The National Register. — London, England, 1809-08-06 00:00:00

i / a AUG. d 111111 4, 111111111.1111111111.1. prestled b Lord Cochrane, A • .41 • 6`• THE NATIONAL REGISTER. ...rd it may be cousidered a most for tunate circumstance that the attempt was deferred, for it ap pears by a general order found on board one of the enemy's ships, and now delivered into court, that the French, to protect their Ueet from al eick. had equipped seventy-three launches and other boats, in five divisions, to guard it froin surprise during the night, and to tow off our fire-ships on their approach. and the tranquillity of the 10th would have afforded the enemy full opportunity of availing themselves of this protection, but of this they were leprived, by the very blowing weather on the subsequent night, Aiwa the fire.ships were sent in. I have here to notice, that some Ih‘S vion9 to the attack, I. had, to deceive the enemy, adopted the preco'llioll of ordering out of the hotels vessels of every 'description that were not -to be en gagoa in the intended operations, to assist and support the fire ships. His Lordship then gave adetailedaccouet of the plan of attack, to shew that hart he sent the ships as desired by Lord Coch rane, they would have been exposed not only to the point blank shat from the batteries, but also to the broadsides of the above meutioned two line of battle ships then lying in Aix Road, and which even, without assistance from the batteries, must have entirely crippled every one of our ships in theirapproach throtulai so narrow a channel ; besides which, some of the grounded ships were sufficiently upright, and so situated as to enable them to bring their guns to bear upon the entrance. " I would here submit to the Court (adds his Lordship) whe ther tee idea which appears to have been entertained by Lord Corkrane, that a force could not have been sent in so as to have arrived before low water in the morning, was not in itself pre posterous and impracticable. Upon the fullest consideration that no possible attempt could he made until the tide had flowed for some time, unless a previous' change of wind should rake lark on the enemy's grounded ships."—His Lordship then states at great length the arrangements, formed by him; and after describing; the unfavourable state of the weather, says,'' I think the Court will allow that I am completely borne out in what I have setted, by the sentiments which it is ill he proved, were et pre-,,,d h v Lord Cochrane, when tie came oo board the Caledonia after the act ion, that nad 1 acted upon his signal, and in at that time half the fleet. he caleulated upon the Ins., of three or four of his Alajesty's litre of battle ships; and I have eo you tO ohserve, that if in defiance of the obstruction of the otaia - slips of the enemy I had sent in a force before the ahree saips oal warped off the Polars SO0:11, it is a positive fact that it could not have advanced to the attack of those three ships, on account of the shoal water."—ii is Lordship next proceeds to qa-ate the authority of Admiral Stopford and other Officers, in respect mu the imprartii alias t v of sending in ships of the line at the titan required, and of course, that nothing . could he effected by them."—His Lordship, after some account of the; subsequent disp rsitimi of the fleet anus proceeds:— By the foregoing narrative, as well as by the log and signal big of the Caledonia (to which, as also to every correct log of the fleet, I am as desirous to refer, as Lord Cochrane ItION he, it will, I conceive, be seen, that I fully meet the charge which has been preferred against she; and if the imprcSsioo out of this inquiry should prove less favourable to Lord Coch rane than that which may have been produced by my letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Adiniralta of the 14th of April, his Lordship mast he sensible, that as the instigator of this Cow t Martial, he will himself have bees the cause of this change of sentiment. I bave keen willing to grant to his Lordship the fullest credit for his personal bravery, and for his judicious man ner or approaching the enemy in the Imperieuse, to which poiilts the cemmendations expressed in my letter of the 14th of April related. For, in fact, the success of the first part of the enterprise, as I have before observed, arose from the terror ex cited by the appearance of the fire-ships, as they failed in the principle effect they were intended to produce, and the blast of the explosion vessels under his Lordship's most immediate direc tion, riid not take place by any means so near to the enemy's ships as his Lordship had projected. The general management, however, of the attack, was so successful, that, under that im pression, I did not hesitate to express in my public letter, the degree of approbation which is therein ntarketl, passing over circumstances not altogether satisfactory to me, and not at that time secesntry to be brought into public notice. The Court is now in possession of all the facts and circumstances on which 1 keit my justification, and it remains to be considered how far they are affected by the evidence produced on the part of the prosecution."