their relatives, were interested in any offices, posts, places, sinecures, pensions, situations, fees, perquisites, or emoluments at the public expense." Of course, he raised a storm about his ears, found little favour with the House generally, and the Government, alarmed at his much plainness of speech, and feeling that

"The sting of a rebuke is in its truth,"

ordered him to join Lord Carlingford's fleet in the Mediterranean. Amid all his discouragements elsewhere his constituents at Westminster believed in him thoroughly, and gave him unlimited leave of absence from Parliamentary duties.

From September to June, 1808, wherever there was work to be done, the enemy to be harassed, or prize-money to be obtained, there was Lord Cochrane with the Impérieuse— now in the Mediterranean, now on the Spanish coast, then back again to the Mediterranean. In June commenced the Peninsula War, and thenceforward Cochrane was engaged in aiding the Spaniards and checking the French. It was just the work in which he delighted, full of excitement and adventure. One day he captured the Castle of Mongat, destroyed it, and took all the French prisoners; another day he was engaged in blowing up rocks and destroying roads, then chasing ships and running them ashore, until he succeeded in keeping the whole coast in a state of alarm, while he and his crew always escaped with impunity. One of his pet schemes was to demolish the signal stations, and then scatter leaves of the books he captured at the stations, so as to give the impression that they were destroyed. Supposing that the books were destroyed, the old signals were used, and thus, by learning the code from the preserved portions of the books, he was able to read their tactics.

In the midst of wild excitement and adventures such as were never heard of before, Cochrane always effected his objects with trifling loss of life. No officer was ever more chary of men's lives; he always reconnoitred in person, and even under the enemy's batteries took the requisite soundings and bearings; every circumstance was anticipated, every precaution against surprise taken, every provision for success made, and he never risked an attack of which he had not calculated all the probable contingencies. He never allowed his boats to depart on any service unprotected by his ship, if it was possible to bring her within reach; and in case of reverse or check, his plans were so laid that the retreat was always effected without confusion, whether the operation was of a military nature on shore, such as defending or laying siege to a castle, or in operations strictly

naval.

One of his exploits at this period is very characteristic of the man and his methods. The fortress of Rosas had been attacked by a large French and Italian force, and Cochrane hastened in his frigate, the Impérieuse, to its relief. He was charged with discretionary powers to assist the Spaniards, who, as we have seen, were seeking at that time to escape from the domination of the French.

Arrived at Rosas, he found that the citadel was already half invested, and the enemy approaching towards the south-west bastion, which had been blown down in the previous war by the explosion of a magazine and tumbled into the ditch. "A few thin planks and dry stones had been since put up by the Spanish engineers, perhaps to hide the defects, as they were useless for defence; and all things were in the most deplorable state both

descended into

the ditch, returned with the flag, and happily succeeded in placing it where it was before" (p. 110).

within and without. Even measures for their powder, and saws for their fusees, were not to be had; hats supplied the place of one, and axes did duty for the other. The Castle of Trinidad, situated on an eminence attached to the fortress, but commanded by some heights in the neighbourhood, was also invested, and three 24-pounders, to which a fourth was afterwards added, battering in breach, had nearly effected a passage through the wall to the lower bomb-proof. Under these discouraging circumstances, the garrison, then consisting of about eighty Spaniards, were on the point of surrendering, when Lord Cochrane thought this a good opportunity of carrying out the orders he had received to give every possible assistance to the Spaniards, and by occupying a post upon which the acknowledged safety of the citadel depended, while he gave some amusement to his crew, as he himself expressed it, endeavour to avert the fate that seemed to await it. He accordingly threw himself into Fort Trinidad, with fifty seamen and thirty marines of the Impérieuse. The mind of the gallant officer, fruitful in expedients, soon, in a measure, made good the crumbling walls-thousands of sand-bags, besides barrels and palisades, presented a considerable obstacle to the attacking forces; while on the night before the expected assault it is stated that he removed everything that could afford foothold from the apparently easy way up the breach, and sending to the frigate for large quantities of grease and slush, he caused it to be poured over the steep and smooth ascent, while heavy planks, filled with spike-nails and barbed hooks, stood at the sides, ready to grapple with such of the falling foe as might seek their treacherous aid to regain their footing. At length, on the morning of the 30th November a general assault was made by 1,000 picked men, who advanced unmolested by the garrison until they gained the breach; but here, while struggling up the slippery ascent, a tremendous fire was opened upon them from every gun that could be brought to bear; and now the means adopted for repelling the foe proved most successful. The unfortunate assailants, unable to maintain their footing, could not advance, and scarcely retreat, under the heavy fire, while those who grasped at the side-planking to aid their footsteps were unable to extricate their mangled flesh or accoutrements; and this formidable force was thus signally repulsed, with the loss of their commanding officer, storming equipage, and all who had attempted to mount the breach

