 Chapter 25 of The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochran, 10th Earl of Dundonald, completing the autobiography of a seaman. Volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox Bourne and others. This Liberox recording is in the public domain, recording by Timothy Ferguson. 1833 to 1848. Zellerslears, the Earl of Dundonalds, strove through nearly 20 years to perfect and make generally useful his inventions. In connection with steam shipping, he attached yet greater importance to another and older invention or discovery, which, though its efficiency has been admitted by all to whom it has been explained, has never yet been adopted. This was the device known as his secret war plans for capturing the fleets and forts of an enemy by an altogether novel process attended by little cost or risk to the assailant, but of terrible effect upon the object's attack. These plans were conceived by him in 1811 and in the following year, as he has told in his autobiography, he submitted them to the Prince Regent afterwards King George IV. By the prince they were referred to a secret committee consisting of the Duke of York as president, Lord Keith, Lord Exmouth, and the two congrieves who, on the details being set before them, declared this method of attack to be infallible and irresistible. Lord Dundonald was pledged to secrecy by the Prince Regent and it was proposed to employ the device in the war still proceeding with France. That proposal, however, was abandoned and another for the trial of the plan under Sir Alexander Cochrane in North America in 1814 was prevented by the Stock Exchange trial. After that the long piece enjoyed by England would have postponed the experiment even if Lord Dundonald had not been debiled from pursuit of his calling as an English naval officer. He might have used his secret in Chile, Brazil and Greece but his promise to the Prince Regent and patriotic feelings that were even more cogent than that promise restrained him. Once used it would cease to be a secret and he resolved that the great advantage that would accrue from the first use should be reserved for his own country. The project, however, was not forgotten by him soon after the ascension of King William IV. He explained it to his majesty who acknowledged its value and paid a tribute to Lord Dundonald's honourable conduct in keeping his secret so long and under such strong inducements to an opposite course. Soon afterwards and during many years the prospect of another war induced him to engage in frequent correspondence on the subject with various members of the successive governments. I, long ago, wrote the Marquess of Landstown, then president of the council, in May 1834, communicated the substance of the paper you left with me on the important objects which might be accomplished by the agency you describe in an attack upon an hostile marine to such of my colleagues as I then had an opportunity of seeing and more particularly to Lord Minto, whom I found in some degree apprised of your views upon this subject. As questions of such importance to the naval interests of the country can only be satisfactorily inquired into by the Admiralty Department of the government, I should recommend you entering into an unreserved communication with him on the subject, which I know he will receive with all the attention due to your high professional character and experience." The Earl of Minto gave many proofs of his regard for Lord Dundonald, but he was not disposed to think favourably of the secret war plan, and it was kept in abeyance for four years more. In the autumn of 1834 Lord Dundonald again pressed its consideration upon Lord Landstown, alleging as a reason the warlike attitude of Russia. I'm obliged to you for your letter, wrote Lord Landstown in reply on the 5th of November, and will certainly make use of the communication it contains in the proper quarter if the occasion arises, which I sincerely hope it will not. Ambitious and encroaching as Russia is seen and felt to be in all directions, I am confident that her own true policy is to avoid giving just cause for war and that, busily as she may use all indirect means towards her ends, which she thinks she can justify, she will yield to remonstrance when these limits are transgressed by her agents. This is, of course, however, which requires to be, and I trust will be, most carefully watched." In that interesting letter Lord Landstown showed by his silence that he was not inclined to investigate the war plan and a like indifference was experienced by Lord Dundonald in his repeated efforts during the ensuing years to secure its acceptance by the government, which was submitted to a favoured few and all to whom it was explained acknowledged its efficacy, but no more than that was done. Its most competent critic was the Duke of Wellington, who recognised the terrible power of the device, although he objected to it on the score that too could play at that game. If the people of France shall force their government to war with England, wrote Lord Dundonald to Lord Minto on the 3rd of August, 1840, I hope you will do me the favour and justice to reflect on the nature of the opinion you received from the Duke of Wellington in regard to my plans, which is the same as that given to the Prince Regent by Lords Keith and Exmouth and the two congrieves in the year 1811, that your lordship will perceive that although too can play at that game, the one who first understands it, can alone be successful. In the event of war, I beg to offer my endeavours to place the Navy of France under your control, or at once effectively to annihilate it. For were my plans known to the world, I should not be accused of overrating their powers by the above otherwise extraordinary assertion." Lord Minto's answer was very brief. I shall bear your offer in mind, but there is not the slightest chance of war." For the same reason the secret plans were set aside by the Earl of Haddington, who was first Lord of the Admiralty under Lord Minto, he rented considerable aid to Lord Dundonald in testing his steam engine and boiler, but considered the fact that England was at peace for a sufficient reason for not discussing the value of a new instrument of war. Lord Dundonald, however, who knew the value of his invention thought otherwise. While vast sums of money were being spent at Dover, Portsmouth and elsewhere upon fortifications, and harbours of refuge for trading vessels, which, at wartime, could have no chance of safety against fighting steamships in the open sea, he deemed it especially important that attention should be paid to a project calculated to affect an entire revolution in the principles and methods of warfare. If his project was feasible, it furnished an instrument by which fortifications and harbours of refuge would be rendered useless, seeing that the most powerful enemy might, by it, be effectively prevented from coming within reach of those defences, or, if he was allowed to approach them, could use it with terrible effect to which the most formidable defences could offer no resistance. It was under this impression that on the 29th of November 1845, finding governments indifferent to his arguments, he addressed a vigorous letter to the Tynes. Had gunpowder and its adaptation to artillery, he there said, been discovered and perfected by an individual and had its wonderful power been privately tested, indisputably proved, and reported to a government or to a council of military men at the period when the battering ram and crossbow were chief implements in war, it is probable that the civilians would have treated the author as a wild visionary, and that the professional council, due to this spirit decor, would have spurned the supposed insult to their superior understanding. Science and the arts both of peace and more, nevertheless, in despite all such retarding causes, have advanced and probably will advance until it affects and consequences a crew which the imagination can scarcely contemplate. It is not, however, my intention to intrude observations of an ordinary nature, but to endeavour to rectify an erroneous opinion, which appears to prevail, that consequences disastrous to this country may be anticipated from the introduction of steamships into maritime warfare. I am desirous of showing that the use of steamships of war, though at present available by rival nations, need not necessarily diminish the security of our commerce, that still less need it necessarily endanger our national existence, which appears to be apprehended by those who allege the necessity of devoting millions of money to the defence of our coasts. I contend that there is nothing in the expected new system of naval warfare, through the employment of steam vessels, that can justify such expensive and derogatory precautions, because there are equally new, and yet secret, means of conquest which no devices hitherto used in maritime warfare could resist or evade, that the prejudice or incredulity, which in all probability would have scouted the invention of gunpowder, if offered to notice under the circumstances above, supposed, may exist to a considerable extent in the present case, is extremely likely, yet I do not the less advisedly affirm that with this all-powerful auxiliary invasion may be rendered impossible and our commerce secure by the speedy and effectual destruction of all assemblages of steamships and, if necessary, of all the navies of the whole world, which, forever after, might be prevented from inconveniently increasing. Away with the sinister forebodings which have originated the recent devices for protruding through the sterns of sluggish ships of war, additional guns for defence in fight. Away with the projected plans of protective forts and ports of cowardly refuge. Let the manly resolution be taken, when occasion shall require, vigorously to attack the enemy, instead of preparing elaborate means of defence. Factitious ports on the margin of the channel cannot be better protected than those which exist, respecting which I pledge any professional credit I may possess, that whatever hostile force might therein be assembled could be destroyed within the first 24 hours favourable for effective operations in defiance of forts and batteries, mounted with the most powerful ordnance now in use. In the capacity of an officer all hope seemed to be precluded that in time of peace I could render service to my country. A new light, however, has beamed through the cloud, for in the pursuit of my vocation as an amateur engineer it has become apparent that a plan, which I deemed available only in war, may contribute to prevent the naval department from being paralysed by a wasteful perversion of its legitimate support. Protective harbours, save as screens from wind and sea, may be likened to nets wherein fishers seeking to escape find themselves inextricably entangled, or to the guardian care of a shepherd who should pen his flock in a fold to secure it from a marching army. No effective protection could be afforded in such ports, against a superior naval force equipped for purpose of destruction, whilst the utility as places of refuge from steam privateers is quite disproportioned to their cost. Privateers could neither tow off merchant vessels from our shore, nor regain their own if appropriate measures shall be adopted to intercept them. Impressions in favour of so expensive, so despondent, and so inadequate a scheme, can have no better origin than specious reports emanating from delusive opinions derived from a very limited knowledge of facts. The hasty adoption of such measures and the voting away the vast sums required to carry them into execution are evils seriously to be deprecated. It is therefore greatly to be desired that those in power should pause before proceeding further in such a course. It behooves them to consider in all its bearings and in all its consequences the contemplated system of stationary maritime defence, subject as that system may become to the overwhelming influence of the secret plan which I placed in their hands, similar to that which I presented in 1812 to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who referred its consideration confidentially to Lord Keith, Lord Exmouth and the two congrieves, professional and scientific men, by whom it was pronounced to be infallible, under the circumstances detailed in my explanatory statement. Thirty-three years is a long time to retain an important secret, especially as I could have used it with effect in defence of my character when cruelly assailed, as I have shown at length in a representation to the government, and could have practically employed it on various occasions to my private advantage. I have now however determined to solicit as well merited consideration in the hope privately if possible to prove the comparative inexpedience of an expenditure of some 12 million pounds or 20 million pounds sterling for the construction of forts and harbours instead of applying ample funds at once to remodel and renovate the navy, professionally known to be susceptible to immense improvement, including the removal from its swollen bulk of much that is cumbrious and prejudicial. However, injudicious it might be thought to divulge my plan at least until energetically put in execution for an adequate object, yet if its disclosure is indispensable to enable a just and general estimate to be formed of the merits of the mongrel, terraquacious scheme of defence now in contemplation, as compared with the mighty power and protective ubiquity of the floating bulwarks of Britain, I am satisfied that the balance would be greatly in favour of publicity. It would demonstrate that there could be no security in those defences and those asylums on the construction of which it is proposed to expend so many millions of the public money. It might therefore have the effect of preventing such useless expenditure and of averting the obviously impending danger of future parsimonious naval administration, abandonment of essential measures of nautical improvement and the national disgrace of maritime degradation, all inseparable from an unnatural hermaphrodite union between a distinguished service which might still further be immeasurably exalted and the most extravagant, derogatory, inefficient and preposterous project that could be devised for the security and protection of an insular, widely extended colonial