIR,--I have to state to you for the information of my
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that in consequence
of intelligence respecting the British Army in Portugal,
communicated by Captain Hotham, of his Majesty’s ship
_Defiance_, on the 12th inst. off Corunna, Brigadier-General
Anstruther commanding the troops embarked on board the
transports under my convoy, requested us not to pass Figuera
without affording him an opportunity of obtaining some further
intelligence relative to the situation of Lieutenant-General
Sir Arthur Wellesley; with this, from existing circumstances,
I thought it my duty to comply, although contrary to the
strict letter of my orders, and accordingly when round Cape
Finisterre, steered for Cape Mondego, off which I arrived at
noon on the 16th. The Brigadier-General receiving there orders
to proceed along the coast to the southward and join the convoy
under his Majesty’s ship _Alfred_, whose captain would give
him further information respecting the position and operations
of the army by which he was to guide his own, I proceeded in
consequence thereof with the fleet, and yesterday at 1 P.M.
joined the _Alfred_ off Phenice.
“At four o’clock, in compliance with the Brigadier-General’s
wish, I anchored with the transports under the Burlings,
to prevent their dispersion, and to await the arrival of
directions from the Lieutenant-General, to whom an aide-de-camp
was yesterday despatched to announce our arrival, force, and
position.
“One of my convoy, having a detachment of the 2nd battalion of
the 52nd Regiment on board, parted company on the night of the
12th instant, and has, I suppose, in compliance with the secret
rendezvous I issued on the 23rd of July, proceeded off the
Tagus.
“I have the honour to be, Sir,
“Your obedient humble servant,
“FRANCIS WILLIAM AUSTEN.”
From the same to the same.
“_St. Albans_, SPITHEAD, _September 2, 1808_.
“SIR,--In my letter to you of the 18th ultimate from off the
Burlings forwarded by the _Kangaroo_, I had the honour to
announce for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty, the arrival of his Majesty’s ship _St. Albans_, and
the transports under my charge at that anchorage. I have now to
state to you, for their Lordships’ further information, that
the following morning the fleet moved on to the southward,
and anchored at 3 P.M. off Paymago, where dispositions were
immediately made for disembarking the troops, which was
effected in the course of the night. On the 20th, I proceeded
with the empty transports, agreeably to the directions I
received from Captain Blight, to join the _Alfred_ off
Merceira, about six miles more to the southward, and anchoring
there at noon of the 21st, remaining until the 24th, my boats
being all that time employed in landing provisions and stores
for the army, and embarking a number of French prisoners and
wounded British soldiers on board such of the transports as had
been appropriated for their reception.
“On the 24th at noon, in obedience to directions contained in a
letter I received the evening before from Admiral Sir Charles
Cotton, I put to sea with twenty-nine transports under my
convoy, and proceeded with them off Oporto, where I anchored
on the evening of the 27th, and remained for twenty-four hours
until I had seen all safe over the bar. I then weighed, and,
making the best of my way to England, anchored at Spithead at 8
A.M. this day.”
The _St. Albans_ remained in British waters until March in the
following year, for the greater part of the time at Spithead, where, in
January 1809, Captain Austen took charge of the disembarkation of the
remains of Sir John Moore’s army on their arrival from Corunna.
Two of the very few references to public matters which occur in Jane
Austen’s letters are made concerning Sir John Moore and his army.
“_December 27, 1808_.--The _St. Albans_ perhaps may soon be off to
help bring home what may remain by this time of our poor army, whose
state seems dreadfully critical.” “I am sorry to find that Sir J.
Moore has a mother living, but, though a very heroic son, he might not
be a very necessary one to her happiness. Deacon Morrel may be more
to Mrs. Morrel. I wish Sir John had united something of the Christian
with the hero in his death. Thank heaven, we have no one to care for
particularly among the troops, no one, in fact, nearer to us than Sir
John himself. Colonel Maitland is safe and well; his mother and sisters
were of course anxious about him, but there is no entering much into
the solicitudes of that family.”
It was in November of 1808 that Mrs. Edward Austen, the ‘Elizabeth’ of
the letters, died. Great grief was evidently felt by all her husband’s
family. Jane’s letters at the time are full of love and sympathy.
