Chapter XXIV: A Naval Study for All Time (6)

“I beg to return you my thanks for this communication of your
sentiments, and have now to inform you that as your Lordship’s ship,
the _Impérieuse_, is now nearly ready for sea, and destined for the
Mediterranean, and as _the period of the session of Parliament during
which your Lordship has been accommodated with an acting-captain to
command the frigate in your absence (!) has now nearly reached its
close_, I presume that it is your intention to join her without loss
of time, and to proceed in her to join Sir Charles Cotton, who will no
doubt employ your Lordship in the annoyance of the enemy and in the
protection of our Allies in the manner best suited to the exigencies
of the service.

“I request that your Lordship will have the goodness to inform me as
early as you can _on what day next week it is your intention to join
your ship_, as His Majesty’s service will not admit of her sailing
being much longer postponed.

“I have the honour, &c.,
“C. YORKE.

“Capt. Lord Cochrane.”

The assertion that an acting-captain had been appointed to the _Impérieuse_ for my accommodation as a member of Parliament was monstrous, for after the court-martial was ended I begged to be allowed to join her; first, soon after the Walcheren expedition sailed, and again when it failed to satisfy the national expectations; even then offering to destroy the enemy’s fleet as had been done in Aix Roads. I afterwards asked permission to view the siege of Flushing as a spectator only, and _was refused_, the refusal being fortunately still in my possession:—

“Admiralty, Oct. 11th, 1809.

“MY DEAR LORD,—I have mentioned your request to the Naval Lords at the
Board, and find it cannot be complied with.

“I am, my dear Lord,
“Your very faithful servant,
“MULGRAVE.

“The Lord Cochrane.”

Notwithstanding Mr. Yorke’s version of the reason of my absence from the _Impérieuse_, I determined to make one more effort for permission to carry out my plans for harassing the enemy’s coast, and thereby preventing them from forwarding troops to Spain. My object was to get two or three frigates and a few troops under my command. Had I been able to accomplish this, what had been effected with the _Impérieuse_ alone on the coast of Catalonia will be my excuse for saying, that such a force would have been the most valuable aid to the British army in the Peninsula.

Preferring, therefore, the service which I was desirous to render to my country to my own wounded feelings, I addressed another letter to Mr. Yorke:—

“London, June 11th, 1810.

“SIR,—In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 8th I confess
much embarrassment. The measures submitted to your judgment were, in
my humble opinion, of great national importance. They had in view to
weaken the hands of our enemy and strengthen our own. I therefore
indulged in the hope that they would have received your countenance
and support.

“It must have been apparent to you, Sir, that I did not offer them on
light grounds, nor without calculated certainty of success in the
event of their prosecution. I flattered myself with the hope of being
employed in the execution of a service on which my previous
observations would have enabled me to act with confidence.

“But although, Sir, you are pleased to thank me for my communication,
you pass over in silence the objects it embraced; and do away with
even the expressions of courtesy bestowed on it by asking ‘on what day
_in this week_ it was my intention to join my ship, as His Majesty’s
service would not admit of her sailing being much longer postponed;’
thus leaving me to conclude that in taking the liberty of approaching
you I had trespassed too far, and that to prevent my importunities in
future you had deemed it advisable to order me to join my ship, and
further, to join Sir Charles Cotton, who, you signify, ‘would no doubt
employ me in the annoyance of the enemy, and in the protection of our
Allies, in the manner best suited to the exigencies of the service.’

“I have throughout life been accustomed to do my duty to the utmost of
my power, and my anxiety to render the performance of it acceptable to
my country, whilst it stimulated me to inform myself on the best means
for that purpose, may have led me to intrude on those with whom alone
rests the power of encouraging my expectations. Yet I might have
imagined that my motives would sufficiently plead my excuse. On the
present occasion I had an additional inducement in addressing myself
in the first instance to you, Sir, instead of the House of Commons. I
felt that I was paying the respect due to the First Lord of the
Admiralty.

“It appears, however, that I have inadvertently offended, and am sorry
for it, as the public interest may be injured by the step I have
taken. I should have been gratified had you done me the honour to call
for details of the sketch which I laid before you, when I should have
been happy to supply a properly digested plan by which I propose to
secure the objects there shadowed forth.

“Had this plan, been brought under your consideration, I may venture
to say that you would have directed it to be carried into execution;
and I should have envied any person whom you might have honoured with
the charge of it, however much I might have regretted the refusal to
permit me to share in it, I should nevertheless have cheerfully
rendered every information required of me, or that I might have
conceived necessary.

“I have now no alternative than to submit to the wisdom of the House
the propositions you have thought proper to reject, or rather suffer
them to die away without further notice. I do not pride myself on the
accuracy of my judgment, but may be allowed to understand those
matters that come under my own immediate observation better than those
who have had no experience in such kind of warfare.

“The capture of Los Medas by the French has confirmed me in the
opinions I gave to Lord Mulgrave on my last _reconnaissance_ of Ile
d’Aix, and which I had the honour to state to you in my last. I again
submit that a similar course pursued by His Majesty’s Government
towards France would distract the purposes of Buonaparte, and injure
him infinitely more than any other step likely to be taken. The
capture of even one of the islands enumerated in my former letter
would be felt by him much as we should feel if a French force were to
capture the Isle of Wight.

