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CHAPTER XI.

CONDUCT OF COLONEL STANHOPE, AND OF THE GREEK COMMITTEE TO THE GREEKS.

Important consequences of Colonel Stanhope’s proceedings—His attacks on me—The Greek Committee invited to investigate them—He engages in opposition to the Greek government—Goes to Greece to regenerate it—His qualities for a legislator—Greece to be regenerated on Mr. Bentham’s principles, and by force—Engages individuals to write against the British government, and implicates the committee and the Greeks in the same hostility—Does what he can to involve them in disputes with the Holy Alliance—His favourable opinion of Mavrocordato—Attachment of the Greeks to the prince—Change in Colonel Stanhope’s opinion—Source of the change—His abuse of the prince—The prince opposes his whims—Former situation of Odysseus—An object of suspicion to the government—Is favored by Capt. Trelawney and Col. Stanhope—Sudden change in the opinion of the latter—Odysseus flatters Colonel Stanhope—The Colonel wants to put power into his hands—Intrigues to break up the brigade—Suspicions entertained of Colonel Stanhope—Intercepted letter of Sophianopulo—Captain Trelawney’s recommendation to break up the brigade—Colonel Stanhope’s order for this purpose—In what respect opposed to the wishes of Lord Byron—Letter of Mavrocordato—Colonel Stanhope sets up a new race of Pachas—Colonel Stanhope’s right to break up the brigade questioned—Formed by Lord Byron, and placed by him and the committee under Prince Mavrocordato—My instructions on this head—Insulting language of Colonel Stanhope—Source of our authority for being in Greece—Conclusion that Colonel Stanhope had no right to break up the brigade—His improper mode of transmitting orders for this purpose

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COLONEL STANHOPE’S PROCEEDINGS.

—Cessation of my services under the Greek Committee—Charge against Colonel Stanhope of injuring the Greek cause, and insulting the memory of Lord Byron proved—His injudicious conduct as to the war—Anger of the Greeks—His encouragement to adventurers—In what manner the Committee are to blame for approving Colonel Stanhope’s proceedings—Vote of approbation—Conclusion.

In the last chapter I shewed what an immeasurable distance there was between Lord Byron and the soldier who has censured him. That soldier was, however, the agent of the Greek committee, and could scarcely differ from, or ill-treat the most enlightened and zealous friend of the Greek cause without injuring that cause; and that he did injure it is what I mean now to shew. It is impossible that the people of England, who so generously subscribed their money to aid the Greeks, can see with indifference the manner in which that has been employed. It is impossible, also, that this country, which, by supplying the Greeks with money as a loan, has become deeply interested in their success, can see with indifference any man or set of men amongst ourselves pursuing a series of measures, calculated in my apprehension to ruin Greece. I am personally concerned in this matter, for it was through me and through the brigade I commanded, that Colonel Stanhope both insulted the memory of Lord Byron, and injured the cause of the Greeks. It was not enough, also, for this doughty Colonel to impugn the Greeks

HIS ATTACKS ON ME.

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and to regulate their government, to censure Lord Byron and usurp his power, but he must even, to his other attacks add an attack on me, humble as I am. In his work on Greece, I am accused, at page 174, of thwarting the Colonel’s benevolent views as to printing prospectuses; at page 215, I am accused of “not satisfactorily accounting for certain sums of money placed in my hands by the Greek committee;” at page 224, I am accused of “swaggering and blustering;” and at page 184, I am described as going about with my eyes and hands up, crying, “Horrible, horrible; a conspiracy is formed against the government, and an Englishman, Leicester Stanhope, is at the head of it.”

I quote these passages to shew that I am not the original assailant; I do not, however, mean here to enter into any vindication of my conduct; if my employers, the Greek committee, are not satisfied with it, and with the account I have given them of the money intrusted to me, they have redress in their power. I have asked for investigation, I have supplicated them to meet me. Why have they not done it? Mr. Bowring can probably answer; but neither he nor any other person can say that I have avoided investigation, or refused to enter into the fullest explanation of my proceedings. Colonel Stanhope is a member of that committee; why has he not procured a public investigation, and caused a public exposure? Why has he, in the insidious passage quoted above, and

268

ACCUSATIONS REFUTED.

published to the world, laboured to cast a stigma on the reputation of a man who has nothing but his labour and his character by which to gain his subsistence? If I were like Colonel Stanhope, a pensioner on the country, I might be regardless of public opinion; but I know that if I lose my character, I must starve, and, therefore, I have called for investigation. Is it not cruel in Colonel Stanhope, thus to accuse me, while he is one of that body which refuses me all means of vindication? But I repeat, I do not mean here to defend my conduct, though I have thought it right to refer to Colonel Stanhope’s public accusation, and to say I have called on the Greek committee to meet me and investigate the whole business.

The second accusation, of blustering and swaggering, is one of Colonel Stanhope’s usual vague assertions. It is precisely the same accusation he makes against Lord Byron; so that I only find myself honoured by his attributing to me a trait of character, common also to that great man. Lord Byron and myself were, I suppose, among the few persons who had the skill to see through the charlatanism of Colonel Stanhope’s political regulations and pretensions, the good sense not to natter his egregious vanity, and the courage to resist his usurpations. Borrowing a feature, probably, from his own character, he has on this account attributed bullying to one and blustering to the other. He will find, however, as he has already

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found, that I possess too little of either of these qualities to be frightened by him.

As to his accusation that I said there was a conspiracy, and he was at the head of it, I have since, unfortunately, seen no reason to alter the opinion I then had formed; on the contrary, I here repeat what I then said, and shall state the grounds of my opinion. I trust I shall shew that there was such a conspiracy, that it was conducted by intrigues, that Colonel Stanhope lent his aid to it, and that its object was to destroy the influence of Prince Mavrocordato; I trust I shall also shew that Colonel Stanhope, by his conduct in this whole business, did incalculable injury to the Greek cause. If I shew this, the public, or at least all that portion of it interested in the success of the Greeks, and who have subscribed to assist them, will call on the Greek committee to account for that vote of approbation with which they hailed the return of Colonel Stanhope to England. To trace the whole business, I must go a little into detail, and begin at a period antecedent to my arrival in Greece.

In the first place, it is quite evident that Colonel Stanhope went out to Greece with the idea of regenerating that country. He almost says as much. “Money is what I want here; a little from the committee, a little from the Quakers, schools, presses, posts, hospitals; all will then flourish;

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COLONEL STANHOPE A REFORMER.

elementary books on education, war, agriculture, &c., newspapers, useful pamphlets, Greek bibles, the monthly repository, medical stores, blankets, bandages, matter for the press, and two schoolmasters, to teach the Lancasterian system, are all much required. I think, with such means, placed in judicious hands, this nation might be regenerated.” The italics are Colonel Stanhope’s own, so that he meant to regenerate Greece by means of two school-masters, and a little money from the Quakers.

Colonel Stanhope carried in his head plans for organizing the army, regulating the government, establishing schools, setting up newspapers, forming utilitarian societies, running mails, instructing the people, reforming the rulers, changing the religion, framing codes of law, regulating judicial proceedings, and in short, for doing every thing. He had a constitution ready cut and dried; and he set about all these mighty projects without any of that previous acquaintance with the Greeks which one might expect would at least be possessed by any man who proposed to legislate for them. He had indeed been in Hindostan, and had such a correct idea of the mode of treating the Greeks, that he recommended the Greek committee to consult Anglo-Indians, in order to ascertain the best means of treating the Greeks. “In all things connected with Greece,” he says,

WISHES BENTHAMISM ESTABLISHED.

