THE NATURE OF THE REWARDS BESTOWED ON LORD COCHRANE FOR HIS FIRST
SERVICES TO BRAZIL.—PEDRO I. AND THE PORTUGUESE FACTION.—LORD
COCHRANE'S ADVICE TO THE EMPEROR.—THE FRESH TROUBLES BROUGHT UPON HIM
BY IT.—THE UNJUST TREATMENT ADOPTED TOWARDS HIM AND THE FLEET.—THE
WITHHOLDING OF PRIZE-MONEY AND PAY.—PERSONAL INDIGNITIES TO LORD
COCHRANE.—AN AMUSING EPISODE.—LORD COCHRANE'S THREAT OF RESIGNATION,
AND ITS EFFECT.—SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH'S ALLUSION TO LORD COCHRANE IN
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
[1823-1824.]
All the rewards bestowed upon Lord Cochrane for his wonderful
successes in the northern part of Brazil, except the confirmation of
his patent as First Admiral, be it noted, were unsubstantial. He had
for ever crushed the power of Portugal in South America; he had added
vast provinces to the imperial dominion, and had thus augmented the
imperial revenues by considerably more than a million dollars a-year,
besides the great and immediate profits of his prize-taking. And all
this had been done with a small fleet, poorly equipped and unpaid.
The ships entrusted to him had been rendered efficient by his own
ingenuity, unaided by the Government, and with scant addition to his
resources from the numerous captures made by him. In excess of his
instructions, and with nothing but cheap compliments and cheaper
promises to encourage him, he had acquired Maranham and Parà, and all
the provinces dependent upon them, as well as Bahia. Relying on the
honour of his employers, he had pledged his own honour, that on their
returning to Rio de Janeiro, his crews, who were clamouring for
some part, at any rate, of the wages due to them, should be fully
recompensed, and he had the reasonable expectation, that, out of
the abundant wealth that he had gained for Brazil, he himself should
receive his lawful share of the prize-money gained by his exertions.
Instead of that he and his subordinates, both officers and men, were
subjected to an unparalleled course of meanness, trickery, and fraud.
This partly resulted from an unfortunate change in the Government that
had occurred during his absence. When he left Rio de Janeiro, Pedro
I.'s chief secretary of state had been Don José Bonifacio de Andrada
y Silva, a wise and patriotic Brazilian. The Emperor and his minister
had all along been seriously crippled in fulfilment of their good
purposes by subordinates of the Portuguese faction, who persistently
twisted their instructions, when they did not act in direct
opposition to those instructions, so as to promote their own and their
countrymen's selfish and unpatriotic objects; but there had been hope
that the zeal of Pedro and José de Andrada would overcome these evil
devices, and secure the healthy consolidation of the empire. When Lord
Cochrane returned, however, he found that the honest minister had
been deposed, that his party had been ousted, and that the Emperor was
surrounded by bad counsellors, who, unable to pervert his judgment,
were strong enough to restrain its action, and who were robbing him,
one by one, of all his constitutional functions, and doing their
best to bring Brazil into a state of anarchy, with a view to the
re-establishment of Portuguese authority in its old or in some new but
no less obnoxious form. The Emperor, desiring to do well, had hardly
improved his position, a few days before the _Pedro Primiero's_ arrival, by violently dissolving the Legislative Assembly, banishing
some of its members, and threatening to place Rio de Janeiro itself
under military law.
That was the state of affairs when Lord Cochrane entered the port.
Only five days afterwards, on the 14th of November, 1823, he wrote a
bold letter to the Emperor. "My sense of the impropriety of intruding
myself on the attention of your Imperial Majesty on any subject
unconnected with the official position with which your Majesty has
been pleased to honour me," he said, "could only have been overcome by
an irresistible desire, under existing circumstances, to contribute to
the service of your Majesty, and the empire. The conduct of the late
Legislative Assembly, which sought to derogate from the dignity and
prerogatives of your Majesty, even presuming to require you to divest
yourself of your crown in their presence—which deprived you of your
Council of State and denied you a voice in the enactment of laws and
the formation of the constitution—and which dared to object to your
exercising the only remaining function of royalty, that of rewarding
services and conferring honours—could no longer be tolerated; and
the justice and wisdom of your Imperial Majesty in dissolving such
an assembly will be duly appreciated by discerning men, and by those
whose love of good order and their country supersedes their ambition
or personal interests. There are, however, individuals who will
wickedly take advantage of the late proceedings to kindle the flames
of discord, and throw the empire into anarchy and confusion, unless
timely prevented by the wisdom and energy of your Imperial Majesty.
