AFFAIR OF SIR J. ORDE. 393 CHAPTER XV. Affair of Sir John Orde, with letters to Lord Spencer and Sir Evan Nepean, having reference to that subject. THE dispute between the Earl of St. Vincent and Sir John Orde originated as stated in the last chapter. I shall enter no more into the merits of the case than is absolutely just to either party; but, inasmuch as a right understanding of the official duties of our profession is essentially necessary to the carrying on the service, I shall give the most important facts which have come to my knowledge. Sir John Orde, soon after his return to England from the blockade of Cadiz, where he had been employed, under the command of the Earl of St. Vincent, printed a series of letters and remarks, which he called "a Copy of Correspondence," &c. This pamphlet was never published, but privately circulated; an act in itself quite unjustifiable, favouring as it did only one side of the question, and depriving the public, and the parties concerned, of all fair means of appeal.* Sir John, in the early part of this defence of his character, sets out with the following observations: "It has been conceived, and generally credited, notwithstanding the pains taken to set the matter right in public opinion, through the medium of friends and private information, that the appointment of Sir Horatio Nelson to the command of a squadron, detached for particular service in the Mediterranean, had alone created a difference and disagreement between Sir John Orde and the commander-in-chief of the station; which, after leading to the removal of the former by the latter (officer), occasioned his demand of a court-martial upon Lord St. Vincent; and, on the refusal of the Admiralty to grant it, his call upon the noble lord for personal satisfaction. "It has also been supposed, and generally credited, that Sir John Orde had, without reason, refused a very satisfactory proposal for chief command, made to him by the first lord of the Admiralty, and, consequently, that his complaint of grievance, and injurious treat *I speak feelingly on this subject, having experienced the same treatment from the late Admiral Griffiths Colpoys. AFFAIR OF SIR J. ORDE. 395 ment, was wholly ill-founded and unjusti fiable." Without meaning any disrespect to the memory of Sir John Orde, I am bound to say, that the two foregoing propositions are substantially true, as will be made clear from his own showing. The first is completely established by his letter to Lord Spencer, dated June 16, 1798; and the second by another letter, which he acknowledges to have written to Lord Spencer, declining an offer to hoist his flag in the Channel fleet. It is true, he was not offered the chief command; but the offer of hoisting his flag in the Neptune or the Foudroyant, the choice being left, at his own option, of the finest ships in the service, with every probability of succeeding to the chief command, should, one would think, have induced an officer of his rank and enterprize to have overlooked any little matter of private feeling, for the sake of again embarking among his brother officers in the glorious cause of his country, at a time too when it was menaced with dangers of unparalleled magnitude; all Europe being, as it were, combined against us, and the most alarming discontents, and actual rebellion, existing in some parts of the empire. Under these circumstances, to decline service on the score of private feeling, was justly visited by Lord Spencer as an act amounting, if not to disloyalty, at least to a display of selfishness, at a time when every sentiment should have been absorbed in the good of his country. It appears that some trifling misunderstanding had arisen previously to the nomination of Nelson to the command of the Nile expedition, owing to a general rule of service which Lord St. Vincent had laid down, to the effect, that he should always look to the captain of a junior flag-ship, when under his immediate orders, for her discipline and regularity. This, Sir John thought, was setting his own authority entirely aside; but I rather suspect he misunderstood the wording of Lord St. Vincent's letter. The Earl denied that such was his meaning. But we must proceed. As soon as it was known that Nelson had obtained the command of the detachment sent up to Toulon, that Troubridge was to join him with ten sail of the line, and that Sir Roger Curtis had, with his squadron, formed a junction with Lord St. Vincent off Cadiz, and become second in command over Sir John Orde, the latter, giving vent to anger, which I feel very certain was stimulated by others, addressed the following letter to Earl Spencer, then first lord of the Admiralty: My Lord, AFFAIR OF SIR J. ORDE. 397 Princess Royal, off Cadiz, June 16, 1798. Sir Horatio Nelson, a junior officer to me, just arrived from England, is detached from the fleet in which we serve, up the Mediterranean, with the command of twelve sail of the line, some frigates, &c.; and Sir Roger Curtis has joined Lord St. Vincent, and taken the command in the second post, thereby lowering me to the fourth. I must not say I am surprised at this treatment, although very different from what I hoped to have experienced; but I cannot conceal from your lordship how much I feel hurt at the former, in particular. Indeed, were I insensible to it, I should be unworthy the rank I hold, and the distinction I have fought for, and endeavoured to merit. After having been employed the greatest part of last winter in the command of a strong squadron, a station honourable and confidential, in which I acquitted myself successfully, and I have reason to believe entirely satisfactory to the commander-in-chief, I little expected to have been placed at this moment in the situation in which I now stand, so truly mortifying to an officer of any feeling or pretensions. I will not, however, on this occasion trouble your lordship with a recapitulation of the claims I conceive I have to a better lot than is now as |