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“consult those Anglo-Indians, who understand the character of Asiatic nations. It is thus that I find myself quite at home in Greece.” What knowledge the committee could obtain from these it is difficult to guess, except a knowledge of the means practised so successfully in Hindostan, of reducing nations to slavery, under the guise of being their friends and protectors.

But mere regeneration was not enough for Colonel Stanhope, it was to be regeneration according to Mr. Bentham’s principles. His doctrines were recommended to the Greeks on every occasion; he is called “the first jurist of the age,” “the most enlightened man of the most enlightened period of the world,” and his books and his writings are pointed out to the Greeks as the guides of life and the sanctuaries of wisdom. I know nothing of Mr. Bentham’s principles, and can therefore say nothing of them; but I do know that they have never yet been reduced to practice. However just they may be abstractedly, they never can be fit for the adoption of any people, (unless they are to be governed by the will of Mr. Bentham instead of their own will,) till they know and appreciate them. It is tyranny to impose any code of laws, however admirable in themselves, on any country. Mr. Bentham’s principles are not known and appreciated by the Greeks, and therefore are not proper for their immediate adoption.

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COL. STANHOPE AN IMPROPER AGENT.

Never was there a visionary, therefore, less fit to legislate for such a rude country as Greece than Colonel Stanhope, loaded and primed with the legislative tenets of Mr. Bentham, and ready to enforce them on the most approved Hindostanee method. This single circumstance would, in every rational man’s estimation, have been quite enough to induce the Greek committee, which had nothing whatever to do with reforming Greece, and did not require a resident there, such as the East India Company maintains at the courts of its tributary sovereigns, to pause before they sent such a man as their representative. It is, however, to be apprehended, that their own plans too much resembled those of Colonel Stanhope. In addition, also, to his being a visionary and a theorist, he was a soldier—a man bred up in habits of severe command and rigid obedience. He was a sort of Mussulman legist, ready to thrust freedom down the throats of the common herd of mankind at the point of the sword, and ready both to expound and enforce his theories. It was scarcely possible to have selected a worse description of person to intrust with power. After he had proved by his conduct what were the objects he had in view, the influential and managing members of the Greek committee, being either visionaries like himself, or ignorant of the most common characteristics of human nature, and in either case unfit

STANHOPE ATTACKS THE IONIAN GOVERNMENT.

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for that high office they had taken on themselves, continued to repose confidence in him, and even honoured him with their approbation.

As proofs of his unfitness, which must have been known to the Greek committee, for I take them from his own letters addressed to the honorary secretary of that committee for its information, I shall quote a few specimens of his conduct. At Milan, he engages a Monsieur M. to write a short historical pamphlet on the conduct of our government in the Ionian islands. “I have recommended him,” he says, “to select a number of strong facts, and to state them in so soft a tone that even the sensitive nerves of delicate politicians may not shrink from their perusal. This pamphlet will be sent over to the Greek committee for dispersion in the newspapers,” p. 18. “All public bodies, and eminent men I have conversed with, agree in the expediency of changing the character of the government of the Ionian Islands”, p. 23. From Ancona, he tells Mr. Bowring, that a Greek settled there is to send him (of course for the Greek committee) all the acts of mal-administration in the Ionian Islands. Here, then, before we have reached the twentieth page in Colonel Stanhope’s book, before he has arrived at Greece, we find him engaging in intrigues against the government of the Ionian Islands, and implicating the Greek committee in the same sort of conduct. They were to

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HIS HOSTILITY TO THE HOLY ALLIANCE.

be the recipients of the calumnies which could be collected by Mons. M. and the abettors of Colonel Stanhope, in spreading them over the country. Thus did he and the committee do what was in their power to put the Greek cause in hostility with the British government, and that government kindly disposed towards the Greeks, and more than any other capable of benefiting or injuring them.

When Colonel Stanhope was so little inclined to be prudent towards his own government, which had much power to hurt him, though he probably relied on his family influence for protection, it cannot be expected that he should be more kindly disposed towards Austria, Russia, and the Holy Alliance. Every page of his book shews his hostility to these governments. To that hostility no man can object, but it was acting in a most unfriendly manner to the Greeks, to send, as the representative of the English committee, a man who was sure to involve them in disputes with these powers; who was prompt to act on those feelings of hatred towards the Holy Alliance, which, however justifiable in an Englishman, are quite unsuitable to the Greeks. After seeing such proofs of Colonel Stanhope’s hostility to the Austrians, as his book contains, and when we know that the press at Missolonghi was under his control, we are at no loss to account for the origin of

HIS ATTACHMENT TO REVOLUTION.

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those attacks, both on the Ionian government, and on the government of Austria, which he so warmly supported, and which gave so much chagrin and uneasiness both to Lord Byron and Prince Mavrocordato.

At page 63, we find him recommending the committee to send authors out to Greece; “men,” he says, “who could speak French, German, or Italian, and who could write strong articles in plain language, would do incalculable good here.” The press was not, therefore, for the Greeks to speak their sentiments to one another, but for foreigners to endoctrine them with those strong articles in plain language, which have stirred up so much strife in some parts of Europe. At page 89, he recommends “the committee to send out a few men of political acquirements to write for the public journals.” At another place, they are desired to send out the articles ready written; so that Colonel Stanhope thought every thing might be done by using the political jargon which is common to political declaimers.

These partisan feelings, so conspicuous in Colonel Stanhope’s book, must have been known to the committee before he reached Missolonghi, and yet they appear to have encouraged him in all his wild schemes; but particularly in that wildest of all schemes, setting up a press in Greece, by which all the defeated partisans of revolution, by

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XARTIES IN GREECE.

force and not by knowledge, might abuse all the governments of Europe. The Greek committee and Colonel Stanhope certainly forgot that men of all persuasions and sects were subscribers to their funds; and that the purpose for which they subscribed was to relieve some of the miseries of. the cruel warfare in which the Greeks were engaged, and enable them to resist the Turks. Those subscriptions had no European political object, and it was a desertion of principles for the committee to have any thing in view but merely to assist the Greeks.

With such mighty projects in his head, it was to be expected that Colonel Stanhope would not agree very well with those who had most influence in Greece, and who would like least to be dictated to. The parties in Greece, although every chief had a party of his own, were principally two. A party that sought, by organizing and consolidating civil institutions and civil power, in the manner most suitable to the situation and wants of Greece, to ensure government, and order, and military strength. At the head of this party was and is Prince Mavrocordato. It engages in many intrigues, as every body admits; it would like to make Greece a monarchy and perhaps have a foreign sovereign, who would be obliged to rule through the individuals who are its chiefs. It liked no rival, and of course dreaded that influence which

MAVROCORDATO THE CHIEF OF ONE PARTY.

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might be obtained by any person having money; and it wished to keep the press under control, lest it should be directed contrary to its views. The other party was that of the military chiefs, each of whom wished to obtain power, and have plunder; and, therefore, though they were united in their opposition to the party seeking civil order, they were the rivals and enemies of each other.

Of all the chiefs, however, no one was more generally respected than Mavrocordato. He was the best known in Europe, and the most relied on. To him, in conjunction with that body called the general government, though it had but little power, had Lord Byron united himself. To him, also, as the most efficient executive organ of this government, had the Greek committee consigned the stores intended for the use of the Greeks. By his influence also and his name, more than those of any other individual, was the loan negotiated in England. Unquestionably he was and is the first statesman in Greece, though, from not having any armed hordes at his command, living on plunder, he has not been so much distinguished as a military leader, as some of the other chiefs. If there is one individual in Greece, capable by his knowledge of appreciating the general wants of his countrymen, and by his skill of uniting them under one form of government, that individual is Mavrocordato. He was destitute, however, of money

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ATTACHMENT OF THE GREEKS TO THE PRINCE.

and of troops; and therefore it was that Lord Byron, and also the committee in the first instance, did what they could to strengthen him, and to preserve for him that influence in the councils of his country, which he merits by his abilities and his virtues. The stores which I accompanied to Greece, and all the men, were sent to assist him at Missolonghi, which had no other temptation as a place of residence but its utility as one of the outworks of Greece, and the necessity of defending it. Mavrocordato was there with the best and most patriotic intentions; and in this swamp, to second these intentions, Lord Byron took up his residence.

