July 26, 2025 • 42 mins
Immerse yourself in the thrilling tales of Lord Cochrane, a renowned sea captain from the Napoleonic era, whose life was rich with high-seas adventures that later inspired numerous naval fiction series. This second volume of his biography, penned by his secretary and son, completes the unfinished Autobiography of a Seaman. Discover how Cochrane valiantly assists the Greeks against the Ottoman Empire, marks his presence in the House of Lords, regains his knighthood, and makes a striking comeback to the Royal Navy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter thirty of the life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of dun Donald, completing the Autobiography of a Seamen,
Volume two by Henry Richard fox Bourne and others. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Timothy
Ferguson eighteen fifty one to eighteen sixty. When in June
eighteen fifty one he returned to England and surrendered his
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office as Commander in Chief of the North American and
Indian Squadron, The Earl of Dundonald was in his seventy
sixth year. That he was still young and vigorous in
mind is sufficiently shown by the illustrations of his inventive
genius and philanthropic earnestness that of mc givnon. The last
chapter the most striking proof of this, however, so far
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as he was allowed to prove it as yet to
be given. Very soon after his return he sought to
impress upon Sir James Graham, then First Lord of the
Admiralty under the Earl of Aberdeen's administration, the value of
his secret war plans, and before long a special reason
for advocating their adoption arose their efficacy had been frequently
acknowledged by the highest authorities, but as England was at peace,
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nothing more than an acknowledgment was made. The outbreak of
war with Russia induced Lord dun Donald to bring them
forward again in eighteen fifty three. At first, Sir James
Graham declined to entertain the subject. The government believed that
Russia would be easily and properly defeated by the ordinary
means of warfare, and therefore contented itself with them. In
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this decision, Lord dun Donald acquiesced perforce, but on its
appearing that the fight would be harder than had been anticipated,
he again claimed a hearing for his proposals, believing that
by their acceptance he could not only bring his own
career as a britch seamen to a glorious termination, but
also a yet dearer object to him, by doing so,
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render inestimable service to his country. In this spirit, he
rode again to Sir James Graham on the twenty second
of July eighteen fifty four. Important aggressive enterprises, he said,
being now suspended by by Russia, whose armies on the defensive,
may indefinitely prolong the war, and thereby expose our country
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to perilous consequences resulting from protracted naval cooperation. I am desirous,
through you respectfully, to offer, for the consideration of Her
Majesty's Cabinet Ministers, a simple yet effective plan of operations
showing that the maritime defenses of Cronstats, however strong against
ordinary means of attack, may be captured and their red
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hot shots and incendary missiles prepared for the destruction of
our ships turned on those they protect. A result of
paramount importance, now that the forces in the Black Sea
have been diverted from the judiciously contemplated attack on Sebastopol,
compared to the success of which any secondary enterprise in
the Baltic would prove a very small importance to the
successful result of the war, permit me, therefore, in the
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event of my plans being approved unreservedly, to offer my
services without command or authority, except over the very limited
means of attack, excess whereof cannot fail in its consequences
to free and ensure perhaps forever all minor states from
Russian dominion. Personal acquaintance with Vice Admiral Sir Charles Napier
and Rear Admiral Chad's warrants my conviction that no feeling
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of rivalry could exist save in the most zealous performance
of the service. Sir James Graham's reply was complimentary. You
offer for the consideration of Her Majesty's government, he wrote,
on the twenty sixth July, a plan of operations by
which the maritime defenses of Kronstat may, in your opinion,
be captured. And in the most handsome manner, you declare
your readiness to direct and superintend the execution of your
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plan if it should be adopted. When the great interests
at stake are considered, and when the fatal effects of
a possible failure are duly regarded, it is apparent that
the merits of your plan and the chances of success
must be fully investigated and weighed by competent authority. The
Cabinet unaided, can form no judgment in this matter, and
the tender of your services is most properly made by you,
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dependent on the previous approval of your plann The question
is a naval one into which professional considerations must enter.
Largely naval officers. Therefore, of experience and high character are
the judges to whom in the first instance this question
ought to be submitted. Let me therefore ask you, before
I take any further step, whether you are willing, in
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strict confidence to lay your whole plan before Sir Brian Martin,
Sir William Parker, and add More Berkley, whom, from his
place at this board is my first naval adviser. If
you do not object to this measure, but to any
of the naval officers whom I have named, I should
be disposed to add Sir John Burgoyne, the head of
the Engineers, on whose judgment I place great reliance. I
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am sure you will not regard this mode of treating
a proposal as inconsistent with the respect which I sincerely
entertain for your high professional character, resting on past services
of no ordinary merit, which I have never failed to recognize.
But my duty on this occasion prescribes caution and deliberate care,
and you will do justice to the motives by which
this ann your request is guided and letter to this suggestion,
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Lord Dundonald readily acceded, and his secret war plans were
once more referred to a committee of investigation. Nothing, however,
was gained by this step. I have received, wrote Sir
James Graham, on the fifteenth of August, the report of
the Committee of Officers, of whom, with your consent, the
plan for the attack on Cronstadt was submitted. On the whole.
After careful consideration, they have come to the unanimous conclusion
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that it is inexpedient to try experiments in present circumstances.
They do full justice to your lordship, and they expressly
state that if such an enterprise were to be undertaken,
it could not be confided to fitter or abler hands
than yours. For your professional career has been distinguished by
remarkable instances of skill and courage, in all of which
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you have been the foremost to lead the way, and
by your personal heroism you have gained an honorable celebrity
in the naval history of this country. Letter ends that
letter was disappointing to Lord dun Donald, but as the
value of his plans was not disputed, he hoped that
he might yet be allowed to put them in execution.
Be pleased, he said in his reply to Sir James Graham,
to accept the sincere assurance of the highest aimation in
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which I hold the kind and favorable expression of your
sentiments towards me. It is indeed gratifying to perceive that
the experienced admirals to whom you referred the professional consideration
of my secret plan have not expressed any doubt as
to its practicability. Readers not Letterends. The report of the admirals, however,
had as unfavorable an effect as could have resulted had
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they declared openly against the project. Week followed week without
any successful issue to the efforts of the Baltic Fleet,
and added to Lord Dundunald's chagrin at not being committed
to achieve the desired success, was his distress at finding
unmerited blame thrown by the government and by nearly all
classes of the public upon a brave and skillful seaman
for not doing what with the means at his disposal
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it was impossible for him to do. Admiral Sir Charles
Napier had failed, through no fault of his own, in
the project of attacking kron Start, a fortress of almost
unrivaled strength, and, by reason of the shallow water surrounding it,
unapproachable by the heavy line of battleships and frigates which
constituted all his force, and during the months of his
necessary inactivity, and after his return to England, Lord dun
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Donald was almost his only defender in justice to Admiral Napier,
against whom the indignant dissatisfaction of the nation is said
to be directed, he wrote in a letter to the
Morning Post on the twenty first of September. Permit me
to say that success could not have attended the operations
of ships against stone batteries firing red hot shot. However
easily unresisting walls may be leisurely demolished. There is but
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one means to place these parties on an equal footing,
and that I confidentially laid before the Government the unreasoning
portion of the public. He wrote to Sir James Grahame
on the eleventh of November, have made an outcry against
old admirals, as if it were essential that they should
be able to clear their way with a broadsword. But
my dear Sir James, were it necessary, which it is not,
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that I should play place myself in an arm chair
on the poop, with each leg on a quishion, I
will undertake to subdue every interl of fortification at ground
start within four hours from the commencement of the attack
at Sebastopol. He argued, could be as easily captured if
he were only allowed to put his plans in operation.
But it was not allowed. Nothing new can be attempted
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at the present moment, answered Sir James Graham. Winter will
put an end to all active operations in the Baltic,
and I still venture to hope that at Sebastopol our
arms will be triumphant. Letter ends. Lord Dundonald, though pained
not so much on his own account as in the
interests of the nation at the way in which his
officers were treated, persevered in making them. It was now
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too late in the season to effect anything in the Baltic,
but the siege as Sebastopol was being carried on without
any immediate prospect of success, and he yearned with all
the ardor that he had displayed half a century before
for an opportunity of rendering success both certain and immediate.
To this end he wrote again to Sir James Graham,
and also for the foot time to the Earl of
Aberdeen on the thirtieth of December. The pertinacious resistance made
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at Sebastopol and the possibility of events that may still
further disappoint expectation, he said, Sir James, have induced me
to address Lord Aberdeen, saying that if it is the
opinion of the Cabinet or of those whom they consult
on military affairs, that failing the early capture of Sebastopol,
the British Army may be in danger. I offer to
the discernment of the Cabinet, I still secret plans of attack,
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whereby the garrisons would be expelled from the forts or
annihilated in defiance of numerical force and possession obtained at
least during sufficient time to enable the chief defenses to
be blown up and the harbor fleet to be destroyed.
If you will so far favor me, I should be
gratified by having an opportunity of demonstrating to your strong mind,
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free from professional bias, the fact that combustible ships may
be not only placed on a parity with stone forts
fitted to fire a red hot shot, but secured from
injury more effectually than if incased. Eno iron letter ends.