—After some further remarks in respect to the evidence of flit log books, he toys": " I have no doubt the signal made by Lord Cochraue. on the morning of the 12th of April, which forms a part of the charge against p.m, will, combined with other subsequent sig flats, appear to the Court unprecedented, and improper; of this ids Lordship seems now to be aware, from the manner in w hich tie has expressed himself in his evidence, and that. there may be no doubt of the accuracy of the signal-hook of the Caledonia, I must again call before you the signal-officer, to spew that the signal on the 13th of April, said to have been observed by the Imperieuse, was never made by the Caledonia, and also that the signal of the 14th, recorded in the Caledonia's log as made by the Imperieuse, ' that if permitted to remain can destroy the enemy,' is denied by Lord Cochrane ever to have been made." It now only remains for me to examine what manner Lord Cochrane has attempted by his unsupported opinion to maintain the charge. This is to be collected front the long narrative evi- - deuce by his Lordship. It cannot, lam sure. he deemed ne cessary for etc, to follow him through the , hole of this evis deuce. In the course of his evidence Lord Cochrane in allusion to the danger which would attend his going with encourage ment to the attack of the ships at the mouth of the Charante, says, speaking of himself, " A heavy, a very heavy responsi bility would lie upon my shoulders incase of disasters, which in • military operations are sometimes unavoidable ; if I had had my cable shot away, for instance, I might have been stink ;" vet whilst on the one hand his Lordship seems to have been so '. 4 eni Me of the weig,ht of responsibility imposed liven himself by the command of a frigate, and a few small vessels, he appears MI the other to have been unmindful of the far heavier desree of responsibility attached to my command, during 'o complicated an undertaking. In alluding to the dangers, of which I must take this opportunity of tut:taint:ha n s five furnaces for heating shot, which Lord Cochrane reported to me to have himself dis covered when he went in to reconnoiter them, previous to the place, all I earl to do was to make every preparation for the a :l:tack, Lord Cochrane states, that 74 gun ships may go into an inner anehorage between the Buoyart Shoal and the Palias at any time of tide. Ile asserts also that the aide rises only frir) ten to twelve feet. By the French chart, which he produced to confirm his deposition, it appears that there is a bank to p: 53 over before ships can get into that anchorage w ith from eighteen to twenty feet at low water. But by the charts of the Master of the Fleet and 'Master of the Caledonia, who sounded upon the bauk, it appears that there is only from fifteen to nineteen feet, aod the bank full of knowls. Under these circumstances if Lord Cochrane's opinion be correct, relative to the rise and fall of the tide, no man in his senses would venture a 74 over it, even in the smoothest water at less than two-fourths flood, and therefore as to the refuge that this inner anchorage would af ' ford a crippled ship, how little would the probability he that the opportunity of limb tide and wind shoultt offer for a crippled ship, at the moment in which it was most wanted, to pass over the bank, and get out of the reach of the batteries; but if I had e-, en previously known as much of this inneranchorage as I now do, I would not, as the wind was at the time, have done others o ice than 1 did ; and if Lord Cochrane really knew what he professed to know when he was in Aix Roads, it was a duty im periously incumbent upon him to have communicated that infor mation on the afternoon of the 12th, to the Captains of line of battle ships which he saw in so perilous a situation, aground nithia point blank range of the batteries. Lord Cochrane has expressed an opinion, that two or three sail of the line sent in on the morning of the hth might, by 'awning upon the verge of the Buoyart shoal,• have passed to leeward of the two French ships remaining at anchor. This I de clare to have been absolutely impracticable, as well from the raking fire of the two shipsafloat, and of the upright one on shore, in our approach, and the fire from the batteries, as from the shoal water close under their lee. The testimony of Capt. itodd, the only witness examined on this point no the part of the 'prosecution, corroborates my opinion, which I have no doubt will be fully supported by the evidence of other competent witnesses I propose calling. With respect to the force of the Aix batteries, I apprehended what appeared to Lord Cochrane and to the Master of his ship as ruins of the fort were in fact materials for improving or increasing the worki.— Relative to the service that bad been performed, and w hat might possibly still be first attempted towards the destruction of the enemy's ships, Lord Cochrane states, a conversation to have passed between his Lordship and msself, on his return from Aix Roads, in which he represents we to have said " that if he threw blame, it would appear like arrogantly claiming all the merit to myself." I however trust the Court will not conceive that the expression of blame has any allusion to my :i eonduct ) far as I have before said, Lord Cochrane never ea•