Chapter 29

1813 to 1831.

State of the Continent after the defeat of Buonaparte.--Sir James's services in the Baltic no longer required.--Retires from service, but not from public life.--His various occupations.--His claims for a Peerage disregarded.--Correspondence and observations thereon.--His residence in Guernsey.--Visit to Oxford.--Letter from Lord Nelson.--Captain Miller's monument.--Political opinions.--Letter from Earl St. Vincent.--Is appointed to the command at Plymouth.--Speech of Earl Grey.--Receives a visit from Lord Exmouth.--Strikes his flag.--Claims for a Peerage again disregarded.--Returns to Guernsey.--His reception there.--Death of George IV.--Accession of William IV.--Is created Baron de Saumarez.--Letter from Lady de Saumarez.--His reception at the Island of Guernsey, and rejoicings there.

The defeat of Buonaparte and the disastrous retreat of his army released the countries which surround the Baltic from the oppression to which they had been subject, and an English fleet was no longer necessary in that sea. The enemy indeed had still possession of Dantzig, and Denmark held out during the year 1813; but a small squadron under Rear-admiral Sir George Hope acting now in conjunction with Sweden, the co-operation of Russia was all that was wanted to carry on the blockade in the Belt, and to protect the commerce.

The services of a full admiral not being required, Sir James remained at home, chiefly in his native island. The command in the Mediterranean, which he would have had, had he not been requested to continue on the command in the Baltic, was occupied by Sir Edward Pellew, which, as will be hereafter seen, was an unfortunate circumstance.

Although retired from active warfare, it cannot be said that Sir James had retired from public life;--he was the patron of every useful institution, not by mere nominal sanction, but also by very munificent pecuniary contributions. He was one of the oldest members (I believe, President) of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, having become a subscriber to that institution in the year 1789; he was also president of the Royal Naval Charitable Institution, and of the Naval and Military Bible Society, as well as a large contributor. He was, moreover, vice-president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and of the Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews; patron of the National Schools of the Bethel Union; the Provident Society; the Church of England Sunday School; the Church of England Missionary Society, &c. His mind and his time, therefore, were employed in a manner no less honourable and useful than it had been in his Majesty's service; and it does not appear that he had taken any notice of the manifest neglect of his claims until the peace of 1814, when, at the conclusion of the war, peerages were conferred on those officers of the army and navy who had most highly distinguished themselves. He now found his name omitted; while Sir Edward Pellew, an officer junior to him on the list of admirals, who had never commanded a ship in a general action, and who was not even a Knight of the Bath, was raised to the dignity of baron.

Sir James could not but consider this circumstance as an injustice to his superior claims; and we know that Sir Edward Pellew, then created Baron Exmouth, admitted that Sir James's claims for that high honour were far greater than his own. We may add, that every officer of his Majesty's navy was of the same opinion. Feeling himself bound to remonstrate, a correspondence took place between Sir James and some of his Majesty's ministers on the subject, but without effect; and we believe that the only reason given by them for his having been passed over, was simply "that Sir James's flag was not flying at the conclusion of the war," while that of Sir E. Pellew was hoisted in the Mediterranean, where indeed Sir James _ought_ to have been, and where he would certainly have been had he not accepted the command in the Baltic at the request of ministers, on the especial understanding that it was not to be prejudicial to his claims. The fact was, however, that he had _no friends_ in power at that time; while Sir Edward Pellew had many claims on ministers for the support he gave them in Parliament.

It is needless to revert to the ungracious treatment he received, which can only be accounted for by his having refused a seat in Parliament, coupled with conditions to which his conscience would not allow him to accede, and from his diffidence in not putting forward his claims at an earlier period; too often the case with men who are truly brave, but which is injurious to the service, inasmuch as it induces a belief among the rising generation that even manifestly just claims may be entirely neglected.

On the 4th of June 1814, when the general promotion took place, Sir James was advanced to Admiral of the Blue, at which time his name on the list of the navy was the fourth above Lord Exmouth.

