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 _congÈ_. 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 AndrÈ Gosse, un homme animÈ du philhellÈnisme le plus
sincËre et douÈ de vertus Èminentes, considÈrant son zËle ardent et
infatigable pourtant en ce qui concerne le bien de la patrie et pour
la cause sacrÈe de la GrËce et en particulier tÈmoins des soins
philanthropiques qu'il a prodiguÈs aux indigens, persuadÈs d'autre
part que ses qualitÈs rares contribueront ‡ l'amÈlioration de la
morale du peuple Grec, et animÈs du dÈsir d'attacher ‡ notre Ile cette
homme vertueux; d'une voix unanime et d'un accord commun concÈdons le
droit de bourgeoisie au susdit M. L. A. Gosse, pour qu'il jonisse
dorÈnavant du titre et des droits de citoyen Poriote indigËne. En foi
de quoi nous lui avons dÈlivrÈ la prÈsente."
The other document was issued by President Capodistrias on the 23rd of
February, 1829.
"La lettre que vous venez de m'adresser, datÈe du 21 FÈvrier, et les
comptes qu'elle renferme, sont une nouvelle preuve du zËle et de
l'extrÍme exactitude, par laquelle vous vous Ítes toujours montrÈ
digne de la confiance des amis gÈnÈreux de la GrËce.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de vous rÈpÈter combien la nation sait apprÈcier
les services que vous lui avez rendus, et combien de reconnaissance je
vous dois en particulier. C'est ‡ mon instance que vous avez prolongÈ
d'un an votre sÈjour en GrËce. Dans cet espace, et surtout dans l'ÈtÈ
dernier, la peste et les maladies qui vinrent augmenter nos malheurs
et nos souffrances, vous ont fourni l'occasion de co-opÈrer par un
noble dÈnouement a l'accomplissement des mesures sanitaires qui ‡
l'aide de la Providence ont conjurÈ les manx majeurs, dont la Patrie
Ètait menacÈe.
"Maintenant vous devez remplir des dÈsirs qui honorent vos sentiments,
vous allez retourner dans votre heureuse patrie, auprËs de votre mËre.
Mes voeux vous y accompagneront, je vous souhaite toute sorte de
bonheur. La GrËce ne peut dans ce moment vous exprimer d'autre maniËre
sa reconnaissance, mais un jour viendra, je l'espËre, dans lequel elle
le pourra et son Gouvernement s'empressera alors d'acquitter sa dette
envers vous, ainsi qu'envers les autres Ètrangers, qui sincËrement et
gÈnÈreusement ont servi sa cause sacrÈe.
"Lorsque vos affaires et vos intÈrÍts le permettront, vous vous
occuperez toujours du bien de la GrËce; vous lui serez toujours utile
partout o˘ vous vous trouverez; mais si vous voulez lui Ítre utile
plus directement, revenez encore au milieu d'un peuple qui vous
connaÓt et qui vous aime, et son gouvernement se h‚tera de vous mettre
‡ mÍme de lui rendre encore de grands services.
"Recevez en attendant l'expression de ces sentiments, avec l'assurance
de la considÈration le plus distinguÈe."
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.