The general estimation in which the Prince was held, may be known by the following extracts from Colonel Stanhope’s own work:—“The Hydriots and Spezziots, in virtue of a promise formerly made them, wished to settle their families at Napoli di Romania. Colocotroni, it seems, opposed this measure, upon which the islanders refused to act. Mavrocordato was, in consequence, sent to Hydra to conciliate them, and to persuade them to equip their fleet. He succeeded; they set sail, had a naval engagement with the Turks, between Tenedos and Mitylene, and took or burnt five or six vessels” page 20. “The Hydriots and Spezziots are also much attached to Mavrocordato. In short, the whole nation seem to look up to him as their friend”, page 35. “Mavrocordato is a favourite

SOURCE OF STANHOPE’S QUARREL WITH HIM

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with the islands, the people of Western Greece, and the legislative body. He is now president of that body, and is sent round here to settle affairs in this quarter. I find him good-natured, clever, accommodating, and disposed to do good. He has rather an ingenious than a profound mind. He seems at all times disposed to concede and to advance every good measure; and I consider it a great advantage for Greece, that he is now in power at Missolonghi,” page 41—42. At page 55, Mavrocordato is described as the “idol of the people.” Here, then, we have Colonel Stanhope’s own testimony to the high character of Mavrocordato. So esteemed as he was and is, surely he, if any individual in Greece should know what is required for that country, and surely he of all men there deserves confidence. I have already stated, however, on the authority of Lord Byron, that Colonel Stanhope bearded the Prince; and that, conceding and ready to promote every good measure as he was, on Colonel Stanhope’s own shewing, he was obliged to oppose much which the latter did or wanted to do.

Before Colonel Stanhope had been six weeks at Missolonghi, the following scene occurred. It is described by Colonel Stanhope, and therefore he will not object to its authenticity:—“The press is not yet in motion; I will explain to you the cause. When I arrived here I found

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ARROGANT PROCEEDINGS OF THE COLONEL.

that Mavrocordato had brought a press with him, and that Dr. Meyer had undertaken to conduct it. I immediately endeavoured to rouse the several persons concerned to commence the work; but a thousand obstacles were thrown in the way. At last a house was procured and put in order: a prospectus, partly written by Dr. Meyer and partly by myself, was prepared, a list of the members of the three Parliaments, the Primates, Capitani, &c. was made out, and a circular letter ready to forward to them. In short, when I thought that the matter was actually printed, the redacteur declared that the language of the prospectus was not good; that he had received one from the prince that was all excellent; in short, that he would not print the prospectus. Mark well that he is the only printer here. It is necessary to mention to you that, during this most important struggle, the treaty or contract, which I had guaranteed relative to the small loan of £100 for the fleet, had been violated. Instead of seven ships being retained here, only five, and two fire-vessels, remained. The prince’s secretary came to explain the matter to me; but sophistry would not do from one who was slily acting as censor over the press, and attempting to suppress the thoughts of the finest genius of the most enlightened age—the thoughts of the immortal Bentham. I told the secretary that contracts were sacred things, and if they were broken in one

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instance, what security was there for Lord Byron’s loan or the expected English loan. The next morning I met the redacteur at Dr. M.’s, and rated him roughly. I declared that I would set up a press in the Morea, and expose the whole intrigue. I then asked whether it was intended to establish an inquisition in Greece. ‘What,’ said I, ‘will Prince Mavrocordato say to you; he who is the idol of the people, the governor they have forced the executive to adopt, and the president of the representatives of a free people, should he hear that you have acted so basely?’ He shuffled, and agreed to publish what Dr. M. had written, but said that the translation from Bentham was not in good Greek, and could not appear. I gave him another sound rating, and he yielded. Since that time, the prince has called upon me. I told him how infamously the printer had behaved, and repeated all that I had said to him. I told him, further, that no man’s reputation could be safe without a free press; and, as an instance of it, I mentioned that he was accused of wishing to sell the Morea to England, and of aspiring to the throne of Greece. The high and sturdy tone assumed in these two conversations produced the desired result:—the prospectus is printed; and I feel proud that in Greece, as in Hindoostan, I have contributed to the first establishment of a free press.”

From his interview with Colonel Stanhope,

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STANHOPE THANKED FOR CONCILIATION.

Mavrocordato retired silent and humiliated. This foreigner assumed the direction of affairs; rates this man roughly; gives him “another sound rating,” assumes a “high and sturdy tone;” and carries his business through in opposition to that very authority of which he was only to be the auxiliary! This man is described in the vote of thanks of the Greek committee, as “having acted with sound discretion,” and as “having a conciliatory spirit;” and here is evidence of his having set himself up in opposition to the native authorities before he had been two months in Greece.

At this time Mavrocordato depended on the supplies of that committee to maintain himself at Missolonghi, and preserve this important post. Was it generous, or was it prudent in Colonel Stanhope to humiliate the prince in this manner, or to make use of the power which circumstance gave him to enforce a whim of his own? Was it not an evidence, and a strong evidence, that our pretensions to assist the Greeks were only founded on a wish to obtain influence in their country? From that time forward, as might be expected, there was a coolness and opposition between Colonel Stanhope and Mavrocordato. The prince constantly objecting to his violence, and endeavouring, by those arts of intrigue so common among all classes of the Greeks, to check the circulation of writings he had not the power to suppress. On the other

HIS CALUMNY OF MAVROCORDATO.

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hand, Colonel Stanhope knowing these underhand methods, grew constantly more imbittered against Mavrocordato, and accused him of wanting to suppress all discussion, and of desiring no other press but that which should speak his own sentiments. Before one month after this first dispute, Colonel Stanhope describes Mavrocordato, for no other reason that I could ever learn, than because he objected to the violent tirades of the Colonel, “as no friend to liberty in a large sense,” page 63. Before another month elapsed, Mavrocordato was accused of having “ambition, but not the daring or self-confidence required to play the first part in the state. His game, therefore, is to secure the second character, either under the commonwealth or under a king.” And then the Colonel asks, sneeringly, “What can you expect from a Turk or a Greek of Constantinople?” page 100. We are afterwards told, however, that Mavrocordato is a good man. “Greece,” says Colonel Stanhope, at page 147, “is split into factions, which are enrolled into two great parties. The one consists of Mavrocordato, the islands, a large portion of the legislative body, of the Primates, and of the people. The other consists of Ipsilanti, Petrombey, Colocotroni, and the principal part of the soldiery. Odysseus professes neutrality, but leans to the latter party. Mavrocordato is a good man, but cannot go straight. He is, secretly, for a mild monarchy.—A thing as

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SOURCE OF THE CHANGE IN HIS OPINION.

easy to be obtained in Greece as a mild tigerarchy.” Four months later, Mavrocordato is described as one from whom no good could be expected, he having been sent to Greece and patronised by the metropolitan Ignatius, who is a mongrel of Turkish, Russian, and Greek breed, and a pensioner of Russia—page 212. Of both, Colonel Stanhope says, “what can you expect, but that each will play the republican or the slave, as circumstances may require or ambition dictate?”

