ENSIGN OF THE 51ST.
On the 12th February 1793 (a few days after the declaration of war by
France against England and Holland), Samuel Rice was appointed to an
Ensigncy, by purchase, in the 51st Regiment (2nd West York).
At that time, under ordinary circumstances, young gentlemen obtained
commissions in the army in one of two ways. Free commissions were
granted to a limited number of the sons of officers who had performed
good service for their country, and all other commissions were
purchased, upon the recommendation of two or more officers of high
rank. There were no examinations or other means of ascertaining the
standard of education of the would-be officer, and it may be taken
that Sam Rice was better educated than most young officers who then
joined the army. The greater number of commissions were obtained by
purchase, but in times of war, when the supply of officers was short,
colonels of regiments were allowed to employ the services of young
gentlemen (usually ensigns of militia), who were termed "volunteers,"
and who hoped, by distinguishing themselves on active service, to
be granted free commissions. During the many years of war which
terminated with Waterloo, a vast number of officers entered the army
in this way, and being, for the most part, men whose very livelihood
depended upon their zeal, proved themselves valuable officers.
The so-called purchase system, in one form or another, was almost
as old as the British standing army itself, and dated back to the
time when the colonel of a regiment was entirely responsible for
his corps, which was known by his name. For many years there was no
fixed scale of charges for commissions, the colonels charging more or
less what they liked, and employing agents to sell the commissions,
so that both the colonels and the agents feathered their nests very
satisfactorily. In this manner many useless officers found their way
into the army, and it was not until 1765 that the authorities took
the matter up and issued strict regulations on the subject. Then
the price to be paid to Government for a commission as Ensign, and
for promotion to each subsequent rank, was clearly laid down, the
colonels being forbidden to make any profit for themselves, though
the matter of what was termed "over regulation" was not touched on,
but left to the regimental officers themselves.
When Sam Rice entered the army he paid £450 for his first commission
as ensign in an infantry regiment; and the regulation prices paid
to Government at that time by officers of infantry on promotion
were as follows: to lieutenant, £250; captain, £1100; major,
£1400; lieut.-colonel, £1300. Consequently, by the time an officer
had reached the rank of lieut.-colonel, he had paid to Government
altogether £4500. But if he could not find the money to purchase
any step, it was open to him to purchase promotion to the half-pay
list, at a considerably reduced price, subsequently exchanging or
purchasing back to full pay, if he desired to do so. Eventually,
on retirement, the officer received from Government a lump sum
equivalent to the value of his commission, so that he got back the
sums which he had expended. This was termed Retirement by the Sale of
Commissions, but the regulations varied from time to time, and later
on lieutenant-colonels were given the choice of taking the lump sum,
or of retiring on full pay.
The above is a brief outline of the purchase system, in so far as
transactions between officers and the Government were concerned, but
many and various complications arose from the over-regulation prices
of commissions, with which the Government had nothing to do. These
transactions were carried out among the officers of the regiment,
with the assistance of the regimental agents, and the object of them
was to maintain a healthy flow of promotion by buying out the senior
officers. Death was the only other way of displacing them, for there
was no regulation by which an officer was forced to give up the
command of a regiment after holding it for a certain length of time,
and no age limit for any other officers. Every regiment appears to
have had its own recognised tariff, depending principally on the
purses of the officers; thus the over-regulation price of, say, a
lieutenant-colonelcy of a cavalry regiment was considerably higher
than that of an infantry regiment, and a lieutenant-colonel would not
retire unless the officers junior to him subscribed the sum which
he considered his rank and appointment were worth. In such a case
the procedure would be something as follows: the lieutenant-colonel
would name his price to the senior major, who would then see how the
amount could be made up by voluntary subscriptions from such officers
as would benefit by the retirement of the lieutenant-colonel. The
senior major would, of course, pay the largest amount, and the senior
captain and senior lieutenant would probably subscribe handsomely,
if they intended to purchase their respective steps. It frequently
happened, however, that officers could not afford to purchase their
promotion, in which case a junior officer could purchase over the
heads of his seniors, the latter deciding to wait for a death
vacancy, for which no over-regulation money was required.
