The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth Part 13

He cherished a very strong attachment to the Church; and for more than thirty years had been a member of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which he joined when the claims of the society were so little appreciated, that only principle could have prompted the step. It might therefore be expected that he would feel deep anxiety when the safety of that Church was threatened. But upon this subject his mind was firm; and in one of the last letters he ever wrote, dated August 28th, he declares his confidence in the most emphatic language. After some personal observations to the friend he was addressing, one of his old officers, he alludes to the cholera, then raging in his neighbourhood; "which," he says, "I am much inclined to consider an infliction of Providence, to show his power to the discontented of the world, who have long been striving against the government of man, and are commencing their attacks on our Church. But they will fail! G.o.d will never suffer his Church to fall; and the world will see that his mighty arm is not shortened, nor his power diminished. I put my trust in Him, and not in man; and I bless Him, that He has enabled me to see the difference between improvement and destruction."

Not many days after, he suffered a most violent attack of the illness he had long antic.i.p.ated. The immediate danger was soon averted; but the extent of the disease left not the smallest hope of recovery. He lingered until the 23rd of January, calmly waiting the event which his gradually increasing weakness convinced him was inevitable. Sustained by the principle which had guided him so long, his death-bed became the scene of his best and n.o.blest triumph. "Every hour of his life is a sermon," said an officer who was often with him; "I have seen him great in battle, but never so great as on his death-bed." Full of hope and peace, he advanced with the confidence of a Christian to his last conflict, and when nature was at length exhausted, he closed a life of brilliant and important service, with a death more happy, and not less glorious, than if he had fallen in the hour of victory.

Lord Exmouth was buried at Christow, the parish in which are the family mansion and estate of Canonteign. The flag under which he fought at Algiers was used for a pall, and a young oak, to bear his name, was planted near the grave; a suitable memorial for a British seaman.

Two n.o.ble line-of-battle ships, the _Algiers_ and the _Exmouth_, of 91-guns each, and fitted with screw propellers, of which one is just now commissioned and the other just launched, preserve in the navy the memory of his name and victory, and may yet be commanded by officers trained by his care, and formed by his example.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] The plate bore the following most flattering inscription:--

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDWARD, VISCOUNT AND BARON EXMOUTH, And a Baronet, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain, Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand, and of Merit, Knight of the Royal Sardinian Supreme Order of the Annunciation.

Knt. Gd. Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Lazarus & St. Maurice, and of the Royal Military Order of William of the Netherlands, This Tribute of Admiration and Esteem Is most respectfully presented by THE REAR-ADMIRAL, CAPTAINS, AND COMMANDERS, Who had the honour to serve under him _At the memorable VICTORY gained at ALGIERS_ On the 27th of August, 1816, Where, by the Judgment, Valour, & Decision of their distinguished Chief, Aided by his brilliant Example, THE GREAT CAUSE OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM Was bravely Fought, and _n.o.bLY ACCOMPLISHED_.

[15] "Discharged, dead." The mark by which a man is reported dead on the ship's books.

[16] It is a remarkable fact, that after the death of his daughter, seven members of the family died within three years.

THE END.