Embark on a thrilling journey through the life of Lord Cochrane, a legendary Napoleonic-era sea captain. This volume brings to life his daring exploits as he aids the Chilean navy in defeating Spain and takes command of Brazils fleet. Cochranes extraordinary journey doesnt end there - he sails to Greece, joining the fight for their liberation from the Ottoman Empire. This is not just a biography, its an unfinished autobiography completed by his son and a renowned naval historian.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twelve of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of dun Donald, Volume one by Henry Richard Foxbourne.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
Timothy Ferguson eighteen twenty four to eighteen twenty five. The
political turmoils which Lord Cochrane found to be prevalent in
Rio de Genio on his return from Maharanjam were, as
(00:23):
he had anticipated, very disastrous to the whole Brazilian Empire.
The unpatriotic action of men in power at headquarters encouraged
yet more unpatriotic action in the outlying annually acquired provinces.
Portuguese sympathizers in Pernambuco, in Marjiam and in the neighboring
districts followed the policy of the Portuguese faction at the
(00:44):
center of government and acting even more unworthily induced serious trouble,
and the trouble was aggravated by the fierce opposition which
was in many cases offered to them. Before the end
of eighteen twenty three, information arrived at n Insurrection, having
for its object the establishment in the northern provinces of
a government distinct from both Brazil and Portugal had broken
(01:08):
out in Pernambuco, and nearly every week brought fresh intelligence
of the spread of this insurrection and of the troubles
induced by it. The Emperor Pedro the First was eager
to send thither the squadron under Lord Cochrane, and so
to win back the allegiance of the inhabitants, and for
this Lord Cochrane was no less eager. To the Portuguese partisans, however,
(01:28):
whose great effort was to weaken the resources of the Empire,
the news of the insurrection was welcome, and perhaps their
strongest inducement to the long course of injustice detailed in
the last chapter was the knowledge that by doing so
they were most successfully preventing the despatch of an armament
strong enough to restore order in the northern provinces. Herein
(01:49):
they prospered for more than six months. The Emperor was
prevented from suppressing the insurrection, which all through that time
was extending and becoming more and more formidable. Not till
July was anything done to satisfy the claims of the
seamen for payment of their prize money and the eureas
of wages due to them, without which they refused to
return to their work and render possible the equipment and
(02:11):
dispatch of the squadron. And even then only two hundred
thousand mil rays, less than a tenth of the prize
money that was owing, were granted as an installment of
the payment to be made to them with that money. However,
Lord Cochrane, using his great personal influence with the officers
and crews, induced them to rejoin the fleet. The funds
were placed in his hands on the twelfth of July
(02:32):
eighteen twenty four, and equitably dispersed by him during the
following three weeks. On the second of August he set
sail in the Pedro Primiero from Rio di Geneio, attended
by the Maranjum and three transports containing twelve hundred soldiers.
Having landed General Lima and the troops at Alagoas on
the sixteenth, he arrived off Pernambuco on the eighteenth. There
(02:55):
he found that a strong republican government had been set
up under the presidentship of manor Well de Carvelo, paid
to Andreid, whose authority secret or open extended far into
the interior and along the adjoining coasts. Knowing that it
would take some time for the troops to come up,
he said, I determined to try the effect of a
(03:16):
threat of bombardment, and issued a proclamation remonstrating with the
inhabitants on the folly of permitting themselves to be deceived
by men who lacked the ability to execute their schemes,
pointing out moreover that persistence in revolt would involve both
the town and its rulers in one common ruin, For
if forced to the necessity of bombardment, I would reduce
(03:36):
the port and city to insignificance. On the other hand,
I assured them that if they retraced their steps and
rallied round the imperial throne, thus aiding to protect it
from foreign influence, it would be more gratifying to me
to act the part of a mediator and to restore
Pernambuco to peace, prosperity, and happiness, than to carry out
(03:56):
the work of destruction, which would be my only remaining alternative.
In another proclamation, I called the attention of the inhabitants
to the distracted state of the Spanish republics on the
other side of the continent, asking whether it would be
wise to risk the benefits of orderly government for social
and political confusion, and entreating them not to compel me
(04:18):
to proceed to extremities, as it would become my duty
to destroy their shipping and block up their port unless
within eight days the integrity of the Empire were acknowledged.
While waiting to see the result of these proclamations, Lord
Cochran received a message from Carvallo offering him an immediate
payment of four hundred thousand mil rays if he would
(04:39):
abandon the imperial cause and go over to the Republicans. Quote.
Frankness is the distinguishing character of free men, wrote Carvallo,
But your excellency has not found it in your connection
with the Imperial government. Your not having been rewarded for
the first expedition affords a justifiable inference that you will
get nothing for the second. That audacious proposal, it need
(05:02):
hardly be said, was indignantly resented by Lord Cochrane. If
I shall have an opportunity of becoming personally known to
your excellency, he wrote, I can afford you proof that
the opinion you have formed of me has had in
its origin the misrepresentations of those in power whose purposes
I was incapable of serving. The threats and promises of
(05:24):
Lord Cochrane's proclamation did not lead to the peaceable surrender
of Pernambuco, and at the end of the eight days
waiting time, he proceeded to bombard the town. In that however,
he was hindered by bad weather, which made it impossible
for him to enter the shallow water without great risk
of shipwreck. He was in urgent need also of anchors
and other fittings. Therefore, after a brief show of attack,
(05:45):
which frightened the inhabitants but had no other effect, he
left the smaller vessels to maintain the blockade and went
on the fourth of September in the flagship the Bahia,
there to procure the necessary articles. On his return he
found that General Lima had marched against Pernambuco on the eleventh,
and with the assistance to the blockading vessels, made an
easy capture of it. There was plenty of other work, however,
(06:06):
to be done. All the northern provinces were disaffected, if
not in actual revolt, and in compliance with the Emperor's directions,
Lord Cochrane proceeded to visit their ports and reduced them
to order some other ships. Having arrived from Rio de Janeiro,
he selected the Perenga and to smaller vessels for service
with the flagship, leaving the others at the disposal of
General Lima, and sailed from Pernambuco on the tenth of October.
