Colonel Thursby smiled at Roger. 'Tell us what you would do, were you in the Prime Minister's shoes?"
"Since England pays the piper she has a right to call the tune, Sir.
Mr. Pitt should bang our allies' heads together and make them concentrate their forces with us in a determined drive for Paris."
"On that we are agreed, although it might prove more difficult than it sounds. What else?"
"Recall His Highness of York, and replace him with a more capable commander."
"I doubt if His Majesty would consent to that. York is his favourite son, and of that boorish bunch the best. At least he is an honest man."
"'Twould be no precedent were the command of our army given to one who is not a Royal Prince; and this country does not lack for honest soldiers who are highly competent at their business."
Roger had been about to add numerous other measures he would have taken, but at that moment Dan came out to announce that dinner was served; so they all trooped into the house. As was usual at that period, only two courses and a remove were served, but each course consisted of half a dozen different dishes and they helped themselves lavishly to fish, meat, poultry and game according to their fancy, and washed each item down with copious draughts of Via de Grave, Rhenish, Claret or Florence Wine.
As the meal progressed, Georgina gaily outlined her plans. They were to sail in a West Indiaman from Bristol in the first week of October, and hoped to reach Jamaica early in December. The St Ermins's plantations were on the north side of the island near St. Ann's Bay and they had a large house there which was occupied by a distant cousin who managed the estates. They intended to make it .: their headquarters, but would spend much of their time in Kingston where a considerable society made life most agreeable during the winter season.
Droopy Ned, who was a diehard Tory, took occasion to remark to Roger: "At least you cannot complain of the conduct of the war in the West Indies. In the past year Admiral Sir John Jervis and General Sir Charles Grey have between them stripped the French of practically every possession they had there."
"But I do!" Roger countered. "Tis Mr. Pitt's dispersal of our forces that distresses me beyond all else. Could we but once overcome the French in their own country all else would follow from that. Had Sir Charles Grey's force been sent instead to Toulon, we might have held it Had they been sent to Flanders so great a reinforcement could have turned the tide for us there. Still better, had they been thrown into Brittany while the Vendeean revolt was at its height, the Revolutionary Government must have collapsed from their inability to support yet another front."
"My lord Moira's force was charged with that," put in St. Ermins.
"So I gather. And that is another instance of gross mismanagement, for it remained sitting idle in the Channel Islands throughout the whole winter from lack of definite instructions. But I was speaking of theJndies, and 'tis there our best troops have been thrown away."
"Oh come!" protested Colonel Thursby. "The Sugar Islands are of immense value, and only by securing those lately belonging to the French could we hope to pay the cost of the war. Billy Pitt showed the sound sense that has made him what he is by seizing them while he had the chance."
"I wonder whom he will make Governor of Martinique," St. Ermins hazarded. "Whoever gets that appointment will have a plum."
Colonel Thursby nodded, 'undeed he will. The work of such posts is mainly done by underlings trained in colonial administration, while the Governor takes all the perquisites. I'd estimate the governorship of such a highly cultivated island to be worth at least five thousand a year."
"Is there not still fighting there, though?" Amanda asked. "One hears that the French islands have been much affected by the Revolution, and that in most of them the slaves are in open revolt."
"That is so in Saint-Domingue," the Colonel agreed. "There the French Royalists invited us in to save their lives and properties, and a full-scale campaign is in progress against the blacks incited by terrorists sent from Paris. In the other islands, our own included, there have been similar troubles, but on a much lesser scale, and no matter for serious concern."
"By the time of our arrival there should be nought to worry about," St. Ermins added. "For now, since my lord Howe's victory on 'the glorious 1st of June' the ocean is ours, and the French will no longer be able to send support to the revolted slaves."
Roger looked across at him with a grim smile. "I wonder, Charles, if you realize what that victory cost us. To my mind it was the equivalent of a major defeat."
A chorus of excited protest greeted his pronouncement, but he silenced it with a gesture. "Do not mistake me. I am well aware that his lordship's five-day chase and eventual bringing to battle of the French fleet were in the true tradition of British tenacity and courage. I am told, too, that although near seventy the grand old man scarcely left the deck of his flagship during all that time. It is the result of the action I presume to criticize, and my sojourn in France having enabled me to see the other side of the picture as well as ours, I feel I am better placed than yourselves to form a judgment."
Pausing, he took a drink of wine, then went on. "This spring France was in a most desperate plight. Robespierre and his colleagues knew that unless they could feed starving Paris through the summer sheer desperation would drive the masses to revolt, murder them and call for immediate peace. In consequence they purchased a vast quantity of grain in the Americas and chartered every available bottom they could lease to bring it over. Had it failed to arrive they would have been finished, and Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse was charged to get the convoy through whatever the cost to his fleet. My lord Howe was, of course, charged to intercept it and could have done so. With his superior forces he might have contained or even ignored Villaret-Joyeuse. Instead he allowed himself to be lured away from the French ports, and although in the battle he severely crippled the French fleet, his own was so crippled afterwards that his ships were incapable of getting back in time to intercept the grain convoy. It arrived intact and the corn it brought was sufficient to tide France over to the present harvest; thus the Terrorist government was given a new lease of life and our chance to end the war was lost."