“In another part of your letter you say that I have been
‘_accommodated with an acting-captain to command the frigate during my
absence_.’ I have to assure you that it was an accommodation I never
solicited, and one which, far from conveying a favour, was extremely
painful to my feelings, as it prevented my going on a service which I
was extremely desirous of witnessing. I even made an application to
Lord Mulgrave for permission to be a spectator only of the scene of
Flushing, so as to avail myself of the opportunity to acquire
information about the Scheldt and its environs, but was refused,
although others not connected with the service obtained leave to
proceed there.

“In conclusion, I beg permission to say that I have yet some objects
of moment to bring forward in Parliament, and that as there is no
enterprise given to the _Impérieuse_, I have no wish that she should
be detained for me one moment.

“I have the honour, &c.,
“COCHRANE.

“The Right Hon. Chas. Yorke.

“P.S. Your letter, Sir, is marked ‘private,’ which I consider as
applying solely to the destination of the _Impérieuse_, and, of
course, shall be silent on that subject.”

The reply of the First Lord was that it was “_neither his duty nor his inclination to enter into controversy with me!_” A proof how the interests of a nation may suffer from the political pique of a single man in power. Not an individual of the Ministry considered me incapable of carrying into execution, even with an insignificant force, the plans foreshadowed; yet they were treated with contemptuous silence, and a command to proceed immediately on a subordinate service.

“Admiralty, June 12th, 1810.

“MY LORD,—I have had the honour this morning of receiving your
Lordship’s letter of yesterday. _As I do not conceive it either my
public duty so it is by no means my private inclination to be drawn
into any official controversy with your Lordship, either in your
capacity of captain of a frigate in His Majesty’s service or of a
member of Parliament_.

“For this reason I must beg to decline replying to several parts of
your Lordship’s letter, in which you appear to have much misconceived
my meaning, as expressed in my former letter, or to observe upon the
turn and direction which your Lordship is pleased to endeavour to give
to our correspondence.

“I have thought it proper to lay the two letters which I have received
from your Lordship, being on points of service, before the Board of
Admiralty for their consideration; and have only now to request to be
distinctly informed whether or not it is your Lordship’s intention to
join your ship, the _Impérieuse_, now under orders for foreign
service, and nearly ready for sea, as soon as Parliament shall be
prorogued.

“I shall be much pleased to receive an answer in the affirmative,
because I should then entertain hopes that your activity and gallantry
might be made available for the public service. I shall be much
concerned to receive an answer in the negative, because in that case I
shall feel it to be my duty to consider it as your Lordship’s wish to
be superseded in the command of the _Impérieuse_.

“I am, my Lord,
“Your most obedient servant,
“C YORKE.

“Capt. Lord Cochrane.”

A more unjust order from a lay Lord of the Admiralty than this, to join the _Impérieuse_ and proceed on foreign service, was never issued from the Admiralty.

As a lay Lord, he was wholly ignorant of naval affairs, but nevertheless refused _even to listen_ to the advice of an experienced sea-officer, who had at least seen some service, and was therefore capable of offering an opinion. In place of this he ordered me to sea, without the semblance of promotion in any shape, or even the offer of a larger ship.

I had nevertheless received the warm thanks of Lord Collingwood for—as his Lordship expressed it—having with a single frigate stopped a French army from penetrating into Eastern Spain. With the same inadequate means I had kept the whole coast of Languedoc in alarm, so as to prevent any combination of troops on the Spanish frontier, this voluntary service being executed in such a way as to induce Lord Collingwood to write to the Admiralty, that “_my resources seemed to have no end_.” Weighed down with fatigue and anxiety I had returned home, in the hope of relaxation, when the Admiralty, even before there had been time to pay off my ship, ordered me to prepare plans for destroying the French fleet in Aix Roads, Lord Gambier having plainly told them that, if he made the attempt, “it must be at _their peril and not his_.” I prepared those plans, with the addition of a novel element in naval warfare, and drove ashore the French fleet, which afterwards became a wreck, in spite of the want of proper co-operation on the part of the Admiral who had hesitated to attack them.

On my return to England I had been offered by Lord Mulgrave the thanks of Parliament in conjunction with the Commander-in-chief, but refused to couple my name with his. After all these services, for which I never received reward nor thanks—except the red ribbon of the Bath from the hands of my sovereign—another First Lord ordered me to proceed to sea _in a week_, and that in a capacity as subordinate as the one occupied before any of these services had been performed! nay, more, in spite of my pointing out to him, how, with a trifling force, I could do far more than I had done—a proposition which he treated with contemptuous silence. There is nothing worse in the records of the Admiralty even at that period.

Nevertheless, this ill-treatment determined me not to shrink from my duty, though I was resolved that Mr. Yorke should neither get an affirmative nor a negative from me as to joining the frigate. If the command of the _Impérieuse_, under the orders of Sir Charles Cotton, were forced upon me I would take it, but of this the Admiralty should be the judges—not I. Had Lord Collingwood lived to reach England the Admiralty would not have ventured to thrust such a command upon me after my services of the previous three years and my plans for future operations, which, as I have once or twice said, would have saved millions spent on prolonged strife in the Peninsula.

In the vain hope that the national welfare would, on calm deliberation, rise superior to petty official spite, I again addressed Mr Yorke as follows:—

“Portman Square, June 14th, 1810.

