“I have great pleasure in acknowledging your letter, and the
honour which the Committee have done me;—I shall endeavour to deserve their confidence
by every means in my power. My first wish is to go up into the Levant in person, where I
might be enabled to advance, if not the cause, at least the means of obtaining
information which the Committee might be desirous of acting upon; and my former
residence in the country, my familiarity with the Italian language (which is there
universally spoken, or at least to the same extent as French in the more polished parts
of the continent), and my not total ignorance of the
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“Our last information of Captain Blaquiere is from Ancona, where he embarked with a fair wind for Corfu, on the 15th ult.; he is now probably at his destination. My last letter from him personally was dated Rome; he had been refused a passport through the Neapolitan territory, and returned to strike up through Romagna for Ancoria;—little time, however, appears to have been lost by the delay.
“The principal material wanted by the Greeks appears to be, first, a park of field artillery—light, and fit for mountain-service; secondly, gunpowder; thirdly, hospital or medical stores. The readiest mode of transmission is, I hear, by Idra, addressed to Mr. Negri, the minister. I meant to send up a certain quantity of the two latter—no great deal—but enough for an individual to show his good wishes for the Greek success,—but am pausing, because, in case I should go myself, I can take them with me. I do not want to limit my own contribution to this merely, but more especially, if I can get to Greece myself, I should devote whatever resources I can muster of my own, to advancing the great object. I am in correspondence with Signor Nicolas Karrellas (well known to Mr. Hobhouse), who is now at Pisa; but his latest advice merely stated, that the Greeks are at present employed, in organizing their internal government, and the details of its administration; this would seem to indicate security, but the war is however far from being terminated.
“The Turks are an obstinate race, as all former wars have
proved them, and will return to the charge for years to come, even if beaten, as it is
to be hoped they will be. But in no case can the labours of the Committee be said to be
in vain, for in the event even of the Greeks being subdued, and dispersed, the funds
which could be employed in succouring and gathering together the remnant, so as to
alleviate in part their distresses, and enable them to find or make a country (as so
many
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“With regard to the formation of a brigade (which Mr. Hobhouse hints at in his short letter of this day’s receipt, enclosing the one to which I have the honour to reply), I would presume to suggest—but merely as an opinion, resulting rather from the melancholy experience of the brigades embarked in the Columbian service than from any experiment yet fairly tried in Greece—that the attention of the Committee had better perhaps be directed to the employment of officers of experience than the enrolment of raw British soldiers, which latter are apt to be unruly, and not very serviceable, in irregular warfare, by the side of foreigners. A small body of good officers, especially artillery; an engineer, with quantity (such as the Committee might deem requisite) of stores, of the nature which Captain Blaquiere indicated as most wanted, would, I should conceive, be a highly useful accession. Officers, also, who had previously served in the Mediterranean would be preferable, as some knowledge of Italian is nearly indispensable.
“It would also be as well that they should be aware, that they are not going ‘to rough it on a beefsteak and bottle of port,’—but that Greece—never, of late years, very plentifully stocked for a mess—is at present the country of all kinds of privations. This remark may seem superfluous; but I have been led to it, by observing that many foreign officers, Italian, French, and even Germans (but fewer of the latter), have returned in disgust, imagining either that they were going up to make a party of pleasure, or to enjoy full pay, speedy promotion and a very moderate degree of duty. They complain, too, of having been ill received by the Government or inhabitants; but numbers of these complainants were mere adventurers, attracted by a hope of command and plunder, and disappointed of both. Those Greeks I have seen strenuously deny the charge of inhospitality, and declare that they shared their pittance to the last crum with their foreign volunteers.
“I need not suggest to the Committee the very great
advantage which must accrue to Great Britain from the success of the Greeks, and their
probable commercial relations with England in consequence;
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“I beg that the Committee will command me in any and every way. If I am favoured with any instructions, I shall endeavour to obey them to the letter, whether conformable to my own private opinion or not. I beg leave to add, personally, my respect for the gentleman whom I have the honour of addressing,
“P.S. The best refutation of Gell will be the active exertions of the Committee;—I am too warm a controversialist; and I suspect that if Mr. Hobhouse have taken him in hand, there will be little occasion for me to ‘encumber him with help.’ If I go up into the country, I will endeavour to transmit as accurate and impartial an account as circumstances will permit.
“I shall write to Mr. Karrellas. I expect intelligence from Captain Blaquiere, who has promised me some early intimation from the seat of the Provisional Government. I gave him a letter of introduction to Lord Sydney Osborne, at Corfu; but as Lord S. is in the government service, of course his reception could only be a cautious one.”
