"I fear I should have found your late occupation, to say the least, repugnant"
Ignoring the covert sneer, Roger asked: "What else?"
"There was one item of local interest in the despatch which arrived with the packet. It seems that although the Spaniards are our allies, their people in Santo Domingo are assisting the negro army against us by furnishing it with supplies and weapons; so my Lord Grenville has instructed our Ambassador in Madrid to demand that Don Garcia, the Governor of the Colony, should be recalled."
"I am glad to hear it; for I have recently been in that island, and had intended to inform Whitehall of the perfidy of the Spaniards."
Gunston began to mix them another drink, and while doing so said: "In the confidential news circular that accompanied the despatch there was much about the situation in Poland; but I don't suppose you would be interested in that"
"On the contrary. The ill success of the allied armies on the Scheldt and Rhine has been almost entirely due to the Prussians and Austrians both holding a large part of their forces in reserve, lest Catherine of Russia seize the whole of Poland whilst their backs are turned. So I am very interested indeed. Pray tell me of it."
"Strap me! I had no idea of that." The Colonel raised his ginger eyebrows. "Well, apparently, last spring the Russians, who were exercising a sort of protective custody m a large part of Poland, feared a rising aimed at driving them out; so they decided to disarm the Polish troops. Their attempts to do so put the fat in the fire. There was a lot of fighting in Cracow, Warsaw and other Polish cities, which ended in the Russians getting pushed out Then a Polish patriot named Kosciusko got an army together with the idea of liberating the whole of Poland; but he had the Prussians, who were occupying another sector of the country, on his hands as well as the Russians. They inflicted a severe defeat upon him and proceeded to invest Warsaw. But Polish partisans played the very devil with their lines of supply; so in September they were forced to raise the siege."
Roger already knew all this, but he waited patiently for his informant to go on. Gunston poured the fresh drinks and continued.
"The Poles weren't given the chance to remain cock-a-hoop for very long. An Austrian army had started to invade their country from the south, the Prussians were still to the west of them, and a new Russian army under a General Suvoroff was advancing upon them from the north. Early in October Kosciusko went out to try to prevent two Russian forces joining up and his army was utterly routed. He was taken prisoner, and in the first week of November, after a frightful slaughter, Suvoroff captured Warsaw. That put an end to the last hope the wretched Poles had of regaining their independence."
Then we may assume that Russia, Prussia and Austria are now squabbling over the bones of Poland's carcass. This explains why the French have been able to invade the Low Countries. Last spring my lord Malmesbury negotiated a pact with King Frederick William of Prussia to send 62,000 troops there in return for further subsidies from us and the Dutch. He will have taken the money and by now have gone back on his word."
Gunston gave Roger a puzzled glance. "You are right there. I recall now that in the confidential summary there was a passage to the effect that towards the end of October, on some trumped-up excuse, the Prussians had denounced a treaty with the Maritime Powers by which more troops were to be sent against the French. But how did you know of it?"
"I did not know it; but it is my business to judge what repercussions events in one place are likely to have in others. And now, if you will produce the most recent despatches from London, I will look through them for myself."
Having unlocked a cabinet Gunston handed Roger its key and a bundle of papers; then he said: "I gave orders this morning for the removal of my personal belongings to a house nearer the town. If you have done with me for the present I will go and see that my instructions have been carried out.
"By all means." Roger made him a semi-formal bow, then added: "But I should be glad if you would make arrangements for me to inspect both the fortress and its outlying batteries tomorrow morning. May I count upon you calling for me at eight o'clock?"
"By all means." Gunston grinned at him again. "As a civilian you can know little of such matters; but, providing you keep your mouth shut, the inspection you suggest may favourably impress the men." With this parting shot, and his sabre-tache banging on his thigh, the stalwart Colonel swaggered from the room.
He little knew the surprise that was in store for him. Less than a year previously Carnot, the greatest Minister of War that France had ever known, had sent Roger to inspect the fortifications of Brest and then Boulogne, and had complimented him on his reports. During his inspection next morning he kept up a running commentary of pertinent questions and picked upon every weakness of the defences with an eagle's eye that a senior General might have envied. Gunston was left amazed and breathless.
The inspection satisfied Roger that from a purely military point of view Gunston knew his business. The discipline was good, the troops were being kept up to the mark with frequent drills, exercises and practice in taking stations at an alarm; and, as far as the capital was concerned, the disposition of its garrison was sound. But he was appalled when he learned the number of men who had died since Admiral Sir John Jervis had captured the island and left Gunston there as its Garrison Commander, with two regiments of Foot and some auxiliary troops. He was, too, greatly concerned by the sick lists that he had demanded to see, and the fate of the several hundred men who now lay in hospital; the more so as on his ordering that they should all be dosed daily with an infusion of Cinchona bark, he learned that the plant was not grown in the island, and that the drug itself could be obtained only in small quantities.
Another matter that worried him was the hostile attitude of the island's inhabitants. As the garrison was small and much weakened by sickness, he felt that, as a temporary measure, Gunston's policy of repression might possibly be justified; but to maintain it permanently could lead nowhere. Henry Dundas, with his sound common sense, had said that if the captured islands were to prove real assets, rather than a drain on British resources, their peoples must be weaned from their old allegiance, and brought to realize that under the British flag they would enjoy more individual liberty, together with a greater security and prosperity, than they had done under the flag of France. Roger was fully in sympathy with the Minister's policy, and determined to carry it out.
As a first step in the one matter he instructed Fergusson to investigate and make a full report to him on the state of things in the hospitals; on the other, from lack of more promising counsel, he consulted Gunston, enquiring how best he might get a message to the people.
The Colonel said that his own method had been to have what he wanted to say translated into French, printed off and posted up in the principal towns of the island. Then if such fresh regulations as he had issued were ignored, he had a few people who had infringed them arrested and flung into prison, thus ensuring his orders a much wider publicity.
When Roger told him that this practice was anything but suitable for the object he had in mind, Gunston said: "Well, you can always try your luck with the Assembly. It is a collection of notables who m the old days used to make recommendations to the Governor. When Sir John Jervis took over it was decided that it should not be abolished, but remain quiescent, so that it could be summoned as required for any special purpose. On the few occasions that I've had its members called together I've found them noisy and truculent. But it's just possible that they might give you a hearing."
On this, Roger asked that they should be assembled in three days' time; then he gave considerable thought to composing an address, the keystone of which was the verbal message the King had given him when he kissed hands, expressing his intention to have a good care for the interests of his new subjects in Martinique.