Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

108

had not immediately come down to the house, and called for a loan to invigorate the brave exertions of their illuftrious ally! He could not poffibly agree with Mr. Fox, that minifters fhould be driven to a negotiation by the intervention of parliament, and confidered the motion to have a moft dangerous tendency. Sir John Macpherson thought it was but juftice to declare to all Europe, that we only came forward in defence of our own rights and liberties, and not enflave or entrench upon thofe of other nations. On thefe grounds, he confidered it his duty to fupport the motion.

Mr. Johnes oppofed it, protesting that he never could forget the ignominious manner in which our ambaffador had been difmiffed, nor forgive the infult offered to the nation. The objects we contended for, he thought, were our liberties, our fortunes, our religion, our God, and our king.

Mr. Green faid a few words in fa

vour of the motion, and

Colonel Fullarton expatiated up on the unconciliatory temper and offenfive manner in which our diplomatic intercourfe had been conducted on the continent.

"These were not times (he faid> to entruft the interefts of the country to plenipotentiaries, who entrenched themselves behind the ramparts of etiquette, and stalked on the ftilts of ambaffadorial mightiness."

It was well known, from the commencement of the war, that the French had refifted all ideas of treating with the confederated powers; they had proved their wisdom in fo doing, for by treating individually, they had detached every power from the confederacy, excepting Auftria and England.

Mr. Weftern and Mr. Martin fupported the motion.

The queftion was at length loudly called for, and the house divided. -For Mr. Pollen's. motion, 85— Against it, 291-Majority, 206.

CHA P. IV.

Alarming Mutiny at Portfmouth.-Delegates chofen by the Fleet.-The Sailers refufe to weigh Anchor-Lord Howe arrives with the Act for an Increase of Pay-The Sailors Return to their Duty-A Mutiny at the Nore.-The Flag of the Sandwich ftruck.-Delegates chofen.-Deputation of the Admiralty proceed to Sheerness.-Part of Admiral Duncan's Flect join the Mutiny. -Proclamation of Pardon.-The Earl of Northek arrives in London with Propofals from the Sailors.-Preparations made to attack the Mutineers.-Several of the mutinous Ships return to their Duty.-The Delegates feized.-Court Martial held upon Parker and other Mutineers.—Parker's Trial, Conviction, and Execution-Mutiny on board the Pompée off Breft.-Par liamentary Proceedings upon the Mutiny-in the Honfe of Lords-in the Commons-Bill paffed for the Augmentation of the Seamen's Wages.-Bill paffed to prevent Excitations to Mutiny and Sedition.-Bill for preventing an Intercourfe with the Ships in Mutiny.

[blocks in formation]

debted for more than fuccefs in a common warfare: for fafety and exiftence. It was, therefore, not without the moft ferious apprehenfions, that a fpirit of difaffection was ob

ferved

ferved, in the fpring of 1797, to break out in the fleet, the origin of which it was not easy to trace, though the confequences of its continuance were fufficiently obvious. The profelled, and perhaps, the real motive of the difturbance, was the redrefs of certain grievances refpecting the quantum and diftribution of their pay and provifions: complaints not new in their nature, but (as their petitions fet forth) more intolerable than ever from the circumftances of the times.

In the month of February, fome letters were forwarded from the fleet at Portsmouth to earl Howe; praying for his lordship's influence towards obtaining redress of certain grievances mentioned in thofe letters. As the letters were, however, anonymous, and appeared to be moft of them written in the fame hand-writing, and couched in the fame language, they were confidered as the production of fome factious individual, and therefore were deemed unworthy of attention. This neglect of the petition of the feamen, on their return to port, on the 31ft of March, produced a general correfpondence, by letter, from fhip to thip through the whole fleet; and at length it was unanimoufly agreed, that no fhip fhould lift an anchor till the demands of the feamen were complied with. Matters remained in this ftate till the 14th of April, when Lord Bridport received orders from government to fail from Portsmouth with the channel fleet: on the following day, however, when the fignal was made to prepare for fea, a general difobedience was obvious; and instead of weighing anchor, the feamen of the admiral's fhip ran up the shrouds and gave three cheers (a fignal previoufly agreed upon to announce the difobedience of orders) and thefe cheers were inftantly anfwered in

the fime manner from the other thips, which fufficiently manifetted a complete combination. The inferior officers appeared to concur with the men, and all the exertions of the commanders were ineffectual; but, excepting their refufal to weigh anchor, their conduct was more orderly and peaceable than could have been expected. Delegates were then appointed from each fhip, to reprefent the whole fleet; the admiral's cabin being fixed upon as the place for their deliberation, while the officers were reftrained, by force, from going on thore. Petitions were next drawn up, and prefented to the admirals then upon the fpot, ftating their demand of an increafe of wages, and alfo fome regulations for their benefit, with refped to the ratio of provifions. They further. expreffed a hope, that an anfwer might be given to their petition before they were ordered to put to fea again. This, however, was qualified with the exception, "unless the enemy were known to be at fea."

