CHAPTER XIV.The Russian Campaign.
Admiral Jones repairs to the Black Sea.—Designs of Catherine II.—Imposing Cavalcade.—Turkey Declares War against Russia.—Daring Conduct of Admiral Jones.—A Greek OfficerAlexianoAlexiano.—The Prince of Nassau Siegen.—Annoyances of Admiral Jones from Russian Officers.—Battle in the Black Sea.—Jones yields the Honor to the Prince of Nassau.
At the same time when Chevalier Jones received his flattering letter from the empress, her prime minister sent to him a despatch, requesting him to repair to the naval headquarters on the Black Sea, that he might take part in the opening of the campaign. The minister also assured him, in the name of the empress, that everything possible should be done to make his situation agreeable, and to furnish him with opportunities for the exercise of his valor and skill. It is not surprising that the admiral, receiving such marks of attention from her imperial highness, should have formed a high estimate of the excellence of her character. He wrote to Count Segur at this time, saying:
“I shall write to the empress, who hath sent mea letter full of goodness. But I shall never be able to express how much greater I find her than fame reports. With the character of a very great man, she will be always adored as the most amiable and captivating of the fair sex.”
War had been impending for several years between Russia and Turkey. The Turks, in the wanton spirit of barbarian conquest, without the shadow of excuse for the invasion, had crossed the Hellespont with an overwhelming army, had seized Constantinople, and rushing onward in the tide of victory, had unfurled their triumphant banners within sight of the battlements of Vienna. All Europe had trembled beneath the tread of the terrible Moslem armies. Catherine was anxious to drive these usurping Turks back from Europe, across the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, into their Asiatic wilds. She would make the imperial city of Constantine her maritime capital and her great naval depot, from which most admirable point she could command the commerce of the world. This was the real and ever-constant cause for the war, which for nearly a century had been waged between Russia and the Porte. But innumerable and frivolous pretexts had been brought forward, as excuses for an appeal to arms.
About ten years before this, the empress had established a naval depot on the right bank of theDnieper, not very far from the entrance of the river into the Euxine, or Black Sea. Imperial influence soon brought a population of forty thousand to this port, which became an important dock-yard, where the largest ships-of-war were launched. The region around was wild, savage, filled with wandering, half-civilized Tartar tribes. Russian gold and Russian arms gradually gained the ascendency and the tribes, with their territory, were gradually annexed to the majestic Russian Empire.
Catherine then contrived, by a treaty with the Porte, to obtain the sovereignty over the immense province of the Crimea; also a sort of dominion over the Black Sea, and the right to pass with her ships through the Dardanelles. In anticipation of the conquest of Constantinople, she caused her young son to be called Constantine. The King of Poland, the Emperor of Austria, and most of the other powers of northern Europe, were in sympathy with the ambitious designs of Russia. They all wished to see the Turks driven back into Asia. In that case, most of them would receive portions of the immense territory which the Turks had overrun in Europe. But England was intensely opposed to the designs of Russia. The Turkish Empire, England regarded as an important and necessary barrier between therapidly growing power of Russia and her own possessions in the East Indies.
In the year 1786, Catherine projected a magnificent progress to her new possessions on the Euxine. The enterprise was organized with all the imposing brilliance which oriental grandeur could create. The immense cavalcade, numbering thousands of the plumed and gayly dressed chivalry of Europe, followed down the magnificent valley of the Dnieper. All the most prominent members of the Russian court accompanied the empress. The ambassadors of France, Austria, and of England were in her train. The latter were probably instructed, carefully to observe all the movements.
At the city of Kief, some six or seven hundred miles from the mouth of the river, Prince Potemkin joined the imperial party with a brilliant cavalcade of the princes, dukes, and counts of the minor powers of Europe. The King of Poland, with a large retinue of his nobles, commenced the journey with the empress. The Emperor of Austria, with a still more imposing escort, joined her on the way.
