Chapter II: Preface

The present Volume narrates my services in the British Navy, from my entrance into it, and including the action in Aix Roads, on the 11th, 12th, and 13th of April, 1809. The result of that action, viz., the court-martial on Lord Gambier—virtually a prosecution of myself; my non-employment thenceforward in the navy; the unscrupulous plot by which I was driven from that noble service; my restoration to rank by his late Majesty William IV., and to the honours which had accompanied that rank by my present most gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria; form subjects, which, together with many others, will be concisely set forth in the succeeding portion of this Work.

To one of these points I shall, however, here briefly allude,—my restoration to the naval service; not for the purpose of pre-judging the subject, but with the intention of embracing the first opportunity which has been afforded me, of paying a tribute of thanks to those who, convinced of the injustice of the sentence, were mainly instrumental in procuring its reversal.

Amongst these I am proud to rank one, the soundness of whose judgment, and the disinterestedness of whose patriotism, have throughout a long life never failed to secure the highest respect amongst men of every shade of political party—the Marquis of Lansdowne; who, from the commencement of my unmerited troubles, has to this day manifested the most generous confidence in my honour, and has as generously supported my cause when my character has been called in question. If proof were wanted of my entire innocence of the accusation laid to my charge forty-five years ago, no prouder testimony of incapability to have committed the imputed offence could be adduced than the unabated friendship of the Marquis of Lansdowne; simply because no man with a stain on his character could have retained any place in that illustrious nobleman’s consideration.

To another nobleman, whose name will descend to the remotest posterity as the promoter of everything rationally liberal in politics, and the untiring advocate of measures calculated to promote social advancement, my warmest thanks are no less due. First my counsel, and for half a century my friend,—to the long-continued esteem of Lord Brougham, I owe no small portion of that consolation which for so many years formed my only support under a weight of persecution enough to have bowed any man, not so supported, to the earth; into which, had it not been for the disinterested countenance thus afforded by men above reproach I must have prematurely sunk.

One testimony of my venerated friend I may be allowed to adduce[1]:—

“I must be distinctly understood to deny the accuracy of the opinion
which Lord Ellenborough appears to have formed in Lord Cochrane’s
case, and deeply to lament the verdict of Guilty, which the jury
returned after three hours’ consulting and hesitation.

“Our own complaint was his Lordship’s refusal to adjourn after the
prosecutor’s case closed, and his requiring us to enter upon our
defence at so late an hour—past nine o’clock—so that the adjournment
took place at midnight and before we had called our witnesses. I speak
of the trial at Guildhall only. Lord Ellenborough was _equally to
blame with his brethren in the Court of King’s Bench for that most
cruel and unjustifiable sentence_ which at once secured Lord
Cochrane’s re-election for Westminster.

“In 1833 the Government of which I was a member restored this great
warrior to his rank of admiral in our navy. The country, therefore, in
the event of hostilities, would now have the inestimable benefit of
his services, whom none perhaps ever equalled in heroic courage, and
whose fertility of resources, military as well as naval, places him
high among the very first of commanders. That his honours of
knighthood, so gloriously won, should still be withholden, is a stain,
_not upon him_, but upon the councils of his country; and after his
restoration to the service, it is as inconsistent and incomprehensible
as it is cruel and unjust.”[2]

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Footnote 1:

See Lord Brougham’s “Historic Sketches of Statesmen of the Reign of
George III.”

Footnote 2:

On the accession of Her present Most Gracious Majesty those honours
were restored; every attempt to obtain their restoration during the
reign of His late Majesty having failed, from causes which will be
stated in the next Volume; and notwithstanding that His Majesty
himself warmly espoused my cause.

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To many others, high in public estimation and in the councils of their Sovereign, I have been equally indebted for countenance and support, but as it has been my lot to outlive them, they are beyond the reach of thanks. Amongst these may be mentioned the late Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Auckland, Sir Francis Burdett,—my late warm-hearted friend and colleague; Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Hume, and others whose names have escaped my memory rather than my gratitude.

Last, though foremost in estimation, is another friend, found where man will seldom look for a friend in vain,—at home; the Countess of Dundonald, my wife. Knowing the opinion of her Sovereign with regard to the persecution which had entailed on me so many years of misery, and equally well aware that in the first years of his Majesty’s reign the non-reversal of that unjust sentence was owing to the influence of some in his Majesty’s councils, whose political animosity sixteen years before had no small share in its infliction,—that ardent and heroic lady determined to penetrate to the foot of the throne, and learn from the lips of the Sovereign himself whether it was consistent with the dignity of his crown, that its attribute of mercy should be the sport of an almost extinct political faction.

