The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II

In the next letter written by Lord Auckland to Lord Dundonald, on the 18th of August, he again referred to European politics. "There is, with regard to the Continent, more promise of peace at this moment than there has been for a long time past, and there is a tone of more moderation on the part of France towards other countries than I have ever expected to see. But she yet has within her fearful elements of disturbance; her Government is yet unsettled, and, whenever determined, it will be subject to strong popular influences, and there can be no security. I almost apprehend earlier mischief from the popular influences of the United States. They have had a task of conquest and annexation, and Cuba lies temptingly. The uneasiness of the black population of many of the West India Islands may lead to opportunities, and disagreeable events may grow out of such circumstances. But these are matters of speculation, and nothing turns out as men think that they foresee. I wish that your squadron was stronger; for you are weak in numbers for the many points that you have to cover. Our home politics are rather more satisfactory than they were; that is to say, the dangers of Irish insurrection and of formidable Chartist outbreak are over. But there is still much uneasiness and disaffection in both countries, and the various events of Paris have given encouragement to strange enterprises. I apprehend, however, no serious mischief from these quarters at present; but we have in prospect a very general failure of the potato crop, and a very indifferent harvest, and here will be new causes of embarrassment."

There were many causes of embarrassment to English statesmen during the ensuing months. "For the present," wrote Lord Auckland, on the 1st of September, "there is a cordial and friendly understanding between the Governments of this country and France, and the chances of war seem to be distant. General Cavaignac seems to be a prudent and moderate man. But no one can predict into what courses the popular influences of France may force him, or what changes may on any day occur. The extreme Communist party is weaker than it was; and a Royalist party – for some king, but not for Louis Philippe – is growing up; and between these is a Government of a republic and an army. The first political difficulty will be that of Italy, where the Austrians will not readily make any concession, and where the French will not readily see them again accumulate strength. It is to be seen whether their mediation and ours will be of any avail."

"The condition of the present French Government is precarious," Lord Auckland said in another letter, dated the 9th of November. "According to present appearances, Louis Napoleon will be elected President, not because he is personally esteemed, but from his name, with some parties, and because it is anticipated by others that his rule will be short, and that he will be made to make way for others." "The election of a French President is over," Lord Auckland was able to say on the 25th of December, "and has been carried at last with a rush; and we are to have a new dynasty of Napoleons. Louis Napoleon was supported by the army for his name, by the bulk of the nation because Cavaignac and the Republic were hated, and by the Legitimists because they think he may presently be overthrown. He is pronounced to be a foolish man; but his course has been lately one of prudence and perseverance, and he will enter upon power with good auspices. But he will have many difficulties to contend with, and we may yet see many changes before the condition of France will be settled."

The Earl of Auckland, one of the worthiest and most generous statesmen of his time, Lord Dundonald's firm friend, and the friend of all with whom he came in contact, did not live to see these changes. Just a week after that letter was written, Admiral John Dundas, who had been his chief adviser on Admiralty matters, had to write to Lord Dundonald. "It is with great regret," he said, on the 1st of January, 1849, "I have to inform you of the death of Lord Auckland, after a few hours' illness. He was on a visit to Lord Ashburton, near Winchester, on Saturday – seized with a fit – never spoke after – and died this morning. You may well imagine the universal sorrow at such a loss; and I am sure you will join in that, for I know well the friendship that existed between you."

By Lord Auckland's letters, it has been shown that, among much else, Lord Dundonald made special study of the actual condition and the possible improvement of Bermuda, both as a convict settlement and as a centre of defence against any attacks that might be made upon the West Indies. He suggested various beneficial changes for the strengthening of its fortifications and for lessening its unhealthy character by better drainage and other expedients. In all of these he was supported by Lord Auckland. But from the new First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Francis Baring, he met with less encouragement. Bermuda had been made a subject of inquiry by a Parliamentary Committee, and the House of Commons being averse to any further expense, Sir Francis Baring was compelled to countermand much of the action that had been resolved upon.

With Sir Francis Baring Lord Dundonald corresponded on little but strictly official matters, and therefore their letters are of less general interest than those which passed between him and Lord Auckland.

CHAPTER XXVIII

LORD DUNDONALD'S VISITS TO THE NORTH AMERICAN AND WEST INDIAN COLONIES, AND HIS OPINIONS THEREON. – NEWFOUNDLAND AND ITS FISHERIES. – LABRADOR. – BERMUDA; ITS DEFENCES AND ITS GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. – BARBADOES. – THE NEGROS. – TRINIDAD. – ITS PITCH LAKE. – THE DEPRESSED CONDITION OF THE WEST INDIAN COLONIES. – LORD DUNDONALD'S SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT.