For a moment there was silence round the table, then Colonel Thursby said. "Your account of this affair confirms my own impression that the war at sea is being ill-directed. Great sailor as my lord Howe may be, he is now too old to continue in active service, and too set in his ideas. It has always been his policy to spare his ships as much as possible, and preserve them from the wear and hazards inseparable from remaining at sea for long periods during winter. Tis that which has so far rendered our blockade of the French coast largely ineffective. As a commercial man I am very conscious of the great rewards that a full enforcement of the blockade might bring, but to reap them demands a new system of close patrols and unremitting watch."
"The Navy is well enough," Georgjna chimed in after her father, "but for the sleep-befuddled head upon its shoulders. What's needed is Mr. Pitt's removal of his brother, my lord Chatham, from the Admiralty. Daily a half-dozen of our finest sea-dogs are there at eight in the morning clamouring for orders, but his lordship declares it barbarous to be called on to leave his bed before nine, and comes to the Board at ten still yawning his empty head off."
"Thou art right, my love," St. Ermins supported her. "And 'twas a thousand pities that when His Grace of Portland formed the new Coalition with Mr. Pitt, he did not insist upon someone more capable being given the Admiralty."
Droopy Ned could not resist remarking with just a trace of malice, "Your leader, Charles, was so concerned with grabbing the lion's share of patronage for himself that he could think of nought else."
St. Ermins only laughed and retorted: "We Whigs were overdue for some of the spoils of office, and those secured by His Grace are but a part of the monopoly enjoyed by Henry Dundas under the Tory administration."
"Maybe, my lord; but Dundas is shrewd, immensely capable and has an insatiable appetite
for work, whereas the Duke is a very mediocre man, and owes his new office entirely to the influence he wields as a political figure-head."
Having so recently returned from France, Roger knew little about the changes in the Cabinet which had taken place in the preceding month, so at his request his friends enlightened him.
In the early years of the Revolution the sympathies of nearly everyone in Britain, and particularly the Whig party, had been with the French nobles and professional men of liberal views, who had endeavoured to force King Louis into granting a Constitution, and abolishing the many abuses to which the lower classes had been subject since the Middle Ages. But as the Revolution began to degenerate into class warfare, mob rule, and nation-wide attacks on religion, property and life, the upper and middle classes of England had gradually become more and more opposed to the new regime.
Charles Fox had, from the beginning, championed the revolutionaries and continued to do so even after war against France had been declared, using his brilliant oratory with complete unscrupulous-ness to embarrass the Government at every opportunity; but Edmund Burke, his friend and colleague of long standing in the Whig opposition, differed violently from him on that subject and had made known his views in 'Reflections on the Revolution'. This publication had had an enormous circulation, and as it set forth very clearly how the triumph of the Jacobins would result in all Europe falling into a state of atheism and anarchy, it had not only convinced great numbers of waverers among the middle-classes but deprived Fox of the support of the majority of his own party.
With the discrediting of Fox it had soon become apparent that all the sounder Whigs were as much in favour of a vigorous prosecution of the war as were the Tories; so Pitt, with a view to strengthening his administration, had agreed with their leader, Portland, to form a Coalition. Early in July the Duke had been given the Home Office, William Windham had been made Secretary of War, and the Earls Fitzwilliam and Spencer became Lord President and Lord Privy Seal. At the Admiralty Pitt had kept his elder brother, and at the Foreign Office, his cousin, Lord Grenville, while his indefatigable man-of-all-work, Dundas, had been allowed to retain the India and Colonial Offices and as compensation for giving up the Home Secretaryship had been made what amounted to Minister of Defence.
These changes had required the most delicate negotiations, as on the one hand Pitt was determined not to sacrifice the more valuable of his old colleagues and, on the other, the powerful Whig nobility was out to grab all it could get The Viceroyalty of Ireland and several other valuable posts were still bones of contention, and as Roger listened to the accounts of the intrigues which had been taking place it was borne in upon him that his ex-master had been having an extremely worrying time; so after a while, he remarked:
"What you tell me may well account for the lack of consideration Mr. Pitt showed me this morning in refusing me a new mission to my liking. 'Tis obvious that so many cares have temporarily blunted his sensibilities; but with all due respect to you, Charles, I am inclined to wonder if this taking in of your Whig friends will make things any easier for him in the long run.
"I think it will," replied St Fjmins, "for once these domestic matters are settled he will meet with little opposition in either House, and so be freed to give a much greater share of his mind to the war."
Colonel Thursby nodded. "There is something in that, but it will not free him from his worst embarrassment. I refer to the troubles that our English Jacobins have been stirring up in all the centres of industry. 'Tis true that they will now be able to voice their disloyal sentiments in Parliament only through Fox and a handful of irresponsible radicals, but such bodies as the London Corresponding Society and the Methodists are becoming a menace to the State. Had not those four days of burning, pillaging and murder while the mob wrought its evil will in London during the Gordon riots proved a danger signal to honest artisans, we might well have already had a revolution here. Yet* even so, the numbers of those malcontents increase daily, and they abuse the freedom we, in this country, enjoy both to preach sedition openly and publish pamphlets by the thousand advocating that Britain should become a republic. Their activities must be a matter of grave concern to government, yet short of instituting tyrannous methods of repression which would be abnoxious to us all, there seems no way to check them."