“SIR,—When I had the honour to present to you in writing those ideas
that I had previously communicated verbally, it was far from my views
and contrary to my intention to draw you into any unofficial
correspondence. My solicitude to see the interests of my country
promoted and the power of the enemy reduced were my only objects. I
presumed that amidst the pressure of business any hints thrown out in
desultory conversation might escape your memory, but that committed to
paper they would meet your consideration. This was my chief reason for
addressing you by letter.

“As a member of Parliament I never harboured a wish to intrude myself
on your notice. I know that as a captain of a frigate I do not possess
any consequence, and am conscious that I never assumed any. But, Sir,
I submit that if information promising essential benefit to the State
is procured, the source from which it flows, however insignificant, is
not of the least moment.

“With an impression which I must lament, Sir, that you decline
entering on those parts of my letter which alone prevailed with me to
trouble you, I regret having done so. I am not in the habit of
entreaty, but when the public service is to be advanced entreaty
becomes a duty. I trust, therefore, that you will pardon me if I
repeat the hope that you will be pleased to regard the subject in a
more favourable light, and examine the grounds and principles on which
my opinions are founded. I feel convinced that any other officer
possessed of the knowledge necessary to form his judgment will tell
you that the measures I have proposed may _to a certainty and with
great ease be carried into execution_; and that the enemy would, in
consequence, be entirely crippled in his best resources.

“Had I been fortunate enough to receive the least encouragement from
you I should have brought forward other objects than those noticed.
Amongst these is one that has reference to the coast of Catalonia,
where the maritime towns are occupied by troops of the enemy just
sufficient to keep the peasantry in awe and exact from them
provisions. These, by possessing the open batteries, the French convey
coastways in fishing boats and small craft to their armies, which,
from the scarcity of cattle, fodder, and the state of the roads, they
could not obtain by any other means.

“The few troops stationed along the coast for these purposes might be
seized and brought off with a trifling force employed in the way I
have indicated. As a proof of this, the aid-de-camp of General Lechu,
and a whole company were brought off by the marines and crew of the
_Impérieuse_ alone, to whom they surrendered, well knowing that had
they left the battery they would have been put to death in detail by
the oppressed and irritated Spaniards.

“I am thankful, Sir, for your kindness in laying my letters before the
Lords Commissioners. The flattering terms in which you speak of my
humble abilities also demand my acknowledgment; and, whilst again
tendering them to the service of my country, I beg permission to say
that it is the first wish of my heart and the highest aim of my
ambition to be actively employed in my profession, and that from
former associations I prefer the _Impérieuse_ to every other frigate
in the Navy. But as she is to proceed immediately on foreign service,
I fear it is impossible for me to be in readiness to join her within
the time specified.

“I have the honour, &c.,
“COCHRANE.

“The Right Hon. Chas. Yorke.”

To this letter no reply was vouchsafed, and the Honourable Captain Duncan was confirmed in the command of the _Impérieuse_, which in the _following month_ sailed to join Sir Charles Cotton off Toulon.

Parliament being prorogued within a few days after the date of the last letter, I had no opportunity of bringing the subject before the House.

On the publication of the first volume, it was said by some gentlemen of the press, when kindly reviewing its contents, that something more might have been said of that excellent and gallant admiral, Lord Collingwood. This, I admit, would have been an easy task as regards the gossip of others relative to his Lordship, but that is not the principle upon which this work is conducted, every incident therein having befallen myself personally.

The fact was, that though I had the good fortune to serve under Lord Collingwood, it had never been my lot to serve with him. His Lordship’s first act on joining him was, as is narrated in the first volume, to appoint me as the successor of the officer in command of the squadron in the Ionian Islands. Shortly after my arrival at Corfu, I fell in—as has also been said in the first volume—during a cruise with a number of enemy’s vessels _bearing the commandant’s license to trade_! and in spite of the license captured and sent them to Malta for condemnation. The commandant, as shown in the first volume, hereupon denounced me to Lord Collingwood _as an unfit person to command a squadron_. I was immediately afterwards recalled, and, as the reader knows, was subsequently employed in harassing the French and Spanish coasts, without further personal intercourse with his Lordship, except when paying a flying visit to the fleet blockading Toulon.

CHAP. XXXI.

VISIT TO THE ADMIRALTY COURT AT MALTA.

THE MALTESE ADMIRALTY COURT.—ITS EXTORTIONATE FEES, AND CONSEQUENT LOSS
TO CAPTORS.—MY VISIT TO MALTA.—I POSSESS MYSELF OF THE COURT TABLE
OF FEES.—INEFFECTUAL ATTEMPTS TO ARREST ME.—I AT LENGTH SUBMIT, AND
AM CARRIED TO PRISON.—A MOCK TRIAL.—MY DEFENCE.—REFUSE TO ANSWER
INTERROGATORIES PUT FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING ME TO CRIMINATE
MYSELF.—AM SENT BACK TO PRISON.—AM ASKED TO LEAVE PRISON ON BAIL.—MY
REFUSAL AND ESCAPE.—ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.

At the commencement of 1811, finding that, in place of anything being awarded to the _Impérieuse_ for numerous prizes taken in the Mediterranean, the Maltese Admiralty Court had actually brought me in debt for vicious condemnation, I determined to go to Malta, and insist on the fees and charges thereon being taxed according to the scale upon which the authority of the Court in such matters was based.

