"Genoa, May 12. 1823
"Sir,
"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 Romaic, would afford me some advantages of
experience. To this project the only objection is of a domestic
nature, and I shall try to get over it;--if I fail in this, I must do
what I can where I am; but it will be always a source of regret to
me, to think that I might perhaps have done more for the cause on the
spot.
"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
Ancona:--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 organising 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 emigrants of other nations have been compelled to
do), would 'bless both those who gave and those who took,' as the
bounty both of justice and of mercy.
"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 beef-steak 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;
because I feel persuaded that the first object of the Committee is
their EMANCIPATION, without any interested views. But the
consideration might weigh with the English people in general, in
their present passion for every kind of speculation,--they need not
cross the American seas, for one much better worth their while, and
nearer home. The resources even for an emigrant population, in the
Greek islands alone, are rarely to be paralleled; and the cheapness
of every kind of, not _only necessary_, but _luxury_, (that is to
say, _luxury_ of _nature_,) fruits, wine, oil, &c. in a state of
peace, are far beyond those of the Cape, and Van Dieman's Land, and
the other places of refuge, which the English people are searching
for over the waters.
"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,
"And am, Sir, your obliged, &c.
"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."