He was off Cerigo on the 15th of November. There, having heard that the residue of the Turkish and Egyptian fleet was preparing to put to sea with all the available force, apparently to carry on the war in Candia, he at once sailed on to the south-eastern promontory of the Morea, and, during a fortnight, maintained the blockade on both sides of Navarino, between Coron and Prodana. There also he was able to carry on his war against pirates. "The Hellas being off the island of Prodana, a few miles to the north of Navarino," he reported to the Government, describing an important adventure of the 21st of November, "I sent two boats for the purpose of procuring wood from the island. The boats, being fired upon from persons near to some vessels in a cove, returned with a report that there were Turks upon the island. In consequence of this report, the corvette Hydra was directed to enter by the northern passage, whilst the Hellas entered to the southward of the island, and both vessels anchored opposite to the place where the supposed Turkish vessels were at anchor. It was immediately perceived, however, that the vessels were not Turkish, and, on examination, one proved to be a schooner under the Greek flag. It was soon discovered that a Dutch vessel at anchor in the same port had been seized, without the slightest pretence, by the schooner and plundered of almost everything that could be removed, and, moreover, that the captain and crew had been most barbarously flogged, for the purpose of ascertaining where the proceeds of the outward cargo were deposited."

Lord Cochrane wrote to the same effect to the Governor of Zante. "I have left the piratical vessel with a petty officer and sufficient crew to blockade Prodana, until you can send and seize the pirates, should you think proper, as they have been plundering and annoying the trade of the Ionian Islands. I send two of the pirates in irons, in order that, obtaining further information, you may deal with them and with the others according to the law of nations."

That instance of the policy adopted by Lord Cochrane will help to show how he set himself to put down piracy. The work was not easy, as the lawless conduct was secretly authorised by the Government, and practised with very little secresy by great numbers of the national vessels. It was in vain that he issued the proclamation of the 27th of October, that has been quoted; in vain, too, that he sent two gunboats to visit all the principal ports, with fresh injunctions against piracy and with authority to compel obedience to those injunctions, if necessary, by force. Good work, however, was done by these gunboats, in conjunction with two brigs detached for the purpose, in escorting neutral trading vessels through the waters most infested by the sea-robbers.

Slowly and painfully the conviction was forced upon Lord Cochrane that, after all his previous failures in attempting to turn the lawless Greeks into honest patriots and to convert their ill-manned ships into members of an efficient navy, his labours were now more useless than ever. After a fortnight's cruising about Navarino, he retraced his course and anchored, on the 3rd of December, off Egina, where the so-called Government was then located. To it he wrote on that day, asking for directions as to his mode of procedure. "The squadron under my command," he said, "has been in the blockade of Coron, Modon, and Navarino, and I have to inform your excellencies that there yet exists in the port of Navarino a naval force, under the Turkish flag, superior to the force under my command. I have, therefore, felt it my duty to repair to this port, in order that I may obtain instructions for my guidance, more especially as the Turkish squadron is ready for sea, and said to be destined for Candia, with ten thousand men, intending there to repeat the barbarities which the want of provisions in the Morea renders it impossible they can longer perpetrate in that quarter. There is also a great number of captive women and children about to be transported as slaves, and the only force of the allied powers off Navarino consists of a small brig, the Pelican, which is totally inadequate to impede the naval operations of the Turks. Under these circumstances, I beg to be explicitly informed whether I am to consider that 'the armistice de facto' continues, and if you have any doubt on the subject that you will be pleased candidly to inform me, that I may not be led into error and so increase the evils by doing anything in opposition to the intentions of the allied powers."

That letter was answered by a personal visit from the members of the Government, when Lord Cochrane was informed that the triumvirate was so embarrassed by the demands of the allied powers for restitution on account of piracies committed with its approval that it could neither do nor sanction anything at all. He was told that even the scanty means that he had had for supporting the fleet out of the revenues of the islands could no longer be allowed to him, as every dollar that could any how be collected would be required for other purposes.

Still, however, the Government expected him to continue his work, and he was even asked to do work from which, both for his own honour and in the interests of Greece, he felt bound to abstain. "I have received your letter," he wrote to the Secretary, about ten days afterwards, from Poros, "informing me that it is the desire of the Government that a national vessel shall be despatched to Chios, in the event of my being prevented from personally proceeding in the Hellas to that island. In reply to this intimation, I have to state to you that it is impossible for me, consistently with the duties which I owe to Greece, to place the national squadron, whilst it shall continue under my command, or any part thereof, under circumstances to be treated by the ships-of-war of the allied powers after the manner set forth in the letter of the 24th of October, addressed by the three admirals to the Legislative Assembly,—a determination which is even more painful to me than the grief I feel at finding myself involved, notwithstanding all my precautions, in the restrictions and penalties justly laid upon privateers and pirates. I cannot trust myself to say more on this subject, lest I should be led by my feelings to pass the bounds which I prescribe to myself as an officer when treating of the conduct of the Government which he serves. If Chios remains unprotected, if Candia is deprived of the aid it might receive from the national marine, and if the ships-of-war are incapacitated from extending the bounds of Greece, I have the consolation of knowing that I have used my utmost endeavours to prevent the evils I foresaw. One of these, however, I was far from anticipating,—namely, that the revenues which I was authorised to collect for the service of the marine would have been withdrawn from my control and expended for other purposes; more particularly that sums so diverted should be placed to the account of the marine, without the objects for which they were employed having received my sanction or even been known by me.

"I have struggled during eight months in the service of Greece against difficulties far greater than all I ever encountered before; and I would most willingly continue to contend with these, did I find the slightest co-operation in any quarter. But, as the Government has withdrawn de facto the resources decreed, and the seamen decline to embark without pay in advance, and the funds, arising from the philanthropy of other European nations, which supplied the navy with the means of subsistence, are wholly exhausted, I have no alternative but to lay the ships up in port, until means to defray the expenses of the navy shall be found. I have myself, during the last month, paid the Greeks in the naval service; but whilst I see that even the share of prizes claimed by Government is diverted from its proper use, I shall not continue to be answerable for future expenses, nor for the liquidation of the just claims of the foreign officers, which they have had the patience to leave in arrears for many months."

It had come to this. Lord Cochrane had been devoting all his energies to the service of Greece; and now he found himself deserted by his employers, or only retained in the hope that he would be an unpaid agent in piratical and lawless proceedings.

That last circumstance was to him the most painful of all. Having done his utmost to restrain the piracy that was rife, he was still regarded by the governing triumvirate as only the most powerful instrument for achievements that were little better than piratical; and the same cruel misrepresentation of his functions was common among his enemies in England and other parts of Europe. Colour for this misrepresentation appeared in the celebrated letter written by the three admirals on the 24th of October, which, describing the national fleet as a mere crowd of "Greek corsairs," by implication included Lord Cochrane and his English supporters in the same opprobrium. This had not at first been perceived by him. On his detecting the insult, he wrote to the representatives of the three powers three letters, which here need to be quoted in his justification.

The first was addressed, on the 13th of December, to Captain Le Blanc, commander of the Junon. "The silence respecting the regular forces under my orders," he said, "observed in the letter of the admirals of the mediating powers, dated October the 24th, 1827, appearing to make no distinction between them and the mere pirates, hanging over both the same accusations, and subjecting consequently the former to the restrictions wisely adopted towards the latter, makes it my duty, both towards the country which I serve, towards the officers under my command, and towards myself, to protest publicly and in the face of Europe, against the interpretations to which such a document seems to give foundation. The detailed account of the conduct of those ships of war which are under my immediate orders, and which compose the national squadron of Greece, will prove that no neutral vessel whatever has been seized, driven out of its course, or stopped by them under any pretext whatever, with the exception of such as have broken the blockade of Lepanto, the detention of which is legalized by the act above mentioned. These facts are undeniable. The conduct of the officers of the national squadron has been conformable, in all points, to the laws of nations and to the instructions issued by the admirals, in their character of representatives of the mediating Powers. No hostility has been committed by the national vessels against the territory or the forces of the Turco-Egyptian Government, placed beyond the prescribed limits of Lepanto. But, if such be the state of things, I have the right of sending on a mission, for the public service, ships of war beyond these limits, and, availing myself of that right, I have despatched two (the one to Corfu, and the other to Syra), the destination of which relates to the finances of the navy. Be pleased, sir, to communicate the contents of this letter to Admiral de Rigny, with whom you have communicated verbally on the subject, and explain to him the propriety of this step, to avoid explanations with which it is not necessary that the public should intermix."

