with Lord Byron, received from him every necessary instruction, and letters of recommendation to all his friends; urging them to afford every assistance in their power to the deputies, in the attainment of an object, on which the welfare of Greece was supposed entirely to depend.

Meanwhile, nothing appeared more likely to preclude the possibility of negotiating a loan, than the news, which Mr. H. Browne had brought with him from Peloponnesus. The din of civil war had made itself heard in the mountains of Caritena; and by those best acquainted with the previous state of things, the sound was felt as the knell of Greek liberty. The feeble party, that sought to establish the constitution, destitute alike of money and of troops, seemed wholly at the mercy of the all-powerful capitani. And what hopes besides could be entertained for the triumph of a government, the principal members of which were its chief enemies? Early in November, after the most tumultuous altercations, the senate, which, driven out of every town of note by the capitani, held its sittings in the half-burnt village of Argos, fulminated a decree against Andrea Metaxa and Pervuca, expelling them from the executive body. It bitterly reproached them with the numerous abuses and iniquities, they had practised while holding that high situation; and especially with having imposed taxes on the people without warrant, and among others a heavy one on salt. Enraged at this affront, these individuals hastily repaired to the capitani, with whom they had long formed a conspiracy to subvert the constitution, and warmly represented to them, that the day had at last arrived for striking the decisive blow, and vindicating their authority. Pano, the eldest son of Colocotrone, who was then master of Anapli, and Tennaio, his brother, both faithful inter

preters of their father's will, instantly listened to their proposals; and, followed by Nikitas, a man whose judgment was far short of his bravery, they marched on the 13th with a considerable corps to Argos. They unexpectedly entered the place where the senators were assembled; but the bold and inflexible manner in which the bishop of Mistra, Theodore Vresteni, asked what they meant by daring to present themselves with an armed force before the representatives of the nation, so disconcerted them, that they shrunk from the execution of the plan, they had formed, of apprehending the senators in general, and laying violent hands on those who had given them most umbrage. After a few threats and insults they departed; but proceeded to the place in which were the archives of the assembly, of which they took possession. These were, however, speedily recovered by Capitan Zaccharopoulo, an Argive, who conveyed them to the house of the bishop we have mentioned, who was then vice-president of the assembly. For a few hours the rebels besieged this house; but disunion arising among them, they at length withdrew; contenting themselves with plundering the habitations of the most obnoxious of the members. Perceiving the danger of remaining in a spot, where they were likely to become the daily sport of an insolent and lawless soldiery, headed by capitani yet more barbarous; the senate resolved to remove the next day to Cranidi, where the population was more in their favour, and where they would have, in case of emergency, greater facility for crossing over to Hydra.

These tidings proved highly annoying to Lord Byron, and for several days powerfully agitated his mind. On the one hand, he was apprehensive that, on the intelligence reaching England, every hope of

obtaining a loan would thereby be crushed; and, thus deprived of its only chance of salvation, the constitutional party would inevitably sink under the force of military despotism; while he feared, on the other, that, should the loan be effected before its arrival, the shadow remaining of government-for it was only a shadow-might have ceased to exist, and the reign of anarchy be confirmed; or, what was no less to be dreaded, that, on its being known to the chiefs of Peloponnesus, that pecuniary subsidies had been received, they would form the resolution, in order to thwart the plans of the constitutionalists, of bringing forward each a contingent in men and money, affording an aid far more considerable than could have been done by several loans, similar to the one about to be raised.

Should any of these events take place, Lord Byron felt how heavy would be his responsibility to the British public, for having lent the authority of his name to a power on the brink of destruction; the invalidity of whose guarantees, it would be said, he must himself have been fully aware of at the time; and it appeared in the sequel, that his apprehensions were neither gratuitous nor chimerical: for the insurrection of the capitani miscarried solely through an inconceivable avarice, which blinded them to their most vital interests; and, strange to say, led them to prefer losing the whole of their influence, to risking for a while a trifling portion of their wealth.

In consequence of the disagreeable intelligence, brought from the Morea, Lord Byron felt himself under the necessity of renouncing for the moment his intentions of proceeding to that country. He could no longer interfere as a mediator; for the views of the contending parties had become too diametrically opposite to admit of the slightest approximation; and

having come to Greece with a very different purpose from that of taking part in civil war, he wished to avoid acting openly with the constitutionalists, although he made no secret of his wishes for their triumph. Thus resolved, Mesolonghi, the only town in Greece not under the control of the capitani, fixed his regard; and he determined, on the arrival of the Greek division in its waters, to cross over to that town; and, awaiting the arrival of the loan, put into execution the various schemes, he had formed for the general welfare of the country, without giving umbrage to either party.

A

CHAPTER III.

The author goes to Mesolonghi-Caraiscachi, a Greek chiefSecret understanding between the Turks and the AlbaniansCustoms at funerals-Ithaca-Hostility of Sir T. Maitland and British agents to the Greeks-Honourable exception afforded by Colonel Napier-Turkish brig attacked by the GreeksGreat sums of money on board-The crew saved.

On the 8th of December I left Argostoli for Mesolonghi, accompanied by Caraiscachi, who, regardless of the state of his health, and the danger to which he exposed it by undertaking so long and so fatiguing a journey, at the very worst period, too, of the rainy season, could no longer control his impatience of revenge; having just heard of the numerous persecutions his rival Rangos had inflicted on his adherents in the province of Agrapha. He vented the bitterest rage against the Greek government, by which his adversary had been authorised to dispossess him of a province, he considered as his legitimate conquest; as he had driven out the Turks who occupied it, long before the above power existed, with no other aid than the valour of his own followers. The chief complaint, which the government had to allege against him, and in fact against every capitano of the provinces on the borders, was their treacherous conduct towards their own countrymen, and the friendly footing on which they stood with the enemy, the Albanians. These two races of Turks having, from their youth upwards, lived in the closest intimacy, had become familiar with each other's habits and language, and were enemies only in appearA tacit agreement existed between them not to oppose one another's depredations; and in several

ance.