[1848-1850.]

The foregoing chapter consists chiefly of extracts from letters addressed to Lord Dundonald during 1848. In the present one free use will be made of his own journal of a tour among the colonies and islands whose interests he was appointed to watch as Admiral of the North American and West Indian squadron.22 It furnishes much interesting information about the places visited, and has also additional interest as illustrating the writer's tone of mind and method of investigation concerning every object that came in his way. The journal describes his occupations during eight months, beginning with the summer of 1849, and includes reminiscences of less systematic visits to the various localities made during the previous year. Leaving Halifax, in Nova Scotia, on the 14th of July, Lord Dundonald proceeded northwards, passed Cape Breton Island to Newfoundland, the fisheries of which it was part of his duty to protect.

He entered St. George's Harbour, the chief resort of the fishermen and traders, on the 27th of July. "It is situated," he said, "in the angle of a deep bay between Aguille and Cape St. George, the town being on the promontory and having deep water close to it. No village can be better placed for the herring fishery, as these gregarious fish at the season of their arrival on the coast enter this harbour, as it were, into the cod of a net, whence they are lifted into the boats by scoops and buckets. With such slender means possessed by the inhabitants, the average catch amounts to twenty-two thousand barrels; but hundreds of thousands might be taken, were encouragement afforded. Salmon are also caught in the neighbouring rivers, which are alive with undisturbed and neglected trout. The barrels in which the herrings are packed are said to cost two shillings and sixpence each, and some new regulation requires additional hoops, which, to those concerned, appears a grievance. It is said the herrings must realise ten shillings per barrel, in order to repay costs and labour, but the last advices from Halifax state that eight shillings only are offered by the merchants. The French, I understand, attend more to the cod fishery. They are not at liberty, if they adhere to the treaty, to draw nets on the shore. There is an American merchant here who deals in truck with the English settlers, and obtains from them about a third part of the herrings caught, which he sends to the United States in such of the numerous American schooners employed in the fishery as enter this bay. The unauthorised British settlers here are said to be very jealous of intruders, as they consider they have an exclusive right to the land and fisheries in their actual possession, and from which all are, by treaty, excluded. They seemed suspicious that the Wellesley might have some motive in entering the bay contrary to their interests. No person whatsoever came on board, nor did any one come off to the ship, even to offer himself as a pilot. Some persons were lately desirous to set up a saw-mill, which would have been important, as they obtain all their staves for herring-casks, &c., from abroad; but the sanction of the inhabitants could not be obtained. There is no magistrate or civil or military authority, no medical man, and, perhaps fortunately, no attorney. Indeed, there is no law, though justice is done amongst themselves after their own manner. There is a neat little church, at which the bishop is now officiating, and the people who are resorting to it seem well-dressed and orderly."

On the 30th of July Lord Dundonald left the harbour, to pass round the sharp promontory known as Cape St. George. "About midway," he said, "a remarkable change takes place to the northward of the table mountain, where the vertical strata become in appearance horizontal along the whole shore of the projecting isthmus. The colour of the strata is chiefly grey, in parallel layers of varying hardness, as appears from its projections and indentations. I could not, without delaying the ship longer than I wished, procure samples of the strata, but there was no appearance of carboniferous minerals. The same layers were visible in detached places up to the tops of the hills, which are of considerable altitude, though that is not denoted in the chart. When we rounded Cape St. George on the following morning, the strata, which before appeared parallel, were observed to dip at a considerable angle towards the N.E., and seemed, where sufficiently exposed to view, to be split into large diagonal flakes. There is an island close off the shore, about five miles to the eastward of the Cape, called Red Island, which is of quite a different formation seemingly red horizontal layers of sandstone, of a soft nature, as is obvious from the encroachments of the sea. The peninsula opposite to this island is of considerable elevation, as far as Round Head, whence it gradually lowers to a point about ten miles farther to the eastward. Here the level ground at first seems to be alluvial, but on closer observation indurated rocks are seen to protrude in flakes dipping into the sea. The bay formed by this promontory is of great magnitude. There are several islands at its mouth and in the interior, but there being no chart, and no motive for entering it, we stood on towards the mountains on the main shore, some of which are very high. In many parts the contortion of the strata, and the confusion of all kinds of materials, are extraordinary. The sides of the mountains on the shore are clad with moss alone, trees of very stunted growth only appearing in the sheltered valleys. No visible portion of the shore seems capable of producing food for man."

