The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 2, 1860.

of H.M. bomb Vesuvius—though it was not until
the 27th June, 1793, that this glory and paragon
and wonder (as he soon proved himself to be)
even of the British Royal Navy first went to sea
as a stripling middy of eighteen. This was on
board the Hind, of 28 guns. Within two years
from that date, namely, as early as the 17th of
May, 1798, young COCHRANE, not then of age,
while acting-lieutenant of the Thetis, 42 guns,
received his baptism of fire and tasted the
first sweets of victory, by aiding that ship with the
Hussar of 28 guns, in defeating a French squadron
of five sail off the coast of North America, two of
the enemy's vessels being captured. Who needs
now to be told, however, of his romantic career and
his daring exploits ? The former is epitomised in the
simple dates of his Commissions :—Lieutenant, May
24, 1799; Commander, March 28, 1800; Captain,
August 8, 1801 ; Rear-Admiral, May 2, 1832 ;
Vice-Admiral, November, 23, 1841; Admiral,
March 21, 1851, and ultimately Rear-Admiral of
the United Kingdom. As to the exploits of Lord
COCHEANE, they are inscribed in imperishable cha-
racters upon the annals or the heroic country, not
the least among the glories of which is to have
given birth to a resplendent genius, and a daunt-
less soul like that of DUNDONALD.

Remembering this among the indisputable
glories of England, aid remembering, at the
same time, all that was actually accomplished in
her behalf, in vindicating the honour of her
flag, and in evidencing the might of her stretched
out arm, by the daring valour of that grand old earl
now lying dead in his house at Kensington, we
cannot but repeat that mournful apostrophe ad-
dressed by a great living poetess to England, when
hearing pronouneed the mere name of St. Helena—
" Bat oh ! It was not well, it was not well,
Nor tuneful with thy lofty-chaunted past."

It was not well, it was not well, in the same
way, bearing in recollection the recom-
pense vouchsafed by his ungrateful coun-
try, during many years of his glorious
life to this hero of all but matchless audacity.
Imagine a man like this—a sea Captain whose
deeds of daring were never surpassed in daring not
even by HORATIO NELSON—a glorious creature,
whose name, like NELsoN's, had become the boast
of his profession and the wonder of all the navies
of Europe—imagine a man like this, suddenly,
upon a misapprehension, stripped of the few com-
paratively insignificant honours awarded to him,
honours won at the edge of his keen sword—and
how stripped of them? In a manner the most
ignominious and contumelious in every way
imaginable ! Imagine Lord COCHRANE, upon a
misapprehension, as we have said—a§ was evidenced,
in fact, by his re-instatement, years afterwards, by
King WILLIAM IV., in all the little honours of
which he had been thus unjustly deprived—imagine
him thus unjustly sentenced to pay a fine of £5OO,
to be thrown for twelve months into a debtor's
prison, and at the end of that time to stand in the
pillory ! I nagine his name struck out of
the Navy List a list that contained no
brighter, braver name than that of THOMAS
Lord COCHRANE! Imagine that noble name of his
erased from the catalogue of the Knights of the
Bath—his arms and banner removed from their
stall by the heralds, removed thus with the utmost
possible indignity, and actually kicked out of
Henry ll.'s Chapel, Westminster Abbey ! It
makes one's heart-blood boil with indignation to
bear these miserable and deplorable facts in re-
collection. And, as Englishmen, we remember
them with all the more poignant sense of shame,
seeing that the injustice of all these disgraceful acts
was formally proclaimed upon two several occasions
by the Sovereign and by the Government—first by
the reinstatement of Lord COCHRANE in his rank
in the British Navy in 1830 by King WILLIAM
IV,, and secondly by the Order of the Bath being
restored to him by her Most Gracious MAJESTY on
May 22, 1847, many years after he had succeeded
upon his father's death to the ancient Earldom of
Dundonald. Has England no further expiation to
make upon the grave of this great man ? Has she
no posthumous homage to offer to his glorious
memory ? Bearing in painful recollection that one
deplorable incident already here referred to as
having occurred many long years ago at the
porch of HENRY VII.'S chapel, we cannot but
think that England ought now, if only for the
sake of her own honour, and in evidence
however tardy of her grateful sense of
the resplendent services of this great Sailor
Earl now lying dead at Kensington—England,
we say, ought to see that he has fitting
sepulture nowhere else than in that grand old
abbey, whose roof-beams in that event will shelter
no more heroic dust than that which throbbed with
life but yesterday in the bosom of THOMAS
COCHRANE, Earl of DUNDONALD.

