The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 279 pages of information about The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth.

The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 279 pages of information about The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth.
swept the ramparts like a whirlwind, followed with the panic stricken enemy through the gate of an inner fortification, and carried the fortress, and with it the island, without the loss of a man, and even without a wound.  He was second in command of the naval force at the capture of Java, and directed the landing of the troops, which, by his promptitude, and wise arrangements, was effected without loss.  He twice received the thanks of the Supreme Government of India for important, political services.  From his sovereign he received the rank of K.C.B.; from the Admiralty, a naval medal; from Oxford, the honorary degree of D.C.L., and from the East India Company, a service of plate.  He represented Glamorganshire in Parliament for twelve years; was captain of the Royal Sovereign yacht, and colonel of marines.  He died suddenly, August 24th, 1836.  It may encourage young officers whose promotion is slow, to learn that the brilliant successes of Sir Christopher Cole were preceded by thirteen years active service as midshipman and mate, and seven years as lieutenant.

CHAPTER III.

THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.

Rich only in reputation, and with an increasing family, Captain Pellew felt the pressure of narrow circumstances; and with the mistake so often made by naval officers, he thought to improve them by farming.  There was a moderately large farm, Treverry, within a few miles of Falmouth, which had descended in the family to his elder brother, and he proposed to cultivate this upon the principle of sharing the profits.  His brother, though not very sanguine on the result, readily agreed to the experiment; and when in no long time Captain Pellew complained that he found it impossible to keep the accounts so as to make a fair division, he was allowed to rent it on his own terms.  It will not occasion surprise that the undertaking was anything but profitable.

Indeed, farming is almost always a very losing employment to a gentleman, and especially to a sailor.  Nothing can be more incorrect than the conclusion that education ought to excel, because ignorance succeeds; for success depends upon attention to a multiplicity of petty details, which inexperience will be likely to overlook, and talent may find it irksome to attend to.  If the small farmer, who cultivates his little ground by the labour of his own family, and the more considerable one, who devotes to his estate skill, capital, and undivided attention, so often fail, what can he hope for, who depends upon labourers whose mistakes he cannot correct, and whose indolence, and even dishonesty, he is scarcely able to check?  The failure of crops which depend for their success upon the knowledge and activity of the principal; and the necessary and constant outlay, which is great beyond the conception of a novice, may ruin even him who farms his own land, when the care of it is only a secondary object; and this it will generally be to a professional man.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.