The Great War in England in 1897 Part 13

The defenders, noticing this, worked on, pounding away at the hostile craft with merciless monotony, until one after another the French and Russians were blown to atoms, and their vessels sank beneath them into the dark, swirling waters.

While this was proceeding, two mines, one opposite Hill Gate, at Gateshead, and the other near the Rotterdam Wharf, on the Newcastle side, were fired by the Volunteer Engineers, who thus succeeded in blowing up two more French gunboats, while the battery at the foot of the Swing Bridge sank two more torpedo boats, and that in front of the Chemical Works at Gateshead sent a sh.e.l.l into the "vitals" of one of the most powerful torpedo gunboats, with the result that she blew up.

Everywhere the enemy were being cut to pieces.

Seeing the trap into which their vessels had fallen above the ruined bridges, and feeling that they had caused sufficient damage, they turned, and with their guns still belching forth flame, steamed at half speed back again towards the sea.

But they were not allowed to escape so easily, for the mines recently laid by the Volunteers were now brought into vigorous play, and in the long reach of the river between High Walker and Wallsend no fewer than six more of the enemy's gun and torpedo boats had their bottoms blown out, and their crews torn limb from limb.

Flashed throughout the land, the news of the enemy's repulse, though gained at such enormous loss, excited a feeling of profound satisfaction.

The injury inflicted on the invaders had been terrible, and from that attack upon the Tyne they had been hurled reeling back the poorer by the loss of a whole fleet of torpedo and gun boats, one of the most effective arms of their squadrons, while the sea had closed over one of France's proudest battles.h.i.+ps, the _Neptune_, and no fewer than four of her cruisers.

The surviving vessels, which retreated round the Black Middens and gained the open sea, all more or less had their engines crippled, and not half the men that had manned them escaped alive.

They had wrought incalculable damage, it is true, for part of Newcastle was burning, and the loss of life had been terrible; yet they were driven back by the Volunteers' desperately vigorous fire, and the lives of many thousands in Newcastle and Gateshead had thus been saved at the eleventh hour by British patriots.

Alas, it was a black day in England's history!

Was this to be a turning-point in the wave of disaster which had swept so suddenly upon our land?

CHAPTER XVII.

HELP FROM OUR COLONIES.

Days pa.s.sed--dark, dismal, dispiriting. Grim-visaged War had crushed all joy and gaiety from British hearts, and fierce patriotism and determination to fight on until the bitter end mingled everywhere with hunger, sadness, and despair. British homes had been desecrated, British lives had been sacrificed, and through the land the invaders rushed ravaging with fire and sword.

Whole towns had been overwhelmed and shattered, great tracts of rich land in Suss.e.x and Hamps.h.i.+re had been laid waste, and the people, powerless against the enormous forces sweeping down upon them, had been mercilessly mowed down and butchered by Cossacks, whose brutality was fiendish. Everywhere there were reports of horrible atrocities, of heartless murders, and wholesale slaughter of the helpless and unoffending.

The situation, both in Great Britain and on the Continent, was most critical. The sudden declaration of hostilities by France and Russia had resulted in a great war in which nearly all European nations were involved. Germany had sent her enormous land forces over her frontiers east and west, successfully driving back the French along the Vosges, and occupying Dijon, Chalons-sur-Saone, and Lyons. Valmy, Nancy, and Metz had again been the scenes of sanguinary encounters, and Chaumont and Troyes had both fallen into the hands of the Kaiser's legions. In Poland, however, neither Germans nor Austrians had met with such success. A fierce battle had been fought at Thorn between the Tsar's forces and the Germans, and the former, after a desperate stand, were defeated, and the Uhlans, dragoons, and infantry of the Fatherland had swept onward up the valley of the Vistula to Warsaw. Here the resistance offered by General Bodisco was very formidable, but the city was besieged, while fierce fighting was taking place all across the level country that lay between the Polish capital and the Prussian frontier.