Captain Marryat, the well-known writer of sea stories, was one of those who accompanied Lord Cochrane in this enterprise, he being then a midshipman. In many of Marryat's works incidents in connection with the exploits of Lord Cochrane are introduced.

The gallantry of Lord Cochrane on this occasion was thus referred to by the Commander-in-Chief :-"The heroic spirit and ability which has been evinced by Lord Cochrane in defending this castle, although so shattered in its works, against the repeated attacks of the enemy, is an admirable instance of his lordship's zeal." The Gazette, after a graceful panegyric, narrated the following circumstance :-" It is a sufficient eulogium upon his character to mention that in the defence of the Castle of Trinidad, when the Spanish flag hoisted on the wall fell into the ditch, under a most dreadful fire from the enemy his lordship was the only person who, regardless of the shower of balls falling about him, descended into the ditch, returned with the flag, and happily succeeded in placing it where it was before."

LORD COCHRANE AND THE FRENCH FLEET.

111

On his return to England, after two years of incessant activity, for which-although Lord Collingwood had reported his services in the most satisfactory manner-he received no acknowledgment whatever, Lord Cochrane was solicited by Lord Mulgrave, at that time at the head of the Admiralty, to devise a scheme for the total destruction of the French fleet, blockaded by Lord Gambier in the Bay of Biscay. Cochrane declined, on the ground that it would place him in an anomalous position, as he would be put over the heads of those already in command. Lord Mulgrave promised to make matters straight, and reluctantly Cochrane found himself obliged to comply: Explosion-ships were sent out, and Cochrane sailed in the Impérieuse, and was very coldly received-or we should say warmly, for the captains of the fleet were furious when they learnt that he was to be entrusted with the conduct of the fire-ships, and, as he himself said, he "found himself in the midst of a hornet's nest."

The British fleet consisted of 11 ships of the line, 7 frigates, 5 gun-brig sloops, 6 gun-brigs, 3 smaller vessels, and 23 fire-ships and explosion-vessels. The French fleet consisted of 10 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and a store-ship. Everything was in favour of the English, and Cochrane, on the very night of his arrival, wanted to commence the attack. But Lord Gambier held back, frittered away golden opportunities, raised silly objections, and failed to give Cochrane the support he needed. Had the advice of the gallant sailor been taken, there is no question-Napoleon himself being the authority for the statement-that the fleet would have been utterly destroyed. As it was, Cochrane was left in the lurch; with his own hand, in a most undaunted manner, he fired one of the explosion-ships, and escaped by the "skin of his teeth." Twenty fire-ships were subsequently sent out, but owing to mismanagement four only reached the enemy's position, and none of them did any damage. But a great panic was produced among the French, and in the morning nearly all their vessels were grounded. Now was the chance for the English; they had but to go in and win. But Gambier remained inactive. Cochrane signalled successively, "All the enemy's ships except two are on shore; ""The enemy's ships can be destroyed;" "Half the fleet can destroy the enemy." Still no reply, and goaded to bitterness, he signalled, "The frigates alone can destroy the enemy." Hours passed, the tide began to rise, and again he signalled, "The enemy is preparing to heave off." Still no reply. The enemy did heave off, and was suffered to escape. It was more than Cochrane could bear, and his impetuosity was only satisfied by having a "go in" on his own account. He attacked the Calcutta, and while battering her with his broadside guns, kept up a steady fire on the Aquilon and Ville de Varsovie with his forecastle and bow guns. Such a daring deed as a frigate engaging three line-of-battle ships, armed and manned with a strength ten times equal to his own, was never before known; but Cochrane "went at it," and made a successful capture of the Calcutta singlehanded, the other two vessels surrendering to other English ships which came to his assistance too late to be of much service.

