Cochrane was ordered to join Lord Colling-| blew up the rocks along the face of which ran wood's fleet in the Mediterranean.

In the summer of 1808, a French army had seized Barcelona, and was employed in beat-pedients was inexhaustible. A large body of ing down the resistance of the Catalans at troops, with cavalry and artillery, were asother points. In order to impede the prog- sembled for the defence of a town on the ress of the French artillery, Lord Cochrane French coast. Some boats of the "Impé

rieuse" and of the "Cambrian," which hap-taking excellent care of the lives of his own pened to be in company, were filled with the men. The French were besieging the town, ships' boys, dressed in scarlet jackets, and citadel, and castle of Rosas, and the defenders sent towards a battery on the right. Away were assisted by some English ships at anchor rode the cavalry to oppose the landing of the in the bay. The siege had made such progsupposed marines. Hereupon, the ships were ress that capitulation was in the thoughts of moved nearer to the town, and the real ma- the Spaniards, and the English officers had rines landed and destroyed a battery to the withdrawn their men from positions which left. Back came the French cavalry galloping were deemed no longer tenable. At this to save the battery, or at least to cut up the juncture Lord Cochrane arrived, and thinkmarines before they should reach their boats.ing, after examination of the defences, that But they were too late for every thing except resistance might be still protracted, he with the grapeshot of the frigates, whose proximity ninety of his men threw himself into the casto the shore they had, in their eagerness, omitted to observe. And here, again, is a contrivance of another kind. The great hinderance to Lord Cochrane's plans was the want of fresh water, to obtain which he was often obliged to quit the coast. To avoid this necessity, he on one occasion proceeded to the mouth of the Rhone, and having sewn up the ship's studding-sails so as to form huge bags nearly watertight, he sent them in boats up the river to a point where the water, which at the mouth was brackish, was quite pure. The bags were filled and towed alongside the ship, and the water was pumped as quickly as possible into the hold by means of the fire-engine. On receiving Lord Cochrane's report of these transactions, Lord Collingwood wrote to the admiralty as follows:

"The success which attends his enterprises clearly indicates with what skill and ability they are conducted. Besides keeping the coast in constant alarm, causing a general suspension of the trade, and harassing a body of troops employed in opposing him, he has probably prevented those troops which were intended for Figueras from advancing into Spain, by giving them employment in the defence of their own country."

tle, and persuaded the Spanish officers to hold out longer in the town and citadel. The appearance of the castle was like that of a large church placed upon a hill. Towards the sea was what answered to the chancel; inside it was the nave rising higher; and then, again, the tower of still greater height towards the land. Opposite the tower was a hill rising one hundred feet above it, and on this the French had built their chief battery. From the height at which their guns were placed they could only breach the tower sixty feet above the base. There was no artillery in the castle, and therefore the only means of defence consisted in repairing the damaged wall as long as possible, and when the breach should become practicable in resisting the attempt to storm. Lord Cochrane calculated on creating very serious obstacles to the assault in and behind the breach; and if they should be overcome he expected that there would still be time for his little garrison to escape on the opposite or sea-ward side of the castle and gain the boats. The arrangements which he made were so very curious that we shall try to give a brief description of them. Within the tower was a bomb-proof arch rising to the height of about fifty feet, and upon this arch the assailants must descend after entering at the breach. He broke away the crown of the arch, so that immediately inside the breach yawned a pit of fifty feet in depth, and to facilitate the descent into it he constructed a huge wooden case, exactly resem

But the admiralty listened coldly even to this trusted officer when he spoke of the merits of a Radical reformer who had made himself troublesome in parliament. They were, indeed, sufficiently persuaded of Lord Cochrane's usefulness to keep him employed in the Mediterranean instead of leaving him at leisure to pry into hospitals and the contract sys-bling the hopper of a mill, and kept it well tem at home; but he complains that he got neither reward nor praise.

