The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald Volume II Part 5

[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 antic.i.p.ated. Arriving in London on the 19th of February, 1828, he found that the English Philh.e.l.lenes 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 Philh.e.l.lenes 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 const.i.tutes 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 a.s.sure 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 ent.i.tle 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 mult.i.tude 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 mult.i.tude 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 a.s.sures 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 a.s.sociate 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 circ.u.mstances 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 rest.i.tution 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 circ.u.mstances. You might have learnt that I continued to serve until the Greek Government had a.s.sumed 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 _h.e.l.las_ 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 _h.e.l.las_ 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 a.s.semblies 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 Philh.e.l.lenic 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 a.s.sistance for Greece on which his heart was set. As soon as the _Mercury_ was ready for sea, he directed that she should proceed to Ma.r.s.eilles, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 const.i.tuted 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 antic.i.p.ations 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 a.s.sert 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 aggrandis.e.m.e.nt and for the aggrandis.e.m.e.nt 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. .h.i.therto 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 a.s.sembly, 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 inst.i.tutions, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 n.o.ble 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 G.o.d and of the Allied Powers. You have taken part in her restoration, and she will reckon you, with sentiments of profound grat.i.tude, among her first and generous defenders."

A day had not pa.s.sed, however, before Lord Cochrane had fresh proof of the worthlessness of that pretended grat.i.tude. 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 Ma.r.s.eilles. 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 Ma.r.s.eilles, 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 sh.o.r.es 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 t.i.tle and functions still belonged to him--from her sh.o.r.es 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 a.s.sure your excellency," he wrote to the President, "that I regret the occurrence of any circ.u.mstance 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 a.s.sumptions, 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 a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sembly 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 Philh.e.l.lenic 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, acc.u.mulated, 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 a.s.sume; 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 Ma.r.s.eilles. This vessel was under the orders of a Hydriot brulotteer, an ignorant and coa.r.s.e 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 rect.i.tude 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 grat.i.tude, 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 philh.e.l.lenisme 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 t.i.tre et des droits de citoyen Poriote indigene. En foi de quoi nous lui avons delivre la presente."

The other doc.u.ment 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 exact.i.tude, 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 es.p.a.ce, 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 n.o.ble denouement a l'accompliss.e.m.e.nt 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 genereus.e.m.e.nt 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'a.s.surance 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 a.s.sa.s.sination--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 pa.s.sage direct to Ma.r.s.eilles 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 Ma.r.s.eilles, 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 a.s.sembly, 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 G.o.d," 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 ent.i.tled 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.