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.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Appendix one of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of dun Donald, Volume one by Henry Richard fox Bourne.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
Timothy Ferguson. Appendix on the following resume of services of
the Late Earl of dun Donald, none of which have
(00:20):
been requited or officially recognized, was written by his son,
one of the authors of the present work, and presented
for private circulation in eighteen sixty one one. The destruction
of three heavily armed French corvettes near the mouth of
the Goron, the crew of Lord Cochrane's frigate Pallace being
at the time, with the exception of forty men engaged
(00:41):
in cutting out the Tapegoose lying under the protection of
two batteries thirty miles up the river, in which operation
they were also successful, four ships of war being thus
captured or destroyed in a single day. For these services,
Lord Cochrane obtained nothing but his share of the Tapegoose,
sold by auction for a trifling sum, the government refusing
to purchase her as a ship of war, though of
(01:03):
admirable build and construction, Contrary to the usual rule, no
ship ever taken by Lord Cochrane throughout his whole career
was ever allowed to be brought into the Navy. For
the corvettes which Lord Cochrane destroyed with so small a crew,
he never received reward or thanks, the alleged reason being that,
having become wrecks, they were not in existence and therefore
(01:25):
could not have value attached to them. This decision of
the Admiralty was contrary to custom, as admitted to the
present day. In the late Russian wore a gunboat of
the enemy, having been driven on shore and wrecked. Compensation
is said to have been awarded to the officers and
crew of the British vessel which drove her on shore.
The importance of wrecking a gunboat in comparison with the
(01:47):
destruction of three fast sailing ships which were picking up
our merchantmen in all directions, needs no comment. Two Lord
cockran services on the coast of Catalonia, of which Lord Collingwood,
then commandered chief in the Mediterranean, testified of his lordship
to the Admiralty that, by his energy and foresight, he had,
with a single frigate, stopped a French army from occupying
(02:09):
Eastern Spain. The services by which this was effected were
as follows, preventing the reinforcement of the French garrison in
Barcelona by harassing the newly arrived troops in their much
along the coast, and organizing and assisting the Spanish militia
to oppose their progress. Lord Cochran himself capturing one of
their forts on shore and taking the garrison prisoners. On
(02:31):
the approach of a powerful French corps army towards Barcelona,
Lord Cochran blew up the roads along the coast and
taught the Spanish peasantry how to do so inland by
blowing up the cliff roads near Mongat. Lord Cochrane interposed
an insurmount of obstacle between the army and its artillery,
capturing and throwing into the sea a considerable number of
field pieces, so that the operations of the French were
(02:53):
rendered nuggatory. For these services, Lord Cochrane, notwithstanding the strong
representations of Lord Collingwood to the Board of Admiralty, neither
received thanks nor reward of any kind. Notwithstanding that, whilst
so engaged, and that voluntarily in successfully accomplishing the work
of an army, he patriotically gave up all chances of
prize money, though easily to be obtained by cruising after
(03:16):
the enemy's vessels. In place of this, he neither searched
for nor captured a single prize, was engaged in harassing
the French army on shore, devoting his whole energies towards
the enterprise, which he considered most conducive to the interests
of his country. Three. Having effected his object, Lord Cochrane
sailed for the Golf of Lyons with the intention of
cutting off the enemy shore communications. This he accomplished by
(03:39):
destroying their signal stations, telegraphs, and shore batteries along nearly
the whole coast, navigating his frigate with perfect safety throughout
this proverbially perilous part of the Mediterranean. In order to
further paralyze the enemy's movements, Lord Cochran made a practice
of burning paper near the demolished stations, so as to
deceive the French into the belief that he had burned
their signal books. He rightly judging that from this circumstance
(04:03):
they might not deem it necessary to alter their code
of signals. The Ruse succeeded and transmitting the signal books
to Lord Collingwood. Then watching the enemy's preparations in Toulum.