Austrians and Hungarians fought fiercely, the Tyrolese Jagers displaying conspicuous bravery at Brody, Cracow, Jaroslav, and along the banks of the San, and they had succeeded up to the present in preventing the Cossacks and Russian infantry from reaching the Carpathians, although an Austrian army corps advancing into Russia along the Styr had been severely cut up and forced to retreat back to Lemberg.

Italy had burst her bonds. Her Bersaglieri, cuira.s.siers, Piedmontese cavalry, and carabiniers had marched along the Corniche road into Provence, and, having occupied Nice, Cannes, and Draguigan, were on their way to attack Ma.r.s.eilles, while the Alpine infantry, taking the road over Mont Cenis, had, after very severe fighting in the beautiful valley between Susa and Bardonnechia, at last occupied Modane and Chambery, and now intended joining hands with the Germans at Lyons.

France was now receiving greater punishment than she had antic.i.p.ated, and even those members of the Cabinet and Deputies who were responsible for the sudden invasion of England were compelled to admit that they had made a false move. The frontiers were being ravaged, and although the territorial regiments remaining were considered sufficient to repel attack, yet the Army of the Saone had already been cut to pieces. In these circ.u.mstances, France, knowing the great peril she ran in prolonging the invasion of Britain, was desperately anxious to make the British sue for peace, so that she could turn her attention to events at home, and therefore, although in a measure contravening International Law, she had instructed her Admirals to bombard British seaports and partially-defended towns.

Although the guns of the hostile fleet had wrought such appalling havoc on the Humber, on the Tyne, and along the coast of Kent and Suss.e.x, nevertheless the enemy had only secured a qualified success. The cause of all the disasters that had befallen us, of the many catastrophes on land and sea, was due to the wretchedly inadequate state of our Navy, although the seven new battles.h.i.+ps and six cruisers commenced in 1894 were now complete and afloat.

Had we possessed an efficient Navy the enemy could never have approached our sh.o.r.es. We had not a sufficient number of s.h.i.+ps to replace casualties. Years behind in nearly every essential point, Britain had failed to give her cruisers either speed or guns equal in strength to those of other nations. Our guns were the worst in the world, no fewer than 47 vessels still mounting 350 old muzzleloaders, weapons discarded by every other European Navy.

For years it had been a race between the hare and the tortoise. We had remained in dreamy unconsciousness of danger, while other nations had quickly taken advantage of all the newly-discovered modes of destruction that make modern warfare so terrible.

Notwithstanding the odds against us in nearly every particular, the British losses had been nothing as compared with those of the enemy.

This spoke much for British pluck and pertinacity. With a force against them of treble their strength, British bluejackets had succeeded in sinking a number of the finest and most powerful s.h.i.+ps of France and Russia. France had lost the _Amiral Duperre_, a magnificent steel vessel of eleven thousand tons; the _Neptune_ and _Redoutable_, a trifle smaller; the _Tonnerre_, the _Terrible_, the _Furieux_, the _Indomptable_, the _Caman_, all armoured s.h.i.+ps, had been lost; while the cruisers _D'Estaing_, _Sfax_, _Desaix_, _Cosamo_, _Faucon_, the despatch-vessel _Hirondelle_, the gunboats _Iberville_, _Gabes_, and _Lance_, and eleven others, together with sixteen torpedo boats and numbers of transports, had been either blown up, burned, or otherwise destroyed.

The losses the Russians had sustained, in addition to the many transports and general service steamers, included the great steel cruiser _Nicolai I._, the vessels _Gerzog Edinburgskij_, _Syzran_, _Rynda_, _Asia_, _Gangut_, _Kranaya Gorka_, _Olaf_, and the torpedo boat _Abo_, with eight others.