Sir James Graham's answer was, like its forerunners, complimentary, but
nothing more. I can never cease, he wrote, to do
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justice to your patriotic desire to serve your country, which
is evinced by your desire to encounter in your own
person the danger's attendant on your experiment, and not to
transfer the hazard of the enterprise to others, but to
the enterprise itself. He would give no sanction. Your plans,
he said, by my desire, were submitted to the consideration
of the most competent naval and military officers, whose impartial
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judgment cannot be impunged. And on the whole they did
not recommend the trial of the experiment which you are
anxious to make. Neither Lord Aberdeen nor I can venture
to place our individual opinions in opposition to record a
judgment of the highest authority on a question which is
purely professional. I see no advantage therefore in renewing the
discussion with you at the present moment, Letter Ends. Had
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the impartial judgment by which Sir James Graham held himself
bound been adverse to the principle of Lord Dundonald's plans,
declared them to be anything more than in expedient in
prison circumstances, more weight might have been attached to it.
But even then he could have pointed to the opposite
verdict given in eighteen forty seven by other judges quite
as impartial and competent, who, while objecting to part of
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them on the score of their deadly efficacy, had officially
announced their belief in the applicability of another part, the
part of which Lord Dundonnell now proposed to make most use,
and recommended its adoption when the opportunity of employing it
may occur. He therefore refused to be thwarted in his
efforts to render to his country the great service that
he considered to be in his power, and Sir Charles
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Napier's removal from the command of the Baltic Fleet in
January eighteen fifty five gave him an opportunity of offering
to use that power under conditions that would relieve the
Admiralty of all direct responsibility in the event of his failure.
I am much gratified, he said in another letter to
Sir James Graham, to learn that her most gracious Majesty
has been pleased to reserve the high dignity of Admiral
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of the Fleet as a reward for services. Under this impression,
permit me to solicit the favor of being allowed to
contend for that distinction, not by reference again to opinions
which may prove fallacious, but by actual experimental proof of
the safety and facility of a sailing fortifications by my
secret plans. By them, the damage and loss of life
sustained by the Allied squadron in their late attack on
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the fortifications of Sebastopol might have been partly, if not wholly, averted,
and probably attent for destruction inflicted on the enemy. If
this is admitted, and I do not think it can
be disputed, I hope you will allow me to demonstrate
the general applicability of these simple, comparatively costless, and in
my opinion, infallible means of annihilating the power of all
kinds of batteries that can be approached to windward within
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half a mile. These plans have been entertained and pondered
over by me during forty years, and now again I
offer to explain, to test, and to put them in execution.
Letter ends. Sir James Graham's answer was very terse. I
have had the honor, he wrote on the twenty third
of January, of receiving your Lordship's letter in which you
tend to your services to take command of the Baltic Fleet.
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I consider the tender highly honorable to you, but I
cannot give you any other assurance. No other assurance would
have been of any avail. The Earl of Aberdeen's cabinet,
having lost the confidence of the country, was dissolved almost
immediately after the letter was written, to be replaced by
an administration in which Lord Palmerston was Premier and Sir
Charles Wood, first Lord of the Admiralty. To Lord Palmerston,
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the Earl of Dundonald wrote on the thirteenth of February.
The high position of our country being at stake on
the result of the war, he said, and our long
established naval renown pledged on the successful conduct of affairs
in the Baltic I addressed to my kind friend, Lord Lansdowne,
who has been long conversant with the objects which, by
his advice, I now offer to your lordship's notice, as
First Minister of the Crown cojointly, if you judge proper
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with that of the cabinet over which you preside. He
then briefly described the principle of his secret plan, adding
a respectfully offer to execute this plan and answer for
its success against Cronstadt and against all minus strongholds in
the Baltic that ends. Four weeks elapsed before the letter
was answered. In the meanwhile, Lord Dundonnell, beginning to despair
of a satisfactory hearing from any Minister of State unless
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he was induced there too by a popular demand, addressed
a petition to the House of Commons, urging the importance
of his plans, and praying for a searching inquiry to
ascertain whether the aforesaid secret plans are capable speedily, certainly
and cheaply to surmount obstacles which our gallant, persevering and
costly armies and fleets have failed to accomplish. His reasons
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for doing so, he explained in a letter addressed to
the Times on the tenth of March. Peace, he there said,
being desirable not only for the interests of our country,
but for those of the world at large, and the
negotiations now pending, being doubtless injuriously influenced by the obstinate
resistance of Sebastopol, which could be overcome in a day,
and the impossibility of successfully attacking Cronstat by naval means
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which might be speedily reduced. I have drawn up a
petition to Parliament in order that secrecy and silence on
my part, and official tancy of information on that of
the public, may no longer prove injurious to the success
of our arms. Hostilities having proceeded so far, assuredly, it
is more expedient to reduce a restless nation to a
third or fourth rate power than be ourselves reduced. Let
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not my motive be mistaken. I have no wish to
command a fleet of one hundred gun ships, or to
attack first rate fortresses by in case batteries or steam
gun boats. That which I desire is first secretly to
demonstrate to combatant persons the efficiency of my plans, and
then to obtain authority, during eight or ten days of
fine weather, to put them in execution. The means I
contemplate are simple, cheap, and safe. They would spare thousands
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of lives, millions of money, great havoc, and uncertainty of results.
Their consequences might and probably would affect the emancipation of
Poland and give freedom to the usurped territories of Sweden.
Those who judge unfavorably of all age naval commanders assuredly
do not reflect that the useful employment of the energies
of thousands and tens of thousands of men can best
be developed and directed by a mind instructed by long
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observation matured by reflection, an advantage to which physical power
that could clear its way by a broadsword can bear
no comparison. My un supported opinion in regard to a
naval enterprise in eighteen o nine proved to be correct.
Every other undertaking in the British Service, and as Commander
in chief in Chile, Peru, Brazil and Greece, was successful,
and so would the protracted and unaccomplished undertaking so injurious
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to the result of negotiation, have succeeded had I possessed
sufficient influence to be patiently listened to readers. No letter ends.
The petition roused much interest among the public, but was
unheeded by the House of Commons, and therefore produced very
slight effect on the ministry. My published petition, wrote Lord
Dundonald to Viscount Palmerston on the seventeenth of March, has
brought me numerous letters, and, amongst others, a communication I
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believe from high authority that if I do know any
means whereby to spare the slaughter that must take place
on storming Sebastopol, I ought to make it known I
wish I could impart to your lordship what I feel
under the present circumstances, and how anxiously I desired that
a speedy decision may succeed the lingering delays that I
have so long endure it. A few days after that cheerfly,
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through the assistance of his friend Lord Brahm, Lord Dundonald
obtained an interview with Lord Palmerston, at which he further
detailed his plans and urged that they should be promptly
employed in hastening a conclusion of the war with Russia.
To Lord Palmerston, he also wrote again on the thirty
first of March, it has occurred to me, he said,
that the supposed inhumanity of my plans may have caused
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the use of the word inexpedient in the report of
the Commission applied in July last by the Admiralty, and
may even now influence the decision of the Cabinet. Perhaps
another view may have been taken of the consequences of
divulging my plans as regards the security of this kingdom.
Letter ends to these possible objections. He urged that no
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conduct that brought to a speedy determination a war which
might otherwise last for years and be attended by terrible
bloodshed in numerous battles, could be called in human, and
that the most powerful means of averting invasion and indeed
all future war, would be the introduction of a method
of fighting which, rendering all vigorous defense impossible, would frighten
every nation from running the risks of warfare at all.
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Those arguments appear to have had some weight, but after
further correspondence, Lord Palmestan's government, like all other governments to
which they had been offered, refused to put the plans
in execution. Further evidence in their favor was obtained from
some eminent scientific men, and it was put beyond dispute
that although they might not have such deadly efficacy as
Lord dun Donald anticipated, on which point the Coultic spoke
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with Hesitation, they could not fail, if properly applied, in
producing very important results. But it was all in vain.
All that Lord Palmston would agree to was to have
the experiment tried on a small scale at Sebastopol, and
by two engineer officers who were to be instructed in
their work by Lord dun Donald. Lord dun Donald consented
to the trial if it were conducted by his son,
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Captain the Honorable Arthur Cochran RN, but this was not
agreed to when the whole project fell to the ground.
At that result, Lord dun Donald was hardly more disappointed
than was a large section of the English public. Friends
and strangers, soldiers, sailors, newspaper writers and merchants wrote to
him from London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Belfast and all other
parts of the Kingdom, urging that if the enterprise was
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not undertaken by government, it should be executed by means
of a private subscription. I am perfectly convinced, wrote one,
that you can do all the injury to the Russian
fortifications that you say you can do. If miserable jealousy
at the Admiralty refuses you, the means take them from
those who, like myself, are very proud to be your countrymen.
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I am not a rich man, but I shall gladly
subscribe one hundred pounds to any scheme that you will
propose and carry out yourself. If your lordship will appeal
to the country, wrote another, in less than a week,
you will receive subscriptions to any amount. You will then
be independent of government routine, and the public will, without
further delay, have an opportunity of testing the value of
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your invention to work which the eyes of all Europe
are anxiously turned at the present juncture. Let his end.
Those suggestions, and the evidence afforded by them of a
widespread sympathy in his efforts to render a last great
service to his country afforded real satisfaction to Lord dun Donald,
but their adoption was quite impossible. As the British officer,
he could not for a moment think of entering upon
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a warlock project independently of the state. Therefore he left
the work on which his heart was set undone, and soon,
though by no means so soon as he could have
made it, the Russian War was brought to a conclusion.