The Commander in Chief was thus fully apprized by the
enemy's signals not only of all their naval movements, but
also of the position and movements of all British ships
(04:24):
of war on the French coast. Lord Cochrane's single frigate
thus performed the work of many vessels of observation, and
Lord Collingwood testified of him to the Admiralty that his
resources seemed to have no end. Notwithstanding this testimony from
the Commander in Chief, Lord Cochran received neither reward nor
thanks for the service rendered. For on his return to
the Spanish coast, Lord Cochrane found the French besieging Rosas,
(04:46):
the Spaniard's maintaining possession of the citadel, whilst Fort Trinidad
had just been evacuated by the British officer who had
been cooperating with the Spaniards in the larger fortress. Lord Cochrane,
believing that if Fort Trinidad were held till reinforcements arrived,
the French must be compelled to raise the siege of
Rosas persuaded the Spanish governor not to surrender as he
(05:07):
was about to do on its evacuation by the British
officer of was said, and threw himself into the fort
with a detachment from the seamen and marines of the imperieuse,
with which frigate he maintained uninterrupted communication in spite of
the enemy, who, on ascertaining it to be Lord Cochrane,
who was keeping them at bay, redoubled their efforts to
capture the fort, the gallant defense of which is amongst
(05:27):
the most remarkable events of naval warfare. Lord Cochrane held
Fort Trinidad till the Spaniards surrendering the citadel. He would
not allow his men to run further risk in their behalf,
and withdrew the seamen and marines in safety. For this
remarkable exploit, Lord Cochrane, though himself severely wounded, neither received
reward nor thanks, except from Lord Collingwood, who again without
(05:48):
effect warmly applauded his gallantry to the Admiralty five immediately
on his arrival at Plymouth on leave of absence in
consequence of ill health from his extraordinary exertions. Lord Cochrane
was a immediately summoned by the Admiralty to Whitehall and
asked for a plan whereby the French fleet in Basque
roads there threatening our West India possessions, might be destroyed
(06:09):
at one blow. This extraordinary request from a junior captain,
after the most experienced officers in the Navy had pronounced
its impracticability forcibly proving the very high opinion entertained by
the Admiralty of Lord Cochran's skill and resources, he gave
in a plan and was ordered to execute it, which
order he reluctantly obeyed, having done all in his power
to decline an invidious command, for fear of arousing the
(06:31):
jealousy of officers to whom he was junior in the service.
What followed is a matter of history and needs not
be recapitulated. Yet for the destruction of that powerful armament
he neither received reward nor thanks from the Admiralty, though
rewarded by his Sovereign with the highest Order of the Bath,
a distinction which marked his Majesty's sense of the important
service rendered. Nine years afterwards, head money was awarded to
(06:54):
the whole fleet, of which only the vessels directed by
Lord Cochrane, and a few sent afterwards went too late
for effective measures, took part in the action. The alleged
reason of this award was that the Calcutta, one of
the ships driven ashore by Lord Cochrane, did not surrender
to him, but to ships sent to his assistance. This
was not true, though, after protracted deliberation so ruled by
(07:17):
the Admiralty Court, and officers now living and present in
the action have recently come forward to testify to the
ship being in Lord Cochrane's possession before the arrival of
the ships which subsequently came to his assistance. A small
sum was therefore only awarded to him as a junior captain,
in common with those who had been spectators only, and
this he declined to receive. Such was his recompense for
(07:37):
a service to the highest merit, of which Napoleon himself
afterwards testified in the warmest manner. And it may be
mentioned as a further testimony that a French court martial
shot Captain Lafont, the commander of the Calcutta, because he
surrendered to a vessel of inferior power viz. Lord Cochrane's frigate,
the Imperius of forty four guns, the Calcutta carrying sixty guns. Footnote.