It is not my intention to enter generally into the nature of the demands made by the Maltese Court, but rather to point out the manner in which, after realisation of the prize funds, costs were inflicted on the officers and crews of ships of war, till little or nothing was left for distribution amongst the captors. This will give a good idea of the practices which prevailed; preventing officers from harassing the coasting trade of the enemy, as the expenses of condemning small craft were ruinous, being for the most part the same as those charged by the Court for the condemnation of large vessels.

One of the customs of the Court was as follows: to charge as fees _one fourth_ more than the fees of the High Court of Admiralty in England; this one fourth was practically found to amount in some cases to _one half_, whilst any scale of charges by which the conduct of the Court was guided, remained inaccessible to the captors of prizes.

The principal officer of the Court in this department was a Mr. Jackson, who held the office of Marshal. This officer, however, though resident in Malta, performed his duty of marshal by deputy, for the purpose of enabling him also to exercise the still more profitable office of proctor, the duties of which he performed in person. The consequence was that every prize placed in his hands as proctor had to pass through his hands as marshal! whilst as proctor it was further in his power to consult himself as marshal as often as he pleased, and to any extent he pleased. The amount of self-consultation may be imagined. Right profitably did Mr. Proctor Jackson perform the duty of attending and consulting himself as Mr. Marshal Jackson!

Subjoined is an extract from the charges of Proctor Jackson for attending himself as Marshal Jackson:—

Cro. reals. sc.

Attending (as proctor) in the registry and 2 0 0
bespeaking a monition

Paid (himself as marshal) for said monition under 9 0 0
seal, and extracting

Copy of said monition for service 2 0 0

_Attending the Marshal!_ (himself) _and feeing and 2 0 0
instructing him to execute the same!_

_Paid the Marshal_ (himself) _for service of said 2 0 0
monition!_ (on himself)

_Certificate of service!_ (on himself) 1 0 0

_Drawing and engrossing affidavit of service!_ (on 2 0 0
himself)

_Oath thereto, and attendance!_ (on himself) 2 2 3

By what ingenious process Marshal Jackson managed to administer the oath to himself as Proctor Jackson I know not, but the above charges are actual copies from a bill in my possession, the said bill containing _many hundred_ similar items besides. Some idea of its extent may be formed from the statement that, previously to a debate on the subject, I pasted together an exact copy the different sheets of which the bill of charges was composed, formed them into a huge roll, and, amidst the astonishment and laughter of the House of Commons, one day unrolled it along the floor of the House, when it reached from the Speaker’s table to the bar!!

In addition to this multitude of fees and charges, the Marshal also claimed, and received as his own especial perquisite, _one half per cent_ on the inspection of prizes, _one per cent_ for their appraisement, and _two and a half per cent_ on the sale. This, with _one fourth_ added as aforesaid, made just _five per cent_ on all captures for the Marshal’s perquisite alone, irrespective of his other fees; which, being subjected to no check, were extended according to conscience. So that, for every amount of prizes to the extent of 100,000_l._ the Marshal’s share, as a matter of course, would be 5000_l._, wholly irrespective of other fees of Court calculated on a similar scale. When numerous other officials had to be paid in like manner, also without check on their demands, it scarcely needs to be said that such prizes as were usually to be picked up by ships of war on the Mediterranean coast entailed positive loss on their captors; the result, as has been said, being that officers avoided taking such prizes, and thus the enemy carried on his coasting operations with impunity. In other words, the most important object of war—that of starving out the enemy’s coast garrisons—was suspended by the speculations of a colonial Admiralty Court!

Foiled in procuring redress in the House of Commons, where my statements were pooh-poohed by the representatives of the High Court of Admiralty as rash and without proof, I determined on procuring, by any means whatever, such proof as should not easily be set aside.

Embarking, therefore, in my yacht _Julie_, one of the small French ships of war captured at Caldagues and afterwards purchased by me, as narrated in the first volume, I set sail for the Mediterranean.

On arriving at Gibraltar I considered it prudent to quit my yacht, fearing that so small a vessel might fall a prey to the French cruisers, and embarked on board a brig-of-war bound to Malta.

My first demand upon the Admiralty Court on arriving at that place was, that the prize accounts of the _Impérieuse_ and _Speedy_ should be taxed according to the authorised table of fees. This revision was refused.

Entering the Court one day when the Judge was not sitting, I again demanded the table of fees from Dr. Moncrieff, then Judge-Advocate, who denied that he knew anything about them. As by Act of Parliament they ought to have been hung up in the Court, I made careful search for them, but without success. Entering the Judge’s robing-room unopposed, I there renewed the search, but with no better result, and was about to return tableless; when, having been directed to a private closet, I examined that also, and there, wafered up behind the door of the Judge’s retiring-chamber, was the Admiralty Court table of fees! which I carefully took down, and reentered the Court in the act of folding up the paper, previously to putting it in my pocket.