Whatever may have been the cause of the rejection of
his offer to Hagson, that conclusion by means of his
secret war plans. The Earl of dun Donald experienced no
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lack of personal courtesy during the period of correspondence, or
throughout the brief remainder of his life, his closing years,
which he had by many acts, by which was nearly completed,
the tardy reparation for the former injuries which had begun
with his reinstatement in the Navy by King William the Fourth,
and in which the most gratifying circumstance of all was
the restoration of his honors as a Knight of the
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Bath by her Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, the death of
Sir BAIERM. Martin, and the promotion of Sir William Gage
to the office of Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom,
wrote Sir James Graham on the twenty third of October
eighteen fifty four. Vacate the appointment of Rear Admiral. It
is an honorary distinction, and your standing in the Naval
service and your gallant achievements entitle you to this reward.
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I have taken Her Majesty's pleasure, and the Queen has
graciously approved my recommendation. I propose, therefore, with your Lordship's permission,
that you shall be gazetted Rear Admiral of the United Kingdom.
I accept the proposed honor with gratitude to her majesty,
and with thanks to you, answered Lord dun Donald on
the twenty fourth. Permit me, however, to express a hope
that such distinction shall not preclude my further service to
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the Crown and Country, which long and matured consideration on
professional subjects assures me I could now perform even more
effectually than at an earlier period. Redserned. The letter ends.
A month later, he was honored by a compliment from
one who, kind and gracious in all his acts, had
never failed in showing towards him special grace and kindness,
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My dear lord, wrote Prince Albert on the twenty sixth
of November. A vacancy has occurred in the Honorary Brethren
of the Trinity House by the lamented death of Sir
Bryan Martin. It has always been customary in that corporation
to have the Royal Navy represented amongst the elder Brethren
by one of its most distinguished officers. I therefore write
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to inquire whether it would be agreeable to you to
be elected a member of that body, as I should,
in that case have much pleasure in proposing as Master
of the corporation your name for the election of the
elder brethren. Believe me always, my dear Lord, yours truly Albert.
May I please Your Royal Highness, Lord Dundonnell wrote in
reply on the twenty seventh, to accept my dutiful and
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most grateful thanks for the honor Your Royal Highness is
pleased to confer as sure Your Royal Highness, I shall
ever look forward with anxiety to prove my devotion and
gratitude to her most gracious Majesty for signal acts of
justice and favor, and to Your Royal Highness for this
highly appreciated mark of your consideration. Letter ends. A token
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of the estimation in which Lord dun Donell was at
length held by all classes of his countrymen, may here
be recorded, after frequent refusal on the ground of his
age and love of privacy, he consented in May eighteen
fifty six to sick admission to the United Service Club.
Its members thereupon at once resolved at the proposal of
Vice Admiral Sir George F. Seymour, which was seconded by
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Lieutenant General Sir C. F. Smith, to invite that highly
distinguished officer Admiral of the Earl of Dundonald, to become
an honorary member of the club until the time of
his lordship's ballot takes place. In spite of compliments like these, however,
it was his earnest desire that before his life has ended,
every shadow which had darkened it might be cleared away,
and that he might not pass into the grave without
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the assurance that he was formerly and in every respect
acquitted of the uns unjust charges brought against him nearly
half a century before. While one single consequence of those
charges remained in force, he considered that he was not
so acquitted, and with this object he labored to the
last I venture to remind your Lordship, he wrote to
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Lord Palmerston on the twenty sixth of May, that the
undeviating rectitude of my conduct through a long life has
already induced the Crown, in the exercise of its justice,
to restore my rank and honors. There yet remains, my
Dear Lord, a gracious and important act to perform, namely,
to order my banner to be replaced in King Henry
the Seventh Chapel, and to direct the repayment of the
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fine inflicted by the Court of King's Bench and the
restoration of my half pay suspended during my removal from
the Naval Service. Unless these are done, I shall descend
to my grave with the consciousness not only that justice
has not fully been done to me, but under the
painful conviction that its mission will be construed to the
injury of my character in the estimation of posterity in
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p Pennantly of the justice of this claim on its
own merits, I venture to express a hope that your
Lordship will admit that, during my temporary absence from the
Naval Service, my exertions tended materially to promote the interests
of our country by opening to commerce the ports of
the Pacific and those of all the northern provinces of Brazil.
That rends The appeal was unsuccessful. The part of it
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having reference to the replacement of Lord dun Donald's barnet
in Westminster Abbey was considered by Lord Palmerston to be
a question with which it was not in his province
to deal with. Regard to the fine, he said, I
am afraid that there are no funds out of which
it could be repaid, and I should doubt there being
any precedent for such a proceeding, and I find on
inquiry that pay or half pay has not been granted
to any naval officer for any period during which he
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may have been out of the service. That reply induced
Lord Dundonald to write again to Lord Palmerston on the
seventh of June. I submit. He then said that the
fine being imposed for an alleged offense of which I
was wholly innocent, it ought to be repaid, even if
there be no special fund appropriated for such a purpose.
The peculiarity of my case may accout for there being
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no precedent for such a proceeding. If none there be.
The same peculiarity may distinguish my case from that of
all other naval officers to whom no pay or half
pay has been allowed for any period during which they
may have been out of the service. I may have
been the only naval officer unjustly expelled, and assuredly I
have been the only one so expelled, after manifesting, by
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various acts a truly patriotic zeal for the honor and
interest of our country. No other naval officer after such
acts was ever expelled the service and otherwise punished on
mere conjectural evidence since demonstrated to have been utterly groundless.
I submit that instances have occurred of military officers recovering
pay or half pay after unjust expulsion, as in the
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case of Sir Robert Wilson, and I am not aware
of the existence of any cause for a distinction in
this respect between the two services. I feel the deepest
gratitude and satisfaction that my life has been spared to
a period when I may reasonably hope that a portion
of justice yet due to me for the erroneous verdict
and its injurious consequences, will not be withheld of that justice.
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The first installment, namely the restoration of my naval rank,
was granted by his late Majesty, King William, and the
second by her present most gracious Majesty, who, on the
representation of my noble friend, the Marquess of Lansdowne, was
pleased to reinstate me in the Order of the Bath
for the third and conclusive portion of the justice still
remaining due to me. I cannot desist from looking to
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your lordship, Letterans. It is not necessary to detail the
later correspondence that ensued upon this subject, Lord Dundonnell found
that the final reparation which he sought was not then
at any rate to be conceded to him by the government,
and therefore he resolved to employ his last remaining powers
in seeking from his countrymen that thorough justice, which he
rightly considered would result from an honest review of the
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incidents of his life. During eighteen fifty eight and the
beginning of eighteen fifty nine he was engaged in the
preparation of his Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili,
Peru and Brazil from the Spanish and Portuguese domination. Footnote.
The following letter, dated Buckingham Pallas, March the fourth, eighteen
fifty nine, gave pleasure to Lord dun Donald. My Lord,
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I have received the commands of His Royal Highness, the
Prince Consort to return you his best thanks for the
copy of your narrative, which you have been good enough
to send to His Royal Highness, and upon which his
Royal Highness will place high value. I am directed further
to say that it would add materially to that value
if you would have the kindness to write in the
first page of the accompanying volume that it was presented
(28:33):
by your lordship to the Prince. I have the honor
to be my lord, your most obedient, humble servant. C. B.
Phipps reader's note footnote ends that work was immediately followed
by his Autobiography of a Seaman, of which the first
volume was completed in December eighteen fifty nine, the second
in September eighteen sixty, bringing down the story to the
date from which it has been continued in the present work. Footnote.
(28:56):
Almost The last letter written by Lord dun Donald was
this to Lord Brahm. My dear Lord Brahm, I have
the pleasure to forward you the second volume of my autobiography,
in which you will find that use has been made
of the kind expressions towards myself contained in your works,
of the injustice done to me. I need not tell you,
who are so well acquainted with the subject. If the
(29:18):
accompanying volume succeeds in impressing on the public mind these
sentiments so unflinchingly set forth in your works, it will
have answered its purpose. And that it will do so,
I have no reason to doubt now that the subject
can be canvassed apart from political rancor. I am my,
dear Lord Brahm, ever faithfully yours dun Donald. Lord Brahm's
(29:39):
answer was dated from Paris on the thirty first of October,
the very day of his friend's death. I have just
received your very kind letter, and I dare say the
volume will very speedily reach me. One thing I fear
you do not come down late enough to relate. I
mean the impression made upon all present when I took
you to the Jooleries, and when the name of Cochrane,
(30:00):
so well known to them, and which I cannot bring
myself to change for your present title, was no sooner
heard than there was a general start and shudder. I
remember saying, as we drove away, that it ought to
satisfy you as to your disappointment at Basque Rhades, and
you answered that you would rather have the ships. Reader's note.
Footnote ends that his mind was full of vigor to
(30:22):
the last is best proved by that autobiography. But the
body was worn out after two years of great physical suffering,
passed in the house of his eldest son at Queen's Gate, Kensington.
He died on the thirty first of octub eighteen, sixty
eighty five years old. He was buried in Westminster Abbey,
where in his last moments he had expressed a desire
to rest in company with other great servants of the nation.
(30:44):
A public funeral was not granted to him, but his
son was permitted to conduct that funeral in a way
worthy of his great reputation and agreeable to the wishes
of all classes of his countrymen. Through the personal intervention
of Her most Gracious Majesty and the Prince Consort moreover,
who came unteracted the efforts of subordinates. His insignia of
the Order of the Bath, which had been ignominiously spurred
(31:06):
from King Henry the Seventh Chapel one and fifty years before,
were restored to their place on the thirteenth of November.
