ANNALS OF WAR. 1700-1815

ANNALS OF WAR_ 1700-1815 A.D.

1725.

1. REVIVAL OF THE ORDER OF THE BATH IN ENGLAND.—2. DEATH AND MILITARY CHARACTER OF THE CZAR PETER THE GREAT.—3. TREATIES OF VIENNA AND HANOVER.

1. Revival of the Order of the Bath in England.

Immediately after the King of Great Britain had closed his session of Parliament in May, this year, and before he set out for his German dominions, he revived the Order of the Bath as a distinguished mark of military and civil merit. The number of knights was then limited to thirty-eight, including the Sovereign. As an officer’s distinction this honourable order has been kept wonderfully pure, and has numbered amongst its associates the most renowned naval and military commanders of the century. It was extended into three classes, as at this time, after the Peninsular war, by George IV, then Regent. It was, however, a very ancient military order, but antiquaries differ as to its origin. It is said that the ancient Franks, when they conferred knighthood, required bathing before the vigils were kept, whence the name of the order. The Kings of England created Knights of the Bath at their coronations, from the time of Henry IV to Charles II.

2. Death and Military Character of the Czar Peter the Great.

On the 28th of January, 1725, the Czar Peter expired at his palace, in the arms of his Empress Catharine. No man in the whole round of history has more deservedly earned the name of than this wonderful man. Few will deny this who know in what real greatness consists. But his was not the mere greatness of military or naval command, but rather the quality that could produce this greatness in others. Peter Alexievich of Russia, when he arrived at years of manhood, found himself Sovereign of a vast and numerous people, master of an endless territory, and absolute commander of the lives and fortunes of all his subjects; yet, in the midst of this unbounded power and greatness, he turned his thoughts upon himself and people with shame and sorrow. He had been ill brought up, not only through the general defects of a Russian education, but likewise through the arts of the women who surrounded him; who tempted him with everything that might stifle his natural desire of knowledge, deprave his mind, and enervate it with pleasures. Notwithstanding this, his inclination for military exercises discovered itself early; and he formed a company of fifty men, clothed and exercised after the German manner, in which he entered himself into the lowest post, that of a drummer, to show thus early to his nobility, who were his companions, that merit, not birth, should be the title with him to military employment. The sight of a Dutch vessel that he met with on a lake, belonging to one of his pleasure-houses, made such an impression on his mind, that he conceived the apparently impracticable design of forming a Russian navy. It is said that a young Genoese, named Le Fort, who had acquired a knowledge of the Russian language, happening to be at Moscow with the Danish ambassador in 1695, when the Czar was only nineteen years of age, ingratiated himself with the Prince, and made him, by a slight knowledge he had obtained of the Russian language, comprehend that there was a different manner of living and reigning, from that which had existed in the Russian empire. The ardent desire that Peter ever after entertained to elevate the condition of his people is said to have been mainly owing to this circumstance. The young Czar, interested by what he learned from Le Fort, divesting himself of the prejudices his throne and his country, became sensible that neither himself nor his people were yet to be reckoned among civilized men, and from that time took the resolution to leave his dominions, and set out like another Prometheus to borrow celestial fire for the reanimation of his country. Sordid ignorance and a brute manner of life this generous Prince beheld and contemned by the light of his own genius, but how to escape from these was necessarily the subject of much reflection and great decision character. In 1698 he sent an embassy to Holland, and went incognito in the retinue, in order to inform himself fully in the art of ship-building in that country; leaving a diadem to learn the true way to glory and honour—a knowledge of the useful arts wherein to employ the mass of his people. Mechanical employments were very justly the first objects of his favour and observation. He worked in the ship-yard of the village of Saardam as a private shipwright, earning wages like a common carpenter, and feeding like his fellow-labourers, under the name of Peter Mikhailoff. He also sent a number of young Russians to Venice, Leghorn, &c., to learn the art of ship-building there. He did not, however, confine himself to the mechanical arts. He often went to Amsterdam to attend the anatomical lectures the celebrated Ruysch. He also studied natural philosophy, astronomy, and geography. In January, 1698, he visited England, and worked under the name of Peter Trimmerman, in the dockyard at Deptford. After his day’s work, he and his companions were wont to retire to a public-house to smoke and drink beer and brandy; this house still bears the sign of “The Czar of Russia.” He soon, however, broke his incognito here, and being received with politic attention by William III, took up his residence at Sir John Evelyns, at Say’s Court. Here he completed his knowledge and skill in the practical part of naval architecture, and has been often heard to say, that if he had never gone to England he had still remained very much behind in that art. At his departure the King made him a well-judged present of a fine yacht, completely equipped, in which he returned home. It would be endless to enumerate all the various establishments for which the Russians are obliged to Peter. He formed armies capable of contending with those of the most experienced nations. He fitted out fleets in all the four seas which border on his empire. He caused many strong fortresses to be raised on the best principles of fortification. He caused convenient harbours to be defended and sounded. He was generous in rewarding, impartial in punishing, faithful, laborious, and even humble in instructing, yet not free from a certain roughness of temper natural to his nation, and (the saddest part of his character) from habitual intemperance. He did not actually become great, either as a general or an admiral, although he tried both the land and sea services, and personally gained victories on either element; his greatness in war was more owing to the constancy with which he pursued the means of obtaining excellence in every department, than to the ability which he showed in wielding it. Peter was tall in stature, and of a commanding but rude and ferocious countenance. His gestures were quick and impatient, his speech fluent and animated. He conversed with men neither like a barbarian, who makes no distinction between them, nor like a popular Prince, who seeks to please the world; but as a person who aimed at instruction. His character shows this important truth, that in order to become ‘‘great” it is a more difficult thing for a man to reform himself than to reform a kingdom, and to conquer his passions than to subdue the world.