The second letter, dated the 5th of January, 1828, was to the commander of the Russian frigate Constantine. "Although I am aware," wrote Lord Cochrane, "that his excellency, Count Heyden, when he affixed his signature to the letter of the Admirals, addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Greece, dated the 24th of October, could not attest, of his own knowledge, the truth of the imputations contained in the said document; yet, as the public may not recollect that the recent arrival of the Count precluded the possibility of his being in the slightest degree acquainted with facts regarding the regular naval service under my command, I expect from the Count, that so soon as he shall have informed himself on the subject, he will take the necessary steps to remove an evil impression which he unconsciously has contributed to produce, and thus save me, in as far as the Count is concerned, the necessity, always disagreeable, even of a satisfactory refutation of the imputations cast upon me as Commander-in-Chief of the Greek fleet."

The third letter was to Commodore Hamilton, of the Cambrian, who had been left by Sir Edward Codrington to represent the British squadron in the Archipelago. "The Government of Greece having acquiesced in the offer made by the three Powers to mediate in her behalf," wrote Lord Cochrane, "it became my duty to obey the decision of the admirals representing those Powers, when duly communicated. But whilst my official situation demands acquiescence on points of a public nature, it is far otherwise when the Admirals give reasons affecting the character of the regular naval service of Greece, in justification of restrictions imposed by them on the movements of the squadron I command, accompanied by threats to destroy the Greek vessels of war, in order to prevent asserted piracy. You, sir, who are accurately acquainted with facts, and now possess ample means of ascertaining the truth here upon the spot, must know, or may learn, that no neutral vessel has been seized or disturbed in her course by the national squadron on the high seas, nor any vessel detained, except those acting in violation of the blockades acknowledged by these very Admirals. Is it not then extraordinary that such limitations and menaces on false grounds should originate with persons whose high official situations would seem to sanction imputation under their signatures? I have told the French and Russian commanders, and I hope you will assure the British Admiral, that I shall be loth to trespass on public attention with explanations, to refute their joint letter of the 24th of October, in justification of those under my orders; but it will become me so to do unless a satisfactory interpretation shall be given to expressions which, at present, seem even more particularly personal to myself."

That was almost the last letter written by Lord Cochrane in Greece for many months. Finding his position as First Admiral of the Greek navy, without work to do or crews to direct, unbearable, he had resolved upon a fresh expedient for attempting to improve the state of affairs. Before that, however, he made a last attempt to gain support from the nominal Government, and uttered a last protest against its mode of procedure. "I have strenuously endeavoured," he wrote on the 18th of December, "to avoid laying before you any complaint, more particularly concerning acts done by your excellencies; but there is a point at which such forbearance on my part would become a dereliction of my duty as an officer in the service of Greece, amounting even to treason against the State. So long as the evils extended no further than the depriving the ships-of-war of their crews, and preventing the brulottes from being equipped for service; so long as the injury occasioned by the granting of numerous licences to privateers only prevented naval operations from being carried on against the enemy, I remained silent. But now that the conduct of those privateers has brought down upon the Greek nation a threat of being placed out of the law of nations, and has involved the national squadron, unmeritedly, in the disgrace attached to those who have been guilty of unlawful acts, it is my duty to notify to your excellencies that I consider all authorities given without my intervention to armed vessels, of any description, for belligerent purposes, to be illegal, and that I have given orders to the national vessels under my authority to seize them, wherever they may be found, that they may be judged according to the law of nations." "I have been waiting with anxiety," he wrote in another letter, a few days later, "for the occurrence of events which would have rendered it unnecessary for me to enter into any correspondence with your excellencies on pecuniary matters; but, unfortunately, my anticipations on this head having been disappointed, and the squadron being without even the provisions necessary for the maintenance of the few men required on board the ships when at anchor, it has become an imperious duty no longer to delay calling upon your excellencies to fulfil the engagement entered into relative to the appropriation of two-thirds of the revenues of the islands, which you have thought fit to apply to other purposes."

To neither letter was any satisfactory answer sent by the authorities, and Lord Cochrane, after all his previous troubles, believed that none would ever be obtained. He therefore suddenly resolved to leave Greece for a time, to go himself to England and France, and there, by personal communication with the leading Philhellenes, to describe the actual condition of Greece, and to see if any better state of affairs could be brought about. This resolution he announced on the 1st of January, 1828, to Count Capodistrias, who, having been elected President of Greece nearly nine months before, and having accepted that office, had not yet thought fit to enter upon it or to do anything towards repairing the shattered fortunes and retrieving the violated honour of the State of which he was nominally the head.

"On my return home from Brazil," said Lord Cochrane, in this memorable letter, "I was pressed by various friends of Greece to engage in the service of a people struggling to free themselves from oppression and slavery. My inclination was consonant to theirs. It was stipulated that, for the objects in view, six steam-vessels should be rapidly built, and that two old vessels of war, or Indiamen, should be purchased and manned with foreign seamen. The engines for the steam-vessels were to be high-pressure, these being the easiest constructed and managed; and two American frigates, when finished, were also to be placed under my authority. The failure of the engineer, through disgraceful ignorance or base treachery, in the proper construction of the engines—the want of funds to procure the old vessels of war or Indiamen with foreign seamen—and the retention of one of the frigates built in North America, deprived me of the whole of the stipulated force, except the Hellas. It is needless to remark that with one frigate I was unable to effect that which has since required eleven European ships of the line, aided by many frigates and smaller vessels, to accomplish. Under these circumstances, it became my duty to confine myself to desultory operations, secretly conducted against the enemy.

"The difficulties I have had to contend with, even in these excursions," he continued, "can best be appreciated by the few foreign European officers who accompanied me. The obstinate refusal of the Greek seamen to embark or perform the smallest service without being paid in advance—the contempt with which the elder portion of the seamen treated every endeavour to promote regularity and maintain silence in exercising the great guns and other evolutions, rendered their improvement hopeless; and the enlistment of young seamen, whilst the old were rejected, has been rendered extremely difficult by reason of the influence of the latter, and by the prejudice excited against a regular naval service by influential individuals, whose power and importance are thereby diminished in the maritime islands. The frequent mutinies or resistance to authority, and the numerous instances in which I have been obliged to return to port or abstain from going to sea are recorded, as to dates and circumstances, in the log-book of the Hellas, together with the disgraceful conduct of the crew in the stripping and robbing of prisoners, and their want of coolness in the presence of an enemy—exemplified on our attacking a small frigate and a corvette near Clarenza, and by the firing of upwards of four hundred round shot, on a subsequent occasion, at the corvette now named Hydra, without hitting the hull of that vessel four times, although she was within a hundred yards of the Hellas. Such was the confusion excited by the contiguity even of so inferior an enemy. It is not my intention to trouble you at present with detail; yet I cannot suffer to pass unnoticed that certain commanders, and the seamen of the majority of the fireships—in the use of which vessels rested my last hopes—failed in their duty on the only two important occasions when their services were required; once at Alexandria in the presence of the enemy, as the brave Kanaris can well testify; and again by the crews abandoning their duty and embarking in privateers, many of them after having received pay in advance for their services. Indeed—encouraged by privateering licenses—insubordination, outrage, and piracy have arrived at such a pitch that these very national fireships, stripped not only of their rigging, but of their anchors and cables, are now drifting about the harbour of Poros. A neutral boat, detained by the Hellas for violation of blockade, has been plundered by those sent in charge of her; and scarcely a vessel can pass between the islands, or along the shore, without the passengers and property being exposed to brutal violence and plunder. A darker period is yet approaching if decisive measures are not adopted for the suppression of outrages like these.

"I am ready to serve Greece, and to aid in any way in the accomplishment of the arduous task you have undertaken; but, on the fullest consideration of circumstances, I feel that I should practise a deception were I to contribute to the belief that the few foreign officers in the naval service can put a stop to these disorders, which must finally involve the character of that very service, already prematurely brought in question by the conduct of vessels unlawfully commissioned by the temporary Government. I have, in consequence of this opinion, come to the resolution to exert myself to procure adequate means to execute the duties of an office in which my efforts hitherto have been all counteracted; and I the more readily adopt this resolution as, during the winter months, it is impossible to navigate the Hellas in these narrow seas with a crew of young inexperienced Greek seamen, and still more impracticable to manage her with old ones of Turkish habits. I may, indeed, add that, until the communication addressed on the 24th of October by the three admirals to the Legislative Assembly shall be cancelled, it is hopeless to attempt any naval enterprise in favour of Greece, even had Admiral de Rigny not super-added his commands 'that all Greek vessels, armed for war, found beyond twelve miles from the shores of continental Greece, between Volo and Lepanto, shall be destroyed.' I repeat that I have taken my determination, not from any private feeling of disgust at the above disgraceful restrictions brought by the temporary Government; nor from their misappropriation of the revenues allotted to maritime purposes, and the consequent want of pay, stores, and even provisions for the ships of war; nor from the painful feeling that the crippled ships of the enemy are thereby enabled to depart in security, dragging with them four thousand Grecian captives to slavery; nor from the impossibility of reducing their maritime fortifications, while the Greeks, unpunished, are the chief violators of the blockade; but I have resolved to proceed to England without loss of time, that I may render better service to Greece. If you aid me with means, my object as to seamen will be ensured. Sober, steady men can be obtained from the northern nations, who will do their duty, and, since precept is useless, teach the Greeks by example. Then piracy may cease and commerce may flourish. Be your intention in regard to the steam-vessels still in England what it may, foreign seamen are indispensable to the interests of Greece and to your own; and the expense of bringing them here will be little increased if these steamers, fitted under my inspection, shall become the means of their conveyance. The hardship of a winter's voyage to the North, in a small vessel, I shall deem amply repaid if I can accomplish these objects, expose the injustice and impolicy of certain measures, and bring the real wants of Greece to the knowledge of a liberal and enlightened administration."