Thus his last and most cherished wish was fulfilled, and
another precious boon was added to the many favors for
which his family can never cease to be grateful to
their Sovereign and her noble husband. The burial was on
the fourteenth of November. The poor bearers were Admiral Sir
(31:27):
George Seymour, the Brazilian Minister Admiral Grenfell, who five and
thirty years before had been associated with Lord dun Donald
in securing the independence of Brazil, Captain Goldsmith, Captain Schomberg,
Captain Hay and Captain Knollothe. Among the mourners was Lord Brahm,
who had come from Paris to render this last honor
to one who had been his friend through fifty years.
(31:49):
Standing over the grave and looking round upon the assemblage,
he exclaimed, no cabinet minister here, no officer of state
to grace this great man's funeral. But the funeral was
graced by the reverent homage of hundreds gathered within the
abbey walls, and of the thousand soo though absent, acknowledged
that England had lost one of her bravest warriors and
most unselfish patriots, one whose warfare had been marked by
(32:12):
acts of daring rarely equalled, and whose patriotism had brought
upon him sufferings such as few in modern times have
had to endure. The psalmn anthem chanted over his grave.
His body is buried in peace, but his memory shall
live forever, echoed far and wide, and awakened in every breast,
keen sentiments of sympathy for what he had borne, and
(32:34):
of pride in what he had done, who no palm
begins ashes to ashes, lay the hero down within the
gray old Abbey's glorious shade enow. While Hullah ne'er was
worthier laid. Since Marta first won palm or victor crown,
tis well the state he served, no farthing pays to
(32:57):
grace with pomp and honor, all too late his life grave,
whom living statesmen dogged with hate, denying justice and withholding praise.
Let England hide her face above his tomb, as much
for shame as sorrow. Let her think upon the bitter
cup he had to drink, heroic soul branded with Felon's doom.
(33:20):
A sea king whose fit place had been by Blake
or our own Nelson, had he been but free to
follow Glory's quest upon the sea, leading the conquered navies
in his wake. A captain whom it had been ours
to cheer from conquest on to conquest, had our land
(33:42):
but set its wisest, worthiest in command, not such as
hated all the good revere. We let them cage the lion,
while the fire in his high heart burnt clear and unsubdued.
We let them stir that franken forward mood from greatness
to sol consuming ire, the fret and chafe that wait
(34:03):
on service scorn'd, justice denied, and the truth to silence.
Driven from men. We left him to appeal to Heaven
against frauds set high and evidence seborn'd. We left him
with bound arms to mark the sword given to weak hands,
left him with working brain to see rogues, traffic, and
(34:23):
fools rashly reign where strength should have been guide and honor.
Lord left him to cry aloud without support, against the
creeping things that eat away our wooden walls and boast
as they betray the base supporters of a baser court,
the crawling worms that in corruption breed, and on corruption
(34:46):
bat until at last mistaken honor, the proud victim cast
out to their spite to writhe and pant and bleed
under their stings and slime, And bleed he did for
years till hope into heart. Sickness grew, and he sought
other seas and service knew, and his bright sword in
(35:06):
alien laurels hid, nor even so found gratitude, but came
back to England, bankrupt, save of praise, to eat his
heart through weary wishful days and shape his strength to
bearing of his shame, till slow but sure drew on
a better time, and statesman owned the check of public will,
(35:28):
and at the last light pierced the shadow chill that
fouled his honor with the taint of crime. And then
they gave him back the knightly spurs which he had
never forfeited. The rank from which he ne'er by ill deserving,
sank more than the lion sinks, for the yelp of
curs justice had lingered on its road long the lion
(35:50):
was grown old the time gone by, when for his
aid we vainly raised a cry to save our flag
from shame, our decks from wrong. The infamy is theirs,
whose evil deed is past undoing, yet not guiltless we
who penniless that brave man could not see restored to honor,
(36:12):
but denied its need. A belisarius, old and sad and
poor to our shame, not to his. So he lived
on till manslotted, fourscore years were gone, and scarcely then
had leaved to establish sure proofs of his innocence and
their shame that so wronged him. And this done came
(36:33):
death to seal the assurance of his dying breath, and
wipe the last faint tarnish from his name. At last
his fame stands fair and full of years. He seeks
that judgment which his wrong, as all have sought before him,
and above his pall his flag replaced at length waves
(36:54):
with his peers. He did not live to see it,
but he knew his country with one voice, had set
it high, And knowing this, he was content to die
and leave to gracious heaven. What might ensue ashes to
ashes lay the hero down. No nobler heart an knew
the bitter lot to be misjudged, maligned, accused forgot twine
(37:17):
martyr's palm among his victor's crown. Footnote. These lines by
mister Tom Taylor were published in Punch Victor and Martyr.
Those of the words fittest to be inscribed on the
monument that will be set up in the hearts of
Englishmen in honor of the Earl of Dundonald. Entering life
with great powers of mind and great physical endowments for
(37:38):
his only fortune, he made his name famous and won
immortal honor for himself by daring and successful enterprises in
the naval service of his country, which none have surpassed
at any age so young as he is, and which
few have rivaled during a long lifetime spent in war.
But he sought to follow up those triumphs of his
prowess on the sea by peaceful victories at home over
(38:00):
private jealousy, official intrigue, and political wrongdoing, And thereby he
brought on himself opposition which boldly resented, caused the unjust
forfeiture of the rewards that were his due, and weighed
him down with a terrible load of disappointed hope and
undeserved reproach. Seeking relief from those grievous offerings and opportunity
of further work in a profession very dear to him,
(38:22):
and in generous aid of nations striving to throw off
the tyranny to which they had long been subjected, he
entered the service of three foreign states in succession, but
in helping others he brought only fresh trouble on himself.
He rescued Chilean Peru from Spanish thralledom, only to find
the people whom he had freed therefrom were themselves enthralled
by passions which even he could do nothing to overcome,
(38:44):
and which drove him from their shores. Barely thanked and
quite unrecompensed, he fought the battles of the young Empire
of Brazil against Portugal, doubled her territories and more than
doubled her opportunities of future development, only to be cruelly
spurned by the faction than in power, and denied theeate
filment of national pledges, which a latter generation has but
tardly and slightly regarded. Hardy yet was his treatment by
(39:08):
the Greeks, who, having asked him to lead them in
their contest with their Turkish masters, refused to follow his leadership,
gave him no assistance in his plans for fighting on
their behalf, and in return for services which, in spite
of all the difficulties in his way he was able
to render them, offered him little bit insult. Thus more
than half his life was wasted, wasted as far as
he himself was concerned, though the gain to others from
(39:30):
every one of his achievements was great. Indeed, returning then
to peaceful work in England, he chiefly spent the years
remaining to him in efforts to win back the justice
of which he had been deprived and in efforts yet
more zealous to benefit his country by exercise of the
inventive talents in which he was almost as eminent as
in his warlike powers. But those talents were slighted. Though
(39:50):
from them has in part resulted an entire and wholly
beneficial revolution in the science and practice of naval warfare.
And though many of his personal wrongs were redressed, he
was allowed to die without the complete wiping out of
the stain that had been put upon his honor. Of
the long course of suffering. It must be admitted he
was himself, in some measure the cause, and dowed, as
(40:10):
few others had been endowed with the highest mental qualities.
He lacked other qualities necessary to worldly advancement and the
prosperous enjoyment of life. Truth and justice he made the
guiding principles of all his actions, but he knew nothing
of expediency, and was no adept in the arts of prudence.