(06:30):
He reached Giara on the eighteenth, and then, by his
mere presence compelled the insurgents who had seized the city
to retire, and enabled the well disposed inhabitants to organize
a vigorous scheme of self protection. A heart a task
awaited him at Miranjum, at which he arrived on the
ninth of November. There almost confusion prevailed. The Portuguese faction
had the supremacy, and there were special causes of animosity
(06:53):
and misconduct among the members of the opposite party of
native Brazilians in miranjam Lord Cochrane, as in the other
northern provinces of the Empire, there has been no amelioration
whatever in the condition of the people, and without such amelioration,
it was absurd to place reliance on the hyperbolical professions
of devotion to the Emperor, which were now abundantly avowed
(07:16):
by those who before my arrival had been foremost in
promoting and cherishing disturbance. The condition of the province, and
indeed of all the provinces, was in no way better
than they had been under the dominion of Portugal, though
they presented one of the finest fields imaginable for improvement
or the old colonial imports and duties remained without alteration,
The manifold hindrances to commerce and agriculture still existed, and
(07:39):
arbitrary powers everywhere exercised and controlled, so that, in place
of being benefited by emancipation from the Portuguese yoke, the
condition of the great mass of the population was literally
worse than before. To amend this state of things, it
was necessary to begin with the officers of government, of
whose corruption and arbitrary conduct complaints signed by whole communities
(07:59):
were daily arriving from every part of the province. To
such an extent, indeed, was this misrule carried that neither
the lives nor the property of the inhabitants were safe
in this state of things. Lord Cochrane said himself zealously
to remedy, and during his six months stay at Marantam
he did all that. With the bad materials at his disposal,
(08:19):
and in the harassing circumstances of his position, it was
possible for him to do unable to break down the
kabals and intrigues, the mutual jealousies, and the unworthy ambitions
that had prevailed previous to his arrival. He held them
all in check while he was present, and secured the
observance of law and the freedom of all classes of
(08:39):
the community. Thereby, however, he brought upon himself much fresh hatred.
The governor of the province, being devoted to the Portuguese
party and a chief cause of the existing troubles, had
to be suspended and sent to Ria di Gennaro. And
though the suspension occurred after orders had been despatched by
the Emperor for his recall, it afforded an excuse to
(09:00):
the governor and his friends in office for denunciation of
Lord Cochrane's conduct, alleged to be greatly in excess of
his powers and in contempt of the constituted authority. In fact,
the same bad policy that had embarrassed him before while
he was in Rio di Chenio continued to embarrass him
yet more during his service in Maranjum. That that service
(09:20):
was very helpful to the best interests of Brazil. No
one attempted to deny the French and English consuls, speaking
on behalf of all their countrymen resident in the northern provinces,
overstepped the line of strict neutrality, and entreated him to
persevere in the measures by which he was making it
possible for commerce to prosper and the rules of civilized
life to be observed. The Emperor sent to thank him
(09:42):
for his work. His Majesty, wrote the Secretary on the
second of December, approves of the First Admiral's determination to
establish order and obedience in the northern provinces, a duty
which he has so wisely and judiciously undertaken, and in
which he must continue until the provinces submit themselves to
the authorities lately appointed and enjoy the benefits of the
(10:02):
paternal government of his Majesty. The Emperor, however, was at
this time almost powerless. The leaders of the Portuguese faction reigned,
and by them Cochrane continued to be treated with every
possible indignity and insult, not daring openly to dismiss him
or even accept the resignation which he frequently offered, but
determined to wear out his patients, and if possible, to
(10:23):
drive him to some act on which they could fasten
an excuse for degrading him. They partially succeeded, though the
only wonder is that Lord Cochrane should have been for
so long a time as patient as he proved. His
temper is well shown in the numerous letters which he
addressed to Pedra the First and the Government during these
harassing months. Quote the condescension he wrote with which Your
(10:45):
Imperial Majesty has been pleased to permit me to approach
Your Royal person on matters regarding the public service, and
even on those more peculiarly relating to myself. Emboldens me
to adopt the only means in my power at this
distance of craving the Your Majesty will be graciously pleased
to judge of my conduct in the Imperial Service by
the result of my endeavors to promote Your Majesty's interests,
(11:07):
and not by the false reports spread by those who,
for reasons best known to themselves, desire to alienate Your
Majesty's mind from me, and thus to bring about my
removal from Your Majesty's service. I trust that your Imperial
Majesty will please to believe me to be sensible, that
the honors which you have so graciously bestowed upon me
it is my duty not to tarnish, and that your
(11:29):
Majesty will further believe that highly as I prize those honors,
I hold the maintenance of my reputation in my native
country in equal estimation. I respectfully crave permission to add that,
perceiving it is impossible to continue in the service of
Your Imperial Majesty without at all times subjecting my professional
character under the present management of the Marine Department too
(11:51):
great risks, I trust your Majesty will be graciously pleased
to grant me leave to retire from your Imperial service,
in which it appears to me I have now accomplished
all that can be expected from me, the authority of
Your Imperial Majesty being established throughout the whole extent of Brazil.
