Chapter VI: Letter V

La Normandie, prison-ship, Brest-Water, 5th Feb. 1795.

Could what I write reach you in due course, my present place of date might surprize you, after the assurances which my last held out of going forthwith to Quimper. Admiral Bligh has been meanly and cruelly treated: their violated promises to me are of less consequence.

On the day after I last wrote to you, matters respecting our departure seemed to be drawing to a favourable conclusion. An officer from Admiral Villaret waited on Admiral Bligh, to beg his acceptance of a loan of one thousand livres in paper (offering at the same time as many more as might be wished) and to assure him, that we were to be landed on the following day. The livres were accepted; and, as we now deemed our departure certain, we put ourselves, at day-light next morning, in a state of preparation for our removal. Removed, indeed, we were, not to Quimper, but to this horrid receptacle, where we have been closely immured ever since, suffering every mental punishment which low-minded rancour and brutal ignorance could inflict; and every physical hardship which this rigorous winter, and occasional deficiencies of food, could produce. I have not seen a fire during the whole month of January; and on Christmas-day I was one of _fifteen_ English officers, with the Admiral at our head, whose dinner consisted of _eight_ very small muttonchops, and a plate of potatoes. This last circumstance, exciting both hunger and indignation (as we knew that a _traitement_ was paid for us by the government, and as we had lately from our encreased number lived by ourselves) we determined not to bear it without remonstrance, especially as for several succeeding days our treatment had been little better; and I was delegated to inform the officers of the ship, that if they should not use us hereafter more liberally, we would write a complaint against them to Admiral Villaret. This produced a good effect; and henceforth we were more amply supplied. In justice to Monsieur Villaret, I must observe to you, that his character is eminent for honour and justice; and in spite of appearances against him at first, on our not being sent to Quimper, we now know, that had his ability been equal to his disposition, Admiral Bligh would not be here. Of Le Franq I cannot speak in similar terms. He exhibited a mean exultation at our disappointment, not altogether unaccompanied with insult; and his whole behaviour, for some time before we left him, had entirely altered our first impression of him.

Our detention has, however, been productive of a very desirable event to the Admiral. In consequence of a late decree of the convention, directing that all women and children who had been captured shall be liberated, and permitted to return home, he was enabled to send away his son, under the auspices of Lady Anne Fitzroy, who had been a prisoner for many months at Quimper.

The fleet sailed from the outer road on the 30th of December, consisting of the following ships, under the command of Vice-Admiral Villaret, who was assisted by the Admirals Bouvet, Vanstable, Nieully, and Renaudin, and controlled by several representatives.

Guns.
La Montagne, 120
Le Majestueux 110
Le Terrible, 110
Le Revolutionnaire, 110
Le Neuf Thermidor[E], 84
L’Indomptable, 84
Le Tigre, 74
Le Montagnard, 74
Le Tourville, 74
Le Pelletier, 74
L’Acquilon, 74
Le Temeraire, 74
Le Zelè, 74
L’Audacieux, 74
Le Marat, 74
Le Tirannicide, 74
Le Jemappe, 74
Le Jean Bart, 74
La Convention, 74
La Revolution, 74
Le Scipion, 74
Le Nestor, 74
Le Mutius Scævola, 74
Les Droits de l’Homme, 74
Le 31 de Mai, 74
Le Neptune, 74
L’Eole, 74
L’Entreprenant, 74
Le Trajan, 74
Le Patriote, 74
Le Gasparin, 74
Le Superbe, 74
Le Redoutable, 74
Le Fougueux, 74

And the Alexander, of 74 guns, with at least a dozen
frigates, and several corvettes.

Le Republicain, of 110 guns, was intended to constitute a part of the fleet; but on the night of the 24th of December she broke from her anchors, was driven on a rock, and bulged, in a manner which does very little credit to French seamanship. Here she lay until the 9th of January, when her remains were burned, her main-mast and mizen-mast being then standing, and her main-top-sail yard across.

When the fleet sailed, the wind was nearly at E. and it continued to blow here between the points of N. E. and E. S. E. until the evening of Sunday the 25th of January, when it shifted to South, and next day blew fresh at S. W. On Thursday the 29th of January it returned to S. E. and continued in the Eastern quarter until the evening of the 31st, when it backed to S. W.

On the 12th of January Le Redoutable singly came back into port; on the 28th seven sail more of two-deckers returned, having parted three days before in a fog from the body of the fleet, which, to the number of twenty sail, arrived on the second and third of this month, and two others have got into l’Orient: _no less than the following five having either foundered, or been purposely run on shore, to prevent their sinking_.

