Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"Your letter, and that of the venerable Ignazio, have filled me with
joy. Your Excellency is exactly the person of whom we stand in need.
Let nothing prevent you from coming into this part of Greece. The
enemy threatens us in great number; but, by the help of God and your
Excellency, they shall meet a suitable resistance. I shall have
something to do to-night against a corps of six or seven thousand
Albanians, encamped close to this place. The day after to-morrow I
will set out with a few chosen companions, to meet your Excellency.
Do not delay. I thank you for the good opinion you have of my
fellow-citizens, which God grant you will not find ill-founded; and I
thank you still more for the care you have so kindly taken of them.
"Believe me," &c.
In the expectation that Lord Byron would proceed forthwith to
Missolonghi, it had been the intention of Botzari, as the above
letter announces, to leave the army, and hasten, with a few of his
brother warriors, to receive their noble ally on his landing in a
manner worthy of the generous mission on which he came. The above
letter, however, preceded but by a few hours his death. That very
night he penetrated, with but a handful of followers, into the midst
of the enemy's camp, whose force was eight thousand strong, and after
leading his heroic band over heaps of dead, fell, at last, close to
the tent of the Pasha himself.
The mention made in this brave Suliote's letter of Lord Byron's care
of his fellow-citizens refers to a popular act done recently by the
noble poet at Cephalonia, in taking into his pay, as a body-guard,
forty of this now homeless tribe. On finding, however, that for want
of employment they were becoming restless and turbulent, he
despatched them off soon after, armed and provisioned, to join in the
defence of Missolonghi, which was at that time besieged on one side
by a considerable force, and blockaded on the other by a Turkish
squadron. Already had he, with a view to the succour of this place,
made a generous offer to the Government, which he thus states himself
in one of his letters:--"I offered to advance a thousand dollars a
month for the succour of Missolonghi, and the Suliotes under Botzari
(since killed); but the Government have answered me, that they wish
to confer with me previously, which is in fact saying they wish me to
expend my money in some other direction. I will take care that it is
for the public cause, otherwise I will not advance a para. The
opposition say they want to cajole me, and the party in power say the
others wish to seduce me, so between the two I have a difficult part
to play; however, I will have nothing to do with the factions unless
to reconcile them if possible."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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