Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez Volume II Part 12

Arrangements being made for the protection of the commerce, and convoys, which were to sail as long as the sea was open, Sir James, and the Swedes themselves, aware of the inefficiency of the Swedish s.h.i.+ps of war compared with the English, and desirous that they should be in a better state to co-operate next season, complied with the request of Admiral Nauckhoff, to leave the Author with them during the winter, to a.s.sist in their operations of refitting, &c.

On his leaving Carlscrona, Sir James received the following farewell letter from that officer:

His Swedish Majesty's s.h.i.+p Gustaf IV. Adolf, 20th October 1808.

SIR,

I have the honour to acknowledge your excellency's letter of the 18th of this month, in which your excellency has been pleased, in the most polite and flattering terms, to mark your satisfaction with the co-operation of the Swedish squadron, and the conduct of the commanders of the s.h.i.+ps under my orders.

It is impossible for me to express the sentiments of esteem and grat.i.tude for the unremitting and zealous exertions with which your excellency on every occasion has been pleased to promote the interest of my sovereign and country. His Majesty, my royal master, will be duly informed of the valuable services rendered to him and to the Swedish nation by your excellency, and the gallant flag-officers, captains, and others under your command; and I shall certainly regard your excellency's appointment to the command of the British fleet in these seas, as a most convincing proof of the inviolable friends.h.i.+p which his only but most faithful and powerful ally the King of Great Britain entertains for him, and for the promotion of Swedish interests.

I beg your excellency will be pleased to convey my best thanks to every admiral, captain, and officer under your excellency's command, for all the attention and the very active zeal which they have on every occasion displayed. The care and attention which the worthy Dr. Jameson, and the surgeon Mr. Duke, have given to the sick, will ever be remembered with sentiments of sincere grat.i.tude.

I have the honour to remain, With the highest regard and consideration, Your excellency's Most obedient and very humble servant, NAUCKHOFF, Rear-admiral.

Admiral Nauckhoff struck his flag on the 15th of November; at which time the mortality and sickness had been so great, that only three frigates could be manned to a.s.sist in the protection of the trade.

Sir James left Carlscrona on the 25th October, and, pa.s.sing through the Great Belt, reached Gothenburg on the 29th of November. Here he remained in the Victory until the 3rd of December, during which interval he made the necessary arrangements for the protection of the trade in that quarter; and, leaving Rear-admiral Keats in the Superb, and, under his command, the Orion and two smaller vessels, he proceeded to the Downs, where he landed on the 8th, and appeared at the Admiralty on the 9th current. Their lords.h.i.+ps were pleased to signify their high approbation of every part of his conduct, as far as the naval operations were concerned; but they considered his address to the Emperor of Russia a stretch of power. Of this the public will judge. Sir James did no more, in fact, than propose an armistice, which is undoubtedly the province of every commander-in-chief. It is indeed true that Buonaparte, who was at Erfurth when the Emperor Alexander received his letter, made this the basis of a deceitful overture for peace, in order to gain time, and thereby puzzle the ministers a little; but this circ.u.mstance can never be held out as a reason for preventing a commander-in-chief at a great distance from home concluding an armistice, when he is confident it would be beneficial to the cause on which he is engaged.

In the mean time, the Russian fleet, with the exception of two s.h.i.+ps, which were lost on the pa.s.sage, succeeded in returning to Cronstadt.

It was said that Admiral Henikoff, who commanded, was degraded in consequence of his conduct in not engaging the Swedish fleet.

The mortality continued at Carlscrona among the seamen until the cold weather set in about Christmas, when it was calculated that the Swedes had lost a number nearly equal to the original crews of their s.h.i.+ps, including sixty-four officers; among whom were fourteen of the rank of captain (lieut.-col. in their service).

The Orion sailed with the first convoy in November, which she carried successfully through the Belt. The next s.h.i.+p was the Africa, which, after seeing her convoy through the Malino channel, was attacked by Danish gun-boats in a calm, and suffered so severely as to oblige her to return to Carlscrona. The Mars, Orion, and two bombs, made an unsuccessful attack on Eurtholms; but the last convoy which left Carlscrona, under the Salsette, Magnet, and two Swedish sloops of war, was the most disastrous undertaking of all. They sailed on the 23rd December, after the winter set in with unusual severity. A storm coming on from the northward, brought the already-formed ice down on the convoy. The Magnet (Captain Morris) was wrecked, with several others; the rest, with the Salsette and two Swedish armed s.h.i.+ps, were carried back into the Baltic; and, excepting the Salsette, none of them were ever heard of.

