When Gibraltar Was Besieged THE SYMBOL OF THE WHITE HOUSE A CHRONICLER OF CONFLICT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 54, 31 August 1940, Page 20

When Gibraltar Was Besieged

THE SYMBOL OF THE WHITE HOUSE

A CHRONICLER OF CONFLICT

IT has been announced that women and children are to be evacuated from Gibraltar, says a writer in

the Melbourne "Age." This may be regarded as a precautionary measure, in view of the likelihood of Gibraltar being bombed by aircraft. The town of Gibraltar is at the foot of the promontory on the north-west side. The civilian population in peace time was about 20,000. Naturally, no information is available as to the strength of the garrison, and the number and calibre of the guns mounted on the •fortress.

Gibraltar is a rocky promontory about 2| miles in length and about 2 of a mile broad. Its area is about two square miles. The highest part of the promontory near the^ south end is 1396 feet above sea level. The straits are about 35 miles long and nine miles wide in the narrowest part. The width at Gibraltar is fourteen miles; A low isthmus connects the promontory with the mainland of Spain. There is an area of neutral uninhabited ground between the British lines at'the north of the isthmus and the Spanish lines. A mole on the west side of the promontory encloses an area of about 400 acres, which provides a secure anchorage for the largest vessels and for the British Fleet in the Mediterranean. •

Gibraltar was captured from Spain by a combined British and Dutch fleet in July, 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession. Some marines were landed, and the fortress was bombarded from the sea for six hours. At the end of that time the garrison, which numbered fewer than 500 men, surrendered. : The casualties of the besiegers totalled 61 killed and 252 wounded.

Later in the year the Spaniards, aided by their French allies, attempted to recapture the fortress. The siege, which was marked by several naval engagements, lasted until April, 1705, but was unsuccessful. . At the close of the war, in 1713, Gibraltar was ceded to Great Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht, and it has remained - British possession ever since.

When war broke out again the Spaniards made another attempt to take Gibraltar in 1727. This siege lasted from February 11 until June 12, when an armistice was declared. The full strength of the garrison was 6100

■iri'd the casualties numbered 308, of whom about a third were killed o*> died, of wounds. The garrison fired 53,000 round shot, and more than 2500 shells. The Spanish casualties amounted to*7oo killed and more than 800 wounded, and there, were 325 deaths from disease. The Spanish expenditure of ammunition was more than double that of the garrison. In 1779 .Spain, aided by her ally, France, began a siege of Gibraltar by ses* and land which lasted three years seven months and twelve days. When the siege began on June 21 the strength of "the gar-ison was 5400 of all ranks, consisting of five battalions of British infantry and three battalions of Hanoverian troops, The total number of guns was over. 400, including howitzers and mortars. General George Augustus "Eliott, a cavalry officer, who had served with distinction in the. Seven Years' War, was in command of the garrison. . : At the time of this memorable siege Great Britain was engaged in trying to suppress the rebellion in America: she had to protect Canada from attack, defend her valuable possessions in the West Indies, and convoy British ships carrying' valuable cargoes from these> islands. The British Navy therefore] was fully engaged in the Atlantic andj home waters, and only spasmodic efforts were made to relieve Gibraltar. Within a month of the outbreak of war Gibraltar was blockaded by a stronger Spanish squadron than the British sauadron in the Mediterranean. 'in view of the difficulty of taking such a formidable fortress by assault, the Spaniards decided to try to starve the garrison into surrender by a long siege. The land force of the Spaniards assembled at the north end of the isthmus consisted of sixteen battalions of" infantry and twelve squadrons of hdrse. But the besiegers displayed very little initiative or aggressiveness, and by the end of 1779, when the siege had lasted sir months, the garrison had not suffered a single casualty by enemy fire. Fqod supplies began to run short. By August, 1779, there were only forty

head of cattle in the place. A military order had long been in existence, which laid down that, every householder in the town must keep in store sufficient provisions for the use of his household for six months; but this order had been disregarded. A survey made on November 1, 1779, of the surplus available in the garrison showed that there was enough beef and»pork for eight months, and enough flour and wheat for a slightly longer period. By the time the blockade had been in operation six months, food prices in the town rose to an exhorb'tant level. Mutton brought 3s 6d per lb, veal 4s, ducks 7s to 9s, and a goose was considered cheap at a guinea.. Pish was equally dear, and vegetables were almost unprocurable.

