s principles could be
prevailed on thro' any latent object, any avaricious view, by any
act so mean, so low, so contemptible, as that of which this
anonymous villain has dared to suppose me capable, to bring
disgrace upon that elevated situation? No, my lord, I thank God I
possess a share of pride sufficient to keep me far above any mean
or degrading action. I am satisfied with what the Crown allows me,
altho' that, in my situation in this expensive country, is small
enough, yet, my lord, I am satisfied, nor do I conceive it
consistent with the dignity of my office to endeavour in any way
whatever to gain more, were it even in a less censurable manner
than that which has been mention'd. Let me live upon bread and
water with a pure and unpolluted conscience, a fair and
respectable character, in preference to rolling in wealth obtained
by such infamous, such shameful, such ignominious means as this
letter-writer alludes to."

It is a long while ago since this letter was written by a rough old
sailor, and its quaint wording may raise a smile, but Hunter was very much
in earnest; and if his failure to govern convicts and "officers and
gentlemen" who traded in rum is to count against him, leaving but a
contemptuous pity for a weak old man as an impression on the mind, go back
to his sea-days, when he fought the crazy old _Sirius_ through a hurricane
to bring food to these shore-people, and remember him for this closing
anecdote of his life:--

In 1801, soon after his arrival in England, Hunter [Sidenote: 1801-1821]
commanded the _Venerable_ (74). He was cruising off Torbay, when a man
fell overboard. Hunter attempted to put the ship about to pick him up; she
missed stays, ran ashore, and became a wreck. At the court-martial (at
which Hunter was honourably acquitted) he was asked whether he thought he
was justified in putting the ship about in such circumstances, to which
question he replied, "I consider the life of a British seaman of more
value than any ship in His Majesty's navy."

When he returned to England, he was granted a pension, for his services as
governor, of L300 per annum; was promoted rear-admiral in October, 1807,
and became vice-admiral of the Red in July, 1810. He died in Judd Street,
London, in March, 1821, aged eighty-three, and was buried in Hackney
churchyard, where a tombstone with a long inscription records his
services.

CHAPTER