her with a loss of fifteen killed and wounded to the Turks,
but none to the Greeks. The other vessels escaped, but an Ionian vessel,
laden with provisions for the Ottoman army at Patras, was seized in the
afternoon, and her cargo put to good use.

[10] "The admiral," says Gordon (vol. ii., pp. 421, 422), "was less
gratified at his victory than mortified that so inferior a vessel should
have fought the _Hellas_ for three-quarters of an hour, and disgusted at
the backwardness of his crew. In his first cruise he carried with him
four hundred men recruited in the Cyclades; but as they ran below in his
engagement with the two Egyptian corvettes, he discharged them and took
Hydriots alone. These last, though better mariners, and really more
courageous, were disconcerted by his system of reserving fire till
within pistol-shot--so different from their own plan of cannonading at a
mile's distance. 'The boys,' said Cochrane, 'behaved pretty well; but
the oldest, and ugliest, and fiercest-looking bravoes of Hydra ran to
the other side of the deck, roaring like market-bulls.' His lordship
took summary satisfaction by knocking them down with his fists, right
and left."

Lord Cochrane waited off Navarino for two days, hoping that some of the
enemy's fleet would come out to attack him. They, however, locked
themselves carefully in the harbour until he had set sail for the south,
when they feebly attempted to pursue him. He thereupon, after releasing
the Turkish prisoners at Candia, returned to Poros, there to leave his
prizes and endeavour to take back a larger force with which worthily to
supplement his recent successes.

CHAPTER XX.

THE ACTION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA ON BEHALF OF HELLENIC
INDEPENDENCE.--THE DEGRADATION OF GREECE.--LORD COCHRANE'S RENEWED
EFFORTS TO ORGANISE A FLEET.--PRINCE PAUL BUONAPARTE, AND HIS DEATH.--AN
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE LORD COCHRANE.--HIS INTENDED EXPEDITION TO
WESTERN GREECE.--ITS PREVENTION BY SIR EDWARD CODRINGTON.--LORD
COCHRANE'S RETURN TO THE ARCHIPELAGO.--THE INTERFERENCE OF GREAT
BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND RUSSIA.--THE CAUSES OF THE BATTLE OF NAVARINO.--THE
BATTLE.

[1827.]

The Duke of Wellington's mission to St. Petersburg in the spring of
1826, which has been already referred to, was part of a policy by which
the British Government materially contributed to the ultimate
independence of Greece. Its first result was the protocol of the 4th of
April, i