From these passages, it is plain a complete change had been effected in Colonel Stanhope’s sentiments towards Prince Mavrocordato; and for this change there was no reason whatever, but the discovery made by Colonel Stanhope that the prince was not as great an enthusiast and visionary as himself. He does not, he cannot, alledge one act against him. He does not attribute to him any loss of popularity or power. He does not say that the islanders had ceased to love and respect him. He convicts him of no intrigues, and does not even prove that he was guilty of any follies. The prince still remained at the post he occupied when Stanhope went to Greece, and was engaged in the same pursuits as when he described him as the general favourite, and as ready to engage in every good work. The whole course of the change in the Colonel’s mind is as clear as if it were a stream lying at our feet. He respects Mavrocordato at

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first for his good conduct and great exertions, but he wants to do a number of things in Greece, which, in Mavrocordato’s opinion are not beneficial to Greece. Mavrocordato, unable to resist him without injuring Greece, and unwilling to offend one who has so much in his power, opposes his violent proceedings in an underhand way, and the Colonel’s respect is changed to contempt, and then comes calumny and opposition.

Had the accusations of Colonel Stanhope been only breathed into the ear of the secretary of the Greek committee, however much this might have been lamented, and whatever harm they might have done the Greek cause, they would not have been noticed here; but they are published to the world; and after Colonel Stanhope has been one of the instruments for transferring that portion of the loan into the pockets of the Greeks, which was ever destined to enter them, he puts forth statements calculated to deprive the most capable man in Greece of confidence, and thus by injuring the Greek cause, to take from the Greek government the means of fulfilling its engagements. Had Colonel Stanhope’s opposition been confined to what he printed in the newspapers in Greece, and what he published in his book, I should have left to far abler pens than mine the task of punishing him and defending the Greeks. He has exposed his conduct so completely in his own book that every

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LORD BYRON’S ADVICE

body interested for the Greeks must see a want of wisdom in all his proceedings, and among the enlightened friends to their cause, some will be found to avenge them. But he has done more than print and publish; he broke up the brigade which Lord Byron had formed; he destroyed all the fruits of my exertions at Missolonghi; he did irreparable injury to the Greeks by breaking up that brigade, and this it is which calls on me to expose his conduct. Whatever may have been the results of his proceedings, I honestly believe they were all caused by his having been thwarted in his newspaper views by Lord Byron and Prince Mavrocordato.

Now for the proofs of his improper proceedings. It has been already mentioned, that the Greek government, Prince Mavrocordato, and Lord Byron, were all apprehensive of what would be the conduct of Ulysses, Colocotroni, and the other military leaders, if they had power. It was Lord Byron’s opinion, which he signified to the government, that as small a portion of the loan, and as few of the stores as possible, should be placed at the disposal of these chiefs. Such an opinion was fully justified by their previous character and conduct. Ulysses had been a servant of Ali Pacha, and a captain of an organized band of plunderers. Colocotroni was a mere adventurer, who had been guilty of all sorts of oppression in the Morea, and

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had collected a considerable body of troops, by allowing them to commit almost unheard-of enormities. He even took and plundered some part of the stores belonging to the Greek committee. Since that period, both these chiefs have openly rebelled against the government, and have been defeated. Colocotroni has been deprived of his power, and Ulysses has again taken up his abode in an impregnable, and to strangers inaccessible, pass in the mountains. Thus the event has fully justified the suspicions which the government entertained of these mercenary soldiers, and done more than any language can do to condemn the conduct of those Englishmen who supported them in opposition to that government. It is very natural for military men to admire military virtues. Colonel Stanhope, like other officers, is fond of commanding, or of carrying things with a high hand, and he would probably admire, more than a mere civilian would do, a similar disposition in another person. From some reason of this kind, Colonel Stanhope was much more attached to the military chiefs, particularly to Ulysses, than to the cautious and even wily Mavrocordato. Captain Trelawney, a romantic kind of adventurer, had also been much with Ulysses, and was personally attached to him. He liked the free and energetic character and mode of living of this mountain robber. His communications to Colonel Stanhope

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THE ROBBER CHIEF’S FLATTERY.

may probably have had some influence on the Colonel’s opinions. In addition to this, Ulysses, knowing Colonel Stanhope’s penchant for newspapers, professed to assist him in setting up his press at Athens. From these various causes, Colonel Stanhope was quite smitten with him, and threw all his weight into the scale of this mountain robber, almost the instant he got to Athens.

Only a fortnight after leaving Missolonghi, and after knowing Ulysses or Odysseus, about half that time, he writes of him thus, “I have been constantly with Odysseus. He has a very strong mind, a good heart, and is brave as his sword; he is a doing man; he governs with a strong arm, and is the only man in Greece that can preserve order. He puts, however, complete confidence in the people. He is for a strong government, for constitutional rights, and for vigorous efforts against the enemy. He professes himself of no faction, neither of Ipsilante’s, nor of Colocotroni’s, nor of Mavrocordato’s, neither of the primates, nor of the Capitani, nor of the foreign-king faction. He speaks of them all in the most undisguised manner. He likes good foreigners, is friendly to a small body of foreign troops, and courts instruction. He has established two schools here, and has allowed me to set the press at work. He complains that the press at Missolonghi does not insert articles that do not suit the politics of the editor.” Five days after this Colonel Stanhope writes as follows:

ITS INFLUENCE ON COLONEL STANHOPE.

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“The Chief Odysseus has been a mountain robber, has never bowed in bondage to the Turks, has served under Ali Pacha, has been chosen governor of Eastern Greece, has refused to give up Athens to a weak government, and has lately sympathized with the people, and taken the liberal course in politics. He is a brave soldier, has great power, and promotes public liberty.—Just such a man Greece requires.”

Here is strong and decisive evidence of Colonel Stanhope embracing, with all the warm feelings of a partisan, the party of the mountain robber; and of the man who had refused to give up Athens to a weak government. Odysseus was at that very moment opposed to the party with which Lord Byron was united,—the party of the government and Prince Mavrocordato, (as is evident from Colonel Stanhope’s own shewing) and what is more, the party with which the committee was connected, the party with which the loan had been negotiated, the party to which the artisans, and all the stores, had been sent. For taking this decided part, Colonel Stanhope appears to have had no reason whatever, but that he was flattered by Odysseus. The very language and opinions he puts into the mouth of this chief, were the language and opinions he himself held. “He promotes public liberty; he has allowed me to set the press at work; he has established two schools; he complains of the press at Missolonghi; and, withal, he possesses great power, does this

290

A DEMAND FOR STORES.

mountain robber, and he governs with a strong hand.” It is quite plain that this frank soldier had more cunning than Mavrocordato, and gave into all the Colonel’s whims for the sake of obtaining his support. What respect can a mountain robber, a Captain of Ali Pacha’s, have for a free press; or what can such a man know of the nice safeguards of civil and political liberty? His conduct had undergone no alteration; and, merely by professing the same principles as Colonel Stanhope, he instantly won his confidence. It could not, however, be unknown to Colonel Stanhope at the time, that Odysseus was an object of suspicion to the general government; nor that letters had frequently been intercepted, which had justified these suspicions. While he was cajoling Colonel Stanhope, by pretending to be of no party, and to have a great partiality for the freedom of the press, he was carrying on intrigues with Ipsilanti and Colocotroni, to put an end to the influence of Mavrocodato, and overturn the party of civil order, so that Greece might be delivered up entirely to the strong government of the Capitani, and be placed under their swords.

The first practical result of this new attachment of Colonel Stanhope’s, was a demand on Lord Byron to send powder, guns, shot, and other stores, from Missolonghi to Athens; that is, to take them from the government to which they had been sent, and consign them to Odysseus. When

INTRIGUE AT MISSOLONGHI.