Cassandra was staying with her brother, and Frank got a few days’ extra
leave in order to go there, about a month after the death.
Jane writes to tell his plans.
“_November 21._
“Your letter, my dear Cassandra, obliges me to write
immediately, that you may have the earliest notice of Frank’s
intending, if possible, to go to Godmersham exactly at the time
now fixed for your visit to Goodnestone. He resolved almost
directly on the receipt of your former letter to try for an
extension of his leave of absence, that he might be able to
go down to you for two days, but charged me not to give you
any notice of it, on account of the uncertainty of success.
Now, however, I must give it, and now perhaps he may be giving
it himself; for I am just in the hateful predicament of being
obliged to write what I know will somehow or other be of no
use. He meant to ask for five days more, and if they were
granted to go down by Thursday’s night mail, and spend Friday
and Saturday with you; and he considered his chance of success
by no means bad. I hope it will take place as he planned, and
that your arrangements with Goodnestone may admit of suitable
alteration.”
During Francis Austen’s commands of the _Leopard_, _Canopus_, and _St.
Albans_, covering the eventful years of the Boulogne blockade, and of
Trafalgar, and up to 1810, Charles Austen was serving on the North
American station in command of the _Indian_ sloop. The work to be done
on the coast of the United States was both arduous and thankless.
It consisted mainly in the enforcement of the right of search for
deserters, and the curtailment of the American carrying trade, so far
as it was considered illicit.
British war policy had made it necessary to forbid trading by neutrals
between European countries under the sway of Napoleon, and their
dependencies in other parts of the world. American ingenuity succeeded
in evading this prohibition by arranging for the discharge and
reshipment of cargoes at some United States port, en route. The ship
would load originally at a West Indian port with goods for Europe, then
sail to a harbour in Massachusetts (for example), where the cargo was
warehoused, and the vessel repaired. When ready for sea, the captain
got the same cargo on board again, and departed for the designated
market on this side of the Atlantic. No wonder that American vessels
were so frequently spoken by the _Canopus_ and the _St. Albans_, for
in 1806 and the following years nearly all the carrying trade was done
under the Stars and Stripes. American shipmasters were able to pay
very high wages, and desertions from British men-of-war were frequent.
Our cruisers had to take strong measures in face of this growing
evil, and finally an American frigate was boarded, and several of the
crew forcibly removed as deserters. Such action was possible only on
account of the great strength of the British naval force, a practical
blockade of the United States ports being enforced along the whole
Atlantic seaboard. This had been done in consequence of decisions of
the Admiralty Court against some of the reshipments, which were held by
the Judges to be evasions of the actual blockades of hostile ports.
The state of tension gradually became acute, but both Governments were
so loth to fight that negotiations were on foot for several years
before the President of the United States declared war in 1812. In 1809
a settlement seemed to have been reached, and a fleet of six hundred
American traders had already got to sea, when it was discovered that
the treaty could not be ratified. It was indeed almost impossible for
England to alter her policy as regards neutral traders, or to abandon
the right of search for deserters, so long as every resource was
necessary in the struggle against Napoleon.
Captain Mahan, writing on the “Continental System,” puts the matter in
a nutshell when he says: “The neutral carrier, pocketing his pride,
offered his services to either (combatant) for pay, and the other then
regarded him as taking part in the hostilities.”
In 1808 the _Indian_, Charles Austen’s ship, captured _La Jeune
Estelle_, a small privateer, but the work on the North American station
was unprofitable as regards prize-money. In 1810 Charles gained post
rank as captain of the _Swiftsure_, flagship to Sir John Warren. The
great event of these years for him was his marriage in 1807 with Fanny
Palmer, daughter of the Attorney-General of Bermuda.
In Jane’s letters there are constant mentions of him.
“_December 27._--I must write to Charles next week. You may guess in
what extravagant terms of praise Earle Harwood speaks of him. He is
looked up to by everybody in all America.”
“_January 10._--Charles’s rug will be finished to-day, and sent
to-morrow to Frank, to be consigned by him to Mr. Turner’s care; and I
am going to send ‘Marmion’ out with it--very generous in me, I think.”
