The letter was from Andreas Luriottis, one of the two
Greek deputies who had requested Lord Cochrane, two years and a half
before, to enter the service of Greece, and who now claimed a
restitution of the 37,000l. paid to him, on the plea that by leaving
Greece he had broken his contract.

"Before writing to Sir Francis," said Lord Cochrane in the indignant
letter which he addressed to this person on the 20th of April, "you
ought to have informed yourself of facts and circumstances. You might
have learnt that I continued to serve until the Greek Government had
assumed to themselves the powers vested in me, as naval
commander-in-chief, to regulate the distribution of armed vessels, and
until they had covered the seas with piratical craft. You might have
informed yourself that I remained at my post until the neutral admirals
refused to hold communication with a Government which had so
misconducted itself, and with which they considered it would have been
disgraceful to correspond, even on subjects of a public nature. You
might have informed yourself that I remained on board the _Hellas_ until
the temporary Government had sold and applied to other purposes the
revenues of the islands allotted for the maintenance of the regular
naval service, and deprived me of the means to satisfy the claims of the
officers and seamen; that I continued until the seamen had abandoned the
frigate, plundered the fireships, and fitted out pirate vessels before
my eyes--all which I had no power to punish or means to prevent. If you
or others infer that my endeavours in the cause of Greece are to be
judged by naval operations carried on against the enemy by open force,
you are mistaken. It is essential that you hold in mind that there are
no naval officers in Greece who are acquainted with the discipline of
regular ships of war, that the seamen would submit to no restraint, that
they would not enlist for more than one month, that they would do
nothing without being paid in advance, nor continue to serve after the
expiration of the short period for which they were so paid, that by this
determination of the seamen the _Hellas_ was detained for months in port
or occupied in collecting amongst the islands paltry means to satisfy
their demands, and that at last, when money was found, half the period
of the seamen's engagement was consumed in proceeding even to the
nearest point at which hostile operations could be carried on, whence it
became necessar