and transports, about half were
burnt, sunk, or driven on shore. The allies took no prizes, and detained
no prisoners; and in the hour of vengeance they showed mercy by saving
many of the Turkish sailors. At the time of the battle Ibrahim Pasha,
was absent on a military excursion; but he returned in time to see
the smoking remains of his fleet. It is said that he looked on the
catastrophe with complacency, as it extricated him from the dilemma in
which he was placed between the sultan's orders and the mandates of the
three great European powers. After the battle, the admiral entered into
a fresh correspondence with the commanders; and after agreeing that
hostilities should cease, the allied fleet quitted Navarino. The news
of the disaster was received by the sultan as though he submitted to the
will of fate: he heard it without dismay or loss of temper. He demanded,
indeed, reparation for what he called a violation of the law of nations;
but instead of sending the ambassadors to the Seven Towers, as had been
the usual custom, he permitted them to return to their respective courts
in safety. In Europe the news of the victory was heard with joy and
gladness; but the feeling of exultation was in England confined to a
minority. The Tories loudly exclaimed against this aggression upon the
forces of an ancient ally, as a wanton act of perfidy, and as forwarding
the designs of the Russian autocrat. As for the ministry, they appeared
paralysed by the event; for they were afraid to take a manly line of
defence, and were uncertain as to what course they ought to pursue.
Finally, they virtually pronounced an opinion on the victory by
rewarding the officers who achieved it; but they marred this action by
despatching Admiral Sir John Gore to the Mediterranean, for the purpose
of collecting information. By this vacillating conduct they gave their
opponents an opportunity of taunting them with inconsistency. Before
parliament met, however, and therefore before the question could be
debated, the administration of Lord Goderich had become dissolved. At
its dissolution it left England at war with the sultan, together with
France and Russia; but the two former powers though united against him
were still at heart his friends. Though Russia had been working through
a long course of never-changing policy, to accomplish his ruin, they,
though at present apparently the instruments of this ambition, were
deeply interested in counteracting its de