The Turkish government was quite troubled, in view of this remarkable visitation. Four of the largest ships of the line were sent to cast anchor at the mouth of the Dnieper; though they were instructed not to make any hostile demonstrations.
The empress returned to St. Petersburgh. Soon after this, Turkey declared war against Russia, with England for her adviser. An army of eighty thousand men was ordered to march instantly along the western shore of the Euxine, to the mouth of the Dnieper. Sixteen ships of the line, eight frigates, and a large number of gun-boats, passed through the Bosphorus into the Euxine. The Turks had drawn the sword, and thrown away the scabbard.
The news of this declaration of war by Turkey was received with great joy at St. Petersburg. It was just what the empress desired. At Cherson, Odessa, and other points at the mouth of the Dnieper, she had created quite a formidable fleet. At very short notice, she could launch on the waters of the Euxine, eight ships of the line, twelve frigates, and nearly two hundred gun-boats. Joseph II. of Austria had entered into alliance with the empress. Eighty thousand Austrian troops were sent to coöperate with the Russian arms, in Wallachia. Two Russian squadrons, under Admirals Kruse and Greig, were ready to coöperate in the Mediterranean. Such was the state of affairs between Russia and Turkey, at the time Commodore Jones accepted the invitation of the empress. He subsequently wrote a very carefully prepared journal of the difficulties heencountered, and of the results of this all-important enterprise.
This journal, very handsomely executed, was engrossed in the French language, and was accompanied by ninety-threePiéces Justificatives, or documentary proofs, of the accuracy of all his important statements. The truthfulness of this narrative has never been called in question. It was not published until after his death. Justice to Admiral Jones demands that I should quote freely from this very important document. The reader will thus obtain a more correct idea of the true character of the man, and of the adventures upon which he entered, than could be gained in any other way. After describing the circumstances under which he was led to enter into the service of the empress, he writes:
“In Denmark I put in train a treaty between that power and the United States, but it was interrupted by a courier from St. Petersburg, despatched express by the empress, inviting me to repair to her court.
“Though I foresaw many difficulties in the way of my entering the Russian service, I believed I could not avoid going to St. Petersburg, to thank the empress for the favorable opinion she had conceived of me. I transferred the treaty, going forward at Copenhagen, to Paris, to be concluded there,and set out for St. Petersburg, by Sweden. At Stockholm I staid but one night, to see Count Rasoumorsky. Want of time prevented me from appearing at court.
“At Gresholm, I was stopped by the ice, which prevented me from crossing the Gulf of Bothnia, and even from approaching the first of the isles in the passage. After having made several unsuccessful efforts to get to Finland by the isles, I imagined that it might be practicable to effect my object by doubling the ice to the southward, and entering the Baltic Sea.
“This enterprise was very daring, and had never before been attempted. But by the north, the roads were impracticable; and knowing that the empress expected me from day to day, I could not think of going back by Elsinore.
“I left Gresholm early one morning, in an undecked passage-boat about thirty feet in length. I made another boat follow of about half that size. This last was for dragging over the cakes of ice, and for passing from one to another to gain the coast of Finland. I durst not make my project known to the boatmen, which would have been the sure means of deterring them from it. After endeavoring, as before, to gain the first isle, I made them steer for for the south, and we kept along the coast of Swedenall the day, finding with difficulty room enough to pass between the ice and the shore. Toward night, being almost opposite Stockholm, pistol in hand I forced the boatmen to enter the Baltic Sea, and steer to the east.”
