My dear B.

LETTER XXXVI.

TO J. BOWRING, ESQ.

Missolonghi, 7th February, 1824.

THE following are the charges of which the members of late executive were found guilty, by a commission of nine of the legislative body: 1st, For having misapplied the funds of the land and sea forces. 2d, For having allowed two members to carry on the functions of the executive. 3d, For promoting officers contrary to law. 4th, For having sold the cannon taken at Napoli, without consulting the representatives. 5th, For uniting the cantons of St. Pierre and Prastos, without consulting the legislative body. 6th, For selling Turkish slaves contrary to law. 7th, For having proclaimed the sale of the national property without the consent of the

tions in the practice of artillery, in projecting shells and rockets, and in the whole art of manufacturing the materials of war. In a word, this laboratory may be considered not only as a useful source of supplying warlike stores, but as a model and a school.

Having sketched the character of this department, we must now inform you that it is sent here solely for the purpose of public utility. We, therefore, beg of you, forthwith, to inform us in what manner you wish it to be employed, and what stores you require for the expedition which you are on the point of undertaking. In expectation of a prompt reply, we remain,

Your Excellency's most devoted servants,

NOEL BYRON,

LEICESTER STANHOPE.

legislative body. 8th, For allowing the finance minister to establish a monopoly of salt. 9th, For sending M. Metaxa, a member of the executive, to Carilis, and leaving the supreme body of the state with only two persons, and from that period having avoided all correspondence with the legislative body. 10th, For having allowed M. Metaxa to act as a member of the executive, after he had been sentenced to dismissal by a commission of the legislative body. 11th, For not having acknowledged M. Coletti as a member of the executive, after he had been chosen by the legislative body. 12th, For having allowed an armed body to depart from Napoli, and to act against the legislative body at Argos. These charges, and the dismissal of the members of the late executive, were published in a proclamation issued by the presidents of the new executive and the legislative bodies.

The rumoured loan to the Resurrection Knights of Malta has occasioned some surprise here. I understand that the Knights, under the immediate influence of France, offered to assist Greece in her struggle against the Turks, provided that the Greeks would allow them to possess Rhodes, and other states eastward of that island. The Greeks, abandoned even by the constitutional governments, and fighting for their lives, gave a sort of provisional consent; but they are by no means pledged to this contract, unless England forces them to seek a refuge in the arms of the enemies of freedom.

The government of the Ionian Isles have allowed the Greek Chronicle to circulate in their territory. It is now sent to Joannina, to Cairo, and to Constantinople. I have no one to work the lithographic-press; however,

I shall learn the art, and shall teach it to others on my arrival in the Morea.

A Committee reported last night to Lord Byron that the Greek government of Missolonghi had not the means of undertaking the siege of Lepanto. He recommended it to be blockaded by 2,000 men, and the artillery corps, with eight of the guns of the Committee. Meanwhile, guns should be sent there from Corinth, and rockets manufactured at Missolonghi. [Vide Appendix, No. 17.]

Parry and his men seemed a little disgusted with the appearance of Missolonghi. It is, indeed, nothing but mud and mire. They are now, however, all hard at work; their thoughts are turned to other matters, and the croaking has ceased. I hope that this laboratoryestablishment may be rendered permanent. I consider it as one of the schools that my worthy employers have established for promoting useful knowledge in Greece.

There are about twenty Englishmen here. They give a life and excitement that has changed the appearance of the place. It is for this reason that I wish others of my countrymen to bend their steps this way. Where are your Hobhouses, your Humes, and Sheridans, that used to explore Greece and to deplore her fall?

We are much in want of printers here. I am, in fact, at a loss to know where to find one to take to the seat of government. The editor here has an interest in not communicating the knowledge of his art, and cannot be expected to furnish means of instruction that would militate against that interest. Under these circumstances, I beg of the Committee, when they send Greeks or others here, to have them practically in-.

structed in common and lithographic printing. I think the two Greek boys at the Lancasterian school should be employed in this way. Mr. Sheridan Wilson, an American missionary, at Malta, has established a Greek press there. He is translating some useful books into that language. To him I have written to send one or two printers to Greece. I wish you would get some elementary works on the English, the American, and the Swiss constitutions translated into modern Greek, and have them circulated in this country.

I am anxious to give permanency to all the measures of the Committee: permanency to our schools, to our hospitals, or dispensaries, to our artillery corps, to our printing-offices, and to our laboratory-establishment. The method of effecting the latter object is by getting a number of Greek mechanics, say twenty, to work there. This method I have proposed to Mr. Parry, to Mavrocordato, and to the Greek government. Mr. Parry has undertaken, in sixteen days, to have the artillery corps disciplined and fit for service. By his advice, eight guns are to accompany Lord Byron's expedition to Lepanto. Each of them will be commanded by an officer. The officers and non-commissioned officers consist of Englishmen and Germans. By this means we have provided for all the persons you have sent out, and for all the Germans that wished to remain in the country. The rest will be sent home.

Pray write to the German and Swiss Committees, and give them accounts of all that is passing here. It is impossible for me, much as I wish it, to keep them informed; and the members of their Committees, whom they have appointed to act for them here, write to them

but seldom, Instead of communicating by every post, they send a packet every three months. I have in vain remonstrated.

SIR T. MAITLAND is dead. God rest his soul. Lord Byron has sent four Turkish prisoners to Usoff Pacha, at Patras. He has done well. I shall endeavour to take advantage of this act by commenting on it in the public papers. The unchristianlike practice of slaying prisoners will be checked and prevented by the press.

The laboratory is now all arranged. Parry is all life and activity. The establishment does great honour to the Committee. I have inserted the following paragraph in the Greek Chronicle. "The first great object of the Greek Committee in England is to give that civil and military knowledge to Greece of which she has been deprived under the satanic government of the Turks. The second object is to give permanency to all their acts. To promote the military knowledge of the Greeks the Committee have established a laboratory at Missolonghi : to give permanency to this department they wish to obtain twenty apprentices, from sixteen to twenty years of age. These youths will be employed as refiners, labora