The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II

Lord Cochrane testified to the excellent soldiership of the Turkish horsemen. With sabres and short muskets, they dashed in and out of the crowd of retreating Greeks, who, having no bayonets and no weapons adapted for close fighting, were utterly defenceless. He himself, having landed with Dr. Gosse to watch the operations from the shore, was so hard pressed by these formidable antagonists that he was only rescued by his own bravery and the daring of Dr. Gosse, who retained possession of the boat which was waiting for him on the shore until his chief had time to force his way back to it through the crowd of fighting Turks and Greeks and through the waves beating up to his neck. It was only when he was again on board the Hellas, and able to direct the firing of the guns, that the Turks were driven back, and the remnant of the Greek force was allowed to collect and prepare for the return to Phalerum.

The fall of the Acropolis soon followed this terrible defeat. By it the Greeks were utterly disorganized. Lord Cochrane, finding it impossible to persuade them to another attempt, returned to Poros with the fleet on the 10th of May. Sir Richard Church remained at Munychia, his army being every hour reduced by desertions, till the 27th, when he and the two thousand starving men who were left to him abandoned their position. Fabvier and the garrison, through the intervention of the French Captain Le Blanc and Admiral De Rigny, capitulated on the 5th of June. It was then found that the Acropolis still contained stores of food and ammunition sufficient for four months' use, and that their reports of destitution had been deliberate falsehoods, intended only to force their friends outside to come speedily to their relief.

Those falsehoods had been particularly mischievous. By them, as has been shown, Lord Cochrane was induced to listen to the entreaties of Karaïskakes and the Government, and take his ships to Phalerum, instead of carrying out his plan of stopping the Turkish supplies in the Negropont and at Oropos. Had that plan been adhered to, it seems as if a very different issue might easily have been brought about.

The work on which he had been engaged having terminated so unfortunately, Lord Cochrane was much blamed for it by critics who had private reasons for being jealous. We have shown, however, that he only entered upon that work at the request of men whose power and influence he could not gainsay; that, having undertaken it, he set himself shrewdly and earnestly to render it successful; and that the failure was occasioned, not by adoption of his plans, but by their perversion or rejection. If he erred, he erred only in expecting too much patriotism and valour from the people whom he was doing his utmost to serve.

If anything further need be said in explanation and defence of Lord Cochrane's position up to this time, it will be best done by quoting part of a letter addressed to M. Eynard on the 27th of May, in which he concisely repeated the whole story. "On my arrival in Greece," he wrote, "I found that the authority was claimed by two factions, that nothing like a navy existed, and that a number of individuals called an army were collected to raise the siege of Athens, – but wholly deficient in military talent on the part of the commanders, or in obedience and discipline on the part of the troops. As soon as I had accepted my commission, I commenced active exertions to save the Acropolis. I advised Karaïskakes to embark and land to the southward and eastward of the Phalerum, and, marching direct to the Acropolis, bring out the women and children. But my counsel was in vain, as he had no idea of any combined naval and military movement, nor indeed of any military plan, except that of advancing by slow steps, after the manner of the Turks, who construct little fortifications, called tambourias, at every few hundred yards, which are again opposed by others of the adverse party; and, as neither army attacks these forts by active force, the whole, after a few hours, are brought to a stand, and the result of the contest depends on who can the longest continue to furnish pay and provisions. Such was the state of the military contest when General Church took the command. The battle at Phalerum, though brilliant, was accidental, and, not being followed up, was productive of no result. Karaïskakes fell, and General Church embarked the troops in order to execute the movement that ought to have taken place a month before. The moment was more inauspicious than we were aware of; for the Turkish commander had that very night been joined by a large body of cavalry and a number of infantry from Negropont and elsewhere. This, however, would not have proved decisive, had not General Church, with a view to conciliate the officers under his command, and indeed in order to induce them to embark at all upon the expedition, conformed to their absurd views of military movement, and permitted them to carry entrenching tools to form their usual numerous positions on the line of their route, the construction of which wholly defeated the intention of surprise, and enabled the enemy to surround their advanced guard or van, weakened by the division of the troops into fourteen garrisons left in a line in their advance, whereas the whole body might, with perfect safety and in two hours, have reached the Acropolis. The slaughter which the Turks made in the advanced posts of the Greeks was horrible, and the panic which took possession of those who remained on the Phalerum, at three leagues' distance from the scene of action, was as disgraceful as the conduct of their chief, Zavella, who made no movement even to create a diversion, but sat coolly looking at the slaughter of his countrymen. With six thousand men under his command he remained totally inactive. This expedition to Athens cost upwards of twenty-five thousand dollars of the naval money and destroyed most of our provisions. At the same time, I believed it to be my duty to act as I did, and I have not since regretted any step that I took, because, if Fabvier and the garrison fall into the hands of the Turks and are destroyed, I shall at least have the consolation of knowing that my utmost efforts were made to avert their fate."

