THE FEATS OF THE EARL OF DUNDONALD.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, Issue 58, 17 October 1855, Page 2

THE FEATS OF THE EARL OF DUNDONALD.

As a boy Lord Dundonald became a sailor, and won his way by hard work — possibly also by the interest of some cousin thirteen times removed. Anyhow he got a ship to command ; and the sailors on board soon found that if any prize-money were to be had, he knew where to find it, and would go much out of his way to get at it — all very pleasant to Jack, with whom he became popular, and not unfairly sought to ingratiate himself. But his commander, Lord Gambier, was a saint — Lord Cochrane was not, and so they quarrelled. This might have passed; but he quarrelled also with the Board of Admiralty, by seeking to redress the wrongs of sailors and make their position better. He was warned to desist, but that was not his way ; and to enforce attention to his case, he purchased the seat for the borough of Honiton, at a cost of some £5,000, out of the £100,000 he had made in prize-money. The borough of Honiton sat round him like a dirty shirt, and a strong Scotch accent was not favourable to oratory, so that on the whole the move was a failure ; and what was worse, his name was on the black list, and there was no more chance of bearding Lord Gambier, or misunderstanding signals when a prize was in sight. The Prince Regent and his Ministers did not like him, and when the Stock Exchange hoax took place, they were glad, right or wrong, to implicate him in it, as an excuse for degrading him from his rank and honours. With broken fortunes he hoisted the flag of Chili, and destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Pacific ; the magnificent episode of the Esmeralda, cut out from under the fire of three hundred pieces of cannon, showing skill to contrive, daring to execute, and coolness so perfect, that in the very act of boarding, and with a bleeding wound, he could turn to a follower and enjoin an act of economy with Scottish caution. He captured the supposed impregnable fortress of Baldivia by a surprise, and, with a leaky vessel in which the pumps were ever going, hunted the last Spanish war-Bhip over the ocean, till she fled into port and surrendered. The fountain of prize-money being exhausted on the old buccaneering ground, the Western coast of Spanish America, he again rounded the Horn, and took suit and service with the new Emperor of Brazil, to help to expel the European Portuguese. There was a Brazilian navy with Brazilian captains. Rio Janeiro was Imperial, and Bahia Royalist. In Bahia lay a convoy of merchantmen, West Indian argosies of great value. Our Scottish hero calculated all things well but one, and sent away all the fleet to Rio, while with his single ship he watched the rich convoy — a hawk waiting for the pigeons ; gradually he increased his distance, got out of sight, and after a patient month, edged in between the argosies and the land. Ship after ship was brought to and boarded, the water started, and the sails removed save the lower courses; and thus like a troop of hobbled horses, they were driven into Rio, the Scottish chieftain of the Pedro Primheiro whipping them up behind, as a Highland cateran may have done a herd of kyloes in bygone days. Here was a magnificent sea foray, not to be shared by any clanjamfrie of Brazilian fresh-water sailors, but to be divided only amongst the chiefs peculiar following — his own ship's company. And here was the one failing calculation. Civilized warfare requires a Prize Court to pronounce whether booty be lawful or not. The good old rule of the days of Drake, the law of the right hand, was obsolete. The captains of the Prize Court — who had been unceremoniously dismissed from the capture of the convoy — pronounced that there should be no legal condemnation. The human nature of the Brazilian breeches pocket asserted its rights, and would not condemn for the benefit of a heretical foreign commander and crew. Leaving the Brazilian service, Lord Cochrane entered the service of the Greek Revolution. Had he remained in it, it is doubtful if a single golden crescent would have been left in the Eastern waters. In the whole career of this remarkable man we may trace a strong likeness to the Drakes and Hawkinses and Frobishers of the days of Elizabeth. The essence of his character has been to surprise — to take advantage. He is essentially a viking, keen as his own sword, but not prone to fight without a " consideration." His perfect aptitude for surprise we may trace in his cuttingsout Jn the Basque Roads; in his hailing a French frigate of inferior force, and taking her while his own crew were all away in boats, under threat of sinking her; in the capture of the Esmeralda, in his preparation of quicklime to throw in the enemy's face when boarding to windward: and lastly, in his present proposition to take Sebastopol and Cionstadt by some new and secret "dodge." Such a man must be peculiarly obnoxious to slow gentlemen at the War Office, and to all legitimate warriors proceeding by rules of art ; but he has a right to be heard at the bar of public opinion. — "Miles Investigator" in the Spectator. [It is said that the scientific commission appointed to consider the feasibility of Lord Dundonald's plans, have reported in favour of the project, subject to certain conditions, which will have to be decided by military engineers.]

A Washing- to the Peevish. — I once witnessed a spectacle in the Liverpool Zoological Gardens which I shall never forget. In a large pit there were three bears ; two were large, the other quite small. I dropped a biscuit for the little one, which he began to eat. The large bears, being full of frolic, took away the broken pieces of the biscuit several times with their paw, and returned them to him. The little one was testy and fierce, snapped and snarled, and bit at his jocose companions. The big bears put up with this for a while without resentment. But the little one could not forget the insult ; he went on quarrelling and snapping. In a few moments, to my surprise and horror, the great bears began to growl; and, being angry, set upon the poor little thing, bit him completely through the bowels, and laid him dead on the spot. I looked on and received instruction. I said to myself, if men will not put up with trilling annoyances, but resolve to fret and fume and resent them, they must expect from parties as meddlesome as themselves, but with greater power, formidable in» juries, and it may be ruin. Let a man once acquire a character for peevishness, and we may then conclude that in social life he will be avoided ; and, should he give himself airs before power and authority in public, he will be chastized; and if still troublesome, at a member of an organized society, he may expect to be depoied. — Sermon* on Peavithnttt.