The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald Volume I Part 1

The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B.

by Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald.

PREFACE.

In these Volumes is recounted the public life of my late father from the period to which the narrative was brought down by himself in his unfinished "Autobiography of a Seaman." The completion of that work was prevented by his death, which occurred almost immediately after the publication of the Second Volume, eight years and a half ago.

I had hoped to supplement it sooner; but in this hope I have been thwarted.

My father's papers were, at the time of his death, in the hands of a gentleman who had a.s.sisted him in the preparation of his "Autobiography," and to this gentleman was entrusted the completion of the work. Illness and other occupations, however, interfered, and, after a lapse of about two years, he died, leaving the papers, of which no use had been made by him, to fall into the possession of others. Only after long delay and considerable trouble and expense was I able to recover them and realize my long-cherished purpose.

Further delay in the publication of this book has arisen from my having been compelled, as my father's executor, to make three long and laborious journeys to Brazil, which have engrossed much time.

At length, however, I find myself able to pay the debt which I owe both to my father's memory and to the public, by whom the "Autobiography of a Seaman" was read with so much interest. At the beginning of last year I placed all the necessary doc.u.ments in the hands of my friend, Mr. H.R. Fox Bourne, asking him to handle them with the same zeal of research and impartiality of judgment which he has shown in his already published works. I have also furnished him with my own reminiscences of so much of my father's life as was personally known to me; and he has availed himself of all the help that could be obtained from other sources of information, both private and public. He has written the book to the best of his ability, and I have done my utmost to help him in making it as complete and accurate as possible. We hope that the late Earl of Dundonald's life and character have been all the better delineated in that the work has grown out of the personal knowledge of his son and the unbia.s.sed judgment of a stranger.

A long time having elapsed since the publication of the "Autobiography of a Seaman," it has been thought well to give a brief recapitulation of its story in an opening chapter.

The four following chapters recount my father's history during the five years following the cruel Stock Exchange trial, the subject last treated of in the "Autobiography." It is not strange that the harsh treatment to which he was subjected should have led him into opposition, in which there was some violence, which he afterwards condemned, against the Government of the day. But, if there were circ.u.mstances to be regretted in this portion of his career, it shows almost more plainly than any other with what strength of philanthropy he sought to aid the poor and the oppressed.

His occupations as Chief Admiral, first of Chili and afterwards of Brazil, were described by himself in two volumes, ent.i.tled, "A Narrative of Services in Chili, Peru, and Brazil." Therefore, the seven chapters of the present work which describe these episodes have been made as concise as possible. Only the most memorable circ.u.mstances have been dwelt upon, and the details introduced have been drawn to some extent from doc.u.ments not included in the volumes referred to.

There was no reason for abridgment in treating of my father's connection with Greece. In the service of that country he was less able to achieve beneficial results than in Chili and Brazil; but as, on that ground, he has been frequently traduced by critics and historians, it seemed especially important to show how his successes were greater than these critics and historians have represented, and how his failures sprang from the faults of others and from misfortunes by which he was the chief sufferer. The doc.u.ments left by him, moreover, afford abundant material for ill.u.s.trating an eventful period in modern history. The chapters referring to Greece and Greek affairs, accordingly, enter with especial fullness into the circ.u.mstances of Lord Dundonald's life at this time, and his connection with contemporary politics.

Eight other chapters recount all that was of most public interest in the thirty years of my father's life after his return from Greece.

Except during a brief period of active service in his profession, when he had command of the British squadron in North American and West Indian waters, those thirty years were chiefly spent in efforts--by scientific research, by mechanical experiment, and by persevering argument--to increase the naval power of his country, and in efforts no less zealous to secure for himself that full reversal of the wrongful sentence pa.s.sed upon him in a former generation, which could only be attained by public rest.i.tution of the official rank and national honours of which he had been deprived.

This rest.i.tution was begun by his Majesty King William IV., and completed by our present most gracious Queen and the Prince Consort.

