Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Quotes

You know that independence is purchased at the point of the bayonet. Know also that liberty is founded on good faith, and on the laws of honor, and that those who infringe upon these, are your only enemies, amongst whom you will never find Lord Cochrane

this battle is going to decide the fate of all America and it is preferable to die on the field of honour than at the hands of our executioners.

By the blood that flows in my veins and upon my honor, I swear to God to free Brazil!

The seditious Bolivar has occupied Santa Fe, and the fateful result of that battle has placed at his disposition the whole kingdom and the immense resources of a very populated country, rich and abundant from which he will plunder what he needs to continue the war in these provinces because the insurgents have no rules or inhibitions

Nothing can compare with the untiring activity of that leader. His fearlessness and his talents entitle him to his place at the head of the revolution and of the war; but he possesses as well, from his noble Spanish strain and his education, also Spanish, qualities of elegance and generosity which elevate him far above all who surround him. He is the revolution...Bolivar is an indominatable soul whom a single victory of the smallest nature is enough to make master of five hundred leagues of territory.

We conceive the recovery of her colonies by Spain to be hopeless,,, We aim not at the possession of any portion of them ourselves. We could not see any portion of them transferred to any other power with indifference.

Chile announces a new refuge in these countries for the industry, the friendship, and all the citizens of the globe

General San Martin will never shed the blood of his compatriots, and he will unsheath his sword only against the enemies of the independence of South America.

A British nobleman is a free man, and therefore has a right to adopt any country which is endeavoring to reestablish the rights of aggrieved humanity

Arise, ye noble citizens, cast out all fear for good or ill, for our brave breasts and arms, shall be the walls that guard Brazil.

The portion of the naval force of the Union in actual service has been chiefly employed on three stations -- the Mediterranean, the coasts of South America bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the West Indies

Soldiers, you are going to finish the greatest task which heaven can charge to a man: to save a whole world from slavery... Soldiers, Peru and the whole of America are waiting for you to deliver peace, the child of victory. Even free Europe looks upon you with favor: for the freedom of the New World is the life of the universe.

Agitated by revolutionary movements, these grow in proportion to the force that resists them.

A great country cannot half-make war. From the moment it [Great Britain] decided to do so at sea, it was inescapably fated to do so also on land.

The civil war which has so long prevailed between Spain and the Provinces in South America still continues, without any prospect of its speedy termination.

The conservation of monarchy in any portion of South America will tend to break the shock of that inevitable divorce by which the New World is about to be divided by the Old... But as to putting it forward, as a project or proposition of ours, that is out of the question. Monarchy in Mexico, and monarchy in Brazil, would cure the evils of universal democracy, and prevent the drawing of the line which I almost dread – America versus Europe. The United States, naturally enough, aim at this division and cherish the democracy which leads to it.

This Society has been established for the purpose of grouping together American gentlemen who, distinguished by the liberality of their ideas and the fervour of their patriotic zeal, shall work together systematically and methodically for the independence and well-being of America, devoting to this most noble end all their strength, their influence, their faculties and talents, loyally sustaining one another, labouring honourably and proceeding with justice.

The blood of the Carrera cries for vengeance. Vengeance, fellow countrymen! Hatred eternal for the despots of South America... Chile is to be a mere colony of Buenos Aires, as she once was a colony of Spain... From the Argentine they send governors for your provinces, magistrates for your towns, generals and armies for you frontiers

My experience and what scant understanding of politics I possess have convinced me that our peoples will only find well-being under compulsion; but my repugnance for compulsion is so great that I am loath to employ it even to achieve their well-being.

We decided to act carefully, concealing our aims, because if the movement were frankly revolutionary it would not be supported by the general mass of people... Since the natives are indifferent to the word liberty it is necessary to make them believe that the rising is undertaken simply to favor King Ferdinand.

Brazil has cast a firebrand into Europe

Retaliation is sometimes mercy, mercy to both parties

16,000,000 Americans either defend their rights or suffer repression at the hands of Spain, which, although once the world's greatest empire, is now too weak, with what little is left her, to rule the new hemisphere or even to maintain herself in the old. And shall Europe, the civilized, the merchant, the lover of liberty allow an aged serpent, bent only on satisfying its venomous rage, devour the fairest part of our globe? What! Is Europe deaf to the clamor of her own interests? Has she no eyes to see justice?

For four hundred years the foreign policy of England has to oppose the strongest, most aggressive, most dominating Power on the Continent …

These claims [to then Spanish Florida] will be a subject of negotiation with Spain, and if, as soon as she is at war, we push them strongly with one hand, holding our a price in the other, we shall certainly obtain the Floridas, and all in good time.