"Tis true." Droopy nodded his forward-thrust head up and down. "Billy Pitt's genius in the fields of finance, diplomacy and reform is indisputable; but he has an inborn hatred of war and lacks all understanding of it."
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."