291

Colonel Stanhope wrote, on March the 8th, to Lord Byron, he also suggested that the English mechanics, if they had not departed from Missolonghi, should be sent to Athens, as well as myself, or Mr. Gill, or Mr. Hodges. Thus, as far as depended on Colonel Stanhope, he would at once have weakened, even during Lord Byron’s lifetime, his resources, and the resources of Prince Mavrocordato. As this request was known, both to the Prince and to Odysseus, it had the immediate effect of exciting the hopes and encourageing the intrigues of the latter, and making the former dread the influence of Colonel Stanhope more than ever.

The next result was, that intrigues were set on foot to seduce some of those from our service whom Lord Byron would not send. I do not say that Colonel Stanhope himself engaged in this low dirty business: but I am sure, lending himself to the party of Odysseus gave it a credit at Missolonghi it would not otherwise have acquired, and enabled his partisans to use Stanhope’s name, in a way they would not otherwise have dared to do. Soon after the request for stores arrived, in consequence of the numerous saint and holy days on which the Greeks would on no account work, I procured, through Lord Byron, permission) from the clergy, for the Greeks in the arsenal to work on Sunday, to which generally they had no objection. They were to receive

292

INTERCEPTED LETTER.

more pay for working on that day than on any other. But on stating this circumstance to the workmen, I found there existed among them an unwillingness I had never before perceived. This surprised me, and pursuing the inquiry, into which I was led by some hints, I ascertained that these men had been tampered with by the party at Athens, who had used Colonel Stanhope’s name, and that discontent had in consequence got amongst them. They thought they should be better off at Athens, and wished to leave Missolonghi. Under the sanction of Colonel Stanhope’s example, and tempted by selfishness and ambition, they joined, in their wishes, the party arrayed against Missolonghi, and did what they could to break up the establishment there, and ruin Mavrocordato, for the benefit of Odysseus.

By Colonel Stanhope embracing so openly the party of the latter, he gave an opportunity to the partisans of Odysseus, to represent him as wholly attached to the Athenian Chief. Thus Sophianopulo, one of Odysseus’s friends, writing from Athens to Demetrius Ipsilanti, says, “The English took the part of the Cranidi people in the first instance, only because they were deceived by Mavrocordato, but having been since persuaded that Mavrocordato, and those of Cranidi, instead of seeking the independence of Greece, are endeavouring without the consent of the people, to invite kings and to demand the protection of foreign

SUSPICIONS IT GENERATED.

293

powers, they have quitted the party of Mavrocordato and those of Cranidi, and now panegyrize the conduct of the Tripolitza people, with whom they are desirous of entering into a correspondence, seeing that they desire only a national assembly, union, and a cessation of faction. Mavrocordato had so prejudiced the English against Ulysses, Niketas, and Colocotroni, that they could not listen to their names with pleasure; but the conferences of Col. Stanhope with Ulysses, although very brief, and his acquaintance with Goortho, and other persons of good sentiments, have compelled him to declare that the fall of Mavrocordato , the introduction of D. Ipsilanti into the national government, and the reinforcement of the government with Colliopulo and Goortho, are the only means of securing the independence of Greece, and the consolidation of her laws, by putting a stop to civil war and intestine disturbances,” p. 308. This letter was intercepted by the government and sent to Missolonghi, where it arrived shortly after we had discovered the intrigues set on foot, in Colonel Stanhope’s name, to seduce our people, and shortly after he had made those requisitions which, if complied with, would have put Missolonghi in the power of any body who chose to attack it. These circumstances, which all occurred shortly before Lord Byron’s death, begot an opinion at Missolonghi, that Colonel Stanhope was openly lending himself to

294

STANHOPE IN A CONSPIRACY.

the intrigues of Ulysses—whom he describes in another place as a consummate intriguer, and of course they had a powerful effect on the minds of all the persons, both foreigners and Greeks, at Missolonghi. This was, I believe, one strong motive for Mavrocordato not meeting a congress called by Odysseus, and recommended by Stanhope. Thus, the violent partisan feelings betrayed by Colonel Stanhope had the immediate effect of preventing that meeting, which might have promoted the union of the whole, had it been properly managed.

That Sophianopulo was engaged in a conspiracy to destroy the power of Mavrocordato is admitted. That Colonel Stanhope had fully lent himself to the views of this man, whom his own friends describe as a detestable character, is evident from his recommending, in the passage already quoted, p. 246, two of the very measures which this Sophianopulo wished to have executed, viz., the introduction of D. Ipsilanti and Colliopulo into the government. The opinion that Colonel Stanhope was engaged with Odysseus in his rebellious projects against the government was strengthened, also, by what this letter said of Colonel Stanhope’s opinions, as to Prince Mavrocordato wishing to invite a King, and place the Greeks under the protection of foreign powers, because it was known that Colonel Stanhope, however unjustifiable such opinions were by any circumstances in the conduct of Mavrocordato,

CORRESPONDS WITH MY SUBALTERNS.

295

did entertain them. This intercepted letter, therefore, shewed that Colonel Stanhope had at least made Sophianopulo his confidant, and had entered into his views. So strong was the opinion at Missolonghi, that he had joined the opposing chiefs in all their views against the government, that his own partisans there, for he had partisans, write to him thus: “Considerable pains are taken by some person or persons, to make it appear, that you are supporting a faction in opposition to the government, and this is not a little increased, by a letter written by Mr. Hastings (a friend of Colonel Stanhope’s) to an American gentleman here, of the name of Jarvis, in which he says, “that in spite of all his remonstrances, he is afraid your mind is biassed by a person, named we believe Sophianopulo, whom Hastings states to be one of the most execrable villains that ever existed.” p. 184.*

* This extract is part of a letter from Messrs. Hodges and Gill, two persons under my orders at Missolonghi: it bears no date, but it is mentioned in a letter written by the Colonel from Salona, on April the 18th, and is described as having been just received. The independent and upright-minded Colonel Stanhope, had engaged my subalterns therefore to write to him, and the tenour of their correspondence is somewhat remarkable. This letter begins. “In respect to what has been done since our arrival, as we cannot say what we wish, we will decline saying any thing.” So that Colonel Stanhope did not choose to be informed of what was doing, or of what had been done, by Lord Byron, Count Gamba, or me; no, he had recourse to my subalterns, whom he thus employed and encouraged to transmit reports of the conduct of their superiors. That was the sort of information Stanhope asked and wanted.

296

RECOMMENDATION OF CAPT. TRELAWNEY.

After Colonel Stanhope had been informed of the suspicions excited by his conduct, it might have been expected that he would have taken some steps to remove them. He persevered, however, in giving power to the robber chief, who has since been obliged again to take to the mountains; and, in weakening Mavrocordato and the government, thus he identified his views with the conduct of Odysseus. He had been warned of the consequences, he knew of the suspicions, knew of the imputations which had been made against him, and yet he persevered in breaking up the establishment at Missolonghi. On April the 28th, not ten days after Lord Byron’s death, his friend, and the friend of Odysseus, Captain Trelawney writes to Colonel Stanhope from Missolonghi, thus: “Every one here, I mean the English artificers and brigade, now wish to join Odysseus; or, at least, to leave this hole; I know you will say I have seduced them.” On the 29th he writes, “Every one says, Gamba and all, that neither Byron, nor any one else, has given the committee’s stores to Mavrocordato. I have ascertained, that you are legally and indisputably now in full possession, and full power. Hodges and Gill will not stay here. All the English wish to be off. Do, my dear Sir, take some prompt and decisive steps. I will, if you like, execute them. You know the wants of Eastern Greece. Could you not consign some portion of

ORDER SENT BY STANHOPE.

297

these stores to that part, on condition of the Greek government’s approval? Divide the artillery brigade in two, for it is, in force, two brigades.”