(08:00):
Captain la Font was shot on board the Ocean on
September ninth, eighteen o nine, for surrendering the Calcutta to
a ship of inferior force, thus proving that she surrendered
to Lord Cochrane alone. Though Sir William Scott ruled in
opposition to the facts adopted by the French Court martial
which condemned Captain Lafont to death for the act, the
surrender to Lord Cochran alone is further proved by the
(08:21):
additional fact that the captains of the Ville de vas,
Serville and Aquilon, which did surrender to the other ships
in conjunction with Lord Cochrane's frigate, were not even accused,
much less punished for so doing. Footnote ends. The exploits
of Lord Cochran in the Speedy and the Palace are
too well known in naval history to require recapitulation, and
of these it may be said that the numerous prizes
(08:43):
captured by these vessels constituted their own reward. It may
here be mentioned, in confirmation of what has previously been said,
that the Gamau, a magnificent zec frigate of thirty two
guns was not allowed to be bought into the navy,
but was sold for a small sum to one of
the piratical barber. He states, notwithstanding that Lord Cochrane had
said that if he were allowed to have her in
(09:05):
place of the Speedy, then in a very dilapidated condition,
he would sweep the Mediterranean over the enemy's cruisers and privateers.
His capacity so to do may be judged from what
he affected with the Speedy, mounting only fourteen four pounders.
With regard to the services previously enumerated, the case is different,
notwithstanding their national importance in comparison with his minor acts,
(09:28):
which may be classed as brilliant exploits only, But that
no reward should have been conferred for doing effectively the
work of an army, and that without the cost of
a shilling to the nation beyond the ordinary expenditure of
a small frigate necessary to be dispersed. Whether she performed
any effective service or not, is a neglect which, unless
repaired in the persons of his successes, will forever remain
(09:50):
a blot on the British government. Still more so will
the worse neglect of not having in any way rewarded
him for the destruction of the French fleet in Vasque roads,
For though only for ships were destroyed at the moment,
the whole fleet of the enemy was so damaged by
having been driven on shore from the terror of the
explosive vessel fired with Lord Cochrane's own hand, that it
eventually became a wreck, and thus our West India commerce,
(10:13):
then the most important branch of national export and import,
was in a month after Lord Cochrane's arrival from the Mediterranean,
relieved from the panic which paralyzed it, and restored to
its wonted security, a service which can only be estimated
by the gloom and panic which had previously pervaded the
whole country. Were reference made to the pension list, and
(10:33):
note taken of the pensions granted to other officers and
their successes for services which, in point of national importance,
do not admit of comparison with those of Lord Cochrane,
the present generation would be surprised at the national ingratitude
manifested towards one who, in his great exploits, had so
patriotically sacrificed every consideration of private interest to his country's service.
(10:56):
His crews in the Imperius, which has no parallel in
naval history, procured for Lord Cochrane nothing whatever but shattered
health from the incessant anxiety and exertion he had undergone
in the profitless but high minded course he adopted to
thwart the French in their attempts to establish a permanent
footing in Eastern Spain. His exploits in Basque roads procured
him nothing but absolute ruin. For from his refusal as
(11:19):
a member of Parliament to acquiesce in a vote of
thanks to Lord Gambia, even though the same thanks were
promised to himself, may be dated that active political persecution,
which commenced by depriving him of further naval employment, and
did not cease till it had accomplished his utter ruin,
even to striking his name out of the Navy list.
The animosity of this political partisanship towards one who had
affected so much for his country is an anomaly even
(11:41):
in political history. That amended representation of the people in
Parliament for which he strove up to eighteen eighty eight,
had only fourteen years afterwards become the law of the land,
and the boast of some who had persecuted Lord Cochrane
for no offense beyond having been amongst the first stick
of expression to the popular will subsequently adopted by themselves.
(12:03):
The efforts of Lord Cochrane in favor of reforming the
abuses of the Navy and of Greenwich Hospital, which at
that time brought upon him the wrath of the administration,
are at this moment seriously engaging the attention of Parliament,
as being of paramount national necessity. The doctrine then openly
laid down that no naval officer in Parliament had a
right to interview with naval administration has long been abrogated,
(12:27):
and many of the brightest ornaments of the Navy are
now amongst the foremost to denounce naval abuses in the
House of Commons. It is in fact to them that
the country now looks for that vigilance which shall preserve
the Navy in a proper state of efficiency. Yet for
these very things was Lord Cochrane persecuted. Though modern governments,
which have been liberal enough to acquiesce in popular reforms
(12:49):
of which he was the early advocate, have not been
liberal enough to make him amends for the wrongs he suffered.
