William Pitt and the Great War by John Holland Rose (book club reads txt) 📕

had many adherents; but after the outbreak of war in February 1793 he

too advocated the sovereignty of Great Britain under certain conditions,

and on behalf of the colonists of Hayti signed a compact with Dundas to

that effect.

Fear of a revolt of the slaves had induced Ministers to send out

reinforcements, so that, early in 1793, 19 battalions were in the

British West Indies. In the month of April a small British force easily

captured Tobago and restored that valuable little island to Great

Britain. An attack on Martinique at midsummer was, however, a failure.

These attempts, it may be noted, were made with forces already in the

West Indies.[368] Pitt and Dundas have been severely blamed for sending

further reinforcements to the West Indies.[369] But a letter which Pitt

wrote to Grenville some time in June or July 1793 shows that the news

of a French expedition having set sail to the West Indies, escorted by

six or seven sail-of-the-line from Brest, led him to urge the despatch

of a force for the protection of that important group of colonies.[370]

Besides, was a forward policy in the West Indies unwise? In these days

it is hard to realize the value of those islands. The mention of Hayti

conjures up a vision as of a ship manned by gorillas; for there and in

Liberia is seen the proneness of the negroes to aimless lounging varied

by outbursts of passion. But in the year 1789 Hayti far surpassed

Jamaica in wealth and activity. The French possessed only the western

third of the island; but the Spanish portion to the east was far less

fertile, and far worse cultivated. The French genius for colonization

was seen in the excellent system of irrigation carried on in the vast

and fertile plain, the _Cul-de-Sac_, east of the capital,

Port-au-Prince. But other portions, notably the long peninsula to the

south-west, were also highly prosperous. The chief towns equalled in

splendour and activity the provincial cities of France. Port-au-Prince

and Cap Français were the pride of the West Indies; and the rocky

fortress, Mole St. Nicholas, dominated those waters as Gibraltar

dominates the Eastern Mediterranean. The population of Hayti was

reckoned at 40,000 whites, 60,000 mulattoes or half-castes, and some

500,000 negro slaves. Its exports (chiefly sugar, coffee, and cotton)

were assessed at upwards of £7,500,000, or more by one third than that

of all the British West Indies. To some extent Jamaica flourished on its

ruin. For in May 1796 an official report stated that two

coffee-planters, refugees from Hayti, who had settled in the mountains

behind Port Royal, were introducing so many improvements as to bring the

exports of coffee up to 6,000,000 lb.; and they would soon amount to

50,000,000 lb.[371]

The colonists of Hayti, who offered this valuable prize to Great

Britain, were far from being unprincipled adventurers. Malouet, on whom

fell the chief responsibility, was an upright and able man; and both he

and his comrades were deputed by representative Assemblies which sought

to save society from sinking into a gulf of unutterable horrors. His

letters to Pitt[372] are instinct with the conviction that the men of

Hayti unanimously desired a British protectorate, and recognized that

the colonists must pay for the support accorded to them. As we were

framing an alliance with Spain, no difficulties were to be anticipated

from the Spanish part of that island. When five or six valuable islands

were to be had, to all appearance with little risk except from the

slaves, Ministers would have been craven in the extreme not to push on

an enterprise which promised to benefit British commerce and cripple

that of France.

Unfortunately, owing to the drain of the Flemish campaign, their action

was tardy. The schisms between Royalists and Republicans at the city of

Cap Français enabled the negroes to burst in at midsummer of 1793 with

fire and knife and glut their vengeance on some thousands of persons.

Even after these atrocities the Jacobin commissioners continued to make

use of the blacks in order to enforce their levelling decree; and the

year ended amid long drawn out scenes of murder, rape, and pillage. By

these infamous means did democracy win its triumph in the West Indies.

In their despair the French loyalists applied for further aid to

Major-General Williamson, the governor of Jamaica. He sent a force which

received a hearty welcome at the little fortress of Jérémie (19th

September), and a few days later at that important stronghold, Mole St.

Nicholas, then blockaded on land by the blacks. An attempt by the

Republicans at the capital, Port-au-Prince, to send an expedition for

the recapture of Mole St. Nicholas was thwarted; and late in the year

1793 five other towns accepted British protection. The rapid recovery of

prosperity in the district forming the lower jaw of the griffin-like

head of Hayti is seen in the official exports from the port of Grand

Anse at its tip. During the quarter 20th September to 31st December 1793

it sent the following quantities to British ports, chiefly Kingston in

Jamaica: Coffee, 644,751 lb.; Sugar, 91,593 lb.; Cotton, 56,339 lb.;

Cocoa, 66,944 lb. Even larger quantities of coffee were exported to

foreign ports.[373] In 1796 the produce of Hayti was valued at

£1,500,000; the colony employed more than 400 ships.[374] Was not this a

land for which some risks might be encountered?

Meanwhile the Spaniards from their part of the island had overrun

certain districts, especially those to the north of Port-au-Prince. In

particular, they for a time occupied the port of Gonaives, about midway

between the capital and Mole St. Nicholas, a step almost as threatening

to the British forces as to the French Republicans. It is hard to fathom

the designs of the Spaniards at this time. Their pride, their hereditary

claims to the whole of the Indies, and their nearness to this splendid

prize, all urged them on to an effort from which lack of men, ships and

money, and the hatred of the French and the blacks to their sway should

have warned them off. Seeing also that the French colonists had

officially handed over their possession to Great Britain, Spain should

have come to some understanding with her Ally before invading what was

now in effect British territory. She did not do so; and subsequent

events proved that her King and statesmen harboured deep resentment

against the transfer, and sought to thwart it by underhand means. For

the present, however, their inroad into the north-central districts

dealt one more blow to the power of the French Jacobins and their black

friends. These last were formidable only when the quest was plunder.