Dr. Moncrieff instantly saw what I had got, and rose from his seat with the intention of preventing my egress. Reminding him that I had no cause of quarrel with or complaint towards him, I told him that guarding the Judge’s water-closet formed no part of his duties as Judge-Advocate; and that it was rather his place to go and tell the Judge that I had taken possession of a public document which ought to have been suspended in Court, but the possession of which had been denied. He seemed of the same opinion, and suffered me to depart with my prize; this in half an hour afterwards being placed in the possession of a brother-officer who was going over to Sicily, and promised to take charge of it till my arrival at Girgenti.

This “Rape of the Table,” as it was termed in a poem afterwards written on the occasion by my secretary and friend, Mr. Wm. Jackson, caused great merriment, but the Judge, Dr. Sewell, was furious, not perhaps so much at the invasion of his private closet, as at losing a document which, when laid before the House of Commons in connexion with the fees actually charged, would infallibly betray the practices of the Maltese Court. A peremptory demand was accordingly made of me for the restoration of the table, this being met by my declaration that it was not in my possession. The Judge, believing this to be untrue, though in fact the tables were in Sicily, finally ordered me to be arrested for an insult to the Court!

The duty of arresting me devolved on my friend in duplicate, Mr. Marshal Mr. Proctor Jackson. I reminded him that the Court was not sitting when the alleged offence was committed, and therefore it could be no insult. I further cautioned him that his holding the office of proctor rendered that of marshal illegal, and that if he dared to lay a finger on me, I would treat him as one without authority of any kind, so that he must take the consequences, which might be more serious to himself personally than he imagined.

The proctor-marshal, well knowing the illegality of his double office, which was not known—much less officially confirmed in England—prudently declined the risk, on which the Judge ordered the deputy marshal, a man named Chapman, to arrest me. Upon this I informed Chapman that his appointment was illegal also, first as holding the office of deputy marshal to an illegally constituted person, and secondly, from his also exercising the duplicate office of deputy auctioneer—the auctioneer being a sinecurist resident in London!! So that if, as deputy marshal combined with deputy auctioneer, he ventured to arrest me, he too must put up with the consequences.[74]

Footnote 74:

The Tory organs in England said that I threatened to shoot Chapman. I
need hardly say that this was a gratuitous falsehood. With the
exception of the silly duel narrated in the first volume, I never
either harmed, or intended to harm, a man in my life, otherwise than
in action. The fact was, both these Maltese officials were illegally
appointed, and they knew it. The officers and crews of the ships of
war present had but too much experience of their selfish conduct, and
were as well pleased as myself at the success of my method of keeping
their natural enemies at bay, so that the _pseudo_-marshals were in
reality frightened at their own warrants.

This went on for many days, to the great amusement of the fleet in harbour, no one being willing to incur the risk of arresting me, though I walked about Malta as usual, Chapman following me like a shadow. At length the Judge insisted on the deputy marshal-auctioneer arresting me at all risks, on pain of being himself committed to prison for neglect of carrying out the orders of the Court. Finding himself in this dilemma, Chapman resigned his office.

On this a man named Stevens, unconnected with any other official position, was appointed in a proper manner; and all the legal formalities being carefully entered into, I no longer resisted, as that would have been resistance to law.

The manner in which the arrest was made showed a spirit of petty malevolence quite in keeping with the dispositions of men who were making enormous fortunes by plundering the officers and crews of His Majesty’s ships of war. I was on a visit to Percy Fraser, the naval commissioner, when the newly appointed deputy marshal who had watched me in was announced, and on entering told me he was come to arrest me. On demanding his credentials, I found them to be signed by Mr. Proctor Jackson, and as I wanted this proof of his acting as marshal illegally, admitted myself satisfied with them.

The deputy marshal then requested me to accompany him to an inn, where I might remain on parole. I told him that I would do nothing of the kind, but that if he took me anywhere it must be to the town gaol, to which place he then requested me to accompany him. My reply was:—“No. I will be no party to an illegal imprisonment of myself. If you want me to go to gaol, you must carry me by force, for assuredly I will not walk.”

As the room was full of naval officers, all more or less victims of the iniquitous system pursued by the Maltese Court, the scene caused some merriment. Finding me inflexible, the Vice-admiralty official sent—first for a carriage, and then for a piquet of Maltese soldiers, who carried me out of the room on the chair in which I had been sitting. I was then carefully deposited in the carriage, and driven to the town gaol.

The apartments assigned for my use were the best the place afforded, and were situated on the top story of the prison, the only material unpleasantness about them being that the windows were strongly barred. The gaoler, a simple worthy man, civilly inquired what I would please to order for dinner. My reply was:—“Nothing!—that, as he was no doubt aware, I had been placed there on an illegal warrant, and would not pay for so much as a crust; so that if I was starved to death, the Admiralty Court would have to answer for it.”

At this declaration the man stood aghast, and shortly after quitted the room. In about an hour he returned with an order from Mr. Marshal Jackson to a neighbouring hotel-keeper, to supply me with whatever I chose to order.

Thus armed with _carte-blanche_ as to the _cuisine_, I ordered dinner for six; under strict injunctions that whatever was prized in Malta, as well in edibles as in wines, should be put upon the table. An intimation to the gaoler that he would be the richer by the scraps, and to the hotel master to keep his counsel for the sake of the profits, had the desired effect; and that evening a better-entertained party (naval officers) never dined within the walls of Malta gaol.