The following is the extract of a letter from Sir James to one of the family on the subject of the Peerage.

London, 16th May 1814.

"You will have seen that a Peerage has been conferred on Sir Edward Pellew; you may suppose that Sir John Duckworth and myself have taken the proper means with Lord Melville for our services being taken into consideration, for a similar mark of distinction, and there is every reason to believe we shall not be disregarded. I had a long interview with Lord Melville, who gave me to understand that he laid the subject as favourably as possible before Lord Liverpool. It is, I fear, very doubtful, but I cannot persuade myself so much injustice will be done to my services; and such is the opinion of all I meet."

Subsequently to this, Sir James received a letter from Lord Liverpool, which need not be inserted, as the substance is given in Sir James's answer, which we subjoin.

Date not exactly known, 1814.

MY LORD,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's letter of this date, signifying that you have had an opportunity of communicating to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent my request for the honour of the Peerage, as well as some other applications for the same honour from several distinguished officers of the navy and army, and that your lordship was commanded by the Prince Regent to acquaint me that his Royal Highness does full justice to my services on the occasions to which I refer; but he feels it, nevertheless, quite impossible, under all the circumstances, to comply with my request, and that he has directed your lordship to return the same answer to those who have made similar applications to him upon the present occasion. Without presuming to inquire into the merits of those distinguished officers with whom your lordship may have been pleased to blend my services, your lordship will permit me to observe, that the grounds upon which I found my application for the Peerage, were not confined to my services during the whole period of the late and American war; but also to my services during the five years that I had the honour to command his Majesty's fleet upon the Baltic station with the fullest approbation of Government, particularly for my uniform conduct respecting Sweden, which prevented that nation from joining the common enemy against this country, and also in having detached a timely force to Riga under the order of Rear-admiral Martin, which proved the means of preventing that city from falling into the hands of the French, and also, through the exertions of that zealous and able officer, succeeded in checking an important branch of the enemy's army from penetrating towards St. Petersburg, for which important services I have been honoured with the thanks of his Imperial Majesty, communicated to me by his ambassador at this court. As your lordship may not have laid those interesting particulars regarding my services before the Prince Regent, I now most earnestly request you will be pleased to render me that justice. I owe it to myself, to my family, as well as to the naval service, to which I have had the honour to belong upwards of forty-four years, to take the proper means, with every due respect, that my long and most faithful services are laid before his Royal Highness, in the fullest confidence that they will be found deserving the same mark of distinction that has been conferred upon an officer junior to me in the list of admirals. I beg leave to express my unfeigned acknowledgments to your lordship for the polite manner in which you have been pleased to convey to me the sentiments of his Royal Highness.

I have the honour to be, With the greatest respect, My Lord, Your most obedient and humble servant, JAMES SAUMAREZ.

To the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool, &c. &c. &c.

On Sir James's return to Guernsey, after his unsuccessful application to ministers for a Peerage, he resumed the works of charity and benevolence which had already done so much good to his native island. The ground on which Sir James's church stands was his property; he made a free gift of it to the building committee, and subscribed one thousand pounds towards the construction of that place of public worship. He assisted in improving the salaries of the masters and mistresses of the parochial schools, and was principally instrumental in establishing the Sunday school in the town parish. He founded an exhibition in Elizabeth College, for the best classical and theological scholar. He gave three hundred pounds in the Catel parish, where his country seat was situate, for the payment of a salary to the mistress of the girls' school. He distributed at Christmas, every year, warm clothing to the poor of every parish in the island, and, conjointly with the late dean, the Rev. Mr. Durand, succeeded, after many fruitless attempts, in establishing a national school at St. Peter Port. It has been justly said that he considered the great wealth he possessed as "trust money," for which he would have to account to that Being who had confided it to his care.