greased with cook's slush from the " "Impérieuse." The approach was further defended The most celebrated feat of Lord Cochrane by festoons of chains, to which large fish-hooks on the Spanish coast was the defence of the were attached, so as to hold those who might castle of Rosas, where he showed engineering be caught on them until they could be shot. skill of a very high order, and caused great Interior barricades were constructed of bags trouble and heavy loss to the enemy while of earth. Just when these preparations were.

completed, a detachment of fifty Irish soldiers | probably consider as the amiable weakness of in the Spanish service entered the fort, in one who was too good for this wicked world. place of the same number of Catalans. The The year 1809 had now commenced, and delight of these men, when they fully com- Lord Cochrane applied for leave to return to prehended the" man trap," as Lord Cochrane England. He was desirous, he says, to decalls it, and the other means of mischief, was nounce from his place in parliament the pecuhighly characteristic. Lord Cochrane threw lations of the prize-courts in the Mediterrahimself into the castle on the 23d of Novem-nean, which swallowed up almost the entire ber. At daybreak on the 30th, the enemy proceeds of the captures effected by himself made his principal assault. It was so silently and other enterprising cruisers. One of the prepared that he might have mounted the chief inducements to the exertions of officers breach undiscovered but for a strange acci- and men—the hope of prize-money—was thus dent. Lord Cochrane was sleepless, and to a great extent taken away. He tells us haunted by a sense of impending danger. that he had himself grown weary of ministerMerely to divert his mind he fired a mortar ing to the rapacity of the Maltese prize-court, which stood pointed towards the path by and preferred to carry on hostilities against the which the enemy must advance. The shell French on shore, where mostly barren honor fell among a column which was just on the was to be gained, and there was little prospoint of storming. It was answered by a pect of spoil in which covetous civilians could volley of musketry which aroused the garri- claim a share. Sometimes, however, he made son. The French finding they were discov-prizes, as appears from the following despatch ered came boldly on and mounted the breach, | addressed to Lord Collingwood from Caldabut they were repulsed. The defences of the gues, in which the writer has not unhappily breach fully answered the expectations of the imitated the brevity of other distinguished designer. The object of all these exertions warriors :was to protract the resistance of the town of Rosas until a Spanish force should arrive for its relief. But Lord Cochrane's hopes were frustrated by the usual delays which proved so fatal to all the military operations of the Spaniards. The town surrendered, and im- It should be noticed that Lord Cochrane mediately afterwards the relieving force ar- everywhere emphatically insists that in time rived. Still the citadel and the castle offered of war the great inducement to seamen to a stout resistance. But on the 5th of Decem- serve their country is the hope of prizeber it was seen that the Spaniards in the cita- money. He asserts that a man-of-war under del were negotiating for a capitulation. This orders for a likely station, and commanded being so, it would have been idle to waste by an officer of known capacity, had never life in attempting longer to maintain the cas-any difficulty in obtaining a good crew. If tle. Lord Cochrane withdrew the garrison the modern proposal for exempting private and got them on board ship without loss. property at sea from capture should ever be This remarkable service was duly appreciated adopted by this country, it will become necby Lord Collingwood. "The zeal and energy essary-at least in the opinion of one who with which he has maintained the fortress ex-knows seamen well-to provide at the state's cites the highest admiration. His resources expense some substitute for the exciting lot for every exigency have no end." But still we have the same complaint, that the commander-in-chief's praises awakened no echo from the admiralty. Another despatch says: "The heroic spirit and ability which have peen evinced by Lord Cochrane will doubtless he very gratifying to my Lords Commissioners of the admiralty." Lord Collingwood, it appears, believed that all other authorities were as eager as himself impartially to reward merit-a belief which Lord Cochrane would

"Having received information of two French vessels of war and a convoy of victuallers from Barcelona being in this port, I have the honor to inform your lordship that they are all, amounting to thirteen sail, in our possession."

tery which in old times allured the British sailor to submit himself to the despotic rule and the many severe hardships of a man-ofwar.