and commercial state." A few months after that letter had been written, Lord Dundonald's hopes that his secret plans would be accepted by the government were revived. In 1846 his friend Lord Auckland took office as First Lord of the Admiralty and by him with very little delay it was proposed to submit the plans to the judgement of a competent committee of officers. This was all that Lord Dundonald had asked for and he gladly accepted the proposal. The officers chosen were Sir Thomas Hastings, then Surveyor-General of the Ordnance, Sir J. F. Burgoyne and the tenant Colonel J. S. Calhoun. By then the project was carefully considered and on the 16th January 1847 they tended their official report upon it. These plans, it was there said, may be classed under three heads. First, one, on which an opinion may be formed with experiment for concealing or making offensive warlock operations and we consider that under many particular circumstances the method of his lordship may be made available as well by land as by sea and we therefore suggest that a record of this part of Lord Dundonald's plans should be deposited with the Admiralty to be made use of when in the judgement of their lordships the opportunity for employing it may occur. Second, one, on which experiments would be required before a satisfactory conclusion could be arrived at. Third, numbers one and two combine for the purpose of hostile operations. After mature consideration we have resolved that it is not desirable that any experiment should be made. We assume it to be possible that the plan number two contains power for producing the sweeping destruction the inventor ascribes to it but it is clear this power could not be retained exclusively by this country because its first employment would develop both its principle and application we considered in the next place how far the adoption of the proposed secret plans would accord with the feelings and principles of civilized warfare. We are of unanimous opinion that plans two and three would not be so. We therefore recommend that as he the two plans two and three should remain concealed. We feel the great credit is due to Lord Dundonald for the right feeling which prompted him not to disclose his secret plans when serving in war as naval commander-in-chief of the forces of other nations and under many trying circumstances in the conviction that those plans might eventually be of the highest importance to his own country. End quote. That report was in the main highly gratifying to Lord Dundonald. It recognized the efficacy of his plans and recommended their partial use at any rate in time of need. Permit me to express as far as I am able he wrote to Lord Auckland on the 27th of January my deep sense of obligation to your lordship in causing my plans of war to be thoroughly investigated by the most competent authorities and for the extremely kind terms in which you have informed me of the satisfactory result. With regard to their disposal I submit that it would be advisable to retain them in violet until the period shall arrive when the use of them may be deemed beneficial to the interests of the country. I have to observe as to the opinions of the commission that plans two and three would not accord with the principles and feeling of civilized warfare that the new method resorted to by the French of firing horizontal shells and carcasses is stated by a commission of scientific and practical men appointed by the French government to ascertain their effects to be so formidable that it would render impossible the success of any enterprise attempted against their vessels in harbour and that for the defence of roadsteads or for the attack of liner battleships becalmed or embayed its effect would be infallible namely by blowing up or burning our ships to the probable destruction of the lives of all their crews I submit that against such batteries as these the adoption of my plans numbers two and three would be perfectly justifiable in quote Reader's Note Letter ends that the French not yet forgetful of the injuries inflicted on them in the last great war and in the frequent wars of previous centuries were still hoping and planning for an opportunity of retaliation and that their plans needed to be carefully watched and counteracted where conviction strongly impressed upon Lord Dundt-Onald in those years and in 1848 he had a singular verification of them I enclose a paper of some consequence wrote Lord Auckland to him on the 30th of June it contains the plan which in contemplation of war has been submitted to the French provisional government for naval operations it is perhaps little more than the pamphlet of the Prince de Joineville carried out methodically and in detail and the writer seems to me to anticipate a far more exclusive playing of the game only on one side than we should allow to be the case but nevertheless such a mode of warfare would be embarrassing and mischievous and I should like to have from you your views of a counter project to it and your criticisms upon it Reader's Note Letter ends the report forwarded to Lord Dundt-Onald entitled La Poissance Maritime de la France and designed to show that Angua maritime es plus rederteur pour Angleterre que pour la France besides affecting Curia's confirmation of Lord Dundt-Onald's opinions is a document very memorable in itself its main idea was that in naval warfare victory is obtained not by mere numbers but by superiority in ships and guns in the present condition of our Marine said its author we must give up fleet fighting the English can arm more fleets than we can and we cannot maintain a war of fleets with England without exposing ourselves to losses as great as those we experienced under the First Empire though during 20 years however our warfare as carried on by fleets was disastrous that of our cruisers was nearly always successful by again sending these forth with instructions not to compromise themselves with an enemy superior to them in numbers but with great loss on English commerce to attack the commerce is to attack the vital principle of England to strike to her heart that was the view advanced under Louis Philippe's reign by the Prince de Joineville but it was much more elaborately worked out by the advocate of naval energy in days immediately preceding Prince Louis Napoleon's Ascension to Power what I propose he said is a war founded on this principle of striking at English commerce in a naval war between two nations one of which has a very large commerce and the other very little military forces are of small consequence in the end peace must become a necessity to the power which has much to lose and little to gain let us see what took place in America during the disputes on the Oregon question despite the immense superiority of the English Navy the Americans maintained their pretensions England found out that well equipped frigates and countless privateers were sufficient to carry on a war against her commerce in all parts of the globe whilst all the damage she could do to America was the destruction of a few coast towns by which she could gain neither on or profit and so she decided to preserve peace by yielding the question it is this American system that we in France must adopt renouncing the glory of fleet victories we must make active war on the commercial shipping of Great Britain if America and her small means could gain such an advantage over England what results may we not expect to obtain with 150 ships of war and 300 corsairs armed with long range guns it is not quote ends the report recommended that the naval force of France should be organised into 20 corsair divisions these would have chirbolg for their headquarters one to look after the merchant shipping in the British channel and other to watch the mouth of the Thames and a third to cruise along the Dutch and German coasts so as to intercept their Baltic trade and all these were to be aided by a line of telegraphs from Brest to Dunkirk in correspondence with the line of scouts ranged along the French coast with orders to communicate to the central station at Cherbourg every movement of British merchantmen three similar divisions were to be formed at Brest, charged respectively with the other side of the east and west Indian shipping as it past kept clear of the Azores and of the Irish coast a seventh division stationed at Rockfort was to watch for a favourable opportunity of cooperating with the other six and if desirable in transporting an army to Ireland a eighth division was to watch the neighbourhood of Gibraltar and four others were to be stationed in various parts of the Mediterranean three other divisions were to cruise along the North American coast to harass our commerce with the United States to intercept the trade of Canada and the neighbouring colonies and in springtime to capture the produce of the new fountain fisheries three smaller divisions were to be charged with the annoyance of our west Indian islands and the destruction of their commerce and the remaining two were to scale the coasts of South America a separate and formidable establishment of screw frigates was to have for its headquarters a port of refuge to be constructed in Madagascar whose operations were to be directed in all quarters against our east Indian possessions and their extensive trade in addition to these means it was further said in the report the departmental councils should each arm one steam frigate commanded by an officer of the Navy born in the department the prizes captured by each should in this case be at the disposal of the departmental councils a portion being devoted to defraying the expenses of the vessel and the remainder applied to the execution of public works within the department as regards to the defence of French ports this may best be affected by flat bottomed hulks armed with long range guns adapted to horizontal firing the chances against invasion are greatly in favour of France on account of the superiority of her land force and the facility of transporting troops by railway to the locality attacked a great point will be the perfect training of the French squadron by annual evolutions and with double or treble the requisite number of officers if these suggestions are carried out France will establish at sea what Russia has done on land to the injury and restriction of British commerce which must be seriously damaged without material harm being done to ourselves British commerce will especially effect the working classes of England and must bring about a democratic inundation which will compel her to a speedy submission which is not quote ends those were the chief proposals of the secret memoir which falling into the hands of the British government so far alarmed it as to lead it to call upon the Earl of Dundon for his opinions as to the best way of meeting the threatened danger this document he wrote in his reply to Lord Auckland describes a plan of maritime operations that is undoubtedly more injurious to the interests of England than that pursued by France in former wars there is nothing new however in the opinions promulgated they have long been familiar to British naval officers whose wonder has been that the widespread colonial commerce of England has never yet been effectively of sailed it is true that the advice given in the memoir derives more importance now from the fact that the application of steam power to a system of predatory warfare constitutes at every harbour the level of equipment requiring to be watched not in the passive manner of former blockades but effectively by steam vessels having their fires kindled at least during the obscurity of night the cost and number of such blockades need not be dwelt on nor the indefinite period to which prudence on the part of an enemy and vigilance on that of the blockading force might prolong a war 100 million sterling added to a national debt would solve a doubt whether the most successful depredations on British commerce could produce consequences more extensive and permanently injurious the memoir obviously anticipates that the usages de canons bombs dootless attendants on osu prodigy effet will prevent our blockading ships from approaching the shores of France and thus their steam vessels might escape unobserved during night even with sailing vessels in tow this is no vague conjecture but a consequence which assuredly will follow any hesitation on our part to counteract the system extensively adopted and now under the consideration of the national assembly of arming all batteries with projectiles whereby to burn or blow up our ships of war a fate which even the precaution of keeping out of range could not avert by reason of the incendiary and explosive missiles whereby le petit bâtiment a vapor pour un atroquois le plat gros vacille it is impossible to retaliate by using similar weapons forts and batteries are incombustible recourse must therefore be had to other means whereby to overcome fortifications protecting expeditionary forces and piratical equipments letter n the means recommended by lord don donald it need hardly be said were the secret warplans which he had developed nearly 40 years before and the efficacy of which had recently been again admitted by the committee appointed to investigate them in 1846 it is not allowable of course to quote the paragraphs in which lord don donald once more explained them and urged their adoption in case of need the only objection offered to them was that they were too terrible for use by a civilised community these means he replied all powerful are nevertheless humane when contrasted with the use of shells and carcasses by ships at sea and most merciful as competent to avert the bloodshed that would attend the contemplated descent en Angleterre on an island and other hostile schemes recommended in the memoir it is noted in quote was forwarded to lord Auckland from Halifax where lord don donald then was in the beginning of August assuredly the reasons which you give for the use of the means suggested are such as it is difficult to controvert wrote lord Auckland on the 18th but I would at least defer my assented dissent to the time when the question may be more pressing than it is at present I would postpone my own reflections on the secret plans he wrote again on the 1st of September and would hope that events will allow this government long to postpone all decision upon them I agree with you however