Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/125

 ii s. ix. FEB. 7, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

The Naval Mutinies of 1797. By Conrad Gill. (Manchester University Press, 10s. 6d.)

As the outcome of considerable and painstaking research, Mr. Gill has written a book which should prove acceptable both to students of naval history and to those who occupy themselves with sociological questions.

The mutinies of 1797 marked a turning-point in the naval administration of this country, for they read the Admiralty a striking lesson on the evils of a policy which took account of ships alone, neglect- ing to provide for the well-being and consequent efficiency of their crews. They were also one of the results, as the author puts it, of a "wave of humanitarianism " which swept over the nation at this period. He suggests, in fact, that reform would have come automatically had there been no mutiny at all. This is probably true, but it is even more probable that the concessions which the Admiralty only granted reluctantly, even under pressure, would not, in the ordinary course of events, have come in time to avert a grave national calamity.

Of the actual course of the mutinies Mr. Gill gives us a minute and exceedingly interesting account. He discusses the economic, political, and psychological causes of the outbreak, which was in effect nothing more than a well-organized and general strike.

Mr. Gill negatives the suggestion that the mutiny was entirely the result of political or seditious influences at work in the fleets. On the other hand, he finds that the hardships of the men were not in themselves the direct cause of the outbreak, for these had undergone no marked change for the worse during the preceding hundred years. The conclusion arrived at is that while the rising was partly of a political character, engineered by men of superior intelligence, it was only rendered pos- sible by the presence of actual grievances and the discontent of the more stoical and unimaginative majority.

A full account of the negotiations between the Admiralty and the delegates from Spithead and the Nore is also included, and Mr. Gill sums up the seamen's grievances as regards wages, food, and harsh discipline in a fair and impartial manner.

The moderation, good sense, and statesmanlike conduct of the Spithead mutineers enabled them to obtain a great measure of redress and a free

rdon. The successful issue may be said to be in part to Bridport and the senior officers of the Channel Fleet, who persuaded the Admiralty to adopt conciliation, and also to the services and tact of Lord Howe, who offered the olive branch in person to the men, by whom he was well known and esteemed.

Considerable space is devoted to the Nore Mutiny, which broke out three days before the final adjustment at Spithead. Here prevailed a very different condition of affairs from that at Ports- mouth. The " personnel " of Buckner's and Dun- can's vessels was inferior to that of the Channel Squadron. There was a large percentage of " quota " men, generally persons of superior education, who found the navy a welcome alternative to the debtors' prison or the common gaol. The loyal element, if not in the minority, was not actually strong enough to oppose the mutiny when the actual need of it, from the men's point of view, had disappeared. Also they were kept in the dark as to the result of

the Spithead negotiations by Parker and the- delegates, who were probably, as Mr. Gill suggest 5 ', actuated by some jealousy at the success of their comrades at Portsmouth, and by a desire to enjoy a period of unwonted liberty and power. It is also likely that Spencer's ill-timed order of 1 May- fanned the flame of this rising, just as it precipitated the second outbreak at Spithead.

Mr. Gill writes in a straightforward and inter- esting manner throughout. He betrays the student rather than the sailor by such expressions as " on- a ship "instead of "in a ship," and we think it would have been more appropriate to place the chapter on the grievances of the seamen and the- political aspects of the mutinies in the early part of the book.

Some important documents relating to the mutinies have been printed, including the songs composed at the Nore. There is also a list ofc authorities and an Index.

Ingatestone and the Essex Great Road with Fryer- ning. By E. E. Wilde. With Four Chapters on the Early History by Mrs. Archibald Christy. (Oxford University Press, 10s. 6d. net.)

THIS is a really delightful book, excepting chiefly a certain scrappiness, and the inclusion of some- unnecessary trivial particulars with regard to modern times. Our latter objection may perhaps be met by the consideration that the details we regard as doubtfully valuable will come to be treasured a hundred years hence.

Mrs. Wilde has neglected no aspect of the history, scenery, or productivity of her two Essex parishes. She has laid under contribution a great number of books, the memories of her neighbours, the inarti- culate witness of buildings, fields, and roads, and also, here and there, her own ingenuity. Under an appearance of chattiness, even of casualness, the book contains a great deal of solid information, to the collection of which since much of it is out of the way must have gone not only zest and love of the subject, but much painstaking.

The most original part of Mrs. Wilde's work is the account of the Fryerning font and her inter- pretation of the somewhat baffling designs upon it. These are different for each side (S. face : the Seven Wandering Stars ; E. face : the Tree of Jesse ; N. face : the Vine ; W. face : the Cross and Crown), and she would have them signify that "every one brought to the Font had been born under the influence of one of the Heavenly Bodies

that salvation had come through the Virgin

and Christ to every baptized person the union

with Christ through His Passion and the Holy

Communion the trouble and future glory that

awaited the new Christian." She defends this reading with no little plausibility, and, in parti- cular as regards the seven planets, by good examples.

Another example of elucidation is that of the letters A. E. I. 0. U. at the end of the inscription to Mary, wife of Robert Petre, on her tomb in Ingatestone Church. These have bean explained as meaning "Austria est imperare Orbi uriiverso ' ' (vide 3 S. v. 309) ; but more probably should be taken as the initial vowels of five psalms belonging to the Office for the Dead. It appears that the letters so used are to be found in old manuscript Breviaries.