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

by Earl of Thomas Barnes Cochrane Dundonald; H. R. Fox Bourne

That was a movement with which Lord Cochrane was well pleased. He had been in doubt as to the prudence of leading his small fleet into a desperate action in the harbour, by which the inexperience of his crews might ruin everything, and which might have to be followed by fighting on land. But now that the Portuguese, both soldiers and sailors, were in the open sea, he could give them chase without much risk, as, in the event of their turning round upon him with more valour than he gave them credit for, the worst that could happen would be his forced abandonment of the pursuit. The valour was not shown. No sooner were the Portuguese out of port, with their sails set for Maranham, where they hoped to join other ships and troops, and so augment their strength, than Lord Cochrane proceeded to follow them and dog their progress.

His scheme was a bold one, but as successful as it was bold. Attended first by the Maria de Gloria alone, and afterwards by the Carolina, the Nitherohy, and a small merchant brig, the Colonel Allen, in which he had placed a few guns, he pursued and harassed the cumbrous crowd of Portuguese warships, troop-ships, and trading vessels, about eighty in all, through fourteen days. The chase, indeed, was practically conducted by his flag-ship, the Pedro Primiero, alone. The other vessels were ordered to look out for any of the enemy's fleet that lagged behind or were borne away from the main body of the fugitives, either to the right hand or to the left. Of these there were plenty, and none were allowed to escape. The pursuers had easy work in prize-taking. "I have the honour to inform you," wrote Lord Cochrane in a concise despatch to the Brazilian Minister of Marine, on the 7th of July, "that half the enemy's army, their colours, cannon, ammunition, stores, and baggage have been taken. We are still in pursuit, and shall endeavour to intercept the remainder of the troops, and shall then look after the ships of war, which would have been my first object but that, in pursuing this course, the military would have escaped to occasion further hostilities against the Brazilian empire."

Most of his prizes and prisoners Lord Cochrane sent into Pernambuco, the port then nearest to him, and he despatched two officers to hold Bahia for Brazil. With his flag-ship he continued his pursuit of the enemy, losing them once during a fog, and, when, he found them, being prevented from doing all the mischief which he hoped, as a calm enabled them to keep close together and present a front too formidable for attack by a single assailant. The Portuguese, however, continued their flight as soon as the wind permitted. Lord Cochrane did not trouble them much during the day, but each night he swept down on them, like a hawk upon its prey, and harassed them with wonderful effect. They were chased past Fernando Island, past the Equator, and more than half way to Cape Verde. Then, on the 16th of July, Lord Cochrane, after a parting broadside, left them to make their way in peace to Lisbon, there to tell how, by one daring vessel, thirteen ships of war had been ignominiously driven home, accompanied by only thirteen out of the seventy vessels that had placed themselves under their protection.

Lord Cochrane would have continued the pursuit still farther, had not some of the troop-ships contrived to escape; and as he was anxious that these should not get into shelter at Maranham, or, if there, should not have time to recover their spirits, he deemed it best to hasten thither. He reached Maranham before them, and thus found it possible to carry through an excellent expedient which he had devised on the way.

Maranham, the wealthiest province of the old Brazilian colony, was best guarded by the Portuguese, and now served as the centre and stronghold of resistance to the authority of the new Emperor. Lord Cochrane's plan had for its object nothing less than the annexation of the whole province singlehanded and without a blow. With this intent, he entered the River Maranham, which served as a harbour to the port of the same name, on the 26th of July, with Portuguese colours flying from the mast of the Pedro Primiero. The authorities, deceived thereby, promptly sent a messenger with despatches and congratulations on the safe arrival of what was supposed to be a valuable reinforcement from Portugal. The messenger was soon undeceived, but Lord Cochrane at once made him the agent of a much more elaborate and altogether justifiable deception Announcing to him that the swift sailing of the Pedro Primiero had brought her first to Maranham, but that she was being followed by a formidable squadron, intended for the invasion of the province, he sent him back with letters to the same effect, addressed to the Portuguese commandant and to the local Junta of Maranham. "The naval and military forces under my command," he wrote to the former, "leave me no room to doubt the success of the enterprise in which I am about to engage, in order to free the province of Maranham from foreign domination, and to allow the people free choice of government. Of the flight of the Portuguese naval and military forces from Bahia you are aware. I have now to inform you of the capture of two-thirds of the transports and troops, with all their stores and ammunition. I am anxious not to let loose the imperial troops of Bahia upon Maranham, exasperated as they are at the injuries and cruelties exercised towards themselves and their countrymen, as well as by the plunder of the people and churches of Bahia. It is for you to decide whether the inhabitants of these countries shall be further exasperated by resistance, which appears to me unavailing, and alike prejudicial to the best interests of Portugal and Brazil," "The forces of his Imperial Majesty," he said to the Junta, "having freed the city and province of Bahia from the enemies of independence, I now hasten—in conformity with the will of his Majesty that the beautiful province of Maranham should be free also—to offer to the oppressed inhabitants whatever aid and protection they need against a foreign yoke; desiring to accomplish their liberation and to hail them as brethren and friends. Should there, however, be any who, from self-interested motives, oppose themselves to the deliverance of their country, let such be assured that the naval and military forces which have driven the Portuguese from the south are again ready to draw the sword in the like just cause, and the result cannot be long doubtful."

