THE EARL OF DUNDONALD'S CLAIM FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE ORDER OF THE
BATH.--HIS GOOD SERVICE PENSION.--THE INVESTIGATION OF HIS SECRET
WAR-PLANS.--HIS PAMPHLET ON NAVAL AFFAIRS.--HIS INSTALLATION AS A
G.O.B.--HIS CANDIDATURE FOR ELECTION AS A SCOTCH REPRESENTATIVE
PEER.--THE QUEEN'S PERMISSION TO HIS WEARING THE BRAZILIAN ORDER OF
THE "CRUZIERO."--HIS APPOINTMENT AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE NORTH
AMERICAN AND WEST INDIAN STATION.
[1839-1848.]
The restoration of his naval rank to the Earl of Dundonald in 1832,
was slowly followed by other acts reversing the injustice of previous
years by which a large portion of his life had been embittered.
"Your lordship and the Admiralty," he wrote to Lord Minto, then at the
head of naval affairs, on the 30th of March, 1839, "may have been
surprised that I have never solicited any appointment since my
reinstatement in the naval service by his late Majesty, whose memory I
shall ever cherish for this magnanimous act of justice. The cause, my
lord, has not been from any reluctance on my part, but from a feeling
which, I have no doubt, will appear satisfactory to your lordship, if
you do me the favour to read the enclosed copy of a letter which I
have written this day to the Marquess of Lansdowne as President of the
Council." The letter to Lord Lansdowne referred in great part to Lord
Dundonald's rotary-engine, and to his secret war-plan, which he
expressed his willingness to put in execution if ever it was required.
"Your lordship and the Privy Council, however," it was added, "will
not fail to observe that, if it shall ever be the intention of the
Government, under any circumstances, again to employ me in the naval
service, it would be quite inconsistent with the character of that
service, as well as my own reputation, for me to assume command,
unless the Order of the Bath, gained on the 12th of April, 1809, now
thirty years ago, shall be restored to me."
"I hope it will appear to your lordship," said Lord Dundonald, in a
letter to Lord Melbourne, dated the 11th July, 1839, "that my services
as a naval officer have been useful and honourable to my country; and,
referring to those services and to the peculiar opportunities I have
since had of acquiring further professional knowledge, I may say,
without vanity, that her Majesty has no officer in her navy more
experienced than myself; and yet, from the extraordinary circumstances
of my case, I am the only flag-officer in her Majesty's service who,
if called upon to take a command, could not do so consistently with
his own honour and the respect due to those who might be appointed to
serve under him. For where is the officer who could not conveniently
call to mind, that I, who when only a captain was a Knight of the
Bath, was deprived of that honour, and that now, though a
flag-officer, I have not been deemed worthy of having it restored?" "I
am sensible," wrote Lord Dundonald in another letter to the Premier,
written eight days later, "that the act of justice which I experienced
from the late King, under the ministry of Earl Grey, of which your
lordship was a distinguished member, in restoring me to my naval rank,
was a great favour, inasmuch as it evinced a considerate feeling
towards me; and I was then fully satisfied with it, under the
impression that it would be viewed by the public, and especially by
the navy, as a testimony of the belief of the Government, at that
time, that I was innocent of the offence that had been laid to my
charge, and also that I should stand as good a chance as most of my
brother officers (and perhaps, from my experience, a better) of being
called to active service. I did not then foresee that the restoration
of my naval rank alone would be viewed as a half-measure. Still less
did I anticipate that, in the event of my being offered an
appointment, I should be incapacitated from accepting it by reason of
the feelings of other officers that I still laboured under some
imputation which would render it derogatory to them to serve under me.
But it is now impossible for me to conceal from myself the fact that,
while the navy generally is kindly disposed towards me, and would
rejoice to see me fully reinstated in all that I once enjoyed, I am
considered by many to remain as completely precluded from active
service as if my name had never more appeared in the Navy List, I
trust, my lord, that it cannot be thought reasonable to reduce me to
the inglorious condition of a retired or yellow admiral at home, and
at the same time to deny me the privilege of acquiring either
emolument or distinction in foreign service."
Lord Dundonald's hope was that, on the occasion of her Majesty's
marriage, there would be a bestowal of honours, which would afford a
convenient opportunity for the restoration of his dignity as a Knight
of the Bath. But in this he was disappointed.