Another reason why Lord Cochrane desired to return home was, that he had a plan to propose to the admiralty for operating on the western coast of France with a small squadron of light vessels, by which he conceived the enemy would be so alarmed as to detain on the sea-board large bodies of troops,

ralty would be gratified, as Lord Collingwood assumed they would, by the report of his defence of Rosas. Yet on Lord Cochrane's return to England, we find one of the lords of the admiralty writing to him, "Be assured your exertions there were highly applauded by the Board, and were done most careful justice to by Lord Collingwood in all his despatches." And the letter goes on to explain that there is an undertaking of great moment in agitation against Rochefort, and the Board desire to consult Lord Cochrane upon it confidentially. We have then details of several interviews with Lord Mulgrave, who was then First Lord; and there appears to us through

and thus his movements against Spain and other foreign countries would be paralyzed. Lord Cochrane not unreasonably claimed that his skill and experience should now be recognized by intrusting him with the command of more than a single frigate. There is really no saying what he might not have accomplished in the wars with France and the United States if his abilities could have been allowed fair play. Enormous sums might have been saved to the British nation if its armaments had always been directed by officers who had the will and the power to insist upon real and full efficiency, and the discernment to find roads to success in the midst of apparent impossibilities. But Lord Coch-out a clear appreciation of Lord Cochrane's rane had not that patience under official corruption and mismanagement which enabled the Duke of Wellington in Spain to work through many disappointments to the final execution of his designs. We shall see that in the action of Basque Roads, the last and noblest of Lord Cochrane's services to his native country, his incapacity for harmonious co-operation was not less conspicuously shown than the originality and boldness of a mind which, in the absolute control of fleets and armies, might have changed the entire history of the war.

A life embittered by many disappointments may perhaps produce a mood of mind which exaggerates grievances and fancies enmity where none existed. Lord Cochrane's original complaints were, that his promotion to post rank was delayed three months, and that his lieutenant was not made commander. He believes that the pertinacity with which he claimed redress on these points drew down upon him the weight of official vengeance, and sent him into banishment in the North Sea. We have already expressed our strong opinion of the cruelty and folly of this act of Lord St. Vincent's Board of Admiralty, although we cannot discover who was the real author of it. But when Lord Melville became First Lord, a brighter day seems to have dawned. Lord Cochrane was sent by special favor to cruise for a month on the highway of prizes, and his employment afterwards in the" Pallas" and the "Impérieuse" gave full opportunity to display his talents. But, rightly or wrongly, he has firmly adopted the persuasion that justice to his services from any Board of Admiralty was hopeless. He treats with derision the belief that the admi

talents, an anxious desire to remove all obstacles to his exerting them, and an honest intention to let him win and enjoy honor and reward. When Lord Cochrane imputes to the admiralty that it intended, if he should be successful, to usurp all the credit, and, if he failed, to throw all the blame upon him, we do not think he is borne out by the account which he gives of his communications with Lord Mulgrave. But we blame the Board of Admiralty on another ground than that relied on by Lord Cochrane. Before ordering any attack on the French fleet at Rochefort, they ought to have recalled Admiral Lord Gambier, who had declared his own strong opinion against the practicability of such an enterprise. What they did was to send out Lord Cochrane, a young post-captain, to show an admiral and a fleet in which every officer was his senior, how to perform their duties. Lord Gambier was not equal to his position, but he was an amiable and upright man. He received Lord Cochrane kindly, and gave him every facility for carrying out his plans, so far as he comprehended them and believed in their possibility, which, unfortunately, was not very far.