3. Treaties of Vienna and Hanover.

The court of Philip V of Spain was thrown into the most bitter animosity against France by the sudden and unexpected arrival of the Infanta, who had been betrothed to Louis XV, but who was now sent back without apology or explanation. The imperious Queen was violent in her indignation against the Duke of Bourbon, the French prime minister. “That one-eyed scoundrel,” she exclaimed, “has sent back my daughter because the King would not create the husband of his harlot a grandee of Spain.” Philip with more dignity declared to the English minister that he was resolved to separate himself for ever from France, and desired to strengthen his amity with England; but George I declined the overture, refusing to dissolve his connexion with France. Philip was accordingly deeply incensed against England, and he turned at length to the Emperor Charles. And now men heard with surprise that these old rivals, who had for so many years agitated Europe with their wars and intrigues, had in a few conferences terminated all differences, and concluded a treaty at Vienna, on the 30th of April, by which the succession of Don Carlos to Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia was recognized; while, on the other hand, the King of Spain guaranteed the arrangement which the Emperor desired to make of his hereditary dominions. This was the famous “Pragmatic Sanction,” for Charles VI having no sons to succeed him, desired that the succession should, in default of male issue, descend to his daughter. But a secret treaty was at the same time negotiated through the Baron de Ripperda, (a Dutchman, who had abandoned the Protestant religion, and entered the service of Spain,) by which engagements were entered into of an offensive character, comprising the forcible recovery of Gibraltar, and the restoration of the exiled family, should England refuse to comply with the demands of the Vienna allies.

The nations of Europe had not as yet given in their consent to this favourite object of the Emperor, which was not as yet even confirmed and ratified by the Imperial diet, but it became an object of some anxiety to France and England, who thought it prudent to renew their friendship by the treaty of Hanover, concluded on the 3rd of September, to which Prussia and Holland afterwards acceded. The conditions of this treaty implied a mutual guarantee of the dominions possessed by the contracting parties, and their commercial rights, more particularly as they were affected by the privileges conceded by the treaty of Vienna to the Ostend Company, against which the British nation made loud complaints; and King George, justly alarmed at the secret proceedings at Madrid, resolved to take such precautions as were likely to defeat the pernicious designs of the new allies. An immediate declaration had been issued, on the 16th of August, by France, announcing a resolution to concur in proper measures for maintaining the British nation in the possession of Gibraltar; and the King, having obtained the co-operation his Parliament, hastened to Hanover, that he might more clearly understand the proceedings of the Empire of Germany.