From the western coast of Newfoundland Lord Dundonald sailed due north to visit Labrador. With its natural resources, and the neglect of them, he was much surprised. "The British possessions in Labrador," he said, "extend over a tract of country as great as the northern regions of Russia from St. Petersburg towards the Pole, wherein the Ural Mountains compensate that Government for the sterility of the soil. I have often felt surprise at the indifference evinced by the Spanish Government towards developing the resources of its possessions; but it is with still greater astonishment I view the supineness of our own Government in leaving this vast tract unexplored, and its probable treasures undiscovered."

Similar complaints were suggested to him by his observations on the eastern side of Newfoundland, to which he sailed down on the 6th of August. "We passed several ports, wherein there were numerous French ships and square-rigged vessels dismantled, and schooners and multitudes of fishing-boats in full activity in the offing. These schooners and fishing-boats are manned by the crews of the large French vessels which are laid up in port, and constitute depots as well as the means of transporting the produce of the fishery to France, an arrangement highly advantageous to the French marine, and which we erroneously abandoned by erecting Newfoundland into a Colonial Government, thus surrendering our deep-sea fishery entirely, even without rendering the inshore fishery available to the newly-erected colony, throughout which it languishes from want of stimulus, or an adequate reward, even to induce the impoverished inhabitants of the shore to avail themselves of their small and almost costless boats to catch fish, which, by reason of the bounties given by France and America, are unsaleable with profit in any country in Europe. It is grievous to observe the difference in the mode of carrying on the British fishery compared to that of the French. The former in rudely-constructed skiffs, with a couple of destitute-looking beings in party-coloured rags; the latter in fine, well-equipped schooners, which may be called tenders to their larger ships, the seamen uniformly dressed in blue, with Joinville hats, looking as men ought and may be expected to look whose interests and those of the parent State are understood to be in unison, and attended to as such."

At St. John's, Newfoundland, Lord Dundonald made some stay before sailing down to Sydney, in Cape Breton. Then he returned to Halifax, to go thence for a second visit to Bermuda.

Respecting Bermuda, as we have seen, he had much correspondence. "This island," he now said, "ever since the discovery of the opening in the reefs by Captain Hurd, has been deemed of much naval importance, and plans were formed by the highest military authorities for its defence. A naval arsenal also has been designed for the accommodation of a large establishment of ships of war. Distant islands, however, cannot be defended on principles which would be the most judicious at home – by the erection of forts in all quarters that could be occupied by an enemy. It is obvious that, under the circumstances of Bermuda, troops cannot be spared from the parent State permanently to garrison the multitude of forts which, on such a principle of defence, would be requisite. If they could, the expense would be enormous, and therefore I cannot dismiss this subject without an expression of my satisfaction at the intelligence I lately received that such extravagant and unavailing system of fortification has been suspended. In my opinion it is a great error to imagine that naval officers are unfit to be consulted respecting maritime defences; had it not been for so mistaken a notion many hundreds of thousands of pounds, perhaps I might say a million, might have been saved. I unhesitatingly assert that gunboats not only would suffice, but are by far the most available, and infinitely the cheapest defensive force amongst the rocks around the island of Bermuda. The coloured population of this island are a fine race, incomparably superior to the generality of the coloured population in the West Indies. They are accustomed to navigate in their commercial vessels: their lives are almost spent in boats, and no better crews could be got for the defence of their own island than they would prove themselves to be."

