tle sloop mounting fourteen four-pounder guns, in which
not only did Lord Cochrane capture many gun-boats and merchantmen, but on
the 6th of May, 1801, he took the _Gamo_, a Spanish frigate, carrying six
times as many men as the _Speedy_ and seven times her weight of shot, an
exploit that so aroused the jealousy of Earl St. Vincent that for a long
time Lord Cochrane could not obtain employment. Three years later, when
Lord Melville succeeded St. Vincent as first lord of the admiralty, Lord
Cochrane was appointed to the _Pallas_, in which he again did excellent
service; and distinguished himself still more when, in the _Imperieuse_,
he attacked the whole French fleet in the Basque Roads, driving three or
four of their battle-ships ashore, capturing three others, and compelling
the rest to take to flight.

But the honour and popular applause gained by Lord Cochrane was, in the
opinion of the authorities, more than neutralized by his fearless
exposure, from his place in Parliament, where he sat as one of the members
for Westminster, of the scandalous abuses then prevailing in the navy. All
attempts to silence him by the offers of valuable appointments being in
vain, Lord Cochrane was subjected to a persecution altogether without
precedent in parliamentary history. In the court-marshal which was held
upon Lord Gambier for his failure to assist Cochrane in the action in the
Basque Roads, the admiralty went so far as to forge charts, and so to show
that the admiral could not come to Cochrane's assistance, and Gambier was
not only acquitted, but received a vote of thanks from the House of
Commons for the victory in which he had taken no part. For four years Lord
Cochrane received no appointment, but at the close of 1813 his uncle, Sir
Alexander Cochrane, was selected for the command of the fleet on the North
American station, and nominated Cochrane his flag captain, an appointment
resting entirely with him, and with which government could not interfere.

He did not, however, sail, for just as he was about to embark, a relation,
who was engaged in stock exchange operations in conjunction with a foreign
adventurer, carried out some dishonest transactions, those who were his
dupes believing that he was acting under information obtained from Lord
Cochrane. As soon as the latter heard a report of the affair he left his
ship, came up to London, and demanded an investigation. Then followed one
of the most disgraceful parodies of justi