h accompanied by thirty. For this ship five of the
first class and eight of the second are required." The proclamation
which Lord Cochrane submitted to the Government detailed his plan for
ensuring, or at any rate making possible, honest and hearty service in
seafaring.

"I wish I could inform your excellencies," he said in another letter
written two days later, "that the obstacles, however great, which
presented themselves in the course of the naval service were all I had
to contend with. The jealousies among the islanders, even the most
enlightened, embarrassed me exceedingly; and these, I regret to say,
cannot be alleviated by having recourse to your advice or authority, at
the distance at which you are placed, without a correspondence so
voluminous that I should occupy too much of your attention. I must,
therefore, act according to my own responsibility; and in so doing I am
aware that some may be displeased, and probably no one will be
satisfied."

Nearly all the month of July, indeed, was spent by Lord Cochrane in
zealous efforts to render the Greek navy more efficient. For this two
things were needed--that the officers and crews should be honest and
intelligent, and that there should be money enough in hand for paying
their wages, for fitting out proper vessels, and for supplying the
requisite stores and provisions. For the first object proclamations were
issued, letters were written, and agents were sent into various parts of
Greece and her islands. For the second, Lord Cochrane went personally to
the assistance of Dr. Gosse, who, as Commissary-General of the Fleet,
had been attempting to collect the revenues of the islands which, by
order of the Government, had been assigned to naval uses. He succeeded
to some extent in this, and also in quickening the latent patriotism of
the people whom he visited.

His most important visit was to Syra, where, as will be seen from the
letter which he addressed to the Government on the 13th of July, he was
obliged to resort to strong measures for securing the good end he had in
view. "I have the honour to inform your excellencies," he wrote, "that,
a new crew having been procured for the _Hellas_ with less delay than I
anticipated, by reason of the pay having been increased one-third in
amount, I proceeded to Syra, taking with me several of the principal
inhabitants of the three maritime islands, who expressed to me, by
letter, their anxiety to have an opportunity of promot