As one of the indefatigable originators of their now cherished measures.
Still less have they deemed it inconsistent with the honor
of this great country to refrain from rewarding him in
the ordinary manner for his most important services rendered when
others shrank from them, as was the case at Basque Roodes,
(13:12):
where his plans declined by his seniors in the service,
were successfully executed by himself under the greatest possible discouragement
and disadvantage. But the injustice manifested towards the late Earl
of Dundonald did not end here. Driven from the service
of his own country and without fortune, he was compelled
by his necessities to embark in the service of foreign states.
(13:34):
With his own hand, directed by his own genius, which
had to supply the place of adequate naval force, he
liberated Chile, Peru, and Brazil from Thraldom, consolidating the rebellious
provinces of the latter Empire on so permanent a basis
that its internal peace has never again been disturbed. Yet
not one of these states has to this day satisfied
(13:55):
these stipulated and indisputable arrangements by which he was induced
to espouse they could, the reason of their breach of
contract being distinctly traceable to the course pursuit towards Lord
Dundonald in England. Seeing that the British government paid no
attention to the yet more important claims he had upon
its gratitude, the South American states believed that they might,
with impunity, disregard their own stipulations and the dictates of
(14:19):
national honour, the chief of one of them having had
the audacity to tell Lord Cochrane that he would find
no sympathy in the British government. Three of the most
distinguished officers in the British service, Sir Thomas Hastings, Sir
John Bourgogne, and Colonel Calhoun, have felt it their duty,
when officially reporting on the efficacy of Lord Dundonald's war plans,
(14:40):
to give him the highest credit for having kept his
secret under peculiarly trying circumstances, and from pure love of
his native country. The trying circumstances were these, that he
had been driven from the service of that country by
the machinations of a political faction, which, in the conscientious
performance of his parliamentary duty jies, he had offended. Even
(15:01):
this injury which blasted his whole life and prospects, did
not distract one iota from the love of country, which
to the day of his death was with him a passion,
his acute mind well knowing how to draw the distinction
between his country and those who were sacrificing its best
interests to their love of power, if not less worthy purposes.
(15:23):
Never was praise more honorably given than in the ordinance
report of the above name distinguished officers, and never was
it more nobly deserved. Another peculiarly trying circumstance alluded to
by those officers was that, when compelled by actual pecuniary necessity,
in consequence of the deprivation of his rank and pay,
and the demands of increasing family, to accept service under
(15:45):
a foreign state as his only means of subsistence, he
lay before the castles of Carlo, into which had been
removed for security. The whole wealth of the rich capital
of Peru, including bullion and plate, estimated at upwards of
a million sterling. He preserved his war secret, though strongly
urged to put it in execution. Had he listened to
the temptation in six hours, the whole of that wealth
(16:07):
must have been in his possession. For not listening to it,
he incurred the enmity of his employers, who urged that
they were entitled to all his professional skill and knowledge
as part of his bargain with them, and his non
compliance with their wishes is doubtless amongst the chief reasons
why they have not to this day satisfied their own
offered stipulations for his services. Yet, at the very moment
(16:28):
when he was displaying this self sacrificing patriotism, lest his
country might suffer from his secret being divulged, the Government
of Great Britain had, at the suggestion of the Spanish government,
passed a foreign Enlistment Act with the express intention of
enveloping him in its measures. Footnote on Lord Cochrane's return
from Brazil. Having occasion to go before the Attorney General
(16:50):
on the subject of a patent, that learned Functionary rudely
asked him whether he was not afraid to appear in
his presence. Lord Cochrane's reply was no, nor in the
presence of any man living. Evidence exists that the Attorney
General asked the Ministry if he should prosecute lud Cochran
under the Foreign Enlistment Act, the reply being in the
