ltan to
continue the war, but he promised to communicate with his sovereign, and
pledged himself to abstain from hostilities until the answer arrived and
was reported to the allied fleets. Before that answer came a fortunate
series of accidents, arising out of Lord Cochrane's expedition to the
Albanian coast, turned the current of diplomacy and secured for Greece
more freedom than had been anticipated.

Lord Cochrane, attended by his Greek vessels, had left the neighbourhood
of Cape Papas on the 27th of September. But, though deeming himself
bound in honour to that course, he was willing to allow a part of his
force to remain in the neighbourhood and watch the progress of events,
especially as that part was at the time separated from him and lying in
the Gulf of Lepanto. It consisted of the _Karteria_, under Captain Abney
Hastings, the _Sauveur_, under Captain Thomas, and two gunboats, each
mounting a 32-pounder. For a week this little squadron, ignorant of the
arrangement between the allied admirals and Ibrahim Pasha, watched a
Turkish force that was moored in the Scala of Salona, and comprised one
large Algerine schooner carrying twenty brass guns, a brig of fourteen
guns, six smaller brigs and schooners, two gunboats, and two armed
transports. These vessels were protected by batteries on the level shore
and other batteries on overhanging rocks. On the 30th of September,
Captains Hastings and Thomas proceeded to attack them, and did so with
excellent effect. The solid shot of the _Sauveur_ and the gunboats soon
silenced the batteries; the red-hot shells of the _Karteria_ made havoc
of the enemy's vessels, four being defeated within half-an-hour. Soon
the _Sauveur_ and the gunboats joined in the attack on the shipping,
and, in the end, seven vessels were destroyed and three captured.

The news of that victory, as soon as it was conveyed to Navarino, where
nearly all the naval force of the Turks was lying, roused the anger of
Ibrahim Pasha, who complained that the allied powers, while binding him
to inaction, allowed the Greeks to carry on the war. On the 1st of
October, he sent out thirty war-ships with orders to enter the Gulf of
Lepanto and punish Hastings and Thomas for their recent exploits. Sir
Edward Codrington, however, pursued them, and drove them back to
Navarino. Ibrahim Pasha, not easily to be baffled, himself left
Navarino, on the evening of the 3rd, with fourteen of his stoutest
vessels. Again Sir Edward