The injustice of a system which permitted men with money to buy their
way to the front does not seem to have struck the officers--probably
because they knew of no other system,--and its advocates maintained
that it never interfered with the advancement of a good man, whom
the authorities were able to reward with free promotion to half pay,
or even to full pay. Still, there can be no two opinions about a
system which induced officers of the army to give as a common toast,
"A bloody war and a sickly season!" The system lived long and died
hard. Its abolition was debated for thirteen years, and even then
a Bill relating to it which was introduced in the House of Commons
was thrown out by the Lords, and purchase was only finally swept
away by a Royal Warrant of 1871, at great expense to the Government,
for compensation had to be paid to such officers as had subscribed
over-regulation money for their different steps.
However, to return to young Rice. Getting the ensign properly
outfitted caused a good deal of trouble, and eventually he was much
upset at finding, when on the voyage to join, that his tailor had
provided him with a "plain cap" instead of a "laced one." That was
rather a dressy age, for ever since George the Second reorganised
the uniform of the army on the Prussian model, tight-fitting
clothes, lace, frills, and powder reigned supreme. Each year saw
the introduction of some new ornamentation wherewith the soldier's
dress was beautified; and much more attention was paid to the smart
appearance of the men than to their professional training. The
officers, therefore, had to be very particular about their uniform,
as well as about their hair, and strict regulations were issued from
time to time as to the mode of wearing the hair, changes taking
place every few years. In 1793, both officers and men wore their
hair powdered and "clubbed"--_i.e._, the long, flat, greased and
powdered tail was rolled up, and bound round with a leather strap,
upon which, by way of ornament, the officers had a rosette, and the
men a small disc of polished leather. The head-dress of the period
was a black three-cornered cocked hat, with a black silk cockade
and silver lace and button; the full-dress coat, scarlet with
grass-green facings, was cut away in front, with tails falling to
the back of the knees; white breeches, and black cloth gaiters; the
sword hanging on the left side from a white leather cross-belt, over
the right shoulder and under the one epaulette; red silk sash wound
round the waist, over the waistcoat, but under the coat, and having
its tassels hanging towards the left side; a black leather stock
filling the opening in the collar of the coat, a white starched frill
beneath, and the silver gorget, with rosettes and ribbons, hanging
at the neck. In this manner was Sam Rice dressed when he put on his
"regimentals" for the edification of his sisters.
The 51st, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel John Moore, had left
England for Gibraltar in March 1792, and young Rice, after fitting
himself out, was ordered to embark in the _Neptune_ transport at
Portsmouth at the end of May 1793, and proceed to Gibraltar with a
draft for the regiment. England was now at war with France, and the
navies of the two countries were busy sweeping the seas. Transports
were not permitted to put to sea without the escort of a fleet, and,
as often as not, men-of-war were too much occupied to be available
for convoy duty. Consequently the unfortunate men on the _Neptune_
and other transports were kept on board in English ports for five
weary months, every day hoping that the morrow would see the Blue
Peter at the mast-head. Some of the letters written by Sam Rice under
these trying circumstances are not without interest. Early in June he
wrote to his father from Spithead, where the _Neptune_ was lying at
anchor--
"I cannot say I much admire living at Spithead, and especially
when in this state of uncertainty. It is not at all improbable but
what we shall lay here some time longer, for I neither hear nor
see anything that is like a preparation for a convoy. It is very
unlucky for us that we lost the opportunity of going with Lord
Hood. The _Venus_, which had an engagement with a French frigate,
came in here yesterday. I fancy, if the truth were known, she got
the worst of it, for she had two-and-twenty men and one lieutenant
killed, as report says. By that I should think that the action must
have been very smart. I was invited to dine on board the _Circe_[4]
to-day, but could not go, as I am the only officer in the ship. She
has taken a great many vessels, but chiefly privateers. Three were
brought in this morning, with the British flag flying triumphant
o'er the national one of France."
