Sharpe saw no reason to tell him that it was the Anglicized form of the German Sherfe. “Not that I know of. My people have been in this country for almost two hundred years. I’m afraid I am not familiar with that officer.”
Woolsey was clearly disappointed. “Why, Richard Sharpe was one of Wellington’s favorite officers, risen from the ranks for gallantry, and a very prolific killer of Frenchmen, I might add.” It was evident that the latter quality was high on Wolseley’s list of martial virtues. But the subject of the Sharpe family name had only diverted him from this Gaelic distaste. “And as for the Irish, my dear Colonel, they are an ugly race with noses so cut away that you can see the place where their brains should be.”
Sharpe had to control himself as he thought of all the Irish boys in his regiment from Kingston who had fallen on that field as well as the daring and courage of his scouts, the Carney brothers, and young Martin Hogan just three years off the boat. Instead, he smiled blandly, “Well, sir, they don’t always present themselves to best effect. But I would think that a country that has made such use of the Irish in the building of its empire could be a bit more charitable.”
Wolseley brushed off the olive branch and went on, “They are a strange, illogical, inaccurate race, with the most amiable qualities, garnished with the dirt and squalor which they seem to love as dearly as their religion. I tell you, the Irishman soon takes his hat off when he finds a master who is not afraid of him and who is always ready to tackle him.”
When Wolseley had decided that he had chewed on that scrap of bile long enough, he asked, “Well, Colonel, what is the feeling in the Army now that the South has been set back on both heels-Gettysburg and Vicksburg?”
Sharpe considered that an honest answer would actually be the most useful. “It is only a matter of time. The South is exhausted and devouring itself to supply its armies just as the Union’s strength is redoubling. If it weren’t for blockade-runners bringing in British weapons and munitions, they would collapse in a month or two. All your country is doing is to prolong the struggle. Who knows what unforeseen incident could provoke another Trent Affair? Everyone knows that we came too close to war that time. It would serve no one’s interest to come that close again. I do not even mention the mutual catastrophe that a war would entail. British entry on the side of the Confederacy would only earn it the undying enmity of the United States but fail in the long run to secure independence for the South. Do you really want to create an enemy that for the next one hundred years searches out every enemy of the British Empire to make common cause?”
Wolseley fixed him with that single, hard, blue eye as the waiter cleared the table, “But you can hardly hold the support of your own population to continue the war. I understand there is extremely powerful, popular opposition. How then could you add the burden of a war with a great power,” he paused to add, “such as France? Forgive me for my bluntness, but you would go to pieces at the first blow.”
Sharpe just smiled, “A war with a,” he paused to emphasize the object of this preposition, “major foreign power such as France would kindle a fire that would weld our people into an implacable unity. Make no mistake of it.”
Sharpe let his message sink in. He had not been empowered by the government to speak at this level, but there was no time to ask, and he did not think that Seward would mind. He would report to Dana tomorrow on their interesting conversation. The silence continued until the waiter returned with a box of cigars and brandy, which immediately deflected the conversation. The Ebbitt offered an excellent array of cigars. Sharpe did not remark on how such fine Southern tobacco was so readily available in the Union’s capital. It was an embarrassment how badly the blockade leaked, not to mention overland trade, something his companions were no doubt aware of.
Sharpe coolly blew a ring across the table. “I must apologize for my bluntness, gentlemen. Please, forgive a simple colonel of infantry for a lack of subtly.” Perhaps that was laying it on too thick. Time to change the subject. “Tell me, Captain, what of the French? What does your government think of the French adventure in Mexico?”
Hancock had taken little part in the conversation concerning Army matters, but now he had something to say. “I would say that the British government considers Napoleon’s ambitions to be a measure of Gallic excess. Mexico is no place to stay. You Americans were clever to win quickly, take what you wanted, and get out. Your example was lost on the French, I’m afraid.”
“And you are not worried about the expansion of the French Navy?” That was fresh meat thrown to Hancock.
“By God, sir, afraid of the French? You do have a strange, Yankee sense of humor.”
“But the French Gloire class ironclads did steal a march on the Royal Navy in ’59, did it not?” Sharpe spoke in French. Hancock, not to be outdone, also switched, showing a remarkable grasp of French military terminology.
“Yes, I’m afraid the French were the first to build a serious ironclad, but they were following the example of the British ironclad batteries in the Russian War of the last decade. But our Warrior class put the French right where they belong-in second place. The HMS Warrior and her sister-ship, Black Prince, were designed and built in record time. They are so superior to the French ships that there is no comparison. The Warriors are completely iron ships while the Gloires are wooden hulls with only ironclad casements. Warriors are almost 65 percent larger and are meant for open-ocean sailing whereas the Frenchies would have a hard go of it anywhere but the Channel and the Mediterranean. Our armament is clearly superior as well with twenty-six 68-pounders, four 70-pounders, and eleven breech-loading rifled 110-pounders of Mr. Armstrong’s manufacture against the French thirty-six 6.4-inch rifled guns. All the British guns are superior as is our powder, the best the world.”
Sharpe thought that Admiral Dahlgren might disagree. He was not known as “the father of American naval ordnance” for nothing. His series of Dahlgren guns at IX, X, XI, and XV inches were considered by us to be the best in the world. The Royal Navy had tried to buy Dalgreen guns in large numbers, but the United States had declined to share such an advantage.
Hancock continued, “There is another area in which we completely outclass the French-no private French foundry can roll the armor necessary for such a ship; a number of British establishments can do that with ease. The French simply do not have the iron industry to support Napoleon’s ambitions of an ironclad fleet.”
Hancock’s tail was up as he listed every point of British naval superiority over the French, which had the unspoken message that that superiority applied to the United States as well. “Why, sir, if these facts do not impress you, perhaps the words of Mr. Dickens might give a more poetic impression. He said after a recent visit to the Warrior that she was, and I quote, ‘A black vicious ugly customer as ever I saw, whale-like in size, and with as terrible a row of incisor teeth as ever closed on a French frigate.’ Another gentleman described her as ‘a black snake among rabbits.’ Having seen her myself, I can attest that the Mr. Dickens has caught its menace most properly.”
Sharpe was enjoying the class on British naval technology, all grist for his intelligence mill. He had concentrated so much on the Confederate Army that it was refreshing to learn about the service of another country. He had scrupulously forwarded every bit of naval intelligence that came his way to the Navy and had learned something by way of it. He prodded Hancock further. “And our ironclads?”
“Why, sir, they are interesting designs, to be sure, but are dwarfed by the Warriors. Your Passaic class monitors have, indeed, proved to be a gallant, hard-fighting class but weigh in at 1,335 tons to the Warrior’s 9,210, and only two guns to forty. I wager that none of them would fare well in an open-ocean voyage either.”