On the 17th, the men were publicly fworn to fupport the cause in which they were engaged. On the next day, a committee of the admiralty, with earl Spencer at their head, arrived at Portfmouth; who made feveral propofitions, to reduce the men to obedience. The lords of the admiralty next proceeded on board the Queen Charlotte, and conferred with the delegates from the feamen of the fleet; who affured their lordships, that no arrangement would be confidered as final until it fhould be fanctioned by the king and parliament, and guaranteed by a proclamation for a general pardon.

On the 23d, the admiral returned to his fhip, hoifted his flag again, and, after a fhort addrefs to the crew, he informed them, that he

had

had brought with him a redrefs of all their grievances, and his majefty's pardon for the offenders: after fome deliberation, these offers were accepted, and every man returned with chearfulness to his duty. It was now generally thought that all difputes were finally fettled: the filence, however, of Mr. Pitt, in omitting to explain the reafons which called for an increase of pay to be granted to the navy, when he fubmitted a motion for that purpofe to the house of commons, was conftrued, by part of the feamen, into a difpofition not to accede to their demands. In confirmation of this fuppofition, on the 7th of May, when lord Bridport made the fignal to weigh anchor and put to fea, every fhip at St. Helens' refused to obey. A meeting of the delegates was ordered on board the London. Vice admiral Colpoys refolved to oppofe their coming on board, and gave orders to the marines to level their pieces at them; the marines obeyed, and a flight fkirmish enfued, in which five of the feamen were killed. The whole crew of the London now turned their guns towards the ftern, and threatened to blow all aft into the water, unless the commanders furrendered; to this imperious menace they reluctantly 1ubmitted, and admiral Colpoys and captain Griffiths were confined for feveral hours in feparate cabins.

The failors at Portimouth remained in this mutinous ftate till the 14th of May, when lord Howe at length arrived from the Admiralty, with plenary powers, to enquire into and fettle the matters in difpute; he was alfo the welcome bearer of an act of parliament, which had been paffed on the 9th, granting an additional allowance, and alfo with his majefty's proclamation of pardon for all who fhould immediately return to their duty.

On the 15th, the delegates from the feveral fhips landed, and proceeded to the governor's house at Portsmouth; and after having partaken of fome refreshments, marched in procellion to the fleet, accompanied by lord and lady Howe, and fome officers and perfons of diftinction. Having vifited the hips at St. Helens', they proceeded to Spithead, where the crews of the fhips under fir Roger Curtis were happily conciliated. At feven in the evening his lordship landed, and the delegates carried him upon their fhoulders to the governor's house, amidst the plaudits of the furrounding multitude. Affairs being thus adjufted, the failors afterwards appeared to be perfectly fatisfied, the officers were generally re-inftated in their commands, the flag of difaffection was ftruck, and the fleet prepared to put to fea to encounter the enemy.

The public faw, with infinite fatisfaction, that the grievances of their brave defenders were redreffed, and that they had returned to obedience and to their duty; but this pleasure was fpeedily turned into fresh alarm and confternation, by a new mutiny in another quarter, which, for boldness and extent, was without a parallel in the naval hiftory of Britain.

The North-fea fleet, as well as the fhips lying at the Nore, appeared to have the redrefs of other grievances in view, befides what related to the increase of pay and provifions, which had been demanded by the grand fleet at Spithead. The mutineers, in imitation of what had been done at Portsmouth, chofe delegates from every fhip, of whom a man of the name of Richard Parker was appointed prefident. After having either confined or fent on shore their principal officers, they tranfmitted to the lords of the admiralty a fe

ries of articles, or conditions, to which they peremptorily demanded compliance, as the only terms upon which they would return to obedience; feveral of those articles were regarded as entirely incompatible with the difcipline of the navy, while fome others, fuch as a more equal divifion of prize money, were represented by fome, as no more than reasonable additions the conceffions to which government had agreed at Portsmouth.