En quote, that request was not granted nor in any
(12:12):
way answered, and the statement that the whole of Brazil
was finally subjected to the Emperor's authority proved to be
not quite correct. Fresh turmoils arose in Parah, and Lord
Cochrane had to send thither a small force by which
order was restored. He himself found ample employment in restraining
the factions that could not be suppressed, and mirantrum. That
(12:32):
was the state of things in the early months of
eighteen twenty five, until unlooked for circumstances arose by which
Lord Cochrane's Brazilian employment was brought to a termination in
a way that he had not anticipated. Quote. The anxiety
occasioned by the constant harassing which I had undergone, unalleviated
by any acknowledgment on the part of the Imperial government
of the services, which had a second time saved the
(12:55):
Empire from intersign, war, anarchy and revolution, he said, began
to make serious inroads on my health, whilst that of
my offices and men, in consequence of the great heat
and pestilential exhalations of the climate, and of the double
duty which they had to perform afloat and ashore, was
even less satisfactory. As I saw no advantage in long
(13:16):
contending with the factious intrigue at Maranjum. Unsupported and neglected
as I was by the administration Rio de Genaro, I
resolved upon a short run into a more bracing northerly atmosphere,
which would answer the double purpose of restoring our health
and giving us a clear offing for our subsequent voyage
to the capital. Accordingly the narrative proceeds, I shifted my
(13:38):
flag to the Peranja, despatched the Pedro Primiero to Rio, and,
leaving Captain Manson of the Caquis in charge of the
naval department at Meranjum, put to sea on the eighteenth
of May. On the twenty first we crossed the Equator, and,
meeting with succession of easterly winds, were carried northward of
the Azores, passing Saint Michael's on the eleventh of June.
It had been my intention to sail into the latter
(14:00):
of the Azores and then to return to Rio de Geneio,
but strong gales coming on, we made the unpleasant discovery
that the frigate's main topmast was sprung, and when putting
her about, the main and main topsail yards were discovered
to be unserviceable. For the condition of the ship's spars,
I had depended on others, not deeming it necessary to
take upon myself such investigation. It was, however, possible that
(14:21):
We might have patched these up had not the running
rigging been as rotten as the masts, and we had
no spare cordage on board. A still worse disaster was
that the salt provisions shipped at Maranjum were reported bad.
Mercantile ingenuity, having resorted to the device of pleasing good
meat at the top and bottom of the barrels, whilst
the middle, being composed of unsound articles, had tinted the whole,
(14:44):
thereby rendering it not only unpalatable, but positively dangerous to health.
The good provisions on board being little more than sufficient
for a week's subsistence, a direct return to Rio de
Jeneiro was out of the question. It was therefore absolutely
necessary to seek some nearer harbor. But Lord Cochrane was
considerably embarrassed in his choice of a port. Portugal was
(15:05):
an enemy's country, and Spain, by reason of his achievements
in Chile and Peru, was no less hostile to him.
France had not yet recognized the independence of Brazil, and
therefore a stay on any part of its coast might
lead to difficulties. England afforded the only safe halting place,
though there Lord Cochrane was uncertain as to the way
in which, in consequence of the Foreign Enlistment Act, he
(15:27):
might be received to England. However, he resolved to go, and,
citing its coast, on the twenty fifth of June, he
anchored its spitthead. On the following day, salutes were exchanged
with a British ship lying in harbor, and in the
afternoon he landed at Portsmouth, to be enthusiastically welcomed by
nearly all classes of his countrymen, whose admiration for his
personal character and his excellence as a naval officer was
(15:50):
heightened by the renown of his exploits in South America
during an absence of six years and a half. His
subsequent relations with Brazil can be briefly told. His navoidable
return to England if just the excuse which his enemies
in Brazil had been seeking for ousting him from his command.
They un the Chevalier manoel Rodriguez Guimiro Pesoua, the Brazilian
(16:11):
envoy in London, who altogether sympathized with them, chose to
regard this currens as an act of desertion. Lord Cochrane
lost no time in reporting his arrival and requesting to
be provided with the necessary means of refitting the Perengua
and preparing for a speedy return to Rio di Geneiro.
To expedite matters, he even advanced two thousand pounds out
(16:32):
of his own property, which was never repaid to him
for this purpose. His repeated applications for instructions were either
unheard or only answered with insult. He was ordered to
return to Brazil at once, towards which no assistance was
given to him, and at the same time his officers
and crew were ordered to repudiate his authority and return
without him. Lord Cochrane had no room to doubt that
(16:55):
by going back to Brazil he should only expose himself
to yet worse treatment than that from which he had
been suffer during nearly two years. But at the same
time he was resolved to do nothing at variance with
his duty to the Emperor from whom he had received
his commission, and nothing invalidating his claims to the reconfense
which was clearly due to him. At length, he was
relieved from some of his perplexities, after they had lasted
(17:17):
more than three months. On the third of November eighteen
twenty five piece was declared between Brazil and Portugal, and
thereby his relations with his employers were materially altered. The
work which he had pledged himself to do was completed,
and he was justified in resigning his command, or at
any rate, in declining to resume it until the causes
of his recent troubles were removed. This he did in
(17:39):
a letter addressed to the Emperor Pedro the First from
London on the tenth of November. The gracious condescension which
I experienced from your Imperial Majesty from the first moment
of my arrival in the Brazils, the honorary distinctions which
I received from your Majesty, and the attention with which
you were pleased to listen to all my personal representations
relating to them of the naval power of your empire,
(18:02):
he wrote, have impressed upon my mind a high sense
of the honor which your Majesty conferred, and forbid my
entertaining any other sentiments than those of attachment to your
Majesty and devotion to your true interests. But whilst I
express these my unfeigned sentiments towards your Imperial Majesty, it
is with infinite pain and regret that I recall to
(18:22):
my recollection the conduct that has been pursued towards the
Naval service, and to myself personally, since the members of
the Brazilian administration of Jose I Bonifacio de Andrede were
superseded by persons devoted to the views and interests of Portugal,
views and interests which are directly opposed to the adoption
of that line of conduct which can alone promote and
secure the true interests and glory of your Imperial Majesty
(18:45):
founded on the tranquility and happiness of the Brazilian people.