This went on day after day, at what cost to the Admiralty Court I never learned nor inquired; but, from the character of our entertainment, the bill when presented must have been almost as extensive as their own fees. All my friends in the squadron present at Malta were invited by turns, and assuredly had no ward-room fare. They appeared to enjoy themselves the more heartily, as avenging their own wrongs at the expense of their plunderers.

At length the Admiralty authorities thought it high time to decide what was to be done with me. It was now the beginning of March, and I had been incarcerated from the middle of February without accusation or trial. It was evident that if I were imprisoned much longer, I might complain of being kept out of my place in Parliament, and what the electors of Westminster might say to this, or what the House of Commons itself might say, were questions seriously to be pondered by men whose titles to office were unconfirmed. They had at length discovered that I had committed no offence beyond the fact of having been seen to fold up and put in my pocket a piece of dirty paper, but what that paper might be, or where it was, there was no evidence whatever.

At length they hit upon a notable expedient for getting rid of me, viz. to get His Excellency the Governor to ask me to give up the table of fees. This I declined, telling His Excellency that as I had been incarcerated illegally I would not quit the prison without trial.

It was accordingly determined that I should be put on my trial, the puzzle being as to what offence I should be accused of. The plan, as I afterwards found, was to interrogate me, and thus to entrap me into becoming my own accuser.

On the 2nd of March I was taken to the Court-house, accompanied by the naval commissioner Mr. Fraser, Captain Rowley the naval officer in command, and nearly all the commanding officers in port.

Two clerks, one a German and the other a Maltese, were said to have deposed to “seeing a person, whom they believed to be Lord Cochrane, with a folded paper.” On the strength of this evidence, the following charge was made out:—“That I had entered _the Registry_ of the Admiralty Court, and had there taken down the table of charges; that I had held up the same, so as to cause it to be seen by the King’s Advocate, Dr. Moncrieff, and had then put it in my pocket, and walked away.”[75]

Footnote 75:

This charge contained a wilful falsehood, viz. that the table of fees
was hung in “the Registry;” the perversion of truth being proved by
the remarks in Parliament of the King’s Advocate, Sir John Nicholls,
on the authority of the Maltese Court, as follows:—

“Lord Cochrane went to the court-room of the Vice-Admiralty, for the
purpose of comparing the charges in his bills with the table of
established fees, which, according to Act of Parliament, ‘should be
suspended in some conspicuous part of the Court.’ After looking for it
in vain in the Court, _and in the Registry_, whither he was first
directed by His Majesty’s Advocate, he was told that he might see it
affixed on a door leading to the adjoining room. The table was
certainly not in its place—but it was as certainly not concealed!”
(_Speech of Sir J. Nicholls in the House of Commons, June 6th, 1811._)

It was equally false that the King’s Advocate directed me where to
look for the table of fees; the whole affair having taken place as
narrated in this chapter.

To this I replied that “there must be an error, for as the Act of Parliament ordered that the table of charges should be displayed in open Court, it could not possibly have been the paper which I saw in the Judge’s water-closet. That the paper showed by me to Dr. Moncrieff was folded up, so that he was necessarily ignorant of its purport or contents. Finally, I denied having taken down the table of charges, as established by Act of Parliament, from the Court-room.” After this reply I demanded to be confronted with my accuser, for the purpose of cross-examining him.

This the Judge would not allow, but said he should consider my denial in the light of a plea of “not guilty.” He then put to me a series of interrogatories, for the purpose of getting me to criminate myself; but to these I refused to reply in any way, merely repeating my assurance that his Honour must have made a mistake, it being highly improbable that the lost table of fees should have been hung anywhere but in open Court, as the Act of Geo. II. prescribed, viz.: _in an open, visible, and accessible place_, which his Honour’s retiring-closet was not. Dr. Sewell then admitted that the charges entered on the table of fees _had not been ratified by the King in Council!_ and that he had therefore not caused them to be suspended in open Court, according to the Act. On which declaration I protested against the whole proceedings as illegal.

Finding that nothing could be done, the Judge then _asked me to go at large on bail!_ This I flatly refused, alleging myself to be determined to remain where I was, be the consequence what it might, till the case should be decided on its merits. At this unexpected declaration the Court appeared to be taken aback, but as I refused to be bailed, the Judge had no alternative but to remand me back to prison.[76]

-----

Footnote 76:

As it may be useful to note the despotic practices of our foreign
tribunals in those days, I will transcribe a portion of the Judge’s
speech on this occasion, as correctly reported at the time. On my
demanding to cross-examine the witnesses against me, Dr. Sewell said:—

“The present course was the one practised on these occasions. He would
not allow any but a direct answer to the charge made, and if that
contained no crime, he should himself be responsible.”

He then said that he must administer to Lord Cochrane certain
interrogatories, and on Lord Cochrane persisting in demanding his
accuser or accusers, in place of replying to the questions, _the Judge
peremptorily required answers_.

In place of giving these, I denied the competence of the Court to take
cognizance of a criminal charge, asserting that it was not a Court of
Record; and that on a pretended accusation made by witnesses who could
not be produced, I had been arrested, imprisoned in the common gaol,
and publicly criminated, without being permitted to clear myself by
being placed face to face with my accusers, &c. &c.

-----

On arriving there, my friends were of opinion that the affair had been carried far enough, and that I should apologise for taking the table of charges, and send for it to Girgenti. To this counsel I refused to listen, as I wanted the tables for exhibition in the House of Commons, and would in no way compromise the matter.

