advantage until the capital is free, and thus we should avoid debating
whilst we should be acting, and check those animosities and divisions
which naturally arise from difference of sentiment under the peculiar
conditions of modern Greece." "The time now draws near," he wrote to the
Government of Hydra, "when the approach of a large force may reasonably
be anticipated, and when consequently the means that the Greeks possess
of contending with their enemies will be comparatively diminished. I
have, therefore, in the name of all Europe--by whose people I may in
truth say that I have been sent here--called upon the Executive
Government, and upon all those connected with public affairs, to act
with union and promptitude, and I have informed them that without
harmony and exertion amongst the chiefs, the slender means placed at my
disposal, and any services which I personally could render, would prove
of no avail. The people are split into factions, and operations are
paralyzed by the conflicting personal interests of chiefs who perceive
not that the prize about which they are contending will fall to the
share of others. I have as yet taken no authority upon me in naval
affairs, because if union do not prevail I shall deceive Greece and
deceive the world by inducing a belief that I could assist you."

While waiting, however, for the rivalries of the Greek leaders to be
removed, or at any rate set aside for a time, Lord Cochrane was not
idle. He had frequent interviews, not only with Admiral Miaoulis and the
other native seamen of ability, but also with Dr. Gosse, and with
Captain Abney Hastings, who joined him on the 22nd, and provided him
with much precise information as to the naval strength of Greece, the
character of the officers and crews, and the best methods of attacking
the Turks with advantage. Information as precise about the land forces
was derived from other Philhellenes, among whom Colonel Heideck and
Colonel Gordon were perhaps the best informed. Lord Cochrane also made
the acquaintance of a new comer in Greece, with whom he was soon to have
very intimate relations--Sir Richard Church.

General Church had begun life as an officer in the British army. He had
seen various service between 1801 and 1809, and in the latter year had
organised a battalion of Greeks at Zante, with which, and afterwards
with another which he also formed, he had played an important part in
the war for the liberation of the Ionian Islands