The declaration that you will give to your people a practical
constitution, more free even than that which the late Assembly
professed an intention to establish, cannot—considering the spirit
which now pervades South America—have the effect of averting
impending evils, unless your Imperial Majesty shall be pleased to
dissipate all doubts by at once declaring—before the news of the
recent events can be dispersed throughout the provinces, and before
the discontented members of the late congress can return to their
constituents—what is the precise nature of that constitution which
your Imperial Majesty intends to bestow. As no monarch is more happy
or more truly powerful than the limited monarch of England, surrounded
by a free people, enriched by that industry which the security of
property by means of just laws never fails to create, permit me humbly
and respectfully to suggest, that if your Majesty were to decree that
the English constitution, in its most perfect practical form—which,
with slight alteration, and chiefly in name, is also the constitution
of the United States of North America—shall be the model for the
government of Brazil under your Imperial Majesty, with power to the
Constituent Assembly to alter particular parts as local circumstances
may render advisable, it would excite the sympathy of powerful states
abroad, and the firm allegiance of the Brazilian people to your
Majesty's throne. Were your Majesty, by a few brief lines in the
'Gazette,' to announce your intention so to do, and were you to banish
all distrust from the public mind by removing from your person for a
time, and finding employment on honourable missions abroad for, those
Portuguese individuals of whom the Brazilians are jealous, the purity
of your Majesty's motives would be secured from the possibility of
misrepresentation, the factions which disturb the country would be
silenced or converted, and the feelings of the world, especially those
of England and North America, would be interested in promoting the
glory, happiness, and prosperity of your Imperial Majesty."
That advice, in the main adopted by the Emperor, led to a
reconstruction of the Brazilian Constitution in its present shape, and
so added another to the many great benefits which Brazil owes to Lord
Cochrane. But the whole, and especially the last part of it, being
directly at variance with the plans and interests of the Portuguese
faction, it won for him much hatred and many personal troubles.
"That I, a foreigner, having nothing to do with national politics," he
said, "should have counselled his Majesty to banish those who opposed
him, was not to be borne, and the resentment caused by my recent
services was increased to bitter enmity for meddling in affairs which,
it was considered, did not concern me; though I could have had no
other object than the good of the empire by the establishment of
a constitution which should give it stability in the estimation of
European states."
Consequently, in return for the great services he had conferred to
Brazil, he received, as had been the case in Chili, little but insult
and injury, the course of insult and injury being hardly stayed
even during the period in which he was needed to engage in further
services. The Emperor honestly tried to be generous; but he could not
rid himself of the Portuguese faction, generally dominant in Brazil,
and his worthy intentions were thwarted in every possible way. With
difficulty could he secure for Lord Cochrane the confirmation of his
patent as First Admiral, which has been already referred to. No great
resistance was made to his conferment of the empty title of Marquis of
Maranham, but he was not allowed to make the grant of land which was
intended to go with the title and enable it to be borne with dignity.
Prevented from being generous, he was even hindered from exercising
the barest justice.
The injustice was shown not only to Lord Cochrane, but also to all
the officers and crews who, serving under him, had enabled Brazil
to maintain its resistance to the tyranny of Portugal, though not to
shake off the tyranny of the faction which still had the interests of
Portugal at heart. It is not necessary to describe in detail the long
course of ill-usage to which he and his subordinates were exposed.
Part of that ill-usage will be best and most briefly indicated by
citing a portion of an eloquent memorial which Lord Cochrane addressed
to the Imperial Government on the 30th of January, 1825.
The memorial began by enumerating the achievements of the fleet at
Bahia, Maranham, Parà, and elsewhere. "The imperial squadron," it
proceeds, "made sail for Rio de Janeiro, in the full expectation of
reaping a reward for their labours; not only because they had been
mainly instrumental in rescuing from the hands of the Portuguese,
and adding to the imperial dominion, one half of the empire; but also
because their hopes seemed to be firmly grounded, independently of
such services, on the capture of upwards of one hundred transports and
merchant vessels, exclusive of ships of war, all of which, they had a
just right to expect, would, under the existing laws, be adjudged to
the captors. The whole of them were seized under Portuguese colours,
with Portuguese registers, manned by Portuguese seamen, having on
board Portuguese troops and ammunition or Portuguese produce and
manufacture. On arriving at Rio de Janeiro, there was no feeling but
one of satisfaction among the officers and seamen, and the Brazilian
marine might from that moment, without the expense of one milrei to
the nation, have been rapidly raised to a state of efficiency and
discipline which had not yet been attained in any marine in South
America, and which the navies of Portugal and Spain do not possess.