On the same New Year's Day Lord Cochrane wrote, explaining his resolution, to Dr. Gosse, who, of all the Philhellenes in Greece, had rendered him most efficient service in his thankless task, and most zealously encouraged him, throughout a long series of failures for which he was in no way answerable, to persevere in struggling for success. "My dear friend and fellow-sufferer," he said, "in conformity with your wish and opinion, I have tolerated my mental load of grievances until the new year; but as it is essential to commence it well in order that measures may prosper to the end, I have resolved to put my intention in execution, regardless of the officious tongues of those of microscopic views who may deem that my time might be well employed in balancing the rivalships of barbarous seamen or protecting the movable stores of the immovable Hellas. In my present state of official insignificance I could render no other service. I have stated a few of my reasons in a letter to Capodistrias, for his private information, when he shall assume the office of president. I hope these will suffice, and that he will communicate his desire, which shall be duly attended to."

In accordance with his new resolution, Lord Cochrane transferred the command of the Hellas, and such control of the whole navy as was possible, to Admiral Miaoulis. He left Poros in the little schooner Unicorn, on the 10th of January, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 11th of February. "The anxiety and disappointment," he said, writing to M. Eynard from Portsmouth on the following day, "which I experienced in regard to the steam-vessels and other means that were to have been placed at my disposal are trifling, when compared to the distress I have felt at finding my only remaining hope of rendering effectual service to Greece destroyed by the impossibility of inducing the Greek seamen to submit to the slightest restraint on their inclinations, or to render the most trifling service without being paid in advance, or to perform such service after being so paid, if it suited their interest or convenience to evade the fulfilment of their engagement. More than six crews have passed under my review on board the Hellas in the course of as many months, exclusive of those in other vessels, and, notwithstanding all that has been written to praise the courage of the Greek seamen, they are collectively the greatest cowards I have ever met with. No service of any difficulty or danger can be undertaken with such men without the greatest risk of being compromised by the confusion they create, and the impossibility of causing orders to be obeyed. Indeed, though styled Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Naval Forces, I have, since the 12th of April last, when I hoisted my flag, been, in truth, under the control of wild and frantic savages, whose acts are guided by momentary impulses or heedless avidity to grasp some immediate pecuniary or petty advantage, regardless of any prospect of future benefit, however great, to their country or to themselves. To give you an idea of the character of men suddenly emancipated from a state of the most degrading and abject slavery, in which state cunning, deception, and fraud, if not absolutely requisite, were convenient and profitable, of their present arrogancy, ignorance, despotism, and cruelty, when safe opportunity offers for revenge, would require that a diary should be laid before you of events which have actually occurred. The confidence you were pleased to repose in me, and the friendly offices for which I am indebted to you would have imposed upon me the task of transmitting to you such detail, had the state of my mind, harassed by constant contrarieties, permitted.

"Leaving to a future period, then, minute recital of distressing occurrences, permit me to make a few observations as to the course that appears to be necessary to be pursued in order to save Greece from impending ruin:—1st. The chief leaders of the different factions should be removed from Greece,—those who have education, on missions to different states, as envoys, consuls, etc., and the others, as circumstances will permit. Else Greece will be a theatre of plunder and discord whilst they hold authority or have means to interfere in public affairs. 2ndly. Troops to the amount of four thousand, at least, are required to enforce obedience to salutary laws and regulations. 3rdly. Five hundred seamen from the northern nations of Europe or North America are indispensable for the suppression of piracy and to prevent the plunder of the islands. 4thly. Young Greek seamen should be employed by the civilized nations in their vessels of war and commerce. 5thly. The settlement of persons from all quarters of Europe, in numbers affording mutual protection, should be encouraged. Of course education at home, but more especially abroad, will improve the rising generation. For all those people now at the age of maturity in Greece there is no hope of amelioration. In regard to myself, I am ready, according to my engagement, to render any service in my power to Greece, and I shall feel great satisfaction if I am enabled to do so; but it is no part of my contract to place myself under the control of lawless savages. What might we not have done had the steam-vessels and five hundred good seamen been employed in Greece, when, with these barbarians, we have doubled the number of Greek national vessels of war, and destroyed twice as many of the enemy's squadron? I hope the President Capodistrias will not put his foot on shore in Greece, unless accompanied by a military force. If he does, he will afford corroborative proof of the impossibility of establishing a new order of things by the instrumentality of men who feel interested in the continuance of ancient habits and abuses."[12]

[12] See Appendix.



CHAPTER XXII.

LORD COCHRANE'S OCCUPATIONS ON BEHALF OF GREECE IN LONDON AND PARIS.—HIS SECOND LETTER TO CAPODISTRIAS.—HIS DEFENCE OF HIMSELF WITH REFERENCE TO HIS VISIT TO WESTERN EUROPE.—HIS RETURN TO GREECE.—CAPODISTRIAS'S PRESIDENCY AND THE PROGRESS OF GREECE.—LORD COCHRANE'S RECEPTION BY THE GOVERNMENT.—THE SETTLEMENT OF HIS ACCOUNTS.—HIS LETTER OF RESIGNATION.—THE FINAL INDIGNITIES TO WHICH HE WAS SUBJECTED.—THE CORRESPONDENCE THEREUPON BETWEEN ADMIRAL HEYDEN AND DR. GOSSE.—LORD COCHRANE'S DEPARTURE FROM GREECE.—HIS OPINIONS REGARDING HER.—THE CHARACTER AND ISSUES OF HIS SERVICES TO THE GREEKS.

[1828-1829.]

Lord Cochrane's absence from Greece was longer and less advantageous than he anticipated. Arriving in London on the 19th of February, 1828, he found that the English Philhellenes were tired out by the bad faith and the unpatriotic conduct of the Greeks, and that the English Government, which he had hoped to influence so far as to obtain an alteration in the Foreign Enlistment Act which would enable him to secure the services of a well-trained force of British seamen, was determined to give no help in the matter. He found, too, that the steam-vessels yet to be furnished in accordance with the old contract with Mr. Galloway were still unfinished, and that there would be no little trouble and delay, added to all that had already been endured, before their completion could be hoped for. Not disheartened, however, he went almost immediately to Paris, there to see what could be expected from the Philhellenes of the Continent.

"I have taken steps," he wrote to M. Eynard from Paris on the 2nd of March, "to cause one of our small steam-vessels to be fitted with proper engines, the expense of which I shall find means to defray. I hope the President will favour me with a communication at an early date, at least, to say whether he has means to pay and victual a few hundreds of foreign seamen, and thus put my mind at rest. For he must depend on foreign aid to support him in his government, protect commerce, and enable a revenue to be derived from the latent resources of Greece. The Greeks themselves will do nothing towards these objects; though there will not be wanting individuals who will endeavour, for their personal views, to persuade them to the contrary of this. My mind is not yet sufficiently tranquil to give detailed reasons for my opinion that things will not succeed in Greece without troops and other foreign aid; but such time will prove to be the case."

"Were the three great powers," he said in another letter to M. Eynard, dated the 17th of March, "pleased to aid the President with funds to a small amount, they would accomplish more for their own benefit and that of Greece, than by great fleets and armies. Four thousand troops, under the Greek Government, and five hundred seamen, would terminate the affair; but never will anarchy cease or piracy be put down, nor will Capodistrias be secure, unless he has, under his own authority, the means of enforcing obedience to the laws and regulations for the public good by sea and land. I have told you that the Greek seamen cannot be used to suppress piracy, and I may truly add that no Greeks of age to bear arms can become soldiers, though they learn readily enough to perform the military exercises. There neither is nor has yet been, since my arrival in Greece, one single company—not even the marines, with which so much pains was taken—that deserves the name of regular. Their ideas are quite repugnant to everything that constitutes the military character."

Lord Cochrane, who, it will be remembered, was chiefly instrumental in the election of Count John Capodistrias as President of Greece in April, 1827, had hoped much from his government. His confidence was not a little shaken by the long delay which the President had shown in entering on his office, and when Capodistrias arrived, in Greece, only a few days after Lord Cochrane's departure, his first acts were calculated to shake that confidence yet more. He introduced many solid reforms; but in other respects clung to the old and bad traditions of the people, and, which was yet worse, allowed himself to be guided by some of the worst placehunters and most skilful abusers of national power, whom he ought to have most carefully avoided. Lord Cochrane began to perceive this before he had been six weeks out of Greece. He yet hoped, however, that wise counsels and good government would prevail, and he tendered his advice, while he reported his own movements, in a second letter which he addressed to Capodistrias.