Sir James's residence being in Guernsey, where he possessed both a town and country house, and considerable landed property, and where he found himself surrounded by the relations both of Lady Saumarez and himself, he was induced to visit England but seldom. After the hundred days' war, when the Continental Sovereigns came to London, he accompanied the Prince Regent and his august allies to Oxford, and assisted in the ceremonies observed on that memorable visit. Had hostilities continued, there can be no doubt that he would have had the command of the Channel fleet, and it is worthy of remark that he was told, on making application for the Victory as his flag-ship, that four or five admirals, who had sought employment, had applied also for that favourite ship, notwithstanding the Howe, Nelson, and St. Vincent, new ships of one hundred and twenty guns, were ready for commission. Sir James having been second lieutenant of the _same_ Victory forty-seven years before he hoisted his flag in her, and being well aware of her excellent sailing qualities, will account for his desire for that ship to bear his flag, although it cannot be denied, that, having only one hundred guns, and her metal reduced to eighteen pounders on the middle deck, she was much inferior in force to those we have mentioned. The glorious victory of Waterloo, however, put an end to all speculations on that subject; and Sir James, having failed in an application for a similar reward to that conferred on others for his meritorious services, retired again to his native island. After Sir James and Lord Nelson had returned from the Mediterranean subsequently to the melancholy death of Captain Miller, they met at Sir Peter Parker's at dinner, when Sir James proposed that a subscription for a monument to Captain Miller's memory should be raised among the Captains who fought with his lordship at the Nile. This proposition was immediately adopted by Nelson, who volunteered to promote it; and the following is a letter on the subject from Nelson to Saumarez, which we insert here because it did not come to our hands until after the first volume had been printed.

MY DEAR SIR JAMES,--I have written so fully to Sir Edward Berry on the subject of dear Miller's monument, that I can only repeat my words. Sir E. Berry thought that a plain monument would cost only 200_l._ and be sufficient to mark our esteem, to which I am ready to agree, provided we are to have the honour to ourselves. I mean we, who fought with him on the 1st of August 1798; but if it is judged better to admit those who fought with him on the 14th February 1797, then I think that a less sum than 500_l._ would be highly improper for such a body to lay out on a monument. Flaxman is to be the artist employed, and Mr. Davison, if he will take the trouble, the manager of the whole business; for permission must be obtained from the Chapter of St. Paul's, &c. &c.

I wish we had all been off Brest when the squadron sailed; we might have had the good fortune to have seen them. The San Josef appears to answer very well; indeed, as far as we can judge at present, she is, take her altogether, the finest three-decker in this country. I am going, as you know, into the St. George, but I wish our Northern matters could be accommodated; however, we must face all our enemies, and, I trust, make them ashamed of themselves.

I know you have a lad of the name of Bate on board; if you wish to part from him, I am bound to take him.

With my best compliments to Lady Saumarez, believe me ever, my dear Sir James,

Your most obliged and affectionate, NELSON AND BRONTE.

To Rear-admiral Saumarez.

Although this letter has no date, it is clear that it must have been written just before the battle with the Danish fleet at Copenhagen in 1801; and it is evident that the merit of proposing a monument to the brave Captain Miller is due to Sir James Saumarez.

He seldom ventured an opinion on political subjects: considering himself a "friend to the King," it did not much concern him who his Majesty's ministers were, and his refusal to support either side was no detriment to his advancement during war, when his high character and skill as a naval officer ensured him an important command; but when peace came, and his services were no longer required, he was, like many other meritorious officers, thrown completely on the shelf. His son, the present lord, writes thus:--

Although Sir James was more than once offered a seat in Parliament, he always steadily declined it, from the idea that he could render better service to his country by remaining free from politics; or if ever the time did arrive when he might become a senator, he was resolved that whichever house he entered he would be free and unshackled.

On this subject Sir James writes a few lines to his brother when in the temporary command of the Channel fleet:

What you hint of a seat in Parliament has often occurred to me, but hitherto I should have found it an encumbrance. At some future period it may, perhaps, be more advisable; but you may rely on it that I never wish to have one without maintaining my independence, and being perfectly free and unbiassed by any party.