By the kindnesses which he received from these ill.u.s.trious persons, my father's later years were cheered; and I can never cease to be profoundly grateful to my Sovereign, and her revered husband, for the personal interest with which they listened to my prayer immediately after his death. Through their gracious influence, the same banner of the Bath that had been taken from him nearly fifty years before, was restored to its place in Westminster Abbey, and allowed to float over his remains at their time of burial. Thus the last stain upon my father's memory was wiped out.

DUNDONALD. London, May 24th, 1869.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.--LORD COCHRANE'S ANCESTRY.--HIS FIRST OCCUPATIONS IN THE NAVY.--HIS CRUISE IN THE "SPEEDY" AND CAPTURE OF THE "GAMO."--HIS EXPLOITS IN THE "PALLAS."--THE BEGINNING OF HIS PARLIAMENTARY LIFE.--HIS TWO ELECTIONS AS MEMBER FOR HONITON.--HIS ELECTION FOR WESTMINSTER.--FURTHER SEAMANs.h.i.+P.--THE BASQUE ROADS AFFAIR.--THE COURT-MARTIAL ON LORD GAMBIER, AND ITS INJURIOUS EFFECTS ON LORD COCHRANE'S NAVAL CAREER.--HIS PARLIAMENTARY OCCUPATIONS.--HIS VISIT TO MALTA AND ITS ISSUES.--THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE TRIAL.

[1775-1814.]

Thomas, Loud Cochrane, tenth Earl of Dundonald, was born at Annsfield, in Lanark, on the 14th of December, 1775, and died in London on the 31st of October, 1860. Shortly before his death he wrote two volumes, styled "The Autobiography of a Seaman," which set forth his history down to 1814, the fortieth year of his age. To those volumes the present work, recounting his career during the ensuing six-and-forty years, is intended to serve as a sequel. Before entering upon the later narrative, however, it will be necessary briefly to recapitulate the incidents that have been already detailed.

The Earl of Dundonald was descended from a long line of knights and barons, chiefly resident in Renfrew and Ayr, many of whom were men of mark in Scottish history during the thirteenth and following centuries. Robert Cochran was the especial favourite and foremost counsellor of James III., who made him Earl of Mar; but the favours heaped upon him, and perhaps a certain arrogance in the use of those favours, led to so much opposition from his peers and rivals that he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by them in 1480.[A]

[Footnote A: Pinkerton, the historian, gives some curious details, ill.u.s.trating not only Robert Cochran's character, but also the condition of government and society in Scotland four centuries ago.

"The Scottish army," he says, "amounting to about fifty thousand, had crowded to the royal banner at Burrough Muir, near Edinburgh, whence they marched to Soutray and to Lauder, at which place they encamped between the church and the village. Cochran, Earl of Mar, conducted the artillery. On the morning after their arrival at Lauder, the peers a.s.sembled in a secret council, in the church, and deliberated upon their designs of revenge.... Cochran, ignorant of their designs, left the royal presence to proceed to the council. The earl was attended by three hundred men, armed with light battle-axes, and distinguished by his livery of white with black fillets. He was clothed in a riding cloak of black velvet, and wore a large chain of gold around his neck; his horn of the chase, or of battle, was adorned with gold and precious stones, and his helmet, overlaid with the same valuable metal, was borne before him. Approaching the door of the church, he commanded an attendant to knock with authority; and Sir Robert Douglas, of Lochleven, who guarded the pa.s.sage, inquiring the name, was answered, 'Tis I, the Earl of Mar.' Cochran and some of his friends were admitted. Angus advanced to him, and pulling the gold chain from his neck, said, 'A rope will become thee better,' while Douglas of Lochleven seized his hunting-horn, declaring that he had been too long a hunter of mischief. Rather astonished than alarmed, Cochran said, 'My lords, is it jest or earnest?' To which it was replied, 'It is good earnest, and so thou shalt find it; for thou and thy accomplices have too long abused our prince's favour. But no longer expect such advantage, for thou and thy followers shall now reap the deserved reward.' Having secured Mar, the lords despatched some men-at-arms to the king's pavilion, conducted by two or three moderate leaders, who amused James, while their followers seized the favourites. Sir William Roger and others were instantly hanged over the bridge at Lauder. Cochran was now brought out, his hands bound with a rope, and thus conducted to the bridge, and hanged above his fellows."] Later scions of the family prospered, and in 1641, Sir William Cochrane was raised to the peerage, as Lord Cochrane of Cowden, by Charles I. For his adherence to the royal cause this n.o.bleman was fined 5000_l._ by the Long Parliament in 1654; and, in recompense for his loyalty, he was made first Earl of Dundonald by Charles II. in 1669. His successors were faithful to the Stuarts, and thereby they suffered heavily. Archibald, the ninth Earl, inheriting a patrimony much reduced by the loyalty and zeal of his ancestors, spent it all in the scientific pursuits to which he devoted himself, and in which he was the friendly rival of Watt, Priestley, Cavendish, and other leading chemists and mechanicians of two or three generations ago. His eldest son, heir to little more than a famous name and a chivalrous and enterprising disposition, had to fight his own way in the world.