MR. BULL AIL

(From the _Daily News.)

We have received the following communica.
tion :

" The Chancellor of the Exchequer presents his
compliments to the Editor, and begs that his name
may be put down for a contribution of fifty pounds
to any fund which may be raised for the purpose
of relieving Mr. Hullah from the pecuniary diffi-
culties which are stated to have been brought upon
that great benefactor to the public by the recent
unhappy burning of St. Martin's Hall.
" Hawarden, Oct. 31, 1860."

We trust that the publication of Mr. Gladstone's
hearty and liberal offer will stimulate those nearer
friends of Mr. Hullah on whom the duty more
especially devolves to organise some means by
which the public may express the high respect and
gratitude with which it regards that gentleman.
It gives us the greatest pleasure to publish the note
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; although to
obviate misconception we must state, that in the
absence of any public committee duly constituted
and authorised, we shall not feel at liberty to re-
ceive any sums of money which the admirers of
Mr. Hullah may be desirous of subscribing. Our
remarks on Monday expressed a general feeling,
and we repeat our belief that any measure origi-
nated in that gentleman's behalf will be warmly
taken up by the public.

COMMENCEMENT OF TERM—(THIS DAY).—This
morning, on the occasion of the commencement of Michael-
mas Term, the Lord Chancellor entertained the judges,
Queen's counsel, and the leading members of the bar at
breakfast at Stratheden House, Knightsbridge. At the
conclusion of the repast, his lordship and his learned col-
leagues proceeded in procession to 'Westminster Hall to
open their respective courts after the long vacation. A
large number of persons assembled in the hall to witness
the arrival of the judges, whisk took place shortly before
two o'clock.

A correspondent of the And de la Religion, writ-
ing from Naples, states that Garibaldi has consented to
be president of the new railway company, formed by MM.
Adami and Lemmi for various lines in Southern
The Journal de La Corse announces that a noto-
rious bandit, named Bozzi, of Zegliari, the last of the band
of the arrondissement of Ajaccio, and whose very name has
been the object of general terror throughout the country,
has just been killed by the armed force, after having, in
defending himself from arrest, shot one man dead.

The day before yesterday an accident occurred
on the Boulogne line, near the statist' of Neufchatel. A
train, composed of a dozen waggons, laden with young
horses which had been purchased at a neighbouring fair,
ran off the rails. Fifteen of the animals were killed, and a
number injured. Others made their escape into the fields,
and will not in all probability be recovered for seine time.
Only a few of them remained to be brought on to Abbe-
ville, when the train had been replaced on the line.
The Memorial Bordelais says :—" Bordeaux was
visited on Sunday by a great number of excursionists. Six
special trains on the Bayonne line brought no fewer than
4,000. Supposing they spent 10fr. each at Bordeaux, it
lineigivesibofiriar
no
from Toulouse
go4ouOisiceoeomaOnefr,d.
pocfeertwit;hniebcurhoxu: this
dcity o benefits.rui
ve2soalso
o;
fur••
Ilia 11 A:, d their contingent—so that a very large sum must
have been expended on the occasion."

LATEST NEWR.

---4---~

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :

TURIN, Nov. 2.

A denial has been given here to the statement
that the squadron of Admiral Persano had com-
menced and suspended firing on the Royalists near
Gaeta.

The news of a mysterious expedition, under the
command of General Turr, has been declared to be
a pure invention.

BERLIN, Nov. 1.