Even the iron will of their ablest leader, Toussaint l'Ouverture, could

infuse no steadiness into the swarthy levies, which, roving almost at

will in the mountainous interior, were wellnigh as dangerous to the

Republicans as to the British.[375]

It is not surprising, then, that Pitt and Dundas, despite the drain of

ships and men to Ostend and Toulon, did all in their power to secure

this colony, which had always been deemed essential to the prosperity of

French commerce. On 11th October 1793 Pitt reluctantly admitted the need

of further postponing the West India expedition owing to the uncertainty

of the fate of Ostend and the chance of a French raid on our shores. But

when these dangers passed away the original plan held the first place;

and it should be noted that, by the middle of November, when the

expedition was finally decided on, the position of the Royalists at

Toulon was thought to be satisfactory. Much, of course, can be urged

against sending troops so far away, when the loyal Bretons needed

succour; but Pitt, Grenville, and, still more, Dundas were bent on this

colonial enterprise; and, viewing the situation as it then was, not as

we with our knowledge of later events see it, their decision seems

defensible.[376]

On 26th November, then, Sir John Jervis (afterwards Earl of St. Vincent)

set sail with some 7,000 troops commanded by Sir Charles Grey. After

touching at Barbados he made for Martinique and succeeded in reducing

that island by 22nd March 1794. St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante,

and the Saintes surrendered in April, but after struggles which showed

that the Republicans, backed by mulattoes and blacks, were formidable

foes. This anarchic combination was already threatening the small and

scattered British garrisons in San Domingo. But, when further

reinforcements from England reached Mole St. Nicholas, a force detached

thence under Major-General Whyte made a dash upon Port-au-Prince.

Vigorously handled, and under cover of a violent thunderstorm, the

landing parties carried an important outwork in handsome style, and thus

assured the surrender of the whole place. The spoils were 101 cannon and

32 ships, with cargoes worth about half a million sterling (4th June

1794). This brilliant success cost the assailants very few lives; but

the heats of the summer and probably also the intemperance of the troops

soon thinned their ranks. The French, too, having received succours

which slipped out from Rochefort, recovered Guadeloupe in the month of

September.[377] And from this point of vantage they sought, often with

success, to stir up the slaves in the British islands.

Thus by the autumn of 1794 the position was somewhat as follows. The

British had secured all the French colonies in the West Indies,

excepting Guadeloupe. In Hayti they held nearly all the coast towns, and

maintained an intermittent blockade over the others; but their position

was precarious owing to the thinness of their garrisons, the

untrustworthiness of their mulatto auxiliaries, and the ravages of

disease. It seems probable that, with ordinary precautions and some

reinforcements, the garrisons might have held out in the towns then

occupied, provided that the fleet intercepted French expeditions

destined for the West Indies; and this ought to have been possible after

Howe's victory of 1st June 1794. The fact that the Republic strenuously

prepared to regain those islands at the very time when the Coalition in

Europe and the revolt in Brittany threatened its existence, suffices to

justify Pitt and his colleagues in attacking France in that quarter. A

colony which is worth regaining must be worth gaining. To the capture of

Louisburg, a weaker stronghold than Mole St. Nicholas, England devoted

several expeditions a generation earlier. Had Pitt and Dundas declined

to have as a gift this key to the Indies, what would not their critics

have said of their incapacity and cowardice? For the West Indies were

then far more highly prized than Canada.

Endless difficulties beset every expedition to the tropics, even when

forethought and care minimize the risks from disease. The story of

England's ventures in those seas is, in general, one of hasty action and

long repentance. No one had made a special study of the needs of white

men in that climate. In fact, the military martinets of those days made

little allowance for the altered conditions of service under a broiling

sun; and, until the advent of Abercromby, only slight changes took place

either in the uniform or the time of drills. Dr. Pinckard, in his

account of this enterprise, mentions cases of gross stupidity,

slovenliness, and even of dishonesty on the part of army officials in

those colonies;[378] and it is clear that to this cause the long

death-roll was largely due. The following figures at the close of 1794

are instructive:[379]

                                 BRITISH.     |        COLONIAL.

                                              |

                          Effective.  Sick.   |   Effective.  Sick.

                                              |

  Port-au-Prince             366       462    |      496        48

  Mole St. Nicholas          209       166    |      209        38

  Jérémie                     95        59    |      ---       ---

  St. Marc                    48        33    |      813       321

  Tiburon                     34        18    |      ---       ---

                             -------------    |      -------------

  Total                          1490         |          1925

It will be observed that the French and coloured troops were far more

immune from sickness. Indeed, the loyal French colonists felt much

annoyance at the comparative uselessness of the British force at this

time. Charmilly, after a long visit to Hayti, returned to London in

September 1794, and laid stress on this in several letters to Pitt. On

11th October he urges him to sanction a plan (already approved) for

raising a force of French _émigrés_ in service in Hayti. A month later

he complains that nothing is being done, though the loyalists of Hayti

are willing to pay their share of the expenses. As it is, they are

growing disheartened; for the British troops remain in the strongholds,

thus leaving the colonial troops in the country too weak to cope with

the roving bands of brigands. As for himself, he is weary of soliciting

help which is never vouchsafed; and he warns Pitt that opinion is

gaining ground in Hayti as to the uselessness of maintaining a struggle

in which the British people take no interest. The note of egotism rarely

absent from Charmilly's letters appears in his assurance that, if

something is not done soon, England will lose the splendid possession

which he has placed in her hand.[380]

There were good reasons why Pitt and his colleagues should not commit

themselves deeply to the Haytian