"

Soon after this interview with their agent, a more direct
communication on the subject was opened between his Lordship and the
Committee itself.

LETTER 520. TO MR. BOWRING.

"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 orga