The three Northern Powers agreed at Warsaw
to decline auy proposition for the assembling of a
Congress on the Italian question.

PARIS, Nov. 1.

The statement of the P aerie that Prince Metter-
nich and Baron Hubner were received by the Em-
peror on the same day is officially denied. Baron
Hubner had his audience on the 26th ultimo, but
Prince Metternich was only received two days later.

CONSTANTINOPLE, OCT. 27. •1
There is no political news.
Great financial fluctuation has taken place
during the week.
It is expected that Government will negotiate in
Paris a five per cent. loan of 16,000,000 sterling at
531.
A national forced loan is also spoken of.
The Levant Herald has received a warning for
an article on this subject, and on the corruption of
Riza Pacha.

The Austrian internuncio has met with a severe
accident. His leg is broken, and he is considered
to be in a dangerous state.
The provinces are all quiet.
No news has been received from Syria.

PARIS, Nov. 1.
This being All Saint's•day no business has been
done on the Bourse.

THE WARSAW CONFERENCES.
(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
VIENNA, OCT. 30.

The Vienna Telegraphic Correspondenee Bureau
has informed the public that no stipulations were
put to paper, and no agreement entered into at
Warsaw, but the assurance has to-day been given
me that the statement is not quite correct. A pro-
gramme of some kind or other was drawn up at
Warsaw, but not signed, because the Sovereigns and
their Ministers were unable to come to an under-
standing on several matters of importance. Prince
Gortschakoff endeavoured to prove to Prince Hohen-
zollern and Count Rechberg that it would be ad-
vantageous to all parties if the Treaty of March,
1856, were subjected to a revision ; but he failed
to convince the Prussian and Austrian states-
men of the correctness of his views, Russia is
exceedingly desirous to regain her former position
on the Danube, and to do away with the neutrality
of the Black Sea, but no Austrian statesman will

voluntarily allow her again to establish herself at
the mouth of a river which is of such vital
importance to Austria. It must be supposed
that the Prussian Minister was even less docile
than Count Rechberg, as Prince Gortschakoff ap-
peared to be less satisfied with the former than
he was with the latter. During their sojourn at
Warsaw the Monarchs and their Ministers had
several interviews, but a person who is likely to
be well-informed on the subject has given me to
understand that they did little more than ex-
change ideas and opinions concerning the state
of affairs in Europe. It is related that
Prince Gortschakoff and Count Rechberg had an
altercation at their very first interview, and it
is not at all unlikely that such was the case, as
they are both extremely irascible. The Poles die-
played such a disloyal spirit while the Emperor
Alexander was at Warsaw that his Majesty was
totally unable to conceal the vexation and an-
noyance he felt. The relations between the
Emperor Francis Joseph and the Prince Regent
of Prussia appeared to be very good. The Em-
peror Alexander was extremely kind and atten-
tive to his illustrious guests, and the only per-
ceptible difference in his treatment of them was,
that he was somewhat more punctilious with the
Emperor of Austria than he was with the Prince
Regent of Prussia. Should there be a European
Congress for the settlement of the affairs of Italy,
it will be found that Austria and Prussia consider
the conditions of the Treaty concluded at Villa-
franca binding. Before I leave this subject it may
be as well to observe that the Emperor of Austria
left Warsaw four or five hours earlier than the
Regent of Prussia did.

royal barge from the wharf, the latter being sur-
rounded by boats from the royal squadron filled
with British officers. There was a fresh easterly
breeze blowing, and the water in the harbour
was quite rough, so that the boats rowed quite
slowly. As the flotilla neared the royal squadron
the yards were manned, and this, with the
strings of bunting and flags flying from every
point of the fleet, formed a magnificent spec-
tacle, which was witnessed by an immense con-
course of people assembled on Mount Joy, the
various piers, and every accessible place of
observation.

As the royal party passed the various vessels of
the squadron the Prince was received with repeated
cheers, and when he reaches the Hero, at ten
minutes before four, the royal standard was run up
to the main, and another salute fires by all the
fleet. The rigging of each vessel was instantly
stripped of the bunting, and the sailors disappeared
from aloft.