negative end of Appendix one. Recording by Timothy Ferguson, Gold Coast, Australia,
Appendix one of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of dun Donald, Volume one by Henry Richard fox Bourne.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
Timothy Ferguson. Appendix on the following resume of services of
the Late Earl of dun Donald, none of which have
(00:20):
been requited or officially recognized, was written by his son,
one of the authors of the present work, and presented
for private circulation in eighteen sixty one one. The destruction
of three heavily armed French corvettes near the mouth of
the Goron, the crew of Lord Cochrane's frigate Pallace being
at the time, with the exception of forty men engaged
(00:41):
in cutting out the Tapegoose lying under the protection of
two batteries thirty miles up the river, in which operation
they were also successful, four ships of war being thus
captured or destroyed in a single day. For these services,
Lord Cochrane obtained nothing but his share of the Tapegoose,
sold by auction for a trifling sum, the government refusing
to purchase her as a ship of war, though of
(01:03):
admirable build and construction, Contrary to the usual rule, no
ship ever taken by Lord Cochrane throughout his whole career
was ever allowed to be brought into the Navy. For
the corvettes which Lord Cochrane destroyed with so small a crew,
he never received reward or thanks, the alleged reason being that,
having become wrecks, they were not in existence and therefore
(01:25):
could not have value attached to them. This decision of
the Admiralty was contrary to custom, as admitted to the
present day. In the late Russian wore a gunboat of
the enemy, having been driven on shore and wrecked. Compensation
is said to have been awarded to the officers and
crew of the British vessel which drove her on shore.
The importance of wrecking a gunboat in comparison with the
(01:47):
destruction of three fast sailing ships which were picking up
our merchantmen in all directions, needs no comment. Two Lord
cockran services on the coast of Catalonia, of which Lord Collingwood,
then commandered chief in the Mediterranean, testified of his lordship
to the Admiralty that, by his energy and foresight, he had,
with a single frigate, stopped a French army from occupying
(02:09):
Eastern Spain. The services by which this was effected were
as follows, preventing the reinforcement of the French garrison in
Barcelona by harassing the newly arrived troops in their much
along the coast, and organizing and assisting the Spanish militia
to oppose their progress. Lord Cochran himself capturing one of
their forts on shore and taking the garrison prisoners. On
(02:31):
the approach of a powerful French corps army towards Barcelona,
Lord Cochran blew up the roads along the coast and
taught the Spanish peasantry how to do so inland by
blowing up the cliff roads near Mongat. Lord Cochrane interposed
an insurmount of obstacle between the army and its artillery,
capturing and throwing into the sea a considerable number of
field pieces, so that the operations of the French were
(02:53):
rendered nuggatory. For these services, Lord Cochrane, notwithstanding the strong
representations of Lord Collingwood to the Board of Admiralty, neither
received thanks nor reward of any kind. Notwithstanding that, whilst
so engaged, and that voluntarily in successfully accomplishing the work
of an army, he patriotically gave up all chances of
prize money, though easily to be obtained by cruising after
(03:16):
the enemy's vessels. In place of this, he neither searched
for nor captured a single prize, was engaged in harassing
the French army on shore, devoting his whole energies towards
the enterprise, which he considered most conducive to the interests
of his country. Three. Having effected his object, Lord Cochrane
sailed for the Golf of Lyons with the intention of
cutting off the enemy shore communications. This he accomplished by
(03:39):
destroying their signal stations, telegraphs, and shore batteries along nearly
the whole coast, navigating his frigate with perfect safety throughout
this proverbially perilous part of the Mediterranean. In order to
further paralyze the enemy's movements, Lord Cochran made a practice
of burning paper near the demolished stations, so as to
deceive the French into the belief that he had burned
their signal books. He rightly judging that from this circumstance
(04:03):
they might not deem it necessary to alter their code
of signals. The Ruse succeeded and transmitting the signal books
to Lord Collingwood. Then watching the enemy's preparations in Toulum.