The destruction of this enormous force had, of course, not been effected without an infliction of loss upon the defenders, yet the British casualties bore no comparison to those of the enemy. True, the armoured turret-s.h.i.+p _Conqueror_ had, alas! been sacrificed; the fine barbette-s.h.i.+ps _Centurion_ and _Rodney_ had gone to the bottom; the splendid first-cla.s.s cruiser _Aurora_ and the cruiser _Narcissus_ had been blown up; while the cruisers _Terpsich.o.r.e_, _Melampus_, _Tribune_, _Galatea_, and _Canada_, with a number of torpedo boats and "catchers,"

had also been destroyed, yet not before every crew had performed heroic deeds worthy of record in the world's history, and every vessel had shown the French and Russians what genuine British courage could effect.

Still the invaders were striking swift, terrible blows. On the Humber and the Tyne the loss of life had been appalling. The bombardment of Brighton, the sack of Eastbourne, and the occupation of the Downs by the land forces, had been effected only by wholesale rapine and awful bloodshed, and Britain waited breathlessly, wondering in what direction the next catastrophe would occur.

Such newspapers as in these dark days continued to appear reported how great ma.s.s meetings were being held all over the United States, denouncing the action of the Franco-Russian forces.

In New York, Chicago, Was.h.i.+ngton, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and other cities, resolutions were pa.s.sed at enormous demonstrations by the enthusiastic public, demanding that the United States Government should give an immediate ultimatum to France that unless she withdrew her troops from British soil, war would be declared against her.

Special sittings of Congress were being held daily at Was.h.i.+ngton for the purpose of discussing the advisability of such a step; influential deputations waited upon the President, and all the prominent statesmen were interviewed by the various enterprising New York journals, the result showing a great preponderance of feeling that such a measure should be at once taken.

In British colonies throughout the world the greatest indignation and most intense excitement prevailed. Already bodies of Volunteers were on their way from Australia and Cape Town, many of the latter, under Major Scott, having already been in England and shot as compet.i.tors at Bisley.

From India a number of native regiments had embarked for Southampton, but the Northern frontier stations had been strengthened in antic.i.p.ation of a movement south by Russia, and the French Indian possessions, Pondichery and Karikal, were occupied by British troops.

An expedition from Burmah had crossed the Shan States into Tonquin, and with the a.s.sistance of the British Squadron on the China Station had, after hard fighting, occupied a portion of the country, while part of the force had gone farther south and commenced operations in French Cochin-China by a vigorous attack on Saigon.

Armed British forces had also landed in Guadaloupe and Martinique, two of the most fertile of the West Indian Islands, and St. Bartholomew had also been occupied by West Indian regiments.

On the outbreak of hostilities intense patriotism spread through Canada, and from the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior away to far Vancouver a movement was at once made to a.s.sist the Mother Country. In Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Kingston ma.s.s meetings were held, urging the Dominion Government to allow a force of Volunteers to go to England without delay; and this universal demand was the more gratifying when it was remembered that more than a quarter of the population were themselves French. Nevertheless the knowledge that Britain was in danger was sufficient to arouse patriotism everywhere, and within a few days 20,000 Volunteers were enrolled, and these, before a fortnight had pa.s.sed, were on their way to Liverpool. Great was the enthusiasm when, a few days later, to the strains of "Rule, Britannia," the first detachment landed in the Mersey, and as they marched through the crowded streets, the people, delighted at this practical demonstration of sympathy, wrung the hands of the patriots of the West. Vessel after vessel, escorted by British cruisers, arrived at the landing-stage, and discharged their regiments of men to whom the knowledge of Britain's danger had been sufficient incentive to induce them to act their part as Britons. Then, when the last vessel had arrived, they were formed into a brigade, and set out to march south in the direction of Birmingham.

Meanwhile a great loan was being floated in Australia and the United States. The former colony had but recently pa.s.sed through a serious financial crisis, but in America a sum of no less than 200,000,000 was taken up, although the issue only continued a few days. In Wall Street the excitement was intense, and the struggle to invest was desperate. No such scenes had ever been witnessed within the memory of the oldest member of the Stock Exchange, for financiers were determined to a.s.sist the greatest Power on earth; indeed, apart from the sound security offered, they felt it their duty to do so. Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Calcutta all contributed in more or less degree, and the loan immediately proved the most successful ever floated.