Lord Cochrane--as the subject of these memoirs was styled in courtesy until his accession to the peerage in 1831--was intended by his father for the army, in which he received a captain's commission. But his own predilections were in favour of a seaman's life, and accordingly, after brief schooling, he joined the _Hind_, as a mids.h.i.+pman, in June, 1793, when he was nearly eighteen years of age.

During the next seven years he learnt his craft in various s.h.i.+ps and seas, being helped in many ways by his uncle, the Hon. Alexander Cochrane, but profiting most by his own ready wit and hearty love of his profession. Having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1794, he was made commander of the _Speedy_ early in 1800. This little sloop, not larger than a coasting brig, but crowded with eighty-four men and six officers, seemed to be intended only for playing at war.

Her whole armament consisted of fourteen 4-pounders. When her new commander tried to add to these a couple of 12-pounders, the deck proved too small and the timbers too weak for them, and they had to be returned. So Lilliputian was his cabin, that, to shave himself, Lord Cochrane was obliged to thrust his head out of the skylight and make a dressing-table of the quarter-deck.

Yet the _Speedy_, ably commanded, was quite large enough to be of good service. Cruising in her along the Spanish coast, Lord Cochrane succeeded in capturing many gunboats and merchantmen, and the enemy soon learnt to regard her with especial dread. On one memorable occasion, the 6th of May, 1801, he fell in with the _Gamo_, a Spanish frigate furnished with six times as many men as were in the _Speedy_ and with seven times her weight of shot. Lord Cochrane, boldly advancing, locked his little craft in the enemy's rigging. It was, in miniature, a contest as unequal as that by which Sir Francis Drake and his fellows overcame the Great Armada of Spain in 1588, and with like result. The heavy shot of the _Gamo_ riddled the _Speedy's_ sails, but, pa.s.sing overhead, did no mischief to her hulk or her men. During an hour there was desperate fighting with small arms, and twice the Spaniards tried in vain to board their st.u.r.dy little foe. Lord Cochrane then determined to meet them on their own deck, and the daring project was facilitated by one of the smart expedients in which he was never wanting. Before going into action, "knowing," as he said, "that the final struggle would be a desperate one, and calculating on the superst.i.tious wonder which forms an element in the Spanish character," he had ordered his crew to blacken their faces; and, "what with this and the excitement of combat, more ferocious-looking objects could scarcely be imagined." With these men following him he promptly gained the frigate's deck, and then their strong arms and hideous faces soon frightened the Spaniards into submission.

The senior officer of the _Gamo_ asked for a certificate of his bravery, and received one testifying that he had conducted himself "like a true Spaniard." To Spain, of course, this was no sarcasm, and on the strength of the doc.u.ment its holder soon obtained further promotion.