Those mingled promises and threats took prompt effect. On the following day, the 27th of July, after a conditional offer of capitulation had been rejected, the members of the Junta, the Bishop of Maranham, and other leading persons, went on board the Pedro Primiero to tender their submission to the Emperor of Brazil. The city and forts were surrendered without reserve, and in less than twenty-four hours from Lord Cochrane's first appearance in the river the flag of Portugal was replaced by that of Brazil. A great province had been added to the dominions of Pedro I. without bloodshed, and with no more expenditure of ammunition than was needed for the volleys discharged in honour of the triumph.

The liberation of Maranham was publicly celebrated on the 28th of July, and on the following day the Portuguese troops embarked for Europe, special concessions being made to them by Lord Cochrane, who deemed it well that they should be out of the way before the device by which he had outwitted them was made known. No resentment was to be expected from the civilians, as even those most hearty in their adherence to the Portuguese faction in Brazil would not dare to offer direct opposition to the sentiments of the majority. But Lord Cochrane wisely set himself to conciliate all. "To the inhabitants of the city," he said, "I was careful to accord complete liberty, claiming in return that perfect order should be preserved and property of all kinds respected. The delight of the people was unbounded at being freed from a terrible system of exaction and imprisonment which, when I entered the river, was being carried on with unrelenting rigour by the Portuguese authorities towards all suspected of a leaning to the Imperial Government. Instead of retaliating, as would have been gratifying to those so recently labouring under oppression, I directed oaths to the constitution to be administered, not to Brazilians only, but also to all Portuguese who chose to remain and conform to the new order of things; a privilege of which many influential persons of that nation availed themselves."

With the capture of Maranham alone, however, Lord Cochrane was not satisfied. Without a day's delay, he despatched a Portuguese brig which he had seized in the river and christened by its name, under Captain Grenfell, to follow at Parà, the only important province of Brazil still under the Portuguese yoke, the same course which he had just adopted with such wonderful success. He himself found it necessary to remain at Maranham for more than two months, where he had to curb with a strong hand the passions of the liberated inhabitants, eager to use their liberty in lawless ways and to retaliate upon the Portuguese still resident among them for all the hardships which they had hitherto endured.

On the 20th of September, having heard that Captain Grenfell had entirely succeeded in his designs on Parà, he started for Rio de Janeiro, and there he arrived on the 9th of November. "I immediately forwarded to the Minister of Marine," he said, "a recapitulation of all transactions since my departure seven months before; namely,—the evacuation of Bahia by the Portuguese in consequence of our nocturnal visit, connected with the dread of my reputed skill in the use of fireships, arising from the affair of Basque Roads; the pursuit of their fleet beyond the Equator, and the dispersion of its convoy; the capture and disabling of the transports filled with troops intended to maintain Portuguese domination on Maranham and Parà; the device adopted to obtain the surrender, to the Pedro Primiero alone, of the enemy's naval and military forces at Maranham; the capitulation of Parà, with the ships of war, to my summons sent by Captain Grenfell; the deliverance of the Brazilian patriots whom the Portuguese had imprisoned; the declaration of independence by the intermediate provinces thus liberated, and their union with the empire; the appointment of provisional governments; the embarkation and departure of every Portuguese soldier from Brazil; and the enthusiasm with which all my measures—though unauthorised and therefore extra-official—had been, received by the people of the northern provinces, who, thus relieved from the dread of further oppression, had everywhere acknowledged and proclaimed his Majesty as constitutional Emperor."

Lord Cochrane's services had, indeed, been, many of them, "unauthorised and therefore extra-official." He had been sent out merely to recover Bahia; but, besides doing that, he had gained for Brazil other territories more than half as large as Europe. For this, however, nothing but gratitude could be shown, and the gratitude was, for the time at any rate, unalloyed. On the very day of the Pedro Primiero's return, the Emperor went on board to offer his thanks in person. Further, thanks were voted by the legislature, and tendered by all classes of the people.