e reputation and feelings of his
officers, or more ready to suggest a plea in excuse for their errors. He
had an extreme dislike to bring any of them to a court-martial, and
would never resort to this painful extremity where it could with any
propriety be avoided. Very few cases occurred under his command; so few,
indeed, that it has even been asserted that not one took place. This it
would be too much to affirm. It may be quite true that he was in no case
the accuser: it certainly was his practice to prevent extreme measures
wherever he could support the authority of the superior without
subjecting the accused to the consequences of a public trial; and the
recommendation of the commander-in chief would generally be conclusive.
Still, a serious case would sometimes occur, in which it was impossible
to prevent the law from taking its course. At a particular period of his
command, and on a very important and critical occasion, one of his
captains placed him in a position of much embarrassment, by entering
without authority into a treaty with the Queen and Court of Murat. The
commander-in-chief arrived very soon after, and annulled the treaty; but
he spared the officer the pain of his position by charging him with the
most prominent and honourable service connected with his own
arrangements. In his despatches to the Admiralty on the occasion, he
touches very lightly on the error, but enforces every exculpatory plea.
Of the unauthorized arrangement with the enemy, he merely writes, "which
I should have been glad he had never entered upon;" yet he adds, "from
my conviction that he had been actuated by the purest motives, and
placed in a peculiar situation. I thought it right, in acknowledging his
letter, to express my approbation of his general proceedings; and in
consideration of all the circumstances connected with his engagements. I
gave him my sanction to," &c. He then proceeds to describe the
flattering trust he had committed to this officer.

But kind as he was, he endured no relaxation of discipline, and never
forgot what was due to his rank and station. His manners were formed by
his character; and whenever an individual with commanding talents
directs them to worthy objects, combining a proper sense of what he owes
to himself with a just consideration for others, he will always, and
without an effort, appear dignified and amiable: far more so in his
unaffected simplicity, than the man who only assumes the character o