Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron
Sir Charles James Napier to Edward John Trelawny, 20 June 1826
Cephalonia, 20th June, 1826.
Many thanks for your note dated 12th, which I have only this
morning received. I hear Hastings has
reached Napoli, which I hope will help Gordon to make arrangements. I hear that Ibrahim Pacha has taken and fortified
Sparta.—If he can occupy Leondari and Sparta with strong detachments, he
may render the execution of my plan difficult; but if he divides his forces
with such numerous garrisons, the question arises, whether or not he can ![]()
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keep the field? However, he would greatly embarrass all
operations by fortifying Leondari and Mistra (Sparta). These posts are, at this
moment, the real points of “strategy” for the defence of Napoli;
and his seizure of them denotes a good military head. Were I in
Gordon’s place, supposing him master of his
movements, I would make them keep their vigils in
Sparta. That garrison should have no sinecure; but my fear is, that at Napoli
they are all in such a state of confusion and ignorance, that he will not be
able to make any movements at all. However, all I can say is, that the loss of
any strong post demands that the Greeks should act upon the same principle
against those posts, that would have been acted upon against the original
positions of the Turks. The general principle remains the same, but is applied
to a different locality. For example (take your map).—When Mistra is held
by the Turks, the Greeks can no longer throw themselves on the line of
communication between Tripolitza and Navarin. They must then change their
object, and throw themselves on the line between Mistra; and from wherever the
garrison draws its provisions, Mistra becomes the ![]()
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object
instead of Tripolitza. How this is to be accomplished, God knows. The war is,
in this instance, on too small a scale to judge by a map, as I could in a large
movement acting against Tripolitza; but military talent, in a country like the
Morea, finds ways to do what it wants. The grand secret in mountain countries is to isolate the enemy,
which obliges him to abandon his strong position, and
attack you in yours. It is not to one so well acquainted
with the country as you are, that I need say what it would be to attack a good
position in Greece, even without fortifications, much more with them.
It is in the art of forcing an enemy to fight you on your own
chosen ground, that military genius consists, and few things are more difficult
in practice. It unites so much theory and so much practice with great
fearlessness of character, no timid man will throw himself into those decisive
positions which produce great results.
Yours truly,
Thomas Gordon of Cairness (1788-1841)
Educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford; he was a member of the London Greek
Committee and major-general in the Greek Army; he published
History of
the Greek Revolution (1832).
Frank Abney Hastings (1794-1828)
After service in the British Navy where he fought at Trafalgar he was a notably
successful commander of the Greek Navy during the Revolution.
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt (1789-1848)
The son of Muhammad Ali of Egypt; he was the Egyptian general who led Turkish forces
against the Wahabis in Arabia (1816-19) and the revolutionaries in Greece (1825-28).
Sir Charles James Napier (1782-1853)
British officer who after a career in the Napoleonic wars knew Byron while he was the
military resident in Cephalonia.
Edward John Trelawny (1792-1881)
Writer, adventurer, and friend of Shelley and Byron; author of the fictionalized memoirs,
Adventures of a Younger Son (1831) and
Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron (1858).