In consequence of such representations seconding his own wishes, Colonel Stanhope wrote from Zante, under date May 18th, to Mr. Hodges, one of those subalterns with whom he had previously been corresponding, desiring him “to deliver over to Captain Trelawney’s charge, who, be it remembered, had no official character whatever, one howitzer and three three-pounders, with cartridges and every thing complete for field service. These guns and this ammunition he will place in the custody of General Odysseus, during the pleasure of the general government of Greece. You will also be pleased to deliver to Captain Trelawney, a spy glass and a map of Greece, for General Odysseus. Unless Mr. Gill’s presence is necessary or useful at Missolonghi, of which he must be the best judge, I wish him to proceed to Athens with Captain Trelawney. He will take such working tools with him as he may consider necessary.” p. 214.

This order broke up the brigade, and completely blighted the fruits of all Lord Byron’s exertions. In consequence of it three long three-pounders, two short three-pounders, mountain guns, and the howitzer complete, were sent to Odysseus, under the charge of Captain Trelawney. This was in fact the decisive measure which this gentleman recommended Colonel Stanhope to order, and

298

NOT APPROVED BY LORD BYRON.

which he volunteered his services to execute. I was at Zante when the order was given, and remonstrated against it, but Colonel Stanhope would not listen to me. My remonstrances he termed swaggering, and my reminding him of Lord Byron’s intentions, and the government orders, he denominated blustering. In his letter to Prince Mavrocordato, dated Zante, December 7th, he describes himself “as deputed to act in concert with Lord Byron, and further his views in favour of Greece,” p. 37. In all his proceedings which fell under my cognizance, he acted in opposition to Lord Byron, and did any thing but promote his views. The very step he took about the brigade and the stores, was directly in opposition to Lord Byron’s views. It was in vain that I represented this to him; that I had received Lord Byron’s, Prince Mavrocordato’s, and the government’s orders, not to allow any stores to be sent away: it was in vain that I represented Lord Byron’s opinion on the necessity of adhering to the general government, (which he had felt so strongly, that he had withdrawn the orders he had once given, as I have already stated, to send some supplies to his old friend Longa, and those supplies were never sent,) it was in vain that I represented to Colonel Stanhope the mischief which might ensue by taking the supplies from under the control of the government and giving them into the hands of the chiefs: Colonel Stanhope would persist, and he sent those

NOT APPROVED OF BY THE GOVERNMENT.

299

supplies to Odysseus, which, for aught I know, may since have been recaptured by the general government.

I had received orders from Lord Byron, at my peril, not to deliver any article whatever, unless the delivery was sanctioned by the general government. Col. Stanhope in his letter does mention the general government, but it is impossible that this government could have given permission to remove these stores, or to place them under the control of Odysseus, whom at that very moment it suspected of hostility. It is very amusing, also, to see with what facility this robber chief is transformed by Colonel Stanhope into General Odysseus. I am persuaded that under no circumstances would the government have sanctioned the plan of strengthening its opponent Odysseus, at the expense of its friend Mavrocordato. At least the measure would never have been adopted without his sanction. About the same period however, on May 22d, Mavrocordato wrote to Mr. Blaquiere, who was then at Zante, objecting in the strongest manner to sending any artillery from Missolonghi, or in any way weakening that important post. He also complains of wanting ammunition, and he says the people will not see the removal of these things from Missolonghi with indifference.

At the time this letter was written Colonel

300

MAVROCORDATO’S SENTIMENTS.

Stanhope was still at Zante, and as it is published in his book, the probabilities are that he was there when it arrived, and that it was communicated to him at the moment.

There is indeed reason to believe that it was written either with a view of its being shewn to him, or of being made public in some way or other; and it casts much too clear a light on the manner in which the friend of Lord Byron and the first statesman of Greece was treated by a few meddling and overbearing captains and colonels, not to have all the publicity possible given to it; I shall insert it, therefore, in the Appendix, under the letter F. A letter containing similar sentiments was also addressed to Count Gamba, and it also will be found in the appendix marked G.

The reader will see by these letters, how completely the above order of Colonel Stanhope was in opposition to the wishes of Prince Mavrocordato, and of the general government of Greece; he will learn, too, how completely the colonel took the arrangement of every thing of this description on his own responsibility; and from Colonel Stanhope’s own book, he may learn how sincerely he despised and condemned that government and people he, and others like him were calling on the British people to subscribe their money to support. Col. Stanhope’s conduct on this occasion may be considered,—as to his right

COLONEL STANHOPE’S POWER QUESTIONED.

301

to do what he did, and as to the expediency of his proceedings. I deny that he had any authority to break up the brigade, but the expediency of his doing so I must leave to others more competent than I am to decide; I may, however, observe, that to make the brigade of artillery effective, it was essential to keep it undivided. A mountain gun or two might have been of great service to Odysseus; but, independent of his being a mere armed chieftain, in opposition to the government, it may well be doubted how far one gun here, and one gun there, taken from under the management of those who were acquainted with this species of force, could tend to the defence of Greece. Distributing the force and the resources of the committee in this manner, was but setting up a new race of Pachas, to lord it for another three centuries over the poor inhabitants of Greece. The government of the sword, or rather in this case of the gun, was, however, the sort of government which, under the name of a strong government, this Anglo-Indian Colonel was particularly desirous of establishing in Greece.

As to Colonel Stanhope’s right to break up the brigade, I may observe that it was very doubtful to me whether Captain Trelawney’s information as to the extent of Colonel Stanhope’s power to dispose of the stores was correct; setting aside the remarkable circumstance of Colonel Stanhope,

302

ORDER OF THE GREEK COMMITTEE

who held an official situation, not knowing whether he had such power or not, and deriving information that he had from a person who was quite unacquainted with all the circumstances of the case. Soon after the arrival of the laboratory establishment in Greece, this was expressly notified to Prince Mavrocordato, by a joint letter of Lord Byron and Colonel Stanhope, in which the prince is expressly required to state forthwith, “in what manner he wishes it to be employed,” p. 107. If this is not placing it under his orders, I scarce know any form of language which would do so. It gave him the control of these stores, unless the letter were meant as a mockery; at least it must be admitted that after such an offer it was not possible, more particularly after Lord Byron’s death, and particularly after the slighting manner Colonel Stanhope had treated the prince, to withdraw the laboratory and stores from under his control without insulting him.

The instructions and orders given to me by Mr. Bowring, the secretary to the Greek committee, (and it will be recollected that the whole of the guns and stores were placed immediately under my care) were, first, to obey the orders and directions of the chief commissioner Lord Byron; secondly, to deliver an account of the stores to Prince Mavrocordato, governor of Western Greece, who would be responsible that the stores should be ex-

SANCTIONED BY LORD BYRON.

303

pended for the service of Greece.” On my arrival, I obeyed these instructions, and from that time till the time of my leaving Greece, the whole expense of carrying on the service was defrayed by Lord Byron. Not one farthing had the committee supplied; not one farthing was at the command of the Greek government; so that, in point of fact, the expense of all our labours, from the time of our arrival in Greece, was defrayed by Lord Byron. This nobleman not only sanctioned my placing myself, agreeably to Mr. Bowring’s instructions, under the orders of Prince Mavrocordato, but his whole conduct shewed that he placed the greatest confidence in the prince. The money which he had laid out he had placed at the disposal of the prince, and unquestionably Colonel Stanhope had no power to take it, or the stores which had been preserved at Lord Byron’s cost, (for they would have fallen a prey to the Suliotes, but for him,) out of the power of Mavrocordato. Even if he had, common decency—common respect for the wishes and intentions of Lord Byron, whose views he said he came to further,—should have taught Colonel Stanhope to have abstained from insulting Lord Byron’s friends, and from diverting the supplies he had given, to a purpose he would have condemned. But while that corpse was yet un-buried, which he afterwards followed to the grave as a mourner, did he insult Lord Byron’s friend,

304

SOURCE OF COLONEL STANHOPE’S POWER.

and endeavour to cast odium on his memory, by tacitly condemning his measures.