Unrivaled strategy was displayed by him in all his warlike enterprises,
(40:32):
but against the strategy of his fellow workers, he was
utterly defenseless. He made enemies where a cautious man might
have made friends, and he allowed those enemies to assail him,
and to inflict upon him injuries almost irreparable with weapons
and by onslaughts, which a cautious man would easily have
warded off. Judged by the harshest rules of worldly wisdom, however,
(40:53):
it must be acknowledged that these faults brought upon him
far heavier punishment than he merited. And perhaps it will
be deemed by b poss austerity that they were faults
very nearly akin to virtues. The same want of prudence
caused trouble to him in other respects. It led him,
in furtherance of the inventions and other projects by which
he sought to benefit the world, into expenses by which
(41:14):
his scanty sources of income were very heavily taxed. It
also sometimes made him the victim of others guileless himself,
he was not proof against the guile of many with
whom he came in contact. Every kind word sounded in
his ear, every kind act appeared in his eye, as
if it proceeded from a heart as full of kindness
as his own. And he often lavished sympathy and gratitude
(41:37):
on unworthy objects. But shall we blame him for their kindness? Indeed,
was as much a characteristic of him as valor. While
the world was full of fame for his warlike achievements,
all who came within the circle of his acquaintance marveled
to find a man so simple, so tender, so generous,
and so courteous. When he was bowed down by sorrows
that nearly crushed him, he sought comfort in zealous efforts
(42:00):
for alleviating the sufferings of others. Fortunate circumstances would have
placed him in a station of universal honor, which he
could have occupied to the admiration of all umlookers. But
the circumstances of his life were unfortunate, and therefore he
had to endure such hardship as falls to the lot
of few. The harsh judgment by which he suffered has
(42:22):
already been reversed. It will be atoned for when his
worth is properly acknowledged by his fellow men. End of
Chapter thirty. Recording by Timothy ferguson, Gold Coast, Australia,
Chapter thirty of the life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of dun Donald, completing the Autobiography of a Seamen,
Volume two by Henry Richard fox Bourne and others. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Timothy
Ferguson eighteen fifty one to eighteen sixty. When in June
eighteen fifty one he returned to England and surrendered his
(00:21):
office as Commander in Chief of the North American and
Indian Squadron, The Earl of Dundonald was in his seventy
sixth year. That he was still young and vigorous in
mind is sufficiently shown by the illustrations of his inventive
genius and philanthropic earnestness that of mc givnon. The last
chapter the most striking proof of this, however, so far
(00:42):
as he was allowed to prove it as yet to
be given. Very soon after his return he sought to
impress upon Sir James Graham, then First Lord of the
Admiralty under the Earl of Aberdeen's administration, the value of
his secret war plans, and before long a special reason
for advocating their adoption arose their efficacy had been frequently
acknowledged by the highest authorities, but as England was at peace,
(01:06):
nothing more than an acknowledgment was made. The outbreak of
war with Russia induced Lord dun Donald to bring them
forward again in eighteen fifty three. At first, Sir James
Graham declined to entertain the subject. The government believed that
Russia would be easily and properly defeated by the ordinary
means of warfare, and therefore contented itself with them. In
(01:26):
this decision, Lord dun Donald acquiesced perforce, but on its
appearing that the fight would be harder than had been anticipated,
he again claimed a hearing for his proposals, believing that
by their acceptance he could not only bring his own
career as a britch seamen to a glorious termination, but
also a yet dearer object to him, by doing so,
(01:46):
render inestimable service to his country. In this spirit, he
rode again to Sir James Graham on the twenty second
of July eighteen fifty four. Important aggressive enterprises, he said,
being now suspended by by Russia, whose armies on the defensive,
may indefinitely prolong the war, and thereby expose our country
(02:07):
to perilous consequences resulting from protracted naval cooperation. I am desirous,
through you respectfully, to offer, for the consideration of Her
Majesty's Cabinet Ministers, a simple yet effective plan of operations
showing that the maritime defenses of Cronstats, however strong against
ordinary means of attack, may be captured and their red
(02:28):
hot shots and incendary missiles prepared for the destruction of
our ships turned on those they protect. A result of
paramount importance, now that the forces in the Black Sea
have been diverted from the judiciously contemplated attack on Sebastopol,
compared to the success of which any secondary enterprise in
the Baltic would prove a very small importance to the
successful result of the war, permit me, therefore, in the
(02:51):
event of my plans being approved unreservedly, to offer my
services without command or authority, except over the very limited
means of attack, excess whereof cannot fail in its consequences
to free and ensure perhaps forever all minor states from
Russian dominion. Personal acquaintance with Vice Admiral Sir Charles Napier
and Rear Admiral Chad's warrants my conviction that no feeling
(03:15):
of rivalry could exist save in the most zealous performance
of the service. Sir James Graham's reply was complimentary. You
offer for the consideration of Her Majesty's government, he wrote,
on the twenty sixth July, a plan of operations by
which the maritime defenses of Kronstat may, in your opinion,
be captured. And in the most handsome manner, you declare
your readiness to direct and superintend the execution of your
(03:36):
plan if it should be adopted. When the great interests
at stake are considered, and when the fatal effects of
a possible failure are duly regarded, it is apparent that
the merits of your plan and the chances of success
must be fully investigated and weighed by competent authority. The
Cabinet unaided, can form no judgment in this matter, and
the tender of your services is most properly made by you,
(03:57):
dependent on the previous approval of your plann The question
is a naval one into which professional considerations must enter.
Largely naval officers. Therefore, of experience and high character are
the judges to whom in the first instance this question
ought to be submitted. Let me therefore ask you, before
I take any further step, whether you are willing, in
(04:17):
strict confidence to lay your whole plan before Sir Brian Martin,
Sir William Parker, and add More Berkley, whom, from his
place at this board is my first naval adviser. If
you do not object to this measure, but to any
of the naval officers whom I have named, I should
be disposed to add Sir John Burgoyne, the head of
the Engineers, on whose judgment I place great reliance. I
(04:40):
am sure you will not regard this mode of treating
a proposal as inconsistent with the respect which I sincerely
entertain for your high professional character, resting on past services
of no ordinary merit, which I have never failed to recognize.
But my duty on this occasion prescribes caution and deliberate care,
and you will do justice to the motives by which
this ann your request is guided and letter to this suggestion,
(05:03):
Lord Dundonald readily acceded, and his secret war plans were
once more referred to a committee of investigation. Nothing, however,
was gained by this step. I have received, wrote Sir
James Graham, on the fifteenth of August, the report of
the Committee of Officers, of whom, with your consent, the
plan for the attack on Cronstadt was submitted. On the whole.
After careful consideration, they have come to the unanimous conclusion
(05:26):
that it is inexpedient to try experiments in present circumstances.
They do full justice to your lordship, and they expressly
state that if such an enterprise were to be undertaken,
it could not be confided to fitter or abler hands
than yours. For your professional career has been distinguished by
remarkable instances of skill and courage, in all of which
(05:47):
you have been the foremost to lead the way, and
by your personal heroism you have gained an honorable celebrity
in the naval history of this country. Letter ends that
letter was disappointing to Lord dun Donald, but as the
value of his plans was not disputed, he hoped that
he might yet be allowed to put them in execution.
Be pleased, he said in his reply to Sir James Graham,
to accept the sincere assurance of the highest aimation in
(06:10):
which I hold the kind and favorable expression of your
sentiments towards me. It is indeed gratifying to perceive that
the experienced admirals to whom you referred the professional consideration
of my secret plan have not expressed any doubt as
to its practicability. Readers not Letterends. The report of the admirals, however,
had as unfavorable an effect as could have resulted had
(06:32):
they declared openly against the project. Week followed week without
any successful issue to the efforts of the Baltic Fleet,
and added to Lord Dundunald's chagrin at not being committed
to achieve the desired success, was his distress at finding
unmerited blame thrown by the government and by nearly all
classes of the public upon a brave and skillful seaman
for not doing what with the means at his disposal
(06:54):
it was impossible for him to do. Admiral Sir Charles
Napier had failed, through no fault of his own, in
the project of attacking kron Start, a fortress of almost
unrivaled strength, and, by reason of the shallow water surrounding it,
unapproachable by the heavy line of battleships and frigates which
constituted all his force, and during the months of his
necessary inactivity, and after his return to England, Lord dun
(07:17):
Donald was almost his only defender in justice to Admiral Napier,
against whom the indignant dissatisfaction of the nation is said
to be directed, he wrote in a letter to the
Morning Post on the twenty first of September. Permit me
to say that success could not have attended the operations
of ships against stone batteries firing red hot shot. However
easily unresisting walls may be leisurely demolished. There is but
(07:39):
one means to place these parties on an equal footing,
and that I confidentially laid before the Government the unreasoning
portion of the public. He wrote to Sir James Grahame
on the eleventh of November, have made an outcry against
old admirals, as if it were essential that they should
be able to clear their way with a broadsword. But
my dear Sir James, were it necessary, which it is not,
(07:59):
that I should play place myself in an arm chair
on the poop, with each leg on a quishion, I
will undertake to subdue every interl of fortification at ground
start within four hours from the commencement of the attack
at Sebastopol. He argued, could be as easily captured if
he were only allowed to put his plans in operation.
But it was not allowed. Nothing new can be attempted
(08:20):
at the present moment, answered Sir James Graham. Winter will
put an end to all active operations in the Baltic,
and I still venture to hope that at Sebastopol our
arms will be triumphant. Letter ends. Lord Dundonald, though pained
not so much on his own account as in the
interests of the nation at the way in which his
officers were treated, persevered in making them. It was now
(08:41):
too late in the season to effect anything in the Baltic,
but the siege as Sebastopol was being carried on without
any immediate prospect of success, and he yearned with all
the ardor that he had displayed half a century before
for an opportunity of rendering success both certain and immediate.
To this end he wrote again to Sir James Graham,
and also for the foot time to the Earl of
Aberdeen on the thirtieth of December. The pertinacious resistance made
(09:04):
at Sebastopol and the possibility of events that may still
further disappoint expectation, he said, Sir James, have induced me
to address Lord Aberdeen, saying that if it is the
opinion of the Cabinet or of those whom they consult
on military affairs, that failing the early capture of Sebastopol,
the British Army may be in danger. I offer to
the discernment of the Cabinet, I still secret plans of attack,
(09:28):
whereby the garrisons would be expelled from the forts or
annihilated in defiance of numerical force and possession obtained at
least during sufficient time to enable the chief defenses to
be blown up and the harbor fleet to be destroyed.
If you will so far favor me, I should be
gratified by having an opportunity of demonstrating to your strong mind,
(09:48):
free from professional bias, the fact that combustible ships may
be not only placed on a parity with stone forts
fitted to fire a red hot shot, but secured from
injury more effectually than if incased. Eno iron letter ends.
Sir James Graham's answer was, like its forerunners, complimentary, but
nothing more. I can never cease, he wrote, to do
(10:08):
justice to your patriotic desire to serve your country, which
is evinced by your desire to encounter in your own
person the danger's attendant on your experiment, and not to
transfer the hazard of the enterprise to others, but to
the enterprise itself. He would give no sanction. Your plans,
he said, by my desire, were submitted to the consideration
of the most competent naval and military officers, whose impartial
(10:29):
judgment cannot be impunged. And on the whole they did
not recommend the trial of the experiment which you are
anxious to make. Neither Lord Aberdeen nor I can venture
to place our individual opinions in opposition to record a
judgment of the highest authority on a question which is
purely professional. I see no advantage therefore in renewing the
discussion with you at the present moment, Letter Ends. Had
(10:53):
the impartial judgment by which Sir James Graham held himself
bound been adverse to the principle of Lord Dundonald's plans,
declared them to be anything more than in expedient in
prison circumstances, more weight might have been attached to it.