CHAPTER XIX

LORD COCHRANE'S RETURN TO POROS. – HIS ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE AN EFFICIENT GREEK NAVY. – THE WANT OF FUNDS AND THE APATHY OF THE GREEKS. – HIS LETTER TO THE PSARIANS, AND HIS VISITS TO HYDRA AND SPETZAS. – HIS CRUISE ROUND THE MOREA. – HIS FIRST ENGAGEMENT WITH THE TURKS. – THE DISORGANIZATION OF HIS GREEK SAILORS. – HIS CAPTURE OF A VESSEL BEARING THE BRITISH FLAG, LADEN WITH GREEK PRISONERS. – SEIZURE OF PART OF RESHID PASHA'S HAREM. – IBRAHIM PASHA'S NARROW ESCAPE. – LORD COCHRANE'S FURTHER DIFFICULTIES. – HIS EXPEDITION TO ALEXANDRIA. – ITS FAILURE THROUGH THE COWARDICE OF HIS SEAMEN. – HIS TWO LETTERS TO THE PASHA OF EGYPT. – HIS RETURN TO POROS. – FURTHER EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE NAVY. – HIS VISIT TO SYRA. – THE TROUBLES OF THE GREEK GOVERNMENT. – LORD COCHRANE'S VISIT TO NAVARINO. – HIS DEFEAT OF A TURKISH SQUADRON.

[1827.]

Before arriving in Greece, Lord Cochrane bad been informed by Captain Abney Hastings and other experienced Philhellenes of the inefficiency of the navy, and a very short stay at Poros served to convince him of the truth of the information. On the 17th of April he obtained from the National Assembly a decree authorizing the organization of a better national fleet, and, before proceeding to join in the efforts for the relief of the Acropolis, he did all that was possible towards the achievement of this object, making such arrangements as would prevent any hindrance thereto arising from his temporary absence on the most pressing work that devolved upon him. Having sent Captain Hastings with all the available ships on the expedition to the Negropont which has already been described, he established at Poros the centre of the administration of the fleet, entrusting its direction to Dr. Gosse, as Commissary-General. He then visited Hydra, Spetzas, and other islands, and left in each directions for the inspection of all the ships there stationed, in order that, according to the national decrees, the best of them might be bought up by the Government, on equitable terms, and converted into vessels of war at Poros. During his stay near the Piræus he was in almost daily correspondence with Dr. Grosse and Emanuel Tombazes respecting the purchase of stores, the construction of gunboats, and every other essential to the fulfilment of his purpose. He sent Jakomaki Tombazes, the elder of the two brothers, to look out near Candia for a new corvette which had just been built at Leghorn for the Pasha of Egypt. All other means in his power were adopted by him for augmenting the naval strength of Greece, and fitting it to oppose the force of her enemies so soon as he was able to devote himself exclusively to that work.

This he did promptly and zealously immediately after the failure of the expedition in favour of the garrison of the Acropolis. "Brave officers and soldiers and seamen of the military and naval services," he wrote in a proclamation issued on the 7th of May, "a defeat of the enemy's naval force will tenfold repay the check which was sustained in yesterday's attempt to relieve the Acropolis. Let every man maintain his post as duty to his country demands, and in a few days I trust you will find your affairs not only retrieved but secured on a permanent base."

That trust was not fulfilled. The Greeks proved themselves on sea as well as on land unable to fight worthily, and with enough real patriotism, for the liberty of their country. But honour must not on that account be withheld from the man who used all his large experience and larger philanthropy in trying to put them in the way of victory.