The adherents of adminiftration contended, that confidering what had already been done for the seamen in general, nothing fhort of unconditional fubmiffion ought to be accepted by government from fuch daring mutineers and rebels; while fome of the adverse party conceived, that by moderate and modified conceffion, the love and fidelity of the navy would be more affectually fecured, than by adopting harth and coercive measures. The mutineers at the Nore, on the 23d of May, ftruck the flag of admiral Buckner, on board the Sandwich, and hoifted a red flag, the fymbol of mutiny, in its ftead. They compelled all the fhips which lay near Sheerness to drop down to the Great Nore, in order to concentrate the fcene of their operations; amongft which was the St. Fiorenzo, which had been fitted up to carry the princess of Wirtemburg to Germany. Each man-of-war fent two delegates; and befides thefe, there was in every ship a committee, confifting of 12 men, who determined, not only all affairs relative to the internal management of the veffel, but decided upon the merits of the respective delegates. At the commencement of the mutiny, the delegates came every day to Sheerness, where they held conferences, and paraded the ftreets and ramparts of the garrison. Richard Parker, who was confider

ed as the rebel admiral of the fleet, marched at the head of thefe proceffions, which were accompanied with mufic and flags, and had a triumphal appearance, calculated to make new converts to their illicit proceedings. The delegates and committee-men went on thore and returned on board as they pleased. This indulgence however was foon put an end to by the arrival of lord Keith and fir Charles Grey, who had been fent down to fuperintend the naval and military proceedings in that quarter.

The mutiny having now rifen to the moft alarming height, a deputation of the lords of the admiralty, at the head of whom was earl Spencer, proceeded to Sheernefs, but they had no conference with the delegates, as they demanded unconditional fubmiffion as a neceffary preliminary to any intercourfe whatever. Finding the failors rather rifing in infolence and difobedience than inclining to fubmiflion, the deputation from the admiralty departed from Sheernefs, after having fignified to the feamen, that they were to expect no conceffions whatever, further than what had been already made by the legiflature, the benefit of which they might yet enjoy on returning to their duty.

The feamen now began to perceive their defperate fituation, and proceeded to take measures which indicated a defign, either to secure their prefent fituation or to feek fafety by flight; fome of the most defperate among them, fuggefted the idea of carrying the fhips to the enemy, but the majority revolted at fo treacherous a proceeding, though even adopted to fave their lives, alleging that a redress of their grievances was their primary, and thould be their ultimate, object. With a view of extorting compli

ance

ance with their demands, they proceeded to block up the Thames, by refufing a free paffage up and down the river to the London trade..

The thips of neutral nations, however, colliers, and a few fmall craft were fuffered to pafs, having first received a patfport, figned by Richard Parker, as prefident of the delegates. In order to concentrate their force, all the fhips which lay near Sheernefs, dropt down to the Great Nore. The line-of-battle thips were drawn up in a line, at about half a mile diftant from each other, and moored with their broadfides abreaft. In the space between the line-of-battle fhips, the detained merchantmen and other veffels were moored. On the 4th of June, the whole fleet evinced its loyal difpofition by a general falute, which was fired from all the fhips at the Nore, in compliment to his majefty's birthday, and the fhips were decorated in the fame manner as is practifed on rejoicing days; the red flag, however, being kept flying at the main topmaft of the Sandwich. On the 6th of June, in the morning, the Agamemnon, Leopard, Ardent, and Ifis men-of-war, and the Ranger floop, joined the mutinous fhips at the Nore, having deferted from the fleet of admiral Duncan, then in Yarmouth roads. The force of the mutineers, at its greateft height, confifted of eleven fhips of the line, exclufive of frigates, in all, twentyfour fail. The appearance of fuch a multitude of shipping, the London trade included, under the command of a set of common failors in a ftate of mutiny, formed a fingular and awful fpectacle. Several of the officers were fent on fhore, but the greater part of them were deprived of their command, and confined on board their own veffels. Notwithtanding the enormity of their offence against the laws of difcipline

and the articles of war, the deportment of the feamen to their fuperiors during the fufpenfion of their command was, with fome exceptions, refpectful. All communica tions being ftopped with the fhore, the mutineers fupplied themfelves with water and provifions from the fhips which they detained; and a party of feamen landed in the inle of Grain, and carried off a number of fheep and other provifions, giving in return, it is faid, bills drawn by the delegates on the commiffioners of the admiralty. During the mutiny, there were fome exaggerated reports of their plundering different trading veffels; the chief ac which they perpetrated of this kind, however, appears to have been that of robbing a veffel of 300 facks of flour, of which they found themfelves in need, and which were diftributed throughout the fleet.

After the departure of the deputation of the admiralty from Sheernefs, a proclamation was iffued, offering his majefty's pardon to all fuch of the mutineers as should immediately return to their duty; intimating at the fame time, that admiral Buckner was the proper perfon to be applied to on fuch an occafion.

An act of parliament was speedily paffed, for the more effectual reftraining the intercourfe from the fhore with the crews of the hips in a ftate of mutiny; and ftill more active meafures were taken to compel the feamen to return to their duty. All the buoys were removed from the mouth of the Thames, and the neighbouring coaft, by the order of government; a precaution which, above every other that could be employed, perplexed the mutineers, as any large fhips which might attempt to fail away, were in danger of running a-ground. Great preparations were alfo made at Sheerness,

againft

« AnteriorContinuar »