But even then he could have pointed to the opposite
verdict given in eighteen forty seven by other judges quite
as impartial and competent, who, while objecting to part of
(11:15):
them on the score of their deadly efficacy, had officially
announced their belief in the applicability of another part, the
part of which Lord Dundonnell now proposed to make most use,
and recommended its adoption when the opportunity of employing it
may occur. He therefore refused to be thwarted in his
efforts to render to his country the great service that
he considered to be in his power, and Sir Charles
(11:37):
Napier's removal from the command of the Baltic Fleet in
January eighteen fifty five gave him an opportunity of offering
to use that power under conditions that would relieve the
Admiralty of all direct responsibility in the event of his failure.
I am much gratified, he said in another letter to
Sir James Graham, to learn that her most gracious Majesty
has been pleased to reserve the high dignity of Admiral
(11:58):
of the Fleet as a reward for services. Under this impression,
permit me to solicit the favor of being allowed to
contend for that distinction, not by reference again to opinions
which may prove fallacious, but by actual experimental proof of
the safety and facility of a sailing fortifications by my
secret plans. By them, the damage and loss of life
sustained by the Allied squadron in their late attack on
(12:19):
the fortifications of Sebastopol might have been partly, if not wholly, averted,
and probably attent for destruction inflicted on the enemy. If
this is admitted, and I do not think it can
be disputed, I hope you will allow me to demonstrate
the general applicability of these simple, comparatively costless, and in
my opinion, infallible means of annihilating the power of all
kinds of batteries that can be approached to windward within
(12:41):
half a mile. These plans have been entertained and pondered
over by me during forty years, and now again I
offer to explain, to test, and to put them in execution.
Letter ends. Sir James Graham's answer was very terse. I
have had the honor, he wrote on the twenty third
of January, of receiving your Lordship's letter in which you
tend to your services to take command of the Baltic Fleet.
(13:02):
I consider the tender highly honorable to you, but I
cannot give you any other assurance. No other assurance would
have been of any avail. The Earl of Aberdeen's cabinet,
having lost the confidence of the country, was dissolved almost
immediately after the letter was written, to be replaced by
an administration in which Lord Palmerston was Premier and Sir
Charles Wood, first Lord of the Admiralty. To Lord Palmerston,
(13:25):
the Earl of Dundonald wrote on the thirteenth of February.
The high position of our country being at stake on
the result of the war, he said, and our long
established naval renown pledged on the successful conduct of affairs
in the Baltic I addressed to my kind friend, Lord Lansdowne,
who has been long conversant with the objects which, by
his advice, I now offer to your lordship's notice, as
First Minister of the Crown cojointly, if you judge proper
(13:47):
with that of the cabinet over which you preside. He
then briefly described the principle of his secret plan, adding
a respectfully offer to execute this plan and answer for
its success against Cronstadt and against all minus strongholds in
the Baltic that ends. Four weeks elapsed before the letter
was answered. In the meanwhile, Lord Dundonnell, beginning to despair
of a satisfactory hearing from any Minister of State unless
(14:10):
he was induced there too by a popular demand, addressed
a petition to the House of Commons, urging the importance
of his plans, and praying for a searching inquiry to
ascertain whether the aforesaid secret plans are capable speedily, certainly
and cheaply to surmount obstacles which our gallant, persevering and
costly armies and fleets have failed to accomplish. His reasons
(14:30):
for doing so, he explained in a letter addressed to
the Times on the tenth of March. Peace, he there said,
being desirable not only for the interests of our country,
but for those of the world at large, and the
negotiations now pending, being doubtless injuriously influenced by the obstinate
resistance of Sebastopol, which could be overcome in a day,
and the impossibility of successfully attacking Cronstat by naval means
(14:53):
which might be speedily reduced. I have drawn up a
petition to Parliament in order that secrecy and silence on
my part, and official tancy of information on that of
the public, may no longer prove injurious to the success
of our arms. Hostilities having proceeded so far, assuredly, it
is more expedient to reduce a restless nation to a
third or fourth rate power than be ourselves reduced. Let
(15:14):
not my motive be mistaken. I have no wish to
command a fleet of one hundred gun ships, or to
attack first rate fortresses by in case batteries or steam
gun boats. That which I desire is first secretly to
demonstrate to combatant persons the efficiency of my plans, and
then to obtain authority, during eight or ten days of
fine weather, to put them in execution. The means I
contemplate are simple, cheap, and safe. They would spare thousands
(15:38):
of lives, millions of money, great havoc, and uncertainty of results.
Their consequences might and probably would affect the emancipation of
Poland and give freedom to the usurped territories of Sweden.
Those who judge unfavorably of all age naval commanders assuredly
do not reflect that the useful employment of the energies
of thousands and tens of thousands of men can best
be developed and directed by a mind instructed by long
(16:00):
observation matured by reflection, an advantage to which physical power
that could clear its way by a broadsword can bear
no comparison. My un supported opinion in regard to a
naval enterprise in eighteen o nine proved to be correct.
Every other undertaking in the British Service, and as Commander
in chief in Chile, Peru, Brazil and Greece, was successful,
and so would the protracted and unaccomplished undertaking so injurious
(16:23):
to the result of negotiation, have succeeded had I possessed
sufficient influence to be patiently listened to readers. No letter ends.
The petition roused much interest among the public, but was
unheeded by the House of Commons, and therefore produced very
slight effect on the ministry. My published petition, wrote Lord
Dundonald to Viscount Palmerston on the seventeenth of March, has
brought me numerous letters, and, amongst others, a communication I
(16:45):
believe from high authority that if I do know any
means whereby to spare the slaughter that must take place
on storming Sebastopol, I ought to make it known I
wish I could impart to your lordship what I feel
under the present circumstances, and how anxiously I desired that
a speedy decision may succeed the lingering delays that I
have so long endure it. A few days after that cheerfly,
(17:07):
through the assistance of his friend Lord Brahm, Lord Dundonald
obtained an interview with Lord Palmerston, at which he further
detailed his plans and urged that they should be promptly
employed in hastening a conclusion of the war with Russia.
To Lord Palmerston, he also wrote again on the thirty
first of March, it has occurred to me, he said,
that the supposed inhumanity of my plans may have caused
(17:29):
the use of the word inexpedient in the report of
the Commission applied in July last by the Admiralty, and
may even now influence the decision of the Cabinet. Perhaps
another view may have been taken of the consequences of
divulging my plans as regards the security of this kingdom.
Letter ends to these possible objections. He urged that no
(17:49):
conduct that brought to a speedy determination a war which
might otherwise last for years and be attended by terrible
bloodshed in numerous battles, could be called in human, and
that the most powerful means of averting invasion and indeed
all future war, would be the introduction of a method
of fighting which, rendering all vigorous defense impossible, would frighten
every nation from running the risks of warfare at all.
(18:10):
Those arguments appear to have had some weight, but after
further correspondence, Lord Palmestan's government, like all other governments to
which they had been offered, refused to put the plans
in execution. Further evidence in their favor was obtained from
some eminent scientific men, and it was put beyond dispute
that although they might not have such deadly efficacy as
Lord dun Donald anticipated, on which point the Coultic spoke
(18:33):
with Hesitation, they could not fail, if properly applied, in
producing very important results. But it was all in vain.
All that Lord Palmston would agree to was to have
the experiment tried on a small scale at Sebastopol, and
by two engineer officers who were to be instructed in
their work by Lord dun Donald. Lord dun Donald consented
to the trial if it were conducted by his son,
(18:54):
Captain the Honorable Arthur Cochran RN, but this was not
agreed to when the whole project fell to the ground.
At that result, Lord dun Donald was hardly more disappointed
than was a large section of the English public. Friends
and strangers, soldiers, sailors, newspaper writers and merchants wrote to
him from London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Belfast and all other
parts of the Kingdom, urging that if the enterprise was
(19:17):
not undertaken by government, it should be executed by means
of a private subscription. I am perfectly convinced, wrote one,
that you can do all the injury to the Russian
fortifications that you say you can do. If miserable jealousy
at the Admiralty refuses you, the means take them from
those who, like myself, are very proud to be your countrymen.
(19:38):
I am not a rich man, but I shall gladly
subscribe one hundred pounds to any scheme that you will
propose and carry out yourself. If your lordship will appeal
to the country, wrote another, in less than a week,
you will receive subscriptions to any amount. You will then
be independent of government routine, and the public will, without
further delay, have an opportunity of testing the value of
(19:59):
your invention to work which the eyes of all Europe
are anxiously turned at the present juncture. Let his end.
Those suggestions, and the evidence afforded by them of a
widespread sympathy in his efforts to render a last great
service to his country afforded real satisfaction to Lord dun Donald,
but their adoption was quite impossible. As the British officer,
he could not for a moment think of entering upon
(20:19):
a warlock project independently of the state. Therefore he left
the work on which his heart was set undone, and soon,
though by no means so soon as he could have
made it, the Russian War was brought to a conclusion.