The step was a bold one; but the ardour which had conceived it to be necessary lacked not the energy to carry out its resolve. In spite of the coolness of some about the court, and the positive rudeness of others whose names it is not worth while to resuscitate, this devoted lady gained an interview with her Sovereign, and with the greatest respect besought His Majesty not to permit the benevolence of his disposition, and his own belief in the innocence of her unjustly maligned husband, to be thwarted by those whose office it was to advise, but not to control, his better judgment.

His Majesty graciously listened, and his reply was kingly, that “he would no longer allow the reparation which was her husband’s due, to be withheld.” A change of Ministry shortly afterwards followed, and, as already quoted in an extract from the writings of Lord Brougham, my restoration to rank rewarded the heroic efforts of my devoted wife. Nevertheless, a leaven of former political malice remained, sufficiently powerful to prevent my restoration to the honours with which a previous Sovereign had invested me, but of which I had been despoiled with every mark of degradation which political animosity could invent.[3]

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Footnote 3:

Viz., a forcible intrusion into my apartments in the King’s Bench
Prison in the dead of night, with a demand for the immediate surrender
of the Insignia.

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This gracious act of restoring my honours was reserved for Her present Majesty, who with the delicacy which is one of Her Majesty’s noblest characteristics, gave back the boon of which I had for so many years been wrongfully deprived; and subsequently conferred upon me, at the age of seventy-three, my first command of a British fleet. For both marks of Her Majesty’s kindness and appreciation of my former services, I am deeply grateful. But alas! reparation came too late to compensate for the early hopes and just expectations of a life forcibly wasted as regarded myself or my country.

The moral—to use an old-fashioned phrase—of my chequered career, is this:—That they who, in political matters, propose to themselves a strict and rigid adherence to the truth of their convictions, irrespective of personal consequences, must expect obloquy rather than reward; and that they who obstinately pursue their professional duty in the face of routine and official prejudice, may think themselves lucky if they escape persecution. Such a moral may be derogatory in a national point of view, but it is the result of my own bitter experience: notwithstanding which, were my life to begin anew, I would pursue the same unflinching course with regard to naval abuses, of following out my own convictions,—a course which would produce the same result to myself, the consolation of my own rectitude, even though I might be deprived of all other reward.

Still all is not dark. I have survived malignity, and its chief cause, viz. the enmity arising from my zealous advocacy of departmental and political reform. The latter has been achieved to a greater extent than the early political reformers, amongst whose ranks I was enrolled, ever dreamed of; and even departmental reform has become fashionable, though it may not have advanced far beyond that point.

In one respect I will boldly assert that this narrative of my life is worthy of example. It will show the young officer that, in spite of obstacles, warm attachment and untiring devotion to my noble profession enabled me to render some services to my country upon which I may be allowed to reflect with satisfaction, even though this be accompanied with bitter reflection as to what the all-powerful enmity of my political opponents cruelly deprived me of further opportunity to accomplish.

In conclusion, I must express my thanks to Mr. Earp, whose zeal has exhumed from documents almost, in my own estimation, beyond comprehension or arrangement[4], the mass of facts condensed within the compass of this volume.

Footnote 4:

In the great earthquake at Valparaiso in 1822 my house shared the
common destruction, and from the torrents of rain which accompanied
the unusual atmospheric disturbance, my papers were saturated with
water, to such an extent that it became necessary to lay them to dry
in the sun. Whilst undergoing this process one of the whirlwinds
common on the Chilian coast suddenly came on, and scattered them in
all directions. Many were lost, but more torn, and rendered almost
undecipherable; whilst all that remained have been ever since in
confusion. The labour of accurate compilation from such materials may
be imagined.

In the succeeding portion of this work, should God spare me to see its completion, I trust to render additional service, by an attempt to deduce from past naval experience the best means of preserving unimpaired our future maritime efficiency. Should the attempt be the means of awakening national attention, the gratification will be mine of having left no unworthy legacy to my country.

DUNDONALD.

December 14, 1859.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

INTRODUCTORY.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DUNDONALD FAMILY.