Following the lead of his mentor in Rome, William Miller, Gilbert began writing anonymous articles on archaeology for the Morning Post. Owned by Lady Bathurst, the London newspaper was very conservative about British politics but less so overseas. In fact their Greek correspondent had been the Venizelist Andreas Kavaphakes until his murder on March 6. Gilbert soon began sending his articles not to the Venizelist Miller in Rome but directly to the Foreign Editor, Neil Forbes Grant, who on March 15 offered Gilbert the job of “covering Athens” for the paper.
Gilbert, however, rejected the offer as he was obligated to be traveling around Greece studying archaeology but suggested he could send political articles about the precarious military and political situation in Smyrna and Anatolia when he would be visiting there later in the summer. Gilbert believed that people would never think that an Italian would be writing for an English paper and considered it “an amusing experience.” He was thus able to exploit his socialising among the rich and powerful of Athenian society.