96 LORD GAMBIER 



majority of the profession did not or would not appreciate 

 the solicitude Lord Gamhier had for the spiritual welfare 

 of those " who go down to the sea in ships and occupy 

 their business in the great waters." And experience tells 

 us, 'tis a much easier task to dispel the doubts and 

 establish the faith of a parish tea-party, than it is to 

 evangelize a ship's company. 



Nevertheless it must be admitted, either from this 

 cause or some other, a great improvement has taken place 

 in the general conduct of the men, both on shore and on 

 board; and we have had undeniable proofs in the Crimea 

 and in India, that a high religious feeling is not incom- 

 patible with personal bravery, any more than clerical in- 

 struction is with scientific acquirements in the art of war, 

 although it may not require such religious fervour in these 

 times, as animated the soldiers of the commonwealth, to 

 make a vigorous and murderous onslaught successful. 



This, then, was the ground of dispute ; and those two 

 gallant officers held different and opposite opinions upon 

 a practice that one had sanctioned and the other con- 

 demned. 



The report then current Avas, that the rear-admiral, 

 being very much annoyed at the instructions brought on 

 board his ship by Lord Gaml^ier's flag-lieutenant, that the 

 command of the squadron destined for the destruction of 

 the enemy was to be given to Lord Cochrane, an officer 

 of a lower grade than himself, who had been sent out from 

 England for that purpose, made use of an expletive not 

 usually intended for polite ears, and attaching to it a 

 prcenomen generally ascribed to over, or self-righteous 

 people. 