in much that you say upon their principle and am well satisfied that to no hands better than yours could the execution of any vigorous plans be entrusted where it is not later ends when however as will be seen on a latter page an opportunity did arise for the enforcing those plans against another power than France their execution was not permitted to Lord Donald strongly as he himself was impressed by their importance they formed only a part of the complete system of opinions respecting the defense of England at which he arrived by close study and long experience these have already been partly indicated he did not wish that his plans should be lightly made use of but believing that they would ultimately become a recognized means of warfare and that even without them a great revolution would soon take place in ways of fighting he deprecated as useless and wasteful the elaborate fortifications which were in his time beginning to be extensively set up at Dover Portsmouth and other possible points of attack upon England and urged with no less energy that vast improvements ought to be made in the construction and employment of ships of war fortifications he considered were only desirable for the protection of the special ports and depots around which they were set up and even for that purpose they ought to be so compact as to need no more than a few troops and local garrisons for their occupation to have them so complicated and numerous is to require the exclusive attention of all or nearly all the military force of England appeared to him on their source of national weakness his own achievements at Valdivia and elsewhere showed him that skilful seamanship on the part of an invader would render them much less sufficient for the defense of the country than was generally supposed if all our soldiers were scattered along various points on the coast it would not be difficult for the enemy by a bold and sudden onslaught was still more by a faint of the sort in which he himself was master to take possession of one and then there would be no concentrated army available to prevent the onward march of the assailant much wiser would it be to leave the seaboard comparatively unprotected from the land and to have a powerful army so arranged as to be ready for prompt resistance to the enemy if by any means he had gained a footing on the shore to prevent that footing being gained however Lord Dundonald was quite as eager as any champion of monster fortifications could be but this prevention he urged must be by means of movable ships and not by movable land works a strong fleet of gun boats stationed all along the coast and with carefully devised arrangements for mutual communication so that at any time their force could be speedily concentrated in one or more important positions would be far more efficacious and far more economical than the more popular obedience for the military defence of England he heartily believed in fact in the old and often proved maximum that the sea was England's wall and he desired to have that wall guarded by a force able to watch its whole extent and capacities from one point to another as occasion required desiring that thus the coast should be immediately protected by efficient gun boats he desired no less to augment the naval strength of the country by means of improved warships as much like gun boats as possible to large ships if constructed in moderation and applied to special purposes he was not a verse but he set a far higher value upon small and well armed vessels able to pass rapidly from place to place and to navigate shallow seas give me he often said a fast small steamer with a heavy long range gun in the bow and another in the hold to fall back upon and I would not hesitate to attack the larger ship or float his opinion on this point also was confirmed by his own experience most notably in the exploits of his little speedy in the Mediterranean and by the whole history of English naval triumphs since the time in the so-called invincible Armada of Spain into the British Channel designed to conquer England by means of a huge armaments and when the bulky galleons and galluses of Philip's haughty sailors were chased and worried by the smaller barks and pinnacles of Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher and the other sea captains of Elizabeth who sailed round and round their foe and darted in and out of his unwieldy mass of shipping never failing to inflict great injury while his volleys of artillery passed harmlessly over their decks to sink into the sea there had been abundant proof of the constant superiority of small warships of a large a mosquito fleet as he called it was what Lord Dantonal wished to see developed a swarm of active little vessels just large enough to carry one or two powerful guns which could go anywhere and do anything to which the larger crafts of the enemy would afford convenient targets but which small and nimble would be much less likely to be themselves attacked and even if attacked and sunk would entail far less loss than would ensue from the destruction of a huge warship as large a gun as possible in a vessel as small and swift as possible and as many of them as you can put upon the sea was Lord Dantonal's ideal for this he argued during half a century for this he laboured hard and long in the exercise of his inventive powers in 1826 the plan of the war steamers was to have taken to Greece was explained to Lord Exmouth no slight authority on naval matters why it's not only the Turkish fleet exclaimed the veteran but all the navies in the world that you will be able to conquer with such craft as these end of chapter 25 recording by Timothy Ferguson, Gold Coast, Australia chapter 26 of the life of Thomas Lord Cochran, 10th Earl of Dantonal completing the autobiography of a seaman volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox born Deborah Fox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1839 to 1848 the restoration of his naval rank to the Earl of Dantonal in 1832 was slowly followed by other acts reversing the injustice of previous years by which a large portion of his life had been embedded your lordship in the admiralty he wrote to Lord Minto then the head of naval affairs on the 30th of March 1839 may be surprised that I have never solicited any appointment since my reinstatement in the naval service by his late majesty whose memory I shall ever cherish for this magnanimous act of justice the cause my lord has not been from any reluctance on my part but from a feeling which I have no doubt will appear satisfactory to your lordship if you do me the favour to read this enclosed copy of a letter which I have written this day to the Marquis of Lansdown as president of the council reader's note letter ends the letter to Lord Lansdown referred in great part to Lord Dundonald's rotary engine and to his secret war plan which he expressed his willingness to put into execution if ever it was required your lordship in the privy council however it was added will not fail to observe that if it shall ever be the intention of the government under any circumstances again to employ me in the naval service it would be quite inconsistent with the character of that service as well as my own reputation for me to assume command unless the order of the bath gained on the 12th of April 1809 now 30 years ago shall be restored to me I hope it will appear to your lordship said Lord Dundonald in a letter to Lord Melbourne dated the 11th of July 1839 that my services as a naval officer have been useful and honourable to my country and referring to those services and to the peculiar opportunities I have since had of acquiring further professional knowledge I may say without vanity that Her Majesty has no officer in her navy more experienced than myself and yet from the extraordinary circumstances of my case I'm the only flag officer in Her Majesty's service who if called upon to take a command could not do so consistently with his own honour and the respect due to those who might be appointed to serve under him for whereas the officer who could not conveniently call to mind that I who when a captain was a knight of the bath was deprived of that honour and that now though a flag officer I have not been deemed worthy of having it restored I am sensible wrote Lord Dundonald in another letter to the premier written eight days later that the act of justice which I experienced from the late king under the ministry of Earl Grey of which your lordship was a distinguished member in restoring me to my naval rank was a great favour in as much as it evinced a considerable feeling towards me and I was then fully satisfied with it under the impression that it would be viewed by the public and especially by the navy as a testimony of the belief of the government at that time that I was innocent of the offence that had been laid to my charge and also that I should stand as good a chance as most of my brother officers and perhaps from my experience a better of being called to active service I did not then foresee that the restoration of my naval rank alone would be viewed as a half measure still less did I anticipate that in the event of my being offered an appointment I should be incapacitated from accepting it for the reason of the feelings of other officers that I still laboured under some imputation which would render it derogatory to them to serve under me but it is now impossible for me to conceal from myself the fact that while the navy generally is kindly disposed towards me and would rejoice to see me fully reinstated on all that I once enjoyed I am considered by many to remain as completely precluded from active service as if my name had never more appeared in the navy list but it cannot be thought reasonable to reduce me to the inglorious condition of a retired or yellow admiral at home and at the same time to deny me the privilege of acquiring either emolument or distinction in foreign service Lord Dundonald's hope was that on the occasion of Her Majesty's marriage there would be a bestowal of honours which would afford a convenient opportunity for the restoration of his dignity as a knight of the bath but in this he was disappointed a minor favour was conferred upon him however and in a very gratifying way 18 months later you are probably aware wrote Lord Minto to him on the 3rd of January 1841 that the death of Sir Henry Bainton has vacated one of the pensions for good and notorious service before I left town a few days ago I made my arrangements to enable me to confer this pension upon you if you should think it worthy of your acceptance either as evidence of the high esteem in which I have ever held your services or as convenient in a pecuniary point of view although you are one of the few who have not applied for this I do not fear that any one of the innumerous claimants can show so good a title to it that compliment was accepted by Lord Dundonald in a spirit answering to that in which it was offered yet his reasonable anxiety for restitution of the order of the bath was not abated and thereupon he was engaged in a correspondence with the Earl of Huntington then First Lord of the Admiralty during the early part of 1842 which was closed by the intimation bitterly disappointing to Lord Dundonald that the cabinet council declined recommending to the Queen to comply with his earnest request equally disappointing was the result of another application with the same object which he made to Sir Robert Peale in the autumn of 1844 Her Majesty's servants wrote Sir Robert Peale on the 7th of November have had under consideration the letter which I received from your lordship bearing date the 10th of September on reference to the proceedings which were adopted in the year 1832 it appears that previously to the restoration of your lordship to your rank in the navy a free pardon under the great seal was granted to your lordship and advertising to that circumstance and to the fact that 30 years have now elapsed since the charges to which the free pardon had reference were the subject of investigation before the proper judicial tribunal of the country Her Majesty's servants cannot consistent with their duty advise the Queen to reopen an inquiry into those charges I do not let her in Lord Dundonald failed to see in the partial reversal 12 years before of the unjust treatment to which he had been subjected 18 years before that a reason for refusing to inquire whether there was any injustice yet to be atoned for he had not however very much longer to wait for the object which he sought one of the grounds for desiring a public recognition of the efficacy of his secret war plans was a reasonable belief that if it was seen that through half a lifetime it steadfastly avoided using for his private advantage what might have been to him a vast source of wealth in order that the secret might be reserved solely for the benefit of his country it would be acknowledged to be incredible that for insignificant ends he could have resorted to the gross and clumsy fraud attributed to him at the stock exchange trial and in this expectation he was right nearly all the reparation that was now possible quickly followed upon the investigation into the war plans that was referred to in the last chapter while the investigation was pending he was pained by a letter from Sir Thomas Hastings not unkind in itself but showing that his real motives for courting that investigation were not understood I made a communication today, wrote Sir Thomas on the 27th of November 1846 that the commission had entered on its duties and received instructions to inform you that it would be desirable before the commission proceeded further to ascertain your lordship's use as to the nature of the renumeration you would expect from the government in the event of your plans being reported on favorably readers note that ends Lord Dundon ought to reply with characteristic you intermate a wish on the part of the government you wrote on the 1st of December to ascertain my views in regard to the renumeration I expect in the event of my plans being favorably reported on I replied that I had devoted these plans 35 years ago to the service of my country that I have reserved them through the most adverse and trying circumstances satisfied that at some future time I should prove my character to be above pecuniary considerations or mercenary motives I have looked forward to the