The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-12-15

put ~ practice system OF naval tactics, Whlcf
has since been found TO be the greatest improve
ment ever made in maritime warfare; and which
alone has gained for England her celebrity OF
"a, me water. do not say TO discover, because
IKE the man who had been speaking prose all hi:
HE without knowing it, neither Arson nor his
contemporaries appear ever 10 have discovered
thai there was any thing remarkable or uncom
mon IN his mode of attacking the combined
squadrons in 1747. For three successive wars
alter this, the English officers, unmindful Of
Anson's tefe, always adhered TO the old plan Of
preserving the line" in their feet engagements
In all actions between single ships, the En-
glish were generally triumphant; yet, when they
assembled their ships in fleets, and went into
battle, it is remarkable that no decisive engage
ment took place during the whole course OF these
three wars. That sour Hawke did bang, Mon
sieur Contains" forms no exception TO this re-
mark; for the French on that occasion, not wait
ing to receive the attack, ran away, and were
fairly oyertaken and picked up by the English.
LET any one imagine" says Clark, the ex-
FOUNDER Of the new system Of tactics, IA rencon-
ire OF horsemen, where the parties, on coming TO
the ground appointed, had pushed their horses at
full speed, exchanging few pistols shots as they
passed one another in opposite directions, at the
distance of forty or fifty yards, and then some
idea may be formed of the effect of rencontres,
where adverse fleets are brought to pass each
other on opposite tacks." When they engaged
on the same tack, the English always sought
the wlndward-and the French, as invariably,
the leeward position. The former then running
down, each ship for her opposite, exposed them
selves to the raking fire of the enemy, for the
sake of making the action general along the
whole line. In this man9uvre the English
generally suffered and when they hauled up, so
as TO bring their broadsdes to bear, the enemy,
calling their van, would run down five or six
miles TO leeward, and then wait for the English
to reform, and to renew the attack. In this way
III may be said, that the English did all the enga-
ging and the French all the fighting. And if
the English fleets ever captured ship it was by
accident, and in violation of their rules of fleet
lighting. II was not uncommon for fifty or sixty
ships of the line, mounting 1000 or 5000 guns
and manned by $4,000 or 10000 seamen, to be
engaged for hours, and TO separate without the
loss ola ship, and sometimes without even the
loss of man.
But it generally happened that the English
fleets in seeking the weather gage, and endeavo-
ring to make the action general, exposed them
selves, by their manner of closing with the enc
my, TO raking fire on which occasions, if they
did not come off worsted, they gained nothing OF
importance. Such was the affair of Minorca,
in 1856, which doomed the unfortunate Byng.
Pocock's two years afterwards, in the East In
dies was no better. The same tactics prevailed
in Arbuthnot's and Greaves' engagement off the
Chesapeake. And on the Lakes, at much la
ter day, a like system had well nigh brought a
defeat upon the American arms. For our Perry,
in his eagerness TO make the action general ad-
hered to the old plan of preserving the line, "
until his own ship had struck, and the enemy
''would not have given sixpence for his squad
ron" Then, boarding the Niagara in an open
boat, he resolved to make desperate rally, and
risk the fortune Of the day upon single cast.
Dashng in that vessel, right between the Chip
pewa and Lady Provost on one side,* and the
Detroit and Queen Charlotte on the other, he
cut the line; and pouring in his raking broad
sides right and left, in fifteen minutes he made
the enemy tours" Before this, the action had
continued for three hours the Americans had
lost their flag ship, and the English had sustain
ed comparatively little injury In Keppel's en-
gagement of l77S, off Ushant--in Byron's of
The following ycar off Granada-and in r odney's
OF the year succeeding off Martinique their
fleets were manGuvred after the same code of
preserving the line to make the action general.
Under this system, one miscarriage at sea sue
ceeded to another. Smartng under their effects,
and wounded in pride, the whole English nation
become FESTIVE from disaster But instead of
seeking the cause of the failure of her fleets,
to which Arson unknowihgly had long before
given the clue, she cried out for the blood of
guiltless officers. Admiral Byng, Anson's friend,
whom he had appointed to the Mediterranean
fleet, was sacrificed TO appease the popular cla-
mor-and as Voltaire said, pour encourdger les
dutres. Keppel (who had been Midshipman
or Lieutenant in Anson's squadron was tried,
and so were Matthews and other Admiras who
preserved the line"
In the midst of these national misfortunes, a
landsman demonstrated for the officers the
cause of their failure and issued from the beer
shops Of London a new system of naval tactics,
which Arson had ignorantly practised with sue
cess thirty years before; and which being now
caught Thy Rodney, Duncan, Howe and Nelson,
triumphantly led them on to the most glorious
victories. Disdainng the trammes of the old
system, they boldly dashed right into the midst of
the opposing ships, broke their lines, brought
down their flags, and placed the sceptre of the
seas once more within the grasp Of England
Her foes were dismayed, and, in the "guadia
certaminis" of people made drunk with sue
cess, it was boastfully and proudly proclaimed
TO the world,
"The winds and seas are Britans wide domain,
And not sail but by permission spreads"
The whole secret of this new mode of attack,
was nothing more than the introduction Of the
principle on the water, which has always go
verned Generals in their operations on the land,
viz: that of attacking the enemy in his most
vulnerable point, or of gaining the advantage by
throwing him into confusion 1t is fully ex-
planned in one of the few productions that re-
main TO US of Ansons " frugal pen" 9 Being
convinced" says HEN his official account OF
the engagement of 1747 before alluded to-
"being convinced that their whole aim was to
gain time, in order TO escape under cover of the
night, made signal for the whole fleet to pursue
the enemy and attack them, without having any
regard TO the line of battle. The Centurion hav-
ing got up with the sterhmost ship Of The enemy
began TO engage her; upon which, f'co Of The
largest Of The enemy's ships bore dorm 10 her
assistance. The Namur, Defiance and Wind
sor, (Engsh,) being the headmost ships, soo,,
entered into The action, and after haring disd-
bied those ships IN such a manner. that me
ships astern must come up Nth them, they