That achievement, which cost only three men's lives, led to consequences greater than could have been expected. Lord Cochrane, after three months' waiting, received the rank of post captain. But his desire that the services of Lieutenant Parker, his second in command, should also be recompensed led to a correspondence with Earl St. Vincent which turned him from a jealous superior into a bitter enemy. In reply to Lord Cochrane's recommendation, Earl St. Vincent alleged that "it was unusual to promote two officers for such a service,--besides which the small number of men killed on board the _Speedy_ did not warrant the application." Lord Cochrane answered, with incautious honesty, that "his lords.h.i.+p's reasons for not promoting Lieutenant Parker, because there were only three men killed on board the _Speedy_, were in opposition to his lords.h.i.+p's own promotion to an earldom, as well as that of his flag-captain to knighthood, and his other officers to increased rank and honours; for that, in the battle from which his lords.h.i.+p derived his t.i.tle there was only one man killed on board his own flags.h.i.+p." That was language too plain to be forgiven.

In July, 1801, the _Speedy_ was captured by three French line-of-battle s.h.i.+ps, whose senior in command, Captain Palliere, declined to accept the sword of an officer "who had," as he said, "for so many hours struggled against impossibility," and asked Lord Cochrane, though a prisoner, still to wear it. He, however, was refused employment as commander of another s.h.i.+p. Thereupon, with characteristic energy, he devoted his forced leisure from professional pursuits to a year of student life at Edinburgh, where, in 1802, Lord Palmerston was his cla.s.s-fellow under Professor Dugald Stewart.

This occupation, however, was disturbed by the renewal of war with France in 1803. Lord Cochrane, though with difficulty, then obtained permission to return to active service, the _Arab_, one of the craziest little s.h.i.+ps in the navy, being a.s.signed to him. On his representing that she was too rotten for use off the French coast, he was ordered to employ her in cruising in the North Sea and protecting the fisheries north-east of the Orkneys, "where," as he said, "no vessel fished, and consequently there were no fisheries to protect."

This ignominious work lasted for a year. It was brought to a close in December, 1804, soon after the appointment of Lord Melville, in succession to Earl St. Vincent, as First Lord of the Admiralty.

By him Lord Cochrane was transferred from the _Arab_ to the _Pallas_, a new and smart frigate of thirty-two guns, and allowed to use her in a famous cruise of prize-taking among the Azores and off the coast of Portugal. This was followed in 1806 by farther work in the same frigate, the closing portion of which was especially memorable. Being off the Basque Roads at the end of April he fixed his attention upon a frigate, the _Minerve_, and three brigs, forming an important part of the French squadron in the Mediterranean. After three weeks' waiting, on the 14th of May, he saw the frigate and the brigs approaching him, and promptly prepared to attack them. He was not deterred by knowing that the _Minerve_ alone, carrying forty guns, was far stronger than the _Pallas_, which had also to withstand the force of the three brigs, each with sixteen guns, and to be prepared for the fire of the batteries on the Isle d'Aix. "This morning, when close to Isle d'Aix, reconnoitring the French squadron," he wrote concisely to his admiral, "it gave me great joy to find our late opponent, the black frigate, and her companions, the three brigs, getting under sail. We formed high expectations that the long wished-for opportunity was at last arrived. The _Pallas_ remained under topsails by the wind to await them. At half-past eleven a smart point-blank firing commenced on both sides, which was severely felt by the enemy. The main topsail-yard of one of the brigs was cut through, and the frigate lost her after-sails. The batteries on I'lsle d'Aix opened on the _Pallas_, and a cannonade continued, interrupted on our part only by the necessity we were under to make various tacks to avoid the shoals, till one o'clock, when our endeavour to gain the wind of the enemy and get between him and the batteries proved successful. An effectual distance was now chosen. A few broadsides were poured in. The enemy's fire slackened. I ordered ours to cease, and directed Mr. Sutherland, the master, to run the frigate on board, with intention effectually to prevent her retreat. The enemy's side thrust our guns back into the ports. The whole were then discharged. The effect and crash were dreadful. Their decks were deserted. Three pistol-shots were the unequal return. With confidence I say that the frigate would have been lost to France, had not the unequal collision torn away our fore-topmast, jib-boom, fore and maintop-sails, spritsail-yards, b.u.mpkin, cathead, chainplates, fore-rigging, foresail, and bower anchor, with which last I intended to hook on; but all proved insufficient. She would yet have been lost to France, had not the French admiral, seeing his frigate's foreyard gone, her rigging ruined, and the danger she was in, sent two others to her a.s.sistance.