Guns.

Le Scipion, 74 Le Superbe, 74 Le Neuf Thermidor, 84 Le Temeraire, 74 Le Neptune, 74

The condition even of those which have escaped, is deplorable: among others Le Majestueux had four pumps going when she entered the port. Two days ago I held a long conversation with the Captain of Le Jean Bart, who execrated the planners of this destructive expedition to their navy. He assured me, that it had been remonstrated against in the strongest terms by the naval officers, and its pernicious consequences foretold; but the orders from Paris were positive. The fleet cruized in three divisions, the easternmost of which kept but just outside of Scilly and Ushant; and the westernmost was once driven as far as 18° W. in the latitude of 45°; the central division occupied the intermediate space. I learned these particulars from some masters of English merchantmen who were taken, and have been sent to this prison. A more effectual plan to interrupt our commerce could not have been devised. Of its practicability, had I not lived to see it executed, I should at least have doubted; but this is an age of political phænomena on the water, as well as the land. Between fifty and sixty prizes were captured by this fleet, among which was a transport bound from Ireland to Bristol, having on board 120 soldiers of a new-raised regiment, who are now confined here, and do so little credit, by their appearance, to British troops, that I have more than once blushed, when they have been pointed at by the French; and I have been asked with a sneer, “Are these the men who are to march to Paris?” In the list of prizes were also six or seven of the homeward-bound Oporto fleet, all of which they sunk, with their cargoes; deeming, I presume, that honest beverage (to use the words of one of their authors) “a heavy stupifying liquor, fit to be drunk by Englishmen only.”

Cut off as I am from all communication with English politics, I shall not presume to guess at the causes which have retained our fleet in harbour. But some of those which have not retained it, I shall venture to state. It was not the weather, for that was uninterruptedly fine until the 25th of January. It was not the wind, for that during the same period was always easterly, here at least, and our distance from Plymouth is barely 45 leagues. It was not a want of information, for (to my knowledge) exclusive of other channels, two English gentlemen, who escaped from this place in a boat at least as early as the 8th of January, must have arrived in England by the 12th or 13th. The rigid caution observed by the French, in not hazarding engagements at sea, is notorious. In the present instance it has been exchanged for a hardy audacity. They now boast that they have challenged us to the lists, which we have not dared to enter against them; but, during the time of their fleet being out, I have seen them tremble at the probability of such an event. Had the month of January been as tempestuous as it commonly is in this climate, our assistance would hardly have been required to destroy their leaky and crazy ships, in want of naval stores and able seamen. One hard gale of wind at S. S. W. would have cost them at least a dozen sail of the line.

What then shall we say? “There is,” my friend, “a tide in the affairs” of nations, as well as of men: the page of history every where records it. Hannibal, after the battle of Cannæ, instead of marching to Rome, turned aside to Capua;----from that moment the Carthaginian fortune ebbed, never to flow again. The series of rapid conquests, which distinguished the brilliant campaign of 1776, was finished, not by taking Philadelphia, dispersing the Congress, and breaking up the new government, but by occupying winter cantonments in Jersey, where our victorious army was beaten in detail;----and America was lost. The allies, after the surrender of Valenciennes, divided their forces;----and since that fatal separation how has their career of conquest been turned into retreat, marked only by overthrow, consternation and despair!

On the 31st of December, the Admiral was again reduced to my society, and that of his youngsters, all the other officers of the Alexander being sent on shore to the Château, where, according to accounts which I have received from them, by some letters privately conveyed to me, they are treated in a manner shocking to humanity.----But I must be contented with telling you my own story.

On their departure we who were left were again taken into the mess of the officers of the ship. The military part of this assembly are a set of worthless wretches; but two of those who fill civil posts are men of honourable characters, ever ready to pity our situation, and to give us every reasonable degree of intelligence of the state of the country, and what is going on; to which _I_ add the advantage of reading daily some of the Paris news-papers, which are brought on board.