The gallant Captain Bathurst, who afterwards fell gloriously at Navarin, after suffering severe hards.h.i.+ps by being frozen out the whole winter, during which his s.h.i.+p was drifted twice round the island of Bornholm, was able to approach Carlshamn in March, and was cut into that harbour by the Swedes, who afforded him every a.s.sistance. The Swedish armed s.h.i.+ps were lost by being carried by the ice on a sandbank in sight of the Salsette, which had then only four feet water to spare; the former, immediately they struck, turned bottom up, and all hands perished, being instantly covered with the ice. The thermometer, in January 1809, sank to forty-five degrees below zero; the Sound and Belt were completely frozen over, and many pa.s.sed between Sweden and Denmark on horseback over the ice.

The Author did not escape the infection at Carlscrona, but was one of the first who recovered, and was sent for by the King to Stockholm; it was, however, the middle of February before he could undertake the journey.

There were at one time nineteen packets due from England.

Things in Sweden began to take a different turn. The conduct of the King in disgracing his guards, because, after beating three times their number of Russians in Finland, they were obliged to retreat, and could no longer defend bo, the capital of that province, rendered him unpopular; and a conspiracy was formed, at the head of which was Aldercreutz, the general who had been in Finland, in conjunction with Aldersparre, who commanded the western army, which was secretly set in motion for Stockholm from the frontiers of Norway, and had arrived at Orebro before reports of its progress reached the King.

On the night of the 8th of March, his Majesty issued orders for all the troops to get under arms at daylight; and on the morning of the 9th he demanded the specie from the bank, intending to set off with it to Scania. The ministers and officers of state were summoned to the council; and others, among whom was the Author, were required to attend his levee at nine o'clock, which was the moment fixed on by the conspirators, who entered, and told the King that he must not leave Stockholm. Drawing his sword, his Majesty made a pa.s.s at one of the conspirators: in the mean time the General seized the _staff of power_,[8] and ordered the others to seize the King, which they immediately obeyed by forcing him into the next room. They forgot, however, when they locked the door, that there was a private entrance, out of which the King immediately escaped, and appearing on the staircase, below which the Author was standing, he called loudly for help. Some of the conspirators, however, with great presence of mind, called to the soldiers on duty, "The King is mad;" on which they again secured him, and in the evening he was removed to Drottningholm, where his family resided.

[8] In Sweden the high officers of state carry a staff, which is in fact their commission; therefore the staff of power was that of the commander-in-chief of the army, which the King always kept; but, when seized by another, he lost the power, every person by the law of Sweden being obliged to obey whoever is in actual possession of this staff.

The conspirators then went to his uncle the Duke of Sudermania, and, having represented the state of the King, requested he would a.s.sume the reins of government, to which he readily a.s.sented; and a proclamation was forthwith issued, declaring that Gustaf IV. Adolf was unable to govern the nation, and that his uncle had a.s.sumed the royal authority in his stead.

This proclamation made no sensation, and things went on as if nothing had happened.

The new regent and government were of course anxious to have the matter set favourably before the government of England; and, in order to prove that the King was actually deranged, the regent submitted to the Author a paper found in the dethroned King's desk, certainly in his own handwriting, in which he described himself as the "Man on the white horse" in the Revelations, and declared that he must fight a battle under the walls of Copenhagen, which would give peace to Europe.

The Author, who had only a few days before been named aide-de-camp and adjutant to the fleet, had no longer any command, and therefore demanded his pa.s.sports, which were granted: but, understanding that he was to be arrested at Orebro, he left Stockholm two hours sooner than the stated time of his departure, and by pretending that he was a Swedish officer who had despatches for Count Rosen at Gothenburg, and that the English officer was some hours behind, he escaped through the western army, after being questioned and examined by Aldersparre. He at length arrived safe on board the Superb, which had cut out of the ice into Wingo Sound; and, being immediately forwarded by a packet, reached London in only nine days, where he found Sir James Saumarez preparing to resume his command.