A minor favour was conferred upon him, however, and in a very
gratifying way, eighteen months later. "You are probably aware," wrote
Lord Minto to him on the 3rd of January, 1841, "that the death of Sir
Henry Bayntam has vacated one of the pensions for good and meritorious
service. Before I left town a few days ago I made my arrangements to
enable me to confer this pension upon you, if you should think it
worthy of your acceptance, either as evidence of the high estimation
in which I have ever held your services, or as convenient in a
pecuniary point of view. Although you are one of the few who have not
applied for this, I do not fear that any one of the numerous claimants
can show so good a title to it."
That compliment was accepted by Lord Dundonald in a spirit answering
to that in which it was offered. Yet his reasonable anxiety for a
restitution of the Order of the Bath was not abated, and thereupon he
was engaged in a correspondence with the Earl of Haddington, then
First Lord of the Admiralty, during the early part of 1842, which was
closed by the intimation, bitterly disappointing to Lord Dundonald,
that the Cabinet Council declined recommending the Queen to comply
with his earnest request.
Equally disappointing was the result of another application with the
same object which he made to Sir Robert Peel in the autumn of 1844.
"Her Majesty's servants," wrote Sir Robert Peel on the 7th of
November, "have had under consideration the letter which I received
from your lordship, bearing date the 10th of September. On reference
to the proceedings which were adopted in the year 1832, it appears
that, previously to the restoration of your lordship to your rank in
the navy, a free pardon under the Great Seal was granted to your
lordship; and adverting to that circumstance, and to the fact that
thirty years have now elapsed since the charges to which the free
pardon had reference were the subject of investigation before the
proper judicial tribunal of the country, her Majesty's servants cannot
consistently with their duty advise the Queen to reopen an inquiry
into these charges."
Lord Dundonald failed to see, in the partial reversal, twelve years
before, of the unjust treatment to which he had been subjected
eighteen years before that, a reason for refusing to inquire whether
there was any injustice yet to be atoned for. He had not, however,
very much longer to wait for the object which he sought.
One of his grounds for desiring a public recognition of the efficacy
of his secret war-plans was a reasonable belief that, if it was seen
that through half a lifetime he had steadfastly avoided using for his
private advantage what might have been to him a vast source of wealth,
in order that the secret might be reserved solely for the benefit of
his country, it would be acknowledged to be incredible that, for
insignificant ends, he could have resorted to the gross and clumsy
fraud attributed to him at the Stock Exchange trial. And in this
expectation he was right. Nearly all the reparation that was now
possible quickly followed upon the investigation into the war-plans
that was referred to in the last chapter.
While the investigation was pending he was pained by a letter from Sir
Thomas Hastings, not unkind in itself, but showing that his real
motives for courting that investigation were not understood. "I made a
communication to-day," wrote Sir Thomas on the 27th of November, 1846,
"that the commission had entered on its duties, and received
instructions to inform you that it would be desirable, before the
commission proceeded further, to ascertain your lordship's views as to
the nature of the remuneration you would expect from Government in the
event of your plans being reported on favourably."
Lord Dundonald's reply was characteristic. "You intimate a wish on the
part of Government," he wrote on the 1st of December, "to ascertain my
views in regard to the 'remuneration' I expect, in the event of my
plans being favourably reported on. I reply that I devoted these
plans, thirty-five years ago, to the service of my country, that I
have reserved them through the most adverse and trying circumstances,
satisfied that at some future time I should prove my character to be
above pecuniary considerations or mercenary motives. I have looked
forward to the restoration of those honours, of which I was most
unjustly bereaved, and to freedom from mental anguish, endured
throughout an isolation from society of one-third of a century. I
cannot contrast with such sufferings, nor with my plans, any sum that
Government could bestow. Nevertheless, I have implicitly relied that
collateral deprivations and losses would be taken into consideration
by some future, just, and impartial Administration. I do most
earnestly hope that the period has now arrived."
That letter was communicated by Sir Thomas Hastings to Lord Auckland.
"I return the letter," he wrote to Sir Thomas on the 16th of December,
"which Lord Dundonald wrote to you upon the remuneration which he
would expect in the event of a favourable report upon his plans;
namely, first, his restoration to the honours of which he was
deprived; and, secondly, a consideration of collateral deprivations
and losses. I am sorry to acquaint you that the first condition is one
to which I am not authorized to promise an acquiescence. It is not
necessary that I should discuss the difficulties which occur to the
restoration in question. I can only express my own deep regret that
they should exist, and that the hopes which have been entertained by
Lord Dundonald should be disappointed. For myself, I personally regard
him. I look upon his naval career as most remarkable and most
honourable; and I must lament whatever may seem to detract from the
advantage and grace of his return to the navy."