“Marmion” was then just published. She was a great admirer of Scott,
and doubtless felt the parting from his latest work, even when making a
present of it to Charles. In another of her letters she writes:
“Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. It
is not fair. He has fame and profits enough as a poet, and ought not to
be taking the bread out of other people’s mouths. I do not mean to like
‘Waverley’ if I can help it, but I fear I must.”
We hear one more small piece of news concerning Charles in a letter
of Jane’s dated January 24, 1809: “I had the happiness yesterday of a
letter from Charles, but I shall say as little about it as possible,
because I know that excruciating Henry will have a letter likewise, to
make all my intelligence valueless. It was written at Bermuda on the
7th and 10th of December. All were well. He had taken a small prize in
his late cruise--a French schooner laden with sugar; but bad weather
parted them, and she had not yet been heard of. His cruise ended
December 1st. My September letter was the latest he had received.”
We have the sequel to this incident in a letter from Charles to
Cassandra, dated from Bermuda on December 24, in which he says:
“I wrote to Jane about a fortnight ago acquainting her with
my arrival at this place and of my having captured a little
Frenchman, which, I am truly sorry to add, has never reached
this port, and, unless she has run to the West Indies, I have
lost her--and, what is a real misfortune, the lives of twelve
of my people, two of them mids. I confess I have but little
hopes of ever hearing of her again. The weather has been so
very severe since we captured her. I wish you a merry and
happy Xmas, in which Fan joins me, as well as in bespeaking
the love of her dear Grandmother and Aunts for our little
Cassandra. The October and November mails have not yet reached
us, so that I know nothing of you of late. I hope you have been
more fortunate in hearing of me. I expect to sail on Tuesday
with a small convoy for the island of St. Domingo, and, after
seeing them in safety, open sealed orders, which I conclude
will direct me to cruise as long as my provisions, &c., will
allow, which is generally a couple of months. My companion,
the _Vesta_, is to be with me again, which I like very much. I
don’t know of any opportunity of sending this, but shall leave
it to take its chance. Tom Fowler is very well, and is growing
quite manly. I am interrupted, so conclude this by assuring you
how truly I am
“Your affectionate friend
and attached brother,
“CHARLES JNO. AUSTEN.”
Charles stayed only five months in the _Swiftsure_. In September
1810 he took command of the _Cleopatra_, and brought her home in the
following April, after an absence of six and a half years.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN CHARLES AUSTEN]
Jane’s letters show how gladly the news of “our own particular little
brother’s” home-coming was welcomed. In an account of an evening party
given at the Henry Austens’, she tells how she heard that Charles
was soon to return. “At half-past seven arrived the musicians in two
hackney coaches, and by eight the lordly company began to appear. Among
the earliest were George and Mary Cooke, and I spent the greatest part
of the evening very pleasantly with them. The drawing-room being soon
hotter than we liked, we placed ourselves in the connecting passage,
which was comparatively cool, and gave us all the advantage of the
music at a pleasant distance, as well as that of the first view of
every new comer. I was quite surrounded by acquaintances, especially
gentlemen; and what with Mr. Hampson, Mr. Seymour, Mr. W. Knatchbull,
Mr. Guillemarde, Mr. Cure, a Captain Simpson, brother to _the_ Captain
Simpson, besides Mr. Walter, and Mr. Egerton, in addition to the
Cookes, and Miss Beckford, and Miss Middleton, I had quite as much
upon my hands as I could do. This said Captain Simpson told us, on the
authority of some other captain just arrived from Halifax, that Charles
was bringing the _Cleopatra_ home, and that she was by this time
probably in the Channel; but as Captain S. was certainly in liquor we
must not depend on it. It must give one a sort of expectation, however,
and will prevent my writing to him any more. I would rather he should
not reach England till I am at home, and the Steventon party gone.”
A curious time and place to receive such news, and a still more curious
informant according to the ideas of these days, when men do not appear
at an evening party “in liquor.”
In November 1811 Charles was appointed to the _Namur_, as Flag Captain
to his old friend, Sir Thomas Williams, who was now Commander-in-Chief
at the Nore.