HOSTILITIES AGAINST TURKEY.
Another armament dispatched by the Grenville administration led to no very honourable result. Towards the end of November, 1806, when our diplomatists at the Ottoman Porte had been circumvented by the French, and had failed in their endeavours to prevent the sultan from engaging in a war with the czar Admiral Louis appeared off Tenedos and the coast of Troy with three line-of-battle ships and four frigates. It was an ancient rule, that no ships of war were to pass either the straits of the Dardanelles or the straits of the Bosphorus; but, nevertheless, Admiral Louis sent a ship of the line and a frigate through the former, and the Turks, wishing to avoid hostilities with the English, let them pass their tremendous batteries without firing at them. They came to anchor off Constantinople, and while there some attempts at negociation were renewed on shore. These negociations, however, were all rendered abortive, partly by the skill of the French envoy, Sebastiani; partly by the lack of ability in our ambassador, Mr. Arbuthnot; partly by the victories that Napoleon was gaining over the Austrians and Russians; and partly by the neutral ground which the Austrian envoy took, and the shuffling and tergiversation of the ministers of Spain and Holland. Evil reports, also, had their effect on the sultan. It was told him that a large English fleet was on its way to the Dardanelles and Constantinople, and that his capital would soon be bombarded. In such an unenviable position did the British envoy stand, that he thought it prudent to take his departure from Turkey. Secret preparations were made for this purpose, and a scheme was also devised for carrying off with him the persons attached to his embassy, and the British merchants settled at Constantinople. After disclosing his project to two or three persons, he requested the captain of the English frigate, “Endymion,” which remained at anchor near the mouth of the Golden-Horn, to invite him, his legation, and the merchants, to a grand dinner on board. All were invited, and all went to partake of the captain’s good cheer, not dreaming that there was anything in the wind beyond a good dinner and a few patriotic toasts. While yet round the festive board, however, Mr. Arbuthnot gravely informed the merchants that they must go with him to England; and it was in vain that they pleaded their wives and numerous families were left on shore: it was answered, the Turks would not hurt their wives and families, and that they must go away with him as they were. The guests lost their appetites by this announcement; and at eight o’clock in the evening the “Endymion” cut her cables, and got under weigh; subsequently joining Admiral Louis’s squadron, off the island of Tenedos. Mr. Arbuthnot now finding himself in safety, wrote to the divan to explain the motives of his sudden departure, and to propose the renewal of negociations. Feyzi Effendi, a Mussulman of high rank, was ordered to open a conference with the British ambassador; and day after day passed in negociations, but all to no purpose. At length, on the 10th of February, Sir John Duckworth arrived off Tenedos, with some more ships of the line and two bomb-vessels; and this force being united to that of Admiral Louis, made up a squadron of eight line-of-battle ships, two frigates, and two bombs. The French envoy, by his agent, M. de Lascours, had endeavoured to impress the necessity of exertion on the mind of the Turkish negociator; but he had a predilection for the English, and would not believe that they would commence hostilities with the divan. It was not written in the book of destiny that the English should come; and if they did, there were guns enough to sink them all: the expenses which the French recommended, were, in fact, unnecessary: God was great. Nor did the arrival of the squadron of Sir John Duckworth interrupt the conference between the British envoy and the Turkish negociator, or incite him to greater exertion; he still smoked his pipe, and hoped that all things would end well. His confidence was possibly increased by a terrible disaster which befell the “Ajax,” one of Sir J. Duckworth’s squadron. While at anchor off Tenedos, she took fire, and about two hundred and fifty men and women perished in the flames; the rest, including the Captain, Blackwood, escaped by leaping into the sea, where they were picked up by boats sent for their relief.
Sir John Duckworth had orders to force the passage of the Dardanelles, anchor before Constantinople, and bombard the city, unless certain conditions were complied with. The passage of the straits was effected in the midst of a fire from the forts of Sestos and Abydos. At the same time Sir Sidney Smith directed his efforts against a squadron; and a battery, which, if completed, might have defended the Turkish vessels, was stormed by a party of the British. The Turkish squadron and bastion were destroyed, in which enterprise Sir Sidney Smith lost only four men killed and twenty-six wounded. Sir John Duckworth now passed in apparent triumph into the Bosphorus, whence he sent a letter to the Reis Effendi, demanding a declaration of the sultan’s views—whether he was determined to espouse the cause of France, or renew his alliance with England, and second her efforts in opposing the tyranny of Napoleon. The British were again overreached by French subtilty. Sebastiani, the French envoy, inspired the Sultan with confidence, and persuaded him to enter into a negociation, while in the mean time all the approaches to Constantinople should be fortified. All this was done, and when the proposals of the British government were rejected, the wind and current, as Sebastiani had foreseen, prevented the hostile fleet from taking such a position as would enable it effectually to bombard the city. Sir John Duckworth, therefore, was obliged to hasten his departure; and in repassing the Dardanelles, he sustained considerable loss from the fire of the castles. A new enemy was added to the list already in battle array against England. In Turkey, her agents and settlers were exposed to considerable annoyance, and a sequestration of British property to a large amount was promptly executed in various quarters. The fate which awaited the Mussulman negociator was a lamentable one: he was accused of imbecility or treachery; and his head was taken off his shoulders to decorate the niche over the Seraglio gate: he paid dear for his friendly feelings towards the English. So ended the famed expedition to the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. It broke the spell by which the passage of the Dardanelles had for ages been guarded; but beyond this it was little more than a brilliant bravado, followed by a series of humiliating blunders. And yet no investigation was instituted into the causes of the failure, Sir John Duckworth being a favourite admiral of the “all talents” ministry; and subsequently, after their dismissal, he being sheltered from censure by the strife of parties.
GEORGE III. 1807—1809