der him all possible honour, was prompt in offering him fresh
employment on the sea. "I shall shortly have to name a
Commander-in-Chief for the North American and West Indian Station,"
wrote Lord Auckland on the 27th of December, 1847. "Will you accept the
appointment? I shall feel it to be an honour and a pleasure to have
named you to it, and I am satisfied that your nomination will be
agreeable to her Majesty, as it will be to the country, and,
particularly, to the navy."

Lord Dundonald did accept the appointment, rejoicing in it as a further
step in reparation for the injuries by which he had been hindered, a
whole generation before, from rising to the highest rank in the naval
service of his country. He might then have achieved victories over the
French which would have surpassed his brilliant exploit at Basque Roads.
He could now only direct the quiet operations of a small fleet in time
of peace. This, however, being the best that it was now possible for him
to do, he gladly undertook. "Permit me," he wrote to Lord Auckland, "to
assure your lordship that this gracious act has further tended to
obliterate the deep and painful impressions made by thirty years of
mental suffering, such as no language can describe; for, my lord, the
agony produced by false accusations on an honourable mind is infinitely
greater than merited infliction of death itself. I leave your lordship
then to estimate the amount of obligation I fail to convey, and beg you
will allow me to express a hope that your generous recommendation to her
Majesty will be justified by my zealous endeavours to fulfil the duties
I owe to my sovereign and country."

"I have waited for her Majesty's assent to your appointment," said the
Earl of Auckland in a letter written on the 3rd of January, 1848,
"before answering your letter of the 28th ultimo. This assent has been
most cordially given, and you may now consider yourself
Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indian Station, and I
may repeat that my share in this proceeding has given me very great
pleasure, and that I am confirmed in my feelings of gratification by the
terms in which you speak of occupying your proper place in the navy. I
am glad for you, and I am glad for myself that I have done this just and
honourable act."

Very hearty was the satisfaction expressed by all classes as soon as
Lord Dundonald's appointment was made public. "I beg," wrote Mr. Delane,
the editor of the "Times,"