"Sir Thomas Hastings," wrote Lord Dundonald to Lord Auckland on the
following day, "has sent me your sympathizing note on the decision of
the Cabinet Council in regard to the first item, designated as 'the
remuneration I would expect in the event of a favourable report on my
plans.' Now, after the expression of my deep sense of gratitude to
your lordship for having brought the question before the Cabinet, I do
most sincerely rejoice that 'the first condition is one to which you
are not authorized to promise an acquiescence.' I could not deem
acquiescence a remuneration, nor could I value it otherwise than as
evidence of conviction, produced by facts and the tenor of a whole
life, of my incapability of descending to base acts for gain at any
period of my existence, especially at a moment when I can prove that I
had objects of the highest national importance and the most brilliant
personal prospects in view. In confirmation of disinterestedness, I
further hold my retention of the 'secret war-plans' for a period of
thirty-five years, notwithstanding frequent opportunities to use them
to my incalculable private advantage. The merit of these plans, though
I am well aware of their value, is yet officially unpronounced by the
commission appointed to report. Therefore, the preceding facts being
doubtful, I repeat that I do most sincerely rejoice that the Cabinet
Council have manifested that their decision neither depends on favour
nor on the value of the plans themselves. Foreseeing that, whatever
may be the ultimate determination, it must be founded on facts and
justified by an exposition of my conduct and character, I am preparing
a document which, whatever may be my fate pending the brief remainder
of my existence, will justify my memory when grievous wrongs shall
cease to prey on a mind which, save from the consciousness of
rectitude, would in brief time have bowed my head with humiliation to
the ground." The document there referred to was a pamphlet entitled
"Observations on Naval Affairs, and on some Collateral Subjects." In
it were concisely enumerated Lord Dundonald's services as a British
naval officer, and the hardships brought upon him by the unmerited
Stock Exchange trial. The pamphlet was published in February, 1847,
and immediately excited considerable attention. "I hope the
difficulties which have prevented the realization of your wishes may
be removed shortly," wrote Sir Thomas Hastings on the 2nd of March.
"But services so distinguished, and a career so splendid and full of
professional instruction as your lordship's, can never be blotted out
or rendered dim in the annals of the naval history of our country." "I
have had the kindest note possible from the Marquess of Lansdowne,"
said Lord Dundonald, in a letter written on the 27th of April. "Lord
Auckland was at our house on Saturday, and spoke in the kindest and
most feeling manner. I hear from all quarters that the pamphlet has
made and is making a great impression, and I have every hope that all
will end well."
All did end well. The public announcement, on the highest authority,
of the value of his secret war-plans, and the consequent exhibition of
his disinterested patriotism in so long preserving them for his
country's use, followed by the bold appeal made by him to the public
through his pamphlet, brought success at last to his long-continued
efforts to obtain a restoration of his dignity as a Knight of the
Bath. His best friends in the Cabinet, especially Lords Lansdowne and
Auckland, had influence, though not all the influence they desired,
upon other Cabinet and Privy Councillors who were opposed to the tardy
act of justice. But they did not wait for the assent of all. On the
6th of May Lord Lansdowne represented the case to her Majesty the
Queen, and received her promise that, with or without the approval of
her Privy Councillors, she would confer the next vacant Order of the
Bath upon Lord Dundonald.
Fortunately a vacancy occurred immediately, through the death of
Admiral Sir Davige Gould. "Lord Auckland has called," wrote Lord
Dundonald on the 9th of May, "and informed me officially that the
Queen has placed at his disposal the vacant Order of the Bath; and
that, in conformity with the intention with which it was so placed, he
was to deliver it to me." "I have information from the palace," he
wrote a few days later, "that her Majesty has had conversation as to
the justice of some further atonement for the injuries that have been
inflicted on me, and that she said it was subject of regret that such
was not in her power; but, should the subject be entertained by her
advisers, her concurrence would not be wanting."
That further act of justice was never rendered; but Lord Dundonald
rejoiced that the more important measure--that which, by restoring the
dignity wrongfully taken from him, would do more than anything else to
set him right in the eyes of the world--was at last adopted. "It gives
me sincere pleasure," wrote Lord John Russell on the 12th of May, in
answer to a letter thanking him for the conduct of his Administration,
"that the last act of the Government has been so gratifying to you.
Your services to your country are recorded among those of the most
brilliant of a war signalised by heroic achievements. I will lay
before her Majesty the expression of your gratitude, and I can assure
you that the Queen has sanctioned with the greatest satisfaction the
advice of her ministers."