It has been seen that, after Sir James's arrival in London, he was offered the chief command in the East Indies, which he declined chiefly because he did not consider his health equal to it; but he was not allowed to remain long idle. A squadron of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps having escaped the vigilance of the Brest blockading fleet, Sir James was ordered to hoist his flag in the Mars, and proceed to sea in search of them: but their return into port before his squadron could be reported ready, did away with the necessity of his following them; and the affairs in Sweden rendering more necessary than ever, that an officer of his rank, character, and abilities should be sent to the Baltic, he was reappointed to that important command.

In the mean time Captain Searle was appointed to the Victory, Vice-captain Dumaresq, who had left her in consequence of a severe family affliction. The former was sent to Corunna, and was one of the fleet which brought home the remains of the army of the gallant but unfortunate Sir John Moore. On her return, Captain Dumaresq returned to the s.h.i.+p, as also Captain Hope, in his former situation; and Sir James's flag was hoisted in April at the Nore, whence she sailed soon after. His instructions were to proceed to Gothenburg, and take under his command all his Majesty's s.h.i.+ps and vessels employed and to be employed in the Baltic: he was to consider the protection of the trade his princ.i.p.al object; to watch the Russian fleet, and attack it if possible. In the present state of Sweden no precise instruction could be given: but he was to preserve as long as possible an amicable intercourse with the Swedes; to use every means in his power to encourage and protect the trade of his Majesty's subjects with Sweden; to be cautious not to give offence to its government, and to afford protection to such Swedish vessels as might require it; to keep up the supply of water and provisions in the fleet, so as not to be dependent on the supplies from Swedish ports; and finally, to guard against the admission of the infectious disease which was at that time prevalent in Sweden.

The Victory arrived at her station on the 6th May, when a correspondence took place between Sir James and Mr. Merry, the British minister and charge d'affaires. Sir James informed the latter that the Alexandria was ordered to take his excellency to England if required, which offer was accepted by Mr. Merry. Mr. Augustus Foster was left as charge d'affaires, who announced his appointment in a letter to Sir James, dated Stockholm, 7th May. He describes the state of Sweden to be most unsettled and perplexing, but that no change had taken place in regard to her relations with England.

The following is a continuation of the correspondence between Sir James and Mr. Foster:

Victory, in Wingo Sound, 11th May 1809.

SIR,

Having arrived at this anchorage on the 4th instant, and Rear-admiral Sir Samuel Hood being parted for England, in consequence of the ill state of his health, I opened your letter addressed to the Rear-admiral, dated 7th instant, informing him of your being appointed his Majesty's charge d'affaires in the absence of Mr. Merry.

I have the honour to inform you that I shall feel highly gratified by any communication you may be pleased to make to me relating to his Majesty's service, and which may be interesting for my knowledge as commander-in-chief in these seas; and I shall be happy in conveying to you any information in my power, which may be connected with his Majesty's service.

His excellency Mr. Merry sailed yesterday for England, on board his Majesty's s.h.i.+p Alexandria. From him I received such information as he possessed to the period of his leaving Stockholm. I propose to detach Rear-admiral Dixon, who joined me the 9th instant in the Temeraire, to relieve Sir Richard G.

Keats; and I propose to continue here for some time longer for the more speedy communication with England, as well as to receive what you may do me the honour to write to me; giving you due notice previously to my proceeding for the Baltic.

The accounts rumoured of the pretended defeat of the Austrians, I trust, will not prove correct; and we must not be surprised at the circulation of exaggerated accounts of the success of Buonaparte in the present state of affairs on the continent and in the northern parts of Europe.

I have the honour to be, With great truth and respect, Sir, &c. &c. &c.

JAMES SAUMAREZ.

To A. Foster, Esq. his Britannic Majesty's charge d'affaires, Stockholm.

Stockholm, 15th May 1809.

SIR,

Scarcely had the letter which I wrote to your excellency late last night been received by the person who set out with it this morning, when a note reached me from Baron de Lagerbjelke, minister for foreign affairs _ad interim_ of this government, to inform me of his having important communications to make to me, and appointing an hour for a conference with me this forenoon.