It could not, however, be long concealed from the knowledge of the
squadron that political or other reasons had prevented any proceedings
being had in the adjudication of their prizes; and the extraordinary
declaration that was made by the Tribunal of Prizes,—'that they were
not aware that hostilities existed between Brazil and Portugal'—led
to an inquiry of whom that tribunal was composed. All surprise at
so extraordinary a declaration then ceased; but other sentiments
injurious to the imperial service, arose,—those of indignation and
disgust that the power of withholding their rights should be placed
in the hands of persons who were natives of that very nation against
which they were employed in war. His Imperial Majesty, however, having
signified to this tribunal his pleasure that they should delay no
longer in proceeding to the adjudication of the captured vessels,
the result was that, in almost every instance, at the commencement of
their proceedings, the vessels were condemned, not as lawful prizes to
the captors, but as droits to the Crown. His Majesty was then pleased
to desire that the said droits should be granted to the squadron, and
about one-fifth part of the value of the prizes taken was eventually
paid under the denomination of a 'grant of the droits of the Crown.'
But when this decree of his Imperial Majesty was promulgated,
the tribunal altered their course of proceeding, and, instead of
condemning to the Crown, did, in almost every remaining instance,
pronounce the acquittal of the vessels captured, and adjudged them
to be given up to pretended Brazilian owners, notwithstanding that
Brazilian property embarked in enemy's vessels was, by the law,
declared to be forfeited; and that, too, with such indecent
precipitancy that, in cases where the hull only had been claimed, the
cargo also was decreed to be given up to the claimants of the hull,
without any part of it having, at any time, been even pretended to be
their property. Other ships and cargoes were given up without any form
of trial, and without any intimation whatever to the captors and their
agents; and, in most cases, costs and quadruple damages were unjustly
decreed against the captors, to the amount of 300,000 milreis. That
the prizes of which the captors were thus fraudulently deprived,
chiefly under the unlawful and false pretence of their belonging to
Brazilians, were really the property of Portuguese and well known so
to be by the said tribunal, has since been fully demonstrated, by
the arrival in Lisbon of the whole of the vessels liberated by their
decisions. Thus the charge of a system of wilful injustice, brought
by the squadron against the Portuguese Tribunal of Prizes at Rio de
Janeiro, is established beyond the possibility of contradiction."
It was only an aggravation of that injustice that, when Lord Cochrane
claimed the prompt and equitable adjudication of the prizes, an
attempt was made to silence him on the 24th of November by a message
from the Minister of Marine, to the effect that the Emperor would do
everything in his power for him personally. "His Majesty," answered
Lord Cochrane, "has already conferred honours upon me quite equal to
my merits, and the greatest personal favour he can bestow is to urge
on the speedy adjudication of the prizes, so that the officers and
seamen may reap the reward decreed by the Emperor's own authority."
A hardship to the fleet even greater than the withholding of its
prize-money was the withholding of the arrears of pay, which had been
accumulating ever since the departure from Rio de Janeiro in April. On
the 27th of November, three months' wages were offered to men to whom
more than twice the amount was due. This they indignantly refused, and
all Lord Cochrane's tact was needed to restrain them from open mutiny.