Whatever may have been the cause of the rejection of
his offer to Hagson, that conclusion by means of his
secret war plans. The Earl of dun Donald experienced no
(20:40):
lack of personal courtesy during the period of correspondence, or
throughout the brief remainder of his life, his closing years,
which he had by many acts, by which was nearly completed,
the tardy reparation for the former injuries which had begun
with his reinstatement in the Navy by King William the Fourth,
and in which the most gratifying circumstance of all was
the restoration of his honors as a Knight of the
(21:02):
Bath by her Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, the death of
Sir BAIERM. Martin, and the promotion of Sir William Gage
to the office of Vice Admiral of the United Kingdom,
wrote Sir James Graham on the twenty third of October
eighteen fifty four. Vacate the appointment of Rear Admiral. It
is an honorary distinction, and your standing in the Naval
service and your gallant achievements entitle you to this reward.
(21:26):
I have taken Her Majesty's pleasure, and the Queen has
graciously approved my recommendation. I propose, therefore, with your Lordship's permission,
that you shall be gazetted Rear Admiral of the United Kingdom.
I accept the proposed honor with gratitude to her majesty,
and with thanks to you, answered Lord dun Donald on
the twenty fourth. Permit me, however, to express a hope
that such distinction shall not preclude my further service to
(21:48):
the Crown and Country, which long and matured consideration on
professional subjects assures me I could now perform even more
effectually than at an earlier period. Redserned. The letter ends.
A month later, he was honored by a compliment from
one who, kind and gracious in all his acts, had
never failed in showing towards him special grace and kindness,
(22:09):
My dear lord, wrote Prince Albert on the twenty sixth
of November. A vacancy has occurred in the Honorary Brethren
of the Trinity House by the lamented death of Sir
Bryan Martin. It has always been customary in that corporation
to have the Royal Navy represented amongst the elder Brethren
by one of its most distinguished officers. I therefore write
(22:31):
to inquire whether it would be agreeable to you to
be elected a member of that body, as I should,
in that case have much pleasure in proposing as Master
of the corporation your name for the election of the
elder brethren. Believe me always, my dear Lord, yours truly Albert.
May I please Your Royal Highness, Lord Dundonnell wrote in
reply on the twenty seventh, to accept my dutiful and
(22:54):
most grateful thanks for the honor Your Royal Highness is
pleased to confer as sure Your Royal Highness, I shall
ever look forward with anxiety to prove my devotion and
gratitude to her most gracious Majesty for signal acts of
justice and favor, and to Your Royal Highness for this
highly appreciated mark of your consideration. Letter ends. A token
(23:14):
of the estimation in which Lord dun Donell was at
length held by all classes of his countrymen, may here
be recorded, after frequent refusal on the ground of his
age and love of privacy, he consented in May eighteen
fifty six to sick admission to the United Service Club.
Its members thereupon at once resolved at the proposal of
Vice Admiral Sir George F. Seymour, which was seconded by
(23:36):
Lieutenant General Sir C. F. Smith, to invite that highly
distinguished officer Admiral of the Earl of Dundonald, to become
an honorary member of the club until the time of
his lordship's ballot takes place. In spite of compliments like these, however,
it was his earnest desire that before his life has ended,
every shadow which had darkened it might be cleared away,
and that he might not pass into the grave without
(23:56):
the assurance that he was formerly and in every respect
acquitted of the uns unjust charges brought against him nearly
half a century before. While one single consequence of those
charges remained in force, he considered that he was not
so acquitted, and with this object he labored to the
last I venture to remind your Lordship, he wrote to
(24:16):
Lord Palmerston on the twenty sixth of May, that the
undeviating rectitude of my conduct through a long life has
already induced the Crown, in the exercise of its justice,
to restore my rank and honors. There yet remains, my
Dear Lord, a gracious and important act to perform, namely,
to order my banner to be replaced in King Henry
the Seventh Chapel, and to direct the repayment of the
(24:37):
fine inflicted by the Court of King's Bench and the
restoration of my half pay suspended during my removal from
the Naval Service. Unless these are done, I shall descend
to my grave with the consciousness not only that justice
has not fully been done to me, but under the
painful conviction that its mission will be construed to the
injury of my character in the estimation of posterity in
(25:00):
p Pennantly of the justice of this claim on its
own merits, I venture to express a hope that your
Lordship will admit that, during my temporary absence from the
Naval Service, my exertions tended materially to promote the interests
of our country by opening to commerce the ports of
the Pacific and those of all the northern provinces of Brazil.
That rends The appeal was unsuccessful. The part of it
(25:20):
having reference to the replacement of Lord dun Donald's barnet
in Westminster Abbey was considered by Lord Palmerston to be
a question with which it was not in his province
to deal with. Regard to the fine, he said, I
am afraid that there are no funds out of which
it could be repaid, and I should doubt there being
any precedent for such a proceeding, and I find on
inquiry that pay or half pay has not been granted
to any naval officer for any period during which he
(25:43):
may have been out of the service. That reply induced
Lord Dundonald to write again to Lord Palmerston on the
seventh of June. I submit. He then said that the
fine being imposed for an alleged offense of which I
was wholly innocent, it ought to be repaid, even if
there be no special fund appropriated for such a purpose.
The peculiarity of my case may accout for there being
(26:04):
no precedent for such a proceeding. If none there be.
The same peculiarity may distinguish my case from that of
all other naval officers to whom no pay or half
pay has been allowed for any period during which they
may have been out of the service. I may have
been the only naval officer unjustly expelled, and assuredly I
have been the only one so expelled, after manifesting, by
(26:26):
various acts a truly patriotic zeal for the honor and
interest of our country. No other naval officer after such
acts was ever expelled the service and otherwise punished on
mere conjectural evidence since demonstrated to have been utterly groundless.
I submit that instances have occurred of military officers recovering
pay or half pay after unjust expulsion, as in the
(26:46):
case of Sir Robert Wilson, and I am not aware
of the existence of any cause for a distinction in
this respect between the two services. I feel the deepest
gratitude and satisfaction that my life has been spared to
a period when I may reasonably hope that a portion
of justice yet due to me for the erroneous verdict
and its injurious consequences, will not be withheld of that justice.
(27:08):
The first installment, namely the restoration of my naval rank,
was granted by his late Majesty, King William, and the
second by her present most gracious Majesty, who, on the
representation of my noble friend, the Marquess of Lansdowne, was
pleased to reinstate me in the Order of the Bath
for the third and conclusive portion of the justice still
remaining due to me. I cannot desist from looking to
(27:29):
your lordship, Letterans. It is not necessary to detail the
later correspondence that ensued upon this subject, Lord Dundonnell found
that the final reparation which he sought was not then
at any rate to be conceded to him by the government,
and therefore he resolved to employ his last remaining powers
in seeking from his countrymen that thorough justice, which he
rightly considered would result from an honest review of the
(27:51):
incidents of his life. During eighteen fifty eight and the
beginning of eighteen fifty nine he was engaged in the
preparation of his Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili,
Peru and Brazil from the Spanish and Portuguese domination. Footnote.
The following letter, dated Buckingham Pallas, March the fourth, eighteen
fifty nine, gave pleasure to Lord dun Donald. My Lord,
(28:11):
I have received the commands of His Royal Highness, the
Prince Consort to return you his best thanks for the
copy of your narrative, which you have been good enough
to send to His Royal Highness, and upon which his
Royal Highness will place high value. I am directed further
to say that it would add materially to that value
if you would have the kindness to write in the
first page of the accompanying volume that it was presented
(28:33):
by your lordship to the Prince. I have the honor
to be my lord, your most obedient, humble servant. C. B.
Phipps reader's note footnote ends that work was immediately followed
by his Autobiography of a Seaman, of which the first
volume was completed in December eighteen fifty nine, the second
in September eighteen sixty, bringing down the story to the
date from which it has been continued in the present work. Footnote.
(28:56):
Almost The last letter written by Lord dun Donald was
this to Lord Brahm. My dear Lord Brahm, I have
the pleasure to forward you the second volume of my autobiography,
in which you will find that use has been made
of the kind expressions towards myself contained in your works,
of the injustice done to me. I need not tell you,
who are so well acquainted with the subject. If the
(29:18):
accompanying volume succeeds in impressing on the public mind these
sentiments so unflinchingly set forth in your works, it will
have answered its purpose. And that it will do so,
I have no reason to doubt now that the subject
can be canvassed apart from political rancor. I am my,
dear Lord Brahm, ever faithfully yours dun Donald. Lord Brahm's
(29:39):
answer was dated from Paris on the thirty first of October,
the very day of his friend's death. I have just
received your very kind letter, and I dare say the
volume will very speedily reach me. One thing I fear
you do not come down late enough to relate. I
mean the impression made upon all present when I took
you to the Jooleries, and when the name of Cochrane,
(30:00):
so well known to them, and which I cannot bring
myself to change for your present title, was no sooner
heard than there was a general start and shudder. I
remember saying, as we drove away, that it ought to
satisfy you as to your disappointment at Basque Rhades, and
you answered that you would rather have the ships. Reader's note.
Footnote ends that his mind was full of vigor to
(30:22):
the last is best proved by that autobiography. But the
body was worn out after two years of great physical suffering,
passed in the house of his eldest son at Queen's Gate, Kensington.
He died on the thirty first of octub eighteen, sixty
eighty five years old. He was buried in Westminster Abbey,
where in his last moments he had expressed a desire
to rest in company with other great servants of the nation.
(30:44):
A public funeral was not granted to him, but his
son was permitted to conduct that funeral in a way
worthy of his great reputation and agreeable to the wishes
of all classes of his countrymen. Through the personal intervention
of Her most Gracious Majesty and the Prince Consort moreover,
who came unteracted the efforts of subordinates. His insignia of
the Order of the Bath, which had been ignominiously spurred
(31:06):
from King Henry the Seventh Chapel one and fifty years before,
were restored to their place on the thirteenth of November.