We are well assured that Sir James was decidedly against the Catholic Emancipation, although after he obtained a peerage he voted for the Reform Bill, being clearly of opinion that some reform of acknowledged and flagrant abuses was necessary. He did not, however, intend to go so far as many of his friends; he may be said to have nearly followed the politics of Earl Grey, after the retirement of whom he took no part in the affairs of the nation.

At every change which occurred in the Ministry, he sent a memorial of his services and claims, but without effect; and it is well known that he had a very unfruitful correspondence with the Duke of Wellington and other cabinet ministers. It was at this period that he suffered another indignity in being passed over, when the Major-generalship of Marines became vacant.

The following extracts from letters from Earl St. Vincent will show his lordship's opinions on this subject. The first is to a friend.

Rochetts, 8th May 1821.

I feel very much for Sir James Saumarez. I have lost no opportunity of stating his high pretensions, which in my judgment are very far superior to any other upon the list of flag-officers. When I gain a little more strength I shall be glad to see him.

The second is to Sir James,

MY DEAR SIR,--I cannot too highly appreciate the interest you take in a late event, and happy shall I be to greet you upon the reward due to your exalted and unrivalled services, a manifestation of which has on no occasion been let slip by your old and sincere friend,

ST. VINCENT.

On the 4th of April 1824, Sir James, then Admiral of the White, hoisted his flag on board the Britannia as Port Admiral at Plymouth. It was during his period of command that Earl Grey, who was fully sensible of the unhandsome and ungrateful manner in which he had been treated, visited Plymouth, and when his health was proposed by Sir James at the Royal Naval Club openly announced his sentiments in the following words:

I rise to offer my best thanks for the manner in which the president (Sir James Saumarez) has been pleased to propose my health, and for the assent which the gentlemen present have given to the gallant Admiral's favourable view of me as a public character. I cannot but remind those about me of the merits of my noble friend--[then correcting himself, Earl Grey went on]--I wish I could call him my _noble_ friend (_noble_, I mean, in rank, as he is already _noble_ in mind)--I wish I could see him ennobled by his Sovereign, as his services entitle him to be; for who would deny him that honour, who recollects the career which he has run from Rodney's glorious day, the battles off Cape St. Vincent and the Nile, down to his own brilliant exploits in the Crescent and as commander-in-chief at Algeziras, and not say, that if ever a name should or would have graced the peerage, it should have been that of Saumarez?

Ralfe, in his Naval Biography, after alluding to the above speech, justly remarks,--

Were it a matter of importance to adduce further proof of the high opinion entertained of Sir James's abilities, we believe we might name nearly the whole list of Admirals; for we never yet conversed with a single officer who was not loud in his praise, and who did not think the service neglected in his person.

At Plymouth, Sir James received a visit from Lord Exmouth, with whom he had had no personal communication since the time when they both commanded frigates on the Plymouth station.

Sir James struck his flag for the last time on the 10th of May 1827, after a most glorious career of nearly sixty years. His reiterated claims were still disregarded.

We have now arrived at the period when the great revolution in the affairs of the state brought Earl Grey into power, previously to which, his late Majesty William IV. had ascended the throne; and one of the first and most popular acts of the "Sailor King," who well knew the merits of Sir James, was to wipe off that slur on the national gratitude, by raising him to the peerage.

Sir James having arrived in London, had communication with Sir James Graham, then first Lord of the Admiralty, after which he wrote as follows:

London, 9th September 1831.

This morning, I had a long interview with Sir James Graham, who, I must say, is most favourably inclined towards me, and assures me that Earl Grey, with whom he has had frequent conversations, is equally so. I have an appointment with the latter to-morrow, but I do not anticipate any favourable result, and can only say, "God's will be done."

We need scarcely add, that his application was successful; Sir James was raised to the long-expected and well-merited dignity of a Baron on the first of October 1831. The following extract of a letter from Lady Saumarez to her son, describing the arrival of the first intelligence, we are sure will be perused with interest.