restitution of those honors of which I was most unjustly bereaved and to freedom from mental anguish endured throughout an isolation from society of one-third a century I cannot contrast with such sufferings, nor with my plans any sum the government could bestow Nevertheless, I have implicitly relied that collateral deprivations and losses would be taken into consideration by some future just an impartial administration I do most earnestly hope that the period has now arrived read as note letter ends that letter was communicated by Sir Thomas Hastings to Lord Auckland I returned the letter he wrote to Sir Thomas on the 16th of December which Lord Dundon ought to root to you upon the renumeration he would expect in the event of a favorable report upon his plans namely first his restoration to the honors of which he was deprived and secondly a consideration of collateral deprivations and losses I am sorry to acquaint you that the first condition is one to which I am not authorized to promise an acquiescence it is not necessary that I should discuss the difficulties which occur to the restoration in question I can only express my own deep regret that they should exist and that the hopes which have been entertained by Lord Dundon should be disappointed for myself I personally regard him I look upon his naval career as most remarkable and most honorable and I must lament whatever may seem to detract from the advantage and grace of his return to the navy read as note letter ends Sir Thomas Hastings wrote Lord Dundon to Lord Auckland on the following day has sent me your sympathizing note on the decision of the cabinet council in regard to the first item designated as the renumeration I would expect in the event of a favorable report on my plans now after the expression of my deep sense of gratitude to your lordship for having bought the question before the cabinet I do most sincerely rejoice that the first condition is one to which you are not authorized to promise an acquiescence I could not deem acquiescence a renumeration or could I value it otherwise and as evidence of conviction produced by facts and the tenor of a whole life of my incapacity of descending to base acts for gain at any period of my existence especially at the moment when I can prove that I had objects of the highest national importance and most brilliant personal prospects in view in confirmation of disinterestedness I further hold my retention of the secret war plans for a period of 35 years not withstanding frequent opportunities to use them to my incalculable private advantage the merit of these plans, though I am well aware of their value, is yet officially unpronounced by the commissioner appointed to report therefore the preceding facts being doubtful I repeat that I do most sincerely rejoice that the cabinet council have manifested that the decision depends neither on favor nor on the value of the plans themselves for seeing that whatever may be the ultimate determination it must be founded on facts and justified by the exposition of my conduct and character I am preparing a document which whatever may be my fate pending the brief remainder of my existence will justify my memory when grievous wrong shall cease to pray on a mind which, saved from the consciousness of rectitude, would in a brief time have bowed my head with humiliation to the ground The document there referred to was a pamphlet entitled Observations on Naval Affairs and on some collateral subjects In it were concisely enumerated Lord Donald Services as a British naval officer and the hardships brought upon him by the unmerited stock exchange trial The pamphlet was published in February 1847 and immediately excited consideration and immediately excited considerable attention I hope the difficulties which have prevented the realisation of your wishes may be removed shortly wrote Sir Thomas Hastings on the 2nd of March but services so distinguished and at career so splendid and full of professional instruction as your lordships can never be blotted out or rendered dim in the annals of the naval history of our country I've had the kindest note possible from the Marquis of Lansdown said Lord Donald in a letter written on the 27th of April Lord Auckland was at our house on Saturday and he spoke in the kindest and most feeling manner I hear from all quarters that the pamphlet has made and is making a great impression and I have every hope that all will end well All did end well The public announcement on the highest authority of the value of his secret war plans and the consequent exhibition of his disinterested patriotism in so long preserving them for his country's use followed by the bold appeal made by him to the public through his pamphlet brought success at last to his long continued efforts to obtain a restoration of his dignity as a knight of the bath His best friends in the cabinet especially Lord Lansdown and Auckland had influence though not all the influence they desired upon other cabinet and privy councillors who were opposed to the tardy act of justice but they did not wait for the assent of all On the 6th of May Lord Lansdown represented the case to Her Majesty the Queen and received her promise that with or without the approval of her privy councillors she would confer the next vacant order of the bath upon Lord Dundonald Fortunately a vacancy occurred immediately through the death of Admiral Sir Davidge Gould Lord Auckland has called wrote Lord Dundonald on the 9th of May and informed me officially that the Queen has placed at his disposal the vacant order of the bath and that in conformity with the intention with which it was so placed he was too deliberate to me I have information from the palace he wrote a few days later that Her Majesty has had the conversation as to the justice of some further atonement for the injuries that had been inflicted on me and that she said it was subject of regret and such was not in her power but should the subject be entertained by her advisers her concurrence would not be wanting which note that her ends that further act of justice was never rendered but Lord Dundonald rejoiced that the more important measure by restoring the dignity wrongfully taken from him would do more than anything else to set him right in the eyes of the world was at last adopted it gives me sincere pleasure, wrote Lord John Russell on the 12th of May in answer to a letter thanking him for the conduct of his administration that the last act of the government has been so gratifying to you Your services to your country are recorded among those of the most brilliant of a war signalised by heroic achievements I will lay before Her Majesty the expression of your gratitude and I can assure you that the Queen has sanctioned with the greatest satisfaction the advice of her ministers on the 25th of May the order being dated the 22nd Lord Dundonald was gazetted as a Night Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and this act of grace was rendered more graceful by the personal interest shown by Prince Albert who as Grand Master of the Order dispensed with the customary formalities and delays and on the following morning caused a warrant to be sent to him in order that he might wear the cross at the birthday drawing room which he attended by Her Majesty's command on the 27th of May thus another step was made in the way of retribution for the injuries inflicted on him in 1814 and in the ensuing years Today he wrote on the 12th of July there was a grand muster at the palace of all the Night's Grand Crosses and many inferior Crosses and I was installed Lord Ellenborough was one of my sponsors and Duke of Wellington shook hands with me and expressed his satisfaction at my restoration to the Order I am glad to tell you that the ceremony of Nighting, of which I was afraid was not resorted to so my Night's Champ dates back to the 27th of April 1809 In another effort to obtain full justice for himself however he was unsuccessful. The great expenses that sprung out of his long continued scientific and mechanical pursuits had absorbed all his scanty sources of income and he was forcibly urged that in accordance with the precedent furnished by a similar grant to Sir Robert Wilson in 1832 he was entitled to the arrears of pay due to him for the 17 years during which he had been kept out of his position in the British Navy but his request was refused and the heavy pecuniary loss as well as other and much heavier depravations consequent on a persecution that has ever since admitted to have been wholly undeserved has never been compensated Footnote, part of a letter which Lord Dundonald received on this subject four years afterwards from Mr Joseph Hume though quoted in his autobiography is too important to be here omitted. I considered the Great Champion of Public Economy on the 10th of May 1852 that you were incapable of taking the means that were resorted to by Mr Cochran Johnson and for which you suffered and I was pleased to learn that you had been restored to your rank. I considered that act to prove that the government should restore you to the rank and honors of your profession and had afterwards appointed you to the command in the West Indies must have come to the same conclusion until the perusal of your draft petition I concluded that you had all your arrears paid to you as a tardy, though in adequate return to your lordship whose early exploits did honor to yourself and gave luster to the naval service of the country to which you belonged. His Majesty King William IV was satisfied with the innocence of Sir Robert Wilson and he was restored to the service was I understand paid all the arrears of pay and allowances during his suspension and afterwards appointed to the command of Gibraltar. I was pleased at the result and it would give me equal pleasure to learn that your application to Her Majesty should be attended with an act of justice to you equally merited." Lord Palmerston subsequently in answer to an application from Lord Duntdonald forgetting Sir Robert Wilson's case said there was no precedent for such an act. Lord Duntdonald answered that there was no precedent for such injustice as had been done to him. Footnote ends. Shortly after that event Lord Duntdonald sought to be elected one of the scotch representative peers in the House of Lords. Now that his load of unmerited disgrace was shaken off he desired to resume his old functions as a legislator and this with no abatement of his zeal for the welfare of the people but with none of the violence which his own heavy sufferings at the time of their first and heaviest pressure actually caused him to show during his former parliamentary career. Being now a peer he could not return to his seat in the House of Commons and being a scotch peer he could only sit in the House of Lords as one of the delegates from the aristocracy of his native land. Among these he therefore asked for a place at the election in September 1847. He did not however begin to seek it early enough. Other candidates had according to custom obtained promises of the majority of votes from electors before he thought of canvassing and he was thus left in a minority. Many peers however who on this occasion were unable to support him often pledged their votes to him for the next election. A minor favour was at this time shown to Lord Donald which afforded him real gratification in 1835 he had been allowed by King William IV to use the insignia of a grand commander of the Order of the Saviour of Greece conferred upon him by King Ortho. In August 1847 he applied to the cabinet for permission to use the title of Marquis of Maranum and the Grand Cross of Brazil both of which had been conferred upon him by the Emperor Pedro I in 1823. I have to acquaint your lordship, road lord Palmerston then foreign secretary on the 11th of October that under the peculiar circumstances of the case which have prevented the application being made earlier the Queen has signified her pleasure that you should be permitted to accept the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crescerio with regard however to the title of Marquis of Maranum it is my duty to state to your lordship that after full consideration Her Majesty's Government regret that they cannot advise the Queen to grant you the desired permission. While Her Majesty's Government duly appreciate the services rendered by your lordship to the Crown of Brazil they consider it to be on general principles so undesirable that distinguished officers of the British Navy should have foreign titles that they feel themselves compelled to decline complying with your request letter ends. I beg to assure your lordship, road lord Dunn-Donald in reply on the 18th of October that I feel more gratitude in being informed of the sentiment of Her Majesty's Government in regard to my faithful and zealous services in Brazil than I ever experienced from the title conferred on me as the honorary portion of my reward for such services as far as it relates to assuming the title in my native country I entreat your lordship to believe I never entertain the intention that her end. A memorable occurrence soon followed now that his honors as well as his naval rank were restored to him he had no reason of holding back from active service in his profession and the Earl of Auckland anxious to make use as far as use could be made in peacetime of his great and varied experience and also to give further proof of the desire at last to render him all possible honor was prompt in offering him fresh employment on the sea. I shall shortly have to name a Commander-in-Chief for the North American and West Indian Station wrote Lord Auckland on the 27th of December 1847. Will you accept the appointment? I shall feel it to be an honor and a pleasure to have you named to it and I am satisfied that your nomination will be agreeable to Her Majesty as it will be to the country and particularly to the Navy. Lord Donald did accept the appointment rejoicing in it as a further step in reparation for the injuries by which he had been hindered a whole generation before from rising to the highest rank in the naval service of his country. He might then have achieved victories over the French which would have surpassed his brilliant exploits at Basque Roads. He could now only direct the quiet operations of a small fleet in a time of peace. This however being the best that it was now possible for him to