Without imputing to such ministers as Severiano, Gomez and Barboza
disaffection to the person of your Imperial Majesty, it is
sufficient to know that there are men bigoted to the
us unenlightened opinions of their ancestors of four centuries ago.
That they are men who, from their limited intercourse with
(19:05):
the world, for the paucity of literature of their native language,
and from their want of all rational instruction in the
service of government and political economy, have no conception of
governing Brazil by any other than the same wretched and
crooked policy to which the nation has been so long
subjected in its condition as a colony. Nothing further need
(19:26):
be said, while we equip them of treason to convict
them of unfitness to be the counselors of your Imperial Majesty.
None but such ministers as these could have endeavored to
impress upon the mind of your Imperial Majesty that the
refugee Portuguese from the provinces in many thousands from Europe
collected and Rio di Gennaro were the only true friends
(19:47):
and supporters of the Imperial Crown of Brazil. None but
such ministers would have endeavored to impress your Imperial Majesty
with the belief that the Brazilian people were inimicable to
your person and the Imperial Crown merely because they were
hostile to the system pursued by those ministers. None but
such ministers would have placed in important offices of trust
(20:09):
the natives of a nation with which your Imperial Majesty
was at war. None but such ministers would have endeavored
to induce Your Imperial Majesty to believe that officers who
had abandoned the king and native country for their own
private interests could be depended on as faithful servants to
a hostile government and a foreign land. None but such
ministers could have induced Your Imperial Majesty to place in
(20:31):
the command of your fortresses, regiments, and ships of war
such individuals as these. None but such ministers would have
attempted to excite in the breast of your Imperial Majesty
suspicions with respect to the fidelity of myself and those
other officers, who, by the most zealous exertions, had proved
out of ootions to the best interests of Your Imperial
(20:51):
Majesty and your Brazilian people. None but such ministers would
have endeavored, by insults and acts of the grossest injustice,
to drive us from the service of your Imperial Majesty,
and to place Portuguese officers in our stead. And above all,
none but such ministers could have suggested to Your Imperial
Majesty that extraordinary proceeding which was projected to take place
(21:12):
on the night of the third of June eighteen twenty four,
a proceeding which, had it not been averted by a
timely discovery and prompt into position on my part, would
have tarnished forever the glory of your Imperial majesty, in which,
if it had failed to prove fatal to myself and officers,
must inevitably have driven us from your imperial service. When
placed in competition with this plot of these ministers, and
(21:33):
the false insinuations by which they induced Your Imperial Majesty
to listen to their insidious council, all their previous intrigues
and those of the whole Portuguese faction to ruin the
naval power of Brazil sink into insignificance. But for the
advancement of Portuguese interests. There was nothing too treacherous or
malignant for such ministers and such men as these to
(21:56):
insinuate your Imperial Majesty, especially when they had discovered them,
when it was not possible by their unjust conduct to
provoke me to abandon the service of Brazil, so long
as my exertions could be useful to secure its independence,
which I believed to be alike the object of your
Imperial Majesty and the interests of the Brazilian people. If
the councils of such persons should prove fatal to the
(22:18):
interests of your Imperial Majesty, no one will regret the
event more Sincerely, than myself. My only consolation will be
that Your Imperial Majesty cannot but be conscious that I
individually have discharged my duty, both in a military and
in a private capacity, towards your Majesty, whose true interest
I may venture to add, I have held in greater
regard than my own. For had I connived at the
(22:40):
views of the Portuguese faction, even without dereliction of my
duty as an officer, I might have shared amply in
the honours and emoluments which such influence has enabled these
persons to obtain, instead of being deprived by their means
of even the ordinary rewards of my labours in the
cause of independence, which your Imperial Majesty had engaged me
to mata, which cause I neither have abandoned nor will abandon,
(23:04):
if ever it should be in my power successfully to
renew my exertions for the true interests of Your Imperial
Majesty and those of the Brazilian people. Meanwhile, my officer's
Commander in Chief of Your Imperial Majesty's naval forces, having
terminated by the conclusion of peace and by the decree
promulgated on the twenty eighth of February, eighteen twenty four.
I have notified to Your Imperial Majesty's envoy, the Chevalier
(23:28):
di Gmerio, that I have directed my flag to be
struck this day, praying that the war now terminated abroad,
may be accompanied by tranquility at home. I respectfully take
my leave of your Imperial majesty. All. Lord Cochrane's subsequent
correspondence with Brazil had for its object the recovery of
payments due to him and his officers and crews for
(23:50):
the great services done by them to the Empire. Lord
Cochrane had saved the Empire from being brought back to
the position of a Portuguese colony, and had enabled it
to who went on a career of independence. In return
for it, he was subjected to more than two years
of calling insult, was deprived of his proper share of
the prizes taken by him and his squadron, was refused
(24:11):
the estate of Miranja, which the Emperor, more grateful than
his ministers, had bestowed upon him, and was mockeded of
a portion of his pay and of all the pension
to which he was entitled by imperial decree and the
ordinances of the government. His services to Brazil, like his
services to Chile, adding much to his renown as a
disinterested champion of liberty and an unrivaled seaman and warrior,
(24:33):
brought upon him personally little but trouble and misfortune. Only
near the end of his life, when a worthy emperor
and honest minister succeeded to power, was any recompense accorded
to him. End of Chapter twelve. Recording by Timothy ferguson,
Gold Coast, Australia,
Chapter twelve of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of dun Donald, Volume one by Henry Richard Foxbourne.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
Timothy Ferguson eighteen twenty four to eighteen twenty five. The
political turmoils which Lord Cochrane found to be prevalent in
Rio de Genio on his return from Maharanjam were, as
(00:23):
he had anticipated, very disastrous to the whole Brazilian Empire.