On the 25th of May--the order being dated the 22nd--Lord Dundonald was
gazetted as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath; and this
act of grace was rendered more graceful by the personal interest shown
by Prince Albert, who, as Grand Master of the Order, dispensed with
the customary formalities and delays, and, on the following morning,
caused a warrant to be sent to him, in order that he might wear the
cross at the birthday drawing-room, which he attended by her Majesty's
command on the 27th of May. Thus another step was made in the way of
retribution for the injuries inflicted on him in 1814 and in the
ensuing years.
"To-day," he wrote on the 12th of July, "there was a grand muster at
the palace of all the Knights Grand Crosses, and many inferior
Crosses, and I was installed. Lord Ellenborough was one of my
sponsors, and the Duke of Wellington shook hands with me, and
expressed his satisfaction at my restoration to the Order. I am glad
to tell you that the ceremony of knighting, of which I was afraid, was
not resorted to; so my knightship dates back to the 27th of April,
1809."
In another effort to obtain full justice for himself, however, he was
unsuccessful. The great expenses that sprang out of his long-continued
scientific and mechanical pursuits had absorbed all his scanty sources
of income, and he forcibly urged that in accordance with the precedent
furnished by a similar grant to Sir Robert Wilson, in 1832, he was
entitled to the arrears of pay due to him for the seventeen years
during which he had been kept out of his position in the British navy.
But his request was refused; and the heavy pecuniary loss, as well as
other and much heavier deprivations, consequent on a persecution that
has been since admitted to have been wholly undeserved, has never been
compensated.[20]
[20] Part of a letter which Lord Dundonald received on this subject
four years afterwards from Mr. Joseph Hume, though quoted in his
"Autobiography," is too important to be here omitted. "I considered,"
wrote the great champion of public economy, on the 10th of May, 1852,
"that you were incapable of taking the means that were resorted to by
Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, and for which you suffered; and I was pleased
to learn that you had been restored to your rank. I considered that
act a proof that the Government which had restored you to the rank and
honours of your profession, and had afterwards appointed you to the
command in the West Indies, must have come to the same conclusion;
and, until the perusal of your draft petition, I concluded that you
had all your arrears paid to you as a tardy, though inadequate, return
to your lordship, whose early exploits did honour to yourself, and
gave additional lustre to the naval service of the country to which
you belonged.... His Majesty King William IV. was satisfied with the
innocence of Sir Robert Wilson, and he was restored to the
service--was, I understand, paid all the arrears of pay and allowances
during his suspension, and afterwards appointed to the command of
Gibraltar. I was pleased at the result; and it would give me equal
pleasure to learn that your application to her Majesty should be
attended with an act of justice to you equally merited." Lord
Palmerston subsequently, in answer to an application from Lord
Dundonald--forgetting Sir Robert Wilson's case--said there was no
precedent for such an act. Lord Dundonald answered that there was no
precedent for such injustice as had been done to him.
Shortly after that event Lord Dundonald sought to be elected one of
the Scotch representative peers in the House of Lords. Now that his
load of unmerited disgrace was shaken off, he desired to resume his
old functions as a legislator--and this with no abatement of his zeal
for the welfare of the people; but with none of the violence which his
own heavy sufferings at the time of their first and heaviest pressure
had partly caused him to show during his former parliamentary career.
Being now a peer, he could not return to his seat in the House of
Commons, and being a Scotch peer, he could only sit in the House of
Lords as one of the delegates from the aristocracy of his native land.
Among these he therefore asked for a place at the election in
September, 1847. He did not, however, begin to seek it early enough.
Other candidates had, according to custom, obtained promises of a
majority of votes from the electors before he thought of canvassing,
and he was thus left in a minority. Many peers, however, who on this
occasion were unable to support him, offered to pledge their votes to
him for the next election.
A minor favour was at this time shown to Lord Dundonald, which
afforded him real gratification. In 1835, he had been allowed by King
William IV. to use the insignia of a Grand Commander of the Order of
the Saviour of Greece, conferred upon him by King Otho. In August,
1847, he applied to the Cabinet for permission to use the title of
Marquis of Maranham and the Grand Cross of Brazil, both of which had
been conferred upon him by the Emperor Pedro I., in 1823. "I have to
acquaint your lordship," wrote Lord Palmerston, then Foreign
Secretary, on the 11th of October, "that under the peculiar
circumstances of the case, which have prevented the application being
made earlier, the Queen has signified her pleasure that you should be
permitted to accept the Grand Cross of the Order of the Cruziero. With
regard, however, to the title of Marquis of Maranham, it is my duty to
state to your lordship that, after full consideration, her Majesty's
Government regret that they cannot advise the Queen to grant you the
desired permission. While her Majesty's Government duly appreciate the
services rendered by your lordship to the Crown of Brazil, they
consider it to be on general principles so undesirable that
distinguished officers of the British navy should have foreign titles,
that they feel themselves compelled to decline complying with the
request." "I beg to assure your lordship," wrote Lord Dundonald in
reply, on the 18th of October, "that I feel more gratitude in being
informed of the sentiments of her Majesty's Government in regard to my
faithful and zealous services in Brazil than I ever experienced from
the title conferred on me as the honorary portion of my reward for
such services. As far as relates to assuming the title in my native
country, I entreat your lordship to believe that I never entertained
the intention."
