n't a
single long-winded despatch sent out to me by the Cabinet that did not
countermand the one that came before?"

Dad laughed cheerily, trying to make the old sailor forget his wrongs.

"Even the immortal Nelson would have been unable to do anything under
such conditions, Sir Charles," he said, as the Admiral paused to take
breath, sniffing up another handful of snuff with an angry snort.
"Those jacks in office at home are always interfering with things they
know nothing about. How can they possibly have the means at their
command like the man on the scene of action, one whom they themselves
have selected for his supposed capacity? But, they will interfere, sir.
They have always done so; and always will, I suppose!"

"Gad, you put it better than I could, Vernon. I didn't think you such a
smart sea lawyer," said the old Admiral, rather grimly, not
over-pleased, I think, at Dad's taking up the burthen of his grievances.
"Know nothing, you say? Of course they know nothing, the government,
hang it! was a cabinet of nincompoops, I tell you--Aberdeen, Graham and
the whole lot of 'em! If they could have mustered a single statesman
amongst 'em who had pluck enough to tell Russia at the outset that if
she laid hands on Turkey we should have considered it an ultimatum,
there would never have been any war at all--the Emperor Nicholas
confessed as much on his death-bed. It was all want of backbone that
did it--not of the English nation, thank God! but of the government or
ministry of the time. Some governments we've had, ay, and since then,
too, Vernon, have been the curse of our country!"

"Ay, Admiral," responded my father, heartily, "I know that well!"

"Yes, they were all shilly-shally from first to last," continued the old
sailor, warming up to his theme. "Why, when the Russians actually fired
on our flag--the Union Jack of England, sir, that had never previously
been insulted with impunity--they actually blamed me for returning the
fire, and recalled me for it! I tell you what it is, Vernon, they were
all a pack of pusillanimous time-servers, frightened at their own
shadows; and, between you and me and the bedpost, that chap, Jimmy
Graham, our precious late First Lord of the Admiralty, knew as much
about a ship as a Tom cat does of logarithms, by George!"

Dad smiled at his vehemence, and I chuckled audibly; the Admiral's
simile seeming very funny to me.

The old sailor patted me on the head approvingly.