The soldiers confined on the transports appear to have given a
good deal of trouble, and strong measures had to be resorted to in
order to maintain discipline. "In my last letter," wrote Ensign
Rice, "I told you that I was to sit on a Court Martial, to be held
on the _Granby_ transport. The crimes alleged against the prisoner
were: impudence to one of the officers, disobedience of orders, and
defrauding one of his messmates. I being the youngest officer had
to give first my opinion, so sentenced him to receive 150 lashes;
the next, which was Williams, said 200, as did all the rest. I
was present at the punishment. Two drummers were sent for from
Portsmouth, to perform. But the commanding officer, Captain Wood,
considering he was but a raw recruit, or, I suppose, nothing but
a wild Irishman, forgave him a little less than half the number,
hoping that that would be sufficient for the present, and serve as
an example to the rest. Our men, upon the whole, behave themselves
tolerably well. We are obliged now and then to tie them up, for
fighting or quarrelling, or suchlike things, but it is the nature
of an Irishman to be quarrelsome. We cannot but expect it, and more
especially when there are so many together."
Writing a week later, he again referred to the conduct of the troops
on the _Granby_: "The soldiers on board the _Granby_ transport were
yesterday very rebellious, but unluckily we could not pick out any
to make an example of. These fellows will never be orderly till they
have had, each of them, a good flogging, which, I think, they stand a
fair chance of having before they have been many days at Gibraltar. I
am very confident that if we were not surrounded by men-of-war, and
were to go to Gibraltar without a convoy, we should all be murdered."
The references to flogging in the two last letters must not be taken
to imply that young Rice was shaping for a martinet in this early
stage of his military career. In those days sentence of flogging
was passed on a soldier for offences which nowadays would carry
no higher punishment than a few days' detention; and, in reading
descriptions of military and naval punishments of a century ago, one
marvels at their positive brutality. It may be that we have finer
feelings than our ancestors had, or our natures may have become
softer, but whatever has brought about the change, the fact remains
that accounts of what took place on an ordinary flogging parade in
time of peace make one wonder how a civilised country like England
could have permitted such barbarities. Men were sentenced to receive
so many hundred lashes--even up to two thousand, on the bare back,
with a cat-o'-nine-tails--and the mode of carrying the punishment
into execution was as follows: The regiment having been drawn up in
square facing inwards, and the "triangle," of solid spars,[5] having
been erected in the centre of the square, the prisoner was marched in
and ordered to strip to the waist. He was then secured by the wrists
to the top of the triangle, and by the thighs and ankles to the side
spars. At a given signal the drum-major and his drummers advanced,
and were ordered by the commanding officer to "do their duty." The
first drummer took off his coat, and delivered twenty-five lashes,
when he was relieved by a second drummer, who delivered the same
number, the drum-major standing by with a cane ready to strike the
drummer if the lashes were not administered with sufficient strength.
And these drummers were all trained to the work, by flogging the
fleece off a sheep's skin, both with the right hand and with the
left, so that alternate drummers should inflict the punishment from
opposite sides of the triangle. Near at hand stood the adjutant
and the surgeon, the former to register the number of lashes, and
the latter to observe the victim and order him to be taken down if
he thought that further punishment at the time would endanger his
life. But there was no question of respite, for the number of lashes
awarded had to be given, if not at one time, then at several times.
Immediately the man was taken down, he was marched to hospital, and
carefully attended to until his back had healed; then, if he still
had more lashes to come, he was taken out again, and his back cut
open afresh; and we have it on the authority of Sir Charles Napier,
the Conqueror of Sind, that a man was often brought to the triangle a
third and a fourth time to receive the remainder of his punishment.
We spare the reader further details of this barbarous work, and we
have only said so much because it was necessary in order to show the
spirit of the times, and in order to draw attention to some of the
unpleasant duties of regimental officers.[6] It may be thought that
corporal punishment was rarely inflicted, but official returns prove
otherwise, and it is no exaggeration to say that, towards the end of
the eighteenth century, a regiment on home service would parade round
the triangle at least two or three times in a month. "In 1793," says
Lord William Bentinck, "infliction by the cat-o'-nine-tails was the
ordinary and general punishment for every offence, great and small,
only varied as to the amount according to the different degrees
of culpability, but always the lash; except in regard to the most
trivial offences, corporal punishment was the echo in each and every
one of the Articles of War."