"The existence of this solitary island so far from the continent of North America," we further read in Lord Dundonald's journal, "is a circumstance meriting the attention of geologists, as well as the uniform material of which it is composed. It is all of a calcareous nature, but differing in condition from any of the other islands of the same substance. The strata are exposed in the perpendicular cliffs on the sea-shore in numerous precipices, from a hundred feet to minor altitudes, and are composed either of the most minute shells, or of parts of shells so triturated that they scarcely indicate their origin. In some places, however, there are laminae containing shells in a more perfect state, all of a white colour, with the exception of one (which I found on digging a cave) of a semicircular shape, of a red colour, and almost as large as an oyster shell. The whole of the substance of Bermuda can be burnt into good lime; but there is an indurated calcareous stone, often containing many perfect shells, on the island on which the naval yard is being built, which is preferred as more adhesive and better in quality. Although there are no indications of volcanic products on this island, yet it exhibits manifest proofs that volcanic force has raised it from the depths of the ocean. In what stage of induration it was at that period it is difficult to conjecture. The hills and vales throughout the whole extent of Bermuda have the stratified calcareous material generally conforming on all sides to the inclination of the surface. There are, however, many situations in which the strata present themselves as manifestly broken by force. In the deep cutting in the road which enters into the enclosure around the Government House, one of these breaks appears at the apex of the hill, dividing its sides, which here incline towards the centre, exposing a wedge-formed supplementary part that fills up the interstice. In the grounds of the Admiralty House curious instances of unconformable strata are laid bare in old quarries. These indicate some other cause for their nonconformity than that before assigned, and I am quite at a loss to imagine how the stratified materials could have been placed one above another at such different angles by the action of water, or in any other way, without appearance of disruption. There are caves upon this island containing large stalactites. There is one on Tucker's Island where these stalactites reach from the top of the cave far below the surface of the salt water it contains. I am not aware of any other instance where similar crystalisations have taken place under the sea water. It seems to lead to the belief that this island was at some time less submerged. There are other caves much larger, and one which goes in so far that the officers who accompanied me did not scramble to its end. This cave is formed by two large masses of calcareous matter having been reared up one against the other. I have seen some very beautiful crystallisations taken from another cave recently found in a quarry at Ireland Island; but the absence of petrifactions here (for I have never seen one) constitutes a remarkable difference between this formation and that on the island of Antigua, where the roads are almost made with petrifactions.

"In clearing the surface of the rock, as has lately been done at the quarries, and in laying the foundation of the new convict barracks, the most irregular formation is exposed. Large holes are found contiguous to each other in the white calcareous rock, which are filled with a substance resembling chocolate in its colour, unlike everything else upon the island."

From Bermuda Lord Dundonald sailed down to Barbadoes, where he arrived on the 5th of February. "The negroes," he said, "who are much more numerous on this island than on any other of the West Indies, appear to be well fed, and cheery in their dispositions. They live in small wooden houses resting on clumps of wood or blocks of stone, a mode of construction which enables them, when tired of or displeased with their locality, to transport them elsewhere. I was told that a street of stone huts, constructed for their use, is almost abandoned, by reason of the immobility of such residences. I consider this locomotive propensity a favourable trait in their character. Behind the barracks we stopped at a hut on the rising ground whereon the barracks ought to have been placed, and assuredly I never saw a more contented scene. There was a young negro, and, I believe, his wife, together with an old woman, perhaps the grandmother of the child she fondled. We made inquiry as to their mode of living, and they showed us green peas, seasoned with red pepper, ready to be cooked, yams, and cassava bread, as good as oatmeal cakes. These peas grow on large bushes, and vegetables of all kinds surround their hut."

From Barbadoes Lord Dundonald proceeded by way of Tobago to Trinidad. "On the morning of the 11th of February," he said, "we weighed and returned through the Dragon's Mouth, shaping our course for the great natural curiosity of Trinidad, the Pitch Lake, which I hoped might be rendered useful for fuel for our steam-ships – so important in the event of war – as fuel is only obtained at present from Europe. The United States and Nova Scotia are never resorted to; hence, could this pitch be rendered applicable as fuel, our vessels would be supplied when an enemy would be almost deprived of the use of steam in these seas. We arrived at La Brea, and before daybreak on the following morning we were on the road to the lake, or rather on a stream of bitumen (now indurated) which in former ages overflowed the lake. Indeed the bitumen beneath this road seems still to be on the move, as shown by curvilineal ridges on its surface, like waves receding from a stone thrown into water. The appearance of the lake is most extraordinary. One vast sheet of bitumen extends until lost amidst luxuriant vegetation. Its circumference is full three miles, exclusive of the creeks, which double the extent. The bituminous surface is of a dark brown, waxy consistence, except in one or two places where the fluid still exudes; obviously this spring is in full vigour beneath, for the whole surface of the lake is formed into protuberances like the segments of a globe pressed together, having hollows between filled with rain-water, which (except in the immediate vicinity of the bituminous springs) is inodorous and without taste – an extraordinary fact, showing that this bitumen is of a nature quite different from that of pyrotechnic mineral or vegetable tar. In its dry state it is quite insoluble in water, though when charged with essential oil, as it exudes from nature's laboratory, it imparts a pungent and unpleasant taste. A considerable quantity of gas bubbles up through these bituminous springs, showing that decomposition is still active amongst the materials whence it exudes. Some of the recent bitumen has an odour resembling vegetable gum. Mr. Johnson, the very obliging proprietor of a neighbouring estate, had the goodness to cause some of his labourers and a cart to bring samples to the beach. Means of transport, however, were so inadequate, that we had recourse to digging the more impure pitch on the beach, in order to prosecute our trials for its substitution as fuel. This bitumen, which had flowed upwards of a mile from the lake, was combined with earthy and other substances which it had encountered in its course. Various attempts have heretofore been made to apply the bitumen to useful purposes, but without success, as we may judge from the total abandonment of those trials and expectations which for a brief period induced its shipment to England with a view to its application to the pavements of London and other cities. All excavation has consequently ceased, and so low is the estimation in which the bitumen is held, that the duty on embarkation is only one halfpenny per ton. The nature of this bitumen is very different from that of coal. When exposed to a naked fire it becomes fluid, and runs through the bars before gas is disengaged, or at least before it is raised to a temperature at which it will ignite; perhaps it requires more or purer air than enters through the bars of steamboat furnaces – a conjecture which seems to be confirmed by the dense smoke speedily produced."