Saumarez, 4th October 1831.

I also remember, my dear James, that October is an eventful month to us all; that to-morrow is your wedding day, and Sunday is your birth-day,--and you may be sure we shall not fail to keep them both in remembrance, in our prayers and warmest wishes, that they may ever be numbered among those marked _blessed_. Our register has now to unroll a brilliant page, which, I trust, the same divine hand that inscribed it, will seal with that _stamp_.

Wonderful it is yet to me--so suddenly, so unexpectedly, did it come at last! I admit there is no excuse for my incredulity, except that of thinking your dear father had been so strangely deprived of his well-earned reward through the injustice of _man_ on so many occasions, _because_, far better things than _man_ could give were in store for him. And although I did not doubt, if any naval Peers were created at the coronation, he would be one, I did not allow my thoughts to dwell upon it; and when the Gazette arrived without his name, I gave it up altogether. You may therefore judge my surprise on Wednesday morning, when a tap at my door announced Betty Williams, who, in breathless agitation, came to my bedside to say, Mr. C. Lefebvre was below, to inform me "Sir James was made a lord!"

When I joined him at breakfast, an hour after, he gave me so many interesting particulars which he had heard, that the account could not be disbelieved; but the entrance of two letters removed every shadow of doubt. The accounts from England of the reception of this event everywhere, from all classes and parties, have no parallel; and it seems to me as if the dignity had been deferred to prepare it for greater glory and additional lustre. We must indeed, as you say, be more than mortals if we could be unmoved at such things; they are so great that we have need to pray for a humble spirit to keep us from being "exalted above measure,"--and to make us remember that this donation is an additional "talent," which we are bound to use by our influence and example, in the cause of "whatever is holy, just, and of good report."

When the intelligence was known to the inhabitants of Guernsey, that the Admiral had been raised to the peerage, by the title of "Baron de Saumarez of Guernsey," all classes of the community fully manifested the pleasure they enjoyed at this signal honour; he being the first native of that island who had taken his seat in the House of Lords. On the 6th October, 1831, the bailiff officially announced the joyful news in his Billet d'Etat, in the following words:

LORD DE SAUMAREZ.

The elevation of one of our citizens to one of the highest dignities of the kingdom, cannot fail to inspire us with the most lively gratification. His Majesty has rewarded, with the most distinguished honour, the eminent services which he has rendered to the country. Guernsey, which, besides the public man, recognises in him all the virtues which adorn a private station, ought, on this happy occasion, to testify how sincerely she honours his character. To mark our esteem, the authorities of the Bailiwick, at the head of the whole population, ought to crowd around him at his return and proffer their congratulations. I should fail in my duty to the States, were I to neglect affording them this opportunity.

In reply to this address, the States unanimously agreed to meet at the court-house on the day after the arrival of Lord de Saumarez, at eleven o'clock in the morning, and thence to repair to the residence of their noble fellow-citizen, and felicitate him on his elevation to the peerage.

Lord de Saumarez, after a tedious and stormy passage across the channel, arrived at Guernsey late in the evening of Tuesday, the 25th of October; but, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, the pier was crowded with people, who cheered him as he landed, and who attended him with every demonstration of joy to the carriage which was in waiting for him; and it was with much difficulty the people could be prevented taking out the horses. He was very much fatigued, having embarked at Southampton on Friday evening in the packet. On Saturday morning, when in sight of Alderney, a gale overtook the vessel, and the captain was obliged to bear up for Weymouth roads, where he remained till Monday; but his lordship had not recovered the effects of the storm: a night's rest, however, completely restored him.

On the following morning (26th October) the States assembled at the court-house, and as soon as the names of the members were called over, the bailiff read the address, which he had prepared, and which was unanimously agreed to. And, after having ascertained that his lordship was ready to receive them, the States proceeded to his residence, where the address was delivered to him, surrounded by Lady de Saumarez and the members of his family then in the island.