In spite of the Emperor's friendship towards Lord Cochrane, or rather
in consequence of it, he was in all sorts of ways insulted by the
ministry, the head of which was now Severiano da Costa. A new ship,
the _Atulanta_, was on the 27th of December, without reference to him,
ordered for service at Monte Video. He was on the same day publicly
described as "Commander of the Naval Forces in the Port of Rio de
Janeiro," being thus placed on a level with other officers in the
service of which, by the Emperor's patent, he was First Admiral, and
no notice was taken of his protest against that insult. On the 24th
of February he was gazetted as "Commander-in-Chief of all the Naval
Forces of the Empire during the present war," by which his functions,
though not now limited in extent, were limited in time. At length,
reasonably indignant at these and other violations of the contract
made with him, he offered to resign his command altogether. "If
I thought that the course pursued towards me was dictated by his
Imperial Majesty," he wrote to the Minister of Marine on the 20th of
March, "it would be impossible for me to remain an hour longer in
his service, and I should feel it my duty, at the earliest possible
moment, to lay my commission at his feet. If I have not done so
before, from the treatment which, in common with the navy. I have
experienced, it has been solely from an anxious desire to promote his
Majesty's real interests. Indeed, to struggle against prejudices, and
at the same time against those in power whose prepossessions are at
variance with the interests of his Majesty and the tranquillity and
independence of Brazil, is a task to which I am by no means equal.
I am, therefore, perfectly willing to resign the situation I
hold, rather than contend against difficulties which appear to me
insurmountable."[A]
[Footnote A: See Appendix (III).]
That letter was answered with complimentary phrases, and Lord Cochrane
was induced to continue in the employment from which he could not be
spared; but there was no diminution of the ill-treatment to which
he was subjected. One special indignity was attended by some amusing
incidents. On the 3rd of June, while he was residing on shore, it was
proposed to search his flag-ship, on the pretext that he had there
concealed large sums of money which were the property of the nation.
"Late in the evening," he said, "I received a visit from Madame
Bonpland, the talented wife of the distinguished French naturalist.
This lady, who had singular opportunities for becoming acquainted with
state secrets, came expressly to inform me that my house was at that
moment surrounded by a guard of soldiers. She further informed me
that, under the pretence of a review to be held at the opposite side
of the harbour early in the following morning, preparations had
been made by the ministers to board the flag-ship, which was to be
thoroughly overhauled whilst I was detained on shore, and all the
money found taken possession of. Thanking my friend for her timely
warning, I clambered over my garden fence, as the only practicable way
to the stables, selected a horse, and, notwithstanding the lateness
of the hour, proceeded to San Christoval, the country palace of the
Emperor, where, on my arrival, I demanded to see his Majesty. The
request being refused by the gentleman in waiting, in such a way as to
confirm the statement of Madame Bonpland, I dared him at his peril to
refuse me admission, adding that the matter on which I had come was
fraught with grave consequences to his Majesty and the empire. 'But,'
said he, 'his Majesty has retired to bed long ago.' 'No matter,' I
replied; 'in bed or not in bed, I demand to see him, in virtue of my
privilege of access to him at all times, and, if you refuse to concede
permission, look to the consequences.' His Majesty was not, however,
asleep, and, the royal chamber being close at hand, he recognized my
voice in the altercation with the attendant. Hastily coming out of his
apartments, he asked what could have brought me there at that time of
night. My reply was that, understanding that the troops ordered for
review were destined to proceed to the flag-ship in search of supposed
treasure, I had come to request his Majesty immediately to appoint
confidential persons to accompany me on board, when the keys of every
chest in the ship should be placed in their hands and every place
thrown open to inspection, but that, if any of his anti-Brazilian
administration ventured to board the ship in perpetration of the
contemplated insult, they would certainly be regarded as pirates and
treated as such; adding at the same time, 'Depend upon it, they are
not more my enemies than the enemies of your Majesty and the empire,
and an intrusion so unwarrantable the officers and crew are bound
to resist.' 'Well,' replied his Majesty, 'you seem to be apprised of
everything; but the plot is not mine, being, as far as I am concerned,
convinced that no money would be found more than we already know of
from yourself.' I then entreated his Majesty to take such steps for
my justification as would be satisfactory to the public. 'There is no
necessity for any,' he replied. 'But how to dispense with the review
is the puzzle. I will be ill in the morning; so go home and think
no more of the matter. I give you my word, your flag shall not be
outraged.' The Emperor kept his word, and in the night was taken
suddenly ill. As his Majesty was really beloved by his Brazilian
subjects, all the native respectability of Rio was early next day on
its way to the palace to inquire after the royal health, and ordering
my carriage, I also proceeded to the palace, lest my absence might
seem singular. On my entering the room,—where the Emperor was in
the act of explaining the nature of his disease to the anxious
inquirers,—his Majesty burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter,
in which I as heartily joined, the bystanders evidently, from the
gravity of their countenances, considering that we had both taken
leave of our senses. The ministers looked astounded, but said nothing.