At Zante, he asked me who gave me authority to call Mavrocordato a prince. So far did this passively-obedient soldier carry his democratical notions, that he could not bear, I suppose, to hear any man called prince in his presence. He seems to have forgotten that from this very prince did he, as well as I, derive any right we possessed to be in Greece, in any other capacity than as mere travellers; and but for his sanction and the sanction of the government which he chiefly administered, we both deserved to be treated as common buccaneers. The instant Colonel Stanhope rejected that authority, he divested himself of all right to serve Greece. The committee could give him no power whatever in that country, and he was there either as the servant of the government, or he had no right there whatever. He had not even over those warlike stores the common right of property, and could have no business to take them from under the control of that government which alone could legally use them.

Before Colonel Stanhope began to break up the brigade at Missolonghi, he should have recollected that all the commissions and appointments had been issued by the prince; without them, all the foreigners must be considered as mere land-pirates; and removing it from his

OUR RIGHT TO CARRY ARMS.

305

control, was taking from it every recognised and legitimate character. What right had any of us to carry arms but these commissions? The Greek committee could give us none; and if we did not derive it from the Greek government, we might commit murder every time we drew a trigger. Mavrocordato, I have stated, was in the habit of receiving deserters from the corps of some other chiefs, as if they were at open war; and they therefore could not, and would not, recognize his authority. To remove any of the individuals from under his control, without the authority of the Greek government, was either making them deserters or depriving them of all legal claims to act in Greece. I deny, therefore, notwithstanding what Captain Trelawney said, that Colonel Stanhope was competent to break up the brigade, or that he had or could have any right whatever to send away stores from under the control of Prince Mavrocordato to Ulysses. In fact, also, the brigade, stores and all, were wholly under my orders after Lord Byron’s death; I was responsible for them both to the committee and to Prince Mavrocordato. Certainly I had been obliged to leave Missolonghi for the moment, on account of my health, and had given up the charge to others, but I was at Zante, and Colonel Stanhope might have communicated his wishes through me to those who were bound to obey no other person’s

306

STANHOPE’S CONDUCT TO ME.

orders but mine. In spite, however, of his having no right to dispose of any part of the stores, or of the brigade, and in spite of the commandant of both being within his reach, he broke it up by his own orders, and, as I have said, in defiance of my representations.

I was at Zante when Colonel Stanhope gave the orders; and when I found out that he was breaking up the brigade at Missolonghi, and sending away stores, without consulting me, in whose power they had been placed, I thought it was time to take precautions for my own security, under such sort of conduct no man was safe, and under so many masters it was impossible to serve with credit and honour. Colonel Stanhope had even the impudence, I can give it no softer name, to appropriate to other purposes the money I had received from Lord Byron, for carrying on certain parts of the service at Missolonghi; and for which I alone was responsible, having given receipts for it to Laga, Lord Byron’s Secretary. He thus placed it out of my power, either to carry on the service, or even to serve at all under the Greek committee, its numerous agents, and contradictory proceedings, and at once, I shook myself clear of any dependence on so assuming and imprudent a man. I wrote to Prince Mavrocordato, stating all the particulars of Colonel Stanhope’s proceedings, and informing him, that under such

COMPELS ME TO RETURN.

307

circumstances, it would be of no use for me to return to Missolonghi. I professed my willingness to serve Greece, but I was fully resolved not to serve under Colonel Stanhope. The Prince sent me an answer, and requested me to wait at Zante, till the arrival of Colonel Gordon, who was then expected, or till the loan should be remitted, when he hoped it would be in his power to employ me in the immediate service of the Greek government, for the purpose of inspecting and repairing the fortifications. To this proposal I willingly acceded. When at a later period, I saw no probability of this hope being realized, saw no chance of Mr. Gordon’s arrival, saw Colonel Stanhope depart, and leave the Greeks destitute of money; and when his conduct had been such, as to make it impossible to serve with credit, as well as dangerous to serve at all, I was obliged to return to England. Thus was the whole expense, to which the Greek committee had been put in sending me out, as well as the expense of sending out the mechanics, also thrown away. This was Colonel Stanhope’s doing, and for this conduct he received the approbation of the committee.

Colonel Stanhope persisted in sending, by Captain Trelawney, the guns and stores to Odysseus. Since that period, this chief, elated probably by these additional means of warfare

308

CHARGE SUBSTANTIATED.

giving him additional power, has declared open war against the government, and has been obliged, with his admirer, Captain Trelawney, to take refuge in the mountains. Every particle of force he acquired by reason of the guns and stores so sent, was so much added to the enemies of that government Colonel Stanhope was sent to assist; and for this also he has received the approbation of the Greek committee.

I trust I have now fully made out my charge against Colonel Stanhope. He went to Greece, an admirer of Prince Mavrocordato, and he returned home his decided opponent, and the patron of a man, whom he himself describes as having been the chief of a band of robbers. Because he was not permitted by Prince Mavrocordato to establish a press, and abuse all the governments of Europe after his own fashion; because he was not allowed to govern Greece, as the representatives of the India Company govern the tributary states in which they reside; and, because Lord Byron resisted this assumption of power, and supported Prince Mavrocordato, in opposing the wild schemes of Colonel Stanhope, he did whatever he could to ruin Mavrocordato, and injure the reputation of the man he called his friend, and whose corpse he followed to the grave. In the pursuit of his own schemes, he broke up the brigade Lord Byron had been at so much pains

REASONS FOR WITHHOLDING THE LOAN.

309

in forming; he in a manner reversed and destroyed all Byron had done, and not only cast, as far as lay in his power, odium on the memory of his noble friend, but did a great injury to the Greek cause. Directly in the teeth of his own declarations, he disposed of the stores without the sanction of the Greek government; and disposed of them in favour of one Greek chief. He did what he could to set up a rival power, and to ruin the very government he went to Greece to support. Under any circumstances, rival commissioners would have been an unfortunate occurrence; but when there were different parties in the country, and these commissioners took different sides, what could possibly be the consequences but increased difficulties, increased animosities, and increased dangers? If the independence and courage of Greece have outlived the campaign of 1824, it has not been owing to the succour afforded by the Greek committee and by Col. Stanhope, but to the folly and imbecility of its barbarous antagonist.

I say nothing of the loan being withheld, by the recommendation of Colonel Stanhope, after it had been contracted for and sent out to Zante, as that probably may be explained by the circumstance of Lord Byron’s death invalidating the commission for issuing the money. It is a remarkable circumstance, however, that Colonel Stanhope says, “his reasons for recommending that the

310

EFFECTS ON GREECE.

money should not be issued, are, that the government is not sufficiently organized, and that the necessary measures have not as yet been taken for the proper appropriation of the money.” Was Col. Stanhope then ignorant of the plan which had been agreed on between Lord Byron and Prince Mavrocordato, as mentioned at page 97 of this work? If he were ignorant, can it be attributed to any other circumstance than to his withdrawing from them and acting in opposition to them! If Col. Stanhope had acted in conjunction with these two persons, instead of joining Ali Pacha’s mountain robber, this plan would have been matured, and the loan might have been, as far as that was concerned, issued immediately.

