armaments, and when the bulky galleons and galeasses of Philip's haughty
sailors were chased and worried by the smaller barks and pinnaces of
Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and the other sea-captains of Elizabeth, who
sailed round and round their foe, and darted in and out of his unwieldy
mass of shipping, never failing to inflict great injury, while his
volleys of artillery passed harmlessly over their decks to sink into the
sea, there had been abundant proof of the constant superiority of small
warships over large. A "mosquito fleet," as he called it, was what Lord
Dundonald wished to see developed; a swarm of active little vessels,
just large enough to carry one or two powerful guns, which could go
anywhere and do anything, to which the larger crafts of the enemy would
afford convenient targets, but which, small and nimble, would be much
less likely to be themselves attacked, and, even if attacked and sunk,
would entail far less loss than would ensue from the destruction of a
large war-ship. "As large a gun as possible, in a vessel as small and
swift as possible, and as many of them as you can put upon the sea," was
Lord Dundonald's ideal. For this he argued during half a century; for
this he laboured hard and long in the exercise of his inventive powers.
In 1826, the plan of the war-steamers which he was to have taken to
Greece was explained to Lord Exmouth--no slight authority on naval
matters. "Why, it's not only the Turkish fleet," exclaimed the veteran,
"but all the navies in the world, that you will be able to conquer with
such craft as these."

CHAPTER XXVI

THE EARL OF DUNDONALD'S CLAIM FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE ORDER OF THE
BATH.--HIS GOOD SERVICE PENSION.--THE INVESTIGATION OF HIS SECRET
WAR-PLANS.--HIS PAMPHLET ON NAVAL AFFAIRS.--HIS INSTALLATION AS A
G.O.B.--HIS CANDIDATURE FOR ELECTION AS A SCOTCH REPRESENTATIVE
PEER.--THE QUEEN'S PERMISSION TO HIS WEARING THE BRAZILIAN ORDER OF THE
"CRUZIERO."--HIS APPOINTMENT AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE NORTH AMERICAN
AND WEST INDIAN STATION.

[1839-1848.]

The restoration of his naval rank to the Earl of Dundonald in 1832, was
slowly followed by other acts reversing the injustice of previous years
by which a large portion of his life had been embittered.

"Your lordship and the Admiralty," he wrote to Lord Minto, then at the
head of naval affairs, on the 30th of March, 1839, "may have been
surprised that I have never solicited any appointment since my
rein