His Majesty kept his secret, and I was silent."
That anecdote fairly illustrates the treatment adopted towards Lord
Cochrane, and the straits to which the Emperor was reduced in his
efforts to protect him from his enemies in power. The ill-treatment
both of himself and of the whole fleet continuing, he addressed an
indignant protest to his Majesty in July. "The time has at length
arrived," he there said, "when it is impossible to doubt that the
influence which the Portuguese faction has so long exerted, with the
view of depriving the officers and seamen of their stipulated rights,
has succeeded in its object, and has even prevailed against the
expressed wishes and intentions of your Majesty. The determined
perseverance in a course so opposed to justice must come to an end.
The general discontent which prevails in the squadron has rendered
the situation in which I am placed one of the most embarrassing
description; for, though a few may be aware that my own cause of
complaint is equal to theirs, many cannot perceive the consistency
of my patient continuance in the service with disapprobation of the
measures pursued. Even the honours which your Majesty has been pleased
to bestow upon me are deemed by most of the officers, and by the whole
of the men, who know not the assiduity with which I have persevered in
earnest but unavailing remonstrance, as a bribe by which I have been
induced to abandon their interests. Much, therefore, as I prize those
honours, as the gracious gift of your Imperial Majesty, yet, holding
in still dearer estimation my character as an officer and a man, I
cannot hesitate in choosing which to sacrifice when the retention of
both is evidently incompatible. I can, therefore, no longer delay to
demonstrate to the squadron and the world that I am no partner in the
deceptions and oppressions which are practised on the naval service;
and, as the first and most painful step in the performance of this
imperious duty, I crave permission, with all humility and respect,
to return those honours, and lay them at the feet of your Imperial
Majesty. I should, however, fall short of my duty to those who were
induced to enter the service by my example or invitation, were I to
do nothing more than convince them that I had been deceived. It is
incumbent on me to make every effort to obtain for them the fulfilment
of engagements for which I made myself responsible. As far as I am
personally concerned, I could be content to quit the service of your
Imperial Majesty, either with or without the expectation of obtaining
compensation at a future period. After effectually fighting the
battles of freedom and independence on both sides of South America,
and clearing the two seas of every vessel of war, I could submit to
return to my native country unrewarded; but I cannot submit to adopt
any course which shall not redeem my pledge to my brother officers and
seamen."
That and other arguments contained in the same letter, aided by
inducements of a different sort, to be presently referred to, had
partial effect. A small portion of the prize-money and wages due to
the squadron was issued, and Lord Cochrane remained for another year
in the service of Brazil. His weary waiting-time at Rio de Janeiro,
however, extending over nearly nine months, was almost at an end. On
the 2nd of August he left it, never to return.
While the ingratitude shown to him in Brazil was at its worst it is
interesting to notice that a few, at any rate, of his own countrymen
were remembering his past troubles and his present worth. On the 21st
of June, Sir James Mackintosh, in one of the many speeches in the
British House of Commons in which he nobly advocated the recognition
of the independence of the South American states, both as a political
duty and as a necessary measure in the interests of commerce, made a
graceful allusion to Lord Cochrane. "I know," he said, "that I am here
touching on a topic of great delicacy; but I must say that commerce
has been gallantly protected by that extraordinary man who was once a
British officer, who once filled a distinguished post in the
British navy at the brightest period of its annals. I mention this
circumstance with struggling and mingled emotions—emotions of pride
that the individual I speak of is a Briton, emotions of regret that
he is no longer a British officer. Can any one imagine a more gallant
action than the cutting out of the _Esmeralda_ from Callao? Never
was there a greater display of judgment, calmness, and enterprising
British valour than was shown on that memorable occasion. No man ever
felt a more ardent, a more inextinguishable love of country, a more
anxious desire to promote its interests and extend its prosperity,
than the gallant individual to whom I allude. I speak for myself. No
person is responsible for the opinions which I now utter. But ask,
what native of this country can help wishing that such a man were
again amongst us? I hope I shall be excused for saying thus much; but
I cannot avoid fervently wishing that such advice may be given to
the Crown by his Majesty's constitutional advisers as will induce his
Majesty graciously to restore Lord Cochrane to the country which he
so warmly loves, and to that noble service to the glory of which, I am
convinced, he willingly would sacrifice every earthly consideration."