Service in England, Ireland, and Denmark
(1805-7)
“_I am not afraid of responsibility, God knows, and I am ready to
incur any personal risk for the public service._”
WELLINGTON.
When, in 1803, the short-lived Peace of Amiens came to an end, and
Great Britain and France again resorted to the sword, Napoleon’s first
feat of arms was the conquest of Hanover. Thus, at the very beginning
of the second phase of the Great War, George III found himself not only
minus his hereditary continental possessions, but deprived of a very
useful base for those futile military excursions so beloved of the
British Government.
That His Majesty received the tidings of his loss “with great
magnanimity, and a real kingliness of mind,” may or may not be true.
His ministers asserted that such was the case; considerations of policy
would have precluded them from saying otherwise.
However this may be, two months after Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in
England, that is to say, in November 1805, he was given the command of
a brigade in an expedition to Hanover about to be undertaken by Lord
Cathcart. The object was to rout the comparatively few French troops
left to garrison the country, and to co-operate with Russian, Swedish,
and Danish troops in ridding Germany of the common enemy. The surrender
of Mack at Ulm, and Napoleon’s wonderful victory at Austerlitz,
although it followed within a few weeks of Nelson’s signal triumph at
Trafalgar,[24] completely shattered this desirable object, just as
the negotiations that followed put an end to the ambitious hopes of
the Third Coalition. The recall of the troops before they had been
able to carry out any of the objects of the diversion, beyond gaining
some thousands of adherents to the rank and file, therefore became
imperative, and was duly effected.
Sir Arthur Wellesley now spent a short time in command of his brigade
at Hastings, and he was gazetted colonel of the famous 33rd Regiment,
which post had become vacant on the death of the venerable Marquis
Cornwallis, his brother’s successor in India. The next important
event in his life, if not in his career, was his marriage to the Hon.
Catherine Pakenham, thus consummating a romance begun many years
before,[25] and his single ambition apart from the Army. The ceremony
was performed in Dublin on the 10th April 1806, the bridegroom being
nearly thirty-seven years of age. One wishes it were possible to add
that “they lived happy ever after.” Biography, the twin sister of
History, tells us that it was not so, and Gleig suggests that a broken
engagement with a second suitor, of which Wellesley was not informed
on his return from India, was partly the cause.[26] Two days after the
wedding Wellesley was elected Member of Parliament for Rye, his main
object in seeking political distinction being that he might defend
his brother’s administration in India, where his system of making
recalcitrant States subsidiary to England, whilst retaining their own
rulers, was the subject of an embittered attack. The “high crimes and
misdemeanours” alleged against Lord Wellesley were referred to from
time to time, but on the 17th March 1808, the following motion was
carried by 182 votes against 31: “That it appears to this House that
the Marquis Wellesley, in his arrangements in the province of Oude,
was actuated by an ardent zeal for the service of his country, and an
anxious desire to promote the safety, interests, and prosperity of the
British Empire in India.” This did not altogether end the unsavoury
affair, for another unsuccessful attempt to incriminate the statesman
was made some time later.
Sir Arthur was by this time Chief Secretary for Ireland, having
been appointed in the previous year. Once again we see two members
of this distinguished family holding prominent appointments, for
Henry Wellesley became one of the Secretaries to the Treasury in the
newly-appointed Portland ministry.
Barrington, whose acquaintance we have already made, relates an
interesting anecdote of the soldier at this time. He met Lord
Castlereagh, accompanied by a gentleman, in the Strand. “His lordship
stopped me,” he writes, “whereat I was rather surprised, as we had not
met for some time; he spoke very kindly, smiled, and asked if I had
forgotten my old friend, Sir Arthur Wellesley? whom I discovered in his
companion, but looking so sallow and wan, and with every mark of what
is called a worn-out man, that I was truly concerned at his appearance.
But he soon recovered his health and looks, and went as the Duke of
Richmond’s[27] secretary to Ireland, where he was in all material
traits still Sir Arthur Wellesley, but it was Sir Arthur Wellesley
judiciously improved. He had not forgotten his friends, nor did he
forget himself. He said that he had accepted the office of secretary
only on the terms that it should not impede or interfere with his
military pursuits; and what he said proved true....”
Obviously his duties in Ireland bear no comparison with those he so
successfully undertook in India, but following his own maxim, “to do
the business of the day in the day,” he got through a vast amount of
routine labour, frequently important, sometimes trivial. Under the
former head we must put his investigation of the military defences of
the island. It must not be forgotten that although the invasion of the
United Kingdom by Napoleon was no longer a standing menace, there was
always a likelihood of its resurrection, and Ireland was the danger
zone.
The Peace of Tilsit, signed between France and Russia on the 7th July
1807, and between France and Prussia on the 9th of the same month,
was a most serious blow to British interests. By a secret treaty the
Emperor Alexander undertook to aid Napoleon against England if that
Power refused to make peace within a certain period, to recognize the
equality of all nations at sea, and to hand back the conquests made by
her since 1805. As a bait--it really savoured of insult--Great Britain
was to be offered Hanover. Should she refuse these terms the Autocrats
of France and of Russia agreed to compel Denmark, Sweden, and Portugal
to join them in a vast naval confederacy against Great Britain, and
to close their ports against her. In addition, the reigning monarchs
of Spain and Portugal were to be deposed in favour of the Bonaparte
family. For his connivance in the matter Alexander was to be handsomely
compensated in the Ottoman Empire and by territorial acquisitions in
Western Europe.