At half-past four the squadron sailed, steering
out of the harbour,lbe Hero leading, followed by
the Nile, Ariadne, Flying Fish, and the Styx,
saluting and being saluted by the fort as they
passed. By six o'clock they were hull down upon
the horizon, and at seven they were reported out of
sight. The Nile and Styx will leave the squadron
off Halifax.

QUEENSTOWN, Nov. 2.

The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia
Company's steamship City of Baltimore, Captain
Petrie, from New York, on the 20th ultimo, has
arrived.

She brings 20 of the crew of the Connaught, 300
passengers, and 2,400 dole. in specie.
Her news has been anticipated.

THE LATE LORD DUNDOIVALD.

One of the great characters of a past generation
has just departed. After attaining to an age beyond
man's ordinary lot; after outliving envy, obloquy,
and malice; after suffering much, doing more, and
triumphing at last, Lord Dundonald has closed in
peace and honour the days of his eventful life. His-
tory can produce few examples either of such a
man or such achievements. There have been greater
heroes, because there have been heroes with greater
opportunities; but no soldier or sailor of modern
times ever displayed a more extraordinary capacity
than the man who now lies dead. He not only
never knew fear, but he never knew perplexity,
and was invariably found master of the circum-
stances in which he was placed• Nothing can ex-
ceed the audacity of his designs or the singularity
of his successes, although, owing to the jealousy or
spite of his superiors, his exploits were usually con-
fined to spheres comparatively unimportant or re-
mote. In some respects his character resembles that
of the Napiers ; more closely, perhaps, that of the
famous Earl of Peterborough ; but it would be diffi-
cult to represent him except by a narrative of his
deeds. He was a man who lived in action, and who
surprised the world by successive strokes of genius
or daring. Defoe might have written his adven-
tures, but Clarendon could never have drawn his
portrait.

