North America in charge of convoy for the St. Lawrence, and on her return in December was ordered to join Vice-admiral Thornbrough in the Downs, as part of a squadron destined to act in the Bay of Biscay. The cruise lasted from the beginning of February to the end of May 1806, during which time the Pallas, for the most part detached from the squadron, captured or drove on shore and burnt a very large number of the enemy's merchant ships, as well as the Tapageuse sloop, cut out of the Garonne by the ship's boats, while the Pallas herself, left with only forty men on board, chased, drove ashore and destroyed three corvettes, each singly more than her match at the moment. The affair was reported by Thornbrough with very warm commendation, but was passed over by the admiralty without notice ; the Tapageuse was not bought into the service, and neither prize-money nor head-money was allotted for this capture and destruction of four ships of war. On 14 May, as the Pallas was engaged in reconnoitring the French fleet in the roadstead of Aix, the Minerve frigate of 40 guns stood out to meet her, accompanied by three brigs. She was very roughly handled, and would probably have been captured had not two other frigates weighed to support her. As the Pallas had lost her foretopmast and maintopsail-yard, she was now in a position of some danger, when the Kingfisher sloop ran in and took her in tow. This was virtually the end of her cruise, for four days afterwards she was ordered to Plymouth with a convoy, and arrived there on the 27th. In October 1806 there was a general election, when Cochrane again stood for Honiton, and was returned by a triumphant majority. The new member positively refused to entertain the electors' demand for another ten guineas apiece, though he finally agreed to give his constituents a public supper, which was converted into a general treat to the town, at a cost of some 1,200l.
On 2 Sept. Cochrane and the crew of the Pallas wsre turned over to the Imprieuse frigate, which put to sea on 17 Nov. and on the 29th joined the blockading squadron in Basque Koads. In February 1807 she returned to Plymouth, and at the general election in May, Cochrane and his Honiton constituents being mutually sick of each other, he offered himself as a candidate for Westminster, and was returned at the head of the poll, Sir Francis Burdett being his colleague. He had scarcely taken his seat before he brought forward, on 10 July, a motion on naval abuses. The abuses complained of were real, but Cochrane's attack was injudicious in its form and was negatived without a division. The admiralty ordered him out to the Mediterranean, on account of which his constituents gave him unlimited leave of absence. The Impérieuse sailed from Portsmouth on 12 Sept. 1807, and, having captured a Maltese pirate on 14 Nov., joined the fleet under Lord Collingwood off Toulon on the 19th. Cochrane was then directed to go to Corfu to relieve the senior officer there; but having interfered to put a stop to the iniquitous system of granting passes, which his predecessor had sanctioned, he was speedily recalled as 'wanting in discretion.' It does not appear that Collingwood made any inquiries into the merits of the charge, but accepted the report of the officer who had granted and presumably profited by the illegal passes.
Cochrane rejoined the fleet on 2 Jan. 1808, and in the end of the month was sent on a roving commission, with general instructions 'to harass the Spanish and French coast as opportunity served.' It is impossible here to relate in detail the extraordinary events of the next four months, or even to enumerate the vessels that were captured or burnt, the batteries, towers, signal stations and lighthouses that were blown up. In the beginning of June came the change in the relations between France and Spain, and after three weeks of uncertainty, Cochrane received orders, on 21 June, to 'cruise in the Mediterranean and render every possible assistance to the Spaniards against the French.' The Impérieuse immediately passed up the coast, fraternising with the Spaniards at the ports, till at Barcelona she found the French in possession. Her work in Catalonia consisted chiefly in breaking down the roads and bridges, seriously interfering with the march and transport service of the French armies. Then, stretching along the south coast of France, destroying whatever could be destroyed, this one frigate brought a pressure on the French armies which largely modified their plans of aggression. Cochrane wrote to Collingwood from the Gulf of Lyons, 28 Sept. 1808 : 'With varying opposition, but with unvaried success, the newly constructed semaphoric telegraphs, which are of the utmost consequence to the safety of the numerous convoys that pass along the coast of France, at Bourdique, La Pinede, St. Maguire, Frontignan, Canet, and Fay, have been blown up and completely demolished, together with, their telegraph houses, fourteen barracks of gens (formes, one battery, and the strong tower on the lake of Frontignan.' Upon this Collingwood commented thus : 'Nothing can exceed the zeal and activity with which his lordship pursues the enemy. The success which attends his enterprises clearly indi-