The object of this conference was to expose to me the critical position in which Sweden is placed at this moment, from her desire to remain in amity and maintain her commercial intercourse with Great Britain, of which, as he was pleased to express himself, she was on the point of becoming the victim; and to ask of me to explain to you the full extent of her dangers, in the confidence that you would give her all the a.s.sistance in your power which her perilous situation requires, without waiting for instructions for the purpose from his Majesty's government; it not being the interest of England that this country should be conquered by Russia, although the same alliance no longer existed between his Majesty and the Swedish government. Buonaparte has evaded the repeated solicitations of Sweden to take into his own hands the management of the negociation for a peace, which this country is willing to enter into with all her enemies; and has referred her for the terms of such a peace entirely to the court of St. Petersburg. This court, meanwhile, has manifested the most marked discontent at the delays which have already taken place in the negociation; and has insisted, as a preliminary condition to the treating for peace, that this country should enter into the alliance against Great Britain. She has also declared the kind of armistice concluded by her generals at an end; and Baron Schwaren, who had been sent on a mission to St. Petersburg, which place he left the 24th ultimo, returned here on the 6th instant, bringing intelligence of very formidable preparations which are making in Finland for the immediate invasion of this country, while the Russian army at Torneo has been considerably reinforced.

Baron de Lagerbjelke gave me the a.s.surances of the Duke of Sudermania, that every effort shall be made on the part of Sweden to repel the meditated attack of Russia, and that his Royal Highness is determined not to yield to the conditions of peace proposed by her, as long as he has the means of defending himself; but he proposes that your excellency should on your part aid him in his defence, by displaying first a part of the fleet under your command in the Sound and on the coast of Denmark, to deter the Danes from making an attack on the southern provinces of Sweden, while the troops and sailors necessary for the defence of this part of the kingdom shall be withdrawn from these sh.o.r.es. Secondly, that you should engage to send such a force into the Baltic sea as to render it dangerous for the Russians to make any attempt with s.h.i.+ps of the line against the harbours, or to carry an invading force against the coast of Sweden. And thirdly, that by detaching sloops of war, brigs, and frigates in the direction from Norrkoping and Stockholm, as far as Gefle, you should strew such a force in those seas as to intimidate the Russian General in Finland from embarking his troops on board the flotilla at bo, for the purpose of attacking at once the centre of this kingdom. Such are the paucity of means, and so few the troops which this government can a.s.semble for the defence of Sweden against so powerful an enemy, that the invasion cannot in all probability but succeed, unless your excellency can send the aid the King desires.

On the supposition that you might act in consequence of the above-mentioned representation of this government, I observed to Baron de Lagerbjelke, that, from the remoteness of the seas in the neighbourhood of land and Gefle, it was very probable that many of your officers might be unacquainted with them, and thereby risk being thrown into situations of danger; on which he observed, that through the means of his father, the minister of marine, he should take care that pilots should be sent out to meet you whenever it was ascertained that any of the s.h.i.+ps under your command were coming into these seas. The navigation of the Gulf of Bothnia promises now to be open in ten days or a fortnight; and therefore this government hopes, in case you should accede to their wishes, that as little time as possible may be lost in the execution of them.

Three Swedish frigates, as Baron de Lagerbjelke gave me to understand, have been ordered round from Carlscrona to cruise off these coasts; and 106 gun-boats, hemmemas, and other vessels, are at present in or near the water; but the want of men from the mortality of the last winter is severely felt, and can only be supplied from the south, in case you think fit to coincide with the views of this government.

I have, &c. &c. &c.

AUGT. FOSTER.

Vice-admiral Sir James Saumarez, Bart, and K.B.

&c. &c. &c.

This was the first communication which had been made by the Swedish government since Gustaf IV. Adolf was deposed, and his uncle had accepted the regency with full powers. By this _expose_ it appears that their first act after the revolution was to try to make peace singly with Buonaparte, which was of course refused; because the Swedes could give him nothing in return, and shutting the ports against Great Britain was a preliminary that could not be dispensed with. There was no alternative therefore but to apply to England for protection against their inveterate enemies the Russians, who had already possessed themselves of all Finland, and were preparing for the invasion of Sweden. Mr. Foster added the following private opinion on the state of affairs, which now became so interesting:

Stockholm, 15th May 1809.

SIR,