The _Pallas_ being a wreck, we came out with what sail could be set, and his Majesty's sloop the _Kingfisher_ afterwards took us in tow."

The exploit was none the less valiant in that it was partly a failure.

The waiting-times before and after that cruise were occupied by Lord Cochrane with brief commencement of parliamentary life. Long before this time Lord Cochrane had resolved on entering the House of Commons, in order to expose the naval abuses which were then rife, and which he had never been deterred, by consideration of his own interests, from boldly denouncing. He stood for Honiton in 1805, and was defeated through his refusal to vie with his opponent in the art of bribery. He contrived, however, to profit by corruption while he punished it.

As soon as the election was over, he gave ten guineas to each of the const.i.tuents who had freely voted for him. The consequence of this was his triumphant return at the new election, which took place in July, 1806. When his supporters asked for like payment to that made in the previous instance, it was bluntly refused. "The former gift," said Lord Cochrane, "was for your disinterested conduct in not taking the bribe of five pounds from the agents of my opponent. For me now to pay you would be a violation of my principles."

A short cruise in the Basque Roads prevented Lord Cochrane from occupying in the House of Commons the seat thus won, and in April, 1807, very soon after his return, Parliament was again dissolved. He then resolved to stand for Westminster, with Sir Francis Burdett for his a.s.sociate. Both were returned, and Lord Cochrane held his seat for eleven years. In 1807, however, he had only time to bring forward two motions respecting sinecures and naval abuses, which issued in violent but unproductive discussion, when he received orders to join the fleet in the Mediterranean as captain of the _Imperieuse_. Naval employment was grudgingly accorded to him; but it was thought wiser to give him work abroad than to suffer under his free speech at home.

This employment was marked by many brilliant deeds, which procured for him, on his surrendering his command of the _Imperieuse_ after eighteen months' duration, the reproach of having spent more sails, stores, gunpowder, and shot than had been used by any other captain in the service.

The most brilliant deed of all, one of the most brilliant deeds in the whole naval history of England, was his well-known exploit in the Basque Roads on the 11th, 12th, and 13th of April, 1809. Much against his will, he was persuaded by Lord Mulgrave, at that time First Lord of the Admiralty, to bear the responsibility of attacking and attempting to destroy the French squadron by means of fires.h.i.+ps and explosion-vessels. The project was opposed by Lord Gambier, the Admiral of the Fleet, as being at once "hazardous, if not desperate,"

and "a horrible and anti-Christian mode of warfare;" and consequently he gave no hearty co-operation. On Lord Cochrane devolved the whole duty of preparing for and executing the project. His own words will best tell the story.

"On the 11th of April," he said, "it blew hard, with a high sea. As all preparations were complete, I did not consider the state of the weather a justifiable impediment to the attack; so that, after nightfall, the officers who volunteered to command the fires.h.i.+ps were a.s.sembled on board the _Caledonia_, and supplied with instructions according to the plan previously laid down by myself. The _Imperieuse_ had proceeded to the edge of the Boyart Shoal, close to which she anch.o.r.ed with an explosion-vessel made fast to her stern, it being my intention, after firing the one of which I was about to take charge, to return to her for the other, to be employed as circ.u.mstances might require. At a short distance from the _Imperieuse_ were anch.o.r.ed the frigates _Aigle_, _Unicorn_, and _Pallas_, for the purpose of receiving the crews of the fires.h.i.+ps on their return, as well as to support the boats of the fleet a.s.sembled alongside the _Caesar_, to a.s.sist the fires.h.i.+ps. The boats of the fleet were not, however, for some reason or other made use of at all.