do, he gladly undertook. Permit me, he wrote to Lord Auckland to assure your Lordship that this gracious act has further tended to obliterate the deep and painful impressions made by 30 years of mental suffering such as no language can describe, but for my Lord the agony produced by false accusations on an honourable mind is infinitely greater than merited inflection of death itself. I will leave your Lordship then to estimate the amount of obligation I fail to convey and beg you to allow me to express a hope that your generous recommendation to Her Majesty will be justified by my zealous endeavours to fulfill the duties I owe to my sovereign and country. I have waited for Her Majesty's assent to your appointment to the Earl of Auckland in a letter written on 3 January 1848 before answering your letter on the 28th Ultimo. This assent has been most cordially given and you may now consider yourself Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indian Station and I may repeat that my share in this proceeding has given me very great pleasure and that I am confirmed in my feelings of gratification by the terms in which you speak of occupying your former place in the Navy. I am glad for you and I am glad for myself that I have done this just and honourable act. Very hard he was the satisfaction expressed by all classes as soon as Lord Dundon Lord's appointment was made public. I beg, wrote Mr Delayne, the editor of The Times, earliest of all in tendering his compliments, to offer my very hearty congratulations upon your appointment, all that remain to efface the stain of such unmerited persecution. The communication you have just made to me, wrote the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, is most gratifying and the First Lord of the Admiralty has done himself immortal honour in appointing that naval officer, Commander-in-One Hemisphere who had previously illustrated his name by his most brilliant exploits in the other. Everything I think has now been done to undo the foul aspersions with which you have been assailed and I am sure now everything will be done that can most serve to establish the ability of the officer and the delicacy of the gentleman. I congratulate you most sincerely upon your appointment and I hope you all meet with difficulties when you arrive at your destination. Don't be surprised at this my wish. It proceeds from knowing the ample resources of my friend to overcome them and his constant desire to sacrifice everything to duty and honour. I derive the greatest pleasure and satisfaction from your appointment to the command of a British fleet, wrote Sir George Sinclair, an appointment not less creditable to the ministry than honourable to yourself. I cannot help contemplating with affectionate sorrow the portrait of our dearest friend, Sir Francis Burdette, now suspended over the chimney piece and thinking how happy he would have been had he witnessed this most welcome and delightful consummation. Permit me the honour, wrote Admiral John White, to bear testimony to the high gratification I feel as seeing by the papers the announcement of your lordships having taken the command of the West India and Halifax stations. The whole British Empire has expressed great joy at this justice having been done to the bravery of your lordship as an officer and your goodness and honour as a man. British Note, let his end. That last sentence told no more than the truth. End of Chapter 26 Recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast, Australia Chapter 27 of The Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane 10th Earl of Dunn-Donald Completing the Autobiography of a Seaman Volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox-Born and others This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Timothy Ferguson, 1848 Lord Dunn-Donald left London for Devonport on the 16th of March 1848 and on the following day hoisted his flag on board the Wellesley as Admiral in command of the North American and West Indian fleet. On the 25th of March he set sail for Halifax which was soon reached and was during three years the headquarters from which he proceeded on numerous voyages in fulfilment of the duties of his office. These duties were not very onerous or various. They were relieved, however, by much careful study of the circumstances and prospects of our colonies in British North America and by correspondence there upon and on other subjects with influential friends at home, especially with Lord Auckland, the First Lord of the Admiralty. From this correspondence some selections will be made in the ensuring pages. Quote I am very much pleased with your letter of the 19th wrote Lord Auckland on the 21st of March while the Wellesley was still at Devonport and the good spirit with which you look forward to your coming duties. I know how irksome is the succession of the petty duties which are incident to places of authority and how far more attractive is the excitement of great actions to those who are capable of performing them. But even the first class of duties is not without interest and carries credit as it is performed with justice and exactness and I hope that for the second the necessity of great exertions will not arise but it is always well that the possibility of there being called for should be born in mind and while you follow the peaceful avocations of your station I should be glad that you become acquainted with all its points of strength and of weakness. All the information and advice that you may give to me will be gratefully received and carefully considered. I hope wrote Lord Auckland three days later that the mosquito affair will have been brought to a termination before your arrival and that the necessity for the presence of ships in the Bay of Mexico will have terminated with a cessation of hostilities between the United States and Mexico. You will then have the slave trade and the fisheries mainly to attend to. You will learn from the console at Cuba whether the slave trade is now actively carried on. It had for some time entirely ceased but it may have revived and with good information and force for interception applied at the right time I should hope that it will not require many of your ships. The fisheries will for a season be a regular and a fixed object of attention though I feel that your number of ships is small it is difficult for me to increase it I hate to fritter away our men and enable strength on a multitude of briggs and sloops and petty objects British note letter ends Lord Auckland communicated to his friend many interesting opinions respecting the state of politics and the condition of affairs on both sides of the Atlantic. A letter from him dated the 30th of April had reference chiefly to the troubles occasioned at that time by the interference of Nicaragua with British commerce which had necessitated ascending of Captain Locke in the alarm to watch the course of events and compel proper behaviour by the turbulent state A little war is always a vexatious thing he wrote and our relations with the state of mosquito though they have long and ancient standing to recommend them are strange and anomalous but the insult of Nicaragua were highly provoking the detention of British subjects was not to be born and the spirit which has been exhibited by Captain Locke the spirit and enterprise with which his operations were erected the conduct of all who served under him and the successful results which have been achieved are all highly to be applauded I'm glad however that they have left the river of San Juan I see that in 1780 Nelson lost by the climate there 1500 out of 1800 men and I well know what is the effect of a low country in the tropics particularly after exertion and fatigue the rest of the letter related to the turmoil excited in Europe by the deposition of Louis Philippe in February 1848 and the less successful revolutions in other countries we continue to be on the very best of terms with the provisional government and there is a better disposition towards us on the part of the French people than there was at the first outbreak of the revolution I have therefore at present no apprehension of war there is however this danger that Germany and Italy are greatly disturbed and that Austria and Sardinia are engaged in war on the side of Italy and Prussia and Denmark to the north and it will not be easy for France and England to be peaceful lookers on besides which the government of France will long be subject to popular gusts and it is never easy to say in what direction they may blow in the meantime however always the appearance of peace and at home the chances of disturbance both from chartists and repealers have become less we have only danger from the distress and want of employment which have followed upon the shock given to credit throughout Europe that are ends unfortunately most of the letters written by Lord Dundon during these months have been lost but something of their purport may be gathered from the replies to them I am very glad Lord Auckland wrote on the 28th of May that your thoughts appear to be very considerably given to the health of those that are under your command you will of course have consideration for the ships that have served in the Gulf of Mexico or other unhealthy places and give them a turn in the north I did not lose a moment in sending to Lord Grey your suggestions in favour of removing the convict Hulks at Bermuda and he has promised me that he will without delay issue orders accordingly Lord Auckland wrote again to his friend on the 23rd of June I have your valuable memoranda on the defences and dockyard of Bermuda he said and I am greatly obliged to you for them as will be Lord Grey I will promise to give them early and deep consideration in the meantime I will press the board to give immediate authority for the improvement of the drains of the hospital and of the supply of water I am greatly obliged to you for the steadiness with which you keep considerations of economy in view the disinterestedness with which you regard the schemes which have been proposed for a new Admiralty House at Bermuda will give you authority in checking expenditure in other objects the affairs of France we read in the same letter was suppressing the June Revolution are most unsettled there is no confidence in any man or party and there are discontent and mistrust and alarm all feel that things cannot go on in their present form but none can foresee what will follow it may be a continuance of internal dissension but in an aggravated form it may be a disposition to external violence at home the condition both of England and Ireland is quieter than it was there is more brightness in our prospects at home just now wrote Lord Auckland three weeks later on the 14th of July then has been the case for some months commerce and credit are reviving chartism is dormant and Ireland is less troublesome and on the continent there is a more general disposition to return to institutions of order I confess that I should be glad to hear that just at this moment there were a larger force than usual at Bermuda the presence there of Mitchell is apparently raising some excitement footnote the great chartist who having been tried and sentenced to transportation had been sent to Bermuda in May 1848 footnote ends though I cannot apprehend any formidable attempt at rescue yet the notoriety of the force being at or about the island may put an end to the vaporing menaces which are proclaimed and prevent any rash or foolish enterprise that may be projected thanks to you for your letter from Halifax Lord Auckland wrote again on the 21st of July and for your last cheats on the defences of Bermuda I do not think when we parted that the question of these defences would so soon come under serious discussion with a view to their practical efficiency but I do not yet think they will be put to the test by any formidable attempt for the rescue of Mr Mitchell such apprehensions of danger however as they occur occasionally do good lead men to think of and correct their weak points what you say of the accessible nature of the southern reef surprises me and strengthens your recommendation of gunboats as the means of defense which are leased to be neglected I only hang back in regard to them as the naval department could not bear the expense of such defences for the many colonies that would require them and they must be provided by the colonial governments our arrangements however may in some cases be subsidiary to theirs and wherever it is possible the craft of the dockyard and other establishments should be so fitted as to be capable of carrying a gun I'm glad you sent off the scourge to Bermuda she is a handy vessel and well commanded and the notoriety of her presence will not be without a useful effect what you may say of the character of the immigrants that are set forth from Ireland to our colonies is but too true yet it is better that they should go than accumulate famine and disturbance at home the present condition of Ireland menaces trouble and difficulty I am quite aware wrote Earl Grey who is then Secretary of State for the colonies to Lord Dundonald on the 3rd of August of the unfortunate tendency of the emigration to the North American provinces being chiefly from Ireland but I do not see how it is in the power of the government effectively to counteract the causes which are leading to the settlement of so large a proportion of Irish in this part of the Irish Dominion I fear this will hereafter be attended with very unfortunate results I beg to thank your lordship he also said for the important information you have transmitted to me and for the pains you have taken in considering the subject of the defence of Bermuda which I recommended to your attention before you left England I am in communication with Lord Auckland upon this subject and we shall endeavour to act upon your suggestions so under the financial difficulties with which we have to contend written out the trends in the next letter written by Lord Auckland to Lord Dundonald on the 18th of August he again referred to European politics there is with regard to the continent more promise of peace at this moment then there has been for a long time past and there is a tone of more moderation on the part of France towards other countries than I have ever expected to see but she yet has within her fearful elements of disturbance her government is yet