Here it is obvious to remark, that this was outrageously unjust. These poor boatmen, with parents, wives, and children perhaps, dependent upon them, had never promised at whatever hazard, to take him across that stormy sea. Indeed he had studiously concealed from them the peril of the enterprise upon which he had embarked. If the admiral were willing, in view of the fame and fortune which were enticing him beyond those tempest-tossed ice-fields, to incur the dreadful risks, he had no right to compel these poor men to peril their lives in a cause in which they had nothing to gain. If we understand the facts, as given by the commodore himself, the course which he pursued on this occasion is entirely unjustifiable. Admiral Jones continues:
“We ran toward the coast of Finland. All night the wind was fair, and we hoped to land next day. This we found impossible. The ice did not permit us to approach the shore, which we only saw from a distance. It was impossible to regain the Swedish side, the wind being strong and directly contrary. I had no other course but to make for the Gulf ofFinland. There was a small compass in the boat, and I fixed the lamp of my travelling carriage so as to throw a light on it.
“On the second night we lost the small boat, which was sunk. But the men saved themselves in the large one, which with difficulty escaped the same fate. At the end of four days, we landed at Revel in Livonia, which was regarded as a kind of miracle. Having satisfied the boatmen for their services and their loss, I gave them a good pilot, with the provisions necessary for their homeward voyage when the weather should become more favorable.”
The admiral arrived at St. Petersburg on the evening of 23d of April, O. S. On the 25th, he had his first audience with the empress. On the 7th of May, he set out for the seat of war. The long and dreary journey across the whole breadth of Russia to the banks of the Euxine, occupied twelve days. He reached the mouth of the Dnieper on the 19th. The Prince Marshal Potemkin was there, and received him very kindly. He requested the admiral immediately to assume command of the naval force stationed near the mouth of the river. He remained at Cherson but one evening and night, but that short time showed him that he would have very serious obstacles to encounter.
The Russian rear-admiral, Mordwinoff, did notaffect to disguise his displeasure at his arrival. He gave the new admiral a very sullen reception, delayed communicating to him the details of the force under his command, and manifested no disposition to place him in possession of the silk flag, which belonged to his rank as rear-admiral. The River Bog empties into the Dnieper near the point where that majestic stream pours its flood into the Black Sea. Here the waters expand into a bay, affording good anchorage ground, called the Roads of Shiroque. The Russian fleet of ships and gun-boats was assembled at this place. Early in the morning after the admiral’s arrival at Cherson, he accompanied General Mordwinoff down the river to the naval rendezvous. They reached the flag-ship Wolodimir about mid-day.
One of the most prominent officers in the squadron was a Greek by the name of Alexiano. He was a fearless, coarse, unmannerly fellow, who had been, it was said, a pirate in the Archipelago, and by his piracies, plundering the commerce of all nations, had greatly enriched himself. This man had assembled all the commanders of the ships, and had endeavored to unite them in a cabal against the new admiral. In this he had not been fully successful. Still he had created antagonisms to the authority of Admiral Jones which caused him great embarrassment.Alexiano had obtained the grade of captain, with the title of brigadier.
The Turkish fleet and flotilla were a few miles below the roads of Shiroque, nearly opposite Oczakow, which was held by a strong garrison of the Turks, and was besieged on the land side by the Russians, the Turkish fleet holding the harbor. Admiral Jones, very wisely avoiding all angry contention with his opponents, proposed to one of the Russian officers who was friendly to him, that they should descend the bay together, and carefully reconnoitre the strength and position oi the Turkish forces. While he was absent, Prince Potemkin, who was second in authority to the empress only, exerted all his influence to restore harmony. In this he was partially successful. The admiral, upon his return, found all the officers apparently contented; and on the 26th of May, 1788, he hoisted his flag on the Wolodimir.
The Prince of Nassau Siegen, one of the German principalities, was a very singular man. He was rattle-brained, excessively vain, and quite destitute of either ability in counsel or skill in execution. Admiral Jones had been slightly acquainted with him in Paris, and was very sorry to meet him as an associate on a military expedition. This man had a most exalted idea of his own importance, and joinedthe expedition of the Russian empress, with the impression that the success of the campaign depended mainly upon him. One of his first instructive remarks to Admiral Jones was:
“If we gain any advantage over the Turks, it is essential to exaggerate it to the utmost.”
