“My voyage to Greece will depend upon the Greek Committee (in England) partly, and partly on the instructions which some persons now in Greece on a private mission may be pleased to send me. I am a member, lately elected, of the said Committee; and my object in going up would be to do any little good in my power;—but as there are some pros and cons on the subject, with regard to how far the intervention of strangers may be advisable, I know no more than I tell you: but we shall probably hear something soon from England and Greece, which may be more decisive.
“With regard to the late person (Lord Londonderry), whom you hear that I have attacked, I can only say
that a bad minister’s memory is as much an object of investigation as his conduct
while alive,—for his measures do not die with him like a private individual’s
notions. He is matter of history; and, wherever I find a tyrant
or a villain, I will mark 662 NOTICES OF THE A. D. 1823. him. I
attacked him no more than I had been wont to do. As to the Liberal,—it was a publication set up for the advantage of a
persecuted author and a very worthy man. But it was foolish in me to engage in it; and
so it has turned out—for I have hurt myself without doing much good to those for whose
benefit it was intended.
“Do not defend me—it will never do—you will only make yourself enemies.
“Mine are neither to be diminished nor softened, but they may be overthrown; and there are events which may occur, less improbable than those which have happened in our time, that may reverse the present state of things—nous verrons. * * * * *
“I send you this gossip that you may laugh at it, which is all it is good for, if it is even good for so much. I shall be delighted to see you again; but it will be melancholy, should it be only for a moment.