unsettled and whenever determined it will be subject to strong popular influences and there can be no security I almost apprehend earlier mischief from the popular influences of the United States they have had a task of conquest and annexation and Cuba lies temptingly the uneasiness of the black population and many of the west India islands may lead to opportunities and disagreeable events may grow out of such circumstances but these are matters of speculation and nothing turns out as men think that they foresee I wish that your squadron was stronger for your weakened numbers for the many points that you have to cover our home politics are rather more satisfactory than they were that is to say the dangers of Irish insurrection and of formidable chartist outbreak are over but there is still much uneasiness and disaffection in both countries and the various events of Paris have given encouragement to strange enterprises and however no serious mischief from these quarters at present but we have in prospect a very general failure of the potato crop and a very indifferent harvest and here will be new causes of embarrassment there were many causes of embarrassment to English statesmen during the ensuing months for the present wrote Lord Auckland on the 1st of September there is a cordial and friendly understanding between the governments of this country in France and the chances of war seem to be distant it seems to be a prudent and moderate man but no one can predict into what causes the popular influences of France may force him or what changes may on any day occur the extreme communist party is weaker than it was and a royalist party for some king but not Louis Philippe is growing up and between these is a government of a republic and an army the first political difficulty will be that of Italy where the Austrians will not readily make any concession and where the French will not readily see them and accumulate strength it is to be seen whether their mediation and owls will be of any avail the condition of the present French government is precarious Lord Auckland said in another letter dated the 9th of November according to present appearances Louis Napoleon will be elected president not because he is personally esteemed but from his name with some parties and because it is anticipated by others that his rule will be short and that he will be made to make way for others the election of a French president is over Lord Auckland was able to say on the 25th of December and has been carried away at last with a rush and we are to have a new dynasty of Napoleons Louis Napoleon was supported by the army for his name by the bulk of the nation because Carvenac and the republic were hated and by the legitimists because they think he may presently be overthrown he is pronounced to be a foolish man and his course has been lately one of prudence and perseverance and he will enter upon power with good auspices but he will have many difficulties to contend with and we may yet see many changes before the condition of France will be settled British note letter ends the Earl of Auckland one of the worthiest and most generous statesman of his time Lord Dundon called Sirm friend and the friend of all those with whom he came in contact did not live to see these changes just a week after that letter was written Admiral John Dundas who had been his chief advisor on Admiralty matters had to write to Lord Dundon it is with great regret he said on the 1st of January 1849 I have to inform you of the death of Lord Auckland after a few hours illness he was on a visit to Lord Ashburton near Winchester on Saturday soothed with a fit never spoke after and died this morning you may well imagine the universal sorrow at such a loss and I am sure you will join in that for I know well the friendship that existed between you British note letter ends by Lord Auckland's letters it has been shown that among much else Lord Dundon made special study of the actual condition and possible improvement of Bermuda both as a convict settlement and as a centre of defence against any attacks that might be made upon the West Indies he suggested various beneficial changes for the strengthening of its fortifications and for lessening its unhealthy character by better drainage and other expedience in all of these he was supported by Lord Auckland but from the new 1st Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Francis Bearing he met with less encouragement Bermuda had been made a subject of inquiry by a parliamentary committee and the House of Commons being averse to any further expense Sir Francis Bearing was compelled to countermand much of the action that had been resolved upon with Sir Francis Bearing Lord Dundon would corresponded on little but strictly official matters their letters are of less general interest than those which passed between him and Lord Auckland End of Chapter 27 Recording by Timothy Ferguson, Gold Ghost, Australia Chapter 28 of the Life of Thomas, Lord Cochran, 10th Earl of Dundon completing the autobiography of The Seaman, Volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox-Born and others This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1848-1850 The forgoing chapter consists chiefly of extracts from letters addressed to Lord Dundon during 1848 In the present one free use will be made of his own journal of a tour among the colonies and islands whose interests he was appointed to watch as Admiral of the North American and West Indian Squadron Footnote published in 1861 as a pamphlet entitled Notes on the mineralology, government and condition of the British West India and North American Maritime colonies Footnote ends It furnishes much interesting information about the places visited and has also additional interest as illustrating the writer's tone of mind and method of investigation concerning every object that came in his way The journal describes his occupations during 8 months beginning with the summer of 1849 and includes reminiscences of less systematic visits to the various localities made during the previous year Leaving Halifax in Nova Scotia on the 14th of July Lord Dundon all proceeded northwards past Cape Breton Island to Newfoundland, the fisheries of which it was part of his duty to protect He entered St George's Harbour the chief resort of the fishermen and traders on the 27th of July It is situated, he said in the angle of a deep bay between Agile and Cape St George the town being on the promontory and having deep water close to it would be better placed for the herring fishery as these gregarious fish at the season of their arrival on the coast enter this harbour as it were into the cod of a net whence they are lifted into the boats by scoops and buckets With such slender means possessed by the inhabitants the average catch amounts to 22,000 barrels but hundreds of thousands might be taken where encouragement afforded Salmon are also caught in the neighbouring rivers which are alive with undisturbed and neglected trout The barrels in which the herrings are packed are said to cost two shillings and sixpence each and some new regulation requires additional hoops which to those concerned appears a grievance It is said that the herrings must realise ten shillings per barrel in order to repay costs and labour but the best advices from Halifax state that eight shillings only are offered by the merchants The French, I understand attend more to the cod fishery they are not at liberty to draw nets on the shore There is an American merchant here who deals in truck with the English settlers and obtains from them about a third part of the herrings court which he sends to the United States in such of the enormous American schooners employed in the fishery as enter this bay The unauthorised British settlers here are said to be very jealous of intruders as they consider they have an exclusive right to the land and fisheries in their actual possession and from which all are by treaty excluded They seem suspicious that the Wellesley might have some motive in entering the bay contrary to their interests No person whatever came on board nor did anyone come off to the ship even to offer himself as a pilot Some persons were lately desirous to set up a sawmill which would have been important as they obtained all their styles for herring casks etc from abroad but the sanction of the inhabitants could not be obtained There is no magistrate or civil or military authority no medical man and perhaps fortunately no attorney indeed There is no law though justice is done amongst themselves after their own manner There is a neat little church at which the bishop is now officiating and the people who are resorting to it seem well dressed and orderly On the 30th of July Lord Donald left the harbour to pass round the sharp promontory known as Cape St George About midway he said a remarkable change takes place and the vertical strata become in appearance horizontal along the whole shore of the projecting isthmus The colour of the strata is chiefly grey in parallel layers of varying hardness as appears from its projections and indentations I could not without delaying the ship longer than I wished Precure samples of the strata but there was no appearance of carboniferous minerals The same layers were visible in detached places up to the tops of the hills which are of considerable altitude though that is not denoted in the chart When we rounded Cape St George on the following morning the strata which before appeared parallel were observed to dip at a considerable angle towards the northeast and seemed were sufficiently exposed to view to be split into large diagonal flakes There is an island close off the shore about 5 miles to the eastward of the Cape called Red Island which is of quite a different formation seemingly red horizontal layers as a sandstone of a soft nature as is obvious from the encroachments of the sea The peninsula opposite to this island is of considerable elevation as far as round head when see it gradually lowest to a point about 10 miles farther to the eastward Here the level ground at first seems to be alluvial but on closer observation inundated rocks are seen to protrude in flakes dipping into the sea The bay formed by this promontory is of great magnitude There are several islands at its mouth here, but there being no chart and no motive for entering it we stood on towards the mountains on the main shore, some of which are very high In many parts the contortion of the strata and the confusion of all kinds of materials are extraordinary The sides of the mountains on the shore are clad with moss alone trees have very stunted growth only appearing in the sheltered valleys No visible portion of the shore seems capable of producing food for man From the western coast of Newfoundland it sailed due north to visit Labrador With its natural resources and the neglect of them, he was much surprised The British possessions in Labrador he said extend over a tract of country as great as the northern regions of Russia from St. Petersburg towards the pole where in the Ural mountains compensate the government for the sterility of the soil I have often felt surprised at the indifference evidenced by the Spanish government towards developing the resources of its possessions but it is with still greater astonishment I view the supinus of our own government in leaving this vast tract unexplored and its probable treasures undiscovered Similar complaints were suggested to him by his observations on the eastern side of Newfoundland to which he sailed down on the 6th of August We passed several ports wherein there were numerous French ships and square rigged vessels dismantled and schooners and multitudes of fishing boats in full activity in the offing These schooners and fishing boats are manned by crews of the large French vessels which are laid up in port and constitute depots as well as the means of transporting the produce of the fishery to France an arrangement highly advantageous to the French marine and which we erroneously abandoned by erecting Newfoundland into a colonial government thus surrendering our deep sea fishery entirely even without rendering the inshore fishery available to the newly erected colony throughout which it languishes for want of a stimulus or an adequate reward even to induce the impoverished inhabitants of the shore to avail themselves of their small and almost costless boats to catch fish which by reason of the bounties given by France and America are unsailable with profit in any country in Europe It is grievous to observe the difference in the mode of carrying on the British fishery compared to that of the French The former in rudely constructed skiffs with a couple of destitute looking beings in party coloured rags and fine well equipped schooners which may be called tenders to their larger ships the seamen uniformly dressed in blue with joinville hats looking as men ought and may be expected to look whose interests and those of the parent state are understood to be in unison and attended to as such At St John's, Newfoundland Lord Donald made some stay before sailing down to Sydney in Cape Breton Then he returned to Halifax to go thence for a second visit to Bermuda Respecting Bermuda as we have seen he had much correspondence This island, he now said ever since the discovery of the opening in the reefs by Captain Hurd has been deemed of much naval importance and plans were formulated by the highest military authorities for its defence A naval arsenal also has been designed for the accommodation of a large establishment of ships of war Distant islands however cannot be defended on principles which would be most judicious at home by the erection of forts in all quarters that could be occupied by an enemy It is obvious that under the circumstances of Bermuda troops cannot be spared from the parent state permanently to garrison the multitude of forts which on such a principle of defence would be requisite If they could the expense would be enormous and therefore I cannot dismiss this subject without an expression of my satisfaction at the intelligence I had lately received that such extravagant and unavailing system of fortification has been suspended In my opinion it is a great error to imagine that naval officers are unfit to be consulted respecting maritime defences Had it not been for so mistaken a notion many hundreds of thousands of pounds