The Commander in Chief was thus fully apprized by the
enemy's signals not only of all their naval movements, but
also of the position and movements of all British ships
(04:24):
of war on the French coast. Lord Cochrane's single frigate
thus performed the work of many vessels of observation, and
Lord Collingwood testified of him to the Admiralty that his
resources seemed to have no end. Notwithstanding this testimony from
the Commander in Chief, Lord Cochran received neither reward nor
thanks for the service rendered. For on his return to
the Spanish coast, Lord Cochrane found the French besieging Rosas,
(04:46):
the Spaniard's maintaining possession of the citadel, whilst Fort Trinidad
had just been evacuated by the British officer who had
been cooperating with the Spaniards in the larger fortress. Lord Cochrane,
believing that if Fort Trinidad were held till reinforcements arrived,
the French must be compelled to raise the siege of
Rosas persuaded the Spanish governor not to surrender as he
(05:07):
was about to do on its evacuation by the British
officer of was said, and threw himself into the fort
with a detachment from the seamen and marines of the imperieuse,
with which frigate he maintained uninterrupted communication in spite of
the enemy, who, on ascertaining it to be Lord Cochrane,
who was keeping them at bay, redoubled their efforts to
capture the fort, the gallant defense of which is amongst
(05:27):
the most remarkable events of naval warfare. Lord Cochrane held
Fort Trinidad till the Spaniards surrendering the citadel. He would
not allow his men to run further risk in their behalf,
and withdrew the seamen and marines in safety. For this
remarkable exploit, Lord Cochrane, though himself severely wounded, neither received
reward nor thanks, except from Lord Collingwood, who again without
(05:48):
effect warmly applauded his gallantry to the Admiralty five immediately
on his arrival at Plymouth on leave of absence in
consequence of ill health from his extraordinary exertions. Lord Cochrane
was a immediately summoned by the Admiralty to Whitehall and
asked for a plan whereby the French fleet in Basque
roads there threatening our West India possessions, might be destroyed
(06:09):
at one blow. This extraordinary request from a junior captain,
after the most experienced officers in the Navy had pronounced
its impracticability forcibly proving the very high opinion entertained by
the Admiralty of Lord Cochran's skill and resources, he gave
in a plan and was ordered to execute it, which
order he reluctantly obeyed, having done all in his power
to decline an invidious command, for fear of arousing the
(06:31):
jealousy of officers to whom he was junior in the service.
What followed is a matter of history and needs not
be recapitulated. Yet for the destruction of that powerful armament
he neither received reward nor thanks from the Admiralty, though
rewarded by his Sovereign with the highest Order of the Bath,
a distinction which marked his Majesty's sense of the important
service rendered. Nine years afterwards, head money was awarded to
(06:54):
the whole fleet, of which only the vessels directed by
Lord Cochrane, and a few sent afterwards went too late
for effective measures, took part in the action. The alleged
reason of this award was that the Calcutta, one of
the ships driven ashore by Lord Cochrane, did not surrender
to him, but to ships sent to his assistance. This
was not true, though, after protracted deliberation so ruled by
(07:17):
the Admiralty Court, and officers now living and present in
the action have recently come forward to testify to the
ship being in Lord Cochrane's possession before the arrival of
the ships which subsequently came to his assistance. A small
sum was therefore only awarded to him as a junior captain,
in common with those who had been spectators only, and
this he declined to receive. Such was his recompense for
(07:37):
a service to the highest merit, of which Napoleon himself
afterwards testified in the warmest manner. And it may be
mentioned as a further testimony that a French court martial
shot Captain Lafont, the commander of the Calcutta, because he
surrendered to a vessel of inferior power viz. Lord Cochrane's frigate,
the Imperius of forty four guns, the Calcutta carrying sixty guns. Footnote.
