Constitutional Whig

The Constitutional Whig.

From the Boston Daily Advertiser.

Letter from Dr. Howe to a gentleman in this vicinity, twenty-five days later than that which was published on Tuesday last.

STEAM SHIP HERCULES, HYDRA, Dec. 18, 1826.

Sir: My last was from Samos, dated November 22.—This vessel having been left there, to cruise about for some days, after performing this, without falling in with any enemy, returned here, on the 15th, and I am now able to inform you of many things, of which I was then ignorant, or which have occurred since. Athens holds out and will hold out; the rainy season has commenced, and must every day make the situation of the enemy worse. The garrison are well supplied with all necessaries, and we are under no apprehension for the place. Cuttockis Pacha met with a severe loss the other day, in an affair with Karasakaikas. This commander, as I informed you, had changed his plan from that of openly attacking the enemy upon the plain of Athens, to that of cutting off his supplies from a distance. He had taken a post for this purpose when a body of 1500 Turks sent out by Cuttockis, had advanced almost to Salona. He followed them up, attacked them in a defile, killed eight hundred, and forced the remainder to shut themselves up in a Venetian chateau, almost without provisions, and he now holds them in blockade.

Ibrahim Pacha remains with his remnant of an army at Tripolizza, entirely inactive, and probably very weak; though I learn with sorrow that twenty transport vessels laden with provisions and supplies have arrived safely at Navarino. No troops, however, have been brought him, and if this confirms what has been for a long time suspected, that the Pacha of Egypt is hardly in a state to support the troops he now has in the Morea, much less to send fresh ones.

The expedition of Colletti to Euboea has failed; hoping to find the Turks off their guard, he landed and attacked them. But it appears he was perfectly prepared for and expected;—they fought; the Turks beat them back, and drove them on board their ships.

Thus ends the expedition of Colletti—from which I had hoped something, for he is decidedly a man of talent, and his plan was a good one; but he was miserably supplied with funds, and too crippled in means to enable a General to execute a design with secrecy and despatch. His failure will much diminish his influence, which, until now, has been very great, especially over the Roumeliotes. Colletti is a man hard to fathom;—that he has talents, none can doubt,—else how, without money, without family influence, without any striking military successes, could he have risen from the place of simple physician, to the enjoyment of an extraordinary influence, which he has kept undiminished from the very commencement of the Revolution?

The regular troops, now diminished to a small number, are at Messina; entirely deprived of the means of supporting this body, Government would have been obliged to abandon it, had it not been for French philanthropy,—their committee having placed at the disposal of Col. Fabvier thirty thousand francs per month.

The conduct of the French people towards Greece has been really noble and generous; neither have the Germans nor Swiss been behind. The safety of the country now, as in the days of Themistocles, lies in her wooden walls. Mistress of the sea, she is secure upon the continent. This leads me to mention the arrival of the frigate built in America, and which has diffused joy among the Greeks. I learn that Miaulis has gone on board, and taken her to Aegina, where the National Assembly is now sitting. How she will be disposed of, I know not yet; the general wish is, that she may be commanded and manned by Americans*—but this seems hardly possible. Government have received letters from Cochrane, dated Marseilles, where he is making arrangements with the European committees, for the purchase of a large corvette of thirty-two guns, built for the Pacha of Egypt, but which he has not the means of paying for.

Lord Cochrane’s Expedition is the sheet anchor of Greece, and hope brightens now into certainty. Something will be done in the Spring; the Greeks have already two of the most powerful vessels that swim, in their service; I speak of this one, and the sixty-four gun ship. More will probably arrive this winter; and if they have been able, with their little fleet of merchant brigs, to meet with the Turkish line of battle ships, what may not be hoped from an equal force. Give us the sea, and Turkey may pour in upon us as many hordes as ever did Persia, and Greece will be as little harmed by them.

In my next I hope to give you an account of the operations of the National Assembly, which have just been convened at Aegina.

Meanwhile, I remain yours sincerely,

S.G. HOWE.

* The appearance of our squadron in the Archipelago, impressed upon the people a high idea of our navy. The Greeks speak in raptures of the North Carolina. Some old Hydriote sailors, speaking of her, said, "we never knew what a ship was before we went on board of her, and we have seen the ships of every nation in the world." Whatever may have been the policy of the government in sending so large a force up the Mediterranean, it has at least had the effect to heighten the reputation of our country in Europe. I see much of the naval officers of all nations, and can say that where our officers are best known, they are most esteemed. I remember the other day to have heard some British officers say, "Well, to tell the truth, and shame the devil, I see nothing in the Yankee ships or men, inferior to ours. Then, they are really gentlemen! strange as it may appear, if I had not known them to be Johnathans, I should have taken them for John Bulls!!"