"The information which your excellency must have acquired since your arrival in Greece," he wrote to him on the 22nd of March, "may have convinced you of the facts briefly touched on in the letter which I had the honour to address to you on the 1st of January, and may also have proved to you the impossibility, under existing circumstances, of my rendering service to Greece, otherwise than by the course I have pursued. Although, on my arrival in England, I was disappointed at finding other ministers than those I expected in the counsels of his Britannic Majesty, yet I had an opportunity of making facts known to influential individuals in proof that the interests of England would be best promoted by a liberal policy towards Greece, and by placing that country, without loss of time, in the rank of an independent state, having boundaries the most extensive that could be conceded. Since then, I have had several conversations here with the gentlemen of the Paris Greek Committee, and I have advised them to assure the ministers that large naval and military armaments are not required for the expulsion of the Turkish and Egyptian forces from Greece, or to protect that country from farther attempts at invasion by the before-mentioned powers; that for the speedy regulation of the internal affairs of Greece, and the support of your authority, it would be far preferable and infinitely less costly for the mediating powers to place in your hands the means of maintaining four or five thousand troops, together with five hundred seamen, and apply a portion of the vast sums they will save to the education of the rising generation of Greeks abroad and at home, and to the encouragement of whatever will tend to direct the talent and genius of the young people most speedily into the course which will entitle Greece to rank amongst the civilized nations of Europe. Whether this advice shall be listened to or not, I am satisfied that my opinion is correct, and that a multitude of foreign troops, in the pay of rival foreign nations, would contribute less to the objects these nations profess to have in view than a much smaller force under your own authority, more especially when it is considered that these troops could in no way interfere with the internal arrangement and police of the country, unless by usurping, or at least superseding the authority which ought to be exclusively vested in your excellency as chief of the Greek Government. Besides, knowing, as I do, the jealous character of your countrymen, the facility with which they listen to surmises and reports, the diversity of interests amongst the rival chiefs, and the intrigues practised by base and worthless individuals, I have little doubt but that such mixture of troops of different nations would give rise to a state of anarchy more injurious to Greece than that which at present exists. Whether such anarchy might be prevented by one nation alone taking upon itself the internal arrangement of Greece seems doubtful; for, to enforce laws, however just and necessary, by troops in foreign pay, against the opinion and habits of a people who have no just notion of the reciprocal duties of civilized society, would be in their estimation to erect a military despotism, and would call forth resistance on their part even to the most salutary changes. I have also recommended, as an additional security against a multitude of evils, an immediate demarkation of the boundaries of Greece, or, at least, an acknowledgment of your excellency as President. The outfit of two or three steam-vessels still unfinished is going on, and I shall find means to accomplish this object in a way that will render them equal if not superior in velocity to most of the steamboats in general use. But, as no pecuniary means could be obtained in England to procure seamen and purchase provisions, coals, and other necessaries, I came to Paris, in the hope that the Greek Committee might enable me to give orders regarding these arrangements, so indispensable to the navigating of these vessels to Greece. The Paris Committee, however, intimate that they have no funds; and the Chevalier Eynard assures me that the moneys collected by him are exhausted. I therefore await with anxiety your answer to the letter which I had the honour to address to you previous to my departure from Greece."

No answer came from Capodistrias. He sent a message to Lord Cochrane asking him to sell him the little Unicorn, which had conveyed him to England, but said nothing about his own return. Believing that the allied powers would do for him all that was necessary in naval resistance of Turkey, he was not sorry to be deprived of an associate in the actual service of Greece as powerful as Lord Cochrane.

This Lord Cochrane began to suspect. "Everything is arranged regarding the engines for the two steamboats," he said in a letter to M. Eynard, on the 24th of March; "but circumstances do not enable me to accomplish more, especially without the sanction of the President, from whom I shall no doubt shortly hear on the subject;—unless, indeed, he shall be persuaded by the primates of the islands that he can do better without a regular naval force, or, at least, without me, which I know is the opinion of Konduriottes, and also of Mavromichales, the great licenser and patron of pirates, so loudly and justly complained of. I am very low, and do not feel at all well. I cannot free myself from the oppression of spirits occasioned by seeing everything in the lamentable state in which all must continue in Greece, unless some effectual steps are taken to put an end to the intrigues and rivalships headed by unprincipled chiefs and backed by their savage followers. Believe me, that there is nothing I will leave undone to serve the cause. But it is essential that more time shall not be wasted in endeavouring to accomplish objects of vital importance by inadequate means."

While Lord Cochrane was endeavouring to hasten the arrangements for his return to Greece, he was annoyed by a letter forwarded to him by Sir Francis Burdett. The letter was from Andreas Luriottis, one of the two Greek deputies who had requested Lord Cochrane, two years and a half before, to enter the service of Greece, and who now claimed a restitution of the 37,000l. paid to him, on the plea that by leaving Greece he had broken his contract.

"Before writing to Sir Francis," said Lord Cochrane in the indignant letter which he addressed to this person on the 20th of April, "you ought to have informed yourself of facts and circumstances. You might have learnt that I continued to serve until the Greek Government had assumed to themselves the powers vested in me, as naval commander-in-chief, to regulate the distribution of armed vessels, and until they had covered the seas with piratical craft. You might have informed yourself that I remained at my post until the neutral admirals refused to hold communication with a Government which had so misconducted itself, and with which they considered it would have been disgraceful to correspond, even on subjects of a public nature. You might have informed yourself that I remained on board the Hellas until the temporary Government had sold and applied to other purposes the revenues of the islands allotted for the maintenance of the regular naval service, and deprived me of the means to satisfy the claims of the officers and seamen; that I continued until the seamen had abandoned the frigate, plundered the fireships, and fitted out pirate vessels before my eyes—all which I had no power to punish or means to prevent. If you or others infer that my endeavours in the cause of Greece are to be judged by naval operations carried on against the enemy by open force, you are mistaken. It is essential that you hold in mind that there are no naval officers in Greece who are acquainted with the discipline of regular ships of war, that the seamen would submit to no restraint, that they would not enlist for more than one month, that they would do nothing without being paid in advance, nor continue to serve after the expiration of the short period for which they were so paid, that by this determination of the seamen the Hellas was detained for months in port or occupied in collecting amongst the islands paltry means to satisfy their demands, and that at last, when money was found, half the period of the seamen's engagement was consumed in proceeding even to the nearest point at which hostile operations could be carried on, whence it became necessary to return almost at the moment of our arrival. It is not for me to speak, except when I am attacked, of the services I have rendered both in my professional capacity and otherwise. Those who were in Greece knew my exertions to reconcile the National Assemblies in April, 1827, to suppress the animosity amongst the chiefs and save the country from civil discord. They know that I doubled the national marine by captures from the enemy. They know that by desultory operations I paralysed the efforts of fleets we could not oppose. They know that the attack on Vasiladi and Lepanto, in September last, induced the Turkish and Egyptian fleets to follow to that quarter, in violation of the armistice, and that this act produced their rencontre and dispute with the British admiral, and ultimately led to the destruction of those fleets in the port of Navarino."

A few days after writing that letter, Lord Cochrane returned to London from Paris, where he had been staying for nearly two months, in frequent communication with the members of the Philhellenic Committees of that city and of other parts of the Continent. The growing dissatisfaction which the bad conduct of the Greeks had awakened in many of their best friends, and still more the silence of Capodistrias, prevented his doing all that he had hoped to do. He succeeded, however, in exciting some fresh interest, and found that one of the steamboats, at any rate, the Mercury, was at length in a fair way of completion, though this and its subsequent equipment were only effected by an advance of two thousand pounds, which he himself made. This was the business which took him to London, where he was busily employed during May and the first few days of June. He then went back to Paris for nearly three months more, and made further efforts, though in vain, to procure the substantial assistance for Greece on which his heart was set. As soon as the Mercury was ready for sea, he directed that she should proceed to Marseilles, where she arrived on the 13th of September: on the 18th, determined to make the best use of her in his power, he again set sail for Greece.

He reached Poros on or near the last day of September. He found that the internal arrangements of Greece had wonderfully improved. Capodistrias during the last eight months had been ruling with an iron hand over all those districts which the previous conquests of the Turks and Egyptians had not taken out of his control, and all those conquests were just then being finally abrogated. The full effects of the battle of Navarino were now appearing. Ibrahim Pasha, having deported many of his troops to Alexandria, chiefly because there was not food enough to be found for them in the Morea, had refused to surrender his authority or to abandon any of the numerous fortresses of which he was master. The President, with Sir Richard Church and the worn-out refuse of the so-called army for his only support, could do nothing to expel him; but he gladly accepted the proffered aid of France. In compliance with a protocol signed on the 19th of July, fourteen thousand soldiers, under General Maison, had landed at Petilidi, on the 30th of August, and within a week Ibrahim had been forced to sign a convention pledging himself to prompt evacuation of the peninsula. Half of the residue of his army quitted Navarino on the 16th of September; the rest was preparing to depart at the time of Lord Cochrane's arrival, and actually started on the 5th of October. The ensuing weeks were worthily employed by the French army in clearing out the pestilential garrisons and making it possible for wholesome rule to succeed to the seven weary years of strife.

