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George Augustus Eliott.

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true also that the representations of Lord Tyranley, the Governor, led Pitt to underrate the value of the place; and the great orator must have been scandalized at the plundering and perquisites of Governors, which made their aggregate emoluments £20,000 per annum.* But the abuses incident to the administration of the rock were corrigible, and might have been corrected; whereas the loss of the fortress, if once surrendered or lost, could never have been repaired. Pitt, however, soon became convinced of his error. In 1779 he pronounced Gibraltar 'situated in the very continent of Spain, the best proof of our 'naval power, and the only solid check on that of the house of 'Bourbon.' Twice within a century Spain had attempted the recovery of the fortress, and on each occasion she had been compelled to retire with humiliation and defeat. Believing that the moment had now arrived when she might be more fortunate, the Court of Madrid allied herself to France in 1779, and declared war against England. Two years before this period, a remarkable man, a more remarkable soldier, had been made Governor of the rock. This was George Augustus Eliott, who was the youngest of the nine sons of Sir Gilbert Eliott, of Sleath, in the county of Roxburgh. Born in 1718, Eliott had been early sent to the University of Leyden, where he became a proficient in languages. Subsequently he studied with assiduity and success at the School of Engineers at La Fere. Having attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, he accompanied George II. to Germany as Aide-de-camp in 1743, and was wounded at the battle of Dettingen. He distinguished himself in the seven years' war under the Duke of Cumberland, and was considered a man of great military talents, energy, and perseverance, qualities that were fully tested in the memorable siege with which his name is for ever associated.

Eliott, on assuming the command, soon discovered defects in the fortifications, and that the garrison was inadequate to perform even the duties necessary in a time of peace. The Governor declared it would be impossible to withstand a siege with the inefficient resources at his disposal; and he sent home Colonel Green, of the Engineers, to explain to Ministers how matters stood, and wrote pressingly to the Government. His remon

strances were scarcely heeded. Though the Cabinet had tardily and inadequately reinforced and provisioned the garrison; yet General Eliott, who had foreseen the coming storm, chiefly depended on his own efforts, and prepared for an event which he had long contemplated. The garrison when the war broke * General O'Hara was in the receipt of £7,000 per annum for wine-licences alone.

out was composed of ten regiments, including the artillery and engineers, giving a total of 5,382 officers and men; whereas Spain attacked the rock with all her naval and military resources. A Spanish squadron appeared in the bay. Rodney attacked it, and only one transport escaped. This advantage was quickly followed by another. A few days afterwards a Spanish squadron was discovered near Cape St. Vincent, and after a severe conflict, was defeated. The unfavourable disposition of Morocco, and the vigilance of Spanish armed vessels, however, deprived the garrison of supplies of provender from the African coast, and they were reduced to the sorest straits, when they were again relieved by a fleet under Admirals Darby, Digby, and Ross. Unable to force the garrison to capitulate by blockade, the Spaniards now resolved on a supreme effort. Works were carried on with renewed vigour, batteries were supplied with guns of the heaviest metal, and two hundred pieces of battering cannon, and eighty mortars, poured an incessant shower of shot and shell into the place for the space of three weeks. The most eminent engineers of France and Spain were brought to superintend the approaches of the besiegers; but on the night of the 27th of November, 1781, General Ross, at the head of two thousand picked men, marched out of the garrison for the purpose of destroying the batteries, and in a few minutes drove from them the astounded Spaniards. The guns and mortars were spiked, the magazines were blown up, the storehouses were fired, together with every part of the batteries. Thus, in somewhat less than two hours, the gigantic works which the enemy had raised at an expense of two millions sterling were annihilated. Spanish pride, no less than a sense of national interest, now induced his Catholic Majesty and his Ministers to direct the whole forces and resources of the monarchy upon the rock. The Chevalier d'Arcon, a famous French engineer, who had been attached to the army of Marshal Broglie, was summoned to St. Roque. He had invented what he called 'batteries, flot'tantes, insubmersibles, et incombustibles, révetues d'une forte 'cuirasse en bois du coté de l'ennemi,' and which must have somewhat resembled similar batteries which the Emperor of the French proclaims as his own special invention. Ten of these batteries, supposed to be invulnerable, were launched. Their bottoms were of thick timber, their sides of wood and cork, and they were supplied with sloping roofs. Each of them carried from ten to twenty-eight guns, manned by a picked crew. They were supported by gun-boats and armed vessels. A thousand pieces of artillery and twelve thousand of the best troops of France were joined to those of Spain, and numerous volunteers

Drinkwater's account of the Siege.

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of the highest rank-such as the Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X., and the Duke de Bourbon-appeared on the staff. The direction of the operations was intrusted to the Duke of Crillon, who had distinguished himself in the reduction of Minorca.

Colonel Drinkwater, who witnessed the siege, and who has described it with graphic minuteness, says :