To this statement, which was made with a very patronizing air, the admiral simply replied:
“I have never adopted that method of making myself of consequence.”
The rank of the prince, his possessions, and his boastful braggadocio spirit had strangely deceived the empress. The fleet consisted of two pretty distinct portions; a squadron of powerful war vessels and a large flotilla of gun-boats. The necessity of coõperative action in military expeditions is such, that Napoleon I. once remarked:
“It is better to intrust the command of an army to one poor general than to two good ones.”
Admiral Jones found that while he was intrusted with the command of the war-ships, the flotilla of gun-boats was placed under the independent orders of the Prince of Nassau. Nothing efficient could be accomplished against the powerful and well-manned navy of the Turks without the coöperation of the whole Russian fleet of ships and boats under the direction of a single mind. And yet there probablywere not in all Europe two men less calculated to act together than Admiral Jones and the Prince of Nassau.
These two immense fleets and armies were facing each other. The headquarters of the Russians was at Cherson, while the Turks had their central rendezvous about fifty miles farther southeast, at Oczakow. The spacious waters between Cherson and Oczakow, where the Dnieper and the Bog pour their widening floods into the Euxine, were filled with the ships of the line, the frigates, and the gunboats of the contending parties.
For four months there was almost a continuous series of manœuvres and skirmishes, rising occasionally into hotly contested battles. The region was full of shoals and sand-bars, where the heavily-armed ships, and even the gun-boats, were continually running aground. Prince Potemkin was in the supreme command of the whole force, naval and military. He stood in the place of the empress, and was said in reality to have more power than Catherine herself. Admiral Jones found that he could originate no movement. He could only obey orders, and must wait patiently until he received them. When orders were given, the ships alone were subject to his command. The Prince of Nassau was jealous of his renown, and seemed often disposed rather to thwartthan to aid the efforts of the admiral. He was a man of considerable skill in cunning and intrigue, and had led even Potemkin to apprehend that great results were to be accomplished by the action of his gun-boats.
The latter part of May, 1788, the Turkish admiral came to the succor of Oczakow, with an additional fleet of one hundred and twenty armed vessels, and other armed craft. Thus the Turkish naval force, in those waters, far surpassed that of the Russian. Admiral Jones was requested with his ships to harass the Turks, in all the ways in his power without exposing himself to loss. The Turks, conscious of their superiority, were not disposed to run any risks. Admiral Jones was also disappointed in finding that several of his ships were merely large pleasure barges, with which the empress and her court, had floated down the Dnieper. These were inefficiently armed, and were but poorly prepared for a conflict with the oak-ribbed ships of the Turks.
Admiral Jones was sorely tried. He saw but little opportunity, under such circumstances, for anything to be accomplished to the honor of the Russian flag. He however invited all the leading officers, both of the squadron and of the flotilla, to his cabin, and thus addressed them:
“Gentlemen—Having been suddenly called to serve her imperial majesty, I have need of double indulgence, being as yet ignorant of the language and customs of the country. I confess I mistrust my capacity properly to discharge all the duties of the high trust with which her majesty has honored me. But I rely on my zeal, and your favor, coöperation, and candid advice, for the good of the service. You are met, gentlemen, on serious business. We are to discuss points which touch nearly the honor of the Russian flag and the interests of her majesty.“We have to deal with a formidable enemy, but if we are united, and of one mind in all our efforts; if our operations are well concerted and vigorously executed, the known courage of the Russians, the cause of the empress and of the country, the remembrance of so many past victories, afford us the most flattering hope of success, and cannot fail to inspire invincible resolution. We must resolve to conquer. Let us join our hands and our hearts. Let us show that our feelings are noble, and cast far from us all personal considerations. Honor enough may be gained by every individual; but the true glory of the citizen is to be useful to his country.”