Thus the primary work which Lord Cochrane had been engaged to do, and which he vainly strove to do under the miserable circumstances of his position, had been effected by others. The Ottoman fleets had been dispersed and destroyed, and, as far as they were concerned, Greece was free at last. There was work yet to be done, troublesome but most important work, in converting the disorderly and piratical vessels and crews which constituted the navy of Greece into an efficient agent for protecting the State and extending its boundaries. This, in spite of all his previous annoyances, Lord Cochrane was prepared to do, if the Greeks were willing. But they did not will it. Capodistrias had laid his plans for governing Greece, and for their performance he had no need of a foreigner as wise and honest as Lord Cochrane. The plans were not altogether reprehensible. At starting they were perhaps the best that could be adopted. The new President—the President whom Lord Cochrane had nominated as the likeliest man to beat down the factions and override the jealousies that had hitherto wrought such grievous mischief to Greece—began by acting up to the anticipations which had induced his selection. Schooled in Italy and Russia, he practised both tortuous diplomacy and straightforward tyranny in attempting to turn divided Greece into a united nation, in which a hundred rival claimants for power should be made humble instruments of the authority of their one master. Thereby the State was enabled to assert its existence, and it was made possible for good government to be introduced. When, however, the time came for inaugurating that good government, Capodistrias sought to continue the method of rule which, if allowable at first, was no longer right or likely to succeed. Young Greece was to be kept in subjection for his own aggrandisement and for the aggrandisement of his few favourites and advisers. These favourites and advisers were the leaders of the old Phanariot party, Prince Mavrocordatos and his brother-in-law Mr. Trikoupes; men whose policy Lord Cochrane had opposed on his first arrival in Greece, and who accordingly became even more inimical to himself than he was to their purposes and plans.

Therefore it was that, when Lord Cochrane returned to Greece in the autumn of 1828, he was coldly received and his offers of further service, though not openly rejected, were not accepted. Throughout ten weeks he was treated with contemptuous indifference, or formal compliments, the hollowness of which was transparent. On his arrival, the President found it difficult to grant him an interview. When that interview was granted, the only subject allowed to be discussed was the accuracy of the accounts that had been drawn up by Dr. Gosse as Commissary-General of the Fleet, during the nine months of the previous year in which Lord Cochrane had been in active service. Nearly two months were spent in tedious and vexatious examination of these accounts, and correspondence thereupon, ending, however, in the partial satisfaction which Lord Cochrane derived from the knowledge that, after the most searching investigation, they were admitted to be correct in every particular.

More than once, during this waiting time, Lord Cochrane threatened to leave Greece immediately, without waiting for the settlement of the accounts. He was only induced to remain, and submit to the insults offered to him, by the consideration that his hasty departure might cause an indefinite postponement of this settlement, and so prove injurious to his subordinates if not to himself. This being done, however, he lost no time in resigning his office as First Admiral of Greece; and that measure was accompanied by a rare exhibition of generosity. "The direct and active interference of the great European powers having decided the glorious contest for the freedom of Greece," he said in a letter to Count Capodistrias, written at Poros, on the 26th of November, "and its independence being formally acknowledged by accredited agents from these powers, no means now present themselves to me whereby I can professionally promote the interests of this hitherto oppressed people. I beg, therefore, that I may be permitted as an individual to alleviate their burdens by presenting the State with my share as Admiral of the corvette Hydra, and schooner-of-war Athenian, captured from the enemy; and further by absolving the State from any and every obligation whereby the sum of 20,000l. was to be paid to me on the acknowledgment of the independence of this country. If your excellency shall be pleased, conjointly with the National Assembly, to appropriate any part of the said amount to the relief of the seamen wounded, and of the families of those who have fallen during the contest, it will be a high gratification to my feelings, and I hope will be admitted as a testimony of my satisfaction at the introduction of useful institutions, and of the pleasure I experience at the rapid advancement towards order which has taken place even during the short period of your excellency's presidency. I have only to add that, if at any future time your excellency shall deem my services useful, I shall be delighted at an opportunity to prove my zeal for the welfare of Greece, more fully than circumstances have heretofore permitted."

The President's reply, dated the 4th of December, was complimentary: "The Government of Greece," he said, "thanks you, my lord, for the services you have rendered, and for the new proof of your interest and your benevolence which you have shown in your letter of the 26th of November. As you observe, Greece having been taken under the protection of the great Powers of Europe, the Provisional Government can engage in no warlike operation worthy of your talents and your station. It regrets, therefore, that it cannot offer you an opportunity of giving further proof of the noble and generous sentiments which animate you in favour of Greece. The Government will make it its duty to convey to the National Congress your offer to cede your rights in the corvette Hydra and the schooner Athenian, and in the 20,000l. which Greece was to pay you on the acknowledgment of her independence. It doubts not that the Congress will value at its true worth all the nation's debt to you, and that it will adopt the measures which you propose for succouring the families of the Greek seamen who have fallen in the war. The future of Greece is in the hands of God and of the Allied Powers. You have taken part in her restoration, and she will reckon you, with sentiments of profound gratitude, among her first and generous defenders."

A day had not passed, however, before Lord Cochrane had fresh proof of the worthlessness of that pretended gratitude. Information having reached Messrs. J. and S. Ricardo, the contractors for the Greek loan of 1825, that the new Government contemplated repudiating the debt, they had written to Lord Cochrane, begging him to bring the matter before Capodistrias, and represent to him the injustice to the stock-holders and the discredit to Greece that would result from such an act. Lord Cochrane, accordingly, had an interview with the President and his two chief advisers on the 5th of December, when this subject was discussed, and, though the repudiation was only threatened, attempts were made to justify it on the plea that the 2,000,000l. forming the loan had nearly all been squandered in England and America, much having disappeared in unexplained ways, the rest having been absorbed in ship-building and engine-making, from which Greece had derived no benefit. Both in the personal interview and in a long letter which he addressed to the President on the following day, Lord Cochrane indignantly resented the proposed repudiation. He admitted that there had been gross mismanagement, but showed that the chief blame for this attached to the Greek deputies, Orlando and Luriottis, who had been sent to England to raise the money and to see that it was properly expended, but who, as was well known, had sought only their own advantage and enjoyment, and, pilfering themselves, had allowed others to pilfer without restraint. He urged that the innocent holders of the Greek stock ought not to suffer on this account, and showed also, that, if there had been great abuse of the loan, it had enabled the Greeks to tide over their worst time of trouble. "Your excellency must be aware," he wrote, "that there was no war-ship belonging to the State which was not bought, taken, or obtained by the aid of this loan, and that all the guns, mortars, powder, and other military stores which served to maintain the liberties of Greece during these later years were chiefly procured by help of this same fund. It enabled you to carry on the war until independence was secured by the intervention of the Allied Powers."

The debt was not repudiated; but Lord Cochrane's arguments for its acknowledgment gave an opportunity for exhibition of the long-smothered jealousy with which he was regarded by the counsellors of Capodistrias, if not by Capodistrias himself. The exhibition certainly was contemptible. As Lord Cochrane was about to leave Greece—and, indeed, eager to do so—the spite could only be shown in the arrangements made for his departure.

Having transferred the Mercury, which brought him out, to the President, Lord Cochrane had to ask for a vessel to take him from Egina, where he was then staying, to the Ionian Islands, or, if he could not there find suitable conveyance, to Toulon or Marseilles. The brig Proserpine was grudgingly placed at his disposal. "I pray you, my lord," wrote Mavrocordatos, on the 8th of December, "if you are obliged to take her to Toulon or Marseilles, not to detain her at Navarino or Zante, but to enable her to return with as little delay as possible to her work on the shores of Western Greece." Lord Cochrane accordingly embarked in this vessel on the 10th. No sooner was he on board, however, than he found himself treated with studied rudeness by her captain, Manoli Bouti, "exposed," as he said, "to privations and insults that would not be allowed in the conveyance of convicts." He had to put in at Poros on the same evening, and thence address a complaint to the Government, then lodged in that island. Four days passed before he received a written answer to his letter, and then it conveyed nothing but a formal intimation that another captain would be appointed in lieu of the obnoxious officer.