The unpatriotic action of men in power at headquarters encouraged
yet more unpatriotic action in the outlying annually acquired provinces.
Portuguese sympathizers in Pernambuco, in Marjiam and in the neighboring
districts followed the policy of the Portuguese faction at the
(00:44):
center of government and acting even more unworthily induced serious trouble,
and the trouble was aggravated by the fierce opposition which
was in many cases offered to them. Before the end
of eighteen twenty three, information arrived at n Insurrection, having
for its object the establishment in the northern provinces of
a government distinct from both Brazil and Portugal had broken
(01:08):
out in Pernambuco, and nearly every week brought fresh intelligence
of the spread of this insurrection and of the troubles
induced by it. The Emperor Pedro the First was eager
to send thither the squadron under Lord Cochrane, and so
to win back the allegiance of the inhabitants, and for
this Lord Cochrane was no less eager. To the Portuguese partisans, however,
(01:28):
whose great effort was to weaken the resources of the Empire,
the news of the insurrection was welcome, and perhaps their
strongest inducement to the long course of injustice detailed in
the last chapter was the knowledge that by doing so
they were most successfully preventing the despatch of an armament
strong enough to restore order in the northern provinces. Herein
(01:49):
they prospered for more than six months. The Emperor was
prevented from suppressing the insurrection, which all through that time
was extending and becoming more and more formidable. Not till
July was anything done to satisfy the claims of the
seamen for payment of their prize money and the eureas
of wages due to them, without which they refused to
return to their work and render possible the equipment and
(02:11):
dispatch of the squadron. And even then only two hundred
thousand mil rays, less than a tenth of the prize
money that was owing, were granted as an installment of
the payment to be made to them with that money. However,
Lord Cochrane, using his great personal influence with the officers
and crews, induced them to rejoin the fleet. The funds
were placed in his hands on the twelfth of July
(02:32):
eighteen twenty four, and equitably dispersed by him during the
following three weeks. On the second of August he set
sail in the Pedro Primiero from Rio di Geneio, attended
by the Maranjum and three transports containing twelve hundred soldiers.
Having landed General Lima and the troops at Alagoas on
the sixteenth, he arrived off Pernambuco on the eighteenth. There
(02:55):
he found that a strong republican government had been set
up under the presidentship of manor Well de Carvelo, paid
to Andreid, whose authority secret or open extended far into
the interior and along the adjoining coasts. Knowing that it
would take some time for the troops to come up,
he said, I determined to try the effect of a
(03:16):
threat of bombardment, and issued a proclamation remonstrating with the
inhabitants on the folly of permitting themselves to be deceived
by men who lacked the ability to execute their schemes,
pointing out moreover that persistence in revolt would involve both
the town and its rulers in one common ruin, For
if forced to the necessity of bombardment, I would reduce
(03:36):
the port and city to insignificance. On the other hand,
I assured them that if they retraced their steps and
rallied round the imperial throne, thus aiding to protect it
from foreign influence, it would be more gratifying to me
to act the part of a mediator and to restore
Pernambuco to peace, prosperity, and happiness, than to carry out
(03:56):
the work of destruction, which would be my only remaining alternative.
In another proclamation, I called the attention of the inhabitants
to the distracted state of the Spanish republics on the
other side of the continent, asking whether it would be
wise to risk the benefits of orderly government for social
and political confusion, and entreating them not to compel me
(04:18):
to proceed to extremities, as it would become my duty
to destroy their shipping and block up their port unless
within eight days the integrity of the Empire were acknowledged.
While waiting to see the result of these proclamations, Lord
Cochran received a message from Carvallo offering him an immediate
payment of four hundred thousand mil rays if he would
(04:39):
abandon the imperial cause and go over to the Republicans. Quote.
Frankness is the distinguishing character of free men, wrote Carvallo,
But your excellency has not found it in your connection
with the Imperial government. Your not having been rewarded for
the first expedition affords a justifiable inference that you will
get nothing for the second. That audacious proposal, it need
(05:02):
hardly be said, was indignantly resented by Lord Cochrane. If
I shall have an opportunity of becoming personally known to
your excellency, he wrote, I can afford you proof that
the opinion you have formed of me has had in
its origin the misrepresentations of those in power whose purposes
I was incapable of serving. The threats and promises of
(05:24):
Lord Cochrane's proclamation did not lead to the peaceable surrender
of Pernambuco, and at the end of the eight days
waiting time, he proceeded to bombard the town. In that however,
he was hindered by bad weather, which made it impossible
for him to enter the shallow water without great risk
of shipwreck. He was in urgent need also of anchors
and other fittings. Therefore, after a brief show of attack,
(05:45):
which frightened the inhabitants but had no other effect, he
left the smaller vessels to maintain the blockade and went
on the fourth of September in the flagship the Bahia,
there to procure the necessary articles. On his return he
found that General Lima had marched against Pernambuco on the eleventh,
and with the assistance to the blockading vessels, made an
easy capture of it. There was plenty of other work, however,
(06:06):
to be done. All the northern provinces were disaffected, if
not in actual revolt, and in compliance with the Emperor's directions,
Lord Cochrane proceeded to visit their ports and reduced them
to order some other ships. Having arrived from Rio de Janeiro,
he selected the Perenga and to smaller vessels for service
with the flagship, leaving the others at the disposal of
General Lima, and sailed from Pernambuco on the tenth of October.