To Britain on every side a helping hand was outstretched, and, irrespective of politics and party bickerings, a.s.sistance was rendered in order that she might crush her enemies. Britannia gathered her strength, and armed herself for the fierce combat which she knew must decide the destiny of her glorious Empire.

London, starving, terror-stricken, and haunted continually by apprehensions of an unknown doom, was in a state of restlessness both night and day. Food supplies had failed, the cheapest bread was sold at 3s. 8d. a small loaf, and neither fish nor meat could be purchased.

In the City the panic was frightful. Business was paralysed, hundreds were being ruined daily, and after the first sensation and headlong rush on the Stock Exchange, transactions remained at a standstill. Then suddenly, when the seriousness of the situation was fully understood, there was a run on the banks.

Crowds, eager and clamouring, surrounded the Bank of England, and establishments in Lombard Street and elsewhere, with cheques in their hands, demanding their deposits in gold. Although weak and half-starved, they desired their money in order to flee and take with them all they possessed before the enemy swept down upon London.

Day and night in all the City banks the cas.h.i.+ers were kept paying out thousands upon thousands in hard s.h.i.+ning gold. The clink of coin, the jingle of scales, and the eager shouts of those feverishly anxious for their turn, and fearing the resources would not hold out, formed a loud incessant din.

As the days pa.s.sed, and the run on the banks continued, one after another of the establishments, both in the City and the West End, unable to withstand the heavy withdrawals, were compelled to close their doors.

Many were banks of such high reputation that the very fact of being a depositor was a hall-mark of a man's prosperity, while others were minor establishments, whose business was mainly with small accounts and middle-cla.s.s customers. One by one they failed to fulfil their obligations, and closed; and the unfortunate ones, including many women who had not been able to struggle successfully to get inside, turned away absolutely ruined!

In the West End the starving poor had formed processions, and marched through Mayfair and Belgravia demanding bread, while Anarchists held council in front of the blackened ruins of the National Gallery, and the Unemployed continued their declamatory oratory on Tower Hill. The starving thousands from the East End ran riot in the aristocratic thoroughfares of Kensington, and, heedless of the police,--who were, in fact, powerless before such superior numbers,--residences of the rich were entered and searched for food, and various acts of violence ensued. The cellars of clubs, hotels, and private houses were broken open and sacked, granaries were emptied, wholesale grocery warehouses were looted, and flour mills searched from roof to bas.e.m.e.nt. If they could not obtain food, they said, they would drink. A desperate starving crowd then forced an entry to the wine vaults at the Docks, and swallowed priceless vintages from pewter pots. Hogsheads of port and sherry were carried up into the streets, and amid scenes of wild disorder were tapped and drunk by the excited and already half-intoxicated mult.i.tude.

For days London remained at the mercy of a drunken, frenzied rabble.

Murder and incendiarism were committed in every quarter, and many serious and desperate conflicts occurred between the rioters and the law-abiding patriotic citizens.

Enthusiasm was displayed by even the latter, when an infuriated mob one night surrounded Albert Gate House, the French Emba.s.sy, and, breaking open the door, entered it, and flung the handsome furniture from the windows.

Those below made a huge pile in the street, and when the whole of the movable effects had been got out, the crowd set fire to them, and also to the great mansion, at the same time cheering l.u.s.tily, and singing "Rule, Britannia," as they watched the flames leap up and consume both house and furniture.

The servants of the Emba.s.sy had fortunately escaped, otherwise they would no doubt have fared badly at the hands of the lawless a.s.sembly.

When the fire had burned itself out, however, a suggestion was spread, and the mob with one accord rushed to the Russian Emba.s.sy in Chesham Place.