An illustration of the gentlemanly way in which war was waged in those days is supplied in the fact that the Count of Artois, a prince of the French Royal House, who had joined the French army which was assisting the Spaniards, sent to the Governor, of Gibraltar, under a flag of truce, a present of fruit, game, and vegetables for the Governor's table. He promised a further supply, and begged to be informed of General Eliott's preference in regard to these things. General Eliott acknowledged the gift in the most grateful terms, but begged that the Count would not heap any more favours of the kind on him, as he made it a point of honour not to reserve provisions for his private use, but "to par-1 take both of plenty and scarcity in common with the lowest of my brave soldiers."

A remarkable feature of the siege was the comparatively large number of desertions in the -rank and file on bcjth sides. The penalty for desertion, or attempted desertion, was death. It is not difficult to understand why some members of the garrison, wearied by the monotony of a long siege and a low diet, should desert and make their way to the Spanish lines in the hope of better conditions; but • why did Spanish soldiers desert in order to join the garrison? They knew that if the garrison was compelled to surrender they would be hanged. During the siege the garrison lost 43 of its number by desertion, and a number of intending deserters were arrested before they got away. . The dwindling food supplies of the garrison were augmented from time to time by the arrival of blockade

runners in Gibraltar Bay. The plight .of the garrison was not forgotten by the British Government, for in January, 1780, a British merchant ship arrived in the bay with the glad tidings that food supplies and reinforcements were on the way. This ship was one of a convoy dispatched by the British Admiralty with food and reinforcements for Gibraltar and the island of Minorca, which had' passed into British hands under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and was being blockaded by a Spanish squadron. , .'

The convoy was escorted by Admiral Rodney, who was on his way. to take over . the command, of . the Leeward Islands in the West Indies. Off Cape Finisterre, on the north-west' coast of Spain, Rodney encountered a Spanish fleet of seven warships, which were convoying fifteen merchantships •to j Cadiz; Rodney captured the whole of| the 22 ships. Before reaching Gibral-j tar he encountered off Cape St. Vincent another Spanish squadron, consisting of eleven ships, and captured six of them. He brought his captures and his convoy to Gibraltar, where the arrival of food supplies, reinforcements;, and captured enemy warships occasioned much jubilation. Had Rodney been able to remain in the Mediterranean the blockade of Gibraltar and Minorca would have ended, but he had to sail almost immediately to the West Indies.

Six months after the departure of Rodney there was again a shortage of food at Gibraltar, and soon after news was received of a great British disaster ■at sea. Fifty-five merchantships of a convoy of sixty-three were captured by a combined French and Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent. But in the following month a large British convoy of more than a hundred merchantships reached Gibraltar under Admiral Darby.

The third year of the siege was marked by much activity on land and sea by the besiegers. There were artillery duels between the blockading ships and the forts, one of which lasted for several days. A sortie by garrison

troops destroyed some of the Spanish defences at the north of the isthmus. The Spanish command decided to combine an attack by land on the north front, with an attack by sea against the west front. For the latter purpose powerful floating batteries were constructed by cutting down ten shipsi so as to provide platforms for the guns. Each battery consisted of eight to twenty guns, the total on ' the ten ships being 142. It was arranged that ten ships of the line should co-operate in the attack, which was to be followed by an assault by'soldiers landed from rafts and small vessels.

On September 12, 1782,' the floating batteries were manoeuvred into position and anchored. Fire was opened about 10 a.m., and soon there were 424 guns in action —142 oh the batteries, 186 on the north front, and 96 on the fortress., The garrison fired fire-balls

I HAVE a small piece of writing • paper in hiy possession which I cannot handle without something of a thrill, says a writer in the "Melbourne Age." I must frankly admit that I stole it, but plead excess of excitement as justification. There are a few words printed on the top of this small piece of paper which1 show its origin— • ■ . i "The White House, Washington." The notepaper came from that simple yet famous room where the president of the United States meets his^Cabinet. There is the chair in which so many great men have sat—Lincoln, Wilson, and Theodore Roosevelt. I could not

sit in that chair without a feeling of awe; nor gaze around the room without realising that here was the, romantic centre of American life, here was the heart of a great, nation. Yet the room, like the White House itself, is simple, unpretentious. There are no gaudy or spectacular decorations; the House, is solid, comfortable, and spaci-. ous, the emblem ' of /a people whose whole tradition is simplicity and freedom. . . '

The White House is the nerve centre of American life, symbol of its unity, pride of its past, and witness to its future.. The House itself is of freestone, built in the English renaissance style, and painted white.