(08:00):
Captain la Font was shot on board the Ocean on
September ninth, eighteen o nine, for surrendering the Calcutta to
a ship of inferior force, thus proving that she surrendered
to Lord Cochrane alone. Though Sir William Scott ruled in
opposition to the facts adopted by the French Court martial
which condemned Captain Lafont to death for the act, the
surrender to Lord Cochran alone is further proved by the
(08:21):
additional fact that the captains of the Ville de vas,
Serville and Aquilon, which did surrender to the other ships
in conjunction with Lord Cochrane's frigate, were not even accused,
much less punished for so doing. Footnote ends. The exploits
of Lord Cochran in the Speedy and the Palace are
too well known in naval history to require recapitulation, and
of these it may be said that the numerous prizes
(08:43):
captured by these vessels constituted their own reward. It may
here be mentioned, in confirmation of what has previously been said,
that the Gamau, a magnificent zec frigate of thirty two
guns was not allowed to be bought into the navy,
but was sold for a small sum to one of
the piratical barber. He states, notwithstanding that Lord Cochrane had
said that if he were allowed to have her in
(09:05):
place of the Speedy, then in a very dilapidated condition,
he would sweep the Mediterranean over the enemy's cruisers and privateers.
His capacity so to do may be judged from what
he affected with the Speedy, mounting only fourteen four pounders.
With regard to the services previously enumerated, the case is different,
notwithstanding their national importance in comparison with his minor acts,
(09:28):
which may be classed as brilliant exploits only, But that
no reward should have been conferred for doing effectively the
work of an army, and that without the cost of
a shilling to the nation beyond the ordinary expenditure of
a small frigate necessary to be dispersed. Whether she performed
any effective service or not, is a neglect which, unless
repaired in the persons of his successes, will forever remain
(09:50):
a blot on the British government. Still more so will
the worse neglect of not having in any way rewarded
him for the destruction of the French fleet in Vasque roads,
For though only for ships were destroyed at the moment,
the whole fleet of the enemy was so damaged by
having been driven on shore from the terror of the
explosive vessel fired with Lord Cochrane's own hand, that it
eventually became a wreck, and thus our West India commerce,
(10:13):
then the most important branch of national export and import,
was in a month after Lord Cochrane's arrival from the Mediterranean,
relieved from the panic which paralyzed it, and restored to
its wonted security, a service which can only be estimated
by the gloom and panic which had previously pervaded the
whole country. Were reference made to the pension list, and
(10:33):
note taken of the pensions granted to other officers and
their successes for services which, in point of national importance,
do not admit of comparison with those of Lord Cochrane,
the present generation would be surprised at the national ingratitude
manifested towards one who, in his great exploits, had so
patriotically sacrificed every consideration of private interest to his country's service.
(10:56):
His crews in the Imperius, which has no parallel in
naval history, procured for Lord Cochrane nothing whatever but shattered
health from the incessant anxiety and exertion he had undergone
in the profitless but high minded course he adopted to
thwart the French in their attempts to establish a permanent
footing in Eastern Spain. His exploits in Basque roads procured
him nothing but absolute ruin. For from his refusal as
(11:19):
a member of Parliament to acquiesce in a vote of
thanks to Lord Gambia, even though the same thanks were
promised to himself, may be dated that active political persecution,
which commenced by depriving him of further naval employment, and
did not cease till it had accomplished his utter ruin,
even to striking his name out of the Navy list.
The animosity of this political partisanship towards one who had
affected so much for his country is an anomaly even
(11:41):
in political history. That amended representation of the people in
Parliament for which he strove up to eighteen eighty eight,
had only fourteen years afterwards become the law of the land,
and the boast of some who had persecuted Lord Cochrane
for no offense beyond having been amongst the first stick
of expression to the popular will subsequently adopted by themselves.
(12:03):
The efforts of Lord Cochrane in favor of reforming the
abuses of the Navy and of Greenwich Hospital, which at
that time brought upon him the wrath of the administration,
are at this moment seriously engaging the attention of Parliament,
as being of paramount national necessity. The doctrine then openly
laid down that no naval officer in Parliament had a
right to interview with naval administration has long been abrogated,
(12:27):
and many of the brightest ornaments of the Navy are
now amongst the foremost to denounce naval abuses in the
House of Commons. It is in fact to them that
the country now looks for that vigilance which shall preserve
the Navy in a proper state of efficiency. Yet for
these very things was Lord Cochrane persecuted. Though modern governments,
which have been liberal enough to acquiesce in popular reforms
(12:49):
of which he was the early advocate, have not been
liberal enough to make him amends for the wrongs he suffered.