On this the senior naval officer, Captain Rowley, said to me:—“Lord Cochrane, you must not remain here; the seamen are getting savage, and if you are not out soon they will pull the gaol down, which will get the naval force into a scrape. Have you any objection to making your escape?” “Not the least,” replied I, “and it may be done; but I will neither be bailed, nor will I be set at liberty without a proper trial.”

In short, it was then arranged that my servant, Richard Carter, should bring me some files and a rope; that I should cut through the iron bars of the window; and that when everything was in readiness, on the first favourable night, a boat should be manned at the sallyport, and that I should be taken across to Sicily, to pick up the table of fees at Girgenti.

Some three or four nights were occupied in cutting through the bars, the marks being concealed in the day-time by filling up the holes with a composition. When all was in readiness, my friends and I held our last _symposium_ at the expense of the Admiralty Court. The gaoler was purposely made very tipsy, to which he was nothing loth; and about midnight, having first lowered my bedding into the streets, to be carried off by some seamen under the direction of my servant, I passed a double rope round an iron bar, let myself down from the three-story window, pulled the rope after me, so that nothing might remain to excite suspicion, and bade adieu to the merriest prison in which a seaman was ever incarcerated.

On arriving at the harbour I found the _Eagle’s_ gig in readiness, and several brother-officers assembled to take leave of me. The night was dark, with the sea smooth as glass, it being a dead calm. When pulling along the island we came up with the English packet, which had sailed from Malta on the previous day, she having been since becalmed. As she was bound to Girgenti, to pick up passengers and letters from Naples, nothing could be more opportune; so, dismissing the gig, I went on board, and was on my way to England, doubtless, before I was missed from my late involuntary domicile at Malta. I had thus a manifest advantage in those days of slow transit, viz. that of arriving in England a month before news of my escape from Malta could be sent home by the authorities of the Admiralty Court.

As I afterwards learned, nothing could exceed the chagrin of the Admiralty officials at having lost, not only their table of charges, but their prisoner also. No one had the slightest suspicion that I had gone to sea, and that in a man-of-war’s boat. Yet nothing could better show the iniquitous character of the Maltese Admiralty Court than the fact that my escape was planned in conjunction with several naval officers present in harbour who lent me a boat and crew, for the purpose; the whole matter being previously known to half the naval officers present with the squadron, and, after my escape, to not a few of the seamen, all of whom must have been highly amused at the diligent search made for me the next day throughout Valetta, but still more at the _reward offered for those who aided me in escaping_. Yet not a word transpired as to the direction I had taken, or the time occupied in searching for me on the island might have been turned to better account by an endeavour to intercept me at Gibraltar, where I remained long enough to dispose of my yacht, and amuse the garrison with a narrative of my adventures since I left the Rock two months before!

CHAP. XXXII.
NAVAL LEGISLATION HALF A CENTURY AGO.

INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE NAVY.—CONDITION OF THE SEAMEN.—THE REAL
CAUSE OF THE EVIL.—MOTION RELATIVE TO THE MALTESE COURT.—ITS
EXTORTIONATE CHARGES.—MY OWN CASE.—A LENGTHY PROCTOR’S BILL.—EXCEEDS
THE VALUE OF THE PRIZE.—OFFICERS OUGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN
PROCTORS.—PAPERS MOVED FOR.—MR. YORKE’S OPINION.—SIR FRANCIS
BURDETT’S.—MY REPLY.—MOTION AGREED TO.—CAPTAIN BRENTON’S
TESTIMONY.—FRENCH PRISONERS.—THEIR TREATMENT.—MINISTERS REFUSE TO
INQUIRE INTO IT.—MOTION ON MY ARREST.—CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING IT.—MY
RIGHT TO DEMAND TAXATION.—THE MALTESE JUDGE REFUSES TO NOTICE MY
COMMUNICATIONS.—AFRAID OF HIS OWN ACTS.—PROCEEDINGS OF HIS OFFICERS
ILLEGAL.—TESTIMONY OF EMINENT NAVAL OFFICERS.—PROCLAMATION ON MY
ESCAPE.—OPINION OF THE SPEAKER ADVERSE.—MR. STEPHEN’S ERRONEOUS
STATEMENT.—MOTION OBJECTED TO BY THE FIRST LORD.—MY REPLY.

On my return from the Mediterranean, having no prospect of employment, I devoted myself assiduously in Parliament to the course I had marked out for myself, viz. the amelioration of the condition of the naval service; whether by originating such measures of my own accord, or assisting others who had the same object in view.

At this period it was the custom to compel naval officers on foreign stations, in whatever part of the world located, to draw bills for their pay. The consequence was that the bills had to be sold at a discount sometimes amounting to 35 and 40 per cent, the whole of the loss falling on the officers negotiating the bills.

A motion to place officers of the navy upon the same footing as officers of the army was made by Captain Bennet, and strenuously opposed by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Yorke, as an innovation on _old rules and customs_, which, when once sanctioned, no one could tell where it might stop.

Upon this I inquired “what greater difficulty there could be in paying officers of the navy abroad than in paying officers of the army? There were consuls at all the foreign stations, who could certify what the rate of exchange really was. Under the present system, to my own knowledge, officers on the Gibraltar station were 25 per cent, or a fourth of their scanty pay, out of pocket, and it was with great difficulty that they could provide themselves with proper necessaries.”