"The plains of Trinidad," wrote Lord Dundonald, "have a fertile soil, which, simply by clearing the ground, is capable of being rendered the most productive in the West India Islands for the growth of sugar and whatever can be cultivated in a climate most uniform in its temperature, most congenial to tropical plants, free from the evils of hurricanes and from all impediments to vegetation. I am confident that, if the hands of the Governor were not bound by restrictions and routine, the progress of Trinidad would soon verify this opinion. Lord Harris, the present Governor, nobly tendered a portion of his official income in alleviation of the burthens which are so severely felt in the present depressed state of agriculture and commerce, but from some cause his lordship's liberal intention was not realized. The example would have proved salutary, as it must have been followed by reductions throughout other West India Islands, whose resources are even in a worse state than those of Trinidad. Is it reasonable, whilst the ground has ceased to be cultivated because production is unprofitable, not only that the land should continue to be taxed at the rate it was in prosperous times, but that a duty should be levied on the exportation of its produce? Is it reasonable that whilst householders can obtain no rent, and have no income save the bare means of providing a scanty subsistence, they should be assessed at the rack-rent of former valuation? Can any property be more entitled to protection than that of the owners of the soil or of the dwellings they inhabit? And yet all these, as appears by the numerous gazetted sales, are sacrificed to the collection of sums, the bulk of which is uselessly and prejudicially expended. Whilst the Government of the parent State has alleviated the burdens on the productive classes, is it just that taxes on food and on all the necessaries of life should be continued throughout the colonies, and that even their productions should be intolerably burdened with local imposts, whilst complaints are loud and true of the absence of all remuneration from the sources which once constituted the prosperity of those now impoverished and oppressed possessions? The above observations do not apply exclusively to Trinidad, but to the whole of the islands, which scarcely differ in degree in the causes of ruin which seem irremediable by any authority except the legislature of the parent State. I am persuaded that the chief of the Colonial Department at home would endeavour to counteract the causes of widely-spread and increasing ruin, were he in possession of correct information; but popular representations of grievances, often embodying misapprehensions as to their true origin, and accompanied by suggestions of impracticable remedies, are denied or disputed in counterstatements by interested officials, so that the Colonial Minister is bewildered, and can form no correct judgment from such conflicting statements. I hold it to be impossible that the monstrous absurdities and violations of every principle of good government which exist throughout these western colonies could be tolerated an instant, were their consequences known and believed by those in power, or were they laid before the British public by any person on whose judgment and opinion they could rely. Can it be credited that even in the island of Trinidad, not only multitudes of valuable properties are brought to sale from the inability of their owners to pay the fiscal demands, but that properties are consigned to the Government auctioneer even for so small an assessment as three-fourths of a dollar? This is, nevertheless, the fact. The emancipation of the slaves was a glorious act, but the rescue of these noble possessions from ruin, and the restoration of prosperity to an integral part of the empire, would redound to the honour of any one who would successfully advocate the cause of reason and justice, not only on the principles of equity, but with the less noble view of gain to the parent State, as it is certain that the consumption of British manufactured articles has fallen off in these colonies to an extent which has not been counterbalanced by the increase of exports anticipated from the questionable policy of concession to Brazil, in which I have reason to believe the supply of articles required for the slave trade constitutes a large proportion."