Many personal communications, however, had passed in the interval, by which was confirmed the suspicion formed by Lord Cochrane from the first, that the captain's misconduct had been dictated by his superiors, and that it had been a preconceived plan to try and send the First Admiral of Greece—for both title and functions still belonged to him—from her shores with every possible degradation. He naturally resented this indignity. He claimed that, while he remained in Greece, and until his office of First Admiral was abrogated, he should be treated with the respect due to his rank. All he asked, he urged, was that he might be allowed to leave Greece at once, if with such show of honour from the people whom he had done his best to serve, as would free him from insult and the Government from disgrace. "I assure your excellency," he wrote to the President, "that I regret the occurrence of any circumstance that occasions uneasiness to you; but I believe that, on reflection, you will clearly perceive that all which has occurred has been the work of others, whose acts I could neither control nor foresee. I waive my right to insist at present on any explicit recognition of my authority, and, though there is ample justification for my seeking more than I desire, all that I demand of your excellency is, for the sake of Greece, not to suffer, not to sanction your ministers in an endeavour to force me on to public explanations, by persevering in the scandalous line of conduct which they pursue. Surely your excellency cannot be aware of the importance which naval men attach to the continuance of the insignia of office, whilst actually embarked within the limits of their station, or you would not for an instant tolerate the attempt made to degrade me in the estimation of the high authorities and numerous officers here present in the port of Poros. I respectfully await your excellency's official commands and warrant to strike my flag; not founded on reasonings or on assumptions, which may prove fallacious or incorrect; but dictated in explicit terms, such as an officer can, such as he ought to obey."

That Lord Cochrane was not fighting with a shadow, appears from a letter addressed to Dr. Gosse, on the 15th of December, by Count Heyden, then commanding the Azoff, as representative of Russia in the bay of Poros. "As the affairs of etiquette are delicate," he said, "I beg that you will inform me whether his lordship is still serving as First Admiral of Greece, or whether he has received his conge. If he is still in her service and employ, I shall rejoice to render him all the honours due to his rank. In the other case, I will pay him all the honours, except the salute of cannon. I beg that you will favour me with an answer, in order that I may show his lordship all the honour that is due to him."

Dr. Gosse's answer, though longer than Admiral Heyden expected, claims to be here quoted, as it furnished an important tribute to Lord Cochrane's worth, and was all the more valuable in that the Russian officer, glad to do all in his power to render homage to a man whom the Greek Government was now treating with childish insolence, made it his own by publishing it in the naval archives of Russia. "Lord Cochrane," wrote Dr. Gosse, "having arrived in Greece in March 1827, was, in the National Assembly at Troezene, elected First Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces of Greece, with independent and unlimited powers. Subsequently, and after the election of Count Capodistrias as President, the Assembly decided that the admiral should be under the authority of the Government until the arrival of the President. During the year 1827, Lord Cochrane fulfilled his duties with all the zeal, all the accuracy, and all the talent for which he is renowned; but he found it impossible to achieve anything of importance, isolated as he was, without sufficient funds, and without support from others, except that of the Philhellenic Committees, and without the co-operation of the Greeks themselves. At length, having pledged himself not to interfere in internal politics, he considered his presence in Greece useless until a firm Government could be organized, and deemed that he could render best service to the nation by advocating its interests in Western Europe. He departed early in January, after during two months vainly awaiting the arrival of Count Capodistrias, whom he informed of his expedition, and asked for instructions. He returned to France and England, used all the means in his power to obtain fresh aid for Greece, fitted out one of the steamboats that were being prepared in London, took steps for the completion of the other two, and, after writing a second letter to the President—which, like the first one, received no answer—returned to Greece, resolved to devote himself to her cause. He was received with coldness and indifference; neither lodging, nor provisions, nor employment were offered to him. He asked that his accounts might be examined: ignorant or evil-minded commissioners were entrusted with their investigation, and the Government only took it in hand very tardily. Objections and disputes, difficulties and contradictions, accumulated, and it was only after a delay of sixty days that his accounts were publicly and officially declared to be correct. All that while he remained like a private person on board his steamboat, manned only by six sailors. In all the audiences that he had with the President, he asked for instructions as to the position and work that he should assume; but he could never receive any definite answer. During one interview which he had with Prince Mavrocordatos on board the Mercury, in the port of Poros, on the 1st of December, the anniversary of the coronation of the Emperor of Russia, he announced his intention of hoisting his flag on board one of the national vessels as a public compliment to that sovereign, and asked M. Mavrocordatos to inform the President of that intention; but he received no answer. He had during this period received numerous letters from the Government addressed to him as First Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces of Greece. He afterwards went to Egina with Messrs. Trikoupes and Mavrocordatos, to receive a part of the money due to him, and to hand over to the Commission of Marine the steamboat Mercury. That done, he was embarked in a national vessel, a miserable brig which had been seized as contraband, badly repaired, which had been sent to convey him to Navarino, Zante, Toulon, or Marseilles. This vessel was under the orders of a Hydriot brulotteer, an ignorant and coarse man, who, long before, at the expedition against Alexandria, had acted in direct violation of the admiral's orders; and the crew was on a par with the captain. Lord Cochrane was insolently received by these people. No place of safety was found for his baggage and his money; no food was provided even for the voyage from Egina to Poros, where Lord Cochrane wished to take leave of the President. At Poros the captain repeated his insults. Lord Cochrane requested the President to dismiss him, but received no answer. M. Trikoupes even came on board and declared that the captain should continue his voyage and proceed to his destination. Lord Cochrane then said that he would be master on board a vessel from whose mast floated his admiral's flag, and that he would yield to nothing but the written orders of the President, in order, as he said, that he might protect himself from the insolence of servants of the Government who sought to annoy him by their exhibition of paltry jealousy, or to force him into a quarrel with the President. The day before yesterday, in the afternoon, he had an interview with the President, and, Messrs. Trikoupes and Mavrocordatos being present, he openly pointed out to him the intrigues of these officials and the dangers of the course in which they were leading him. Warmly, and with the boldness of a good conscience, he exposed their policy and expressed his views upon the organization of the Greek navy. He then repeated his wish to depart as soon as possible, although he declared himself willing at any future time to serve Greece if she had need of him. He also announced that he would at once take down his flag of authority if the President officially and directly required it, but that, if any charges were brought against him, he should be compelled to remain in Greece until he had exculpated himself before the nation and obtained the punishment of the unworthy servants of the President, for whom personally he declared that he had a profound respect, while he commiserated his difficult and painful position. In this interview Lord Cochrane appeared to me to have a great advantage over his antagonists. Yesterday the admiral's flag was still floating. In the evening the President wrote him a letter in vague terms and contributing nothing to the end he had in view. This morning Lord Cochrane, in his reply, has again asked for authority to lower his flag, if that is the will of the President; but no orders have been received. This precise statement of facts which have come under my own knowledge will, I think, make it easy for your excellency to arrive at conclusions comporting with the laws of etiquette."

"I have read your letter with pleasure and with pain," wrote Admiral Heyden in answer on the same day; "for I am certain that Lord Cochrane must have suffered greatly from the treatment to which he has been exposed. In proof of my esteem I beg that he will send back to their kennels these miserable causes of his annoyance, and proceed to Malta, or to Zante if he wishes, in one of my corvettes, taking with him as large a suite as he likes. It cannot be too numerous. As regards his salute, I shall receive him with the honours due to his rank and with musical honours; and at his departure I will man the yards; but the salute of guns I cannot give him, as he is not in naval authority. Vice-Admiral Miaoulis never received from me the honours which I offer to Lord Cochrane. I did not man the yards and did not give him a salute. I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing his lordship, and that I can provide him a passage more agreeable than that proposed for him by Greece."

Not content with sending that friendly message to Lord Cochrane, Admiral Heyden took prompt occasion to reprove Capodistrias for his unworthy conduct. Capodistrias thereupon used the influence of Dr. Grosse in bringing about at any rate a formal reconciliation between himself and Lord Cochrane, the result of which was that the latter received the official discharge that he desired, and even an offer to find him in another ship a better passage than he could have expected on board the Proserpine. Lord Cochrane, however, preferred to accept Admiral Heyden's more generous invitation. "It is gratifying," he said in a letter to Dr. Grosse on the 18th of December,[13] "that even the authority to which wicked men refer in proof of the rectitude of evil deeds fails to sanction infamous conduct. Alas! if Capodistrias suffers—and he seems not inclined to oppose—I say, if he suffers the base intrigues of the Phanar to be introduced as the means of ruling a nation, Greece must fall back, if not into a darker state, yet into a worse condition, inasmuch as suspended anarchy is preferable to civil war."

[13] Dr. Gosse had remained in Greece during Lord Cochrane's absence, and he continued to reside in Greece for a few months after his friend's final departure. He won for himself much gratitude, not only by his zealous work in war time, but by the skill and patience with which he sought to reduce the plague which raged in Greece in 1827 and 1828. Two proofs of the popularity which he fairly won are as follows. The first, dated the 17th of June, 1828, was signed by twenty-three leading inhabitants of Poros.

