“I confirm the above*; it is certainly my opinion that Mr. Millingen is entitled to the same salary with Mr. Tindall, and his service is likely to be harder.
“I have written to you (as to Mr. Hobhouse for your perusal) by various opportunities, mostly private; also by the Deputies, and by Mr. Hamilton Browne.
“The public success of the Greeks has been considerable—Corinth taken, Missolonghi nearly safe, and some ships in the Archipelago taken from the Turks; but there is not only dissension in the Morea, but civil war, by the latest accounts†; to what extent we do not yet know, but hope trifling.
“For six weeks I have been expecting the fleet, which has not arrived, though I have, at the request of the Greek Government, advanced—that is, prepared, and have in hand two hundred thousand piastres
* He here alludes to a letter, forwarded with his own, from Mr. Millingen, who was about to join, in his medical capacity, the Suliotes, near Patras, and requested of the Committee an increase of pay. This gentleman, having mentioned in his letter “that the retreat of the Turks from before Missolonghi had rendered unnecessary the appearance of the Greek fleet,” Lord Byron, in a note on this passage, says, “By the special providence of the Deity, the Mussulmans were seized with a panic, and fled; but no thanks to the fleet, which ought to have been here months ago, and has no excuse to the contrary, lately—at least since I had the money ready to pay.” On another passage, in which Mr. Millingen complains that his hope of any remuneration from the Greeks has “turned out perfectly chimerical,” Lord Byron remarks, in a note, “and will do so, till they obtain a Loan. They have not a rap, nor credit (in the islands) to raise one. A medical man may succeed better than others; but all these penniless officers had better have staid at home. Much money may not be required, but some must.” |
† The Legislative and Executive bodies having been for some time at variance, the latter had at length resorted to violence, and some skirmishes had already token place between the factions. |
| A. D. 1823. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 693 |
