; and, since that time, I have only received one
thousand dollars from the naval chest of Lord Cochrane, and six
hundred from the military of General Church. This last sum is not even
sufficient to pay the expenses incurred by the detention of our prizes
in order to serve as transports for the army. I have, in addition to
the ordinary expenses of this vessel, been obliged to purchase wood
for our steam-engine, and provisions for the gun-boat Helvetia--to
which I have also furnished two hundred dollars in money to pay the
crew. The capture of Vasiladhi has cost me two thousand dollars; yet I
have not taken the brass cannon in that fort, and replaced them with
the iron guns of our prizes, in order to assist me in meeting my
expenses."

About this time Count Capo d'Istrias arrived in Greece to assume the
presidency of the republic; and Captain Hastings, as soon as he was
informed of his arrival, transmitted him a very valuable letter, in
which he gave a luminous picture of the state of affairs in Western
Greece. This letter is particularly instructive, as it gives an
admirable summary of the line of conduct which gained Hastings his
great reputation in Greece. "From the hour of my receiving the command
of the Karteria, I determined to break down the system existing in the
navy of paying the sailors in advance, as such a practice is
destructive of all discipline. The Greek government and Lord Cochrane,
however, did not adopt this rule. They paid their own equipages in
advance, and they left mine unpaid."

Count Capo d'Istrias, though a very able diplomatist, was not a
military man; and he paid no attention to Hastings' letter. Lord
Cochrane, who had long ceased to hold any communication with Captain
Hastings, had, a short time previous to the arrival of Count Capo
d'Istrias, suddenly disappeared from Greece, in the English yacht in
which he arrived, without giving the Greek government any notice of
his intention. In this state of things, it was not wonderful that the
naval affairs of the country fell into the most deplorable anarchy;
and the disorder became so painful to Captain Hastings, that he
resigned the command of the Kateria and resolved to quit Greece.

The importance of preventing so distinguished a Philhellene from
quitting Greece so shortly after his own arrival, struck Count Capo
d'Istrias very forcibly, and he resolved to do every thing in his
power to retain Captain Hastings in his service. To effect this,