It is not difficult to understand that, under such circumstances,
recruits for the army were slow in coming forward. Moreover, the
Government of the day neglected the soldier's comfort and welfare
in every possible way, underfeeding him, underpaying him, and
accommodating him in vile quarters. The majority of the recruits
brought up for enlistment were produced by the "crimps," who resorted
to every mean device in their prosperous business of catching men and
selling them to Government, and one can scarcely wonder that such
unwilling soldiers should have resented the harsh discipline to which
they were immediately subjected. These were the men with whom young
Rice first came into contact at Portsmouth--men, cooped up on board
ship, without recreation of any kind, for weeks on end, and unable
even to make a bid for freedom by desertion.
That there should have been a spirit of unrest on board the
transports was not very strange, but the possibility of the
disaffected troops murdering their officers was, of course, only wild
talk on the part of a youthful subaltern. This, however, was not a
very pleasant commencement to a young officer's service, but things
seem to have settled down as time went on, and as more military
officers joined the transports for duty. The only excitement was
that provided by the arrival of a man-of-war, after a successful
engagement. "I saw the _Nymph_," wrote Sam Rice on the 1st July, "as
well as _La Cléopatre_, coming into the harbour. The latter had her
mizzen-mast shot away, and was everywhere, I fancy, considerably
damaged. I have not been on board either of them; in fact, the truth
is, I have not been ashore since they came in. The brave sons of the
Republic, I understand, fought with great courage, as did, as usual,
the sons of Old England. The French captain was killed, or else, you
may depend upon it, the engagement would have lasted till one of them
had gone to the bottom. The _Phaeton_ has taken a very fine French
ship, named _La Prompte_. She only rates as a sloop in France, but is
as big as any of our twenty-eights."
In the middle of July the officers on the transports saw a chance of
sailing with the fleet under Lord Howe, but he had other business
on hand, and went without them. Sam expressed his disgust at his
lordship's conduct. "We thought that we were to sail under the
protection of Lord Howe's fleet, but in that we were disappointed,
for he sailed last Sunday evening without having the politeness to
take us with him. When we shall now sail I know not; but the report
is that it will be very soon and suddenly. It needs be so, for they
have given us a fair spell of Portsmouth. I now know enough of a
transport, which means that I will never go in one again, if I can
get my passage in any other vessel. I almost agree with Dr Johnson
that it is as well to enter a jail as a cabin.[7] We have had a bad
fever on board our ship for some time. Two have died of it, and
many more are ill at the hospital. I should not be surprised if we
were all to take the fever, after being so long confined in these
old rusty colliers, now in His Majesty's service for the purpose
of transporting us to Gibraltar. We are to be joined by seven more
transports, and Colonel Lindsay is to take the command of us all.
He has sent us two thousand cartridges on board, and orders how
we are to act in case of attack by the enemy. If one of us should
be separated from our convoy, and see a Frenchman, we are to run
immediately, and our men to be ordered to go betwixt decks. But, if
the Frenchman sails better than us, and comes alongside, we are,
with all our padding, to board, and play hell and the devil among
them--that is to say, if possible. There has been a great change
among the officers from ship to ship. I am the only one left upon
this ship, and consequently am officer commandant, till a Captain
Alcock, who is appointed here, comes on board. He has got a wife,
whom he intends to take to Gibraltar with him. I'd just as soon have
the devil on board as a woman; not that I have any natural antipathy
to women, but I assure you they are a great nuisance, especially in
such a confined place as a cabin. You might perhaps think a lady a
wonderful acquisition to a sea party, but I am very certain, if you
had ever been on a voyage with a woman you would never desire it
again."