Lord Cochrane returned to England, and as a reward for his services was created a Knight of the Bath, an almost unprecedented honour for one of his rank and standing. If, as some supposed, it was done in order to keep him quiet, the plot signally failed, for when the Ministry proposed to give a vote of thanks to Lord Gambier, Cochrane immediately threatened,

as member for Westminster, to oppose it, on the ground that he had done nothing to deserve it. Lord Mulgrave urged him to desist, but did not understand the honest, truth-speaking, fearless man he had to deal with; and that man did not know that the crisis in his life had come. Lord Gambier, as soon as Cochrane's opposition became known, demanded a courtmartial; in process of time the court was held, and, as everybody expected who knew how futile it was for the weak to try and uproot the strong, Gambier was acquitted of all blame in allowing the French fleet to escape.

For thirty-nine years from the date of that court-martial Cochrane never again trod the deck of a British man-of-war at sea as her commander; and not for more than fifty years from the date of the court-martial was it satisfactorily and infallibly proved, by charts and other evidence which had hitherto been suppressed, that Gambier was weak, pusillanimous, incompetent, and that had the advice of Cochrane been acted upon, the French fleet would have been annihilated.

Although the naval expedition to Walcheren soon afterwards engaged public attention, and although Cochrane was the man of men who could have saved our country from its humiliating defeat, he was no longer allowed to have a ship. So he turned his attention to politics, advocated Parliamentary reform, attacked the abuses in the Admiralty Courts, and made to himself bitter and implacable foes. For those who wink at deeds of darkness, shrink from the glare of light; and Lord Cochrane was as bold, daring, reckless it may be, in the arena of politics as in naval tactics. One specimen will give an insight into the character of his attacks, and at the same time assist to explain the bitter animosity felt towards him by many in high places. Cochrane exposed the injustice of sinecure offices, three of which were held by Lords Arden, Camden, and Buckingham, and brought them in more than £20,000 per annum each; and this is how he stated his case in a speech in the House of Commons:"32 pay-officers, 22 captains, 50 lieutenants, 180 masters, 36 surgeons, 23 pursers, 91 boatswains, 97 gunners, 202 carpenters, and 41 cooks-in all 774 persons-cost the country £4,028 less than the net proceeds of the sinecures of Lords Arden, Camden, and Buckingham. All the superannuated admirals, captains, and lieutenants put together have but £1,012 more than Earl Camden's sinecure alone. All that is paid to the wounded officers of the whole British navy, and to the wives and children of those dead or killed in action, does not amount by £214 to as much as Lord Arden's sinecure alone. What is paid to the mutilated officers themselves is but half as much. I find upon examination that the Wellesleys receive from the public £34,729, a sum equal to 426 pair of lieutenants' legs, calculating at the rate of allowance of Lieut. Chambers' legs. Calculating for the pension of Capt. Johnstone's arm, Lord Arden's sinecure is equal to the value of 1,022 arms. Two of these comfortable sinecures would victual the officers and men serving in all the ships in ordinary in Great Britain—namely, 117 sail of the line, 105 frigates, 27 sloops, and 50 hulks "—and so on. It is not to be wondered at that he made enemies in many quarters, and especially in quarters where it was detrimental to his own interests to do so.

In 1812 Lord Cochrane married-not the lady his wealthy uncle wished him to wed, but Miss Catherine Corbett Barnes, a lady without fortune, but the lady of his choice. Consequently he lost a fortune, but he obtained a treasure whose worth was a thousandfold more to him than all the silver and gold in the world.