Lord Cochrane returned to Poros on the 10th of May, after an absence of just three weeks. He lost no time in rendering to the Government, then located in that island, a personal account of his recent proceedings, and in doing his utmost to persuade the Greeks to aid him in the new exploits on which he hoped to enter with better prospect of success. An address to the Psarians, dated the 11th of May, will serve as a specimen of many documents of the same nature. "It was my intention yesterday," he said, "to have paid my respects to you, in order personally to have made known to you the circumstances in which the naval service is placed and the state and preparations of the enemy, and to have called on you to show an example to the other islanders, on whose exertions now depend the liberties and fate of their country. The abandonment of the schooner, in which I have hitherto been embarked by all her seamen, prevented me from fulfilling my intention, and the certain intelligence received this morning that the Turkish fleet from Constantinople passed Syra the day before yesterday, to join the Egyptian fleet, compels me now to recommend you by writing, instead of by word of mouth, to save your country and yourselves by prompt and energetic exertions. The money I brought here with me, being the proceeds of subscriptions made throughout Europe for your cause, has unfortunately been nearly consumed in fruitless endeavours to save the capital of Greece by means of an irregular and unmanageable body of men, who will neither receive instruction nor listen to advice. I hope that the brave seamen who understand their duty will listen to my recommendation through you that they should at once step forward to save their families from oppression and slavery, and the name of their country from being struck out of the list of independent nations. By one glorious effort Greece may be free; but if she remain in her present state of apathy all hope must be abandoned. I call upon you now to stand forward in defence of your religion and all that is valuable to man. I send you a thousand dollars, which is all that I can spare. Those who will equip their ships may depend on repayment out of the first money that shall be remitted to me for the public service of Greece."

As that letter implies, Lord Cochrane had to begin his reconstruction of the Greek navy – now the only remaining resource of the nation in its hope of working out and assuring its independence by effort of its own – almost without funds. The small sum of 8000l. which he had brought with him, as well as the money collected by the European committees and transmitted to the Philhellenic Committee in Greece, composed of Colonel Heydeck, Dr. Bailli, and Dr. Gosse, was nearly exhausted, and the bankrupt Government was unable to provide him with any adequate resources for carrying on his work. It had authorized him to buy ships and stores and to employ labourers and seamen, and expected him to do all without stint, but gave him no money for the purpose. In lieu it authorized him to borrow upon the security of all the future revenue to be derived from the islands; and every effort to utilize this mortgage was made by his agent Dr. Gosse, but with very poor success. The credit of the Greek Government was so low that the prospects of any considerable revenue in the depressed state of commerce – likely to be yet more depressed by the steady advances made by the Turks in regaining their dominion over the insurgents – deterred capitalists from staking their money thereupon. Lord Cochrane, as we shall see, had to apply half his energies in performing the work of a financier, never anticipated by him, and certainly not proper to his functions as First Admiral; and, the result of all being feeble, his legitimate duties were grievously crippled.

Money being absolutely needed, however, he did his best to procure it, and with this view, as well as in order to make personal acquaintance with the principal ports, and the ships and sailors contained in them, he left Poros, three days after returning to it, on a tour among the other important islands.

Starting on Sunday, the 13th of May, he reached Hydra on the following morning. There, in the house of the brothers Konduriottes, its richest and most influential inhabitants, he met several other leading primates, and prevailed on them to take upon themselves the outfit of several brigs and brulottes, the cost of which he had at present no means of paying. Having, on the 15th, passed on to Spetzas, Lord Cochrane had a similar interview with its chief residents. "I have been highly gratified," he wrote on the 16th to the elder Konduriottes, "by the spirit here manifested in following the noble example which you have set, and I have no doubt but a sufficient force will be immediately equipped to cut off all the resources by which the army of Reshid Pasha is maintained, and so destroy that army even more effectually than by the sword. The utmost promptitude, however, is necessary. One day's delay may permit several weeks' provisions and stores to enter the Negropont."