It was evening when I got my first glimpse of it. I had struck up an acquaintance with a young American on the day of my arrival in Washington, and with typical friendliness he walked round with me in the cool evening to see something of the city. It amazed me when we casually strolled into the gardens of the White House. It was all so easy. / I stood gazing at the front of this famous House. Four imposing pillars support the entrance. They are flanked by spacious windows on either side. A large carriage-way sweeps right up to the door, and an oval pool is directly in front. Next day, aided by ,my Australian letter of introduction and the kindly offices of another friend, I was taken over the home of America's President. From room to room we passed, and.all the time I was thinking of the romance and heroism that lie behind this, large, pleasant house,, pulsating as it is with the heart-beats of history. Taken into the room where but recently the President of the United States entertained the King and Queen during their American tour, I could not but be stirred by thoughts of the blood and bitterness that- had come between us in the past, and marvel at the rapidity with which the • wound ' was healed.

The White House is different from the rest of Washington. Mighty buildings, dominant and futuristic, thrust upward in the great city with its 310,000 public servants. But at its heart there is this old house, the foundation stone of which was laid by George Washington himself. It has been the official residence of America's President since it was first occupied in 1800 by John Adams.

Fourteen years later, in August,-1814, the British laid waste the city. . It was a brief but poignant incident in the war between England and America, of which Henry Adams said of one of the many naval duels:—"A small affair it might appear among the world's battles, it took but half an hour, but in that half an hour the United States of America rose to the rank of a firstclass Power."

and red-hot shot, heated in large grates and open fires, with the object of setting the batteries on fire. The guns of the batteries were protected by timber three feet thick. In order to minimise the risk of fire, the batteries were kept saturated with water distributed over i them from pumps.

The cannonade from the batteries slackened in the afternoon, and the hearts of the garrison were gladdened by the sight of thick clouds of smoke rising from two of the most heavily armed batteries Shortly after midnight one of these batteries burst into flames, and the light thus provided enabled the garrison to train its guns on the other batteries. By 4 a.m. six of the batteries were burning fiercely. Two of them were blown to pieces by the explosion of their ammunition. Four more blew up before noon, and the others ' burned to the

Britain had blockaded the coast, and was landing invading parties. Several thousand land troops and marines under General Ross were landed about fifty miles from Washington^ and marched against the city. The American militia, retreating, made' a brief stand at Bladensburg on August 24, and on the same evening the1 British ..took possession of Washington. . Stores were destroyed, two ships. burnt, public buildings, including even the mansion of the , President,- were plundered and set on fire. Apparently the invaders did not realise the significance of their prize, for within a few hours they re-| turned to their ships. And the White House was saved. • ■ The first President, Washington, was! twenty-two years old, and already, a

He gave the capitol city its name, and major in the militia, when he was chosen for his , first important task. Through stressful years lie was the guiding genius in that epoch-making struggle which' gave America freedom.

/^FTEN out of the ordeal of war great literature is born,, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age." 6nly when fanned alternately by the hot breath of battle, the cold wind of death and disaster, do the ' sparks of a certain type of genius burst into flame. And among contemporary, , writers the French author Andre Malraux is most like that —primarily he is a chronicler of conflict, of political upheaval, of war. Born in Paris, of wealthy parents, on November '3, 1901, , Malraux was educated during the last World War years in various schools, finishing at the Lycee Cdridorcet . and the Paris School of Oriental Languages. At 21 he published a volume of verse. In 1923 he married a German Jewess, Clara Goldschmidt, and soon afit^rwards accompanied an archaeological expedition to Indo-China. His interest in archaelogy had • been > aroused by, his study at the Paris School of Oriental Languages, where he learned-Sans-krit. Since then-he-has'added to this a knowledge, of German,. . Russian* Spanish, Italian, English, and Chinese, for he is a keen scholar, with a flair for languages. , .