"Having myself embarked on board the largest explosion-vessel, accompanied by Lieut. Bissel and a volunteer crew of four men only, we led the way to the attack. The night was dark, and, as the wind was fair, though blowing hard, we soon neared the estimated position of the advanced French s.h.i.+ps, for it was too dark to discern them.

Judging our distance, therefore, as well as we could, with regard to the time the fuse was calculated to burn, the crew of four men entered the gig, under the direction of Lieut. Bissel, whilst I kindled the portfires, and then, descending into the boat, urged the men to pull for their lives, which they did with a will, though, as wind and sea were strong against us, without making the expected progress.

"To our consternation, the fuses, which had been constructed to burn fifteen minutes, lasted little more than half that time, when the vessel blew up, filling the air with sh.e.l.ls, grenades, and rockets; whilst the downward and lateral force of the explosion raised a solitary mountain of water, from the breaking of which in all directions our little boat narrowly escaped being swamped. The explosion-vessel did her work well, the effect const.i.tuting one of the grandest artificial spectacles imaginable. For a moment, the sky was red with the lurid glare arising from the simultaneous ignition of fifteen hundred barrels of powder. On this gigantic flash subsiding, the air seemed alive with sh.e.l.ls, grenades, rockets, and ma.s.ses of timber, the wreck of the shattered vessel. The sea was convulsed as by an earthquake, rising, as has been said, in a huge wave, on whose crest our boat was lifted like a cork, and as suddenly dropped into a vast trough, out of which as it closed upon us with the rush of a whirlpool, none expected to emerge. In a few minutes nothing but a heavy rolling sea had to be encountered, all having again become silence and darkness."

In spite of its bursting too soon, the explosion-vessel did excellent work. The strong boom, composed of large spars bound by heavy chains, and firmly anch.o.r.ed at various points in its length of more than a mile, which was supposed to const.i.tute an impa.s.sable barrier between the English s.h.i.+ps that were outside and the French s.h.i.+ps locked behind it, was broken in several parts. The enemy's s.h.i.+ps were thoroughly disorganised by the sudden and appalling occurrence of the explosion.

In their alarm and confusion, many of them fired into one another, and all might have been easily destroyed had the first success of the explosion-vessel been properly followed up. Unfortunately, however, on returning to the _Imperieuse_, Lord Cochrane found that there had been gross mismanagement of the fires.h.i.+ps, which, according to his plans, were to have been despatched against various sections of the French fleet while it was too confused to protect itself. One of them, fired at the wrong time and sent in a wrong direction, nearly destroyed the _Imperieuse_ and caused the wasting of a second explosion-vessel, which was meant to be held in reserve. The others, if not as mischievous in their effects, were almost as useless. "Of all the fire-s.h.i.+ps, upwards of twenty in number," said Lord Cochrane, "only four reached the enemy's position, and not one did any damage. The _Imperieuse_ lay three miles from the enemy, so that the one which was near setting fire to her became useless at the outset; whilst several others were kindled a mile and a half to the windward of this, or four miles and a half from the enemy. Of the remainder, many were at once rendered harmless from being brought to on the wrong tack. Six pa.s.sed a mile to windward of the French fleet, and one grounded on Oleron."

Though the full success of Lord Cochrane's scheme was thus prevented, however, the work done by it was considerable. "As the fires.h.i.+ps began to light up the roads," he said, "we could observe the enemy's fleet in great confusion. Without doubt, taking every fires.h.i.+p for an explosion-vessel, and being deceived as to their distance, not only did the French make no effort to divert them from their course, but some of their s.h.i.+ps cut their cables and were seen drifting away broadside on to the wind and tide, whilst others made sail, as the only alternative to escape from what they evidently considered certain destruction. At daylight on the morning of the 12th, not a spar of the boom was anywhere visible, and, with the exception of the _Foudroyant_ and _Ca.s.sard_, the whole of the enemy's vessels were helplessly aground. The flag-s.h.i.+p, _L'Ocean_, a three-decker, drawing the most water, lay outermost on the north-west edge of the Palles Shoal, nearest the deep water, where she was most exposed to attack; whilst all, by the fall of the tide, were lying on their bilge, with their bottoms completely exposed to shot, and therefore beyond the possibility of resistance."

