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

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.

21

The great Chartist who, having been tried and sentenced to transportation, had been sent to Bermuda in May, 1848.

22

Published in 1861 as a pamphlet, entitled, "Notes on the Mineralogy, Government, and Condition of the British West India Islands and North American Maritime Colonies."

23

The following patents, for the use of the Trinidad bitumen, were taken out by Lord Dundonald: – 1851. "Improvements in the construction and manufacture of sewers, drains, waterways, pipes, reservoirs, and receptacles for liquids or solids, and for the making of columns, pillars, capitals, pedestals, bases, and other useful and ornamental objects, from a substance never heretofore employed for such manufactures." – 1852. "Improvements in coating and insulating wire." – 1852. "Improving bituminous substances, thereby rendering them available for purposes to which they never heretofore have been successfully applied." – 1853. "Improvements in producing compositions or combinations of bituminous, resinous, and gummy matters, and thereby obtaining products useful in the arts and manufactures." – 1853. "Improvements in apparatus for laying pipes in the earth, and in the juncture of such pipes."

The "Observations on the long-desired, yet still unaccomplished proceeding, whereby to effect the embankment of the Thames and free the river from pollution," by the Earl of Dundonald, are especially interesting at the present time: – "It will probably be admitted that the Thames above bridge is unnecessarily broad, unless considered as a recipient for back-water; and that the long margin of shallow water between London Bridge and that of Vauxhall is of little importance, even for that purpose, as gravel, sand, and other substances, may advantageously be removed from the central bed of the river, fully to compensate for the water that would be excluded by an embankment of one-sixth on both sides of the channel.

"An easy method of accomplishing this object would be to cut a ditch on each shore, equidistant from the centre, and fill it with bituminous concrete, as the foundation of a parapet or wharf to be formed of similar materials. Within this a main sewer might be excavated, and constructed in like manner of conglomerated gravel and sand from the spot.

"It will of course occur that, although roads may be carried over the entrances of the various docks by swing-bridges, yet these entrances present obstacles to a direct line of sewers.

"To enable this difficulty to be overcome, very solid tunnels, floored with hard pavement stones, set in bitumen, may be caused to descend in subverted curves below the entrances of the docks, whence all matters deposited may occasionally be removed by see-saw locomotive dredges on wheels, worked either by mechanical power, or by the current acting directly on the dredge."

24

The following letter, dated "Buckingham Palace, March 4, 1859," gave pleasure to Lord Dundonald: – "My Lord, – I have received the commands of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort to return you his best thanks for the copy of your 'Narrative,' which you have been good enough to send to his Royal Highness, and upon which his Royal Highness will place a high value. I am directed further to say that it would add materially to that value if you would have the kindness to write in the first page of the accompanying volume that it was presented by your lordship to the Prince. I have the honour to be, my lord, your most obedient humble servant, – C.B. Phipps."

25

Almost the last letter written by Lord Dundonald was this to Lord Brougham: – "My dear Lord Brougham, – I have the pleasure to forward you the second volume of my 'Autobiography,' in which you will find that use has been made of the kind expressions towards myself contained in your works. Of the injustice done to me I need not tell you, who are so well acquainted with the subject. If the accompanying volume succeeds in impressing on the public mind the sentiments so unflinchingly set forth in your works, it will have answered its purpose; and that it will do so I see no reason to doubt, now that the subject can be canvassed apart from political rancour. I am, my dear Lord Brougham, ever faithfully yours, – Dundonald." Lord Brougham's answer was dated from Paris, on the 31st of October, the very day of his friend's death. "I have just received your very kind letter, and I daresay the volume will very speedily reach me… One thing I fear you do not come down late enough to relate. I mean the impression made upon all present when I took you to the Tuileries; and when the name of Cochrane, so well known to them (and which I cannot bring myself to change for your present title), was no sooner heard than there was a general start and shudder. I remember saying, as we drove away, that it ought to satisfy you as to your disappointment at Basque Roads; and you answered that you would rather have had the ships."

26

These lines, by Mr. Tom Taylor, were published in "Punch."