From the Honourable Colonel
Stanhope you will have heard of the praiseworthy desire, and the
good hope which we entertain, of introducing and spreading civilization among
this people, by means of the Sacred Scriptures, if the government of liberated
Greece should be confided to those hands which all good men expect, and if
Lord Byron should preserve that
influence which his generosity has merited for him. I hope to be able to
co-operate in some measure in this excellent work, and shall certainly do it
with pleasure. I am perfectly persuaded that there is no better means of
eradicating the vile superstitions and the barbarity which blind this people
(without precipitating them into all the evils which spring from the contrary
excess, that is from atheism), than the propagation of the light of the Gospel.
But before this can produce any sensible effect, there are many dangers to
shun, and many obstacles to overcome, which in a great degree may be
accomplished by other measures. The direction of a Journal, entrusted to
persons of good intentions and good understanding, appears to me the most
efficacious. A gazette has been
commenced in Greek, and shortly another will follow in Italian. For the Greek, principally, there
is a great
| APPENDIX | 353 |
You will have heard something about our adventures; mine particularly were somewhat romantic. I was five days a prisoner of Yusuff Pasha, with no small danger at first, since our little bark appeared to the frightened imagination of the Turks to be a brûlota; then, well treated, and at last liberated without any damage.
Present, I pray you, my respects to your lady, and believe me to be always,
