Note 269 — Chapter X · EFFORTS TO EXCITE MUTINY IN THE ENGLISH FLEET
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Clarke, when giving Tone his commission in the French army, asks him (Journals, i. 151) if he knew one Duckett: 'I answered I did not, nor did I desire to know him.' Clarke replied that Duckett was 'clever.' Clarke, afterwards Duke de Feltre, stooped to ignoble tactics from which Tone recoiled. Clarke was a strong advocate for chouannerie (see Tone, ii. 96-9), and probably encouraged Duckett in his scheme for destroying the English dockyards and exciting mutiny in the fleet.