- tune is to be expected. You must thoroughly feel how painful it must be
to acknowledge this even to your lordship, but no honest man who has any regard for his country can avoid seeing it. Whatever measures are adopted at home, either removing us from the continent or remaining, something must be done to restore discipline, and the confidence that always attends it. The sortie from Nimeguen, on the 4th, was made entirely by the British, and executed with their usual spirit; they ran into the French without firing a single shot, and, consequently, lost very few men,—their loss was when they afterwards were ordered to retire. Yet from what I have mentioned in the first part of my letter, I assure you I dread the thought of these troops being attacked or harassed in retreat."[1]
Upon the receipt of this grave intelligence, Mr. Pitt at once communicated to the king the absolute necessity of the duke's immediate recall. His Majesty had no choice but to consent, which he reluctantly did; and H. R. H. returned home, was immediately created a field-marshal, and placed in command of all the forces of the United Kingdom!
Lord Cornwallis's bitter remark upon this astounding appointment is—"Whether we shall get any good by this, God only knows; but I think things cannot change for the worse at the Horse Guards. If the French land, and that they will land I am certain, I should not like to trust the new field-marshal with the defence of Culford."[2]
Having thus practically ascertained, at an enormous cost of blood and treasure, that the best-tempered and bravest general cannot command with success a British army in the field, if he happens, as was the case with the Duke of York, to be a weak man of high social position, destitute of military talent and habits of business, and much addicted to pleasure, an examination of Lord Cornwallis's correspondence during the next few years will show how it fared with the British army when it was directed by such an officer at home.
In expressing his conviction that the French were determined to invade us, Lord Cornwallis proved a true prophet. Late in 1796, a fleet, commanded by Admiral De Galle, sailed from Brest for Ireland, carrying General Hoche and 15,000 men. Furious December gales dispersed the French ships,—only a portion of the expedition reached Bantry Bay; the
- ↑ The sufferings of the British soldiers in Holland, in 1794-5, from the incompetence and negligence of their superior officers, and the waste of public money from the same causes, have scarcely been exceeded during the Crimean war. In Lord Malmesbury's Diary we find the following entry on the 7th Dec. 1793: "Lord Herbert came to see me. Complained much of the insubordination of the army; that it was greater than could be believed, and that the Guards were so beyond measure. Condemned the conduct of Gage, who had resigned on being refused leave of absence." On the 16th of Feb. 1794, the Duke of Portland writes to Lord Malmesbury: "The Duke of York will return to the army the latter end of next week. But I cannot help saying that unless the licentious, not to say mutinous, spirit which prevails among our troops, and which originated in, I am sorry to say, and is cultivated by the Guards, is not subdued and extinguished, there is an end of the army."
- ↑ His lordship's country seat.