perhaps I might say a million might have been saved I unhesitatingly assert that gunboats not only would suffice but are by far the most available and infinitely the cheapest defensive force among the rocks around the island of Bermuda The coloured population of this island are a fine race, incomparably superior to the generality of the coloured population in the West Indies, they are accustomed to navigate in their commercial vessels their lives are almost spent in boats and no better crews could be got for the defence of their own island than they would prove themselves to be The existence of this solitary island so far from the continent of North America we further read in Lord Dundonald's journal is a circumstance meriting the attention of geologists as the uniform material of which it is composed it is all of a calcirous nature but differing in condition from any of the other islands of the same substance the strata are exposed in the perpendicular cliffs on the seashore in numerous precipices from 100 feet to minor altitudes and are composed either of the most minute shells or of parts of shells so triturated that they scarcely indicate their origin in some places however are laminae containing shells in a far more perfect state all of a white colour with the exception of one which I found on digging a cave of a semi-circular shape of a red colour and almost as large as a noister shell the whole of the substance of Bermuda can be burnt into good lime but there is an injurated calcirous stone often containing many perfect shells on the island on which the naval yard is being built which is preferred as more adhesive and better in quality although there are no indications of volcanic products on this island yet it exhibits manifest proofs that volcanic force has raised it from the depths of the ocean in what stage of injuration it was at that period is difficult to conjecture the hills and veils throughout the whole extent of Bermuda have the stratified calcirous material generally conforming on all sides to the inclination of the surface the conditions in which the strata present themselves as manifestly broken by force in the deep cutting in the road which enters into the enclosure around the government house one of these breaks appears at the apex of the hill dividing its sides which here incline towards the centre exposing a wedged formed supplementary part that fills up the intersty in the grounds of the admiralty house curious instances of unconformable strata are laid bare in old quarries these indicate some other cause for their nonconformity than that before assigned and I am quite at loss to imagine how these stratified materials could have been placed one above another at such different angles by the action of water or in any other way without appearance of disruption there are caves upon the island containing large stalactites there is one on Tucker's island where these stalactites reach from the top of the cave far below the surface of the salt water I am not aware of any other instance where similar crystallisations have taken place under the seawater it seems to lead to the belief that this island was at some time less submerged there are other caves much larger and one which goes in so far that the officers who accompanied me did not scramble to its end this cave is formed by two large masses of calciarius matter having been reared up one against the other I have seen some very beautiful crystallisations taken from another cave recently found in a quarry at Ireland island but the absence of petrifications here for I have never seen one constitutes a remarkable difference between this formation and that on the island of Antigua where the roads are almost made with petrifactions in clearing the surface of the rock as has lately been done at the quarries and in laying in the foundation of the new conflict barracks the most irregular formation is exposed and large holes are found contiguous to each other in the white calciarius rock which are filled with the substance resembling chocolate in its colour unlike everything else upon the island from Bermuda Lord Dundonald sailed down to Barbados where he arrived on the 5th of February the negroes he said who are much more numerous on this island than on any other of the West Indies appear to be well fed and cheer in their dispositions on clumps of wood or blocks of stone a mode of construction which enables them when tired of or displeased with their locality to transport them elsewhere I was told that a street of stone huts constructed for their use is almost abandoned by reason of the immobility of such residences I consider this locomotive propensity a favourable trait in their character behind the barracks we stopped at a hut on the rising ground where on the barracks order have been placed and assuredly I never saw a more contented scene there was a young negro and I believe his wife together with an old woman perhaps the grandmother of the child she fondled we made inquiries to their mode of living and they showed us green peas seasoned with red pepper ready to be cooked, yams and cassava bread as good as oatmeal cakes these peas grow on large bushes and vegetables of all kinds surround their hut from Barbados Lord Dundonald proceeded by way of Tobago to Trinidad on the morning of the 14th of February he said we weighed and returned through the dragon's mouth shaping our course for the great natural curiosity of Trinidad the pitch lake which I hoped might be rendered useful for fuel for our steamships so important in the event of war as fuel is only obtained at present from Europe the United States and Nova Scotia are never resorted to hence could this pitch be rendered applicable as fuel our vessels would be supplied when an enemy would be almost deprived of the use of steam in these seas we arrived at La Brea and before daybreak on the following morning we were on the road to the lake or rather on a stream of bitumen now indurated which in former ages overflowed the lake indeed the bitumen beneath this road still seems to be on the move as shown by curvilineal ridges on its surface like waves receding from stone thrown into water the appearance of the lake is most extraordinary the vast sheet of bitumen extends until lost amidst luxurious vegetation its circumference is full three miles exclusive of the creeks which doubly extent the bitumen surface is of a dark brown waxy consistency except in one or two places where the fluid still exudes obviously this spring is in full vigour beneath for the whole surface of the lake is formed into protuberances like the segments of a globe pressed together having hollows between filled with rain water which except in the immediate vicinity of the bituminous springs is in odorous and without taste an extraordinary fact showing that this bitumen is of a nature quite different from that of pyrotechnic mineral or vegetable tar in its dry state it is quite insoluble in water though when charged with essential oil as it exudes from nature's laboratory it imparts a pungent and unpleasant taste a considerable quantity of gas bubbles up through these bituminous springs showing that decomposition is still active amongst the materials whence it exudes some of the recent bitumen has an odour resembling vegetable gum Mr Johnson the very obliting proprietor of a neighbouring estate had the goodness to cause some of his labourers and a cart to bring samples to the beach means of transport however were so inadequate that we had recourse to digging the more impure pitch on the beach in order to prosecute our trials for its substitution as fuel this bitumen which had flowed upwards of a mile from the lake was combined with earthy and other substances which it had encountered in its course various attempts had heretofore been made to apply the bitumen to useful purposes but without success as we may judge from the total abandonment of those trials and expectations which for a brief period induced its shipment to England with a view to its application to the pavements of London and other cities all excavation has consequently ceased and so low is the estimation in which the bitumen is held the duty on embarkation is only one half penny per ton the nature of this bitumen is very different from that of coal when exposed to a naked fire it becomes fluid and runs through the bars before gases disengage or at least before it is raised to a temperature at which it will ignite perhaps it requires more or purer air than enters through the bars and furnaces a conjecture which seems to be confirmed by the dense smoke speedily produced the plains of Trinidad wrote Lord Dundonall of a fertile soil which simply by clearing the ground is capable of being rendered the most productive in the west India islands for the growth of sugar and whatever can be cultivated in a climate most uniform in its temperature most congenial to tropical plants free from the evils of hurricanes and from all impediments to vegetation I am confident that if the head of the governor were not bound by restrictions and routine the progress of Trinidad would soon verify this opinion Lord Harris the present governor nobly tended a portion of his official income in alleviation of the burdens which are so severely felt in the present depressed state of agriculture and commerce but from some cause his lordship's liberal intention was not realised this example would have proved salutary as it must have been followed by reductions throughout other west India islands these resources are even in a worse state than those of Trinidad is it reasonable whilst the ground has ceased to be cultivated because production is unprofitable not only that the land should continue to be taxed at the rate it was in prosperous times but that a duty should be levied on the exportation of its produce is it reasonable that whilst householders can obtain no rent and have no income save the bare means of providing a scanty subsistence they should be assessed at the rack of form evaluation can any property be more entitled to protection than that of the owners of the soil or of the dwellings they inhabit and yet all these as appears by numerous gazetted sales are sacrificed to the collection of sums the bulk of which is uselessly and prejudicially expended whilst the government of the parent state has alleviated the burdens on the productive classes is it just that taxes on food and on all the necessaries of life should be continued throughout the colonies and that even their production should be intolerably burdened with local imposts whilst complaints are allowed and true of the absence of all remuneration from the sources which once constituted the prosperity of those now impoverished and oppressed possessions the above observations do not apply exclusively to Trinidad but to the whole of the islands which scarcely differ in degree in the causes of ruin which seem irredeemable by any authority except the literature of the parent state I am persuaded that the chief of the colonial department at home would endeavour to counteract the causes of widely spread and increasing ruin were he in possession of correct information but popular representations of grievances often embodying misapprehensions as to their true origin and accompanied by suggestions of impracticable remedies are denied or disputed encounter statements by interested officials so that the colonial minister is bewildered and can form no correct judgment from such conflicting statements I hold it to be impossible that the monstrous absurdities and violations of every principle of good government which exist throughout these western colonies could be tolerated an instant were their consequences known and believed by those in power or were they laid before the British public by any person on whose judgment and opinion they could rely cannot be credited that even in the island of Trinidad not only multitudes of valuable properties are brought to sail the responsibility of their owners to pay the fiscal demands but the properties are consigned to the government auctioneer even for so small an assessment as three fourths of a dollar this is nevertheless the fact the emancipation of the slaves was a glorious act but the rescue of these noble positions from ruin and the restoration of prosperity to an integral part of the empire would redound to the honour of anyone who would successfully advocate the cause of reason and justice not only on the principles of equity but with the less noble view of gain to the parent state as it is certain that the consumption of British manufactured articles has fallen off in these colonies to an extent which has not been counterbalanced by the increase of exports anticipated from the questionable policy of concession to Brazil in which I have reason to believe the supply of articles required for the slave trade constitutes a large proportion Reflections of that sort occurred to Lord Dundon old again and again around from Trinidad he visited all the principle British west India islands the last at which he called on his way back to Halifax being Jamaica no doubt he said the generous and noble act by which in the reign of his late majesty slavery was abolished produced a prejudicial change in the economy of the sugar plantations not withstanding large amount awarded to the proprietors as the some so paid were for the most part immediately transferred to mortgages leaving the proprietors in possession of the soil but without the means of paying the expense of its cultivation by free labour this is an evil which time has not remedied and of course in the estimation of those who are inconsequence losers furnishes the pretext for imputing to the black population a degree of reluctance to labour far exceeding the reality those who pay a reasonable price for work and are punctual in their payments do not fail to get as many labourers as they require I assert this not from any vague hearsay but from various unquestionable and authentic documents amongst which are the examinations taken by committees of the House of Assembly appointed to inquire into the causes and difficulties alleged to exist in the cultivation of the states whilst the poverty of the planters and the destitution of the labouring population is so universal it seems most extraordinary on inspecting the custom house returns to find almost every article of necessary consumption brought from abroad