Within the month he changed his mind about the lady, and on August 13
he imagined that he was within measurable distance of the end of all
his troubles. "I have just time to tell you," he scribbled in haste,
"that we have received our orders for sailing. Our convoy fired a gun
and hoisted a signal to get under weigh immediately. I do not suppose
we shall go farther than St Helens to-day. I came ashore this morning
at six o'clock to take leave of Old England, and to bring on board
Captain and Mrs Alcock. We have the _Diadem_, sixty-four, and the
_Active_, frigate, for our convoy." Five days later he wrote again
from St Helens, Isle of Wight, still jubilant at the thought that at
last he had made a start for Gibraltar, though disappointed in being
kept back by adverse winds. His letter shows how the vagaries of the
wind upset all calculations in the days of sailing vessels, and he
wrote as follows:--
"I think I never beheld a finer sight in my life than the sailing
of our fleet from Spithead. It consisted of about seventy-five
sail. The _Diadem_ led the way; and the _Active_ brought up the
rear. We had made about four leagues, when, to our great sorrow,
our Commodore fired a gun as a signal to put back to St Helens,
not thinking it prudent to put to sea, the wind not being very
favourable. The 14th, we lay at anchor. The 15th, our Commodore
early in the morning fired a gun for to get under weigh, which
we immediately did. But we were again obliged to put back to St
Helens, not being able to weather the land. The 16th, at anchor
as before. The 17th, it blew a heavy gale, drove us from our
anchorage, and carried us down almost as far as Spithead. The
same day we were nigh being run foul of by an Ostend vessel,
which had also broken from her anchor. I never experienced such
a gale before, and, indeed, it rather astonished the old seamen,
especially at this time of year. The wind is still contrary. I
hope we shall soon leave this disagreeable place, which is worse
than Spithead. Captain Alcock, who, I told you, has the military
command of the _Neptune_, is really a worthy man, and has behaved
to me, since he has been on board, with the greatest friendship and
civility. He is more like a father to me than a commanding officer.
He knows all the officers in our regiment, and has promised to
introduce me, but more particularly to those whom he thinks it
proper for a young man to associate with. Captain Alcock's younger
brother is in my regiment, and is the oldest captain in it; he
says that his brother will always stand my friend. I think I cannot
be better off than I am at present. I am very well and happy in
having met with such a worthy fellow as Captain Alcock. He has not
been married above two months. His wife is a charming and agreeable
woman, and we are all very comfortable together."
The fleet got away from St Helens on the 22nd August, but was
overtaken by another gale, and had to run for Portland Bay, where the
ships were forced to shelter until the 8th September. By that time
the bay had become filled with ships bound for various parts of the
world, the West India fleet of transports amongst them, and at length
the wind showed signs of being favourable for departure. Yet, as Sam
Rice's next letter shows, luck was all against them, and a few days
later the ships turned about and anchored in Torbay.
Writing from Torbay on the 17th September he describes what had
happened--
"We left Weymouth on the 8th, the wind being in our favour. I
believe never so large a fleet sailed from that place before, or
ever will again. We were no less than two hundred sail in number.
Many were the people who assembled to see us depart, and I do not
in the least doubt but that the sight was highly worth seeing.
We passed by this port, where we saw the Grand Fleet lying at
anchor, and we little thought then that we should be obliged to
go in. In a very short time we cleared the Land's End and steered
on our course for Gibraltar. We had nearly reached the Bay of
Biscay, when, to our great surprise, a frigate came up and spoke
to our Commodore, upon which a signal was made for us all to
bear homewards as fast as possible. You may be sure we were all
thunderstruck at this uncommon proceeding, and were not a little
vexed at the thought of returning after having made so much way.
