A TAR OF THE LAST WAR. * THE " tar "
of the book, Admiral Sir Charles Richardson, entered the Navy in 1787, and died in 1850, in his eighty-second year : he had been so engaged in his professional duties, that for eighteen years he never had time to visit his friends or his early home in Westmoreland. As midshipman, lieutenant, or captain, he served through that long period both afloat and ashore, in most quarters of the world. He was in India during the early wars of Tippoo ; he was in Lord Howe's battle of the let of June, and at Camper- down ; he assisted at the landing in Egypt, steering at his own request the boat of Abercromby ; he contributed to the conquest of Surinam, (Demerara and Essequibo,) for which he was promoted ; he was present at the scheme for blowing-up the French flotilla of invasion at Boulogne, by oblong eases of copper that were to explode through the agency of clockwork, a sailor by some contrivance sunk up to his neck being to get each case under the vessel to be blown up. On returning to active service after some "romantic" dis- appointment, he was with Cochrane at Basque Roads, and performed good service with a naval brigade in the Walcheren expedition. In addition to these historical events, he was continually employed in regular service afloat, throughout the .moral satirist's estimate of mundane extent, "from China to Peru." China indeed was his last service. In 1821 Captain Richardson was in the Canton river, in command of the Topaz frigate, when the Chinese were becoming "exceedingly insolent" to the foreign merchants. The Americans having given up an Italian seaman sailing under their flag to the Chinese authorities, who murdered him by form of law, they be- came unbearable. A claim for somebody to execute, for some al- leged offence, was soon afterwards made upon Richardson ; who resisted the demand. In conjunction with some merchantmen, he beat off a fleet of junks, silenced the guns of the Bocce Tigris forts, and finally compelled the mandarins to hush up the matter and restore the trade. The vexation of Chinese diplomacy, and the ill-disguised indifference of the Company's merchants to any- thing but trading profit, were too much for the veteran of many fights. He did not, like Lord Napier, die of diplomacy ; but it brought him to death's door. He was invalided to the Cape ; whence, after recovering a little, he returned to England, and re- tired from the service. He was of good family ; for his father was the Captain Richardson who fell in Hughes's last action with Suffrein in 1782; and Sir Francis Wood of Hemsworth, a York- shire baronet of standing, was a relation. His "paternal acres" would seem to have been nil, and the cash little more ; but accumulations of prize-money during his long service furnished the hero with the means of retiring on a competence to a small property he purchased in the neighbourhood of Hemsworth.
• A Tar of the Last War; being the Services and Anecdotes of Sir Charles Richardson, I:LC.8.. Vice-Admiral or the White. By the Rev. C. E. Armstrong, M.A.., Muter of Hemsworth Hospital, Yorkshire. Published by Longman and Co.
The Reverend C. E. Armstrong, the author of this volume, was Master of Hemsworth Hospital, and became intimate with Admi- ral Richardson during his retirement The veteran, it would seem, liked to " fight his battles o'er again," and to indulge in what he might have termed yarns. From these anecdotes and stories Mr. Armstrong might not have thought of forming a book, but in 1846 Sir Charles was called upon by the Admiralty to furnish the " dates of his various commissions, and a brief account of his naval ser- vices." The seaman applied to the divine for assistance, and, while the more formal facts were being arranged by the scholar's pen, filled up the intervals with living narratives. These con- versations not only formed the biographical portion of the work, but the historical too, so far as they could fall under the notice of an individual engaged. The proper history of the battles and ex- peditions have been added by Mr. Armstrong. A Tar of the Last War is a readable book for its stories and per-
sonal adventures, for the way in which the reader is carried over the men, manners, and martial deeds of a generation almost extinct; and for the undying interest attached to the exploits of the Revolutionary wars. It is, however, somewhat imperfect; the biography interfering with the history, the history with the bio- graphy, while neither is very complete. In youth the veteran must have been a rather loose observer, or his observations would ap- pear, like Virgil's Fame, to have acquired additions by repetition. Anecdotes about the sagacity of the "half reasoning elephant" are numerous; but these, picked up by Midshipman Richardson. when assisting the army of Cornwallis and our Native allies in the advance against Tippoo in 1791, savour of the marvellous.