Promptitude was not easy, in spite of the favourable promises of the primates. "Strange as it may appear to you," said Lord Cochrane, in a letter to his friend, M. Eynard, "it is yet a fact that, out of the thousands of seamen idle and starving at Hydra, Spetzas, and Egina, not a man will enter the service of his country without being paid in advance; nor will they engage to prolong their service beyond a month, so that the labour of disciplining a crew is interminable. Were there funds to increase the pay for each month, the sailors would remain, and there might be some hope of getting a ship in order. At the present moment there are no individuals in Greece who are instructed in their duties as officers in ships of war." "I see no termination to the obstacles," he wrote to Dr. Gosse on the 17th, "which present themselves at every step I advance. Neither the Hydriots nor the Psarians, nor the Spetziots, nor the Poriots, will embark in this frigate, which is thus useless to Greece, if not prejudicial, because her maintenance is an expense without benefit. I wish I could do a thousand things which I am compelled to neglect, by reason of the difficulties and want of assistance of all kinds. You, my good friend, are my only aid."

At Spetzas, and in its neighbourhood, Lord Cochrane remained four days, directing the arrangements to be made in organizing a fleet strong enough to go against the enemy's shipping, and, while waiting for that, in appointing two minor expeditions upon services that were urgent. On the 18th of May, he sent Admiral Saktoures with ten brigs and four fireships to cruise about the Negropont and capture as much as he could of the stores sent through that channel from Constantinople for the use of the Turkish army in Attica. On the following day he went himself in the Hellas, attended by the Karteria, under Captain Abney Hastings, in the direction of Cape Clarenza, the north-westernmost point of the Morea, opposite to Zante.⁸

Castle Tornese, there situated, was being besieged by the Turks, and Lord Cochrane hoped to be in time to avert its capture. In this he failed. Arriving on the 22nd of May, he found that the castle had capitulated a few hours before. All he could do was to chase two Turkish frigates which he found on the coast. "We fired into them," he said, "but our guns were ill-directed, and the noise and confusion on board this ship was excessive, which prevented my choosing to attack them again, though they did us not the slightest injury, because I am desirous that the Hellas shall be in somewhat better order before I voluntarily attack an enemy who may take advantage of the impossibility of causing my orders to be obeyed, and so leave the fate of the ship to the conduct of a rabble."

One capture, however, the Hellas was able to make on the following day. She fell in with a vessel, manned by Turks and Ionian Islanders, bearing the British flag, loaded with captives, chiefly women and children, just taken in the Castle Tornese. Lord Cochrane seized her, and sent her, with a reasonably indignant letter, to the Lord High Commissioner at Corfu. "If I do not attempt to express my feelings in addressing you," he said, "it is because I am aware that the terms I should employ would fall far short of the sensations that will arise in the breast of every honourable man throughout the civilized world, and the degradation which every Englishman will experience, on learning that the flag of England, first prostituted by supplying the traffickers in Christian slaves with all the necessaries for their horrid purposes, is now further debased by a traffic in the slaves themselves. I send you an Ionian vessel, full of women violated in their persons, and who, with their children, had been reduced to slavery, in order that the British public and the world may ascertain whether these unfortunate people will be protected by the decision of an Ionian tribunal. If there were any hope that the people in the Ionian Islands would abandon their infamous dealings otherwise than by force, I should ask your excellency to issue an order upon the subject. I beg, however, to signify that I am ready to co-operate with the admiral and officers of the British naval service in the Mediterranean in enforcing obedience to the laws of justice and humanity, and putting down the Ionian trade in slaves, as well as the piracies which have originated chiefly in the total contempt shown by the Ionian people and others for the laws of nations and the principles of justice during the contest between Greeks and Turks. I also put at your disposal the Turks found on board the Ionian boat, not considering them as prisoners of war, but as men apprehended in violating the laws of civilized nations and insulting the feelings of Christendom." "Since writing the above," it was added in a postscript, "I have experienced considerable difficulty in restraining the fury of the Greeks from bursting forth upon the violators of their countrywomen. From what I foresee, I also feel it my duty to warn you that, should the transportation of Christian captives by neutrals be continued, I cannot answer for the safety of Ionians found so employed by the other vessels of the Greek squadron."

A formal acknowledgment of that letter was all the answer received by Lord Cochrane.