The effect of these remarks was, that Sir C. Pole moved as an amendment that a Committee should be appointed to inquire into the state of the navy generally, and this was seconded by Admiral Harvey.

The debate having taken this turn gave me the opportunity of entering more minutely into particulars. I will transcribe my remarks from the reports of the time:—

“LORD COCHRANE said an increase of pay to the seamen in the navy would
be of little advantage to them, so long as the present system
continued. He had in his hands a list of ships of war in the East
Indies. The _Centurion_ had been there eleven years—the _Rattlesnake_,
fourteen years, came home the other day, with only one man of the
first crew—the _Fox_ frigate, under the command of his brother, had
been there fifteen years—the _Sceptre_ eight years—the _Albatross_
twelve, &c. Not one farthing of pay had been given all that period to
all those men. He had made a calculation on the _Fox_ frigate, and
supposing only one hundred of the men returned, there would be due to
the crew 25,000_l._, not including the officers. What became of these
sums all the while? The interest ought to be accounted for to
Government or to the seamen themselves. The _Wilhelmina_ had been ten
years, the _Russell_ seven years, the _Drake_ six years, of which the
men would be exiles from England for ever, and another vessel four
years. Nothing would be of greater service than the frequently
changing the stations of ships, which might be done without any
inconvenience, and even with much advantage to the East-India
Company’s ships.

“The seamen, said Lord Cochrane, from the want of their pay, had no
means of getting many necessaries of the utmost consequence to their
health and comfort. They drew less prize-money under the existing acts
than formerly. He instanced a vessel, the proceeds of which came to
355_l._; by the present mode of distribution the seaman would receive
13_s._ 5½_d._, whilst by the old mode he would have received 15_s._
1½_d._ From the officers’ share there was deducted in all 75 _per
cent_, allowing only 10 per cent for the prize courts.

“The Minister had exultingly asked, what had become of the commerce of
France? But he would undertake to show him, before he was 48 hours on
the coast of France, at least 200 sail of the enemy’s vessels. If they
were to pay more liberally the Judges of the Admiralty Courts, and
operate a proper reformation in them, he would undertake to say that
they might score off at least one third of the present ships of the
navy. Ministers said there were no vessels on the coast of France, but
he said there were; and, if they would go with him, he would show them
how they could be got at.

“He rather thought that the inattention of Government to the
profligate waste of the public money, arose from their unwillingness
to believe anything contrary to their own crude notions on these
subjects. He stated, and he begged the House to attend to it, for it
was as important as the subject of Mrs. Clarke, that in the reign of
James the Second the pay of a captain of a first-rate was 80_l._ more
than at present. King William, when he came over with his Dutch
troops, whom he was much more anxious to attend to than he was to
attend to his subjects here, took up his pen and cut off one half of
the pay. So much for foreign troops; but still, taking the advance of
prices into view, King William left it far better than it is now. His
Lordship then again called the attention of the House to the extent to
which the French coasting trade was carried on, and observed that it
could not be checked, unless greater encouragement were given to the
captains. If he commanded a ship on the French coast, by keeping at a
good distance he might go to sleep, but in order to intercept those
coasting vessels the captain must be on deck watching all night. It
was impossible officers would do this merely to put money into the
pockets of those who practised in the Admiralty Courts.

“MR. YORKE said that at this late period of the session it would be
impossible to enter upon a subject of such detail. As to ships being
detained so long upon foreign and distant stations, it was much to be
regretted, but it was often unavoidable.”

These were singular reasons for not entertaining a subject of such importance. According to Mr. Yorke, it was too late in the session to conduct the war successfully, whilst the other evil complained of could only be “regretted!”

For want of better argument, I was accused of insinuating that without the chance of prize-money officers would lose a great incentive to duty. I only took human nature as I found it, and it is not in human nature to exercise unremitting vigilance and exertion without the hope of reward; much less that unceasing vigilance, by night as well as day, requiring almost constant presence on deck to intercept an enemy’s coasting trade, carried on almost solely in the night, when the enemy felt secure of our vessels being run out to sea, from want of motive to remain in shore.

On the 6th of June I entered on the subject of the Maltese Court of Admiralty. As the debate in the House is sufficiently explicit, previous comment is unnecessary.

_“Vice-Admiralty Court of Malta._

“Lord Cochrane rose to make the motion of which he had given notice.
The noble lord began by stating that he had before had occasion to
trouble the House on this subject, but he then failed in his attempt
to obtain justice, on the ground that there was not sufficient
evidence of the facts stated to warrant the House in entertaining his
motion. He had since, however, personally been at Malta, and had
procured such a chain of evidence, that if the House should now be
pleased to entertain his motion, he had no doubt but he should be able
to lay before them such a connected string of evidence of flagrant
abuses in the Vice-Admiralty Court at that island, as would astonish
all who heard it.

“He would undertake to prove that, if the Court of Admiralty at home
would do their duty, one third of the naval force now employed in the
Mediterranean would be sufficient for all purposes for which it was
employed there, and that a saving might be made in the naval service
alone of at least five millions sterling a year. If the Committee for
which he moved last year had been granted, the evidence to prove this
might now have been before the House.”