"The rajah had brought a number of these sagacious animals, and there was one whose keeper had been at times particularly neglectful of him, and who had frequently pilfered from his food on the line of march. Upon every such occasion the elephant discovered evident signs of anger and re- sentment, as if he was neither insensible to the negligence nor ignorant of the malpractices of his keeper ; but, as the noble-minded animal continued only to menace, the fellow became less mindful of him, until at length he wholly disregarded the frequency of his threats. One morning the cattle were ordered to be mustered for review, and when the commanding officer, in going along the line, passed in front of this elephant, the animal roared out as if to attract his attention. When he perceived that the eye of the general was directed towards him, immediately the ill-used beast laid hold of the keeper with his proboscis, put him under his foot, and instantly crushed him to death. The avenger of his own wrongs then fell on his knees, and gamed the inspecting officer for pardon. The singularity of this act caused an immediate inquiry, when it appeared evident that the elephant bad, con- trary to his natural disposition, been forced to inflict that punishment upon his dishonest keeper. "A contrast to this tragical circumstance was shown in the conduct of
another elephant that received kind treatment from his keeper. The at- tachment between man and beast was so great, that whenever the former went to his dinner, he always left a little ugly black infant under the care of the latter, who watched the child with the greatest tenderness, and pre- vented it crawling out of sight. One day the elephant was superintending his charge in a spot where some young trees tempted him to browse, and while doing so the swarthy young imp rolled into a puddle of yellow clay. The elephant heard a scream, and saw the scrape he had got into by neglect- ing his trust; he therefore immediately took measures not to be found out by his kind master. Going down to a stream he charged his mouth with clear water, and taking up the squalling blackey with his trunk, on a level with his eyes, he turned him on one side, and sluiced his dirty skin all over with a deluge of water. Then turning the child round, he performed a similar operation on the other side, cleansing away with copious showers every speck of mud. When the parents returned, the elephant had just placed the infant in the sun to dry, and looked as grave and attentive over his charge as if nothing had occurred."
Two reminiscences cling to the human mind, the home of childhood, and love's young dream— "Oh, that fairy form is ne'er forgot
That first love traced!"
In order, however, to support the brightness of the, ideal, it seems necessary that it should be kept apart from the real. Cap- tain Richardson had an exemplification of this truth to such a degree that the sense of the ludicrous overcame the disappoint- ment. On landing, in 1805, with two thousand pounds prize- money in prospect, he had two objects in view,—to purchase a romantic-looking cottage in his native village of lampton ; and to ascertain the status of the village belle, with whom he conceived himself in love when he left Westmoreland to join the Vestal.
"His worthy schoolmaster, Mr. Bowstead, welcomed him with sincere
pleasure, and entered warmly into his plan of purchasing the estate of thirty-six acres. On being sounded as to the other project, the vicar ob- served that the fair one was at home, and looking as well as most people of her years.' This last remark sent a chill through the Captain's frame and made him very fidgety, for he had never taken into account her probable age. However, he was not the man to shrink from danger, so the next day be boldly bent his footsteps to the abode of the lady. "On reaching the door, he gave a more gentle tap than even that he had placed on the shoulder of Dc 'Winter, when the portal instantly flew open as if by magic. The sight of his gold-laced cap produced a low curtsy, and 'Please what may you want, sir ? ' from a middle-aged, bilious-looking, sharp-nosed little woman. Richardson started back with a cold feeling at his heart ; for he had his misgivings from the tone of her voice, which was the only remaining index of the past. Is Miss T— at home?' said he, in a low accent, scarcely daring to mention that name lest she should in- stantly appropriate it to herself. am the young woman, sir !' sharply answered the lady, in reply to the astounded officer' who saw it was a neces- sary case for retreat. Quickly recovering himself, therefore, he burst into a loud laugh and said—' What fools we sailors are! Why, I expected to find you as young and as handsome as you were fifteen years ago, and that you would know me directly.' Miss T— bristled up, well pleased at the com- pliment, and asked him to walk in. Her father soon recognized his visitor ; and, the Captain's love fit being perfectly cured, he was in high spirits at not having betrayed himself to the lady.
"On shaking hands at parting, he was invited to dine the next day and
meet a brother captain,' but, ascertaining that the said officer commanded a butter-smack between Whitehaven and the Isle of Man, he politely declined the intended honour. In addition, he felt rather disgusted when his former love assured him that the skipper was considered quite a beau by the Damp- ton ladies. This termination of his love affair was a great mortification to Richardson; who began to feel annoyed also at the familiarity of those who still viewed him in the light of a schoolboy, and smiled incredulously at his tales of battle and flood. But the greatest vexation was, that they perpetu- ally drew comparisons between his adventures and those of the toping butter captain, and always gave the palm to the latter ; since his pugilistic victories over Whitehaven boatmen, and narrow escapes from the coas:guard when smuggling, could be readily conceived and credited."
The higher honours of the profession, the three successive grades of Admiral and the Companionship of the Bath, came to Richard- son after he had retired, and through the regular routine of senior- ity. On his investiture a circumstance occurred worth noting.
"On the 10th of January 1837, Captain Richardson became a Rear-Ad- miral, and on the 29th of June 1841, he was installed a knight companion of the Bath. On that occasion, the sword with which the Queen performed the ceremony was accidentally forgotten, and never remembered until the moment when it was required. In this dilemma the Duke of Wellington unbuckled his own sword, and, presenting it to her Majesty, observed— 'Admiral Richardson will not object to mine being used to confer the merited honour of knighthood !' On the 17th of December 1847, Sir Charles Richardson was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Blue, and be- fore his decease he became Vice-Admiral of the White. He received a war medal, in 1848, with four clasps—viz. 'First of June, 1794; Camperdown ; Egypt; Basque Roads, 1809.' "
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