As one of the indefatigable originators of their now cherished measures.
Still less have they deemed it inconsistent with the honor
of this great country to refrain from rewarding him in
the ordinary manner for his most important services rendered when
others shrank from them, as was the case at Basque Roodes,
(13:12):
where his plans declined by his seniors in the service,
were successfully executed by himself under the greatest possible discouragement
and disadvantage. But the injustice manifested towards the late Earl
of Dundonald did not end here. Driven from the service
of his own country and without fortune, he was compelled
by his necessities to embark in the service of foreign states.
(13:34):
With his own hand, directed by his own genius, which
had to supply the place of adequate naval force, he
liberated Chile, Peru, and Brazil from Thraldom, consolidating the rebellious
provinces of the latter Empire on so permanent a basis
that its internal peace has never again been disturbed. Yet
not one of these states has to this day satisfied
(13:55):
these stipulated and indisputable arrangements by which he was induced
to espouse they could, the reason of their breach of
contract being distinctly traceable to the course pursuit towards Lord
Dundonald in England. Seeing that the British government paid no
attention to the yet more important claims he had upon
its gratitude, the South American states believed that they might,
with impunity, disregard their own stipulations and the dictates of
(14:19):
national honour, the chief of one of them having had
the audacity to tell Lord Cochrane that he would find
no sympathy in the British government. Three of the most
distinguished officers in the British service, Sir Thomas Hastings, Sir
John Bourgogne, and Colonel Calhoun, have felt it their duty,
when officially reporting on the efficacy of Lord Dundonald's war plans,
(14:40):
to give him the highest credit for having kept his
secret under peculiarly trying circumstances, and from pure love of
his native country. The trying circumstances were these, that he
had been driven from the service of that country by
the machinations of a political faction, which, in the conscientious
performance of his parliamentary duty jies, he had offended. Even
(15:01):
this injury which blasted his whole life and prospects, did
not distract one iota from the love of country, which
to the day of his death was with him a passion,
his acute mind well knowing how to draw the distinction
between his country and those who were sacrificing its best
interests to their love of power, if not less worthy purposes.
(15:23):
Never was praise more honorably given than in the ordinance
report of the above name distinguished officers, and never was
it more nobly deserved. Another peculiarly trying circumstance alluded to
by those officers was that, when compelled by actual pecuniary necessity,
in consequence of the deprivation of his rank and pay,
and the demands of increasing family, to accept service under
(15:45):
a foreign state as his only means of subsistence, he
lay before the castles of Carlo, into which had been
removed for security. The whole wealth of the rich capital
of Peru, including bullion and plate, estimated at upwards of
a million sterling. He preserved his war secret, though strongly
urged to put it in execution. Had he listened to
the temptation in six hours, the whole of that wealth
(16:07):
must have been in his possession. For not listening to it,
he incurred the enmity of his employers, who urged that
they were entitled to all his professional skill and knowledge
as part of his bargain with them, and his non
compliance with their wishes is doubtless amongst the chief reasons
why they have not to this day satisfied their own
offered stipulations for his services. Yet, at the very moment
(16:28):
when he was displaying this self sacrificing patriotism, lest his
country might suffer from his secret being divulged, the Government
of Great Britain had, at the suggestion of the Spanish government,
passed a foreign Enlistment Act with the express intention of
enveloping him in its measures. Footnote on Lord Cochrane's return
from Brazil. Having occasion to go before the Attorney General
(16:50):
on the subject of a patent, that learned Functionary rudely
asked him whether he was not afraid to appear in
his presence. Lord Cochrane's reply was no, nor in the
presence of any man living. Evidence exists that the Attorney
General asked the Ministry if he should prosecute lud Cochran
under the Foreign Enlistment Act, the reply being in the
negative end of Appendix one. Recording by Timothy Ferguson, Gold Coast, Australia,
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