Thus his last and most cherished wish was fulfilled, and
another precious boon was added to the many favors for
which his family can never cease to be grateful to
their Sovereign and her noble husband. The burial was on
the fourteenth of November. The poor bearers were Admiral Sir
(31:27):
George Seymour, the Brazilian Minister Admiral Grenfell, who five and
thirty years before had been associated with Lord dun Donald
in securing the independence of Brazil, Captain Goldsmith, Captain Schomberg,
Captain Hay and Captain Knollothe. Among the mourners was Lord Brahm,
who had come from Paris to render this last honor
to one who had been his friend through fifty years.
(31:49):
Standing over the grave and looking round upon the assemblage,
he exclaimed, no cabinet minister here, no officer of state
to grace this great man's funeral. But the funeral was
graced by the reverent homage of hundreds gathered within the
abbey walls, and of the thousand soo though absent, acknowledged
that England had lost one of her bravest warriors and
most unselfish patriots, one whose warfare had been marked by
(32:12):
acts of daring rarely equalled, and whose patriotism had brought
upon him sufferings such as few in modern times have
had to endure. The psalmn anthem chanted over his grave.
His body is buried in peace, but his memory shall
live forever, echoed far and wide, and awakened in every breast,
keen sentiments of sympathy for what he had borne, and
(32:34):
of pride in what he had done, who no palm
begins ashes to ashes, lay the hero down within the
gray old Abbey's glorious shade enow. While Hullah ne'er was
worthier laid. Since Marta first won palm or victor crown,
tis well the state he served, no farthing pays to
(32:57):
grace with pomp and honor, all too late his life grave,
whom living statesmen dogged with hate, denying justice and withholding praise.
Let England hide her face above his tomb, as much
for shame as sorrow. Let her think upon the bitter
cup he had to drink, heroic soul branded with Felon's doom.
(33:20):
A sea king whose fit place had been by Blake
or our own Nelson, had he been but free to
follow Glory's quest upon the sea, leading the conquered navies
in his wake. A captain whom it had been ours
to cheer from conquest on to conquest, had our land
(33:42):
but set its wisest, worthiest in command, not such as
hated all the good revere. We let them cage the lion,
while the fire in his high heart burnt clear and unsubdued.
We let them stir that franken forward mood from greatness
to sol consuming ire, the fret and chafe that wait
(34:03):
on service scorn'd, justice denied, and the truth to silence.
Driven from men. We left him to appeal to Heaven
against frauds set high and evidence seborn'd. We left him
with bound arms to mark the sword given to weak hands,
left him with working brain to see rogues, traffic, and
(34:23):
fools rashly reign where strength should have been guide and honor.
Lord left him to cry aloud without support, against the
creeping things that eat away our wooden walls and boast
as they betray the base supporters of a baser court,
the crawling worms that in corruption breed, and on corruption
(34:46):
bat until at last mistaken honor, the proud victim cast
out to their spite to writhe and pant and bleed
under their stings and slime, And bleed he did for
years till hope into heart. Sickness grew, and he sought
other seas and service knew, and his bright sword in
(35:06):
alien laurels hid, nor even so found gratitude, but came
back to England, bankrupt, save of praise, to eat his
heart through weary wishful days and shape his strength to
bearing of his shame, till slow but sure drew on
a better time, and statesman owned the check of public will,
(35:28):
and at the last light pierced the shadow chill that
fouled his honor with the taint of crime. And then
they gave him back the knightly spurs which he had
never forfeited. The rank from which he ne'er by ill deserving,
sank more than the lion sinks, for the yelp of
curs justice had lingered on its road long the lion
(35:50):
was grown old the time gone by, when for his
aid we vainly raised a cry to save our flag
from shame, our decks from wrong. The infamy is theirs,
whose evil deed is past undoing, yet not guiltless we
who penniless that brave man could not see restored to honor,
(36:12):
but denied its need. A belisarius, old and sad and
poor to our shame, not to his. So he lived
on till manslotted, fourscore years were gone, and scarcely then
had leaved to establish sure proofs of his innocence and
their shame that so wronged him. And this done came
(36:33):
death to seal the assurance of his dying breath, and
wipe the last faint tarnish from his name. At last
his fame stands fair and full of years. He seeks
that judgment which his wrong, as all have sought before him,
and above his pall his flag replaced at length waves
(36:54):
with his peers. He did not live to see it,
but he knew his country with one voice, had set
it high, And knowing this, he was content to die
and leave to gracious heaven. What might ensue ashes to
ashes lay the hero down. No nobler heart an knew
the bitter lot to be misjudged, maligned, accused forgot twine
(37:17):
martyr's palm among his victor's crown. Footnote. These lines by
mister Tom Taylor were published in Punch Victor and Martyr.
Those of the words fittest to be inscribed on the
monument that will be set up in the hearts of
Englishmen in honor of the Earl of Dundonald. Entering life
with great powers of mind and great physical endowments for
(37:38):
his only fortune, he made his name famous and won
immortal honor for himself by daring and successful enterprises in
the naval service of his country, which none have surpassed
at any age so young as he is, and which
few have rivaled during a long lifetime spent in war.
But he sought to follow up those triumphs of his
prowess on the sea by peaceful victories at home over
(38:00):
private jealousy, official intrigue, and political wrongdoing, And thereby he
brought on himself opposition which boldly resented, caused the unjust
forfeiture of the rewards that were his due, and weighed
him down with a terrible load of disappointed hope and
undeserved reproach. Seeking relief from those grievous offerings and opportunity
of further work in a profession very dear to him,
(38:22):
and in generous aid of nations striving to throw off
the tyranny to which they had long been subjected, he
entered the service of three foreign states in succession, but
in helping others he brought only fresh trouble on himself.
He rescued Chilean Peru from Spanish thralledom, only to find
the people whom he had freed therefrom were themselves enthralled
by passions which even he could do nothing to overcome,
(38:44):
and which drove him from their shores. Barely thanked and
quite unrecompensed, he fought the battles of the young Empire
of Brazil against Portugal, doubled her territories and more than
doubled her opportunities of future development, only to be cruelly
spurned by the faction than in power, and denied theeate
filment of national pledges, which a latter generation has but
tardly and slightly regarded. Hardy yet was his treatment by
(39:08):
the Greeks, who, having asked him to lead them in
their contest with their Turkish masters, refused to follow his leadership,
gave him no assistance in his plans for fighting on
their behalf, and in return for services which, in spite
of all the difficulties in his way he was able
to render them, offered him little bit insult. Thus more
than half his life was wasted, wasted as far as
he himself was concerned, though the gain to others from
(39:30):
every one of his achievements was great. Indeed, returning then
to peaceful work in England, he chiefly spent the years
remaining to him in efforts to win back the justice
of which he had been deprived and in efforts yet
more zealous to benefit his country by exercise of the
inventive talents in which he was almost as eminent as
in his warlike powers. But those talents were slighted. Though
(39:50):
from them has in part resulted an entire and wholly
beneficial revolution in the science and practice of naval warfare.
And though many of his personal wrongs were redressed, he
was allowed to die without the complete wiping out of
the stain that had been put upon his honor. Of
the long course of suffering. It must be admitted he
was himself, in some measure the cause, and dowed, as
(40:10):
few others had been endowed with the highest mental qualities.
He lacked other qualities necessary to worldly advancement and the
prosperous enjoyment of life. Truth and justice he made the
guiding principles of all his actions, but he knew nothing
of expediency, and was no adept in the arts of prudence.
Unrivaled strategy was displayed by him in all his warlike enterprises,
(40:32):
but against the strategy of his fellow workers, he was
utterly defenseless. He made enemies where a cautious man might
have made friends, and he allowed those enemies to assail him,
and to inflict upon him injuries almost irreparable with weapons
and by onslaughts, which a cautious man would easily have
warded off. Judged by the harshest rules of worldly wisdom, however,
(40:53):
it must be acknowledged that these faults brought upon him
far heavier punishment than he merited. And perhaps it will
be deemed by b poss austerity that they were faults
very nearly akin to virtues. The same want of prudence
caused trouble to him in other respects. It led him,
in furtherance of the inventions and other projects by which
he sought to benefit the world, into expenses by which
(41:14):
his scanty sources of income were very heavily taxed. It
also sometimes made him the victim of others guileless himself,
he was not proof against the guile of many with
whom he came in contact. Every kind word sounded in
his ear, every kind act appeared in his eye, as
if it proceeded from a heart as full of kindness
as his own. And he often lavished sympathy and gratitude
(41:37):
on unworthy objects. But shall we blame him for their kindness? Indeed,
was as much a characteristic of him as valor. While
the world was full of fame for his warlike achievements,
all who came within the circle of his acquaintance marveled
to find a man so simple, so tender, so generous,
and so courteous. When he was bowed down by sorrows
that nearly crushed him, he sought comfort in zealous efforts
(42:00):
for alleviating the sufferings of others. Fortunate circumstances would have
placed him in a station of universal honor, which he
could have occupied to the admiration of all umlookers. But
the circumstances of his life were unfortunate, and therefore he
had to endure such hardship as falls to the lot
of few. The harsh judgment by which he suffered has
(42:22):
already been reversed. It will be atoned for when his
worth is properly acknowledged by his fellow men. End of
Chapter thirty. Recording by Timothy ferguson, Gold Coast, Australia,
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