Through these channels I draw not only abundant matter for reflection, but frequently obtain diversion. “Moderation, and down with the Terrorists!” resound, I believe, from one end to the other of the republic. It is in all respects our interest to wish that such sentiments may be more than nominal. It is certain that a general dismission of the creatures of Robespierre is taking place. The indiscriminate advancement of unqualified candidates to offices of trust and dignity, which to court popular applause universally prevailed until lately, furnishes to those, who are not over-friendly to a democratic cause, an inexhaustible fund of merriment and ridicule. Among others who have just experienced the instability of honours is Tribout, who commanded the troops at Brest. This man, from beating a drum, and officiating as a regimental barber, under the old government, had been advanced by the revolution to the dignity of a drum-major, whence, by an easy gradation, he at once rose to the rank of a general officer, for intrepidity displayed in a battle on the frontiers. His elevation, however, only exposed him to derision in the district wherein he was delegated to command. Like the unfortunate cat, who at the request of her master was metamorphosed by Jupiter into a young woman, and who still retained her feline appetites, some unlucky trait, it seems, was for ever occurring in this poor man’s behaviour, to remind the spectators of his earlier professions. When he was on the parade he had all the flourishes of the drum-major, and at table all the busy curiosity and oily language of the _frizeur_. After exciting universal contempt against himself and his employers, during the period of his command here, he has been suddenly stripped of his full-blown honours, and condemned to vegetate hereafter on a small pension, which has been assigned to him; with permission, however, to retain the title of _General_ Tribout.

The 21st of January was the anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI. an event which will be annually commemorated by very different ceremonies and emotions from what distinguished this day, when the political phrenzy that now agitates Frenchmen shall be evaporated. A play analagous to the occasion was performed at the theatre, _gratis_; the towers and forts on shore, and all the ships in the harbour, displayed their colours; and lastly, to prove their civism, the _keepers_ of this dungeon put on their best clothes, and provided the best dinner I have seen since I have been taken. I ate of it, but not without a sigh for the cause which gave birth to this savage exultation over the manes of a mild and generous, though irresolute, monarch. And even here I feel pleasure in saying, all sensations of pity are not extinguished, all distinctions which should regulate the administration of justice are not obliterated. This very day a Frenchman whispered in my ear, “His death (the king’s) in spite of the veil which the convention threw over the real sentiments of the people, struck the hearts of the majority of Frenchmen with amazement and horror.” Of the memory of the queen he spoke less affectionately. He recounted to me some of the extravagant tales, which have been so industriously propagated against her; but in defiance of them, what unprejudiced mind can hesitate to pronounce, that the cruel and ignominious rigour of her confinement; the brutal and unmanly spirit that dictated the charges upon which she was tried; and the mockery of all justice with which she was prosecuted; joined to the violent death inflicted upon this unhappy princess (against whom report has been so loud, and proof so feeble) have fixed upon the annals of the revolution a stain, which will be indelible, while sentiments of tenderness and generosity towards women, and principles of equity towards the accused, are cherished in the human breast?

The news of the entire conquest of Holland has caused great rejoicings. But when the wildness of joy and congratulation had subsided, what think you was the first reflection which I heard on the subject?----A calculation of the advantages which will accrue to their marine. By this acquisition, they hope to be enabled to dispute the empire of the sea with England. It is publickly reported, that a negociation for peace with Prussia is proceeding, and will be speedily completed; but to this I only oppose my silent unbelief.

We often hear of Charette; but the accounts are so extravagant and contradictory, that I know not what to think. About two months ago I was persuaded, from all I read in the news-papers, and from what I was every day told, that he had either surrendered, and sworn fealty to the republic, or was about to do so; but as the most furious republicans among my present associates have lately been silent about him, and answer with reluctance to my questions on the subject, I can only guess, from their reserve, that all is not agreeable to their wishes, and consequently that he is still the rallying point of royalism.

I have sometimes my doubts whether it be not their intention to continue us where we are altogether, and that the promise of being sent to Quimper is as delusive as every other part of their conduct; but these are only the suggestions of spleen, on recollecting the frequency of our disappointments; for an order is absolutely received on board, to send us hence to a small armed brig, which is to take some coasters under her convoy to Quimper, as soon as the wind shifts to the N. W. In her, it seems, and not according to the first intention of sending us by land, are we to be conveyed to our place of destination.----There!----but hang gloomy anticipations! the thought alone of being on shore, and able to warm myself by exercise, must give it a decided preference to a prison-ship, in which, during this bitter season, we have been cooped up, and frozen both in soul and body. You would have laughed to see the contrivances we have had recourse to, to keep up a little warmth, and restore circulation to our benumbed extremities. The Admiral twice wrote to the representatives, for permission to walk on shore with the officers of the ship; but of his first letter no notice was taken; and to his second only a verbal answer, that “his request could not be granted,” was returned.-------- Adieu.