Fortunately, or otherwise, according to the point of view, the British
Cabinet was put in possession of certain facts regarding these
plans. Canning, who was Minister for Foreign Affairs, realizing the
responsibilities of his unenviable position, as also of that of his
country, determined to forestall the plotters. He felt that some kind
of arrangement with Denmark was essential, especially as the Prince
Regent of Portugal had communicated news to the effect that Napoleon
purposed to invade England with the Portuguese and Danish fleets.
Canning suggested to Denmark that her fleet should be put in the safe
custody of England until peace was restored. In addition, he promised
a subsidy of £100,000, and the assistance of troops should Denmark be
attacked. Mr F. J. Jackson was sent to open negotiations; the Prince
Royal promptly vetoed them. “I stated plainly,” says Jackson, “that I
was ordered to demand the junction of the Danish fleet with that of
England, and that in case of refusal it was the determination of His
Majesty to enforce it.”
Lord Cathcart was put in command of an army of 27,000 troops, the
naval portion of the expedition being placed in the hands of Admiral
Gambier. No sooner had Sir Arthur Wellesley heard of the project than
he communicated with Castlereagh, then at the War Office and ever his
staunch supporter, for an opportunity to take part. He was given charge
of a division. On the 3rd August a formidable array of twenty-five
sail-of-the-line and over fifty gunboats and transports appeared off
Elsinore. Gambier and Cathcart were told by Jackson “that it now
rested with them to carry out the measure prescribed by the British
Government.” In a letter to his brother the diplomatist adds, “The
Danes must, I think, soon surrender, for they are without any hopes
of succour, are unfurnished with any effectual means of resistance,
and are almost in total want of the necessaries of life, as far as I
could learn or was able to see for myself during my few hours’ stay
there.[28] There were no droves of cattle or flocks of sheep; no
provisions of any sort being sent in the direction of the city. No
troops marching towards the town; no guns mounted on the ramparts; no
embrasures cut, in fact, no preparations of any sort. What the Danes
chiefly rely on is the defence by water. They brought out this morning
several _praams_[29] and floating batteries, and cut away one or two of
the buoys.
“The garrison of Copenhagen does not amount to more than four thousand
regular troops. The _landwehr_ is a mere rabble, as indeed all _levées
en masse_ must be.
“The people are said to be anxious to capitulate before a conflagration
takes place, which must happen soon after a bombardment begins, when,
not improbably, the fleet as well as the city will become a prey to the
flames.”
Jackson’s prophecy came true, but against his statement that the army
disembarked at Veldbeck “in grand style,” we must set that of Captain
Napier: “I never saw any fair in Ireland so confused as the landing;
had the enemy opposed us, the _remains_ of the army would have been on
their way to England.”[30] Wellesley’s first affray--it can scarcely
be termed a battle--took place at Roskilde. Like almost everything
connected with the expedition, Jackson has something to say about
it, and that “something” in this particular instance is anything but
complimentary. “Sir Arthur Wellesley,” he tells his wife, “has had an
affair which you will probably see blazoned forth in an extraordinary
_Gazette_. With about four thousand men he attacked a Danish corps of
armed peasantry, and killed and wounded about nine hundred men, besides
taking upwards of fifteen hundred prisoners, amongst whom were sixty
officers. One was a General officer. I spoke to him this morning,
for he and his officers are let off on their parole. The men are on
board prison ships, and miserable wretches they are, fit for nothing
but following the plough. They wear red and green striped woollen
jackets, and wooden _sabots_. Their long lank hair hangs over their
shoulders, and gives to their rugged features a wild expression. The
knowing ones say that after the first fire they threw away their arms,
hoping, without them, to escape the pursuit of our troops. In fact,
the _battle_ was not a very glorious one, but this you will keep for
yourself.”[31]
Wellesley himself afterwards referred to the event as “the little
battle at Kiöge,” and mentioned that “the Danes had made but a
poor resistance; indeed, I believe they were only new raised
men--militia.”[32]
The bombardment of Copenhagen began on the 2nd September 1807, and
concluded three days later, when an armistice was granted in order
that terms might be discussed. On the 7th, Copenhagen capitulated.
The conditions imposed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, Sir Home Popham, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Murray were that the British should occupy the
citadel and dockyards for six weeks, and take possession of the ships
and naval stores. Their troops would then evacuate Zealand. “I might
have carried our terms higher ... had not our troops been needed at
home,” Wellesley writes to Canning. The various clauses were carried
out, and fifteen sail-of-the-line, fifteen frigates, and thirty-one
smaller vessels of the Danish fleet, as well as 20,000 tons of naval
stores, were escorted to England. “That the attack was necessary,” says
a recent historian, “no one will now deny. England was fighting for her
existence; and, however disagreeable was the task of striking a weak
neutral, she risked her own safety if she left in Napoleon’s hand a
fleet of such proportions. In Count Vandal’s words, she ‘merely broke,
before he had seized it, the weapon which Napoleon had determined to
make his own.’”[33] Dr J. Holland Rose disapproves, and points out
that “In one respect our action was unpardonable: it was not the last
desperate effort of a long period of struggle: it came after a time of
selfish torpor fatal alike to our reputation and the interests of our
allies. After protesting their inability to help them, Ministers belied
their own words by the energy with which they acted against a small
State.”[34]
Canning’s hope for an alliance with Sweden, in order to keep open the
Baltic, was destined never to be fulfilled. Sir John Moore was sent to
assist Gustavus in his efforts to resist the attacks of Russia, but
the nation deserted the King, deposed him, and joined Napoleon. War
speedily broke out between Sweden and Denmark, and also between the
latter and Great Britain. The Czar’s overtures to England on behalf of
France, as arranged at Tilsit, came to nothing. He was not anxious for
them to have any other ending, so enraptured was he with Napoleon’s
grandiloquent schemes. Enraptured? Yes, but only for a few short years.