y 1827. From that date until his recall on
the 21st of June 1828 he was engaged in the arduous duties imposed on
him by the Greek War of Independence, which had led to anarchy and much
piracy in the Levant. On the 20th of October 1827 he destroyed the
Turkish and Egyptian naval forces at Navarino (q.v.), while in command
of a combined British, French and Russian fleet. As the battle had been
unforeseen in England, and its result was unwelcome to the ministry of
the day, Codrington was entangled in a correspondence to prove that he
had not gone beyond his instructions, and he was recalled by a despatch,
dated the 4th of June.

After the battle Codrington went to Malta to refit his ships. He
remained there till May 1828, when he sailed to join his French and
Russian colleagues on the coast of the Morea. They endeavoured to
enforce the evacuation of the peninsula by Ibrahim peacefully. The Pasha
made diplomatic difficulties, and on the 25th of July the three admirals
agreed that Codrington should go to Alexandria to obtain Ibrahim's
recall by his father Mehemet Ali. Codrington had heard on the 22nd of
June of his own supersession, but, as his successor had not arrived, he
carried out the arrangement made on the 25th of July, and his presence
at Alexandria led to the treaty of the 6th of August 1828, by which the
evacuation of the Morea was settled. His services were recognized by the
grant of the grand cross of the Bath, but there is no doubt that he was
treated as a scape-goat at least to some extent. After his return home
he was occupied for a time in defending himself, and then in leisure
abroad. He commanded a training squadron in the Channel in 1831 and
became admiral on the 10th of January 1837. From November 1839 to
December 1842 he was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. He died on the
28th of April 1851.

Sir Edward Codrington left two sons, Sir William (1804-1884), a soldier
who commanded in the Crimea, and Sir John Henry (1808-1877), a naval
officer, who died an admiral of the fleet.

See _Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington_, by his
daughter Jane, Lady Bourchier, wife of Sir T. Bourchier, R.N. (London,
1873). (D. H.)

CODRUS, in Greek legend, the last king of Athens. According to the
story, it was prophesied at the time of the Dorian invasion of
Peloponnesus (_c._ 1068 B.C.) that only the death of their king at the
enemy's hands could ensure victory to the Athenians. Devoting h