Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez Volume II Part 22

I take the liberty to recommend to your kindness Major Nordenfeldt, who is gone to Germany on private affairs of my family. I imagine that the difficulties he has met with in returning to England are the cause of his having been more than six months absent. If circ.u.mstances should allow him to pa.s.s from Colberg to this country, I request your interference on his behalf, and that you would have the goodness to communicate to him the inclosed order of Government[12] for landing either at Portsmouth or Yarmouth.

I am, &c.

William, Duke of Brunswick.

To Vice-admiral Sir James Saumarez.

[12] The order alluded to was from the Treasury to the Customs, desiring the officers to transmit the effects of the d.u.c.h.ess of Brunswick to London under the office seal.

To this letter Sir James wrote the following answer:

St. James's Place, London, 6th April 1811.

SIR,

I have received the honour of your Serene Highness's letter respecting Major Nordenfeldts, and inclosing one from Mr.

Harrison of the Treasury, which I shall have great pleasure in delivering to Major Nordenfeldts, should I meet with him on his way from Colberg, and I shall also use my endeavours to facilitate his means of returning to England.

I have the honour to be, With the highest respect, &c.

JAMES SAUMAREZ.

To his Serene Highness the Duke of Brunswick.

The deposed King of Sweden, after having spent the winter in England, was embarked on board the Horatio to return to the Continent, but choosing to remain longer than necessary on board that s.h.i.+p, Sir James wrote instructions how to act respecting him; but he had fortunately disembarked before Sir James's arrival in the Baltic. He sailed from the Downs on the 28th of April and arrived at Gothenburg on the 2nd of May 1811, where he was received joyfully by the Swedes, although they could not publicly give vent to their feelings.

On Sir James's arrival he wrote the following letter to the Admiralty:

Victory, in Wingo Sound, 3rd May 1811.

I have the honour to acquaint you with my arrival here yesterday morning, after a short pa.s.sage of only four days from the Downs. Admiral Reynolds arrived here with the detachment from Hosley Bay ten days before, and Admiral Dixon yesterday evening. The weather proving unfavourable, I have received no communication from Gothenburg, except by a letter from Mr.

Consul Smith, informing me that, on his having signified my arrival to the Governor, he immediately despatched a courier to Stockholm, agreeably to orders he had received from thence, and that when the courier reached Stockholm, it would determine the commander-in-chief Count Essen's journey to Gothenburg, which had been postponed until the account of my arrival was received.

The Consul adds, that everything was very tranquil hitherto, and that I should see him soon on board the Victory. I received letters from Mr. Fenwick informing me that the Danes were fitting out more than double the number of privateers and armed vessels than they did last year, intending, if possible, to obstruct the pa.s.sage of the convoys through the Belt. This is a service that I fear will be attended with much hazard and difficulty, if the trade is carried on to any considerable extent.

The island of Anholt is threatened with a second attack, and will require stationary force for its protection.

I am, &c.

JAMES SAUMAREZ.

To the Right Hon. C. Yorke, &c. &c. &c.

On the 4th of May Sir James received the alarming intelligence that the cargoes of both goods and colonial produce at Carlshamn, were ordered by the Governor of Carlscrona to be discharged and conveyed up the country. Admiral Puke had also ordered three of the largest merchant s.h.i.+ps to be fitted as block s.h.i.+ps for the additional defence of Carlshamn, which was considered as a bad omen.

No one, excepting Sir James, doubted that this was an act of hostility, and that a retaliation on our part would speedily take place. The Admiral, however, judged that it was only to keep quiet the French agents. He accordingly forbore to proceed to hostilities, and wrote the following letter to Mr. Yorke:

Victory, Wingo Sound, 11th May 1811.

SIR,

I received two days ago the enclosed from Mr. Fenwick, informing me of the unloading of the cargoes on board the neutral vessels at Carlshamn, and that the British goods and colonial produce had been conveyed up the country. Although Mr.

Fenwick appears under very considerable alarm at the circ.u.mstance, I do not believe it to have been with any hostile views against our commerce, although it certainly requires explanation, and I have written to Mr. Smith upon the subject.

I expected to have received some communication from Stockholm, in consequence of the courier which was despatched upon my arrival; but nothing has as yet reached me. This is rather a dubious crisis, and I trust soon to be better informed of the sentiments of the Swedish Government towards us; at the same time, I have no reason to believe they are more hostile than last year.

I have the honour to be, &c.

Jas. Saumarez.

To the Right Hon. C. Yorke, &c. &c. &c.

At the same time Sir James wrote the following letter to Rear-admiral Reynolds, who had been ordered to Hano, the place of rendezvous, which is only six leagues from Carlshamn.

Victory, in Wingo Sound, 11th May 1811.

MY DEAR REYNOLDS,

This will be delivered to you by Mr. Wilkinson, the gentleman I mentioned to you on leaving the Victory: he proposes establis.h.i.+ng himself upon Hano Island for the furtherance of commercial arrangements, and as he is well known as a person of respectability, I beg leave to introduce him to your friendly offices.

I have not been able as yet to obtain any explanation of the extraordinary circ.u.mstance that has taken place at Carlshamn, and I am as yet uninformed whether it has been a business of the merchants only, or by direction of the Government. As soon as I can receive any information, I shall write to you by a courier; in the mean time, we cannot act with too great moderation in the present state of affairs.

Believe me, With the highest regard, &c. &c. &c.

JAMES SAUMAREZ.

