I told him freely what I thought of the situation, and he so far agreed with me that he begged me to go to Constantinople and lay my ideas before A'ali Pasha, promising to support them.
On my return to Athens I raised money enough to get a return ticket to the Turkish capital, and had an immediate audience of the grand vizier, to whom I stated frankly, and without in the least disguising the faults committed by his government, the condition of the island as I saw it, and the remedies necessary for the restoration of its prosperity.

He asked me to give him a written memorandum of my views, which I did, and he then asked me to stay in Constantinople until he could send a commission to Crete and get a report from it.

I replied that I had not the means to stay so long, the time he indicated being several weeks, and he offered to pay my expenses liberally if I would stay.

I went to the office of the "Levant Herald" to ask for work.
They knew me well enough there, for I had been their correspondent from Crete, and the journal had once been fined 100 for one of my letters, and once confiscated for another.

On what I earned I lived for the time I had to wait for the report of the commission.
When the report came I was summoned to the grand vizier to receive my reply.