After a year of exploration • Malraux left the expedition and interested himself in the labour and economic * problems of the country he had been travelling in, associating himself with the Young Annam League, which was advocating the independence of IndoChina. To help the league he published a magazine, and in 1925 became assistant secretary of Cochin-China's Kuominr tang. A year later, during the revolution in China, though he refused to espouse Communism, he was put in charge of revolutionary propaganda in Kwantung and Kwangsi. But by 1927, disgusted with the wavering loyalties of the Chinese revolutionaries, Malraux left China to return to his old love, archaeology. He went through Afghanistan and Persia, finding some rare archaelogical specimens, and then returned to France, where he joined the staff of a French publisher, and set up house in the Rue dv Bac, in,'. Paris. While his wife translated German books into French, Malraux in his

water's edge. The Spanish casualties amounted to at least 2000, but the garrison lost only 16 killed and 68 wounded.

In October news was received that thPj British Admiralty was sending Admiral Howe in command of 30 ships of the line, with s convoy to Gibraltar. The Franco-Spanish blockading fleet of 47 chips of the line, and a number of smaller craft prepared to meet the British force., but a gale scattered the blockaders. and Admiral Howe was able to land reinforcements and supplies without being molested. That was virtually the end of the siege, but it was no I sctually raised until February, 1783, when a peace treaty was signed. During the siege the garrison lost over 900 men, mosi of them dying from disease. The expenditure of ammunition by both sides during the siege was computed at 464,000 rounds. .

his spirit has ever since inspired the occupants of the White House. So great was his patriotism, and so high his altruism, that in May, 1782, he repelled with disdain the offer of a crown from certain individuals in the army. Later he wrote to the Governors of the States: "According to the system of policy the States shall adopt at this moment they will stand or fall . . . there are four things which.l humbly conceive are essential to the well-being, I may even venture to say to the existence, of the United States as an independent power —an indissoluble union of the States under one Federal head, a sacred regard to public justice, the adoption of a proper peace establishment, and the prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States which will induce them to forget their local prejudices."

If, as has been observed, the name of Washington was : almost a, part'of the Constitution, the spirit of Lincoln became the life force of the nation which emerged after the civil war. In Lincoln's mind the issues were clear cut

"A house divided against itself," he

declared, "cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure half slaves and half free. I do not expect the house to fall, but I expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." .

After years of stern- struggle he was struck down in the hour of his triumph by the bullet of John Wilkes Booth while watching a play at Ford's Theatre, on April 14, 1863.

"There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen!" said Stanton in tears at the President's death couch. The hero of "From Log Cabin to White House" has been followed by a long succession of great men. In 1800, under the Presidency of John Adams, who followed George Washington, Congress met in Washington for the first time. Twenty-three years later, under President Monroe, the famous doctrine that bears his name was enunciated, and the influence of the United States began to be felt.

And through all the vicissitudes of the years White House has stood with quiet dignity and austere power.

spare time wrote, and in 1928 published his first novel, "The Conquerors." Its background the revolution in China, "The Conquerors" pleased the critics, but failed financially, and was followed by a tale of adventure in Indo-China, "The Royal Way," which was not, however, up to the standard of its predecessor. But with "Man's Fate" (published in English under the title "Storm Over Shanghai"), which won the, 1933 Prix Goncourt for literary merit, Malraux definitely "arrived." "The Conquerors" dealt with one aspect of the Chinese revolution—its setting was the Canton revolt—and "Man's Fate" dealt with another,- the action in Shanghai. Bitterly condemning Communism in "Man's Fate," Malraux later as savagely condemned Fascism in "Days of Wrath"; thus earning the distinction of being denounced by both sides! In 1934 Malraux qualified as an aviator and made a daring flight over Arabia. When the Spanish War broke out he organised and for a time-; com--manded the varied assortment of planes that was the nucleus of the; Loyalist air force. In between his duties as commander and hazardous flights—more than 60 of them, during which he was injured twice in crashes —over the nationalist lines, Malraux would retire to his hotel in Madrid and work on his novel of the war, "Man's Hope." This novel, published in 1938, bears the mark of its tempestuous begetting, and as effectively as ever it has been done puts on paper the savage reality of, war. The genius of Malraux has enabled him —as Conrad would have it—"to make you hear, to make you feel, to make you see" the conflict and. its background as he himself heard and felt and saw ■it.

To get funds for Spain, Malraux made a successful lecture tour of the U.S.A. in 1937. Then in September, 1939, he abandoned all association with left-wing politics and reported for service with the French army, volunteering for the Tank Corps, probably the most dangerous of all land units. It will be a tragedy if Malraux was not spared to do for the present struggle of democracy against Hitlerism what he has already done for China and Spain in "Man's Fate" .and "Man's Hope." '