To Rear-admiral Reynolds, &c. &c. &c.

Meanwhile Sir James, instead of making any hostile demonstration, most readily complied with the request of Count Rosen, the Governor of Gothenburg, to grant him a licence for a vessel to sail to Lubeck for medicine and drugs for the use of Sweden, and enclosed him pa.s.sports for Baron Stedinck for the purpose of allowing two vessels to proceed to St. Petersburg, to convey his excellency from thence to Stockholm.

He concludes his letter thus: "I take this opportunity to express the satisfaction it affords me to have it in my power to comply with your wishes," &c. (14th May) making no mention of the affair at Carlshamn.

On the 17th Mr. Smith came on board the Victory, being desired by Count Rosen to inquire whether, in the event of differences between Sweden and Norway, the hostile measures of Sweden would be opposed by Sir James, to which he replied that he was not authorised to make any opposition to such an attack, but that he did not consider himself justified in supporting it without having instructions from Government; at the same time Sir James received information by an officer who had been some time a prisoner at Christian Sand, representing that place as open to an attack in order to capture the merchant vessels therein, as well as the flotilla.

It was evident that the Swedes were very intent on the possession of Norway, either by negotiation or otherwise; but it was questionable whether such an addition would be advisable. Sir James was of opinion that if Norway could be rendered independent of Denmark or of any other country, it was not improbable that the inhabitants of that country would accede to proposals to that effect, if a.s.sured of the support of our Government and the advantage of our trade to them. Sir James both personally and by letter, previously to his coming on board, had expressed to Mr. Smith that the sequestration of the British property at Carlshamn had been by no means satisfactorily explained, and requested that an account of this apparently unjustifiable measure should be speedily given, a.s.suring them that nothing short of the full rest.i.tution of the property would be accepted, and requiring that his strongest remonstrances should be transmitted to Stockholm without delay. The consequence was the appearance of the Baron Tawast, who came with a flag of truce ostensibly to treat for the exchange of prisoners, but virtually to explain the affair of Carlshamn. The usual articles for the cartel were exchanged, ratified, and published, and need not be inserted here; but the true mission of the Swedish general will be best understood from the following letter, which Sir James wrote immediately after the conference.

Victory, in Wingo Sound, 23rd May 1811.

SIR,

I request you will please to inform the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that Major-General Baron Tawast, commander-in-chief of the Swedish forces at Gothenburg and the coast adjacent, in the absence of his excellency Count Essen, having yesterday come on board his Majesty's s.h.i.+p Victory, under a flag of truce, for the purpose of entering into an arrangement with me for the exchange of prisoners, and other points connected with the present state of affairs between our respective nations, informed me, that he was instructed to communicate to me, in the most confidential manner, that it was the earnest wish of the Swedish Government to keep up the most amicable terms with Great Britain; and that it was not intended, under any circ.u.mstances, to commit any acts of hostility whatever; that the supplies of water and fresh provisions for the use of the squadron should be facilitated both at Hano Bay and Gothenburg, for which purpose picquets should be withdrawn from the points the most convenient for these articles to be received; that the correspondence, both by post or by courier, should be continued unmolested; and that, in the event of any British subjects being made prisoners on any part of the coast, they would be immediately liberated, for which purpose the cartel intended to be ratified had been proposed. That the appearance of any hostile measure was only intended for demonstration, and in order to elude the vigilance of French spies, who might be dispersed in the country.

With respect to the late transaction at Carlshamn in landing the cargoes from the Russian or Danish vessels, it was in retaliation for the Swedish property sequestered last year in the ports of those nations, but that the measure was not intended to operate against merchandise belonging to British merchants under any other flag, the whole of which would be secured, and the underwriters, _secretement_, indemnified for the value of the cargoes that were insured in England.

I strongly represented to Baron Tawast that the merchandise and colonial produce on board the Russian vessels were positively the property of British merchants trading to the Baltic, under licences from one of his Majesty's princ.i.p.al Secretaries of State, and which had been left in one of the ports of Sweden upon the strength of the declaration made to me in the month of November last year, that the property of British merchants would be secured to them, notwithstanding the imperious necessity which Sweden had been under of declaring war against England; and that his Majesty's Government would doubtless expect the same to be restored; or that the merchants would be indemnified for the full value of the cargoes landed from the vessels under the Prussian flag; and I requested him to put in writing what were the real intentions of the Swedish Government upon that subject; but this he positively declined, nor would he allow Mr. Consul Smith, who was present when this discussion took place, to insert any part of it in writing. I signified to Baron Tawast, for the information of the Swedish Government, that it was far from my intention to commit any act of hostility against Sweden, and that I was confident it was the wish of my Government to keep upon an amicable footing as long as circ.u.mstances would possibly admit; that I received instructions to allow the coasting trade of Sweden to pa.s.s unmolested, and that I had reason to hope it might be extended to the ports in Swedish Pomerania, on which the Baron laid so great a stress, but that I was very apprehensive that the late measures adopted against the British property at Carlshamn, and the want of more satisfactory explanations than he appeared instructed to make to me upon that subject, could not fail being very ill received by my Government.

Baron Tawast was particularly solicitous that the communication which he made to me should be considered in the strictest confidence, and expressed his hopes that the whole of the conference would be kept a profound secret, which I a.s.sured him I should take particular care to signify in the statement I transmitted for the information of Government.

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

Jas. Saumarez.

To J.W. Croker, Esq. &c. &c. &c.