(06:30):
He reached Giara on the eighteenth, and then, by his
mere presence compelled the insurgents who had seized the city
to retire, and enabled the well disposed inhabitants to organize
a vigorous scheme of self protection. A heart a task
awaited him at Miranjum, at which he arrived on the
ninth of November. There almost confusion prevailed. The Portuguese faction
had the supremacy, and there were special causes of animosity
(06:53):
and misconduct among the members of the opposite party of
native Brazilians in miranjam Lord Cochrane, as in the other
northern provinces of the Empire, there has been no amelioration
whatever in the condition of the people, and without such amelioration,
it was absurd to place reliance on the hyperbolical professions
of devotion to the Emperor, which were now abundantly avowed
(07:16):
by those who before my arrival had been foremost in
promoting and cherishing disturbance. The condition of the province, and
indeed of all the provinces, was in no way better
than they had been under the dominion of Portugal, though
they presented one of the finest fields imaginable for improvement
or the old colonial imports and duties remained without alteration,
The manifold hindrances to commerce and agriculture still existed, and
(07:39):
arbitrary powers everywhere exercised and controlled, so that, in place
of being benefited by emancipation from the Portuguese yoke, the
condition of the great mass of the population was literally
worse than before. To amend this state of things, it
was necessary to begin with the officers of government, of
whose corruption and arbitrary conduct complaints signed by whole communities
(07:59):
were daily arriving from every part of the province. To
such an extent, indeed, was this misrule carried that neither
the lives nor the property of the inhabitants were safe
in this state of things. Lord Cochrane said himself zealously
to remedy, and during his six months stay at Marantam
he did all that. With the bad materials at his disposal,
(08:19):
and in the harassing circumstances of his position, it was
possible for him to do unable to break down the
kabals and intrigues, the mutual jealousies, and the unworthy ambitions
that had prevailed previous to his arrival. He held them
all in check while he was present, and secured the
observance of law and the freedom of all classes of
(08:39):
the community. Thereby, however, he brought upon himself much fresh hatred.
The governor of the province, being devoted to the Portuguese
party and a chief cause of the existing troubles, had
to be suspended and sent to Ria di Gennaro. And
though the suspension occurred after orders had been despatched by
the Emperor for his recall, it afforded an excuse to
(09:00):
the governor and his friends in office for denunciation of
Lord Cochrane's conduct, alleged to be greatly in excess of
his powers and in contempt of the constituted authority. In fact,
the same bad policy that had embarrassed him before while
he was in Rio di Chenio continued to embarrass him
yet more during his service in Maranjum. That that service
(09:20):
was very helpful to the best interests of Brazil. No
one attempted to deny the French and English consuls, speaking
on behalf of all their countrymen resident in the northern provinces,
overstepped the line of strict neutrality, and entreated him to
persevere in the measures by which he was making it
possible for commerce to prosper and the rules of civilized
life to be observed. The Emperor sent to thank him
(09:42):
for his work. His Majesty, wrote the Secretary on the
second of December, approves of the First Admiral's determination to
establish order and obedience in the northern provinces, a duty
which he has so wisely and judiciously undertaken, and in
which he must continue until the provinces submit themselves to
the authorities lately appointed and enjoy the benefits of the
(10:02):
paternal government of his Majesty. The Emperor, however, was at
this time almost powerless. The leaders of the Portuguese faction reigned,
and by them Cochrane continued to be treated with every
possible indignity and insult, not daring openly to dismiss him
or even accept the resignation which he frequently offered, but
determined to wear out his patients, and if possible, to
(10:23):
drive him to some act on which they could fasten
an excuse for degrading him. They partially succeeded, though the
only wonder is that Lord Cochrane should have been for
so long a time as patient as he proved. His
temper is well shown in the numerous letters which he
addressed to Pedra the First and the Government during these
harassing months. Quote the condescension he wrote with which Your
(10:45):
Imperial Majesty has been pleased to permit me to approach
Your Royal person on matters regarding the public service, and
even on those more peculiarly relating to myself. Emboldens me
to adopt the only means in my power at this
distance of craving the Your Majesty will be graciously pleased
to judge of my conduct in the Imperial Service by
the result of my endeavors to promote Your Majesty's interests,
(11:07):
and not by the false reports spread by those who,
for reasons best known to themselves, desire to alienate Your
Majesty's mind from me, and thus to bring about my
removal from Your Majesty's service. I trust that your Imperial
Majesty will please to believe me to be sensible, that
the honors which you have so graciously bestowed upon me
it is my duty not to tarnish, and that your
(11:29):
Majesty will further believe that highly as I prize those honors,
I hold the maintenance of my reputation in my native
country in equal estimation. I respectfully crave permission to add that,
perceiving it is impossible to continue in the service of
Your Imperial Majesty without at all times subjecting my professional
character under the present management of the Marine Department too
(11:51):
great risks, I trust your Majesty will be graciously pleased
to grant me leave to retire from your Imperial service,
in which it appears to me I have now accomplished
all that can be expected from me, the authority of
Your Imperial Majesty being established throughout the whole extent of Brazil.