“Gentlemen—Having been suddenly called to serve her imperial majesty, I have need of double indulgence, being as yet ignorant of the language and customs of the country. I confess I mistrust my capacity properly to discharge all the duties of the high trust with which her majesty has honored me. But I rely on my zeal, and your favor, coöperation, and candid advice, for the good of the service. You are met, gentlemen, on serious business. We are to discuss points which touch nearly the honor of the Russian flag and the interests of her majesty.
“We have to deal with a formidable enemy, but if we are united, and of one mind in all our efforts; if our operations are well concerted and vigorously executed, the known courage of the Russians, the cause of the empress and of the country, the remembrance of so many past victories, afford us the most flattering hope of success, and cannot fail to inspire invincible resolution. We must resolve to conquer. Let us join our hands and our hearts. Let us show that our feelings are noble, and cast far from us all personal considerations. Honor enough may be gained by every individual; but the true glory of the citizen is to be useful to his country.”
Thisconciliatoryconciliatoryspeech of the admiral seemed to have produced a good impression. They allagreed to combine their energies in an attack, the next day, upon an exposed portion of the Turkish fleet, in accordance with a plan presented by Admiral Jones.
In consequence of the shallowness of the water, most of the manœuvres were to be conducted by the gun-boats. The heavy ships could sweep over only a limited range, being of necessity confined to the channels of deep water. Admiral Jones, consequently, took his station on board the gun-boats, passing from one to another, as the incidents of the conflict required. A very fierce battle was fought.
Admiral Jones seems to have been born insensible to fear. Amidst the most terrific scenes of death and destruction, he moved with as unperturbed a spirit as if he were merely contending with an ordinary storm at sea. Much of the time, he was in the same gun-boat with the Prince of Nassau. The prince had the good sense to be guided by the advice of the officer who was, in every respect, so vastly his superior. The victory was decisive for the Russians. Two of the Turkish ships were burned. The Turkish flotilla of fifty-seven vessels was driven from the ground it had occupied, to seek protection under the heavy guns of the squadron. As the battle was mainly conducted by the gun-boats, the admiral left all the honor with the Prince of Nassau. Still, AdmiralJones formed the plan, and guided in all the tactics of the strife. And he could not prevent it from being whispered, that the honor of the victory really belonged to himself. This annoyed the Prince of Nassau.
Alluding to this fact, Admiral Jones wrote, on the 11th of June, in a letter to Mr. Littlepage, chamberlain of the King of Poland:
“Prince Potemkin wrote me a letter of thanks for the affair of the 7th. If the honor had been ten times greater, I should have renounced it altogether, in favor of the Prince of Nassau. But I am sorry to say he is too jealous to be content with my self-denial. Perhaps he is ill-advised without knowing it. There is nothing consistent with my honor that I would not do, to make him easy. I am the more in pain, as I understand he spoke favorably of me to Prince Potemkin before I arrived. If he now becomes my enemy, I shall not imitate his example. It was my intention to pay him a compliment, when I said in my letter to the prince, ‘that he had taken my counsel in good part, in the affair of the 7th.’ I showed the Prince ofNassauNassauthat letter, and he seemed pleased with it. In the affair, he embraced me, and said we “should always make but one.“ But now I find a false construction has been put upon myletter, and his jealousy supersedes every noble sentiment.”
Ten days after this, Admiral Jones again wrote to Mr. Littlepage, in which letter he says:
“I have put up with more from the Prince of Nassau than, under other circumstances, I could have done from any man who was not crazy. I can no more reckon upon his humor than on the wind. One hour he embraces me, and the next he is ready to cut my throat.”
As we have mentioned, the naval force of the Turks far exceeded that of the Russians. The Turkish admiral, whose title seems to have been “Capitaine Pasha,” was a man of decided ability. Admiral Jones had been led to form a very high opinion of his character both as an officer and a gentleman. He had formed the plan to make a sudden and unexpected attack, with his whole force of ships and gun-boats, upon the Russian flotilla and squadron; by running down the gun-boats and throwing a shower of fire-balls upon the squadron, he hoped to destroy the whole fleet.