1802. as they were, and although strengthened by the arrival, on the 5th of April, 1803, of a reinforcement of 2000 troops of the line, could not, it is believed, have preserved the colony to France, even if the war between the latter power and England had not, as it just then had, broken out afresh. That war and its mass of interesting details now claim our attention.

251

WAR OF 1803.

SCARCELY had the embers of the bonfires light up 1803. in celebration of the peace of Amiens grown cold on ~ the ground, ere the two principal parties to the treaty became again involved in war. Although the formal declaration, the act of England herself in this instance, did not issue until toward the middle of the year, each nation, with well-grounded forebodings of what was to happen, began her preparations at its commencement. So much of those preparations, as relate to naval concerns, fall properly within the scope of this work; and, as usual, we shall begin with the abstract, or tabular statement, of the british navy for the current year.*

Between that abstract and the preceding one a difference occurs, as well in one or more of the principal heads, as in the arrangement of the lower part of the table. A desire to improve the remaining abstracts of the series has suggested the alteration, and the necessary explanations on the subject will be found in the notes which accompany the present year's abstract.

A state of peace having filled the period between this abstract and the last, no captured column appears; and the built, purchased, and wrecked columns exhibit an unusual paucity of numbers.+ The decrease observable in many of the totals arises, partly from the alterations above alluded to, but, in a much greater degree, from the multiplicity of vessels sold or taken to pieces since the termination of the war. One fact is remarkable: the total of lineof-battle ships employable for sea-service falls short, by two, of the corresponding total in the abstract

* See Appendix, Annual Abstract No. 11. + See Appendix, No. 19.

Jan.

1803. for 1793. So that, during a period of 10 years, eight of them in war, the british navy had slightly decreased in ships of the line. If statesmen and historians have asserted otherwise, it has been because they drew their comparisons between the wrong totals. An increase of 11 certainly appears among the permanent harbour-service ships, but it is the sea-service cruisers which constitute the effective strength of a navy.

King's

mes

sage to

The number of commissioned officers and masters, belonging to the british navy at the commencement of the year, was,

Admirals
Vice-admirals
Rear-admirals

45

36

51

668

13

superannuated 26

And the number of seamen and marines voted for the service of 1803 was, 50000 for the first two, 60000 for the next four, and 100000 for the remaining seven lunar months of it.*

The king of England's message to parliament on the 8th of March, in the impression it made upon the parlia- public mind, was nearly tantamount to a declaration ment. of war; and preparations for carrying it on with vi

gour were immediately commenced in all the dockyards of the empire. The state of the british navy, as it stood on the 1st of January, has already appeared in its proper place. To the 32 line-ofbattle cruisers, then in commission, were added, before the 1st of May, 20 additional ones; and, by the 1st of the following month, the number of ships of the line in commission was augmented to 60, be

* See Appendix, No. 20.

sides a proportionate number of 50-gun ships, fri- 1803. gates, sloops, and smaller vessels, all either at sea or fitting for sea. A great many vessels of every class, including a large proportion of line-of-battle ships, were repairing; and several frigates, sloops, and schooners were ordered to be constructed with all possible despatch.

The first-consul of France was not, on his part, inactive. In the month of March he gave orders March. that the port of Flushing should be got ready to receive and equip a squadron, to be called the

66

Squadron of the North," and which was to consist often 74-gun ships from dutch models. This was probably, because they draw less water, in proportion to their rate, than the ships of other nations. The ships thus ordered were immediately to be laid down, part in Flushing and Ostende, and the remainder in ports of France. Gun-vessels and flat-bottomed boats were also to be constructed at every con- Jérôme venient spot along the shores of the Scheldt, the Weser, and the Elbe; and a quantity of ship-tim- seigne ber, hemp, and other naval stores, to the value of de vais20000000 of francs, was ordered to be immediately seau. purchased in Holland. In testimony, also, of his love for the naval service, Buonaparte, since the 25th of January, 1802, had made his brother Jérôme an enseigne de vaisseau.

In the road of Brest were lying four ships of the line: nine others were in the docks, repairing and nearly ready; and these were ordered to be expedited by all possible means. Three were on the stocks, nearly finished; and five lay in the inner harbour, waiting their turns to be docked; making a total of 21 serviceable line-of-battle ships in the port of Brest. There were also, laying up in the harbour, six or eight old and worn-out ships, including the Invincible and Terrible three-deckers.

In the port of Lorient were three ships on the stocks, expected to be launched in November; and two additional ones were ordered to be laid down.

Buona

parte

an en

1803. At Saint-Malo a 74 was ordered to be built; and at March. Nantes four frigates, exclusive of two dutch-built 74s, intended for the Scheldt squadron. At Bordeaux another of the latter was ordered to be built. At Rochefort three line-of-battle ships were building, and nearly ready: three others were now ordered. At Toulon there were eight ships of the line afloat, two on the stocks nearly finished, and two others about to be commenced. At Marseille the last of the 10 dutch-built 74s for the Scheldt squadron was ordered to be laid-down. At Genoa a 74-gun ship and frigate were immediately to be put in hand, from draughts prepared at Brest.* There were also nine french line-of-battle ships at, or coming from, the island of St.-Domingo, and one, the Marengo, on her road to the East Indies; making a total of 66 ships, including 47 afloat, or soon expected to be so.+

De.

caen's

India.

If it were not quite clear, from the very nature of these formidable preparations, thus carried on in the midst of peace, that a renewal of the war with Gen. England was contemplated, no doubt could exist, on a perusal of the instructions which, since early in mis- February, Buonaparte had drawn up for the guidance sion to of general Decaen. On the 6th of March this officer sailed from Brest, in the Marengo 74, for the french settlements in India, of which he had been appointed governor-general; and whither the Marengo, and the frigates Atalante, Belle-Poule, and Sémillante, and transports Côte-d'Or and Marie-Françoise, were carrying, for the alleged purpose of taking possession of Pondicherry agreeably to the third article of the treaty of Amiens, about 1350 troops.

It appears by one or two paragraphs in the document alluded to, that the first-consul did not

* Précis des Evénemens Militaires, &c. par M. Le Comte Mathieu Dumas, lieutenant général des armées du Roi. A Paris, 1822; tome xi. p. 189.

† See p. 240; also Appendix, No. 21.

For the original of which see Appendix, No. 22,