"Nous citoyens de Poros, reconnaissant dans la personne de M. le Docteur Louis Andre Gosse, un homme anime du philhellenisme le plus sincere et doue de vertus eminentes, considerant son zele ardent et infatigable pourtant en ce qui concerne le bien de la patrie et pour la cause sacree de la Grece et en particulier temoins des soins philanthropiques qu'il a prodigues aux indigens, persuades d'autre part que ses qualites rares contribueront a l'amelioration de la morale du peuple Grec, et animes du desir d'attacher a notre Ile cette homme vertueux; d'une voix unanime et d'un accord commun concedons le droit de bourgeoisie au susdit M. L. A. Gosse, pour qu'il jonisse dorenavant du titre et des droits de citoyen Poriote indigene. En foi de quoi nous lui avons delivre la presente."

The other document was issued by President Capodistrias on the 23rd of February, 1829.

"La lettre que vous venez de m'adresser, datee du 21 Fevrier, et les comptes qu'elle renferme, sont une nouvelle preuve du zele et de l'extreme exactitude, par laquelle vous vous etes toujours montre digne de la confiance des amis genereux de la Grece.

"Je n'ai pas besoin de vous repeter combien la nation sait apprecier les services que vous lui avez rendus, et combien de reconnaissance je vous dois en particulier. C'est a mon instance que vous avez prolonge d'un an votre sejour en Grece. Dans cet espace, et surtout dans l'ete dernier, la peste et les maladies qui vinrent augmenter nos malheurs et nos souffrances, vous ont fourni l'occasion de co-operer par un noble denouement a l'accomplissement des mesures sanitaires qui a l'aide de la Providence ont conjure les manx majeurs, dont la Patrie etait menacee.

"Maintenant vous devez remplir des desirs qui honorent vos sentiments, vous allez retourner dans votre heureuse patrie, aupres de votre mere. Mes voeux vous y accompagneront, je vous souhaite toute sorte de bonheur. La Grece ne peut dans ce moment vous exprimer d'autre maniere sa reconnaissance, mais un jour viendra, je l'espere, dans lequel elle le pourra et son Gouvernement s'empressera alors d'acquitter sa dette envers vous, ainsi qu'envers les autres etrangers, qui sincerement et genereusement ont servi sa cause sacree.

"Lorsque vos affaires et vos interets le permettront, vous vous occuperez toujours du bien de la Grece; vous lui serez toujours utile partout ou vous vous trouverez; mais si vous voulez lui etre utile plus directement, revenez encore au milieu d'un peuple qui vous connait et qui vous aime, et son gouvernement se hatera de vous mettre a meme de lui rendre encore de grands services.

"Recevez en attendant l'expression de ces sentiments, avec l'assurance de la consideration le plus distinguee."

Those prognostications proved correct. Capodistrias, allowing others to direct him in ways of bad government, entered on a policy which very soon led to his assassination—to be followed by the milder rule of King Otho.

On the 20th of December Lord Cochrane left Poros in the Russian corvette Grimachi, honourably placed at his disposal by Admiral Heyden, and proceeded to Malta. There he was worthily received by the British admiral, Sir Pulteney Malcolm, who offered him immediate conveyance to Naples in the Racer, or, in a week's time, a passage direct to Marseilles in the Etna. Believing that thus he would save time, he chose the former alternative. From Naples, however, he found it impossible to proceed to Marseilles, and he was obliged, on the 29th of January, to embark in an English merchant vessel to Leghorn. Eleven days were spent in the short voyage, and on reaching Leghorn he had to submit to fifteen days' quarantine before being allowed to proceed to Paris, there to rejoin his family. The whole journey occupied nearly ten weeks.

From Leghorn he wrote on the 15th of February to Chevalier Eynard respecting Greece and her still unfortunate condition. "Civilization and internal order," he said, "can make no steady progress in Greece unless the Government can be supported otherwise than by the present bands of undisciplined, ignorant, and lawless savages. Under existing circumstances, Greeks who have attained the age of maturity are incapable of military organization. You have long known my opinion as to the necessity of sending foreign troops to Greece to maintain order. You know that I preferred Swiss or Bavarian soldiers to those of the great pacificating powers, because the latter cannot, with propriety, interfere in matters of police, whilst paid by foreign countries. It is now, however, too late to send small military establishments, such as would have sufficed on the arrival of Capodistrias, because now they would be considered as oppressors; then they would have been received as allies and friends. The alternatives that may be pursued in the conduct relative to Greece now are, to let the Revolution work itself out, as in South America, or to leave six regiments in the country until the young men who are abroad shall be educated and the rising generation at home shall be somewhat civilized. It is of no use to attempt to do good by half measures under the present circumstances of Greece. Kolokotrones is ready, on the spot, to take possession of Patras the moment it is evacuated. Petro-Bey, who has been prosecuted in the Court of Admiralty for piracy, is prepared to avenge himself by taking authority in Maina. Konduriottes, Zaimes, and all the other chiefs, anxiously await the meeting of the Assembly, which they hail as the final hour of the President's authority. Capodistrias's ministers, too, who are no fools, but, on the contrary, cunning men, undoubtedly have similar views, for they have taken every means to discredit, disgust, and drive away every foreigner who, by his conduct, counsel, or friendly intimation, could avert the evil. Thus things are fast tending towards a discreditable close of the President's administration."

"Thank God," wrote Lord Cochrane three months later, on the 17th of May, to Dr. Gosse, who, in the interval, had also left Greece, "we are both clear of a country in which there is no hope of amelioration for half a century to come; unless, indeed, immigration shall take place to a great extent, under some king, or competent ruler, appointed and supported by the Governments of the mediating powers. The mental fever I contracted in Greece has not yet subsided, nor will it probably for some months to come."

Lord Cochrane might well be suffering from a mental fever. Nearly four years of his life had been spent in efforts to serve Greece, and with very poor result. To himself the issue had been wholly unfortunate; even the pecuniary recompense to which he was entitled having been so reduced as not to meet the expenses to which he had been put, partly through his generous surrender of the 20,000l. which he was to receive on completion of the work, partly through the depreciation of the Greek stock in which, out of sympathy for the cause, he had invested the 37,000l. paid to him on his engagement.

And to Greece the issues had been far less beneficial than he had hoped. The tedious and wanton delays to which he had been subjected at starting, whereby that starting was prevented for a year and a half, had hindered his arrival in Greece till it was too late for him to do much of the work that he had planned. The want of money, and, still more, the want of patriotism, courage, and even common honesty on the part of nearly all the leaders with whom he was to co-operate, and the officers and crews whom he was to command, had caused his ten months' active service in Greece to comprise little more than a series of bold projects, and projects which, if he had been aided by brave men, would have been as easy as they were bold, in which he received none of the support that was necessary, and which accordingly all his energy and genius could not make successful. When, after his visit to England and France, he returned to Greece, eager and able to render invaluable assistance in the organization of the navy, he was treated only with neglect and insolence, from which at last he was enabled to escape through the generous sympathy of a Russian admiral.

Much, however, he had done for Greece. To his persistent entreaties were due all the meagre displays of patriotism by which the Government of the country was maintained and Capodistrias accepted as President, and all the feeble efforts by which the war was carried on and the triumph of the Porte was averted until the direct interference of the Allied Powers. That interference had been in great measure induced by the report that he had entered the service of Greece, so that to him was due not a little of the benefit that accrued from the whole course of diplomacy by which her independence was secured; and the independence was made more prompt and complete than could have been expected by the fortunate circumstance of his having occasioned the collision between the forces of Turkey and those of the Allied Powers which issued in the Battle of Navarino. Much more he would have achieved had his arguments been listened to and his plans supported. His failures no less than his successes bespeak his worth.



CHAPTER XXIII.

A RECAPITULATION OF LORD COCHRANE'S NAVAL SERVICES.—HIS EFFORTS TO OBTAIN RESTITUTION OF THE RANK TAKEN FROM HIM AFTER THE STOCK EXCHANGE TRIAL.—HIS PETITION TO THE DUKE OF CLARENCE.—ITS REJECTION BY THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S CABINET.—LORD COCHRANE'S OCCUPATIONS AFTER THE CLOSE OF HIS GREEK SERVICE.—HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND.—HIS MEMORIAL TO WILLIAM IV.—ITS TARDY CONSIDERATION BY EARL GREY'S CABINET.—ITS PROMOTERS AND OPPONENTS.—LORD COCHRANE'S ACCESSION TO THE PEERAGE AS TENTH EARL OF DUNDONALD.—HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE KING.—THE COUNTESS OF DUNDONALD'S EFFORTS IN AID OF HER HUSBAND'S MEMORIAL.—THEIR ULTIMATE SUCCESS.—THE EARL OF DUNDONALD'S "FREE PARDON," AND RESTORATION TO NAVAL RANK.

[1828-1832.]

