Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez. Vol II

by Sir John Ross

The subjoined extract of a letter which Sir James wrote to his brother Richard, is sufficiently expressive of his feelings:

2nd September 1801.

Nothing can be more strongly penned than the letters, both public and private, which I have received. If I had destroyed thirty sail of line-of-battle ships, they could not have been in a higher strain of praise and admiration. But is it not surprising they should cease there? Not a syllable is said of the first lieutenant, or anything intended for myself. Your letter seemed to make certain of it, and you fully expect that a peerage will be conferred on me at the meeting of Parliament, with the grant of a suitable pension. I cannot but feel surprised that Phil. Dumaresq should have been detained so long in London, and not be charged with the smallest hint on the subject, which almost makes me fear my services will be disregarded in the same manner I experienced after the Nile.

I declare to you that on no service wherein I have been engaged have I found any situation equally arduous as that of Algeziras, nor have known any in the naval history of my country. Its consequences have been equal to the most complete victory; for, with seven sail, of which my squadron was composed, we have frustrated two important expeditions, the naval force of which consisted of sixteen sail of the line.

I have been encouraged to expect this mark of distinction by all on this station, and I cannot express my feelings should it not be conferred. I shall, however, follow my sister's advice of "patience and humility" in either instance, and I trust to my resignation should the injustice be done to me.

With regard to Mr. Pipon, he cannot do better than follow Captain Martin in a line-of-battle ship as first lieutenant; it will not prevent my exertions to serve him: but judge of the injustice to those officers who have shared in this and several other battles with me, to place a stranger over their heads.

The Cæsar will, I hope, in a short time, be ordered to England; and I have written to be permitted to proceed in her, which I trust will be complied with.

Is it not hard I should have been deprived of Lady Saumarez's letters? It is, however, a consolation to know that she was in good health so late as the 14th, by a letter to Captain Dumaresq.

The loss of Lady Saumarez's letters, which had been sent unfortunately to Plymouth, where the squadron which sailed from Portsmouth did not touch, as was expected, added greatly to Sir James's disappointment; as did also the information that Mr. Lamburn, who had been appointed to the Calpé, was to return to the Cæsar, being superseded by Captain Dumaresq; and that none of the appointments of the warrant-officers to the St. Antoine were confirmed. It was, from these facts, sufficiently evident that Sir James, in his honourable desire to benefit those under his command, particularly Captains Hood and Keats, had materially injured his own interest by permitting these officers to make their own reports of the action at which he was present commanding, and taking part. By thus omitting to give himself and his own ship the full share of credit due to both, he actually threw his officers and himself so completely into the back-ground, that people were led to believe the Cæsar and the Admiral had little or nothing to do with the battle. It is to this, and not to any disinclination of Earl St. Vincent to reward Sir James, that his services were on this occasion unrewarded,—the success being, by these documents, attributed entirely to the Superb and Venerable; in contemplation of which, the heavy responsibility, the ardent zeal, the determined resolution Sir James had evinced, and, above all, the important advantages gained to the nation by that victory which his bravery and perseverance had obtained, were entirely overlooked. We may justly ask, were the merits of the first lieutenant of the Superb, which, in conjunction with the Cæsar, made an easy capture of the San Antonio, and with a trifling loss,[2] greater than those of the first lieutenant of the flag-ship, which was engaged far more severely at Algeziras, who exerted himself most zealously in refitting the ship, besides assisting in the capture of the French ship? Yet the promotion was only given to the first lieutenants of the Venerable and Superb, although the former ship would probably have been taken had it not been for the Cæsar, and the latter was not in the action of Algeziras at all! These circumstances, and the fact that his appointments to the St. Antoine were not confirmed, seem to have given Sir James more concern than even the total neglect of his own meritorious services.

Taking into account every circumstance regarding the actions of the 6th and 12th July,—the severity of the former, the intermediate exertions, the professional skill, the daring and the tact displayed in the latter, and the complete discomfiture of the enemy's well-arranged plans for the destruction of our commerce at Lisbon and the subsequent relief of their army in Egypt,—this victory was equal to, if not greater in importance than, either the battles of St. Vincent or the Nile, for the former of which Jervis was created an earl, and Nelson a baron for the latter, immediately on the arrival of the news in England. Yet after a lapse of several months, after praises had been heaped upon Sir James, after the thanks of both houses of parliament had been voted to him for the fifth time, after his eminent services had been acknowledged by every large corporation, and generally throughout the kingdom—after the highest encomiums had been pronounced on him by Earl St. Vincent and Lord Nelson,—instead of a peerage, which he as richly deserved as either of the other two, he was decorated only with the red riband.