A memorable occurrence soon followed. Now that his honours as well as
his naval rank were restored to him, he had no reason for holding back
from active service in his profession; and the Earl of Auckland,
anxious to make use--as far as use could be made in peace-time--of his
great and varied experience, and also to give further proof of the
desire at last to render him all possible honour, was prompt in
offering him fresh employment on the sea. "I shall shortly have to
name a Commander-in-Chief for the North American and West Indian
Station," wrote Lord Auckland on the 27th of December, 1847. "Will you
accept the appointment? I shall feel it to be an honour and a pleasure
to have named you to it, and I am satisfied that your nomination will
be agreeable to her Majesty, as it will be to the country, and,
particularly, to the navy."
Lord Dundonald did accept the appointment, rejoicing in it as a
further step in reparation for the injuries by which he had been
hindered, a whole generation before, from rising to the highest rank
in the naval service of his country. He might then have achieved
victories over the French which would have surpassed his brilliant
exploit at Basque Roads. He could now only direct the quiet operations
of a small fleet in time of peace. This, however, being the best that
it was now possible for him to do, he gladly undertook. "Permit me,"
he wrote to Lord Auckland, "to assure your lordship that this gracious
act has further tended to obliterate the deep and painful impressions
made by thirty years of mental suffering, such as no language can
describe; for, my lord, the agony produced by false accusations on an
honourable mind is infinitely greater than merited infliction of death
itself. I leave your lordship then to estimate the amount of
obligation I fail to convey, and beg you will allow me to express a
hope that your generous recommendation to her Majesty will be
justified by my zealous endeavours to fulfil the duties I owe to my
sovereign and country."
"I have waited for her Majesty's assent to your appointment," said the
Earl of Auckland in a letter written on the 3rd of January, 1848,
"before answering your letter of the 28th ultimo. This assent has been
most cordially given, and you may now consider yourself
Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indian Station, and
I may repeat that my share in this proceeding has given me very great
pleasure, and that I am confirmed in my feelings of gratification by
the terms in which you speak of occupying your proper place in the
navy. I am glad for you, and I am glad for myself that I have done
this just and honourable act."
Very hearty was the satisfaction expressed by all classes as soon as
Lord Dundonald's appointment was made public. "I beg," wrote Mr.
Delane, the editor of the "Times," earliest of all in tendering his
compliments, "to offer my very hearty congratulations upon your
appointment--all that remained to efface the stain of such unmerited
persecution." "The communication you have just made to me," wrote the
Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, "is most gratifying, and the First Lord
of the Admiralty has done himself immortal honour in appointing that
naval officer commander in one hemisphere who had previously
illustrated his name by his most brilliant exploits in the other.
Everything I think has now been done to undo the foul aspersions with
which you have been assailed; and I am sure now everything will be
done that can most serve to establish the ability of the officer and
the delicacy of the gentleman. I congratulate you most sincerely upon
your appointment, and I hope you will meet with difficulties when you
arrive at your destination. Don't be surprised at this my wish. It
proceeds from knowing the ample resources of my friend to overcome
them, and his constant desire to sacrifice everything to duty and
honour." "I derive the greatest pleasure and satisfaction from your
appointment to the command of a British fleet," wrote Sir George
Sinclair, "an appointment not less creditable to the ministry than
honourable to yourself. I cannot help contemplating with affectionate
sorrow the portrait of our dearest friend, Sir Francis Burdett, now
suspended over the chimney-piece, and thinking how happy he would have
been had he witnessed this most welcome and delightful consummation."
"Permit me the honour," wrote Admiral John White, "to bear testimony
to the high gratification I felt at seeing by the papers the
announcement of your lordship's having taken the command of the West
India and Halifax Stations. The whole British empire has expressed
great joy at this justice having been done to the bravery of your
lordship as an officer and your goodness and honour as a man." That
last sentence told no more than the truth.