y to leave the unfeeling
apostate sons of neutral and Christian nations unopposed, aiding to
perpetuate barbarism for horrid gain, drawn from the price of Christians
torn from their homes and sold as slaves in foreign lands. Against these
atrocious men, my companions and myself, casting the gauntlet down, will
contend, in the hope that they and you may perceive your true interests
and your great error, and pursue a different course before it shall be
too late. Quit the classic sacred soil of Greece, let the flayings, and
burnings, and impalings of that people cease, and oh! shocking to
humanity, the ripping up of pregnant women, and the hewing up of their
infant babes, and other acts yet worse than these--too horrid to relate.
Release the Christian slaves; pursue an honourable and enlightened path,
and we become friends to aid you in your pursuits--but should the
present course be continued, let the bands of cruel assassins in your
employ count on our opposition; count, too, on our neutralizing the
effects of every vessel procured or bought from Christian states. 'Hear
the voice of the Lord, ye rulers,' in the prophecy now to be fulfilled.
'Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay.' 'When the Lord
shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that
is holpen shall fall down, and they shall all fall together.' Instead of
filling brim full the cup of bitterness, of which you yourself must
ultimately drink, how admirably might you not employ your people, and
your treasure--the waste whereof is rearing to you a barbarian successor
to prolong the bondage of Egypt. The Christian prayer of those called to
rescue their suffering brethren is that, conforming yourself to the
dictates of reason and humanity, you may live long to benefit mankind;
and as you are more enlightened than your predecessors, so may you
become more humane and just."

[9] It is singular that at this early date Lord Cochrane should thus
have advised and prognosticated the construction of the Suez Canal.

The second letter was more brief. "The discrimination of your Highness,"
Lord Cochrane now wrote, "enables you to judge between those who offer
advice to promote personal objects and those who disinterestedly desire
the welfare of mankind. Egypt may become great by the attention of her
rulers to her internal concerns, but not by war and foreign conquest,
and assuredly not by the conquest of that people with whom your Highn