PARKER AND HIS CAUSE LOST. 255 



" God bless you all ! " 



At an address so unassuming- and patriotic, the whole ship's crew were dissolved 

 in tears, and one and all declared, with every expression of warmth they could use, their 

 determination to stay by the admiral in life or death. Their example was followed by 

 all the other ships left in the squadron, and the brave and excellent old admiral, notwith- 

 standing- the defection of so many of his ships, repaired to his station, off the coast of 

 Holland, to watch the movements of the Dutch fleet. Here he employed a device to 

 hide the sparseness of his fleet by employing one of his frigates, comparatively close in 

 shore, to make signals constantly to himself and to the other vessels in the offing, 

 many of them imaginary, and give the enemy the impression that a large squadron was 

 outside. He had resolved, however, not to refuse battle, if the Dutch fleet should have 

 the courage to come out and offer it. 



But to return to the mutineers. The accession of the new vessels so elated Parker 

 that he gave way to the wildest fits of extravagance. He talked of taking the whole 

 fleet to sea, and selling 1 it to our enemies. He tried to stop the navigation of the Thames, 

 declaring that he would force his way up to London, and bombard the city if the Government 

 did not accede to his terms. The alarm at these proceedings became general in the 

 metropolis, and the funds fell lower than ever known before or since in the financial 

 history of our country. An order was given to take up the buoys marking the channel 

 of the Thames, while the forts were heavily armed and garrisoned, so that should Parker 

 attempt his vainglorious threat, the fleet might be destroyed. The Government now 

 acted with more promptness and decision than they had previously displayed. Lord 

 Spencer, Lord Arden, and Admiral Young hastened to Sheerness, and held a board, at 

 which Parker and the other delegates attended, but the conduct of the mutineers was so 

 audacious that these Lords of the Admiralty returned to town without the slightest success. 

 The principal article of conflict on the part of the seamen's delegates was the unequal 

 distribution of prize-money, for the omission of which matter in the recent demands, they 

 greatly upbraided their fellow-seamen at Portsmouth. Bills were immediately passed in 

 Parliament inflicting the heaviest penalties on those who aided or encouraged the 

 mutineers in any way, or even held intercourse with them, which speedily had the effect 

 of damping their ardour, and by the end of the first week in June the fire which Parker 

 had fanned into a serious conflagration, began to die out. The fleets at Portsmouth and 

 Plymouth disowned all fellowship with them, and the example of one or two ships, such 

 as the Clyde, which from the first had resisted Parker's influence, commenced to be of 

 effect. The ringleader himself, seeing that his influence was waning, and knowing the 

 perilous position in which he had placed himself, tried to re-open negotiations with the 

 Admiralty, but his demands were too ridiculous to be considered; whereupon he hung 

 Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas in effigy at the yard-arm of the Sandwich. It is a curious fact, 

 showing that the crews were simply egged on by the ringleaders, and that there was 

 plenty of loyalty at bottom, that on June 4th, the king's birthday, the whole fleet 

 insisted on firing a royal salute, displaying the colours as usual, and hauling down the 

 red flag during the ceremony. Mr. Parker, however, insisted that it should fly on the 

 flag-ship. 



