"Cephalonia, November 30. 1823.
"The affair of the Loan, the expectations so long and vainly indulged
of the arrival of the Greek fleet, and the danger to which
Missolonghi is still exposed, have detained me here, and will still
detain me till some of them are removed. But when the money shall be
advanced for the fleet, I will start for the Morea; not knowing,
however, of what use my presence can be in the present state of
things. We have heard some rumours of new dissensions, nay, of the
existence of a civil war. With all my heart I pray that these reports
may be false or exaggerated, for I can imagine no calamity more
serious than this; and I must frankly confess, that unless union and
order are established, all hopes of a Loan will be vain; and all the
assistance which the Greeks could expect from abroad--an assistance
neither trifling nor worthless--will be suspended or destroyed; and,
what is worse, the great powers of Europe, of whom no one was an
enemy to Greece, but seemed to favour her establishment of an
independent power, will be persuaded that the Greeks are unable to
govern themselves, and will, perhaps, themselves undertake to settle
your disorders in such a way as to blast the brightest hopes of
yourselves and of your friends.
"Allow me to add, once for all,--I desire the well-being of Greece,
and nothing else; I will do all I can to secure it; but I cannot
consent, I never will consent, that the English public, or English
individuals, should be deceived as to the real state of Greek
affairs. The rest, Gentlemen, depends on you. You have fought
gloriously;--act honourably towards your fellow-citizens and the
world, and it will then no more be said, as has been repeated for two
thousand years with the Roman historians, that Philopoemen was the
last of the Grecians. Let not calumny itself (and it is difficult, I
own, to guard against it in so arduous a struggle,) compare the
patriot Greek, when resting from his labours, to the Turkish pacha,
whom his victories have exterminated.
"I pray you to accept these my sentiments as a sincere proof of my
attachment to your real interests, and to believe that I am and
always shall be
"Yours," &c.