But Col. Stanhope also objects to the want of organization in the government; and what individual, so much as Col. Stanhope, by embracing first of all one party, and then another, had impeded this organization? I am entitled to conclude, that the two reasons on which Col. Stanhope grounds his objections to deliver the loan would never have had any existence but for his own conduct. Be this as it may, the fact is certain and well known that the Greeks, relying on this loan, had not adopted any other means of endeavouring to obtain a supply of money, and, consequently, had none for fitting out their fleet. The strongest representations were made on this point, both to

THE LOSS OF IPSARA.

311

Colonel Stanhope and Mr. Blaquiere, but still the money was not advanced in time*.

Unfortunate men will sometimes be unjust; the Greeks, therefore, may do Col. Stanhope wrong; but when they knew the first instalment of the loan had arrived at Zante, when they saw him on the spot, when he went away without making it over to them, and when they afterwards suffered the terrible disaster at Ipsara, which the loan would have enabled them to avert, they did not hesitate to affirm, that the whole guilt of that belonged to

* What was expected from Colonel Stanhope may probably be inferred from the following extract of a letter from the government to Mavcorordato:— Extract de la lettre du Government. “Nous avous reçu votre lettre en date du 18, ainsi que les pièces y incluses. “Monsieur Palyroides est encore à Hydra, et l’honorable Colonel Stanhope n’a pas paru jusqu’à present, nous esperons qu’il ne tardera pas d’arriver, persuadé qu’il est que son retard ameneroit les plus grands entraves aux operations militaires, et des resultats bien malheureux pour cette campagne. Nos batiments sont deja prets; mais il est impossible d’y embarquer un seul homme, sans que la solde soit prealablement payée. La flotte Turcque est, en attendant, arrivée à Negropont, et le blocus par terre de cette place s’est immediatement levè. La flotte ennemie est composee de cinquante et quelques batiments. Nous n’avons aucune nouvelle de Salone. Ulysse en addressant au Gouvernement des lettres ecrit

312

OPINION OF THE GREEKS.

him. “Had the money,” they said, “which they had borrowed, and for the payment of which they had made themselves responsible, been made over to them, Ipsara would have been saved;” and when they said this, they vowed, did it ever lay in their power, to take vengeance on the individual to whom they attributed the delay.

The proceeding may probably be justified, but it appears very strange to promise money to a nation, to transmit it till it is almost within their grasp, to know they had relied on it for preparing

en même tems aux Generaux Colocotroni, Coliopulos, et Nikita; on decouvre dans ses lettres le stile obscur et malin de Monsieur Negri . “Des Moulins de Napoli, le 27 Avril, (9 Mai). “G. Condouriotti, “C. Botaichi, “J. Colletti, “A. Spiliotachi. “P.S. M. Palyroides vient d’arriver en ce moment de retour d’Hydra.” (TRANSLATION.) “We have received your letter, dated the 18th, as well as the enclosed communications. Mr. Palyroides is still at Hydra and the Honourable Colonel Stanhope has not yet made his appearance. We hope he will not be long in arriving, persuaded as he is that his delay will very much hamper the military operations, and produce the most unfortunate results during the present campaign. Our vessels are ready, but it is impossible to put a single man

COLONEL STANYHOPE’S FEAR OF CENSURE.

313

their means of defence, and at the opening of the campaign, at the very moment the enemy was at the door, to mock the hopes which had been excited, and to deprive the poor Greeks of their means of defence. Colonel Stanhope judged rightly when he said, he “calculated on being, both in Greece and in England, duly burdened with odium.” As to Greece, Colonel Stanhope was quite right; he is still remembered in Greece, but with feelings very different from the love and veneration with which Lord Byron is remembered. As to England, it would appear that he was incorrect; but he did not calculate on the confidence which his countrymen repose in great names, and did not expect to have a shield thrown over him

on board them unless the wages is previously paid. The Turkish fleet has in the mean time arrived at Negropont, and the blockade of that place by land was immediately raised. The enemy’s fleet consists of upwards of fifty sail. We have no news from Salona. Ulysses has addressed copies of letters to the government, which he has sent at the same time to Generals Colocotroni, Colliopuli, and Nikitas; in these letters the obscure and malignant style of M. Negris is discernible. “Mills of Napoli, April 26, (May 9.) “G. Conduriottis, “C. Botaki, “J. Colletti. “P. S. Mr. Palyroides has arrived this instant, on his return from Hydra.”

314

REPORT.

in the shape of a vote of thanks by the Greek committee.

I say nothing of Colonel Stanhope empowering half a dozen adventurers, such as Captain Trelawney, Mr. Humphreys, Captain Hastings, &c. to dispose of the committee’s stores, to form plans for the regulation of Greece, and to dictate to the Greek government; moreover, I say nothing of the committee itself sending out agent after agent, and controller after controller; they are answerable on these points to the public they represent, but I am certain that the little assistance we have given has assumed too much the appearance of interference, and that our pecuniary aid has lost the character of generosity, by being coupled with too many recommendations and conditions. Independent of any agents sent out by the committee, there were persons on the spot who might have supplied them with correct information, I was accustomed to state to Mr. Bowring such facts as fell under my notice, and the reader will see in the Appendix H. the copy of a letter or report, addressed to Mr. Bowring, on March 20th, which received Lord Byron’s approbation, and is referred to by him in a note appended to a letter of Colonel Stanhope’s, to be found at page 127 of that gentleman’s work on Greece. I shall also place in the Appendix some letters from different persons in Greece, which may serve to throw light on Colonel

SUMMARY.

315

Stanhope’s and Captain Trelawney’s proceedings, as well as on the state of affairs at that time. They are marked I. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

If the view I have given be correct, the conduct of Colonel Stanhope was highly wrong from the very commencement of his embassy, and continued during the whole time he was in Greece to be guided by most improper principles. The Greek committee were in the first instance to blame, for empowering a man of his opinions and habits to represent them in Greece. They were still more to blame when every communication of his brought evidence of his improper interference with the internal affairs of that country, and of his dictating to its government, for not then recalling him and protesting to the Greek deputies here, and to every authority in Greece, against being implicated by his rash and presumptuous proceedings. After he had committed all these errors, the Greek committee made his cause their own, by publicly approving of his conduct; and thus did they, too, take on themselves the character of officious meddlers, and under the name of friends, swell the long list of the enemies of the long-suffering and deeply-oppressed Greeks. This appears to me such a consummation of silliness, that I hardly expect the reader will credit my assertion. To convince him, and satisfy him as to my veracity, I shall here

316

VOTE OF THANKS.

insert the vote of thanks given by the Greek committee, as recorded in Colonel Stanhope’s own book:—

With these remarks, I shall now lay down the pen. What I have said of the conduct of other persons has seemed to me necessary, either in my own vindication, or in vindication of the memory of my highly-valued and deeply-lamented patron

CONCLUSION.

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and friend. By the account I have given of Colonel Stanhope’s conduct, something too I hope has been done to vindicate the cause of the Greeks in the opinion of Europe, and to inspire its friends with more hopes than ever of its success. It is still, thank God, triumphant, and I have shewn that it has had to contend, not only with numerous external and barbarous foes, but that the exertions of the Greeks have been crippled by the injudicious and uncalled-for interference of pretended friends.

Since this sheet was sent to press, Mr. Blaquiere’s second narrative has appeared. From this we learn that he also was an authorized independent agent of the Greek Committee, making the third representative or ambassador this mighty body had in Greece; and all of whom they meant should be there at one time. If any thing more were required to shew the injudicious nature of their proceedings, particularly in approving of the conduct of Colonel Stanhope, it may be found in the circumstance that this conduct was at the time disapproved of by Mr. Blaquiere. The work just published by that gentleman justifies, I am happy to say, all which I have stated of the conduct of Colonel Stanhope and of the Greek Committee.