On the 24th of May, when near Missolonghi, he made another capture – a Turkish brig, with eight guns, bearing Austrian colours, which was proceeding from Previsa to Navarino. In her, besides a good store of flour and gunpowder, were found some Turkish officials and several members of Reshid Pasha's harem. The alarm of these prisoners was very great at first; but they were treated with courtesy, and landed, with all their personal properties, at the first convenient halting-place, the brig and its cargo being retained as prizes. Reshid Pasha, in return for the generous treatment shown to his attendants, afterwards released a hundred Greek prisoners without ransom.

Another curious incident occurred at this time. Several small Turkish merchant-vessels passed Lord Cochrane's ship during his stay near Missolonghi, but he abstained from capturing them, deeming it unworthy to interfere with such small crafts, devoted, as it was supposed, only to trading purposes. He was afterwards informed that in one of them Ibrahim Pasha himself had been concealed. Had the Egyptian leader been thus made prisoner, the future course of the war might have been altogether changed.

Lord Cochrane had gone into the Gulf of Patras in hope of meeting with Captain Hastings, from whom he had parted soon after leaving Spetzas; but the Karteria had been disabled by a squall, which took away both her masts, and so had to return to Poros; and with the ill-manned Hellas alone Lord Cochrane did not deem it prudent, as he had wished, to attack Navarino, whither the besiegers of the Castle Tornese had gone, and where twelve Egyptian frigates, twenty corvettes, and forty or fifty smaller vessels were for some time lying. Several of these came out to take on board the Ottoman troops who had done their work at Cape Clarenza, and Lord Cochrane, on the 1st of June, remained for several hours within sight of them, ready and hoping to be attacked. No fight being offered, however, he did not choose to run the risk of going single-handed into their midst. He accordingly contented himself with surveying the coast, and forming his own judgment as to the relative value of its ports and harbours, as he sailed back in the direction of Poros.

To Poros itself Lord Cochrane did not venture to proceed. "I have written for all the Greek vessels that are ready, including the fireships and explosion-vessels, to join me," he said in a letter to Dr. Gosse, written on the 7th of June, off Cerigo; "I remain at sea with this frigate, lest the whole of her crew should desert, according to custom, were I to pay a visit to Poros." The want of zeal which he thus perceived in his seamen was shared by nearly all their countrymen. All wished him to serve them, but very few made any patriotic effort to aid him in the service. His most active supporter was Captain Abney Hastings; and Captain Abney Hastings complained yet more loudly than did his superior of the indolence and bad conduct of the Greeks. "I had the honour to receive your order of the 7th, enjoining me to repair to your lordship without delay, if ready for sea," he wrote on the 9th, from Spetzas; "a variety of circumstances, unavoidable in a country deprived of even the shadow of organization, has prevented me from being yet ready to sail. The majority and best of my crew have left me, and I must look for others."

Hastings and all his other officers wrote over and over again to Lord Cochrane, asking for stores of all sorts, and for money with which to pay the wages of their crews. But Lord Cochrane was still almost without funds. Only from Konduriottes, and the other island primates, could he procure scanty supplies with which to carry on his work – or rather, to prevent that work from being altogether abandoned. "I have the honour," he wrote to the Government, "to represent to your excellencies that I find it impossible to realise the credit which you assigned to me on the revenues of the islands, and that insurmountable obstacles prevent my acting as affairs require. The Hellas even is idle for want of supplies. Each day, each event, increases my conviction that, without strong and special efforts, without a prompt and disinterested co-operation of all its citizens, Greece must of necessity be overcome. Isolated as I am, I am useless to them. Supported by their patriotism and zeal, I could fight for their independence. The islands of the Archipelago are willing to aid our efforts, but they claim from me in return a guarantee for the safety of their goods and for the regular administration of their imposts. I await your excellencies' instructions for promptly answering their demand; for the resources of the western nations are drained; European charity is wearied. The islands alone offer us the means of maintaining the naval forces, and of resisting, if it be possible – if it be not too late – the vigorous preparations of our enemy. We must act promptly or abandon everything." The Government only answered by urging its chief admiral to lose no time in securing the independence of Greece.