En quote, that request was not granted nor in any
(12:12):
way answered, and the statement that the whole of Brazil
was finally subjected to the Emperor's authority proved to be
not quite correct. Fresh turmoils arose in Parah, and Lord
Cochrane had to send thither a small force by which
order was restored. He himself found ample employment in restraining
the factions that could not be suppressed, and mirantrum. That
(12:32):
was the state of things in the early months of
eighteen twenty five, until unlooked for circumstances arose by which
Lord Cochrane's Brazilian employment was brought to a termination in
a way that he had not anticipated. Quote. The anxiety
occasioned by the constant harassing which I had undergone, unalleviated
by any acknowledgment on the part of the Imperial government
of the services, which had a second time saved the
(12:55):
Empire from intersign, war, anarchy and revolution, he said, began
to make serious inroads on my health, whilst that of
my offices and men, in consequence of the great heat
and pestilential exhalations of the climate, and of the double
duty which they had to perform afloat and ashore, was
even less satisfactory. As I saw no advantage in long
(13:16):
contending with the factious intrigue at Maranjum. Unsupported and neglected
as I was by the administration Rio de Genaro, I
resolved upon a short run into a more bracing northerly atmosphere,
which would answer the double purpose of restoring our health
and giving us a clear offing for our subsequent voyage
to the capital. Accordingly the narrative proceeds, I shifted my
(13:38):
flag to the Peranja, despatched the Pedro Primiero to Rio, and,
leaving Captain Manson of the Caquis in charge of the
naval department at Meranjum, put to sea on the eighteenth
of May. On the twenty first we crossed the Equator, and,
meeting with succession of easterly winds, were carried northward of
the Azores, passing Saint Michael's on the eleventh of June.
It had been my intention to sail into the latter
(14:00):
of the Azores and then to return to Rio de Geneio,
but strong gales coming on, we made the unpleasant discovery
that the frigate's main topmast was sprung, and when putting
her about, the main and main topsail yards were discovered
to be unserviceable. For the condition of the ship's spars,
I had depended on others, not deeming it necessary to
take upon myself such investigation. It was, however, possible that
(14:21):
We might have patched these up had not the running
rigging been as rotten as the masts, and we had
no spare cordage on board. A still worse disaster was
that the salt provisions shipped at Maranjum were reported bad.
Mercantile ingenuity, having resorted to the device of pleasing good
meat at the top and bottom of the barrels, whilst
the middle, being composed of unsound articles, had tinted the whole,
(14:44):
thereby rendering it not only unpalatable, but positively dangerous to health.
The good provisions on board being little more than sufficient
for a week's subsistence, a direct return to Rio de
Jeneiro was out of the question. It was therefore absolutely
necessary to seek some nearer harbor. But Lord Cochrane was
considerably embarrassed in his choice of a port. Portugal was
(15:05):
an enemy's country, and Spain, by reason of his achievements
in Chile and Peru, was no less hostile to him.
France had not yet recognized the independence of Brazil, and
therefore a stay on any part of its coast might
lead to difficulties. England afforded the only safe halting place,
though there Lord Cochrane was uncertain as to the way
in which, in consequence of the Foreign Enlistment Act, he
(15:27):
might be received to England. However, he resolved to go, and,
citing its coast, on the twenty fifth of June, he
anchored its spitthead. On the following day, salutes were exchanged
with a British ship lying in harbor, and in the
afternoon he landed at Portsmouth, to be enthusiastically welcomed by
nearly all classes of his countrymen, whose admiration for his
personal character and his excellence as a naval officer was
(15:50):
heightened by the renown of his exploits in South America
during an absence of six years and a half. His
subsequent relations with Brazil can be briefly told. His navoidable
return to England if just the excuse which his enemies
in Brazil had been seeking for ousting him from his command.
They un the Chevalier manoel Rodriguez Guimiro Pesoua, the Brazilian
(16:11):
envoy in London, who altogether sympathized with them, chose to
regard this currens as an act of desertion. Lord Cochrane
lost no time in reporting his arrival and requesting to
be provided with the necessary means of refitting the Perengua
and preparing for a speedy return to Rio di Geneiro.
To expedite matters, he even advanced two thousand pounds out
(16:32):
of his own property, which was never repaid to him
for this purpose. His repeated applications for instructions were either
unheard or only answered with insult. He was ordered to
return to Brazil at once, towards which no assistance was
given to him, and at the same time his officers
and crew were ordered to repudiate his authority and return
without him. Lord Cochrane had no room to doubt that
(16:55):
by going back to Brazil he should only expose himself
to yet worse treatment than that from which he had
been suffer during nearly two years. But at the same
time he was resolved to do nothing at variance with
his duty to the Emperor from whom he had received
his commission, and nothing invalidating his claims to the reconfense
which was clearly due to him. At length, he was
relieved from some of his perplexities, after they had lasted
(17:17):
more than three months. On the third of November eighteen
twenty five piece was declared between Brazil and Portugal, and
thereby his relations with his employers were materially altered. The
work which he had pledged himself to do was completed,
and he was justified in resigning his command, or at
any rate, in declining to resume it until the causes
of his recent troubles were removed. This he did in
(17:39):
a letter addressed to the Emperor Pedro the First from
London on the tenth of November. The gracious condescension which
I experienced from your Imperial Majesty from the first moment
of my arrival in the Brazils, the honorary distinctions which
I received from your Majesty, and the attention with which
you were pleased to listen to all my personal representations
relating to them of the naval power of your empire,
(18:02):
he wrote, have impressed upon my mind a high sense
of the honor which your Majesty conferred, and forbid my
entertaining any other sentiments than those of attachment to your
Majesty and devotion to your true interests. But whilst I
express these my unfeigned sentiments towards your Imperial Majesty, it
is with infinite pain and regret that I recall to
(18:22):
my recollection the conduct that has been pursued towards the
Naval service, and to myself personally, since the members of
the Brazilian administration of Jose I Bonifacio de Andrede were
superseded by persons devoted to the views and interests of Portugal,
views and interests which are directly opposed to the adoption
of that line of conduct which can alone promote and
secure the true interests and glory of your Imperial Majesty
(18:45):
founded on the tranquility and happiness of the Brazilian people.
