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

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
'.4eni 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:han 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
:ieonduct) far as I have before said, Lord Cochrane never ea•