But the indignation of the fleet when Lord Cochrane arrived to teach it how to do its work was quite as violent as he had feared. It complained most justly of an admiral who deadened the enterprise of his subordinates. Admiral Harvey, who had commanded the

companies for catechizing. Admiral Harvey | Roads, prepared to repel any attack by fireprotested that "because he was no canting ships, and trusting partly for protection to Methodist, no hypocrite, no psalm-singer," the batteries erected on the Isle of Aix. his own distinguished services had been Lord Gambier had reported strongly against lightly treated. It is indeed the fact that any such attempt, but added, that if the Lord Gambier neglected to have the enemy's Board of Admiralty thought fit to make it defences and the approach to them properly he would obey orders. His objections seem examined, while he spared no pains in the to have been that the fire-ships would proba religious instruction of his crews. Soon after bly be stopped by guard-boats, the crews put the "Impérieuse" arrived, a bundle of tracts to the sword, and the vessels turned into a was brought on board of her from the ad- harmless course; and that the space between miral. Lord Cochrane sent some of these the shoals in Aix Roads was so narrow, that tracts to Cobbett, whose published comments ships entering them to attack the enemy must on them did not tend to propitiate the relig-get aground, and would become exposed alious party from which they emanated. By most helpless to the batteries. Lord Gamthis act, and afterwards by his denunciations bier derived his belief of the want of water of Lord Gambier's mismanagement of the from the masters of the fleet, who had taken enterprise, Lord Cochrane drew upon him- no pains to acquire accurate information. self all that fierce hostility which in our time Lord Cochrane, on the other hand, knew would find expression in the columns of the from personal examination that there was Record newspaper. When Lord Gambier ample space in the Roads for the British fleet was on his trial for having failed to destroy to enter, and that the batteries would prove the enemy in Basque Roads, we do not doubt nearly harmless. His hopes of success were that in evangelical circles the persecution of grounded chiefly on the employment of a such a saint and possible martyr excited the novelty in maritime warfare -explosion veswarmest interest. sels-which he compares to gigantic mortars. Early in the year 1809 the French fleet ly- He expected that these vessels would destroy ing in Brest harbor had escaped to sea, and any boom or other obstacle to the advance of for a time its destination was unknown. But the fire-ships, and strike such terror into the it ventured no further than along its own enemy, that he would believe all the firecoast to Rochefort, and there it was block- ships to be similarly charged, and would cut aded by Lord Gambier. At home another his cables, and run his ships ashore, thinking escape was dreaded. The public and the only of saving life. All this actually occurred. West Indian interest especially were clamor- The attack was made by night, according to ous, and the government felt that something Lord Cochrane's habit and the usual practice must be done. Lord Gambier, however, was in employing fire-ships. Lord Gambier had not prepared to adopt any measure that de- represented that any attempt, even if not reviated in the least from ancient precedent. pulsed, must be ineffectual, because the same At this moment, Lord Cochrane proposed a wind and tide which wafted in the fire-ships plan by which the fleet which caused so much would carry the French fleet into the Charanxiety might be frightened into self-destruc-ente. But this was was a mistake, because tion. We have seen that in 1806 he had the fire-ships could enter the Roads soon made himself well acquainted with Basque after the tide began to flow, whereas the bar and Aix Roads, and had suggested a method at the river's mouth could not be passed until of attacking the French fleet at anchor there, near high water, and, besides, the navigation which probably induced the admiralty to con- of it by night would be very dangerous. It sult him in its present difficulty. The anchor-will be seen how exactly Lord Cochrane's age of Aix Roads is between the islands of calculations were fulfilled, and how nothing Aix and Oleron. Further out, and communi- was wanting, except the absence of Lord cating by a channel between shoals, are Basque Gambier, to complete the capture or destrucRoads, where the British fleet blockading tion of every ship in the French fleet. Rochefort frequently lay at anchor. Inside Aix Roads is the mouth of the river Charente, upon which stands the town of Rochefort. The French fleet was now lying in Aix

The French admiral, who expected an attack by fire-ships, had moored his fleet of eleven sail in two parallel lines, the ships in the rear covering the intervals in the front