1726.

I. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.—2. THREE BRITISH FLEETS ARE DESPATCHED TO THE BALTIC, MEDITERRANEAN, AND CARIBBEAN SEAS.— 3. GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE COLLECT THEIR FORCES.

1. Preparations for War.

Both Austria and Spain immediately made active preparations for war. A camp of about 20,000 men was formed at St. Roche, near Gibraltar, and all the necessaries for a siege were provided. Preparations were likewise made at sea; several men-of-war had been collected at Cadiz, and as many as could be purchased were obtained by that means. Great Exertions were made in favour of the Pretender, both in England and on the Continent. Considerable pains were taken to acquire a preponderance in the north. Russia was gained to the Vienna treaty, and every endeavour was made to prevent Sweden from acceding to the treaty of Hanover. The Emperor found means to detach the King of Prussia from the cause of his father-in-law, the King of England, although in his anger he had threatened “to drive that great grenadier from his throne.” In order to counteract the private intrigues which were carried on, three powerful squadrons, or rather fleets, were equipped in England to look after British interests. The restless temper of the Spaniards, and their intrigues with the court of St. Petersburg, rendered it very apparent that the opportunity was only required to strike a blow that might lead to hostilities. The English administration, however pacifically it was inclined, was afraid to temporize any longer.

2.Three British Fleets are despatched to the Baltic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean Seas.

A strong fleet, consisting of twenty ships of the line, under the command of Sir Charles Wager, sailed, on the 17th of April, for the Baltic, and allying itself with a Banish squadron, threatened the Russian fleet in Revel, but no hostile act occurred. Another, of nine ships of the line, under Sir John Jennings, having troops on board, sailed on the 20th of July, to observe the Spanish coasts, but committed no act of hostility, and returned safely home on the 22ud of October. A third, of seven ships of the line, under the command of Vice-Admiral Hosier, sailed for the West Indies, to threaten the Spanish galleons in the harbour of Porto Bello; but Hosier and a considerable part of his fleet perished miserably of yellow fever, and other diseases of that Climate, off the Spanish Main, and his ships were ruined by worms. This brave admiral, being restricted by his orders from obeying the dictates of his courage, seeing his best officers and men daily swept off by an outrageous distemper, and his ships exposed to inevitable destruction, is said to have died of a broken heart. The whole expedition was, however, a mean piratical scheme, to alarm the court of Spain for its expected treasures, even while a peace subsisted between the two nations. But whether the expedition was well or ill concerted at home, it was executed with wonderful courage and conduct by its unhappy commander, and his misfortunes and merit survived him longer than is usually the case, either with the greatest or most unhappy of mankind.

3. Great Britain and France collect their Forces.

A subsidiary army of Danes, Swedes, and Hessians, to the number of 42,000, were taken into British pay, while the land forces voted for the United Kingdom amounted to 26,383 men; France also collected a numerous force on the frontiers of Spain and Germany. But in the midst of these affairs a change of ministry was made by Louis XV, very characteristic of the French stale. The Duke de Bourbon was turned out by Cardinal Fleury, preceptor to the King. One day, on setting out for Ramhouillet, the Duke attended his Majesty to his carriage, and was told with a gracious smile, “Mon cousin, ne me faites pas attendre pour souper. Cousin, don't make me wait for dinner”. In a minute afterwards he received his congé, by an order to retire to Chantilly. At the same time the favourite lady was exiled; and the Queen was ordered to submit to the new minister in these terms, “Je vous prie, Madame, et s’il se faut je vous ordonne. I beg you, ma'am, and if necessary, I order you”. If England is occasionally a little rough in her changes of administration, we need not take example in this respect from “le peuple le plus gallant et le plus poli de l’Europe. The bravest and most polite people in Europe”

1727.

1. THE SPANIARDS LAY SIEGE TO GIBRALTAR.—2. ALARM OF WAR IN HOLLAND.—3. TREATY SIGNED AT PARIS.—4. DEATH OF GEORGE I OF GREAT BRITAIN.