This, in spite of the difficulties thrown in his way, he set himself heartily to attempt. Two courses were now open to him. Reshid Pasha, having taken possession of the Acropolis, and thus completed the capture of Athens, had laid siege to Corinth; and Sir Richard Church, with a weak and vacillating body which went by the name of an army – the remnants of that which had proved so useless in the neighbourhood of the Piræus – was vainly trying to raise the siege. By him and by the Government Lord Cochrane was urged to muster as large a fleet as possible in the Bay of Corinth, and to co-operate with the land forces by blockading the besiegers, after the method that had failed at Athens. Experience convinced him that such action would be useless; whereas from modification of the plan which he had in the former instance been induced to abandon he hoped much. He knew that a large Egyptian force was being prepared at Alexandria, to be employed first in aiding the siege of Corinth, and afterwards in completing the conquest of all Greece. If only he could train the Greeks to act under his bold leadership, as he had trained the Chilians and Brazilians, he trusted that, by one daring movement, he could seize Alexandria as he had seized Valdivia and Maranham. And to this project he zealously addressed himself, deeming it sufficient to send a small force to blockade the gulfs of Patras and Corinth, and leaving Dr. Gosse as his agent in command of naval affairs at home, with special orders to visit the various islands, and, in accordance with authority received from the Government, to collect the revenues of each, in order that the necessary expenses of the fleet might be met.

He collected all the vessels he could muster in the neighbourhood of Cape Saint Angelo. His force consisted, besides the Hellas, of one corvette, the Sauveur, which he had brought from Marseilles, commanded by Captain Thomas, of fourteen Greek brigs and of eight brulôts or fireships. With these he started for Alexandria on the 11th of June, the Hellas having often to slacken speed in order that the slower Greek vessels might be kept in attendance. Candia was passed on the 13th, and Alexandria was sighted at five o'clock in the morning of the 15th. Lord Cochrane stood out to sea so that he might not be discovered, and spent the day in putting his fleet in order, preparing an explosion-vessel, and arranging for the work of the morrow. "Brave officers and seamen," he said, in an address to his followers, "one decisive blow, and Greece is free. The port of Alexandria, the centre of all the evil that has befallen you, now contains within its narrow bounds numerous ships of war and a multitude of vessels laden with provisions, stores, and troops, intended to effect your total ruin. The wind is fair for us, and our enterprise unsuspected. Brave brulotteers, resolve by one moment of active exertion to annihilate the power of the satrap. Then shall the siege of Athens be raised in Egypt; then shall the armies of Ibrahim and Reshid be deprived of subsistence, and their garrisons perish of hunger, whilst the brave inhabitants of continental Greece and the islanders, freed from impending danger, will fly to arms, and, by one simultaneous movement, throw off the barbarian yoke. Date the return of happy days and the liberty and security of Greece from your present exhibition of valour. The emancipation of Egypt and the downfall of the satrap are also inevitable consequences; for the war is concentrated in one point of action and of time."

That spirited address was ineffectual, and Lord Cochrane's bold plan for seizing Alexandria was prevented by the cowardice and disorganization of the Greeks whom he was labouring to serve. They could hardly be persuaded on the 16th to follow the Hellas and the Sauveur, all bearing Austrian colours, as far as the entrance to Alexandria, and when twenty large Egyptian vessels were found to be there lying at harbour, they lost heart altogether. Lord Cochrane knew from past experience that, with proper support from his subordinates, he could easily capture or disperse the enemy's shipping. He had made arrangements for attacking them with the fireships and his explosion-vessel. But nearly all the crews refused to serve. Kanaris alone among the Greeks was brave. Having command of the fireships, he induced the sailors of two of them to bear down upon the enemy, and at about eight o'clock in the evening one man-of-war was burnt. So great was the effect of this small success that the other ships of the enemy prepared to escape, and great numbers of the inhabitants of Alexandria hurried out of the town and sought a hiding in the adjoining villages. Seeing the Egyptian ships making ready for flight, however, the Greeks supposed that they were coming out to attack them, and themselves immediately turned sail, heedless alike of their own honour and of Lord Cochrane's assurances that a splendid victory was easy to them. All the night was vainly spent by the Hellas and the Sauveur in futile efforts to collect them, and on the morning of the 18th they were found to be dispersed far out at sea over an area of more than twenty miles.