That the Spaniards meant, previous to their final efforts, to strike a terror through their opponents by displaying an armament more powerful than had ever been brought against any fortress. Fortyseven sail of the line, including three inferior two-deckers, ten battering ships, deemed perfect in design, and esteemed invincible, carrying 212 guns, innumerable frigates, xebeques, bomb ketches, cutters, gun and mortar boats, and smaller craft for disembarking men, were assembled in the bay. On the land side were most stupendous batteries and works, mounting 200 pieces of heavy ordnance, managed by an army of near 40,000 men, commanded by a victorious general, and animated by the immediate presence of two princes of the blood royal of France. In their certainty of success, however, the enemy seemed to have entirely overlooked the nature of that force which was opposed to them; for though the garrison scarcely consisted of 7,000 effective men, including the Marine Brigade, they forgot that they were now veterans in the service, and had been long habituated to the efforts of artillery. On the 9th of September, 1782, an attack was made by the Spaniards upon the land side, where a battery of sixty-four guns was opened; but the fire was so warmly returned, that the Spaniards were driven from their works. At the same time several of the ships attacked Europa Point, but their success was not greater. Two of the largest vessels were so damaged as to be obliged to repair to Algeziras Bay for the purpose of refitting. Crillon now resolved to send forward his invincible batteries; and on the morning of the 13th they were put in motion. Buenventura de Moreno, a distinguished Spanish officer who commanded them, brought them to the requisite position; and no sooner was this accomplished than the most dreadful firing commenced. The batteries on sea and on land opened at the same instant, and poured into the garrison an incessant shower of shot, while the British returned the fire with that celerity and skill which the greatness of the occasion demanded. From ten in the morning till noon this firing was continued without the smallest intermission. About two, Moreno's battering ship was seen to emit smoke as if burning. About midnight the effects of the red-hot shot which the garrison had used became conspicuous; the battery belonging to the Admiral was discovered to be on fire, and in a short time the other eight were seen successively to be in flames, and made signals of distress. Of their crews only 400 men were saved by the exertions of the British. The rest were either consumed in the flames, torn in pieces by the explosions, or drowned

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in their attempts to escape. Thus were the sanguine expectations of the Spaniards completely disappointed, and the invincible batteries in one day totally annihilated."

During the siege the most common necessaries of life were exorbitantly dear. Bad ship-biscuit full of worms was sold at 1s. a pound; flour, not in much better condition, at the same price; old dried peas at 1s. 4d.; salt, half dirt, the sweepings of ships' bottoms and storehouses, at 8d.; old salt butter at 2s. 6d. ; and English farthing candles at 6d. apiece. Fresh provisions commanded much higher prices. Turkeys sold at £3 12s.; sucking pigs at £2 2s.; and £1 1s. was refused for a calf's pluck. The effect of the red-hot shot, recommended by General Boyd to be used against the Spanish works, exceeded the most sanguine expectations. The damage done was extensive, and for a time irreparable. An immense amount of ammunition was expended on both sides. Three hundred and twenty of the enemy's cannon were in play throughout the day, and to these were opposed only ninety-six guns from the rock. Upwards of 8,000 shot and 716 barrels of gunpowder were fired away by the garrison. The siege had lasted for three years, seven months, and twelve days; and for the elaborate magnitude of the attack, and above all for the skill and heroical energy and fortitude of the defence, it was one of the most remarkable sieges, perhaps the most remarkable, of which mention is made in history. The news of the failure was received by the Ministry at Madrid with dismay, and by the King with despair. In Paris the intelligence was equally unexpected and unwelcome. So certain had the fact of the capture of the fortress been considered, that a drama, illustrative of the destruction of Gibraltar by the floating batteries, was acted nightly in Paris to applauding thousands.*

For nearly eighty years Spain had thus exhausted her treasury and sacrificed her armies and her navies to gain the rock fortress; but now, after a countless expenditure of men and money, she found all her efforts vain and futile. No wonder that Florida Blanca said, after the discomfiture of the besiegers, 'No British Ministry will have the courage to look the question 'fairly in the face, and I will think no more of it.'

For 158 years Spain has acquiesced in the fortune of war and the provisions of treaty law; but of late a semi-official journal, the Epoca, and a Senor Lobo, said to be a distinguished officer of the Spanish fleet, have talked of the possession of Gibraltar by Great Britain as a disgrace and a perpetual cause of humili'ation.' 'Gibraltar,' says the official scribe, ought to be a

• Barrow's Life of Lord Howe, p. 157.

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Title to Occupation.

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Spanish city, and its re-capture should in future be the most 'sacred aspiration for the nation; for while the fortress is occupied by England, we are invaded in our territory, and are pre'pared to adopt any alliance which may be for the interests of Spain. They say on the other side of the Pyrenees, 'Palabras 'de boca piedra de honda' (Words of the mouth are like a stone in a sling). They are sometimes thrown back on the slinger with redoubled force. To this thrasonical Spanish rhodomontade, it may be answered that we hold Gibraltar by virtue of conquest and of solemn treaty, and that we shall continue to hold it by right and by might against all comers. Our title, according to European law, is unimpeachable and without flaw; and the descendants of the brave men who had the courage and the skill to take the rock, have now the power, the ability, and the will to hold it against any one power, or against a coalition of France and Spain. The Manchester school, with Messrs. Cobden and Bright at their head, may rail at the expense of the garrison, but the people of England do not sympathise with them, for they think with Fox that the surrender of the fortress should never be allowed to become a subject of discussion, and they think with Burke that the fortress is invaluable as a possession, because it is impregnable. Give up to Spain,' said Fox, 'the fortress of Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean becomes to them a pool, a 'pond in which they can navigate at pleasure, and act without 'control or check.' Deprive yourselves of this station,' said the great debater, and the States of Europe who border on the Mediterranean will no longer look to you for the free navigation of that sea; and having it no longer in your power to be useful, you cannot expect alliances.'

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That Gibraltar is much better governed under Great Britain than it would be under any other power is a proposition selfevident. There is perfect freedom of opinion and belief, and there is boundless toleration; and these things are unknown in Spain. In 1830 a charter of justice was given to the city, a magistracy was established, and the advantage of civil liberty accorded to its inhabitants. It is urged, however, that England has no grounds for keeping the fortress, and that it would be an act of justice to restore it to Spain. But the history of the last century and a half shows that Spain was not able either to hold or to retake it. Were Gibraltar restored to Spain to-morrow, Spain could only hold it during the good pleasure of France. Gibraltar under England defies attack, and is unassailable. Gibraltar under the Spaniards, as Captain Sayer says, would be a third-rate fortress, the prey of an unscrupulous military and maritime power, making war under the false pretence of an

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