Roger was now beginning to feel that he had been unfair in expecting Mr. Pitt to take a realistic view of the war when he evidently had so many matters on his mind that it must be near impossible for even the finest brain to see them all in their proper perspective. As he was about to say so, the clopping of horses' hoofs approaching at a swift trot caused a sudden silence round the table. A moment later they came to a halt outside the front gate. Roger glanced quickly at Amanda, but she shook her head to show that she had no idea whom then-visitor might be. Then Dan came hurrying in. His dark eyes were bright with excitement as he exclaimed with his broad Hampshire accent:
"I could scarcely believe me eyes, Master! But 'tis the great Billy Pitt himself be outside askin' for 'e."
Quickly excusing himself, Roger hurried from the room and out of the house down the short garden path. There, sure enough, sitting bolt upright on the back seat of his carriage, as though he had not moved a muscle since Roger had last seen him, was the Prime Minister. But now to Roger's bow he replied by a slight inclination of the head; then, holding out a large envelope towards him, he said briskly:
"Mr. Brook, I am come from Kew, where I spoke with His Majesty upon our affairs in the West Indies. Since you are set upon going there I suggested that you should carry this document with you. His Majesty desired me to express to you his hope that the voyage will restore you to health; and with that hope may I couple my own, that new interests in the tropics will soon erase from your mind the distressing experiences you met with while in France."
Taking the envelope Roger bowed again, and replied: "I am much indebted to you, Sir, for conveying to me His Majesty's most gracious message, and for your own good wishes. Naturally I shall be honoured to act as His Majesty's courier, and still more so if you will now step inside and join us in a glass of wine."
The Prime Minister's lined face lit up in one of his rare smiles, but he shook his head. "I thank you, no. I have urgent affairs requiring my attention at Holwood; so you must excuse me." Then he pulled the string attached to the little finger of his coachman, and a moment later the carriage was bowling away down the road.
It was just after seven o'clock, and in the deepening twilight the superscription on the big envelope had not stood out clearly enough for Roger to read it at the first glance. Now, as he held it up, he saw with some surprise that it was addressed to himself. Hurrying into the lighted hall, he tore it open and ran his eye swiftly over the thick parchment it contained. When he had read only a few lines he gave a gasp of amazement. It was a Royal Commission appointing him Governor of the newly-won island of Martinique.
Running into the dining-room he held it high above his head and, with an excited shout, announced its contents. The girls embraced him; the men cheered, wrung his hand and slapped him on the back. While they were still crowding about him Dan produced champagne, and in the pink slightly effervescent wine of those times, they drained their crystal goblets to the health of His Excellency the Governor.
An hour or so later, when Amanda and Georgina had retired to the drawing-room, Roger went down to the cellar to get up more wine. In his absence his three men friends expressed their personal views on his appointment.
All of them agreed that, since this rich Governorship could have bought the support of some great landowner who controlled two or three seats in Parliament, and Roger was entirely without political influence, the gift of it to him was most generous.
Colonel Thursby added that, all the same, the Prime Minister's gesture showed his sound sense as well as generosity, as Roger was level-headed, firm, and high principled; and having lived in France for so long he was far better fitted than most men to bring tran
quillity to an island that had until a few months ago been a French colony.
But the shrewd Droopy Ned saw even further, and poking his narrow head forward, he said with a sly smile: "I think you overlook one thing. Roger is the most gifted confidential agent who has served the Crown for many a long day, and Billy Pitt sets too high a value on him to lose him. This morning, having become temporarily sickened of his work, Roger freed himself from it, but tonight he is no longer free. By the gift of this Governorship he has been tied by a silken cord, and can be recalled at will. I will wager a thousand guineas that within a year Roger will once more be serving his master on the Continent."
chapter III
WESTWARD HO!
During the next few weeks Roger was very fully occupied. Having written to thank the Prime Minister, he next wrote to Henry Dundas, as Minister for the Colonies, to ask for an interview at which he might receive specific instructions regarding his Governorship. The business-like Dundas replied by return, inviting him to dine at his house at Wimbledon on the following Thursday, and suggesting that he should come early so that they could discuss affairs before the meal.
Roger both liked Dundas and had a great respect for his ability. The minister was then in his early fifties, a big raw-boned red-faced man who still spoke with the broad Scottish accent he had acquired in boyhood. He was notoriously foul-mouthed and drank like a trooper, but his potations had no effect upon his splendid constitution, and he had an extraordinary capability for despatching mountains of work with swift efficiency. India was only one of his responsibilities but he knew more about it than any other man in Parliament, and the genial good-humour, that Mr. Pitt so sadly lacked, made him an invaluable manager of their party. By invariably giving every post that fell vacant within his patronage to fellow countrymen, he ensured all the members from north of the Tweed loyally following him into the lobby, and his influence had become so great there that he was known as Harry the Ninth of Scotland.
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