Without imputing to such ministers as Severiano, Gomez and Barboza
disaffection to the person of your Imperial Majesty, it is
sufficient to know that there are men bigoted to the
us unenlightened opinions of their ancestors of four centuries ago.
That they are men who, from their limited intercourse with
(19:05):
the world, for the paucity of literature of their native language,
and from their want of all rational instruction in the
service of government and political economy, have no conception of
governing Brazil by any other than the same wretched and
crooked policy to which the nation has been so long
subjected in its condition as a colony. Nothing further need
(19:26):
be said, while we equip them of treason to convict
them of unfitness to be the counselors of your Imperial Majesty.
None but such ministers as these could have endeavored to
impress upon the mind of your Imperial Majesty that the
refugee Portuguese from the provinces in many thousands from Europe
collected and Rio di Gennaro were the only true friends
(19:47):
and supporters of the Imperial Crown of Brazil. None but
such ministers would have endeavored to impress your Imperial Majesty
with the belief that the Brazilian people were inimicable to
your person and the Imperial Crown merely because they were
hostile to the system pursued by those ministers. None but
such ministers would have placed in important offices of trust
(20:09):
the natives of a nation with which your Imperial Majesty
was at war. None but such ministers would have endeavored
to induce Your Imperial Majesty to believe that officers who
had abandoned the king and native country for their own
private interests could be depended on as faithful servants to
a hostile government and a foreign land. None but such
ministers could have induced Your Imperial Majesty to place in
(20:31):
the command of your fortresses, regiments, and ships of war
such individuals as these. None but such ministers would have
attempted to excite in the breast of your Imperial Majesty
suspicions with respect to the fidelity of myself and those
other officers, who, by the most zealous exertions, had proved
out of ootions to the best interests of Your Imperial
(20:51):
Majesty and your Brazilian people. None but such ministers would
have endeavored, by insults and acts of the grossest injustice,
to drive us from the service of your Imperial Majesty,
and to place Portuguese officers in our stead. And above all,
none but such ministers could have suggested to Your Imperial
Majesty that extraordinary proceeding which was projected to take place
(21:12):
on the night of the third of June eighteen twenty four,
a proceeding which, had it not been averted by a
timely discovery and prompt into position on my part, would
have tarnished forever the glory of your Imperial majesty, in which,
if it had failed to prove fatal to myself and officers,
must inevitably have driven us from your imperial service. When
placed in competition with this plot of these ministers, and
(21:33):
the false insinuations by which they induced Your Imperial Majesty
to listen to their insidious council, all their previous intrigues
and those of the whole Portuguese faction to ruin the
naval power of Brazil sink into insignificance. But for the
advancement of Portuguese interests. There was nothing too treacherous or
malignant for such ministers and such men as these to
(21:56):
insinuate your Imperial Majesty, especially when they had discovered them,
when it was not possible by their unjust conduct to
provoke me to abandon the service of Brazil, so long
as my exertions could be useful to secure its independence,
which I believed to be alike the object of your
Imperial Majesty and the interests of the Brazilian people. If
the councils of such persons should prove fatal to the
(22:18):
interests of your Imperial Majesty, no one will regret the
event more Sincerely, than myself. My only consolation will be
that Your Imperial Majesty cannot but be conscious that I
individually have discharged my duty, both in a military and
in a private capacity, towards your Majesty, whose true interest
I may venture to add, I have held in greater
regard than my own. For had I connived at the
(22:40):
views of the Portuguese faction, even without dereliction of my
duty as an officer, I might have shared amply in
the honours and emoluments which such influence has enabled these
persons to obtain, instead of being deprived by their means
of even the ordinary rewards of my labours in the
cause of independence, which your Imperial Majesty had engaged me
to mata, which cause I neither have abandoned nor will abandon,
(23:04):
if ever it should be in my power successfully to
renew my exertions for the true interests of Your Imperial
Majesty and those of the Brazilian people. Meanwhile, my officer's
Commander in Chief of Your Imperial Majesty's naval forces, having
terminated by the conclusion of peace and by the decree
promulgated on the twenty eighth of February, eighteen twenty four.
I have notified to Your Imperial Majesty's envoy, the Chevalier
(23:28):
di Gmerio, that I have directed my flag to be
struck this day, praying that the war now terminated abroad,
may be accompanied by tranquility at home. I respectfully take
my leave of your Imperial majesty. All. Lord Cochrane's subsequent
correspondence with Brazil had for its object the recovery of
payments due to him and his officers and crews for
(23:50):
the great services done by them to the Empire. Lord
Cochrane had saved the Empire from being brought back to
the position of a Portuguese colony, and had enabled it
to who went on a career of independence. In return
for it, he was subjected to more than two years
of calling insult, was deprived of his proper share of
the prizes taken by him and his squadron, was refused
(24:11):
the estate of Miranja, which the Emperor, more grateful than
his ministers, had bestowed upon him, and was mockeded of
a portion of his pay and of all the pension
to which he was entitled by imperial decree and the
ordinances of the government. His services to Brazil, like his
services to Chile, adding much to his renown as a
disinterested champion of liberty and an unrivaled seaman and warrior,
(24:33):
brought upon him personally little but trouble and misfortune. Only
near the end of his life, when a worthy emperor
and honest minister succeeded to power, was any recompense accorded
to him. End of Chapter twelve. Recording by Timothy ferguson,
Gold Coast, Australia,
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!