1. The Spaniards lay Siege to Gibraltar.

The trenches were opened before this fortress, on the 11th of February, by the Conde de las Torres, at the head of 20,000 men. Colonel Clayton, lieutenant-governor, had troops and necessaries sufficient for defence till supplies should arrive from England. Sir Charles Wager was forthwith despatched to the Mediterranean, with six ships of war and three regiments, and reached Gibraltar, after a prosperous voyage, on the 2nd of February. They arrived only just in time, and Sir Charles promptly sent off a detachment of bombketches and galleys to enfilade the intrenchments. The place was well provided for a defence, and the old Earl of Portmore, who was governor, resolved, notwithstanding his advanced age, to repair to his government He immediately embarked with a reinforcement from England, and arrived at Gibraltar in the beginning of April, where he landed with troops and a great quantity of ammunition, warlike stores, and twenty-four pieces of cannon. At the same time 600 men arrived from Minorca, so that the garrison amounted to 6000, plentifully supplied with every means of defence. The besiegers threw a great quantity of bombs into the place, which did but little damage, as they fell in the quarter which the Spanish population had quitted.

The siege was raised, however, on the 23rd of June, on articles, after it had lasted four months; during which time the Spaniards had lost a great number of men, while the garrison sustained very little damage.

2. Alarm of War in Holland.

The States General of Holland, being apprehensive of an attempt upon their barrier in the Netherlands, desired that the King of Great Britain would hold in readiness the 10,000 auxiliaries stipulated for in the treaty. These were immediately prepared for embarkation, and the forces England were augmented accordingly. An apprehension of an attack on Sweden, by the Czarina, made it expedient once again to send a squadron to the Baltic. Sir John Norris set sail from the Nore the latter end of April, but the Czarina dying on the 17th of May, he had no occasion to commit hostilities, and returned to England.

3. Treaty signed at Paris

Meanwhile the powers at variance, though extremely irritated against each other, were all equally averse to a war that might embroil all Europe. The King of France interposed his mediation, through bis ambassador at Vienna, the Duke de Richelieu, and on the 31th of May preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris, when it was agreed that hostilities should immediately cease, and that the Ostend East India Company, called into being by the Emperor, and sanctioned by the King of Spain, and which formed the principal ground of quarrel, should be suspended for seven years; but the King of Spain would not ratify these conditions, nor relinquish any of bis pretensions. England and Spain therefore still continued in a dubious state, between peace and wot; or rather, a state of hostility existed between the two nations, for Sir Charles Wager continued to cruise on the coast of Spain and whilst looking out, with seven ships, for the Spanish galleons, a French fleet, under the Marquis d’O, without any notification came out of harbour at the very moment of the negotiations for a suspension of arms, but no rupture occurred between the fleets. All differences were at length referred to a congress, to be held at Soissons.

4. Death of George I of Great Britain.

On the 18th of June died George I, King of Great Britain, a man of singular prudence and equanimity. His martial character would have been no less conspicuous than his civil virtues, had he not, for the good of his subjects, studiously declined all occasions of military glory since he assumed the British sceptre. He had acquired the reputation of a good officer in his younger days in Hungary, as well as in Germany and Flanders, where he had a command in the army of the allies; and he bore the character of a circumspect general. Personal courage was hereditary in all bis family, and no less than three of his brothers fell gloriously on the field of battle, fighting against the enemies of their country: nor is this quality yet extinct in his descendants, as the hand to hand conflict of Inkermann can testify.

1728.

1. PACIFIC PROCEEDINGS.—2. FRENCH NAVAL EXPEDITION TO TRIPOLI

1, Pacific Proceedings.

The congress opened at Soissons on the 19th of June, for determining the disputes between the powers of Europe, and the eyes of all Europe were fixed upon it. The contracting parties in the alliance of Hanover proposed a provisional treaty, but no answer was given to the proposal by the courts of Vienna and Madrid. The fate of the Continent, therefore, continued in suspense. The British fleet lay inactive and rotting in the West Indies—the sailors perishing miserably, without their country daring to avenge their wrongs—-while the Spanish cruisers committed depredations with impunity on the commerce of Britain. The court of Spain, at this juncture, seemed cold and indifferent with regard to a pacification with England, having renewed a good understanding with France, and strengthened its interests with its other neighbour, Portugal, by an alliance of marriage. It was at this congress that the plenipotentiaries of the several powers had the celebrated dispute about precedence, which resulted in their having a round table provided for them, which had neither top nor bottom, and as many doors to the apartment in which they assembled, as there were parties to the negotiations.

