which Ministers have affected to censure in his predecessor. Why was the British admiral's flag-captain sent with a British flag to be present at the mock storm of Navarin-why was that flag left flying several days, with the French and Russian flags, on the walls at Navarin? Why was Captain Maitland, of the Wellesley,' sent to force the gates of Modon, and his ship placed to batter Coron? Why were the Blonde' and 'Etna' sent to bombard the castle of the Morea? Where is the difference, in principle, between the events of the autumn of 1828 and those of 1827? Had there been a fleet to have supported the Turkish commanders of the castles and land forces, could battle have been avoided? What, then, is the conclusion to which all unprejudiced minds must come? Simply this-that the late Commander-in-Chief adopted the only means by which the Treaty of July 6, 1827, could be carried into effect, and which his instructions prescribed; since his successor, though aware that his predecessor had incurred the displeasure of Ministers as not having understood or obeyed his orders, has found himself obliged to follow precisely the same line of conduct. Can he have the same instructions which his brother officer is said to have misconceived?

6

6

Sir Edward Codrington left Malta on September 11, to return to England with his family in the Warspite'; and many were the expressions of hearty regret which were called forth on the departure of the superseded Commander-in-Chief. The feeling seemed to be universal, both at Malta and among the officers of his fleet. On leaving the Wellesley,' and the blue flag being hauled down, the ship was manned, and the crew cheered; and on approaching the Warspite,' where his flag was hoisted, he was received with the same demonstration-the value of which consisted in its being not an official matter, but a spontaneous expression of respect and sympathy. At the entrance of the harbour the salute of the batteries merged into the much more gratifying one of a long and loud cheer of hearty farewell from the Rifle Regiment,

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RETURN TO ENGLAND.

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the whole of which was assembled there on purpose to pay him this unexpected compliment; and many were the little boats full of friends that accompanied the ship beyond the harbour, to speed the homeward bound' with a parting cheer.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE 'Warspite' reached England on October 7, 1828. On arriving in England Sir E. C., after waiting upon the Board of Admiralty according to official custom, sent to the Duke of Clarence (October 17, 1828) some papers, which he said,

will, I trust, have the effect of removing whatever doubts may have obtained in the mind of your Royal Highness, owing to reports which appear to have been industriously circulated to my disadvantage, before I had an opportunity of repelling them. It is hardly possible to believe that the authors of my supersession had not some other motives for adopting so unusual a proceeding; and I cannot but lament that a more just and generous feeling did not lead them to a different mode of effecting the end they had in view.

If it had been signified to me that it was politically desirable that I should retire from my command, not an hour should have elapsed before I would have expressed my wish to be superseded. I trust I am free from any disposition to place myself in collision with those under whose authority I seek to obtain credit with my sovereign and my country; and there is no sacrifice of personal convenience which would not have been amply repaid to me by the friendly disposition of those whom I now find arrayed against me, &c. &c.

It is a true saying, that a man may be judged by knowing who are his friends and associates: it is scarcely less true that he may be judged as well by the letters he receives as by those he himself writes; and in this way I have ample means of showing the character of my father through the medium of his friends.

Besides those on general subjects, letters of congratu

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LETTERS OF FRIENDS.

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lation on his victory, of indignation at his recall, and reprobation of the injustice with which he was treated, came from friends and from comparative strangers-from civilians as well as from admirals and generals. I could multiply them to any extent, did I not fear to weary unprofessional readers; for they cannot perhaps fully estimate the value of these communications to an officer ill used and sacrificed as he was. Great, however, was the consolation and support derived under such ill-usage from the frankly expressed opinions of officers of high standing in both services, best qualified by their professional experience and liabilities to judge rightly the professional acts of a brother officer.

Lord Spencer to Sir E. C.

Althorp: October 10, 1828. DEAR SIR,-I cannot resist writing a line to congratulate you on your safe return from a station where, notwithstanding all the untoward reflections which have been circulated in various quarters, in a manner, according to my poor opinion, so unjustifiable, I continue to be one of those who look upon your proceedings with sincere admiration, and as being entitled to the gratitude, instead of the censure, of your

countrymen.

Your very faithful, &c.,

SPENCER.

When Sir E. C. returned to England from the Mediterranean in the autumn of 1828, he met an acquaintance in the street, a country gentleman of that sort to whom foreign events or public interests are a blank, who, seeming only to associate the thought of him with turnip fields and pointers, greeted him with 'How are you, Codrington? I have not met you for some time; have you had any good shooting lately?' He merely answered, 'Why, yes, I have had some rather remarkable shooting;' and passed on.

Earl Spencer, formerly First Lord of the Admiralty.

From Sir E. C. to Lady C., at Merley, in Dorsetshire.

52, Baker Street: Monday, November 24, 1828.

Fifteen hours after we parted I got to this house, where I scrambled into a bed and got a couple of hours' sleep. Wollaston's appearance is very afflicting, and the disease seems to pervade the whole body more or less. His head is nevertheless quite clear, and he continues dictating to different people on scientific subjects about which his mind has been employed. A paper of his on making platina malleable, was read on Thursday last at the Royal Society, partly written by himself, and partly under his dictation. His articulation is very faulty; but I have fortunately caught all he said thus far. My visits have been so received that I am amply repaid for my journey. He shows at least as much anxiety about my case as about his scientific objects. . . . Be assured that, devoted as he is at this trying time to the exertion of the finest qualities of head and heart, he will die the truly great man that his intimate friends have thought him. Die, however, of his present attack, I sadly fear he must, although some little oscillations between better and worse have occasionally excited hopes. I say fear when one might rather be expected to say hope, considering the physical dependence of one who has ever been the most physically as well as mentally independent of any man I ever knew. But his mind is still competent to do much for science, and the world may still benefit largely by the prolongation of such an existence. I caught a passing wish to see you in his enquiries, which may yet be gratified.2

E. C.

Sir E. C. then devoted himself to clearing up the misrepresentations of his official conduct, and the errors of the despatches from the Home Government on which the Admiralty had been ordered to recall him. Having reason to believe, from communications with the public Offices,

1 His valued friend, Doctor Wollaston, was gradually dying of paralysis. 2 It was not destined to be gratified; Dr. Wollaston passed away on December 23, before Lady Codrington was within reach of seeing him.