The next morning we passed by the Scilly Islands, and from thence
bore away as fast as possible for this place, where we are safely
riding with the Grand Fleet. The frigate above mentioned had been
sent by Lord Howe, who, having had intelligence that the French
fleet was not far off, and consisted of thirty-two sail of the
line and nine frigates, very prudently, and fortunately for us,
dispatched a frigate immediately with orders for us to return
with all possible expedition. I was at first very much vexed
at returning, but am now rejoiced to think that we have been
fortunately saved from the rapacious claws of the French 'Sans
culottes.'[8] I hear we have taken Toulon, with a great deal of
shipping, but that we have had bad success before Dunkirk.[9] Three
regiments are gone from the garrison of Gibraltar to Toulon; so, if
any regiments go to the West Indies, ours most probably will be
one. Our men are now in a sad condition; we have now three hospital
ships, and all full of men with fevers. Several have died, and, no
doubt, more will, if they continue much longer on board a ship. It
is thought that we shall sail with Lord Howe's fleet, but that is
at present quite uncertain."
Eventually, after having put back no less than nine times altogether,
the transports succeeded in getting away, and reached Gibraltar in
November, when Ensign Rice and his two hundred recruits joined the
51st. He found war the one topic of conversation, and the prospects
of the regiment proceeding on active service being freely discussed.
He learned now the true story of Toulon, which, although actually in
the occupation of a British and allied force, had not been "taken
with a great deal of shipping," but had been peacefully garrisoned
at the request of the Royalist (or Girondist) inhabitants. Admiral
Hood, who had brought his fleet to the Mediterranean, was cruising
up the coast from Gibraltar, when he received a message from the
Royalist Admiral at Toulon, asking him to co-operate in the defence
of that place against the Republicans (or Jacobins), and to hold
it until the monarchy should be restored. Hood agreed, and on the
27th August, troops having been sent from Gibraltar, and a Spanish
squadron having joined the British fleet, the Admiral took possession
of the forts and the many men-of-war in the harbour--amounting to not
less than one-third of the navy of France. He at once dismantled the
ships, and removed such of the sailors as were known to favour the
Republican cause, and he then sought assistance from the Spanish,
Neapolitan, and neighbouring Allies who, in the course of time, sent
him some 12,000 men. This mixed force, with 2000 British troops under
General O'Hara, essayed to protect Toulon from the ravages of the
Republicans, who soon arrived--to the number of 25,000--to besiege
the place, and by November became so active that General O'Hara sent
to Gibraltar for reinforcements.
The 50th and the 51st, which, for some weeks, had been standing
ready to go to the relief of the garrison of Toulon, at once
embarked (December 5), and young Rice considered himself in luck's
way in being called upon to take the field so soon after joining.
Ill-fortune, however, still dogged his footsteps, for the captains of
the transports delayed for three days in putting to sea, thus losing
a fair wind, so that it was not until the 29th that the regiment
arrived off Toulon, when it learned that the place had been evacuated
in haste ten days before, the garrison having made an unsuccessful
sally, in which General O'Hara was severely wounded and captured.
Finding that the garrison was now too weak to hold the town against
the vastly superior numbers of the Republican forces, Lord Hood set
fire to as many as possible of the French ships in the harbour, blew
up powder and stores, successfully embarked the British garrison, as
well as nearly 15,000 Royalists, who feared for their safety when
the Republicans should enter the town, and sailed for Hyères Bay[10]
(a little to the east of Toulon), where, on the 31st December, the
transports conveying the 50th and 51st joined the fleet--to be
received very coldly by the Admiral.
But Lord Hood's disappointment at the lateness of their arrival was
no greater than that of the officers of the reinforcing regiments.
That Toulon should have been abandoned, and that their prospects of
honour and glory should have been torn from them by no fault of their
own was bad enough, but, to make matters worse, the 51st lost all
their regimental baggage and stores, including everything belonging
to the officers, which had been placed on a separate vessel for
conveyance to Toulon. Sam Rice, a philosopher even in those days,
refers to this minor trouble very briefly. "The officers' and the
regimental baggage," he wrote, "went into Toulon in the _Moselle_
frigate,[11] which separated from the transports during the night and
did not know that the town was evacuated, because the English flag
was kept flying. You see we military gentlemen are subject to losses
as well as the rest of the world." And the loss both to officers and
the men was severe, for their colonel had been at great pains to
stock the ship with everything that the regiment could want.