2. French Naval Expedition to Tripoli

The state of Tripoli had given some umbrage to the French King, who accordingly despatched eleven frigates, under the Chef d'Escadron Grandpré, on the 19th of July, when this officer bombarded the town, and brought the barbarians to their senses.

1729.

1. THE TREATY OF SEVILLE.--2. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF MENSCHIKOFF, GENERALISSIMO OF THE RUSSIAN ARMIES.

1. The Treaty of Seville.

A formidable British fleet was sent to the Mediterranean under Sir Charles Wager, where it was joined by a Dutch fleet, under Admiral Sommeldyke, to awe the Spaniards, and bring them to a conclusion of peace.

At length, on the 9th of November of this year, after vexations and difficulties, the celebrated treaty of Seville was concluded, by which Spain joined in a defensive alliance with England, France, and Holland. In this treaty it was agreed that the King of Spain should send over 6000 men into Italy, to secure the rights of Don Carlos. The question of Gibraltar was passed over in silence, but whilst the treaty was in progress, the Spaniards were devising and constructing works, which they trusted would someday or other enable them to strike the English banner from its pride of place. They were erecting the memorable lines of San Roque, or the Carpi, which run right across the narrow sandy isthmus that connects the rock with the Andalusian Main. No remonstrances on the part of England could make the Spanish King desist. It was even said, that if the whole universe should fall on his Majesty to make him desist, he would rather be crushed by it than swerve from bis purpose. The English Government could not lay claim to the intervening ground, but pretended that it should be considered neutral, and not converted into the means of imprisoning and annoying the garrison of Gibraltar.

These lines, strengthened during repeated subsequent sieges, were the cause of infinite mischief to the English, but were at length blown up by the Spaniards themselves, to prevent the French from holding them to their prejudice in the course of the Peninsular war. Owing to the excavations which have been made in the rock, and the tremendous batteries which have been brought to bear upon the spot, it is scarcely possible now to re-erect them.

2. Death and Character of Menschikoff, Generalissimo of the Russian Armies

Alexander Menschikoff was a Prince of the Russian empire, deeply concerned in the wars of his time. He was of such low origin, as to be deprived in his youth of all instruction and of all chance of favour. It is even said that he was a sort of professional jester, and with some natural fun in him he was amusing the soldiers, to whom he was selling some little pies or pastry, when the Czar Peter, attracted by the merriment he occasioned by his remarks, first saw him. This keen observer of men remarked immediately that behind a ready wit there was a fund of good sense and frankness; and he was glad to avail himself of the services of a man who could amuse his darker hours, and enter with ardour into all bis projects. Menschikoff, received into favour, took to studying languages, and was thus able to make himself useful in various situations. Hegsoon made known to his master his peculiar talent for war, and the victory he won near the Kalisch was the first that had been gained by the Russians against the Swedes. They say that he conceived the plan of the campaign that ended at Pultowa, to which victory no one contributed so much as he did. His services obtained for him the title of prince, with the rank of major-general in the army. His great fault was his avarice, which he gratified to such an extent that he was accused and condemned to a heavy fine for peculation by his royal master; who, however, remitted the fine, and took him again into favour. He, nevertheless, got together such a fortune that they said of him, he could go from Riga in Livonia to Derbend in Persia without sleeping a single night off his property. He now acquired such influence, that though he narrowly escaped disgrace at the time of Peter's death, he secured the favour of Catharine, and afterwards of Peter II.; but in the intoxication of his fortunes, he offended those who supplanted him in the affections of his Sovereign, when he was deprived of all his honours and all his fortunes, and banished to the Ukraine. But he did not long survive his disgrace; dying in his place of banishment, in 1729, of a plethora,—ther3 being no person about him, it is said, skilful enough to open a vein.