The fourth quarter of the last century was bu,
just commencing when Thomas Cochrane was born.
At that time the Europe of old times still survived,
and had shown, indeed, no obvious symptoms of
decay. There was a King of Poland, an Empire
of Germany, a Republic of Venice, and an ancient
Monarchy of France. Neither the United States
of North America nor the Empire of Brazil had
become known to the world; indeed, the latter
State was founded, as an episode of service, by
Cochrane himself. Everything was in the old
fashion, and so continued during the 17 years which
the young Scot devoted to the work of preliminary
education. Then he made a start, and then, as it
happened, the world made a start also. Young
Cochrane joined his first ship exactly at the time
that the Revolution was triumphant in France, and
its principles were proclaimed in tones of thunder
to a terrified world. It was an age of adventure,
and he turned the opening to good account. In
five or six years' time he was the idol of seamen
and the wonder of the British navy. The authori-
ties, whose anger he had already provoked, took
good care to restrict his opportunities, but any
chance was fair enough for Cochrane. The Admi-
ralty gave him a ship of 158 tons burden—that is
to say, about half as big as the smallest steam-
tug now borne on the effective list of the navy
It carried 14 guns, of so moderate a calibre that
Captain Cochrane used to store away a broadside
of shot in his coat pockets. Its chief cabin was so
small that his most convenient way of shaving was
by putting his head through the skylight, and
turning the deck into a dressing-table. However,
with this craft he put to sea, and in the course of
13 months accomplished greater feats of arms than
the most pompous inscription ever ascribed to
Louis XIV. He actually captured no fewer than
50 vessels of the enemy, mounting between them
122 guns, and one of these prizes was a powerful
frigate of 32 guns and 319 men. But the little
cruiser's own turn came at last, and she was seized
by three French line-of-battle ships. Lord Coch-
rane thus became a prisoner of war, but, by way of
improving his time, he set to studying the cut and
set of the sails used in the French navy, and investi-
gating the sources of that superiority which the
French vessels undoubtedly possessed. He seems
also to have ruminated to good purpose on the cir-
cumstances of his capture, for when, on another
occasion, he was again chased by three ships of the
line he tried a new manoeuvre with complete suc-
cess. Finding that he could not escape by speed,
he hauled down every sail at the same minute, and
brought his ship abruptly to a standstill. His pur-
suers, surprised by so unexpected a trick, shot
past him by the impulse of their own speed, and
before they could turn upon their anticipated prize
he was off and away. His resources, indeed, in
such straits were inexhaustible. Once he deceived
an enemy of superior strength by hoisting false
colours. The pretence passed muster, but the
enemy prepared to send a boat off, which would
have exposed the trick. Lord Cochrane upon this
ran up the yellow flag, to denote that there was in-
fection on board, and his prudent adversary stood
aloof accordingly.
We need be at no pains to recapitulate the in-
cidents of this wonderful career. Lord Dun-
donald has told the story of his own life so recently
and so well, and we have since repeated it
so fully in our columns, that it will be more, per-
haps, to our purpose if we glarce for a moment at
those points of the hero's character which proved
so injurious to his professional prospects. When
we read of his proceedings we certainly are not
surprised at their results. He was everything
which a man in office would dislike, and sixty
years ago men in office could give more effect to
their dislikes than they can at present. He was e
Radical, whereas those were the palmy days of
Toryism. He was outspoken, whereas officials ad-
mire reticence and discretion. He was resolute in
exposing abuses, and therefore constantly creating
trouble. He was impracticable—a term still in
favour for describing inconvenient excellence ; and
he had a strong spirit of independence—a quality
which, as very recent controversies have shown, is
singularly obnoxious to the official mind. Never-
theless, we are of opinion that Lord Cochrane's
faults in these respects were not such as would have
damaged his career at the present day, and that he
suffered more from the politics of his time than from
his own indiscretion. Fifty years later he would
have fared very differently. The official mind" is
probably much the same as ever, but it is now kept
in check by public opinion. Lord Cochrane's su-
periors did not misjudge his abilities or disparage
his power. They merely held that, though power and
ability were very good things, obsequiousness and
pliability were better. They considered that there
were plenty of brave men in the navy who would
take ships and win battles as well as Cochrane,
without raising, as he did, unpleasant questions or
making inconvenient complaints. He presumed
upon his services so far as to demand fair play and
justice not only for himself, but for those who
served under him, and he met the Ministers' refusal
with so bold a tongue that every " Government
officer" stood aghast at his audacity. Of course,
this would never do in the days of Lord St. Vincent.
It might do now, because real merit would find
support out of doors, and a man who had established
his claims to command would receive preferment
whether he was in favour at head-quarters or other-
wise, just as Sir Charles Napier was sent to India.
But in Lord Cochrane's time popular opinion was
but imperfectly developed. There was but one spot,
in fact, where it was wont to receive any formidable
expression. and that was in the borough of West-
minster. To Westminster accordingly Lord Coch-
rane repaired, and from Westminster he was sent,
at the head of the poll, into the House of Commons,
where his denunciation of naval abuses were so
vigorous that it was thought best to give him em-
ployment in order to get him out of the way.
It is of little avail now to speculate on the
results which might have been attained if a spirit
so ardent as that which has just departed had been
allowed full play in the convulsions and chances
of the last great war ; but, when we look d
exploits which Lord Cochrane accomplished
doubt
that means, it seems impossible to
that in rejecting his services we threw away one
of our best hopes. Napoleon himself said of one
of his designs that, if it had been executed as ,

Cochrane desired, it would have destroyed a whole
French squadron ; and the Spaniards of South
America regarded him exactly as the Beloochees
regarded Sir Charles Napier, and dubbed him with
the title of " the Devil."
Such was the man who, for the satisfaction of
official prejudice, was in a great measure lost to
his country at her hour of need. Valuable as were
his services, they were probably unimportant in
comparison with those which he was competent to
render. Let us hope, then, that we have seen the
end of such doings as these, and that in any future
emergencies our future Dundonalds may find both
their places and their rewards without obstruction
from official conceits or political malice.— Times.