paying high duties on entry whilst the concessions of small patches of land to the negroes whom there is no capital to employ would if accorded to produce food and in a great measure dispense with such injurious importations is it reasonable to instruct the negroes in their rights as men and open their minds to the humble ambition of acquiring spots of land and then throw every impediment possible in the way of its gratification I perceive by the imposts and expenses on the transfer of small properties that a barrier almost insurmountable is raised to their acquisition by the coloured population I've learned that small lots of crown lands are scarcely ever disposed of though three fourths of these lands are still in the hands of the crown it is lamentable to see the negroes in rags lying about the streets of Kingston to learn that the jails are full the penitentiaries incapable of containing more inmates whilst the port is destitute of shipping the wharves abandoned and the storehouses empty or much if not all of this might be remedied it may be asked how is this to be affected and I answer by justice, resolution, patriotism and disinterestedness never can this wretched state of affairs be remedied so long as taxes on the necessaries of life are heaped on an impoverished population never can the peasantry raise their heads with a contented aspect whilst every animate and inanimate thing around them is taxed to the utmost not only is there a tax on land and on the shipment of its produce on houses, outhouses and gardens on horn cattle and horses but on asses and pigs and the severest penalties are enacted for concealment or suppression in the returns officials are employed for the gathering of pittances which do not defray the expensive collection the harbour dues and exactions are such that no vessel, when it can be avoided is bought into the port of Kingston consequently, though Jamaica is admirably situated even more favourably than St Thomas the former port is abandoned whilst that of the latter is filled with the shipping of all nations Lord Dundonald detailed the substance of these opinions in a letter to Earl Grey the secretary for the colonies I have to thank your lordship Lord Grey replied, for your letter the observations of a person of your lordship's knowledge and experience upon the present state of our colonies are most interesting and useful to me I am aware that there exists much distress in the West Indies at present but I am sorry to say I do not see what parliament can do towards removing it beyond freeing their trade from the remaining restrictions by the repeal of the navigation laws which I hope will now be soon accomplished I own I quite differ from your lordship as to the propriety of restoring to the planters the monopoly in the British market they've only enjoyed and I believe that the permanent interest of these colonies would be injured instead of being advanced by doing so End of Chapter 28 Regarding by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast, Australia Chapter 29 of the life of Thomas Lord Cochran by Richard Fox-Born This LibraVox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1851 to 1853 The old Dunald's time of service as admiral of the West Indian and North American stations expired in April 1851 On the 31st of December 1850 Sir Francis Bearing wrote to inform him that Sir George Seymour had been appointed his successor It is with some regret, said Sir Francis that I have performed this duty as it has been my pleasure to have been in communication with you and feel that an important command has been placed in the hands of an officer of your lordship's high professional character and merits You must permit me in making this announcement to add my sincere thanks for the manner in which you conducted the duties of your position and particularly for the valuable information You have communicated to the board and the attention you have paid to the many points you have brought before you Let it end On the 14th of May, Lord Dunald left Halifax Portsmouth at the beginning of June During the next few years, his mind was much occupied with the further consideration of various topics suggested by his observations and explorations on the other side of the Atlantic It will be enough to make brief allusion to the most important of these Subjects of heart he regret to him repeatedly bought under his notice during the three years stay in the North American and West Indian waters were the great depression of the British fisheries in the neighbourhood of Newfoundland and yet greater depression of trade Consequent on the remission of slavery in the more southern colonies for both he sought to provide a remedy he urged as has already been shown in the extracts from his journal which was published and attracted much attention in the summer of 1852 that special help should be given to these colonies not only by the removal of all restrictions upon their commerce and manufacturers but by protective enactments in their favour His reasons for this view as regards the Newfoundland Fisheries in which he thought not alone of the interests of the colonists was set forth by him in a letter addressed to the Times in August 1852 were not the question of maintaining our nurseries for seamen he said more important than commercial considerations I should not venture through your favourite to trespass on public attention regarding the North American fisheries but perceiving that impressions are likely to be made by writers avoiding responsibility for Erone's opinions by withholding their names I felt it a duty explicitly to state that it is not the amount of fish caught and cured to the price at which it can be sold at home or abroad or to the number of persons employed in the fishery but to their nationality and vocation to which I attach importance in order that our fisheries shall form hardy British seamen in oceanic vessels like those employed under the bounties paid by North America and France these being the considerations the question is not whether it is consistent with the enlightened theory of free trade to pay a premium which shall transfer capital from the pockets of one class to those of another but whether it is wiser and more economical for the community at large to uphold such nursery or to maintain even a skeleton of all our establishments perhaps to build, equip and employ additional ships of war, squadrons or fleets to watch perchance contend with power thus cheaply developed by rival nations I ask whether the bounty given to enable team packets to cross the ocean is more consistent with free trade principles than a bounty awarded to our fisheries as a nursery for seamen a colonial premium is indeed talked of and by those unacquainted with facts who do not foresee its operation it may be deemed a substitute for a bounty by the parent's state but I advised the assert that such colonial premium would not rear one disposable seamen for our naval service and that even the colonial fisherman would derive no commensurate advantage in the impoverishing effect of the inveterate system of truck dealing that boat fishermen, even from the harbour of the capital of Newfoundland are chiefly paid by daily wages the advantages derived from the employment of two half-idle fishermen being greater to the truck master in the absence of an available market than the like amount of fish caught by one customer it is manifest by the true theory of free trade that it is unimportant whether the French and Americans obtain their bait and catch fish or not or even whether the world is supplied by them or by us but it is not so if foreign nations thereby rear employ and maintain in time of peace 50,000 seamen who in the event of war are at the back of their respective governments while Britain the rightful owner has not one available seamen from the fisheries on subject to such vital importance it is essential that general theories however good shall not be supported in detail by false reasoning for evading appellations inconsistent with the truth 9 tenths of our western colonies are still taxed on every article of food and on all existing property animate and inanimate a state of things are like adverse to production and trade is it reasonable to imagine if the interests of colonists are not considered jointly with those of the parent state that they can continue to administer to our wants, comforts and luxuries above all to our commercial nursery for seamen the source of a national greatness a parliamentary investigation is indispensable to afford a chance of escape to these noble possessions of the crown from impending ruin letter ends for the relief of the west Indian colonies Lord Dundonald was anxious to obtain the intervention of parliament but he believed that he himself had discovered one source of possible advancement for them his remarks concerning the pitch lake of Trinidad have already been partly quoted having first explored the lake in the beginning of 1849 he at once recognised the importance of its stores of bitumen and much of his leisure from official duties was employed in observations and experiments with a view to its being utilised he was soon convinced as to its great and various importance the decomposed bitumen that lay in vast beds around the lake he found exceedingly valuable as a manure and he perceived that the liquid mass of which boundless supplies might be obtained could be put to many very valuable uses he discerned the presence of a new material of commerce which might prove of inculcable benefit not only to Trinidad but to all the other west India islands therefore he urged its employment and though but little heed was paid to his advice the successful results of the few cases in which it was adopted fully justify his opinions after his return to England he also sought zealously to make his discovery beneficial to himself he was to a great extent baffled by the obstacles common to new projects but his projects afford curious illustration of the activity of his mind and the fertility of his inventive powers used as a mastic he said in a concise enumeration of the uses to which he found that the bitumen might be put it is peculiarly suited to unite and ensure the durability of hydraulic works it renders the foundations and superstructure of buildings impermeable to humidity it is admirably adapted by its resistance to decomposition by the most powerful solvents to the construction of sewers and being tasteless it is an excellent coating to water pipes aqueducts and reservoirs when masticated and prepared it is a substitute for costly gums as applied to numerous purposes combined with a small portion of lignis matter it constitutes a fuel of greater evaporating power than coal and when pulverized and scattered over growing potato plants or other vegetables it prevents their destruction by insects or blight and acts as a fertilizer of the soil essential and viscid oils are obtained by various well-known processes from bitumenious substances but none in such abundance and possessing such valuable properties as the oils extracted from the bitumen of the lake of Trinidad as well as from the petroleum of springs still in activity readers note footnote the following patents for the use of the Trinidad bitumen were taken out by Lord Don Donald 1851 improvements in the construction and manufacture of sewers, drains, waterways, pipes, reservoirs and receptacles for liquids or solids and the making of columns, pillars, capitals, pedestals, bases and other useful and ornamental objects from a substance ever here to for employed for such manufacture 1852 improvements in coating and insulating wire 1852 improving bitumenous substances thereby rendering them available for purposes to which they never here to for have been successfully applied 1853 improvements in producing compositions or combinations of bitumenous, resinous and gummy matters and thereby obtaining products useful in the arts and manufacturers 1853 improvements in apparatus flowing pipes in the earth and in the juncture of such pipes the observations on the long desired yet still unaccomplished proceeding whereby to affect the embankment of the Thames and free the river from pollution by the Earl of Dundonald are especially interesting at the present time it will probably be admitted that the Thames above bridge is unnecessarily broad unless considered as a recipient for backwater and that the long margin of shallow water between London Bridge and that of Vauxhall is of little importance even for that purpose as gravel, sand and other substances may advantageously be removed from the central bed of the river fully to compensate for the water that would be excluded by an embankment of one-sixth on both sides of the channel an easy method of accompanying this object would be to cut a ditch on each shore equidistant from the centre and fill it with bitumenous concrete within this a main sewer might be excavated and constructed in like manner of conglomerated gravel and sand from the spot it will of course occur that roads may be carried over the entrances of the various docks by swing bridges yet these entrances present obstacles to a direct line of sewers to enable the difficulty to be overcome very solid tunnels floored with hard pavement stones set in bitumen may be caused to descend in subverted curves below the entrances of the docks where all matters deposited may occasionally be removed by seesaw locomotive dredges on wheels worked either by mechanical power or by the current acting directly on the dredge while this urging of the importance of bitumen and initiating many mechanical operations which have quickly and extensively been turned to the great advantage of society Lord Dunn-Donald was not unmindful of his older inventions and the arguments by which he had long sought to promote the naval strength of england of these inventions one in particular that of his improved steam boilers had been largely adopted and found beneficial during his absence from england and its use continued after his return from them he hoped and not in vain that good would result to the general extension of naval science he was cheered during the last years of his life by seeing the adoption of many of the views on these matters which he had advocated long before others have yet to be enforced end of chapter 29 recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast Australia