1797. LORD NORTHESK'S MISSION TO THE KING. 57

of the Monmouth,' who had been detained a close prisoner in his cabin since the commencement of the mutiny, was taken on board the Sandwich,' and was charged, by Parker, with a letter to the King, containing terms which the mutineers affected to offer as their ultimatum. One of these terms was new, the most impudent and absurd that had yet been propounded. No punishment was to be inflicted without the sanction of a jury of the ship's company! Lord Northesk was enjoined to bring back an answer within fifty-four hours. He told them his errand was not very hopeful; but he executed his commission with fidelity. The letter of the delegates was laid before His Majesty, and an official answer was returned that nothing short of unconditional submission would be accepted.

Cut off from all intercourse with the shore, already suffering many privations, and seeing formidable preparations to reduce them by force, the only hope of the mutineers was in the support and co-operation of other ships at the home station. But instead of encouragement, they received addresses from the crews of the ships at Portsmouth and Plymouth, desiring them to return to their duty, and reprobating their conduct as a 'scandal to the name of British seamen.' It became known, also, that a resolution had been adopted, that no man engaged in the mutiny should be employed in the merchant service; and they found no sympathy in any class of their countrymen. But when the recent Acts of Parliament, and the King's proclamation, which the leaders of the mutiny in vain endeavoured to suppress, were promulgated through the ships, the men who had been coerced into the mutiny, or who had reluctantly joined it, loudly declared for immediate submission. Five of the ships slipped their cables, and deserted the piratical squadron. The 'Repulse' and the 'Leopard' followed the lead; but the former, a frigate

58

SUPPRESSION OF THE MUTINY. CH. XXXVII.

of the first rate, having grounded, was exposed to the broadsides of the nearest ships for an hour and a half, before she could be got off. Three other ships made good their escape to the Medway in the night. The remainder of the insurgents then separated into two divisions; the one professing to hold out to the last; the other willing to surrender upon terms. Flags of truce were sent on shore; but the Government, being advised that the mutiny was breaking up, remained inflexible. The men, therefore, determined to give way. Their first act of repentance was to remove the blockade from the mouth of the Thames. The revolted ships dropped off one by one; and on the 15th of May, after the mutiny had lasted five weeks, the 'Sandwich' herself slowly left her moorings, and anchored under the battery of Sheerness.

Execution

Parker, the ringleader, was taken into custody the same day. In a few days he was tried of Parker. by court-martial, and condemned to death. The sentence was executed at the yard-arm of the 'Sandwich.' Parker was a man of decent parentage, and good education. He had been bred to the naval profession, and, at the close of the American war, was an acting lieutenant in a man-of-war. Having come into some property, he retired from the service, and married a Scotch girl, with whom he is said to have received a portion. He appears, however, to have dissipated his fortune; and, to avoid a prison, he entered himself as a common seaman on board a tender in Leith Roads. From thence he had been transferred to the flag-ship at Sheerness. He was a bold, unprincipled adventurer, full of arrogance and conceit; but well fitted by education and address to exercise a dangerous influence over ignorant and discontented men. He styled himself, and was addressed by the crews as, Admiral Parker. He fell· short, however, of those high qualities which enable

1797.

CHARACTER OF PARKER.

59

a man, without the advantage of position, or early training, to maintain authority and command. The possession of power disturbed the balance of his mind; and instead of the skilful leader of rebels, of whom he appears to be the comrade, while he is really their dictator, this man vaunted himself like any vulgar tyrant, who claims a legitimate right to the abuse of power. Parker affected to establish a discipline, not less severe than that which was hardly submitted to without murmuring when practised by an officer with a regular commission. His only notion of rule was force and terror. If a ship was suspected of disaffection to the cause, she was kept within range of the guns of the Sandwich,' or one of her consorts. If she attempted to return to her duty, she was fired into. On his trial, this man, who had behaved with such insolence and defiance to his superiors, endeavoured to set up a character for moderation; attempted to shift the blame of commencing the mutiny to a ship in which he had no control, insinuated that he had acted under duress, and finally asserted that it was owing to his influence the fleet was not carried into the enemy's port. He was persuaded that by this line of defence he should save his life. But the proof was too strong for such pretences; and the only effect of putting them forward was to deprive his well-merited fate of that commiseration which it would otherwise have received from his generous though misguided followers. Parker was thirty years of age when he suffered. Not more than four or five persons were capitally punished. Sentences of more or less severity were passed on other ringleaders; but the punishments

were not numerous.

The disturbances in the fleet were not confined to the Channel and the mouth of the Thames. A bad spirit pervaded the whole service. We have seen that Admiral Duncan was deserted by a portion of

60

MUTINOUS DISPOSITION

CH. XXXVII.

his fleet; he was, in fact, left with only two ships to blockade the Texel. The promptitude and wise severity of Lord St. Vincent suppressed the first rising of a dangerous revolt in the squadron off Cadiz. At the Cape of Good Hope, it was necessary to point the guns of the batteries at Simon's Town, and to prepare red-hot shot for the destruction of His Majesty's ships in open mutiny. In another sea, the crew of the 'Hermione' rose, put the captain and his officers to death, and took the frigate into a Spanish port.

Ill-usage of the

Beamen common.

Convulsions like these happening almost simultaneously proved the existence of evils which demanded searching inquiry. The more palpable grievances of the service had been hastily redressed under dangerous and disgraceful pressure. But there remained behind deepseated and wide-spread mischief, which could not be so readily removed. The decks of a man-of-war do not admit of luxury; nor does a seaman require to be pampered. But, rough as he is, he knows and feels the difference between a well and an ill-regulated ship. Generally, the health and comfort of the crew were but little regarded. The ventilation of a ship was unfit for the necessities of animal life; the food was frequently bad; the sick were often cruelly neglected. But more harassing and demoralising even than these hardships was the conduct of the officers, among whom it was a too prevalent notion, that to keep the men up to their duty, and make them smart, it was necessary to be continually cursing them, to call them foul names, never to address them without an oath, and never to let them be at rest. The lesson which these great mutinies taught was not forgotten. The Admiralty became more circumspect in their appointments. A lad, who was fit for nothing else, was no longer considered eligible for the navy. It ceased to be con

1797.

THROUGHOUT THE NAVY.

61

sidered a sufficient qualification for the command of a ship, that the candidate was recommended by the proprietor of a borough, or a woman of fashion. Midshipmen were admonished, that it would be as well to treat bearded men something better than dogs; and captains and first lieutenants began to doubt, that the service would go to perdition, if the hands were not constantly turned up for exercise and drill. Even contractors for beef and rum were taught to think, that some little attention ought to be paid to the quality of the commodities which they supplied; and ships' pursers obtained an inkling that there was a limit to peculation. A more wholesome spirit was diffused throughout the service. A reform commenced in every department. Improvement,

though slow, has ever since been progressive; and yet there is still room for an advance. As a proof how little the people of this country are acquainted with the interior economy of their favourite service, it is worthy of remark, that the two practices which had been always the topic of popular declamation as the two crying grievances of the seafaring race, namely impressment and flogging-were never named in any of the ships during this year of mutiny.

The failure of the negotiations at Paris rendered it necessary to open a second budget for Increase of the the service of the year. The country had national debt. now entered on the fifth year of a war, which had already added one hundred and thirty-five millions to the permanent debt, without having accomplished any of the objects for which it had been undertaken. We began with Austria, Prussia, Spain, and Holland as allies. Prussia had withdrawn into a dubious neutrality. Spain and Holland were firm on the side of the enemy. Austria had already lost her Flemish and Italian provinces; and to succour this, our last remaining ally, the financial arrangements