The French fleet had not been destroyed; yet it was so paralysed by the shock that its utter defeat seemed easy to Lord Cochrane. To the mast of the _Imperieuse_, between six o'clock in the morning of the 12th and one in the afternoon, he hoisted signal after signal, urging Lord Gambier, who was with the main body of the fleet about fourteen miles off, to make an attack. Failing in all these, and growing desperate in his zeal, especially as every hour of delay was enabling the French to recover themselves and rendering success less sure, he suffered his single frigate to drift towards the enemy. "I did not venture to make sail," wrote Lord Cochrane, in his very modest account of this daring exploit, "lest the movement might be seen from the flag-s.h.i.+p, and a signal of recall should defeat my purpose of making an attack with the _Imperieuse_; my object being to compel the Commander-in-Chief to send vessels to our a.s.sistance. We drifted by the wind and tide slowly past the fortifications on Isle d'Aix; but, though they fired at us with every gun that could be brought to bear, the distance was too great to inflict damage. Proceeding thus till 1.30 p.m., we then suddenly made sail after the nearest of the enemy's vessels escaping. In order to divert our attention from the vessels we were pursuing, these having thrown their guns overboard, the _Calcutta_, a store-s.h.i.+p carrying fifty-six guns, which was still aground, broadside on, began firing at us. Before proceeding further, it became therefore necessary to attack her, and at 1.50 we shortened sail and returned the fire. At 2.0 the _Imperieuse_ came to an anchor in five fathoms, and, veering to half a cable, kept fast the spring, firing upon the _Calcutta_ with our broadside, and at the same time upon the _Aquillon_ and _Ville de Varsovie_, two line-of-battle s.h.i.+ps, each of seventy-four guns, with our forecastle and bow guns, both these s.h.i.+ps being aground stern on, in an opposite direction. After some time we had the satisfaction of observing several s.h.i.+ps sent to our a.s.sistance, namely, the _Emerald_, the _Unicorn_, the _Indefatigable_, the _Valiant_, the _Revenge_, the _Pallas_, and the _Aigle_. On seeing this, the captain and the crew of the _Calcutta_ abandoned their vessel, of which the boats of the _Imperieuse_ took possession before the vessels sent to our a.s.sistance came down." Soon after the arrival of the new s.h.i.+ps, the two other vessels were also forced to surrender.

Most of the s.h.i.+ps sent to his a.s.sistance returned to Lord Grambier on the 13th. Lord Cochrane, seeing that it would be easy for him to do much further mischief, made ready for the work on the morrow. But from this he was prevented by the inexcusable conduct of Lord Gambier, who, having discountenanced the attempt with the fires.h.i.+ps, now not only refused to take part in the victory which his comrade had made possible, but also hindered its achievement by him.

Lord Cochrane had already overstepped the strict duty of a subordinate, though acting only as became an English sailor. The fires.h.i.+ps with which he had been ordered to ruin the enemy's fleet had partly failed through the error of others. "It was then," he said, "a question with me whether I should disappoint the expectations of my country, be set down as a charlatan by the Admiralty, whose hopes had been raised by my plan, and have my future prospects destroyed, or force on an action which some had induced an easy Commander-in-Chief to believe impracticable." He did force on some fighting, which was altogether disastrous to the enemy, and rich in tokens of his unflinching heroism; but it was in violation of repeated orders, dubiously worded, from Lord Grambier, and, when at last an order was issued in terms too distinct to allow of any further evasion, he had no alternative but to abandon the enterprise. He was at once sent back to England, to be rewarded with much popular favour, and with a knighthood of the Order of the Bath, conferred by George III., but to become the victim of an official persecution, which, embittering his whole life, lasted almost to its close.