StraitTales2

 

Bute’s Cipher; A Challenge from 1796.                  

                   

In 1796, Britain was at war with France, who had declared war on Britain three years earlier; but we still had a reasonably amicable relationship with Spain.

The British ambassador to Spain was the Earl of Bute, John Stuart, who had sat in the House of Commons as a Tory MP until he was elevated to the peerage. In 1779 he was sent as an envoy to the Court of Turin and then appointed ambassador to the Court of Charles IV of Spain, in 1783, a post which he finally took up in 1795.

That was tumultuous year for Spain; the War of the Pyrenees went forward and backward between Roussillon and Catalonia until it reached stalemate, the French eventually gaining control of a Bilbao, Vittoria and a large portion of NE Spain. On the 10^th July the Spanish government decided to make peace, recognizing the revolutionary government of France and ceded Santa Domingo; Spain’s half of Hispaniola, by the Treaty of Basle.

 Over the next 12 months Napoleon poured troops into Napoleonic Spain, and Carlos IV was persuaded that by forming an alliance with his erstwhile enemy, France, he could regain some semblance of power, remain on the throne, and not be totally subsumed by the French invasion. So on the 19^th August 1796 he signed the 2^nd Treaty of San Idelfonso, allying Spain to France. This made Spain an enemy of England and was essentially the beginnings of the Peninsular War.

 Our Ambassador, the Earl of Bute, was right in the middle of all these shenanigans and needed to report each twist and turn to the Governor of Gibraltar, as soon as it happened. This was long before the days of SIGINT interception; his communications had to be by letter, carried by courier. Since Spain was overrun by banditti, the chances of letters being intercepted and destroyed, or worse, sold to the highest bidder, were pretty high; so our man resorted to ciphers.

We are lucky to have a genuine copy of one of those letters today, but unfortunately not the key to the cipher. So the challenge is, can any of you history buffs decode the following letter?  

               

     Aranjuez, 3 June 1796.

 

Sir,               

    I have received your letter of the 26th instant with it’s enclosure, for which I beg to return you my thanks.

                            1695     532    1652    2126     369

    1137    1864    1735    1869     184     557     705     536

    2409    1746    1428    2487     167    1682     845      30 

     317    3996    1515     969    2728     277    1869    3660  

    3437     235    1766    3409    1140    2146     905     389

    2360     840    2805     890    1366     983    2236    3219

    3553    1397      15    2881    1457     929     990    1072

     179     857    1181    1515    2258     692    3248  

                                                             636

                                 (displaced as continuity mark?)

 

   (2nd page follows overleaf)

     636    1634     734    2089    3035    3650    2360

    2213    2838    3049    1836     745    2785     969

    1160     430     653      30     285    2891    1566   1916

    1106    2487    1670    1479    3063     167    1419

    1478    1424     928     990    2360    1176     368

     608     919    2566     969    3408       1    3673   1428

    1515    2804    1460     235      26    1498     922    416

    3600    3455     583    2360     369     783    3549

     453     745    1725    3593    2472    2852    1424

    2601    2535    1515     180    1041    2299    3010    189    

    1605    2032     560    1202    2747    3455     369

     921     969    1935     589     113     731    1244   1478

     235    3902    2680     905    1366    1603     389

   (3rd page follows directly)

    1143    1854     310    3669      30     777    1328   2449

    1018     669     990    1613    1293    1072    2665

    3795     990     108    3576    3272    2747    3455   2776

    1368     753    1736    1164     276     167    2506    501

    1715    1424    1613    1787    1328    1134     545   1644

    1613    3844    2478    3604    1671    1543    1651

    2665    1683      30     890    3844    3969     905    635

    3477    1816     389    1493    1186    1931    2487

    2814    3177    1349     745    3308    3584    2759

    1634     899    1679    1855    2360    3459     840

     793    2396    1515    2299    1574    3094    2227

    1766    3010      70     235    2031    1428     793   1403

                       256

                                         (displaced as before)

   (final page follows overleaf)

     256    2498    2268     132    2601     819    1419

    3792    1391    1419    3813     969    1470    3728

    3367    1679    1784     355    1671   30   189   11   557.

                          

     I am with great truth and regard,

    Sir, your most obedient humble servant.  

                                  

Lord Mount Stuart, the future Marquess of Bute aged 19. 

In 1792 he succeeded his father in the Earldom to become 4th Earl Stuart. 

First published at Gibraltar Magazine 2003.           Paul Hodkinson.