my senior officer has of course taken possession of the Green Bag, & my
command in these seas has expired after having held it nine weeks. 'I
believe before I go further it will be wise of me to explain to you what
this "Green Bag," as I call it, is, and when you hear I rather think you
will be a little amused.

'From the present state of Greece and the islands in the Archipelago
some Greek, some Turk, some both, and some neither, much piracy and
murder goes on against all the flags of Europe; and of course we fall in
for our share, and hardly a week passes but some appeal to humanity or
justice is brought to the Senior Officer, or any cruizing ship in the
Archipelago, indeed of late owing to the small force up this country
these papers have so accumulated that a large bag became necessary to
hold them, and when I gave up my command to Eden of the _Martin_,
up the side after me came the "awful Green Bag." The Senior Officer here
is in himself an Admiralty Court for all the Archipelago, and a most
difficult and delicate service it is, for _"truth is never to be got
at"_ and the Ionian who is always the person aggrieved is as bad as
the Greek. I foresee myself getting into a discussion, but I must say a
little of my opinions to you, faulty as they most likely are, yet such
has been the impression made on my mind by what I have seen and heard;
but I shall not break out here as I wish to give you an outline of what
I have been about since I left Malta.

'I had a passage of five weeks to Smyrna touching at Corfu and Milo and
delivering at the former 120,000 Dollars for the Government, found our
friend Guion there as much the ladies man as ever. I gave you a line
from _Tribune_ myself, I parted from her two days afterwards. After
remaining a few days at Smyrna I sailed on a cruizer leaving the
_Rose_ there for the protection of the Trade. But before I weigh