Lord Cochrane's retirement from the service of Greece brought to a close his career as a fighting seaman. With one brief exception, occurring twenty years later, when he commanded the British squadron in the North American and West Indian waters, but when there was no warfare to be done the rest of his life, comprising thirty years of ripe manhood and vigorous old age, was passed without employment in the profession which was dear to him, and in which he had shown himself to be possessed of talents rarely equalled and certainly never surpassed.

He entered that profession at the age of seventeen. In 1800, when he was twenty-four, he was promoted to the command of the Speedy. With that crazy little sloop, no larger than a coasting brig, he captured a large French privateer on the 10th of May, and on the 14th he recaptured two English vessels that had been seized by the enemy. On the 16th of June he took another French vessel, and on the 22nd another, with a prize which she had just obtained. On the 29th, he secured a large Spanish privateer, in spite of five gunboats which fought in her defence. On the 19th of July he captured another French privateer and rescued her prize; on the 27th he sunk another; and on the 31st he put another to flight and took possession of the prize which she had in tow. On the 22nd of September, he seized another of the enemy's vessels. On the 15th of December he wrecked one French war-ship and captured another, one of three which came to her assistance; and on the 24th, being attacked by two Spanish privateers, he took one of them. On the 16th of January, 1801, he chased two vessels, and seized one, and on the 22nd, two of the enemy's craft, one French and the other Spanish, struck to him. On the 24th of February a French brig fell into his hands. The same fate was shared by another vessel on the 11th of April, by another on the 13th, and by two others on the 15th. He captured a Spanish tartan and a Spanish privateer on the 4th of May; and on the 13th occurred his celebrated victory over the Gamo—carrying four times the tonnage, six times the number of men, and seven times the weight of shot possessed by the Speedy—which was soon followed by the taking of two other Spanish privateers heavily armed. On the 9th of June, the Speedy and another little vessel had a nine hours' fight, first with a Spanish zebec and three gunboats, and afterwards with a felucco and two more gunboats which came to their aid, which were only allowed to escape when the English ammunition was nearly exhausted, the Speedy having discharged fourteen hundred shot. On the 3rd of July, the pigmy vessel, after hard fighting, had to surrender to three French line-of-battle ships. It was on that occasion that their senior officer, Captain Palliere, declined to accept the sword of "an officer," as he said, "who had for so many hours struggled against impossibility." In his thirteen months' cruise Lord Cochrane had with his little sloop of fourteen 4-pounders, and a crew of fifty-four officers and men, taken and retaken fifty vessels, a hundred and twenty-two guns, and five hundred and thirty-four prisoners.

His next ship, the Arab, was made to serve during fourteen months in seas in which there was no work to be done; but for the Pallas, a fine frigate of thirty-two guns, he was allowed to find memorable employment. He was sent to the Azores, with orders to limit his cruise to a month. He captured one large Spanish vessel on the 6th of February, 1805, a second on the 13th, a third on the 15th, a fourth on the 16th. Forced after that to be idle, as far as prize-taking was concerned, for more than a year, he seized two French vessels on the 27th of March, 1806, and another a few days later. On the 6th of April he captured the Tapageuse, and on the 7th he chased three other corvettes till they were driven on shore by their crews and wrecked. He took another prize on the 14th. On the 14th of May, the Pallas had her famous engagement with the French frigate Minerve and three brigs, the Lynx, the Sylph, and the Palinure, carrying eighty-eight guns in all, wherein she was so disabled that she was forced to return to Portsmouth to be refitted.

The Imperieuse being assigned to him in August, 1806, Lord Cochrane took two prizes on the 19th of December, and a third on the 31st. He was then ordered home, and there detained till the autumn of 1807. On the 14th of November, being again in the Mediterranean, he captured a Maltese pirate-ship, and soon afterwards he seized some other vessels. Being ordered to scour the French coast during the summer of 1808, he took numerous prizes on the sea and effected yet more important work on land. "With varying opposition but with unvaried success," he wrote in his concise report to Lord Collingwood on the 28th of September, "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 Bourdigne, La Pinede, St. Maguire, Frontignan, Canet, and Fay, have been blown up and completely demolished, together with their telegraph houses, fourteen barracks of gens d'armes, one battery, and the strong tower on the Lake of Frontignan." The list of casualties was "None killed, none wounded, one singed, in blowing up the battery." That work was followed by more of the same nature, a famous episode in which was Lord Cochrane's occupation of the Castle of Trinidad. "The zeal and energy with which he has maintained that fortress," wrote Lord Collingwood, "excite the highest admiration. His resources for every exigency have no end."

The splendid exploit with the fireships in Basque Roads followed in 1809, and with that Lord Cochrane's services to England as a seaman were brought to a conclusion. Official persecution kept him in idleness during the remaining period of war with France, and he was in the end driven to seek relief from oppression at home, and exercise for his talents, by devoting himself to the cause of freedom in Chili, Peru, Brazil, and Greece. His unparalleled successes on both sides of the South American continent, and the circumstances of his partial failure in Greece, have been sufficiently detailed in previous chapters.

All through that time of virtual expatriation, his dearest hope had been that England would, as far as possible, retrieve the cruel wrong that had been done to him. Full redress was impossible. The heavy cloud that had been cast over so many years of his most energetic manhood could not be removed by any tardy act of justice; but that tardy justice could at any rate be done to him, and for this he strove with unabated zeal.

To this end he was partly occupied during his temporary absence from Greece in 1828. On the 4th of June he addressed a memorial to the Duke of Clarence, then Lord High Admiral, who just two years afterwards was to become King of England. This memorial, eloquent in its simplicity and earnestness, the prelude to many others that were to be presented in later years, claims to be here quoted in full. "To his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral," it ran, "the memorial of Lord Cochrane humbly showeth;—That for fourteen years your memorialist has suffered, among many injuries and privations, the loss of his situation and rank as post-captain in his Majesty's navy, in consequence of a verdict pronouncing your memorialist guilty of an offence of which he was entirely and absolutely innocent;—That during the whole course of your memorialist's life, up to the day on which he was charged with the crime of conspiring with others to raise false reports for the purpose of fraudulently effecting a rise in the price of the public funds, the character and conduct of your memorialist were without reproach; and, numerous as have been the transactions in which your memorialist has subsequently engaged, he has, amid them all, uniformly preserved, though not an unassailed, yet an unshaken and unsullied character;—That your memorialist has never ceased, and never can cease to assert his absolute innocence of the crime of which he was pronounced guilty. He asserts it now, most solemnly, as in the presence of Almighty God, and certain he is, if every doubt be not dissipated in this world, that when summoned to enter more immediately into that Awful and Infinite Presence, he shall not fail, with his last breath, most solemnly to assert his innocence;—That it was your memorialist's consciousness of innocence that contributed, perhaps more than any other cause, to produce his conviction; because it rendered him confident, and much less careful in making the necessary preparations for his defence than he ought to have been, or than he would have been, if guilty; while, on the other hand, there existed the utmost zeal, industry, and skill in the conduct of the prosecution;—That your memorialist did all that was possible to procure a revision of his case; but, as he had laboured under the disadvantage of being included in, and tried under, the same indictment with some who had probably no reason to complain of the result, as well as the still greater disadvantage of having his defence blended, with theirs, so was he denied a new trial for the same reason; it being a rule of Court that a new trial should not be allowed to any individual tried for conspiracy unless all the parties should appear in Court to join in the application; which, in the case of your memorialist, could not possibly be, some of the parties having quitted the country on the verdict being pronounced against them;—That your memorialist has never been able to obtain a re-investigation of his extraordinary case, nor to obtain redress in any way; but now that your Royal Highness is Lord High Admiral, and has, among other illustrious acts, distinguished yourself in that capacity by doing justice to meritorious officers, your memorialist feels that he has everything to hope from the magnanimity of your Royal Highness;—That it is indeed certain that nothing can be more repugnant to the feelings of your Royal Highness than that an individual who zealously devoted himself to the naval service of his king and country, as your Royal Highness knows your memorialist to have done, should be for ever cut off from the service without the most unquestionable certainty of the rectitude of so severe an infliction. So far, therefore, as depends on your Royal Highness, your memorialist cannot but confidently entertain the hope that he shall not be doomed to remain all his life long the victim of a verdict of which he has not only never ceased to complain, but which he knows that he has proved to be unfounded, to the satisfaction of those who have examined as well what was advanced against him at the trial as what he has since adduced in his own justification. Your memorialist, therefore, is encouraged most respectfully to solicit your Royal Highness to represent his case—a case of peculiar and unprecedented hardship—to his most Sacred Majesty, and to advocate his cause. And if, happily for your memorialist, his most Sacred Majesty, recognising the innocence of your memorialist, and taking his long-protracted and unmerited sufferings into his gracious consideration, should, of his most gracious pleasure, vouchsafe to reinstate your memorialist in that rank and station in his Royal Navy which he previously held, your memorialist will ever maintain the deepest and most grateful sense of his duty to his most Sacred Majesty and to your Royal Highness, and will never cease to testify his gratitude by all the means in his power."